Welcome Great Pumpkin

Like Linus van Pelt, Soren is eagerly awaiting the arrival of The Great Pumpkin. Some view Linus's lonely vigils, in the service of a being who may or may not exist and who never makes his presence known in any case, as a metaphor for man's basic existential dilemmas. While pondering his own essence of life, Soren stay's fashionably warm with the beautiful handknit sweater made for him by Granny Annie.

Signs that Fall has arrived

I have fallen into the classic Fall image cliche - pulling out the camera at the first sign of a leaf dropping and pumpkins adorning front stoops. Besides, doesn't Soren's toothy grin remind you of classic jack-o-lantern smiles?

Indian Summer

A week and a half ago we bid farewell to our cottage weekend escapes, closing it down for the winter. We took advantage of the glorious weather and strapped Soren into the backpack and hit the hiking trails of Northern Minnesota. Besides hoofing it through the streets of Longfellow neighborhood, this was Soren's first real backwoods experience in the backpack. We were thrilled with Soren's excitement, opening up future dreams of nature based adventures. It certainly helped that the leaves were in perfect fall form with brilliant colors providing wonderful sensory stimuli.

9 Month Stats

At 9 months, Soren weighed in at a healthy 21lbs 12oz. This photo reveals our secret to such health - the size of the spoon used during feedings.

Get out of Jail Free Pass

There are so many milestones in infancy, but none like the ones that throw a curve ball at you. We thought that our little fella was so smart to figure out how to pull himself up and traverse along the edge of couches and crib rails. That smug parental feeling lasted a total of 10 hours, abruptly coming to a halt at 1am, 2am, 3am, etc. when Soren would repeatedly wake up, pull himself up, then cry out from frustration at not knowing how to let himself get back down. Add a jail jumpsuit onsie with the crying, stretched out arm and you have one heck of a heart breaking midlle of the night scenario.

Visiting Grandpa Rupert: Before and After

Mr. Personality

One of Randy's favorite pastimes is styling Soren's hair after bathtime. All it takes is a little fohawk action and the boy goes wild.

Dolphin Show

Thanks to the Minneapolis Public Library, we were able to check out the MN Zoo pass and spend a glorious Sunday morning checking out the various animals. By far Soren's favorite zoo hangout was the dolphin tank. Soren was conviced that he was also the dolphins favorite attraction. Soren would wave, then a dolphin would swim by and wave back. With Soren's love of the water, we may have a budding dolphin trainer on our hands.

The Chariot

School is back in session and that means I am back at work. I have taken a sabbatical replacement position at The College of St. Catherine. Gone are the leisurely mornings in place of a hectic shuffle getting Randrea out the door. As sad as it is to leave Soren for a few hours in the morning, we are blessed by the good care he is in. Granny Annie now gets private play time for two days and his best buddy Kai and his awesome mom Molly play together the other two days. We scored a double stroller (thanks Katie!) Molly named "The Chariot" where the boys rule the Longfellow neighborhood.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Since Soren hasn't reached the solids stage where he can eat food off a stick, we had to search out other forms of entertainment at this years State Fair. Here is a visual tour of the highlights.


It has been a busy 8 months for both Soren and Senator Klobuchar, but their paths finally cross at the fair.


Abigail Klobuchar was the same age as Soren when I was her nanny 12 years ago - time does fly.



Visiting newborns at the Miracle of Life Center.



Checking out the Midway.




Meeting Ronald McDonald.

Eliminate That

While we were at the cloth diaper store the other day, Randy got all excited about the Baby Bjorn potty. I took the opportunity to tell him that Soren's buddy Kai has been using the potty rather successfully. Using a potty at such an early age also happens to be part of the elimination communication (EC) training. Randy has up until now rolled his eye's at any EC talk. But when we placed Soren on that cute little yellow potty and Soren went to the bathroom 4 times in it that first day, you couldn't have seen a prouder daddy or bigger believer.

Waiting for the diapers to dry........

Baby Slinging Daddies

Meet Sophie, Soren's first extended stay playmate. Sophie came to the cottage with her parents Tan and Anne Marie. It was great to have some quality time with the new parents and share the 7 months of baby wisdom we have acquired, including how hip and hot daddies can be slinging around their babies.

