Unbearable

Linds bought me a pair of tickets to see the Vikes/Bears game at Soldier Field in Chicago on MNF for my birthday. She donated the other ticket to my brother Joe, saying out loud, “I know you’d enjoy the game more with him and you guys rarely get to see each other these days”… while simultaneously saying internally, “no way in hell am I sitting outside for 4 hours in sub-zero temperatures so you can watch your stupid Vikings”.

Aside from some minor frostbite and a terribly disappointing ending, we had a great night. Thanks hon’!

Editor's note: That ugly hat on Joe's mug has been his favorite for ages. Just how long, you ask? Well, we did a little digging and turned up this old pic (I guess they don't make 'em like they used to!).

9 months

On 12/27 our little girl hit the 9 month mark. Here’s the monthly update:

A few of Evie’s latest tricks include:

• High fives and blowing kisses
• Cracking herself up playing solo peek-a-boo, pulling a blanket over her head and down a million consecutive times
• Adding Na-Na and Ta-Ta to her growing list of “words”

A few of Evie’s latest favorite things include:

• Yogurt (you cannot shovel the stuff in her mouth fast enough!)
• Changing TV channel from whatever Mom or Dad happen to be watching*
• Related, freezing Mom or Dad’s laptops with amazing and swift keystroke combinations I’ve never even seen before*

*Hm, maybe these are signs that we should be paying more attention to the kid…

Oh, and a late addition to this entry... 9 month stats from the doc's office:

• Weight... 22 lbs (90th percentile)
• Height... 29 5/8 inches (>97th percentile)
• Head... 18 1/2 inches (95th percentile)

A Maxwell Christmas

With the addition of EJB, another set of in-laws (the Alexander clan) and the fact that all of these families are states apart, Linds and I finally instituted the rotating holidays plan. So, Christmas 2009 was the Ohioan version. On the 22^nd, we packed up the Element with a week’s worth of “supplies”, a bag of gifts and, of course, two dogs and a baby… and made the 12 hour journey to West Chester, OH.

The commute wasn’t necessarily tons of fun, but once we arrived and settled in we had an excellent week. Highlights include:

• Evie’s infatuation with wrapping paper, ribbons and bows
• A date afternoon with the wife, leaving EJ behind with G’ma and G’pa (no offense, Evs)
• G’pa Bob’s turkey dinner and famous wings
• Watching Maya and Bob’s German Shephard (Harley) battle daily for the role of Alpha Dog
• Catching up with the Dennings & Elsons

Thanks Bob and Linda! Miss you guys…

Hats off to Christmas!

The blogmaster is shuttin’ it down for a week or so as we begin our Midwestern holiday tour this evening. Ohio for a week, Chicago for a night, back to Minneapolis for a few, down to New Ulm and then back to the grind in 2010.

Happy Holidays and safe travels to all!

Booty, booty, booty, booty rockin’ everywhere!

Looks like we’ve been heavy on the naked baby pics as of late, so we’ll cool it for a while… but I just had to post this classic.

Happy birthday to me!

I celebrated the big 3-3 on Sunday (12/20) opening the day with the traditional breakfast in bed, compliments of Linds and Evie, and closing it down with a couple beers in the company of friends (friends not pictured, just the damage).

Thanks all… I had a great one!

My first subject

Not much to report from SW Minneapolis this weekend. The big news of the week is that I finally upgraded from my trusty "point-n-shoot" pocket camera to it's fancy-schmancy big brother, the DSLR.

I'm about halfway through the manual and I think I may be a bit out of my league, but I've been having fun learning the ropes. Pictured above is my favorite practice shot, of my favorite subject.

No offense L, G or M!

8 months

Evie Jane turned 8 months old on 10/27. Here's the monthly update:

A few of Evie's latest tricks include...

• Effortless crawling & pulling up on anything from coffee tables to other's legs
• Saying "Ma-ma" (usually when crying) and "Da-da" (usually when laughing/playing)
• Dancing to music (most commonly at the coffee table when Mom is watching MTV)
• Waving goodbye (although, admittedly it's more of a "come hither" gesture)

A few of Evie's latest favorite things include...

