The LaBombards

I think I've decided that I'm a pretty lousy blogger. I have no idea how some of you out there post every day and sometimes multiple times per day. You are amazing! I've found it easy enough to think of ideas for posts but somehow by the time I get around to writing one it become a massive catch up list. Sheesh.

Well, anyway, Eva had her 9 month doctors appointment last week and is doing just fine. She maintains her string bean status at 90% for height and around 25% for weight. She's super cute (biased) and an incredibly happy girl. She is an amazing gift from God. We actually had her visit with one of the nurse practitioners and she was pleasant enough aside from the fact that she made me feel pressured about vaccinations. I guess this is just something that I'll have to get used to. The naturopathic doctor we see pointed out that so many doctors out there forget that we're hiring them to do a job for us, not the other way around. I guess that means that we can fire them too...I think they should be a little nicer.

For the past week I've had a pretty terrible head cold. I don't remember the last time I was this sick. It's no fun but I'm feeling 10 times better now than I felt at the beginning of the week. I think Eva had this too to a lesser extent. Her poor little nose has never been so crusty before. Eddie stayed home from work yesterday to rest up since he felt like it might be attacking him too. He went to work today even though he wasn't feeling 100%; don't I have a great husband? Hopefully, we'll all get lots of rest tonight and through the day tomorrow because tomorrow night is the long awaited arrival of Mom and Dadler!

If I know them, and I think I do, they'll probably get up in the wee hours of the morning to get an early start on the trip. Maybe we will all be able to have dinner together. I'll have to make sure it's something special to warm and relax them after many hours in an automobile. I think one positive thing about having a cold the week before you're supposed to have house guests is that it forces you to take it easy. So often I can get overly wrapped up in creating a good impression for whoever is coming over and I think that stems from my pride. I'm glad that my parents will be arriving before I have had time to finish painting the kitchen or cleaning up the basement (that means they can do it for me...just kidding). The reason I'm glad is because they'll arrive into our home as we live in it, not some perfect, pristine(HA!) place that doesn't really exist. And let's get real, if you can't show your home to your parents, who can you show it to? Don't worry Mom and Dad, I at least made sure your bathroom was clean.

I just found out yesterday that our home is going to become my workplace in a few weeks. I got an email saying I was accepted into the hotelling program at work and I'll be starting training for that on February 4th. Now I just need to come up with six days worth of child care while I'm in training full time. Yuck. Why do they want to train me on filling out my time sheet online when I've been doing that since the implementation of the online time sheet a couple years ago? Yes, I'm serious. What a waste of time. At least I'll be in training with my good friend Krista so we can pass notes like junior high. I'm also really excited to have my wonderful ipod touch which I will be sure to load with games.

Here's a little throw back picture. Eva on her second day of life. All together now, awwwwwwwwwww.


I'm sure there is more that I've thought of writing over the past two weeks but I can't remember. Hopefully, I'll get some posts out more frequently but don't count on it. :)

Posted in: on Friday, January 23, 2009 at at 2:41 PM 0 comments  

Well, the Contours lite stroller came and went in a matter of a couple hours on Sunday. To those of you who really like that stroller, I'm sorry. I don't want to offend you but I was thoroughly unimpressed by it. The construction was flimsy. The canopy made the most horrendous clicking noise when you moved it to its one position. The snack tray was in Eva's face and the seat could not sit fully upright. Good luck opening the snack tray too...poor design there. What's more, the seat back was held up by nothing more than an adjustable strap. The only thing it really had going for it was an awesome red color...I wish I could have kept that. Glad we didn't have to pay for shipping and that Walmart took it back easily.


I ordered the Graco Metrolite three days ago, received it today and just finished putting it together. We test drove the Metrolite at BabiesRUs and liked it so I was pretty confident that it would be a keeper. I can tell already that Eva and I are going to have some long walks when it gets a little warmer out. Among some of the perks are an adjustable handle (really very helpful when the adults are 5'4" and 6'2", everyone's comfortable this way), a drop back on the cargo basket which makes it really easy to get things in and out, two adult cup holders and a great kids tray, with a cup holder, that is really easy to open. It's got a peekaboo window on the top of the canopy and one on the rear if you have a tiny one laying down. The only thing I have a problem with is that when you fold it you have to really squeeze the body to get the latch hooked. I'm fairly confident that this will remedy itself after a short time once the fabric loosens up though. It looks sleek and seems well made. It only cost about $20 more and I think it will be money well spent.

