Last Day of School...

Today was our last day of Mommy and Me school. (They will actually meet one more week (June 3rd), but I start back to work on Tuesday, June 1st.) We had a great time at class meeting other moms and babies. It was fun to hear stories very similar to ours and about what we could expect in the weeks to come! It is very reassuring to know that others are going through and experiencing some of the same things as us. Too often we wonder are we doing things right? What is wrong? Why is she so fussy? Why don't I ever get anything else done during the day? This group of women, and our facilitator Lisa, became a very comfortable group and place to be on Thursday mornings. Where else can you have a crying baby, change a diaper and/or breastfeed in front of a bunch of people and feel comfortable doing so? We have already gone out to lunch together, met at MOA to walk (we fit 8 moms and 8 strollers in one elevator!) and have discussed setting up a trip to the MN Zoo in June. Larkyn and I feel very blessed to have met such a fun group of ladies and babies. We look forward to many more "playdates" together in the future!

Our Class:

(Top, left to right) Ciara and Esmae, Kim and Larkyn, Jennifer and Joseph, Lisa and McKenna

(Bottom, left to right) Heidi and Lily, Charlene and Kieran, Kaisha and Hendrix, Lee and Ethan

Not Pictured: Annette and Graham

It looks like Joseph is telling McKenna a secret and Ethan and Esmae are sharing secrets too! Larkyn is too busy holding hands with Kieran:)


Ethan and Esmae are all about the secrets!

Larkyn, Lily, and Esmae

Do we look like our Daddy's or what?

Woah Kieran! Keep your hands to yourself!

Larkyn...keep YOUR hands to yourself!

Oldest to youngest:

Hendrix (12/30), McKenna (2/25), Larkyn (3/13), Kieran (3/16), Esmae (4/1), Ethan (4/6), Lily (4/7), and Joseph (4/12) Not pictured: Graham (4/5)

McKenna and Larkyn

Larkyn and Esmae

"Okay Mom! I know it's my last day of school, but enough with the pictures already!"

Yardwork at the Mueske's

Last Sunday was a beautiful day for yard work and a wonderful day for Miss Larkyn to nap! We layed her down around 11:30 a.m. and she allowed us to mow the lawn, pick weeds and clean up our mulch area, plant our garden in the backyard and eat lunch before waking up around 2:30 p.m. What an accomplished day!

Shea started the garden on Friday by digging up the sod and getting the area ready. I also spent the afternoon picking out vegetables and herbs to plant. Saturday Shea and our neighbor Scott worked on tilling the soil and outlining the area with landscaping timber. Sunday was planting day! We look forward to tending to our garden and hopefully will get better at it year after year. Our hope is to be able to make Larkyn baby food straight from the backyard! We also look forward to teaching her about the garden and having her help plant and pick one day as well. I remember how much fun I had pulling carrots, green beans and peas from my grandma and grandpa's garden when I was little and hope to create those memories for Larkyn!

Larkyn's Photo Shoot...

We went back to Capturing Moments in Wisconsin (where we got our maternity photos taken) for a newborn shoot for Larkyn. She was 7 weeks old at the time and for the most part very cooperative. She even fell asleep for some of it! Kathy and Amy do such a wonderful job of making us feel comfortable and relaxed. Larkyn was so relaxed she decided to pee all over the front of my shirt:)

Hanging out with the Winona Crew...

Tara, a good friend of mine from college, visited last weekend from Green Bay. A handful of the "Church House Girls" (many of us lived in an old converted church for a couple years in Winona) and some of our significant others got together for a fun day and evening of hanging out and catching up. Larkyn had a great time seeing all of our friends and was a real trooper all day!

She really enjoyed her Kelsi time!

Larkyn and Tara having quite the conversation:)

Jessi and I wanted to get the girls' picture taken in their Winona State gear, but they both weren't too sure about it. I think Hannah was saying "Seriously, its 80 degrees out and you have me in this sweatshirt!? Not to mention its 3 times my size!!!" Larkyn is trying to console her..."It's okay Hannah, at least you have shorts on, I'm dying in these jeans!"

"Come on already!"


