Cribs: Lindquist style


You know how you don't notice how annoying your own voice is until you record it on video. Yeah, this house tour was an exercise in that. Consider me humbled. And consider yourself welcome in our home.

If you have 9 minutes and 53 seconds to spare, and who doesn't -I know you'd rather watch this than work- do click play on the link above for the full monty that is our house as well as some funny Faith moments (warning - this video reveals she is not the angel her parents pretend she is).

If you don't have 10 minutes of your precious Dancing with the Stars watching time to give, you can click the links of the main rooms below.

I made this video for two reasons. #1) I want to remember what our first home looked like on any given day 20 years from now and #2 (which should really be #1) the house was clean. Let me repeat. The house. Was clean.

This is where I take a bow, and maybe a curtsey too, just cause it's fun.

Living Room


Kitchen


Bedroom


Faith's room

Unfortunately, Rob got a hold of the camera. (outtake).

Three More Words

SHE. MADE. IT.

By now you may have heard through the Facebookvine that Misses Faithy Lindquist appeared on a little show called "Good Morning America" Saturday morning.

I submitted the video the last week of July and thought it might appear that very Saturday. Of course I was wide awake that morning, but had a mommy moment and thought it started at 7, not 6 a.m. Faith and I played while the TV sat off. Once I turned it on and realized I just missed "Your Three Words" I tried to kick myself. Luckily, I'm not that flexible. We weren't DVRing it at that time either. I knew I could check the link online later, but I never got around to it.

When she didn't appear the next two weeks, my mom tried to kindly inform me that they probably didn't chose our video. Me being that mom who thinks her kid's the only kid ever to walk across a room so adorably, I refused to believe it.

This past Saturday, we were up at 6, but I thought we'd just play rather than turn on the TV. At 7 o'clock, I decided to fast-forward through GMA just to see the "Your Three Words" segment, which usually airs with about 10-15 minutes left. Imagine my shock when I saw this flash across my screen while fast-forwarding at minute 30.


I quickly hit play to hear my new man Dan Harris say, "Plus, first steps and other big milestones from your world in your three words -one of the segments we love and we do it every Saturday morning." They used part of Faith's video to tease the segment later in the show! I remember thinking how lucky the person whose video they chose to tease last week's "your three words" segment must have felt at the time and now it was ours.

Needless to say if you know me at all, I proceeded to freak out and shout to a sleeping husband from the bottom of the steps that Faith was on GMA! I ran back into the living room, turned to Faith and screamed, "YOU WERE ON TV." In hindsight this was not a wise move. She froze, looked at me and instantly started bawling. It was like I just told her that the Little Einsteins aren't real people. Sad stuff.

A few hugs and apologies later, we all huddled around the TV to watch this video!

She was the first clip in the series, and because I was happy, because Faith didn't shed enough tears, and just because I'm me, I cried. Rob looked at me like this was abnormal for me for some reason as I tearily told my mama over the phone that Faith just had her fifteen seconds of fame. Thank you GMA for reaffirming my belief that when my daughter walks into across a room, people notice. 

It's Blog Swap Day!

(Note from Nicole: if you're confused as to why you're reading someone else's words on this blog, check out yesterday's post).

Hi there, Life as Lindquist readers! I’m Dana from over at the abundant life blog. I am so excited to be guest posting over here for a day.

When I received my ‘Blog Swap” assignment from 20SB, I quickly made my way over here to the Lindquist’s blog. I immediately fell in love with their sweet daughter’s face and their adorable puppy’s antics. I mean, who doesn’t love a cute baby/puppy picture? All the cool bloggers have cute babies and puppies. It's a requirement. I think it's written in the blogger’s by-laws or something. The quick wit and fun stories in their posts also didn’t hurt their blog curb-side appeal. Long story short...I am super pumped to be here. Lets get started.

So as I said before, I’m Dana and I write a little blog called the abundant life.

This is me!
 So lets get to know each other, shall we?