• The kitchen's Tupperware drawer
• Going for rides in the Baby Jogger
• Bouncing in the Johnny Jump-Up

The art of photography

Just a funny look "behind the scenes" to see what goes into a picture of the little one, from her perspective!

Tryptophan

Thanksgiving 2009 was celebrated in New Ulm, MN with the Backer clan. Evie was introduced to a million new foods by whoever happened to be watching her at the time (freeze pops, potatoes, turkey, pancakes, pumpkin bars, etc.) and conked out for a long afternoon snooze with the rest of us. E's other highlight was playing with her "cousins" Tanner and Maddie and tearing through chests of old toys dug up by Aunt Nancy saved from her kids' childhoods.

We adults had fun too reminiscing about the old toys and wondering how we ever managed to have any fun without the bilingual, light and laser show the toys of today come standard-equipped with!

Denver

A few weeks back, the fam' pack up our bags and headed west... to Denver, to celebrate my mom's birthday. There was a lot less site-seeing and mountain climbing this time around with the little one in tow, but we did get out to get a tour of Laradon (my mom's work), the local REI and hit up Milo's (a Vikings bar) for Bloody Mary's and to catch the big game against the Seahawks on Sunday.

Sorry no card this year Mom... hope the time with EJB made up for it!

The smell of roses

Linds, E and I headed east this past weekend to see our friends Kim & Matt in Columbus, OH... and to take in the OSU/Iowa football game. Evie got some good bonding time with her new friends and the Buckeyes locked up the Big 10 championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl with a nail-biting, overtime victory.

Mission accomplished.

P.S. If you want to get a feel for what it's like to take in a game at the 'Shoe. It's red, it's loud, it's huge (>100,000 in attendance)... and they do a lot of spelling!

Rub-a-dub-dub

... little E in a tub.

Slow news week, so I thought a little naked baby would suffice.

Cute as can bee

No trick-or-treating for EJ this go ‘round, but we did get did have a very Halloweeny weekend. The annual pumpkin carving competition at the the Mc’s, the General Mills infant care center costume party and parade, and of course a little gutter cleaning and raking.

7 months

… was all it took for us to forget TLO’s b-day! On 10/27 Evie hit the 7 month mark. Without further ado, here’s the monthly update (better late than never, I guess).

A few of Evie’s latest tricks include...

• Crawling (especially when chasing the dogs)
• Pulling herself up on laps, coffee tables, boxes, etc.
• Yelling (and whispering) “A-ra-ra-ra-ra-raaaaaa”

A few of Evie's latest favorite things include...

• Grabbing fistfuls of Mom’s or the dogs’ hair
• Her dad (Linds’ words, not mine)
• Anything that isn’t technically a toy (e.g. watches, remote controls, cell phones, hats, boxes, mini-blinds, Tupperware, etc.)

Uh-oh

Two days ago she would merely rock in place on all fours...

Yesterday she up and started chasing the dogs...

Today she's crawling on command...

I think we're in trouble. Off to Walgreen's for some socket stuffers!

Mr. & Mrs. Joe & Tisha Backer

Oh what a weekend!

My little brother Joe got married in Chicago this weekend to our favorite candidate, Tisha Alexander (kidding T, kidding!). J & T couldn't have pulled off a better weekend. We ate well, drank better and partied the weekend away at places like Michigan Ave, English, the Chicago History Museum, ESPNZone, Corcoran's and the Backer's condo in Bucktown.

It was great getting to know the Alexanders and better yet officially welcoming Tisha to the family!

Thanks for the amazing weekend... Love you guys!

Editor's note: One measly pic doesn't do this weekend justice...we'll refresh this page in a few weeks with some highlights from the wedding photographer's album.

Already?

Just days into October, Minnesota experienced it’s first snowfall of the season. Ugh.

At least Evie didn’t seem to mind!

