Edie's First Haircut

A few pictures from Edie's first pro haircut can be found over on my photo blog. Enjoy!

Cousins, floating gourds and milestones!

Yesterday, we drove out to the Trygstad Compound to pick up little Miss Edie Pants after a weekend of fun with her grandma (now nicknamed "MeeMa") and grandpa. After hanging out for a bit, we went over to my aunt and uncle's cabin on Lake Lida and hung out with some extended family. Edie was able to play (and by play I mean steal toys) with her secondish cousin Brooklyn. What cute little ladies ;)

The rest of the day consisted of bead threading and walks in the garden.

This has been the highlight of my week:

Yep, that birdhouse gourd is hanging from a tree.... five feet from the ground. Uff da! The gourd spread it's vines at least 20 feet into the tree canopy... so, we'll see if there will be any other floating gourds before the season ends.

Just this morning, Edie sat and ate the table for the first time. What a big girl!

Thirteen Months Old

Edie loves books. On any given day in the TrygKerz household, you can see our little Chipperoo wandering around the house, book in hand, waiting for a willing reader. She'll read alone too... plopping down in one of her favorite little chairs, she'll open a book, point at the picture and say "Blah, blah, ahh!" in a language only she and the cats can understand.

She has been talking a lot lately, both gibberish and actual words. Her vocabulary includes new words such as Cheerios, up (looking up with such a positive tone), down, no- no-no, Bob, fish and just yesterday the phrase "read book."

It's been a busy month for Edie and the rest of the TrygKerz family. We celebrated her first birthday with lots of great friends and family during the Edie Pants Fun Pants Birthday Exstarvagazna. It was quite a turn out and Edie received a lot of super great gifts, many that, thankfully, do not make too much noise (some that do... we know who gave them so you better watch out!).

A couple weeks ago, we headed to the twin cities with her aunt Kim and cousins Zach and Chelsey. She road her first fair ride (the carousel) at Valley Fair and slept halfway through her first trip to IKEA and the Mall of America.

Jenni (her awesome babysitter) took a week off and August, so my cousin Kali came to stay with us for a week and watch Edie. Edie seemed to really enjoy it, and was so nice having Kali hang out for a week.

Last weekend, we traveled to central Minnesota for our annual UsFest friend reunion. Edie had a blast and enjoyed running around with the big kids and stealing their toys. A great time was had by all.

This month should be more laid back (thankfully).

Edie+Birthday=Cake

We are having an official first birthday party for Edie in a few weeks, but we had to have a little celebration of our own this afternoon. After work, we all headed to the Milestones Photography studio for a mini photo shoot and some good old fashion cake eating.

Edie love the balloon I gave her and I imagine it'll be a favorite toy until either it poops out or the cats destroy it.

She didn't know what to think of the cake at first, but found out quickly it contained sugar.

Fifty Two Weeks Old

I cannot believe how quickly 52 weeks can fly by. Just one year ago, I was sitting in the hospital holding a brand new, fragile baby girl. Today, I chased around a hearty toddler and encouraged her to meow at the cat. How quickly life can change.

Edie is such a joy. She is kind and funny and a little mischievous. She has the sweetest little voice and the cutest little dance moves. Observant since birth, she has a great eye for detail and learns things very, very quickly. There is absolutely no doubt that she is a mover but she is also very careful.

I'm totally head over heals in love with my daughter (can you tell) and she has made our little family even more awesome.

This week, Edie has been perfecting her words. She can say "doggie" and "kitty" more clearly, and she has added "uh oh" to her list of most used words. She barks. She meows. She squeals with joy. It is fantastic.

Edie and our cat Onslow have formed quite the bond. She gives Onslow hugs and Onslow gives her purrs. He allows her to pet him and doesn't mind (too much) when she gets a little rough. Pauline (the other cat) on the other hand still runs at the sight of little Miss Edie-Pants.

We had a little birthday celebration/photo shoot this afternoon at the studio and discovered she really digs balloons. Go figure. She also likes cake,

So, the First 52 weeks series is now complete. But, no fear! I shall continue writing about Edie and her various milestones once a month!

