Hilarious laundry

I have discovered the secret to sending Owen into a fit of giggles....folding laundry. I'm not sure if it's the movement, or the air on his face as I shake the clothes straight before folding them, but whatever it is, he thinks it is so funny. And we think he is so funny!

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Owen's first cousin any time now. Nate's brother Dan and his wife Molly headed to the hospital this morning, in labor. Grandma and Papa Bacheler just stopped by for lunch on their way to the Milwaukee airport for their flight to Denver this evening. We hope to know the stats and official name of 'Cousin Marty' (as he/she has been referred to thus far) by tomorrow morning!

I Love Carrots

Thankfully, Owen's initial not-so-keen (to put it mildly) reaction to carrots has changed....he loves them now, especially when added to a little bit of rice cereal. And here's video proof. I know Nannie and Grandpa will feel relief at this announcement. No way a grandchild of theirs can refuse carrots!! When I was a kid, they sold our garden-grown organic carrots by the bushel to our local co-op. I recall that I sometimes dragged a freshly picked carrot around with me during the day as a portable snack.



This morning, we headed west some 40 miles to the Shawano (pronounced "Shawno") dam on the Wolf River, to see an annual event worth noting: lake sturgeon spawning. The Shawano dam is the end of the road for these fish, who swim up from Lake Winnebago. We caught glimpses of several huge fish in the shallow rapids just below the dam. Female lake sturgeon don't become reproductively mature until they're 20 years old! What a neat - and prehistoric - fish.

1st tooth

Owen cut his first tooth on Saturday (his 7 mo. birthday). He hasn't seemed bothered by the teething so far, though he's certainly been chomping down on his teething toys more than normal. The drool factory has been going strong for months, so that's no different. A bib is standard attire these days...

Here's the happy guy in a swing our next door neighbors put up on our backyard swing set. We've already been out there twice today to enjoy the sunshine and 75 degree temperatures.

7 months young

We've got a sitter! (at least by my standards....Nate's not convinced that a few seconds of good balance really counts as official "sitting", but I'm writing it into the baby book!). Owen hit this milestone yesterday, just shy of his 7 month birthday, which he celebrates today. Here's video proof:



And some cute giggle action:


This weekend, we have dinner plans both tonight and tomorrow night. We haven't had this degree of social interaction in months! Tonight's plans are - conveniently - with our next door neighbors, Kristopher, Hannah, and 17 mo. old Karter, who's latest trick is winking, albeit with both eyes - very cute!

Upcoming adventures: the lake sturgeon spawning season has begun...we might try to go see some of the action in a nearby river next weekend.

Easter in Madison

We headed down to Madison for Easter weekend and lucked into better weather than predicted. Rain showers on our way down on Saturday morning turned into partly-sunny skies by afternoon. Our good buddies Cori and Todd (friends from Corvallis) were in town for a long weekend to visit Todd's family.
They met us at our hotel and we headed to the Great Dane Brewing Company for lunch, then strolled to the state Capitol - a beautiful structure with an impressive dome.
Then we walked down State Street, where we sought out a top-knotch ice cream shop (big thanks to JVP for the suggestion!) with this funny sign.
We walked off as much of the ice cream calories as we could around the UW campus, resting for a while in the Memorial Union (another good suggestion, Jenny!).



On a different note, this morning, as I was making some applesauce for our little solid food eater, movement out the kitchen window caught my eye. It was a pair of Mallard ducks, waddling along the driveway, enjoying a drizzly day here in Green Bay. A definite sign of spring!

Yoga baby

With the help of my yoga block, Owen can sort of sit up on his own. There's a lot more side-toppling to be done before he'll be able to stay up for more than a few seconds, but we're making daily progress!


We're off to Madison for Easter weekend - hoping to be able to stroll State St., the UW campus, and the lakeshores in between the predicted thundershowers (thanks for all the recommendations, JVP!). And we're looking forward to being reunited with our good friends Cori and Todd Shechter, who flew in from Corvallis to visit family for the holiday weekend. We'll spend Easter Sunday with the greater Shechter family.

Happy Easter to all!!