Absolutely Favreulous

Linds and I took in “Round 1” on Monday, compliments of the Maxwells (thanks guys!). Say what you will about the Metrodome, but when that place is rocking, it doesn’t get much better...

I don’t know that I could write anything about that game that hasn’t been written a million times, but that was one for the ages. Skol Vikings, Skol.

Jaime's big day

Linds, Evie and I trekked down to Cinci for Jaime’s wedding this past weekend. Linds and Jaime go way back, and she was honored to be a part of her ol’ pal’s big day.

Evie got an A+ for her behavior during the ceremony, a B+ for dinner and a C- for the reception. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell were there to save the day and let Linds and I enjoy the party. This worked so smoothly that we’ve hired them to be on hand full time for this coming weekend’s big event.

Great times J & R!

6 months

Evie's halfway to 1 today! Again, time flies.

A few of Evie's latest tricks include...

• Sitting
• Scooting (backwards)
• Solids (bananas, sweet pots and graham crackers are her favs)
• Growling (I'm fairly certain Maya taught her this one!)

A few of Evie's latest favorite things...

• Dad's watch and hat
• Mom's purse and cell
• Watching the dogs do just about anything

Sharpening the Saw

Linds, Evie and I headed north this weekend to escape the hustle-n-bustle and spent a few days at my Uncle Scott's riverside cabin, just outside of Kettle River, MN. We got a couple runs in, put the kayak in water a few times and of course huddled around the bonfire every night... but other than that we just plain relaxed.

Evie was a riot and on her best behavior (both day and night!). I think she appreciated not being lugged around from A-B and in and out of her car seat a million times a day.

And G & M were in heaven as well. They had free reign of the property all weekend and toured the shores of the Kettle River for hours on end, incessantly chasing every squirrel, bird, chipmunk and deer in site.

Thanks a million Jen & Scott... that was just what the doctor ordered!

Little Miss EJB

OK, OK… I realize nobody is actually checking in on this thing to read about what Linds and I have been up to as of late. So, here’s a story-free post containing a few recent pics of the star of this here blog, Evie Jane.

Blubber Run

With Linds gone, I had to call in reinforcements to help keep the household afloat. My mom flew in from Denver for some quality 1:1 with EJB. On Saturday morning, Mom and I took Evie and the pups down to St. Anthony Main to chug along in the James Page 5K Blubber Run.

It was an awfully muggy day, but its hard to complain when running a race where they’ve replaced the water stops at each mile with beer tents!

Pictured (L-R): Bob Gorman, Matt Gorman, Jenna (soon to be) Gorman, Suzi, Michelle, Jason, Evie, Mom, Ryan, Maya, Griffin

The greatest comeback in Gopher history

Linds and I got Gopher Football Season tickets this year (their inaugural season in the new, on-campus, outdoor TCF Field) and couldn’t be happier about the decision. While the team doesn’t appear to be ready to compete for a national title anytime soon, what that stadium does for student life, local businesses, recruiting and the state in general is truly amazing. Yes, Linds… I know it no Columbus, OH (yet!), but admit it… this is good stuff!

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A, MinneSOTA, MinneSOTA… Yeaaaah GOPHERS!

Beyond the pale

A few weeks back, Linds and I cashed in on La’s offer to take Evie on her first overnighter away from Mom and Dad by heading south to Treasure Island Resort and Ca-sino. The casino left a lot to be desired (take the fact that you can still smoke indoors there for starters), but the first full night of sleep in over five months was priceless!

The main reason for the trip was to take in the Jim Gaffigan show. I love me some stand-up, and I’ve seen some the greatest over the years (Carvey, Cosby, Seinfeld, Nealon, Miller, Carrot Top, Fatel, etc.)… and I truly think Gaffigan’s right at the top of that list.

Click here for his classic “Hot Pockets” bit.

Bachelorette party

Linds left E and I high and dry a couple weekends ago and headed to South Carolina for our future sister-in-law Tisha’s bachelorette party. Sounds like they didn’t cut many corners (champagne service at a poolside VIP booth of a rooftop hotel bar, for example) and from the looks of the weekend’s photo stream, I don’t know that they turned down many drinks either!

