6 years of marriage

On Sunday (June 3rd), Scott and I celebrated 6 years of marriage.  We've had a great 6  years with more good than bad.  So....here is a little recap of our 6 years of marriage!

Year 1: We married on June 3rd....

And left early the next morning to Ocho Rios, Jamaica

In September of that year, I started my masters at Ohio State.  I spent much of my 2 years at OSU with the ladies in the below picture.  We all became fast friends- even our husbands/boyfriends became friends.

In March, Scott and I went to New York over my spring break with Amber and Jeremy.  I love the picture below.  I was intent on us getting our picture taken with that guy.  Scott kept telling me it cost money and sure enough we had to pay and Scott hated getting this picture taken!! 

A week after we went to New York, we headed off to Chicago with Sarah and Travis for the weekend.

Year 2:  During year 2 of our marriage, we took a trip to St. George's Island with my whole family  and took a trip to Walt Disney World with Scott's family.

We also went to Breckenridge, CO over New Year's that year.  The ironic thing about this trip is that as we were flying out of Denver, Scott said that he would love to live in an area like that.  Little did we know, we'd be planning a move there a few years later.

This year, Scott was also offered a sales position with Net Jets. 

Year 3: During year 3 of our marriage, I graduated from grad. school, finally!!  Received my license and got a job!  We also made a quick mini trip to Michigan.

We also bought our first house and got our dog, Bella on July 4th!  We moved into our house on August 14th, a week before graduation!

Right after graduation, Scott and I went to Cancun, Mexico to celebrate!

We also found out a week before our 4 year anniversary that we were pregnant!

Year 4: I was pregnant much of our 4th year of marriage.

And I HAD to post the next picture, it basically recaps my 1st pregnancy- horrible! Sick well into the 2nd trimester and then the development of blistering and a rash all over my body....

My fingers looked much better in this picture...it was a lot worse than that.  But the pink stuff is calamine lotion smeared all over.  It was horrible, but after a skin biopsy, 2 doses of an oral steroid, and a topical steroid- it finally started to go away.  If you've ever had poison ivy, it felt like that that times a million....ALL over my body.  (my hand was on Bella's bed, hence the dog hair!).

During this year, we also went to Hilton Head with my family and Dale Hollow with Scott's family.  Scott also got a promotion to be a Sales Consultant with NetJets.

On January 26th, we had this little lady and were forever changed- Miss Elliana Marie Lindvall. 

After my maternity leave with Elli, I switched jobs and moved to a private practice around the Polaris area.  I also went from working full-time to part-time. 

Year 5:  I have no pictures for year 5, but it ended up being just as eventful as the rest.  We spent a week in Florida with my family and a week at Dale Hollow with Scott's family.  We found out I was pregnant a few weeks before Christmas.  Also, we celebrated Elli's 1st birthday.  In April, we went to Vegas with our good friends, Sarah and Travis.

Year 6: This year proved to be exciting, stressful, exhausting, and so much more.  We spent much of last summer planning for Connor and hanging out around Columbus.  We added a patio to our house 1 or 2 weeks before Connor was born. 

And then the day before Connor was born, Scott was offered two promotions with NetJets- he was able to decide between those or stay as a consultant with the company.  Scott held off for a week to tell me about the new positions (smart guy) and we had Connor the next day without me knowing about the promotions. 

Connor Lee Lindvall was born at 10:30 on August 16th. 

There is a lot surrounding our decision about Scott's job that I won't get into.  Let's just say, making a decision to move 19 hours away with an 18 month old and a 1 week old that isn't sleeping through the night was extremely exhausting! Anyways, we made the decision that Scott would take the senior vice president  position out West.  We decided that we'd move to Denver, CO (we had a choice of a few states out west).  So for 6 months we spent the little bit of downtime that we had with a newborn cleaning out closets, meeting with our realtor, and preparing to move out West.  It was stressful!  In the meantime, I quit my job as a Speech-Language Pathologist. 

We found out in January, a week after we went to Denver to look for houses, that Scott's company was going to let us stay and allow him to do the job of a VP. We were very happy about this decision. I'm still 'retired' and are unsure as to if or when I'll go back to work.  We're just taking it day by day and I'm enjoying staying at home with the kiddos.  So, the above picture is us celebrating his promotion as a family when Connor was about 4 weeks old (notice how small he is?).

This year, we also made a trip to Brown County for a family reunion, 2 trips to Florida, and a trip to Chicago with our friends (Sarah and Travis).

So, here we are, 6 years later, 2 kids (that apparently don't like to get their picture taken)....still going strong!

It all started 11 years ago, on a triple date with our friends at Burger King (and we still very much enjoy Burger King).....

Here's to us, Mr. Lindvall!  Happy 6 year anniversary, best friend!!

9 month photo session

I wanted to get some pictures for Connor last weekend to document him being 9 months and we wanted a few of Elli with him.  After only a few minutes, we realized that we wouldn't be too successful in getting any good pictures.  And I was extremely happy that I did not pay $$$ to take them to get their picture taken by a professional photographer seeing as how neither of them were cooperating too much.  We'll try the photography session again when Connor turns 12 months and this next time we'll have someone who is a professional take the pictures!!  

Despite both of them being a tad uncooperative, we were able to get a couple smiles out of them!  Here is our attempt at some pictures of Connor at 9 months old (and a few of Elli)!

