Friday, January 30, 2009

Sweet Baby Aidan

My sweet little bundle is getting to be a big boy. It hit me today when I put him down for tummy time and he rolled over. He was a rolling machine. He didn't stay on his tummy for more than a second. He is so proud of himself. He was nearly squealing with delight after each roll. He is so utterly precious, I can't stand it!!!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

My Moving Past

My brothers and I, who I can't wait to see next weekend, have been playing around with Google street view over the past few days, checking out pictures of our old houses in Pittsburgh. After digging into previous years, it was obvious that I needed to document the 15 different places I've lived in the past 30 years.

This chart basically details my past life:


  • 38.10% of my life, or 12 years, were lived in Pittsburgh, PA
  • 25.40% of my life, or 8 years, were lived in Chicago, IL
  • 19.05% of my life, or 6 years, were lived in Hudson, OH
  • 12.70% of my life, or 4 years, were lived in Oxford, OH
  • 3.17% of my life, or 1 year, were lived in Breckenridge, CO
  • 1.59% of my life, or 0.5 years, were lived in St Louis, MO

1) From 1978 - 1979, I was born and raised in this apartment in Pittsburgh. My parents had lived there since 1976. It was in a neighborhood called Dormont which is 4.6 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. We lived below a husband and wife who we affectionately called Aunt Carol and Uncle Chuck as we became good friends with them. According to my mom, there was a little yard in the back and a garage underneath where Dad kept his Toyota Celica and would dry it off when he brought it in from the rain. For some reason, I just can't see that.



2) From 1979 - 1984, we moved to a different neighborhood in Pittsburgh called Brentwood which was 6.4 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. This was my parents first stint into home ownership when they bought this house for $42K. I used to run this house until they decided to have my 2 brothers. The streets used to be brick and on that porch I almost chopped my pinky finger off when I pulled down the gate holding me into the porch. Still trying to figure out what that gate was made of and I wonder if my grandfather smelted that thing out of straight steel from the steel mill. Real safe.



3) From 1984 - 1990, we moved to a neighborhood called Bethel Park which was 12.5 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. There used to be the most kick ass crab apple tree in the front yard which we used to climb all over but it has since been removed. What a shame.



4) From 1990 - 1996, we made a big move to Ohio and lived in a town called Hudson which was 28.7 miles southeast of Cleveland. I was 12 years old and had to make all new friends. I remember this being a rather traumatic time but soon enough, I found some friends to wreak havoc on Northeast Ohio. This is also where I picked up my first job(s). Started out for 2 years working in construction with our neighbor who owned a construction company. Then moved to washing dishes manually for a catering company which was hands down the worse job in my life. Then moved on to working at Sea World which was a good time. My buddy Dan Altvater and I worked in the parking lots directing traffic, working tool booths and parking cars. It was actually a great time and for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to give us a truck. We destroyed those things. Overall, I caused a lot of ruckus in Hudson. I can tell more stories over some beers sometime but it's best left off of this site.



5) From 1996 - 1997, I was accepted to Miami University in Oxford, OH and lived in the Emerson Hall. I lived in one of the quads w/ 4 beds with some really quality guys. It was a great time. We managed to sneak 2 kegs past our RA one night and had a huge party. Not sure how we didn't get into any trouble. I didn't work during this time so I could fully concentrate and focus on school...yeah right.



6) From 1997 - 1998, 7 of my friends from the same hall moved off campus to this house which was about 1.2 miles southeast of uptown (what everyone calls the downtown area where all the bars are located in Oxford). I worked in the dining hall during this time cleaning dishes or accepting cards at the front.



7) From 1998 - 1999, I moved with 3 of my buddies from the Fiji house to a little house 0.6 miles from downtown Oxford. Unfortunately, Google doesn't have a street view or a satellite view of this house. I worked at a bar called First Run during this time busing tables.

8) From 1999 - 2000, my brother and I and one of my buddies moved into a condo just north of downtown. Same thing with this house and Google, no street or satellite views. But this is the time when I met my now wife Kelly when we worked at the climbing wall together. We'd go camping/climbing almost every weekend together. It was so fun.

9) From 2000 - 2001, I moved to the bright lights, big city of Chicago, IL. My buddy Eric Walker and I lived in a big ole high rise right in the heart of Lincoln Park which is 4.8 miles north of downtown Chicago.



10) For most of the year in 2001, Eric and I moved 1 mile west to a little 3 flat and lived above a bar. It was a high traffic area with a ton of things to do and women errr I mean people to see. However, I was laid off from my job right after September 11th, sublet my half of the apartment to a friend and moved on to #11 below.



11) From 2001 - 2002, 4 of my college buddies decided to move out to Breckenridge for a season. We found a million dollar house where the owner couldn't sell it and just wanted someone to cover his mortgage. Sweet mother was it an amazing time and house. It was on the opposite valley of Breck and overlooked every run on the mountain. We all worked for the mountain driving buses and received a 5 mountain season pass in return. We did what we wanted and lived the most relaxing and unstressful life that one could possibly live. It was and still is hands down the best year of my life.



12) From 2002 - 2003, my then girlfriend Kelly basically gave me an ultimatum to either stay in Colorado and we split or else move back to Chicago where she was teaching at the time. It didn't take me long to make that decision, although if it wasn't for her I'd still be living there. I'm happy to say it was the best decision of my life. Anyway, I rented a one bedroom apartment while I worked for a painting company and tried to find a career job. This apartment was in a neighborhood called Lakeview and was about 6.5 miles north of downtown.