Good work Ladies!

Book It!

Story time has always been one Evie’s favorite moments of the day. As you can see, she’s progressed beyond active listening and now sees book time as either a quest to gnaw on the apparently delicious cardboard pages or a competition to see who can most loudly relay the storyline.

Captured above is the latter.

The prodigy

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E’s level of engagement and awareness of the world around her is increasing exponentially daily. Evie is now constantly seeking new ways to interact with people and objects (aside from just jamming them in her mouth). My favorite part of this stage is watching the little ham look around for reaction whenever she does something she thinks should be cracking us up. Included below are a couple of her latest masterpieces. Step aside Picasso and Liberace… she comin’, she comin’!

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Note to self: I think it’s finally time to install that Nerf hoop in her crib!

Big Island

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, Joe was in town for the shenanigans of his bachelor party weekend. We hit up Hiawatha for a round of golf, Pepitios for dinner and Purple Judas' first snap as a Viking, Brit's for lawn bowling and then crashed at a cabin on Lake Minnetonka for the remainder of the weekend. Joe's buddy John Koch was kind enough to lug us around on the lake Saturday, and as you can imagine after seeing the above pic, once we found the 'Big Island' we didn't stray far.

Great, great weekend (although we probably could've survived on a few less beers!).

5 months

Evie hit the 5 month mark on the 27th. I'm sure I'll say this with every age update post, but I just plain cannot believe how quickly time flies.

A few of Evie's latest tricks include...

• Tongue rolling
• Barrel rolling across a room in the blink of an eye
• Sitting, tripod style

A few of Evie's latest favorite things...

• LaTosha, E's daycare teacher, and all her new friends in GMI's Yoplait/Purple Room
• Flirting through a mirror while doing 'tummy time' with her new daycare buddy, Nicholas
• Hair, fur, hat and glasses grabbing, pulling and chewing

The pose + 1

The main reason Linds and EJ trekked down to Cinci last weekend was to attend Dr. Jaime's bridal shower. Linds, Kelly, Jaime and Natalie have been BFF's for as long as they can remember and for the past 17 or 18 years whenever they've been able to gather in the Rice family kitchen they hop in this exact pose and snap a picture.

It looks like they've opened up the doors to adding new members to the pose... I can't wait to see this picture in another 17 0r 18!

Cin City

Linds and Evie flew down to Cinci last weekend and apparently our little ham was quite the hell raiser (signs that maybe she is starting to take after dad a bit!).

Pictured above are some of her highlights: goofing a perfectly good photo opp with Aunt Ashley with her "raspberry" face, attempting to expose Tara Elson, aiming to convince Papa Bob to take her out for a spin on his HOG and harassing Maxi the family cat.

I guess this is what happens when dad's away.

Solids, take 1

Apparently, once an infant hits the four month range and appears to show interest in watching Mom and Dad eat... he/she is ready for the solid stuff.

We've been wavering on whether or not Evie's been seriously eyeballing us at the dinner table... that is until we heard that babies on solids sleep through the night at a much higher clip than those purely on milk or formula.

Well, now we're certain.

Already?!?

At barely 4.5 months, Little Miss Evie Jane had her first Parent-Teacher conferences.

While the bar isn't too terribly high just yet, Evie seems to be keeping up with the Junior Joneses quite nicely!

Mathletes

Check out the video above for a glimpse into Linds and La's epic tetherball battle from the Geneva weekend.

I count 17 whiffs and 6 ducks. Impressive ladies... impressive.

Lake Geneva

The Backer clan had its annual cabin week vacation at Lake Geneva Resort in Alexandria, MN last week. Since I was only one week into my new gig at GMI I couldn't quite justify taking a week of vacation so Linds, E and I just joined the crew for 48 short hours.

Evie certainly made the most of it conquering the art of holding one's own bottle, sunning herself while taking cat naps on the beach and enjoying her first taste (literally) of both MN lake water and sand.