Forty Nine Weeks Old

This week, it dawned on me (once again) that my little baby Edie is growing into a toddler. Not only is she getting taller, but her little face is changing and her features are becoming more and more defined. Her expressions have reached a whole new level and our little tot is becoming more animated each day.

She has been using a lot more "words" and has been jabbering to herself (in her own language) a whole bunch this week. We discourage grunting but we don't mind when she tests her vocal cords in other ways such as the awesome winding "EEE-ah-EEE-ah-EEEE" sound she often uses during boring car rides.

A little more confidence in her walk this week too... and I imagine she'll be running around within the next few months. (Please, help us)

Forty Eight Weeks Old

(Sorry, this is late. Excuse below.)

Edie was so lucky to attend her very first music festival this week. Our little family (along with my parents and my brother Dana) drove up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for the Winnipeg Folk Festival. This is a yearly tradition for our family, so, it was fun to initiate little miss Edie Pants into the folk fest club. She was a great little camper and seemed to really enjoy the outdoors, the people and the music.

In other news, her pointing skills have reached a whole new level and she can now point with both fingers. She is also talking more and more, and says "Kitt" "Treeeeys" "Pa" and, again, something that sounds like "Papeeen" (Pauline?). She is become a more confident walker, but still needs a steady surface to stand up. She has also become very, very good and climbing things (including picnic tables) but still struggles with stepping down.

Forty Seven Weeks Old

One of Edie's biggest first year milestones was completed this week when she took her first official steps. It was fabulous, and we managed to get it on video. Unfortunately, since those first momentous movements she not taken more that two or three steps. In time, I suppose, we will look back fondly on the days when she simply crawled.

We are pretty sure she is calling Onslow and Pauline (as well as the picture of three cats on the box of cat litter) "kitty". Though, with baby-speak, one cannot me sure. What we do know, is that she uses Mahmahmummum is reference to me. In fact, the most common view I have of Edie Pants is the view you see in this week's picture. As I've mentioned before, our little Edie is very much a Mama's girl... and she is usually attached some how to my leg.

Edie's First Steps

Just this afternoon...

Edie's First Steps! from Britta Trygstad on Vimeo.

Minot Visit

As noted in the previous post, we went out to Minot a couple weekends below to visit family and celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby D. Because of my lack of summer weekends due to my job, we do not visit our family in central North Dakota in the summer very often. So, it was quite a treat to see everybody in the summer (and made hanging out even better as we could do it outside!)

Here are just a few extra pics of our visit.

Edie with Chelsey & Aunt Kim

Matthew and Edie got along very, very well :)

Lots of discussions on pregnancy and parenthood...

Most importantly, Edie was able to meet her Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Jean!

Forty Six Weeks Old

Over half way through her tenth month Edie is giving us major hints of her personality. Things we know:

She is active - not able to sit still for even short periods of time UNLESS she is tired or really, really entertained by something.

She is rebellious - The long periods of time where isn't moving usually consists of her getting into mischief... you know, yanking cords, finding and playing with random electronical devices, trying to climb dangerous looking stairs.

She is vocal - Edie has discovered a lot of fun words (mumumumum, da da da, ahhhhh, baybeah, and, just this week, ah-doh-ah-doh-ah-doh-ah-doh) and she uses them, a lot.

She is social - Sure, she has brief moments of being shy. But, give her 30 seconds and she'll be taking your glasses off your face meanwhile flashing her winning smile and telling you all about it.

She is happy - No doubt our Edie pants is a very happy child. She is usually smiling, which, in turn, makes us very happy.

She is Mama's Girl - Yep, as of right now Edie is my #1 fan. Even when she has having the time of her life with someone else, if I enter the room it's straight towards mum-mum-mum-mum.... for good, or bad.

It's been a fun week with Edie. She has begun to point at random objects and, in turn, we have started to tell her about those random objects. She continues to adore Onslow and Pauline (our cats) and points at them the most. This weekend we visited her Aunties Kim and Karmen as well as a lot of her cousins. She also met her Grandpa Myron and Great-Grandpa Tony.