I’m just your typical 25 year old. I’m a graduate student that’s addicted to caffeine and reads too many books. I’m independent to a fault and sarcasm is my primary language. I’m engaged to the sweetest boy, whom I lovingly refer to as Ben the Betrothed (BTB). He’s a musician. Yes ladies, he plays the guitar. Swooning is appropriate. :)

Oh yeah, I also have a chronic illness. As much as I try for my chronic illness not to define me, it has simply changed every part of me. Chronic illness is a lifestyle. I have spent the majority of my life in doctor’s offices and hospitals. As a child, my best friends were my beloved nurses and my heroes were doctors. (Find more of my story here)

Now, don’t you go feeling sorry for me. I am chronically ill but I still live life. I love this chronically crazy life of mine. I live an abundant life and I am abundantly blessed. I am a firm believer that a silver lining can be found in every situation.

The topic of choice for this lovely ‘Blog Swap’ is our summer experiences. I didn’t do all that much but I will give you a quick run-down.

In April of this year I made the biggest, toughest decision of my entire life. No, not the decision to get engaged to BTB. That was a no-brainer in my book.


I had a transplant surgery. Bam. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

I won’t bore you with all of the details here but this summer has consisted of fighting for my life and recovering from one of the most difficult surgeries to recover from. So that’s my summer. In a nutshell.

This summer has taught me that miracles still do happen and that life is a gift. I am grateful for each hurdle I surpass. Each milestone I reach in recovery is a cause for celebration in my house.

So that’s all folks. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know me a little bit. I am so grateful to have met Nicole in this process. You see one of my dreams in life is to have a beautiful family, much like the Lindquists have. A family that loves and supports each other. They inspire me to keep fighting and working towards my own dreams.

If you want to know more about my story or become a part of the abundant life journey, come follow me at http://theabundantlifeblog.com. You can also find me on twitter (@yayitsdayday) or email me at theabundantlifeblog@gmail.com.

My First Blog Swap

One week ago, I sat in front of my computer reading about the opportunity to swap blogs with someone for a day. It was Tuesday and the deadline was the next day. I hemmed and hawed (whatever the hell that means) and decided that I was too busy to participate in such nonsense. That next day, Mr. Twitter put the link in front of my face again. I clicked on it and decided, "ah, what the hizzle."
So so so so (one more so for good measure) glad I did.

Tomorrow when you click on your favorite Internet page that is this blog, you will get to meet this girl:
love her smile. anyone else spy a Howie impersonator?
Her name is Dana and if she and I were men, I'd have a man crush on her. But we're not, obviously, so I'll just say she's my new BF (blog friend) so as not to freak her out.

Dana, who writes the blog "The Abundant Life" and I are taking part in the 20SB blog swap (20SB stands for 20 something bloggers). She's got an amazing story to share and I would really love love love it if you all could give her a warm welcome and I don't know, comment on her post that made me cry if you feel so inclined.

Once you've read her post on my blog, check out my post on her blog. It's a Life as a Lindquist linkfest to all my favorite posts as well as a list of summer of 2011 highlights.

It's like pen pals, with Internet :)


Faithless for 36 hours

Image from here.
Mom guilt. It's something the X chromosome has dealt with since mother Mary and sweet baby J. "The books" will tell you it's important to take care of yourself first, get some "me" time, but knowing and doing are two different things. While I suffer from this unfortunate condition, I'm learning to live with it. I don't mind asking for help anymore or letting someone other than just my mom and sister babysit Faith while I go do my thang. In fact, I've done a 90 degree turn (180 would be dumping her off on my neighbor's porch and speeding away).

Rob and I made plans for this past Thursday night and since Rob's first day at school was Friday and Faith doesn't start daycare until Monday, we asked my mom if she could watch Faith overnight, all day Friday and possibly Friday night too so we could party like rockstars clean out our garage. (We were cool once, I swear). Well, when I got home Thursday night, I walked into an eerily clean and calm house. I don't think that has happened since pregnancy. And because I knew it was only for a night or two, I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Please don't report me to the Mom Guilt Police. The thing I miss the most from my pre-mama days: being able to prepare a meal without a toddler opening the fridge and pulling out the parmesan cheese, Wortcestershire sauce or "daddy pop." (Sure, it may sound cute, but the 163rd time, not so much). Rob grilled salmon while I prepared fresh salads with veggies from the garden...uninterrupted. It was glorious.