Pictured with Evie are "cousins" Tanner (~9 mo) and Maddie (~3 yr).

Doggy daycare

Linds, Evie & I... and our primary dog-sitters are off for a lake weekend in a few short hours, so Griff and Maya will be checked in to a kennel. Well, the 2009 pampered dog version of a kennel that is.

From 3pm today (Friday) 'til 7pm on Sunday, if you're looking to kill some time surfing the web, feel free to watch them at the Pampered Pooch Playground's streaming web cams by clicking here.

Back at it

On Monday, I re-entered the working world... which means EJB entered the world of day care.

I'm back at General Mills in a role very similar to that which I held during my internship in 2008. Long story short, I'll be doing customer/retailer-based market research. I'm really excited to be back in this particular group... and from what I'm learning about my assignment I think its an excellent fit!

Evie is at the General Mills day care (pics to follow) which is housed just a few hallways and doors from my desk. Day one was certainly a bit hard to swallow, but we're adjusting. I'm able to sneak down for a quick hug and "chat" daily... and occasionally even get to see her being strolled around campus in by her caretaker, LaTasha. E makes my day by greeting me with the biggest, proudest smile every time I catch her... but I'm already getting those, "da-ad, I'm with my friends now... why don't you run along" looks, I swear.

It only took 4 months. Ugh.

Happy 3rd

Three years ago today, Linds and I tied the knot on a scorching hot afternoon in Indianapolis, IN.

It's hard to believe it's been three years already, but even harder to believe all the happenings within those three short years. By the numbers...

3 cities lived in (together & separately)

1 home sold

1 home purchased

2 oceans crossed

2 rings lost

1 magazine cover story*

2 dogs adopted

2 new degrees

2 new jobs

1 baby made

0 disagreements, raised voice occasions or fights*

So far so good, huh. Happy anniversary Maximus... I love you!

* slight exaggerations

4 months

Evie hit the four month mark today, which unfortunately meant another tough round of shots at the pediatrician’s office. E checked out with a clean bill of heath, nailed all the “by 4 months your baby should be doing X”s and the measured a whopping 15.1 lbs (90^th percentile) and 26.6” (>97^th percentile).

A few of Evie’s latest tricks include…

• Rolling over, spinning and arm-free crawling in every possible direction
• Using the aforementioned skills to kick the ON button to her crib’s soother/music maker to wake us up each morning
• Spitting ”raspberries” at us as a sign of her affection (or at least that’s how we’re interpreting it!)

A few of Evie’s latest favorite things include…

• Her exersaucer
• Her hands, feet, tounge and mouth… and trying feverishly to get them all together
• Relentlessly kicking and slapping Mom or Dad’s hands away when changing diapers or giving a bottle (related, Linds’ and my least favorite recent activity is trying to “hog tie” the child’s four limbs while holding a bottle, burp rag and baby)

Cheeks

Just a couple pics to showcase Evie's newest attribute... big ol' cheeks!

She's ba-ack!

It's been a stressful couple weeks around here. Our little Maya has been depressingly lethargic, losing weight, losing hair and mopey... essentially the exact opposite of her usual peppy, rambunctious self. After weeks of vet visits, multiple misfired diagnoses and even a few hospital stays, we've finally gotten to the bottom of it... and Maya seems to be turning the corner (and "smiling" again!).

Maya has Addison's disease, which is a deficiency of the adrenal gland that affects the organ's ability to produce the hormones that help deal with stress (physical, emotional, etc.).

The good news is that she'll be able to live a restriction-free, normal and healthy life from here on out. The not-so-good news is that she'll be on meds her entire life... but then again, so is roughly half of the American population!

We're just happy we've got out (first) little girl back!

Master of the house

As shown in video #1, we run a tight ship here in the Backer household. Dad speaks... things get done. Well, at least it happens occasionally... and now I've got video evidence!

Just in case you didn't buy Evie's roll in the first video, I tossed in a second to showcase her latest trick in full.