Posted in: on at at 2:22 PM 3 comments  

You're in for a long day when you are sorting laundry and check your 9 month old's pants pockets before putting them in the washer... Oh boy.

I was planning on working today but I guess it wasn't God's plan. I feel like there are many times when my plan and God's plan do not align. I'm hoping that throughout the day God will reveal himself to me in new ways and that I will seek to serve him instead of myself. It is just so hard sometimes, to lead a Christ centered life. (I'm praying for you RF.)

Eva has been continuing to grow and change rapidly. Yesterday she hit her 9 month mark and I just can't believe it will be only 3 short months before I have a one year old. Where have the months gone? She is such a sweet baby and she has such a good nature. People at church come up to Eddie and me all the time and comment about her. Yesterday during worship Eva was singing in her own way and dancing. She was just as happy as could be, in her own little world praising God. I think it's so awe inspiring how connected little kids are to God. Anyway, after church an older gentleman came up to us and seemed so touched by Eva and her happy spirit. How good to know that Eva affects people in such a positive way. She is so friendly and smiles at EVERYONE. It's a blessing to see the smiles that she brings to other peoples' faces. I pray that as she grows she will continue to be a friendly and happy person and that she will live up to the name Evangeline - bearer of good news.

In other news Mom and Dad A. are officially coming to visit for the last week in January!! I'm so excited that they will get to spend a good chunk of time with their granddaughter, and Eddie and me too. They are deserving of a good long break and hopefully Dad will find all the household projects we have lined up for him relaxing!! ;-) If I'm chosen for hotelling at work there's a 6 day long training involved and one of the potential weeks for that is the week that Mom and Dad will be here. I'm toying with the idea of training that week since child care would be all lined up but at the same time I want to spend time with my parents... what to do, what to do.

I guess I should mention that I applied to work from home last week. For those of you who don't know, the Patent Office has really been pushing a program called 'hotelling' which is basically working from home. Until recently it was not available to part-timers but our union negotiated with management and now it's allowed. The only downside to this is that you have to work a minimum of 60 hours per biweek. I currently only work about 40. What this would mean is an increase in work that I would have to do; however, I could eliminate close to two hours worth of commute per day and $8 for the parking garage. Another bonus is that the PTO would reimburse us for our internet. Seems like it's a no brainer, right? I will continue to pray that if this is what God has for me that I will be selected. Please pray that I would seek God's will in this situation.

Last week I ordered the Kolcraft stroller from Walmart. Since I can return it to the store and got free site to store shipping I figured we could test it out that way. If we like it, we'll keep it. If not, I guess I'll be looking for a good deal on one of the other strollers.

Posted in: on Monday, January 12, 2009 at at 9:25 AM 2 comments  

I finally posted the past couple months worth of pictures on our Picasa site. Enjoy!

Posted in: on Friday, January 2, 2009 at at 2:52 PM 0 comments  

It's official, Evangeline has graduated from her funky style crawling to full blown hands and knees speediness. Apparently it was her Christmas gift to us because it was late afternoon on Christmas day when she made her move. With Grandma and Grandpa L. sitting near by and Eddie and I playing with her on the floor she started to figure it all out. You could see the little wheels turning in her head and slowly she began to coordinate her baby limbs. My first thought was 'how exciting' and my second thought was 'shoot! We need to get baby proofing!' No longer can I set Eva down and expect her to stay in close proximity. Oh sigh. My little girl is growing too fast. It was just a week ago that she began crawling and already she has pretty much mastered pulling herself up on any edge within two feet of the ground. I foresee many knocks on the noggin until she finds her equilibrium.

