Gerald Avenue

Gerald Avenue is where we live. 1310 Gerald Avenue.

Up twenty-one stairs and to the right, to be exact.

Apartment #3.

We live in a beautiful neighborhood, as you can see. Abram and I get to spend some time here every day.

Love all the sidewalks.

And here's the front of the house, with the national historic registry plaque in front.

I had a little trouble getting some of the pictures of our apt loaded...so this may be a little scattered, but here's what I have:

The bedroom. (Just one.)

I didn't think I was a bed snob, but something about this bed my body just doesn't agree with.

(Could it be the springs I can feel in the mattress?)

But I do love all of the natural light that comes in!

The bathroom.

Yes, we have a free-standing tub. Which means you get to stand in a 360-degree circle of shower curtain.

Which means I get to have a fight with the shower curtain every morning.

And I don't always win.

A little eating area off the side of the main room (the kitchen is through that door on the right).

Notice the wallpaper. :)

Here's the main room, where Abram sleeps at night (we transfer the pack & play to the bedroom during the day for naps.)

The door you see goes into our landlady's apartment, haha, but she rarely goes upstairs to that room...so usually we just hear her dog in there.

The outside view of the fridge wouldn't load, unfortunately, but here's the inside.

And see the top drawer thingy? That's the freezer. Sometimes it works! :)

...and the fridge is in our closet...uh, kitchen, I mean kitchen!

And here's two of the people that live here.

(Cheesy, I know, taking pictures of yourself in the mirror...)

Talking

Disclaimer: If you are not the parent or grandparent of this child, you may not find any interest in this video. :)

...and of course, I love how I sound on camera...not...

Ben's First Father's Day

Although it rained most of Father's Day (hence the dark inside pictures), we enjoyed celebrating together.

Since Ben served a mission in Russia, we had Russian pancakes for breakfast and Russian dumplings for dinner. Breakfast was good, and we just won't talk about dinner... :)

We had fun though!

(If you want to try the Russian pancakes, I put the recipe on my blog.)

Abram was getting tired by this time, but notice the Finnish overalls he's wearing from my relatives in Finland. :)

Abram is so lucky to have Ben for his Dad.

And here's a few father/son moments from the last month or so...

(this was in ID over Memorial Day weekend)

They're buddies. :)

As a side note, Abram had a bottom tooth poke through yesterday!

5 Months

Here is my wiggling, rolling (both ways!), kicking, touching, feeling, grabbing, "talking," laughing, squealing, smiling, (and sometimes fussing), sleeping-10-hours-at-night, taking 3-naps-a-day, bubble-blowing, drooling, possibly-teething

5-month-old (today!).

And what a sweet baby he is.

(I have a hard time getting his smiles on camera..."what's that black thing in front of your face, mom?")

Missoula Missoula

Abram frequently wakes up with this hair.

He enjoys his bumbo at dinner time...

...for a few minutes, and then tries to get out!

(His eyes are a little watery because he's getting over yet another cold.)

Greetings from beautiful Missoula, Montana, land of the fishing-hunting-wrangler-cowboy-bison-grizzly talk (it’s all over the newspapers). Out of all the Montana cities we drove through on the way here, we like Missoula the best. The mountains are really pretty and we live close to the Clark Fork River (Louis & Clark). Sometime we’ll hike up the “M” on the mountain. The view is supposed to be really pretty.

We’re having issues getting our internet set up, so as soon as Ben got home today, I dashed over to the library. It’s amazing how disconnected from the world you feel without internet, especially in a new city! The road trip out here went very smoothly the first day. The second day, however, Abram was ready to be done with his car seat, not that I can blame him. But we’re grateful our car got us out here safely (after a few-hundred-dollar repair two days before our trip, haha…actually I’m not laughing). The first couple days here I felt a little homesick for Minneapolis! It was kind of a last minute decision to move, so when we actually arrived, it hit me that we were starting at square one again…not knowing anyone or anything (including what corked boots are, except that you can’t wear them inside gas stations).