Mill City

We also snuck out last week to another one of Minneapolis' great outdoor music venues, the Mill City Museum, to see Jeremy Messersmith kick off their summer concert series (Mill City Live).

We loved it, but as you can see... Evie was unimpressed.

Walker

Linds, La, Evie and I spent an afternoon at the Walker this weekend.

Linds loved the the sculpture gardens, La loved the opportunity for a senior photos-esque photo shoot, and Evie & I particularly dug the BBY mini video lounges.

Loungin'

The 4th of July weekend was a busy one for us, but as it turns out we had the camera tucked away for 95% of it. I snuck up to the McNerney's cabin to join them and the Furbers for a Mantrap weekend and Linds stayed home with the little one, hosted Joe and Tisha, dogsat their pup... and nursed a sick Maya back to heath.

In retrospect, cutting away this weekend may have cost me the 'father/husband of the year' award... but from the looks of the pics Linds took while I was away (like those above) things didn't seem too stressful for her?!?

Just like anyone

Linds and I hit up a Soul Asylum concert at our new favorite venue, the Minnesota Zoo. Check out their 2009 summer schedule here: http://www.mnzoo.org/events/musicinzoo.asp

The pirated video above is a clip from one of my favs, 'Just like anyone'. If you listen close you can her Linds on back-up vocals... getting most of the lyrics right.

3 months

Evie hit the 3 month mark yesterday (6/27).

No major advancements since the 2 month report, but EJ's definitely mastered the arts of toy-to-mouth, cooing & cawing and returning a smile. She can't quite pull off a roll, but her ability to spin on her back is improving leaving her in all sorts of new positions when we find her in her crib each morning.

As for her latest favorites, life still doesn't get much better for her than standing with a little help or bath time... but reading books has become a very close second.

Indiana Jonesin’

The Maxwell clan got creative this year and decided to quit fighting the losing battle of getting everyone together in December/January for the holidays and put together the first ‘Christmas in June’ gathering at Uncle Denny’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We would have had perfect attendance too, but looming labor kept the Dan & Barb branch of the Maxwell tree from making the trek this go-round.

Linds and I also took advantage of getting back to sweet home Indiana for the first time A.E. (after Evie) and snuck in a few visits with the old crew to catch up and introduce our new addition.

Pictured from L-R: Linda, EJ, Bob, Gus, Denny, Krista and Kelly.

Painting at G’pa’s

Linds and I gave my dad an early father’s day gift by zipping down to New Ulm to transform his house from a not-so-pretty pink to a much better looking olive green… and by leaving him with Griff and Maya for the weekend.

Additionally, Evie enjoyed her first exposure to lead without ill effect (yet?!?).

Story time

Check the above video for highlights from our most favorite story during our UP weekend, compliments of lil’ Miss Evie Jane. She made big strides this weekend after studying K & K and had her first “conversation” with Mom! She also had her first seemingly intentional hand-to-toy/toy-to-mouth succession and finally may have learned entertain herself (while awake and not in someone’s arms) for an extended period of time.

Our second favorite story, you ask? We had some car issues while in Crystal Falls, MI (pop. 1,616) and dropped our car off at the local mechanic for some trouble shooting. We got the VIP treatment as we introduced ourselves as “friends of Bob and Margie’s kids”. After several hours we got a call from the shop saying the issue was minor, that there was no charge since he used the car to “run some errands during the day”, and that he’d leave the keys in the ignition so we could pick the car up whenever we got a chance.

Ahhh, small town America. I think this weekend was finally the tipping point and Linds may be now ready to start looking for real estate in good ol’ Fairmont, MN.

I can see it, can you?

A weekend with the Chips

The Backer bunch also had the added benefit of being able to crash for the weekend with our old Indy BFFs, the Chipelewskis, at their new home in Crystal Falls, MI (just miles from the Kehoe wedding site). It was soooo good to get together again and to see their adorable twins, Kaleb and Kendall, show off all their new tricks.

Thanks for everything J & J… We miss you guys!