8 lbs; 5 oz, 19 inches long… Kristin & Baby are going great. Rob is pretty excited. Name & pics to follow…

I hope you see the sun rise over the hills. I hope you enjoy the crisp perfect air of the Illinois winter. I hope your car starts right up. And you stay warm all day. I hope you have cake, and eat it too. And you don’t even have to make it. I hope you get a hug; and an unexpected phone call. I hope you feel the favor of God on you all day long. Happy Birthday to you Aunt Donna!
Love from Texas!

Not much to report, other than nothing to report. Baby girl Frieden is perfectly happy to hang out at 3cm… for weeks. She’s a bit overdue at this point, but various home remedies, teas, exercise, ice, etc. so far have not worked at all. Dan seems a bit amused by all of this. Isaac does not. I get the impression Rob is excited… and Kristin, well, needless to say she would stand on her head and recite the Gettysburg Address backwards if she thought it might move things along. The rest of us are doing well. Jonathan got his grades back and sent us each a copy for our refrigerators. Joe & I have taken up the guitar. Joe was born to play. He fell asleep with his guitar in bed last night. There was an uncomfortable moment when I realized this in the middle of the night. We’re having a honey-do weekend… and at one point this morning Joe was forced to say: “Baby, be careful. Your safety is more important than setting the land-speed record for christmas-tree-light-taking-down.” He was right of course. Lizzy, just back from California, is off to Colorado pretty soon. And Michelle Michelle is off fighting the war on sleep. She is a trooper. Over and out.

Ok, so the first little grandbaby in our clan is already late. Two days late so far… and are we really surprised? If Robert made it to high school in time for second period, he felt he had overdone it. Michelle organized a little baby pool on behalf of the family. Only Jonathan & Robert are still in it. The rest of us lost days ago. Kristin was sort of hoping the little squirt would make an appearance today… she had a spanish test that I understand she’d rather take some other day… The size pool has the baby ranging from 6lbs 4oz (Michelle) to 8lbs 4oz (Dad). I know dad has more experience with this sort of thing. But we are all sort of hoping he’s wrong this time… you know, for itty bitty Kristin’s sake. In other words, nothing to report at this point. We’ll keep you posted…

We wish we were there with you today. Minus the snow and cold of course.
We love you,
Andi, Joe, Michelle, Gracie & Mel

Just a quick update to January in Iowa—-it almost seems like January in Colorado! We’ve had 20 degrees, 30-39 degrees, and 50’s! NOW, we have snow, snow, snow. It’s a wonderfully wet snow. You know, the kind you could really make a great snowman or snow fort with. I’ve not had this kind of snow for a long time—Colorado snow is very different except in late spring. BUT, now I don’t have the energy to get out there and do a snowman—-although, I’m just thinking, I could do one on the deck—there is definitely enough snow right now.

Anna asks me why it’s snowing, I tell her God decided to have it snow. She is really keying in on who God is. The other day she was trying to do something and I heard her say, “Oh God, Oh God, help me”! I told her He does help us. Her next remark went like this—-Does He have shoulders? Well, that made me realize what big shoulders He does have!

Tonight as I was trying to get my computer keyboard to work, she said, “maybe God can help you”. In just a little bit after that, the “fix” came right into my head! This little sweetie is a testimony for me. Thank you Jesus for her!

Just one more that she came up with the other day—-”Mom, you’re so pretty! Me too. Thank you God for making Mom and Anna so pretty”! What a wonderfully, delightful, precious girl God gave me for this incredible time in my life.

Last night our new little vintage house was full of family, laughter, screaming, and most of all LOVE! Laughter is truly a great medicine! I am so blessed—we are all so blessed. Love you Frieden’s, etc.
Mary and Anna

I bet you guys were all thinking, hey, what did Andi do today? Ok. I know you weren’t. But I’m telling you anyway.

6:39am – CD alarm on 3rd song. I slept through three songs. Crud. Dog barking. Where is dog? Oh right. In crate. More barking. And scratching.

6:40 – eyes focus. Roll over. Joe sleeping. No movement. Poke Joe in arm. No movement. Shake Joe. Nothing. Give up.

6:41 – get out of bed. Find pants. Fall over putting on tricky lounge pants. Ouch.

6:42 – grab dog. Go upstairs. Grab other dog. Carry dogs downstairs. Grab computer. Carry dogs and computer outside.

6:43 – wait for dogs to pee while editing outline for deposition.

7:01 – inside. put on coffee. Mmmm. Coffee. Oh look. Guitar.

7:02 – try again to play a C Chord. Still not. Working. Whose. Fingers. Bend. Like. This. Put down the guitar. Walk away. Try again later. Must focus. Must get to work.

7:10 – Start upstairs to take shower. Hear shower running already. Michelle. Drat. Back downstairs. Realize dog now stuck upstairs. How did she get up there? Go back up stairs. Get dog. Walk back downstairs. Need coffee.

7:11 – drink coffee.
7:16 – refill coffee. Drink.
7:21 – refill coffee.

7:22 – Head upstairs. Hear shower running again. Joe. Drat. Find dog. Carry dog back downstairs. When will dog learn to go down stairs. What is wrong with this dog.

7:55 – Shower stops. Finally. What does he do in there?

8:00 — Get in shower. Blood curdling scream. No hot water.

8:03 – out of shower. Body still in shock. Is this what it feels like if you are naked in a pond in Canada in January trapped under ice? I think it must be.

8:03-8:15 – hose, skirt, no change, pants, change pants again, dig in laundry pile, shirt, no, other shirt, no, other shirt. Pile of discarded clothes on bed looks so comfortable. Maybe should just get on top of it and sleep for a minute. No. Focus. Dressing, dressing, slap on 87 variations of makeup, throw up mostly still wet hair. Change clothes once more for good measure.

8:15-8:25 – chase dogs around house. Put up dogs.

8:25 – 9:05 – drive drive. Houston traffic! Ugh. Drive drive. 4 miles, 40 minutes. Good day.

10:00am - Deposition: me: isn’t it true blah blah blah, isn’t it also true blah blah. Witness: blah blah blah blah. Room full of other lawyers: blah blah nonsense to make me sound great; blah, objection, um, your question calls for my client to say something bad; blah blah; I’m great; you are a peon, blah blah; in my day girls couldn’t be lawyers, blah blah.

2:30 – back at the office. Work work work. Meeting. Phone call. Meeting. Phone call. Make powerpoint. Admire pretty powerpoint. Work work work. Blah.

7:45 pm – drive home. Gas light on. Don’t care. Drive past gas station. Don’t care. Gas light mocking me. I don’t see you shiny red blinking gas light. I’m going home.

8:00 p.m. make it home. Yea. Oh look. Guitar.

8:00-8:30 – try to twist hand into unnatural position and play a.chord. Success! G-chord. I rule. I am a guitar goddess. I will attempt a C-chord. What? Is this thing broken? It must be broken. I need a not broken guitar. How could anybody make their fingers do that on this thing. Whatever. You know what I need? Bacon.

8:30 – fry bacon. Mmmmm. Bacon. Oh, right, I don’t actually have any other food in the fridge. Toast bent crusty heals of bread. Add mayo. And bacon. Eat. Ummmm.

8:45 — Also, I’d better check the blog before I do more working. Check blog. Whatever Bronco blog. I’m going to write a long blog so I don’t see any reference to sports anymore. I don’t have anything to say. What will I blog??? I guess I’ll just write about my day.