"Mom, did you know that the E's are backward on my shirt?"

Church House Girls...Past and Future:)

Kelsi, Kim, Larkyn, Kelly, Hannah, Jessi and Tara

"Hmm, what can I eat next!?"

Mamas and Babes

Kelsi, Larkyn, Hannah and Jessi watching the big game of whiffle ball!

This wasn't your typical game of whiffle ball. It was a little backwards! We had to hit opposite hand and ran to 3rd base rather than 1st after hitting the ball. If the pitcher got the ball before you made it to 3rd base, you were automatically out! Rough rules, but a lot of fun and very competitive! Kelsi and I switched places after a couple innings. She was much better than I was:)

Shea trotting home after a homerun! Imagine that...Mr. Baseball!

Later in the evening we went inside Jessi and Chris' house to play the "Lying Game". We each wrote down 2 truths about ourselves on a post-it and Jessi picked out one truth and three of us to come up and try to convince the others that it was our truth in order to gain points. We found out quite a bit about each other. It ended up being a hilarious game! Shea, Jeff and Tara were each telling us about the time they stole rubber bands from an airport gift shop. I hate to admit it, but it ended up being Shea who was telling the truth!

Chris was keeping Larkyn company while Daddy was up telling his story:)

"Chris, Kelsi, and Kellie, tell us about the time you found your brother eating floating raisins out of the toilet!" There was no way Chris was telling the truth, but it ended up being him!

"Jeff, Shea, and Chris, tell us about the time you grew a rat tail!" Turns out Jeff wanted to be just like his 4th grade teacher, who was a woman I might add:) (Larkyn was not impressed:))

Out to lunch with our Mommy and Me Friends...

Last Thursday we went out to lunch with the moms and babies from our Mommy and Me Class. Every other seat was an upside down high chair holding an infant seat with a baby in it! We have really enjoyed getting to know our new friends and look forward to many more outings together!

Lee, Ethan, Jennifer, Joseph, Kaisha, Hendrix, Lisa and McKenna.

Charlene, Kieran, Kim, Larkyn, Heidi and Lily.

When we got home Larkyn was sound asleep with her "blindfold" over her eyes. It didn't take long before she was awake and her happy self. Nothing better than a great afternoon nap!

2 month well check...

Larkyn visited Dr. Mitha for her 2 month check-up on Friday afternoon. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 5 oz. which puts Little Miss Porkchop in the 90th percentile for her age! Larkyn is 23 inches long (75th percentile) and her head is 15 1/2 inches round:) (50-75th percentile). Dr. Mitha was not concerned with her weight and said she is one healthy breastfed baby! I was a little nervous about how the shots would go but she was a champ and did very well before, during and after them! Her appointment with shots was followed by a couple naps, her first "driveway night" with the neighbors, and a third night in a row of sleeping 8 hours! Wahoo!

No wonder why she is Miss Happy Pants most of the time!

Larkyn Kate is 2 months old...

Larkyn Kate is 2 months old already! She has grown so much and her personality is really developing as well. One of the exciting changes over the past couple weeks has been her sleep schedule. Larkyn is now sleeping anywhere between 7 and 8 hours during the night! We are working on settling into a napping during the day schedule as well, but she likes to fight sleep or just take little cat naps at times.

She is still quite active and very alert. She loves going out and about and being around people. Larkyn seems very interested in what is going on around her and doesn't like to be left alone for very long! She responds to our voices and smiles with cooing and bright eyed smiles back. Her neck muscles continue to get stronger as she holds her head up quite well when in the sitting position. Larkyn also loves looking at herself in the mirror and grabbing for objects around her.

Tonight Larkyn had her first babysitter other than family. While Shea and I went to visit little Luke Steinert, born on Wednesday, May 12th, and his parents in the hospital, Larkyn spent a couple hours with our wonderful neighbors Mike, Jess and Hailey. Hailey loved spending time and playing with Larkyn!

"Oh no! Not this again..."

"I might give you a smile..."

"Here is a little one..."

"Here it comes..."

"Okay, you win!"

"Look at me grow! I grew almost 2 inches over the month!"