We had a wonderful Christmas staying home. Mom and Dad L. were here and we pretty much just spent time relaxing together. The guys got a couple of projects around the house done and we were treated to a new kitchen faucet. I'd say this is as close to enjoying dish washing that I've come. The faucet has a wonderful high arched neck which makes my relatively shallow builder grade sink feel ten times more spacious. The pools of water normally surrounding the sink have been greatly diminished. To put it seasonally... Joy to the world, the counter's dry!

While we had a great time with Mom and Dad L. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss having my parents with us. We're all hoping that Dad A. can get some time off at the end of the month so we can do Christmas part II. I'm sure we'll sneak in some time somewhere for a visit.

Today we explored many different stroller options at BabiesRUs, the hottest store known to man. It never fails that it's about 90 degrees in that place. We're looking for something that's light, maneuverable, has a Mommy cup holder, a front tray for baby and is easy to collapse with one hand. A friend suggested the Contours lite by Kolcraft but I can't find it in a store so I can take a test drive. We tried out one by Combi and one by Graco in the store. Both seemed pretty comparable and had a lot of nice features. I keep going back to the Kolcraft in my mind though for a couple reasons. First, the friend who suggested it also suggested our first stroller which we were happy with, and second, it's about $100 cheaper than the other options we looked at. In my mind, why would you pay $160 for a stroller when you can get a comparable one for $60. Anyone have any stroller suggestions or features you did or didn't like about ones you've tried?

Posted in: on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at at 4:21 PM 1 comments  

Before I had a child people always told me, 'don't blink or you'll miss something.' How true that is turning out to be! I don't think I've actually missed anything yet (man are my eyes dry) but I'll tell you, my little girl is changing and learning rapidly. Lately she's figured out her own style of crawling and is extremely interested in the fringe around the hem of our Christmas tree skirt. It would appear that she loves presents too, who doesn't, right? The mode of travel she decided on is to get into a monkey position (hands and feet) and then flop to the ground and repeat. So far it's been pretty successful though I don't see this lasting long since it takes a while to get anywhere. We'll see what her next modification will be.

Another point of progress Eva has made is in eating. We ran out of homemade baby food and I hadn't gotten a chance to make some more so I tried just mushing up some peas and giving her that with some other things. She did really well so we started trying more and more things. I noticed that she was showing a particular interest in trying to pick things up with her thumb and pointer too. Bring in the O's. I feel like in an instant Eva went from very smooth pureed food to picking up and eating finger food all by herself.

We had some friends in town last week and it was really nice to see them and catch up a bit. Thursday morning we had all finished breakfast (Eddie's boss was nice enough to let him come in a bit late) and Eva and I walked Eddie to the door as he was leaving for work. Normally I wave 'bye bye' to him and I say 'bye bye Daddy' by myself. This time I was not the only one waving and talking. Eva joined me with a wave and also said 'buh buh da da'. This was another one of those precious moments that I won't ever forget. Since then she waves and says 'buh buh' whenever she sees herself in the mirror.

Over the course of the past month a huge, wonderful blessing has occurred. Eva has pretty much stopped spitting up!! I'm not sure when it happened exactly but one day I realized that I didn't need to keep a bib on her all day. It's been fantastic. Thank you God.

I'm gearing up for Christmas. Things haven't been as organized as I would have liked but stuff is getting done. We decided to have Christmas at our house this year and have our folks come down here. Sadly my parents won't be able to join us as previously planned but Eddie's parents will still be making the trip unless the snow decides otherwise. We're looking forward to being home for the holidays and allowing Eva to have her first Christmas at her house.

Posted in: on Monday, December 22, 2008 at at 10:52 AM 0 comments  

Wow, I haven't updated in a while. Things have been so busy around here with the holidays. It seems that it has taken 3 weeks to prepare and recover from a one week trip! First you have the week of prep, getting things together and ready to go. Then you have your week away. Finally there's the unpacking and clean up resulting from being away for a week. Do you find that happens to you?

Posted in: on Friday, December 5, 2008 at at 9:57 AM 1 comments