Rocking Baby

At over 20 pounds, it takes some upper body strength to get oneself pushed up off the big belly. But just like that, Soren was on all fours - rocking back and forth. The arm crawl has now followed. Now all I need to do is design a onsie with a swiffer wipe built in and our hardwood floors would be spotless!

Pinball Wizard

Sleeping Beauty

Wedding Bliss and A Skipper Brave and Sure

Soren, Granny Annie and I spent the weekend up in Ashland and Bayfield Wisconsin celebrating the marriage of Kate and Troy. Randy sadly had to work and miss all the adventure. After saying her vows and kissing the groom, I caught the bride trying to make a move on my date with a promise of providing all the alcohol he needs until he is 21.



The next day a fearless group set sail on a three hour sailing tour of the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. Soren strapped on his Gilligans hat and showed his brave and sure spirit.


First he did a boat safety inspection starting with the ropes.


Then he carefully read the rescue procedures and was thankful for the illustrated version.



After an all clear - he took charge of the steering wheel, navigating around the islands like a pro.


And ended the sail with a happy clap and a christmas wish of his own 32 foot sailboat for next summer.

7 Months Old

Soren decided to get a little cheeky with his monkey Verde. He dedicated this image to Auntie Mary in regards to her 6 month comment.

Chomping Chomps

For at least the last two months Randy had sworn that Soren was teething. "Any day now" he was always saying. Well "any day" finally came last week. Randy was pleased to be the first to report that Soren's left tooth had cut through. A day later came the right one and the end of the teething waiting game.

Like Father, Like Son 2

Randy had been hitting Craigslist for a used Burley before Soren even got home form the hospital, dreaming about that magical 6 month safety timeframe for babies. Minutes after Soren's 6 month birthday Randy had him strapped into his carseat and into the Burley. As you can see - Soren is estatic with his personal introduction to the biking world and Randy couldn't be happier. The 20 pound Burley and our 19.5 pound son slows Randy down enough for me to tag along. Randy has been picking up the pace lately, so I have been suggesting more hilly routes, though I am thinking about stacking weights under Soren to slow him down..............

Beach Bum

Look who has mastered the skill of sitting up by himself! Sitting in the sand allows for a soft landing when Soren does have one of his tipsy - face planting moments. Summer is half over, so we are trying to get as much sand and water action in as we can get. With Soren being a natural water baby, it's a good thing we moved back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Gus is 1.5 years older than Soren and is a master at sharing his toys. After their intense play session, Soren leaned in offering a playful nose rub thanking Gus for the fun playdate. Gus now has a 2 week old brother named Mason who will be Soren's playdate at the Movies for Moms tomorrow to see Hairspray!

6 Months Old!

BBQ 101

Uncle Chris and his friend Steve came from NYC to spend some time at the lake and teach Soren their BBQ'ing skills.

Big Boat vs. Little Boat

We are the only cabin on the lake that doesn't have a boat powered by a motor. We love the quiet calm of canoeing and the thrill of sailing with the wind at our backs. We were eager to get Soren in a boat and thought the canoe was the safest way to go. Soren was not happy with either the life jacket or the canoe. But what he does love is his own little blow up boat where he can putter around at his own pace, creating his own version of noise pollution with his shrieks of happiness.

Team Spirit @ Race For The Cure

The Brainerd Lakes Area sponsors the Komen Race for The Cure each July and this year we joined Team Ginger in honor of our friend Jonathan Brauer's late mother.

July 4th Baby Races

The competition was tough this year, as Soren had to compete against three 10 months old who actually did know how to crawl. The event was the Pequot Lakes annual July 4th Parade Festivities. At the baby crawl race, Soren was in top contender shape, regardless of lacking the necessary skill of crawling. We did consider spiking the other babies bottles with some Benedryl to even out the playing field. As much as we cheered and hoped that Soren would miraculously sprint across the pad, he made us proud with his belly breast stroke. Hopefully, he at least got a few pointers from the competetion. Check out more pics published in the local paper The Echo.

Grandpa Henry teaching Soren that Magnum PI moustaches are indeed a manly quality to aspire to have.