Forty Five Weeks Old

I am not sure what the proper definition of a toddler is, but I am pretty sure Edie has entered this next stage. This week, Edie has been busy as ever. She has perfected removing items from shelves, bags, drawers. Her crawling abilities have reached a whole new level and cruising along just about any surface seems very, very, very easy for her. She gets very excited by pretty much everything, and, of course, she must check it out.

Also this week, she discovered how to stick out her tongue and quite enjoys showing us her new skill. In addition, her top two teeth finally broke through.

Edie's First Baseball Game

Like I mentioned in her 44 week post, Edie attended her very first baseball game last night. We had a great time and stayed until the end of the 7th inning. Thank you Linda Ottesen for the great tickets and Ann-n-Dan for joining us!

Edie's first hot dog... bun.

Edie also met Hawkeye (Redhawk's mascot). She squealed in delight when she spotted him from the balcony, but when he came closer she was a little more weary.

Staring down the bird...

Forty Four Weeks Old

Our little Edie-Pants reached a couple cool milestones this week. She attended her first baseball game last night (see picture) and lasted all the way through the end of the 7th inning. She practiced her new clapping skills (also a new milestone) at the game and charmed everybody in the box suite.

Even cooler than baseball, this week Edie used the words MumMumMum and Pop in reference to me and Kris. Do these count as her first words? She has also been making a sound that sort of sounds like "baby."

Forty Three Weeks Old

Ten-month-old Edie continues to be quite a charmer. Just today, I was stopped at the grocery store by four nice strangers who informed me that my little girl was adorable and quite smiley. This is not uncommon. She particularly has an effect on nice elderly men. Yep, world... you better watch out.

Edie has begun to master a few baby "tricks" (sounds bad, but I'm not sure what else to call them). She almost has the bye-bye wave down and just this week she has be responding to "So Big!" We are still working on clapping.

Random news of the week? Edie really enjoys the song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. We don't know why... but, Edie does a little dance every time she hears the song.

Forty Weeks Old

I just realized that Edie has spent more time breathing real, live air then she did baking in my belly (she was born at 38 weeks). I can't believe she is already forty weeks old!

We took our first trip together last weekend to Duluth with my parents and brother. We had a very good time, although little Edie had trouble sleeping... well, she hardly slept at all (which meant everyone didn't sleep). We think it was combination of things... new place, long ride, lots of activity. Next time, there are a few things I would do different. I guess we can file this experience into the "things we learn as first time parents" file.

On Monday night, we started sleep training Edie using the Ferber method. First night was a little rough. She cried for about 40 minutes and a little in the early morning. But, Tuesday (last night) went very well. She cried for less than two minutes and woke up at 6:15 a.m. Woo!

Edie had her 9 month check up on Monday. Her stats:

Weight: 17.1 lb (17%)

Length: 27.3 inches long (37%)

Head: 17.3 inches (43%)

Duluth

This past weekend, Kris, Edie and I traveled Duluth, Minn., for a little spring trip with my mom, dad and brother Dana. We had a nice time despite all of our lack of sleep (courtesy to little Miss Edie Pants) and a flat tire (courtesy of a large rock on the interstate). Duluth is a wonderful city with very good beer (Thank you Fitgers!).

We stayed at the Black Bear Casino Resort (my mom, queen of good deals, managed to get a killer deal) which luckily had a pool. So, Edie went swimming for the very first time!

The next day, we traveled to Duluth.

We visited the Glensheen Mansion a gorgeous early 20th century mansion on the lake. The mansion is run by the University of Minnesota Duluth who give quite a historic tour. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but here are a few of us outside.

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We were also able to spend sometime in Duluth Harbor. I have a thing for parks by lakes.

Tuckered out... don't let this fool you though. She still slept very little that night.

Sunday, we drove back... I went the wrong way on Highway 210 and ended up at Jay Cooke State Park. I took the opportunity to take a picture of myself.

Home Sweet Home :)