 Notice the hair??  He was playing with it because it was so long!  He is no longer able to pull on that hair....Connor got a little trim this last Friday!

I told Elli to give Connor a kiss and he love, love, loved it!  He loves his big sis!!  He went from crying (I didn't post those pictures) to a little smirk with just a little kiss from her....

RATTAIL

There is only 1 thing that comes to mind while looking at this picture....RATTAIL!!

It wasn't cool back then and it is certainly not cool now.  The sad thing about this picture is that its not our sweet little girl...this is a picture of Connor.  I'm thinking a haircut is in our near future!!

9 months

Is this really our last month for single digits?  It is unbelievable to me that we're within 3 months of Connor's 1st birthday and the fact that Scott and I were already discussing plans for it (which will be on Aug. 18th for those wanting to come)!  Connor is so much fun these days and is no longer wanting to sit still.  He is officially on the go as of last Monday (5/7)!  He loves to stand and does great standing while holding onto something....that only lasts for a little bit and then he gets a little fussy because he can't figure out how to get down.  He has starting pulling himself to his knees and occasionally will pull himself up on his feet.  This little guy has already acquired multiple nicknames in his short little life: Con, Con-Man, Bubba, Bubbies, Bubby Wubby (not proud of this one), Connor Boy, Bubs, Bubba-Lou (really, really not proud of this one....this one, like so many of the other ones needs to stop).

Connor continues to take 2 naps a day.  He typically goes down for his morning nap around 8:30 and usually sleeps 1.5 hours.  He goes down for his 2nd nap right after I get Elli down for hers- usually around 1:00ish.  He sleeps about 2 hours for his afternoon nap.  His bedtime is at 7:30 and he typically sleeps 11 or 12 hours at night!

These days, Connor loves listening to music and reading books.  Although reading to him has been a tad more difficult now that he can get up and go.  Either way, we always make sure to read him a couple books before naptime, a couple books before bedtime and a few more throughout the day.  He is clapping, babbling and occasionally waving and playing 'How Big.'  He loves watching Elli and cracks up when she plays peek-a-boo with him.  He is so much fun (have I already said that) and I love, love, love him at this stage!

Connor is eating 3 meals a day and taking 22 to 24 ounces of formula a day.  He is now fully on formula and has been for about 2 weeks now.  The smell of formula is absolutely disgusting and the powder spills everywhere (which I hate), but I'm loving the free time I have these days.  I have about 2 hours extra a day.  Although this extra time is wonderful, I have to admit that I kind of miss having 20 minutes to myself while Scott takes care of the kiddos at night (kidding....kind of....ok not really).  He's doing great with solids- he has meals where he eats only what we are eating and then meals where he still gets pureed food.  He takes 3 big bottles a day and usually a very small bottle as a snack before lunch.  He will drink water out of a sippy cup, but wasn't a fan of me putting formula in it the other day.

We got a good report from Dr. Tyler today at his 9 month well visit.  He is 17lbs 6 oz (10-25th percentile) and 28 inches long (25-50th percentile).  I forget the measurements of his head, but  I do remember it was within the 50th to 75th percentile.  We had his vision screened and he passed (this screening also reminded me that we still need to take Elli to the eye dr).  His dr. is very pleased with his development and so are we!  

Feelin' Fine in Month Number Nine....

 How big is Connor....SOOO Big

 This is what happened during the majority of the photo shoot.  This little guy doesn't sit still anymore!!  

 Elli insisted that Daddy have a sticker.....

She needed one too!

Happy 9 month birthday Connor boy!!  You are sweet, easy going, fun, happy, and lovable!!

Mother's Day

I had quite the Mother's Day weekend with my favorite people!  We went on a quick shopping trip on Saturday evening to get Elli some new sandals and then we out to eat at our favorite place, Red Robin!  Elli loves Red Robin!! Both kiddos did fabulous at dinner!!  They both ate all their dinner and then some....

We had a little photo shoot before church (surprisingly we had time- we had to be there extra early because Scott ushered).

 Please notice Connor's hair.  We spiked it (and we were both really excited about it- we used Scott's gel....his suggestion) and it.looked.so.good!! It was impossible to get them both smiling and looking at the same time :)

Here are some comparison pictures from this Mother's Day and last Mother's Day- What a difference a year makes!!

Mother's Day 2012- Connor and Mommy

Mother's Day 2011- Connor and Mommy

Mother's Day 2012- Elliana and Mommy

Mother's Day 2011- Elliana and Mommy
                                                                                                    

We went out to lunch after church and then came home for naps.  Scott got tickets for Elli and I to go see the circus on Sunday late afternoon.  She was so excited and couldn't wait to see the animals!!  The circus was at the Schottenstein Center on OSU's campus!  This was also her first time on campus- so I was excited to show her around her future college! 

Waving to the horses

The sad part about the above picture is those glasses are starting to become my norm.  I've put off going to the eye dr. for...well...the past couple years because I hate when they dilate my eyes.  The past couple of weeks/months I've noticed more difficulty seeing distances and I've been having more headaches.   

We had a great time at the circus and I'm looking forward to having Connor join us next year.  (Scott and Connor went grocery shopping while we were at the circus.  Apparently, Connor is a little ladies man and Scott said he lost track of the number of women that stopped to comment on how cute Connor was.  By the way, Connor LOVES riding in shopping carts!)