We finally have some nice weather and Linden has had so much fun walking around and exploring outside. Since she began walking at the very end of October/early November, this week has been her first opportunity to walk around outside without there being snow on the ground.
We took her to the Illinois Wesleyan quad on Sunday and she thought it was amazing! She screamed and giggled virtually the entire time. And she wasn't interested in walking when she realized she could run in any distance, seemingly forever. Laine and I had fun chasing her around and pointing out things like squirrels, birds, various textures on the ground, etc.
Here's my favorite picture from her first big walk on the quad.
Two things are sure to get Linden excited: grandparents and puppies. She was wild about both this past weekend.
Laine was facilitating an IWU women's alumni summit on campus this weekend so I took Linden up to my parents' on Friday to spend the night. She's in such a curious learning stage that she was excited about everything. And as always, she loved seeing Bailey and her grandparents.
After a fun afternoon reading with Grandma and playing, Linden went down for the night at her usual time. But when she woke up she did not want to go back to sleep. She really just wanted to play with Bailey and my parents.
Bailey, always up for a snack, took the opportunity to grab one. Linden found his harness and worked on putting it on him for awhile. As you can see from the video, she's certain she achieved success at one point. Bailey was a good sport.
We were back in Bloomington on Saturday and spent the weekend at home. On Sunday evening, Laine's parents were driving back from a weekend in Nashville and stopped by for a quick visit. Linden was very excited to show off her dance moves and read a story with them.
I returned home from a long run in the snow last Saturday evening to find my two girls playing a new imitation game. I didn't ask why Linden wasn't wearing pants, but was wearing shoes. I'm just glad that was the outfit she had on because it made this scene even more hilarious.
It's amazing how quickly plans can change when you have a little one.
This weekend we planned to drive down to Marion, IL for a couple nights. Laine registered to run a marathon on Saturday and we were going to spend some family time relaxing at the hotel, seeing some sights, and enjoying the warm Southern Illinois sun.
But as we were packing the car, Linden puked...a lot. Though she hasn't been doing this much in the past few months, she does have quite a history of this kind of behavior. We decided to press on, assuming she would just fall asleep in the car. Instead, she got sick once we hit the highway and once more on the highway back home.
The good news is that Linden seems to be feeling better already and both my girls are enjoying some cuddles.
I was recently made aware of the fact that I completely skipped over Christmas 2014! We had a great time visiting with the Millers and Twanows and Linden made it easy for us.
We started the holiday in Milwaukee visiting Casey, Drew and Baby Ivy with Graeme, Nina, Doc and Shirls. At that Christmas celebration we received the camera that allowed us to compile the videos below, so this first leg is a bit less documented. It was a relaxing start to our trip and we loved having another chance to see our newest niece. Linden loved the hotel and learned that her chair could be used for more than just napping...quite the opposite in fact.
I upload all my photos and videos to Google and they will produce compilation videos of photos and movies from a single day or trip without me having to do anything at all. I don't pick the photos or edit the video so it's not super polished but it sure does make it easy. So here are some videos of our holidays that Google pulled together using our photos and videos.
This first one is from Christmas Eve at my parents' house.
The video below is a compilation of photos/videos from Christmas Day 2014. We started the morning with my folks before packing up and heading to the Twanows'.
And this one is from Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, and the next day when we drove back home to Bloomington.
The next week, we drove to Columbus, Ohio to visit Jaime, Jesse, Chapin and Gibson's new home. We left when Laine came home from work and spent the night halfway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lucky for us, Linden loves hotels. :-)
But we all had even more fun spending New Year's Eve with our family in Ohio. Here are some photos from that visit.
This past year has been the shortest and longest year of my life. Up until December, I would regularly write "2013" as the year. That's understandable in January and a funny mistake in February, but completely unacceptable in December.
My inability to recognize the year doesn't discount it's importance. 2014 was one of the best years of my life.
All of the parenthood cliches are true. Having a child is both the most challenging and rewarding undertaking of your life. Each week is an emotional roller-coaster but it's always exciting. They say that you're only given what you are able to handle. Laine and I joke that we must not be able to handle much because Linden is fantastic. :-)
Looking back, it's amazing to see how much has changed in this past year. Today marks the one year anniversary of the day Linden was rid of the monitor that recorded her heart rate and breathing. Today, she's a rough and tumble girl who is always on the go.
This past year was exciting for other reasons as well. Namely that Linden became a big cousin to Van Orion Singley and Ivy Ross Wellinghoff. Linden now has two older cousins and two younger cousins. Funny to think of her as an older cousin to anyone!
We look forward to spending more time with our niece and nephew in the coming year. I'm sure Linden will have all kinds of fun things to teach them.
We finally have some nice weather and Linden has had so much fun walking around and exploring outside. Since she began walking at the very end of October/early November, this week has been her first opportunity to walk around outside without there being snow on the ground. 
