What a difference 3 weeks makes...

A lot can change in a few weeks. I'm realizing that now that it's about three weeks since the last time I posted.
In that time...

• Linden sprouted a pair of teeth (bottom middle)
• Mastered rolling from her back to her front
• Began grabbing for anything within reach
• Prefers to sit and play instead of play on her back
• Has developed a love of jumping

In addition to all that, she's also started to develop quite a personality. She makes the funniest faces, laughs loudly whenever she sees herself in a mirror, grunts, loves to jump and read books. 

I'll have to post a video of her playing in the jumping gym that her Aunt Jaime and Uncle Jesse let her borrow. She could play in that thing for hours. Even when she's not in the gym, she loves standing and jumping on your lap, a table, or anything she can push against. I have a feeling that she's much more interested in learning to walk than learning to crawl. 

She's quickly making friends in our little neighborhood. The kids (and even the dogs) are very good with her and she loves watching and interacting with them. 

Just this past week, she's started to become a bit shy. I never thought I'd see the day. Usually, if she's having a bad day, the one thing that would improve her mood would be visitors. But just recently she's started to need a few minutes to warm up to the idea of a new place. It doesn't take long, though, before she's smiling like her old self. 

Linden's Great Auntie Lainey came for a visit from Canada recently, bearing gifts. Auntie Lainey is a fabulous quilter. She made an amazing baby quilt for Linden in anticipation of her arrival and recently completed an alphabet quilt for the family. It's a bit of a Twanow family tradition and Laine was so excited to have it join our family that she promptly wrapped herself in it and carried it off to bed. 

I could, and should, go on because it's been awhile since I've last posted, but it's now after 10 p.m. (so way past my bedtime). I'll try to be better about posting shorter, more frequent updates. If life allows. :-)

Visiting Family

This weekend, Laine and I ran in our first race since Linden's arrival. We have run in the Christie Clinic races in Champaign for the past few years so it was nice to return to such a familiar race this weekend.

Laine ran the 10k and I ran the half marathon. My parents came to Bloomington on Friday evening, spent the night, and followed us to Champaign Saturday morning.
We ran our races while my parents watched Linden and met up after to head to my dad's Aunt Neva's house (Linden's Great Great Aunt Neva).

Linden enjoyed meeting more family and though she slept most of the visit, my aunts were happy to hold her while she slept.

There's still family on both sides who haven't had a chance to meet Linden yet, but we're looking forward to introducing her to everyone over the next few months.

We took our first step to prepare Linden to meet her family in Canada this week when we submitted Linden's passport forms. Laine and I were both required to be present when we submitted the application and it was funny to see her get her passport picture taken. We took her out of her car seat so that the guy at the post office could lay down a white sheet, then we put her back in and he snapped a picture.

They always tell you not to smile in your passport photo and Linden obeyed. We're still firming up plans for our first trip with Linden to Canada but plan to make the trip before the fall. Grandma Strachan and her family are always great hosts so we're looking forward to our visit and to introducing Linden to her Canadian family.

Giggles

Linden is always a lot of fun to be around, but she's been extra fun ever since she started to giggle.

She's been flashing us smiles for months and laughing from time to time, but it's been only in the past month that we've been able to really get her going.

Things that make Linden crack up include mom rocking her (LB's) behind from side to side while calling her a wiggle worm, me giving her a strawberry on her belly (is that what they call it? I need someone to catch me up to speed on dad terms), and looking at herself in the mirror. It's a great parenting reward that keeps you coming back despite the difficult times.

Linden went through spell of puking most days. Each time it came with little warning though sometimes you could sense it was coming, like an old man sensing an upcoming storm through his bum knee. One time while feeding Linden I stopped to burp her because she'd paused. As I stood up, I sensed she was going to spew up the entire bottle. In that same moment, a calm came over me as I turned her face toward my neck and shoulder, playing the bodyguard for whatever was behind me on our floor.
As the warm, sticky formula slowly soaked through to my skin I felt I'd reached a milestone as a parent. One that, previous to Linden's arrival, I thought may never come. Let me explain.

I have a distinct memory of my brother-in-law Jesse getting showered in a gush of baby spew a few years ago. The amount of liquid that coated Jesse and the floor was at first shocking (how does so much come out from something so small?!) and then repulsive. I thought, then and there, I just may not be cut out for parenting.

So I peeled off my shirt and began the (now routine) Murphy's oil floor cleaning and felt a sense of pride.

All In

Photo taken by Miss Laura

Laine and I have been very busy the past few weeks. Work has thrown some curveballs at us both but we've been able to lean on one another to make sure that Linden is well taken care of and that we're taking care of one another. I'm in awe of single parents. I have not idea how you can do this without a partner who has your back.

I posted a photo of me and Linden at an Illinois Wesleyan basketball game and the Titans kept winning, advancing all the way to the Division III Final Four. We didn't make the trip to Salem, VA to be there in person but we did watch the game as a family at the Hansen Student Center.