13) From 2003 - 2006, I moved just a bit south in Lakeview and rented a 2 bedroom apartment. Kelly and I married in 2004 and we lived here for 2 years. It was a nice little apartment that had a spiral staircase up to the master bedroom.



14) From 2006 - 2008, Kelly and I bought our first apartment in a neighborhood called Wrigleyville and lived about 2 blocks from Wrigley Field. The neighborhood itself is about 7 miles north of downtown. The area was incredibly convenient as we could walk everywhere, Kelly's twin and her husband lived on the other side of Wrigley and it was close to an "L" stop which is the public transportation train line. Our first daughter Ashley was born and brought home to this apartment.



15) After much discussion and thought, Kelly and I made the decision to move down to St Louis, MO. Our second child Aidan was born here and we are busy creating new memories with our young family.

A GREAT DAY!

It was 56 degrees today. We spent 2 hours at the park. The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. Little Aidan was giggling and laughing watching Ashley and the other kids play on the playground. It felt so good to be outside and getting some much needed sun. What a great day!!!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

"A SNAKE!!"

This post may gross a non-relative out, but I just have to tell the story. Last night Ashley went poo-poo in the potty. When she turned to look at it she said, in the most expressive voice EVER, "A SNAKE... I SEE SNAKE!!!" Her eyes were about as big as the sun and she was so excited.

Vitamin D
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. We were out to lunch and I told little bear that we needed to go outside and get some vitamin D. She then yelled out, "YUMMY, I LOVE VITAMIN D... Can I have some?"

I feel bad that I always write about Ashleybear. So here are some things about little Aidanbear. He LOVES his momma. He never sits, he only wants to stand. He smiles all day long. He likes to hug his blue elephant. He is a DREAM baby and his mommy loves him SOOOO much.

Obama Inauguration

TheStrausses.com just finished watching the inauguration. Such an amazing historic event. It's a good day for the United States. Happy inauguration everyone.

 


 

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Go Steelers!

Gigantic game at 5:30pm tonight. We are incredibly excited and my niece Brennan is too! Check out the picture my brother Mark created this morning. So cute. Go Steelers!

 
Posted by Picasa

Installed the faucet, drain and disposal yesterday

My brother-in-law Tom and I installed the kitchen faucet, drain and disposal. We had no idea what we were doing but after 3 trips to Lowes, we managed to knock it out. Here are some pictures of the final product:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090118FaucetDrainAndDisposalProject

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Monday, January 12, 2009

Sunday, January 11, 2009

St Louis Zoo Penguin Walk

The St Louis Zoo does a fun thing on Sunday's when the temperature is below 50 degrees. At 1:30pm, they take the penguins out for a walk. It's a rather unique experience that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090111PenguinWalk

Go Steelers!

Finishing up watching game and poor little Ashy is tired and possibly getting sick. Poor thing.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

A couple of funny things

I am sure that Ryan, Katie, Tom, and grandmas and grandpas only think our stories are funny. Anywho, Ashley is OBSESSED with coffee and always says, "can I have coffee, please?" And so we give her a coffee cup of milk to make her feel better. So yesterday I was in the laundry room and she was at the computer and I heard her say, "Mommy, yucky, stinky, yucky mommy." She was running in the room with a frightend look on her face and so I asked her what the problem was and she picked up my cold coffee and made this look of horror and said, "mommy, coffee is stinky." I then thought her obsession with coffee/coffee cups would be over so I took a sip and said, "I like it, yummy!" She then proceded to take antoher sip and with a look of ABSOLUTE HORROR and DISGUST said, "deeeeliiiicious mommy can I have some." No joke...
One more thing. The other night we were walking down the hall to go bed and she spotted a scab on her achilles. She stopped a couple of times to look at and then said, "mommy, my booboo is poopoo." Apparently she thinks that any brown smudge is poopoo.
One more, I PROMISE... This is actually getting quite absurd. But, if we raise our voice at Ashley she will point her finger and say, "mommy don't scream." Then I end up apologizing for raising my voice. If I pull her pants back to check her diaper she will say, "mommy do not pull me" or if Aidan accidently kicks his precious chubby legs and it hits her she will say, "Aidan, time out no kicking." I MEAN REALLY!!! This is ALREADY STARTING??? We have a little firecraker on our hands.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Aidan and Ashley Updates

The holiday's are about over and it's time to recap the latest few weeks.

Aidan is getting big and smiling just about all day long. He is now 3 months and 1 day old and about 14 lbs in weight. His neck is getting so strong and he grabs anything in front of him.

Ashley is now almost 22 months old and is a piece of work. Nothing new for sure, but she is really starting to show her personality/smarts. Some examples:
  • Me: Ashley, daddy is tired. Can he sleep in your crib with you tonight?
  • Ashley: No daddy. Too tight.
  • Ashley while grabbing Aidan's chin and pulling towards her while watching Curious George movie: Aidan, look at me. See monkey George?
Here are some pictures taken this morning of Ashley and Aidan playing aka Aidan getting pushed around by Ashley:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090104AshleyAndAidanPlaying

Misc and Christmas Pictures

So I failed to take one picture w/ my camera over the holiday's this year. Good work Ryan. Anyway, here are some misc pictures taken with Kelly's mom's camera.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20081225MiscAndChristmasInStLouis