We live upstairs in a hundred-year-old house that’s on the national historic registry, owned by an eighty-one-year-old woman (Tomme Lu (“Tommy Lou”)) who “feels like she’s eighteen” and has a ninety-five-year-old significant other (who are both on a first-name basis with much of the staff at the hospital where Ben works). Some of her ancestry were the first to settle in Missoula and lived in this house. She lives on the main floor and rents out a few different parts of the house mainly to students and professors (we’re close to the University of Montana). The “oldness” of the house has been a little interesting…but after some major dusting & cleaning and turning on the heat I feel more okay about living here for a few months (as long as it gets warmer!). I’ll try to post some pictures of the house soon. The neighborhood is beautiful—lots and big trees and sidewalks and well-kept yards, which has made walks with Abram enjoyable.

Abram’s new trick is rolling over. He did it for the first time the day before we moved! He’s becoming ever more active and curious…I think the poor thing gets tired of just seeing me every day! He gets excited when Ben comes home. The other day, Ben had a baseball cap on, which Abram apparently didn’t like—he wouldn’t stop crying until Ben took it off, and then he was fine!

Ben just started his residency here at Community Medical Center and enjoys the setting and his coworkers. Maybe he’ll get a chance to post about it on here sometime. Although we’re not huge ice cream lovers, we’ve taken a couple walks to a nearby ice cream shack, “The Big Dipper,” and Ben really likes the huckleberry flavor (I thought you’d like that, Alan). We’re excited for the upcoming long weekend when Ben will have work off…we’ll let you know if we see any grizzlies or buy corked boots.

Four Months

Abram had his 4-month check-up today, just a tad early to get it in before we move. We really like our pediatrician, Dr. Gold. She said he's still healthy and growing beautifully. When she was examining Abram, he had a slightly worried look on his face and was looking to me for comfort. He hasn't had a whole lot of strangers hold him, so that was new for me to see!

And for the stats...

Head Circumference: 41 3/4 cm (40%)

Weight: 15 lb 4 oz (63%)

Height: 24 3/4 in (49%)

Ben and I were laughing about how much people pay attention to the percentiles and decided we just thought he was perfect anyway and if they had a percentile for cuteness, he'd be 237%. Haha. (Every parent can say that about their kid, right?)

And a few tidbits...

He loves sucking on his fist. Or fists. Or fingers. Or thumb. His fingers are so long though, he's gagged himself a couple times...

His legs are so strong! He can hold himself up for several minutes at a time and he loves kicking his ball (video below). Of course, Ben turned him around so the ball would be at his hands and he tried grabbing the ball a few times. :) He's also getting better at opening his fingers and holding the toys instead of just batting at them.

His hair is out of control if I don't brush it after his baths!

He always gets fuzz stuck in his wrist creases. :)

He recently went through a week-long stage of sucking his lower lip. The first day, I laughed and thought it was cute...the next day, he woke up with a bruised lip. Poor thing! I'm tellin ya, when he does something, he does it to the max!

He just got over his first cold. It was so sad--he'd wake up with his eyes gooped shut with green stuff. Before he got sick, he was sleeping 9-10 hours straight at night! We're working back up to it though...

He's easily distracted while he's eating. He'll stop several times during a feeding and just start cooing at me with those big blue eyes...so sweet. Or if he hears Ben's voice, he'll stop and look around for him.

I can already tell we have a very active, curious little boy on our hands! He loves to lie on his back and talk to me, but the second I stand him up, he's looking left, right, up, and down...anywhere but my face! He has to see everything that's going on around him.

He's gearing up for his first road trip...Montana, here we come! (We finally found housing, by the way...with four days to spare...)

Elder Kujanpaa

Missionaries get to call home on Mother's Day, so when Erik called home from Indonesia, my family conference-called us here in Minneapolis! It was so fun to hear how he's doing and even hear him speak some Indonesian! This picture is him and his companion teaching an English class (free for anyone who wants to go). He's the tall one in the back. :)

As a side note, we had a tornado warning last night. It kind of freaked me out (Ben thought it was awesome, though)--there was a funnel cloud in the city but I guess it never turned into anything. It brought back so many memories of growing up in the midwest with the yellowish greenish sky and extreme humidity! I remember spending hours in our basement in Illinois, with the radio on, being a little scared, but knowing it would be okay because my mom was so calm. I had a big realization that now I'M the mom that has to be calm! Yikes! I better get my act together for baby boy. :)