The week leading up to the Final Four was also spring break for IWU and for the school our day care provider's kids attend. So Miss Dee and her family took a road trip to Florida for the week and Linden got to visit some of the wonderful people who'd looked after her before she was ready for daycare. She got to spend time with Erika, Lexy and Laura and they were all so happy to see her and surprised at how big she is and all her new tricks.

Linden is now sitting up with medium assistance but she's really starting to master her hands and feet. She still looks at her hands in awe from time to time, but instead of being awed by their existance and proximity, she's now awed by their potential. She once shook them wildly but now she's much more deliberate with her movements. She brings pacifiers to her mouth, is selective in what she grabs, and even passes toys from one hand to the other. Just today I noticed her using her feet (while she was sitting) to bring a toy to her hands.

These past two weeks have been exceptionally busy for me at work. Illinois Wesleyan held it's second (annual?) "All in for Wesleyan" day on campus. The first All in for Wesleyan was last July 17 and was a very successful one-day fundraising campaign, promoted entirely over email and social media. We raised over $480,000 from nearly 2,500 donors. This year we held the day on April 2 but it was once again a surprise event. Since class was in session this year, we had an opportunity to involve the campus community. We kicked off the day at midnight with over 500 students at our athletic center and went all day. The numbers are still being tallied but it appears to be a huge success. Likely about the same number of donors as last year and over $700,000 raised. I've been preparing for this day for weeks, so I'm glad it went so well. And now I'm looking forward to spending more time with LB and relaxing over the weekend.

Kickoff event for All in for Wesl

Friday Firsts

Friday night had a bit of a green theme, and not just because of St. Patrick's day.

Linden had her very first bite of food -- avocado. She was a bit uncertain at first, as you can see, but was happily gumming it down in no time. This was just an exploratory mission to see how she'd react and it seemed to go quite well.

Friday evening, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans (colors: green/white) played Calvin College in the Sweet Sixteen. I had told Head Coach Ron Rose that if his team played well enough during the regular season to be able to host some playoff games, Linden might be able to make it to a Titan game this season. He held up his end of the bargain, so we held up ours.

It was a gorgeous night, so we packed Linden up and walked over to the Shirk Center to watch the Titans beat Calvin and advance to the Elite Eight. She slept through part of the game but enjoyed meeting new people and being part of the action.

Saturday was equally busy with Linden attending her first non-family birthday party. Our friends' youngest daughter was turning one and though they had not yet met one another, Linden somehow made the invite list.

She met our friends Chip and Val Saturday evening and stayed home with Laine while me and our friends ran to Illinois Wesleyan to catch the second half of the Illinois Wesleyan v. Dickinson game. IWU pulled out the win to secure a spot in the NCAA Division III Final Four in Salem, VA. We'll have to cheer on the Titans from home next weekend. :-)

"Rawr" is "I love you" in dinosaur

Linden's oldest and wisest cousin Chapin turned 5 on Sunday. Chapin's birthday just happens to coincide with Linden's half birthday. I'm sure there's some term for that. Maybe (Half) Birthday Buddies. I don't know. But it's a convenient way to remember your daughter's half birthday and nephew's birthday for sure.

Family dino-tees.

So Chapin turned 5 and had an amazing dino-themed party and enough kids and parents that I'm pretty sure they had to enforce a 1-in1-out policy at some point. Laine and I took in the chaos that is a 5-year-old's birthday and (at least I) became nervous. But Linden missed it all. She cashed out 10 minutes after the first guests arrived and woke up 10 minutes after the last guests left.

While she missed some serious hide-and-seek and an A+ dino-earthquake-cake, she took full advantage of the well-deserved attention from all of her aunts / uncles / cousins.

Gibson saying, "Hold It! Hold It!"

It's only now that we're realizing how much we've missed sharing our Little Bean with family and friends. She's such a social gal and loves being around groups of people, so it's just been a blast to introduce her to everyone.

Her cousins Chapin and Gibson love "Baby Linden" and are both so gentle and excited to see her. We're looking forward to the days to come when she'll learn to play, race, and sing with them.

p.s. Chapin's birthday was dinosaur-themed (as you can tell by looking at the kids' shirts). What wasn't pictured was Jesse's shirt that read "Rawr is 'I love you' in dinosaur," which is clearly ridiculous and the inspiration for this post's title.

One Tough Cookie

When Linden was cleared to start meeting other people and kids outside our quarantined house, she was basically being cleared to get sick. Well, that didn't take long.

After a couple days at daycare and some fun visits to meet family and friends who had waited patiently for nearly 6 months to meet our little girl, Linden awoke Monday morning sounding raspy and congested with a low grade fever.

She is one tough cookie though. Despite looking quite uncomfortable, she can still manage the occasional smile. She certainly does not get that trait from me. I handle pain better than discomfort and am a total wuss when I'm sick. Must get her toughness from her mom.