Cars

The last couple of weeks we have been consumed with cars. I've lost sleep over it, tossing and turning in my sleep with crazy car dreams.

We're a one-car family and currently drive an SUV that gets 18 mpg. It's never been a big deal until I stopped working and now drive more. My husband thought we should sell it for something more fuel efficient. I reluctantly agreed to look at some cars, I love our SUV and really don't want to sell it. On the other hand, 18 mpg is pretty sucky and there are some cool options out there to consider.

As I'd be the primary driver, my wish list was fuel efficiency, hatchback, small easy-to-tool-around car but with room for car seats & stroller.

Volkswagen:  As of 2010, they have some TDI models which are clean diesel and get 40 mpg. We looked at the Sportwagen (a Jetta wagon basically) and the new Passat. They were both nice. The Passat was huge, but a little on the old side (I like the look of the old Passats better) and we decided no sedan (too hard with the stroller). The Sportwagen had a great hatchback with lots of cargo space, and pretty nicely equipped.

Toyota: I've been wanting to get behind the wheel of a Prius since they came out. We test drive the 2011 model and it was like driving a spaceship. Completely different than any vehicle I've driven, it was pretty cool. And very roomy for what looks like a small car. Plenty of room for car seats and strollers.

Audi: They also make a TDI clean diesel of their A3 hatchback, and that was a fun car to drive. It's small, sporty, and smooth. It fit the car seat fine, but the stroller took a little wrangling. We liked driving this car the best because it's the most similar to our current car (it's the German engineering we love).

In the end, we chose ...

None of them.

The trade in value of the SUV was pretty dismal, it didn't make financial sense to take a loss on this car. Selling it privately is a hassle I don't want to undertake now. Aside from the fuel economy, we love our SUV, we love driving stick shift (they are not making any more luxury SUV in manual transmission anymore), and we're going to keep it. We talked about getting a second car, but we don't really need one so why go through that extra expense when we have home improvement projects still lingering. Maybe in a year or two we'll think about it again.

Whew ... now I can sleep better.

Memberships

Since having Wesley, memberships have become more plentiful.

The Arboretum ...I've always had one to the Arboretum (classes are cheaper as a member), but seeing Wesley light up in the Children's garden and having a place to go when the weather's fine and you have no 'plans' has me thinking I'll keep it going. Cost $65 (Pays for itself after 6 times - 3 times with a guest)

The Zoo ... Once you pay for parking ($9) and entry ($13), if you don't stay at least 5 hours then you feel jipped, and there's no way we can ever stay that long. Instead we bought the membership for the family and I've gone with Matt, his parents, my mom, and friends plenty of times throughout the summer. Now all we need to do is find a time to use those free tickets for the Dolphin Show. Cost $106 (with a guest pays for itself after 3 times)

Children's museum ... Now this one is new and I just got it. I've taken Wesley to this museum two times over the last two weeks. It's $9.50 to get in per person - that's $20 each visit for the two of us now that he's past 1-year. Insane. He wouldn't have gotten much from this place a few months ago (before he could crawl), but now it's like nirvana to him. I love it that it's a place I don't need to lug the stroller and I don't need to say "don't touch." Also good for those cold winter days ... Cost: $75 (Pays for itself after 4 times)

 The Pool ... When it's hot in the summer, all you dream about is a pool. The only thing I regret is not using this enough. It was hard with Wesley because on hot hot days, you don't want him out in the sun. And by the time evening comes, you forget about it. We went as a family a few times, and alone a few times but not enough to pay for itself. The other down-side is that it's only for the members, so I can't get my mom in for free which is better when you're with a baby (the more help the better). But this will be worth it as Wesley gets older. Cost $91 (Pays for itself after 11 times). Summer only.

Staying at home with Wesley means getting out and doing fun things, and these memberships at least allow me to have a place to go even if I only have a few hours and I don't have to rummage to make sure I have the cash.

State Fair

This weekend we went to the Wisconsin State Fair. We started going to this fair when I was 9 years old, and I don't think you can ever get sick of looking at cows and goats, drinking milk, eating baked potatoes and cream puffs, and listening to cover bands. It's what a State Fair is all about.  Wesley loved the animals and the people - the more the merrier for this outgoing Leo.