After dinner, we headed to the Blues Brothers Revue at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Told ya we had some cool in us.


The show was a blast. Because it was so interactive, we sang, we laughed, we danced, we made fun of the two duds to my right who sat there stone-faced while the entire crowd stood and shouted.


It was a night that wouldn't have been if we didn't have a babysitter for Faith. Here's the kicker. She bonded with her grandma and papa Stevie. It was a win win for all. And I'll be the first to say I had a good time without my daughter there. It is OK to do that right? Right?! I've decided that nothing annoys me more than parents who brag about how long it's been since they've been on a date or that if they do go out, all they talk about is the kid(s). It's kinda like celebrating the fact you don't exercise or eat vegetables. It is good for you to get out of the house without your child strapped to your chest in the baby Bjorn. Let someone else enjoy their company. You'll have fun talking about all the things that went on while you were out afterward.

When my mom called Friday to ask if we could come pick up Faith instead of grandma dropping her off Saturday morning, please don't tell anyone, but I was slightly disappointed. (pause for gasp!) I love Faith, but it is next to impossible to get anything done in her presence. This blog is being typed during an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (ohhhhToooodles). In addition to the fact I don't like her to watch more than one episode of cartoons, the Disney characters start to wear on me after a while. I don't want my go-to dance move to become the hotdog dance. So I can't just plop her down in front of the boob tube every time I want to accomplish a task. Granny Janny also discovered it was Mission Impossible V to pack for a vacation with Faith as a houseguest, hence the Friday night phone call. Instead of a run, a leisurely shower, dinner and the thrill that is cleaning out one's garage, Rob and I opted for a quick meal at Le Mesa before going to pick up Faith. May I just say that eating hot food is quite awesome. Two nights in a row and now I'm just spoiled.


Upon arriving at Henry's Diner Nothin' Finer in Crescent, I heard a little girl screaming in the bathroom, not in pain, but just to see how loud her little voice could echo in there. I opened the door just as she and grandma were exciting. She was as surprised to see me as I was happy to see her. Love love love that kid. She reached her little arms out for her mama and I gave her a big hug. I felt refreshed and she got the chance to show off all her new skills to grandma and grandpa (which include carrying around a purse, giving sloppy kisses and yelling everyone's favorite word: NO!).

She even forgave us for not feeling guilty for having a good time without her because she had a good time too.

An outfit only grandma could put together love.

Stay-at-home!

First, a few updates:
  • Unfortunately, Faith didn't make the "Your Three Words" this morning (maybe next weekend).
  • This Thursday is my last day of summer vacation. Although I have accomplished a lot this summer, I'm sad ;)
  • My breakfast pizza was a success!
  • Nicole decided to make a blanket-fort for Faith yesterday (good thing she wasn't an engineer).
  • Faith and I went to the Children's Museum where she got to use her "oohs" and "awes" often.
Faith emerging from the "fort"
Lots of "ooohs"
Now to the meat of things:

My summer "vacation" is almost over (I start back this Friday with an optional day). I think that most teachers and stay-at-home parents would agree it's not much of a vacation though. Being a stay-at-home dad has been challenging, but very rewarding. Not only do I have to occupy a now one-year-old, but I have been challenged with feeding my wife (I'm one helluva cook).

As you know, Nicole works her ass off both at work and when she gets home. I may have Faith all day (and now a Daddy's Girl) but when Nic comes home, she takes care of most of the nighttime routine. Also, she normally (read: 99% of the time) gets up with Faith in the morning. So I have been very appreciative.

So, as I begin to juggle my getting-back routine with my keep-Faith-active routine (we just picked tomatoes before this post) I am feeling bittersweet about sending Faith back to the daycare. This past summer we have done a lot together, but next summer we'll be able to do a lot more... I've already told Nic we're camping and fishing next June!

Oh, and I got suspicious a little while back, and forgot to post this video (watch it, it's kind of funny)!
~Rob