With my mom in LG

Riding the Moo Truck

A friendly llama

Cream Puffs!

Why torture me with winning cakes behind glass?

Pooped

Petting baby goats

Catigny

Our last music class for the summer was last week, and for the first time I got Wesley and I out of the house early so we could stroll through the pretty garden at Catigny before heading to the class to make some NOISE!

Arboretum Fun

Having a membership to the Arboretum is great with a little one. Who wants to spend $9 to get in when you can only spend 1-2 hours maximum with a 1-year old. I've appreciated the membership to come and go as I please - 1/2 hour, 2 hours, you name it.

We explored some more of the Children's garden last week on an impromptu visit to the Arboretum.

Bedroom floors

A few weeks back, we had our spare bedroom/office floors put in.

Before: Parquet flooring

Once again we hired our contractor. Matt & I removed the parquet from the baby's room and it is NOT an easy job, we knew we couldn't do it again. When the workers were pulling up this flooring, the house was shaking and I was grateful that we could hire someone for this back-breaking work. For the new hradwood flooring, we chose a pre-finished kind: Millstead's Maple Chocolate hardwood. It looks really nice, and what an easy install when you don't have to sand and stain and varnish like we did with the rest of the house (no stink and 24/7 fans blowing). We'll put this same flooring in our bedroom later this month.

After: New hardwood flooring

 Yesterday, I painted the trim while our babysitter watched Wesley, and now all I have to do is pick out a wall color.

Our biggest trip-up for this room is that we'd like to put the "office" into the closet. I saw this in a magazine and it looked like a great way to free-up a room. I found some great pictures for ideas on-line - here are a few:

 

We have attic access in this closet, so we just have to work around that and make the closet "removable" for the 1-2 times a year we "might" need to go into the attic. Make that 1-2 times every 5 years!

Madison Weekend

 After some busy weekends, 2 power outages, and a trip to the ER, we all needed some R&R and so our planned trip to Madison this weekend couldn't have come at a better time. We visited our dear friends, drank some honey liqueur at the Sugar Factory Distillery, played around at the Children's museum, bought veggies at the famed Farmer's Market, walked through the trees at the UW Arboretum, and ate some good food ... wait, did I say we needed some R&R?

On the rooftop garden of the Children's Museum

It was a fun weekend even though it was non-stop, and there's so much to do in Madison we always leave saying, "Wait, we didn't ..."

I thought Wesley was really good on this trip, on Saturday we were out and about from 8am - 7pm and despite leaving our dinner table at Brasserie V looking like a bomb went off, he was pretty good the whole time with only minor meltdowns when he was hungry. Now that he can eat table food, it makes it really easy to go to breakfast and order him, say, an egg and some yogurt. Or this afternoon he had cheesy grits at Lazy Jane's.

Wesley's 12-month update

Last week I took Wesley for his 12-month doctor well visit and here are his stats:

Weight: 25lbs (79%)
Height: 31.25" (89%)

He's gotten the okay to eat everything now except peanut butter, so the last week I've been making him a scrambled egg for breakfast and he's eating them like he's always had eggs. I'm lucky for my non-picky eater (so far).

Also, he was also taking 1 bottle at night before bed but because the bottle wasn't for making him fall asleep (and he wasn't attached to it), the doctor agreed that it was up to us, as the parents, to decide when to stop that bottle. So... we are now bottle free. We tried it last week and for a about a week now he has not taken a bottle (just water and whole milk in his sippy cup). In fact, we went away this weekend and we didn't even bring a "just in case" bottle and formula. I'm a little sad, only because the bottle was a way of snuggling with him and now he's really not a baby anymore. But I'm happy because bottles are a pain and formula is expensive.

My toothy grin

Wesley's first tooth came out around 9-1/2 months, and since then they have just been popping through. He has 4 right now, but the cutest are his 2 front teeth. When he smiles, they make him look like a big boy.

Here's to a big toothy grin!