Christmas at our house

I had a major post-Christmas letdown this year. I think it's either because a) we all got various illnesses that have gone on forever and I didn't really take notice until the activity stopped, or b) the celebration started early and continued strong. Probably more the latter. We put the nativity out on November 1st, and I did the bulk of the gift shopping in mid-November. The first weekend in December, we went to the Christmas parade, had a fancy Christmas brunch at Christie's, and got our Christmas tree. The next weekend we had our first Christmas party. In the meantime, I worked night and day to finish out the semester; it was probably the busiest three weeks I've had in graduate school to date. And it just. didn't. stop.

We got back from our mini-vacation on Drummond Island on the 21st (I'll leave that to a different post), and it seems like every day since has been jam-packed with fun. So maybe the best thing to do is reflect on each day.

Wednesday the 22nd: I have two words. UNCLE DAVE!! Dave came home the weekend we were gone, so we got to hang out with him all morning after we got back. He didn't mind the general post-vacation messiness of the house, and he brought the coffee I desperately needed.

Thursday the 23rd: The girls and I had a disastrous shopping trip. Half of Lansing was at Meijer, but I had to finish some Christmas shopping and get some needed groceries. I paid the dollar for a car cart with a TV, but it was no use. Nellie had to walk, which was a nightmare with all the people, and I carried Annie plus pushed the enormous cart for most of the trip. THE CART WAS SHOWING BARNEY.

Thursday was also Genny's birthday. We all (Lisa, John, Genny, Alex and Sarah and girls, our family) went out for dinner. My apologies to anyone else dining at the Tuba Museum that night. Then it was cake at Lisa's afterward, and Kevin and Alex took Genny out for drinks and I took the girls home to bed.

Breakfast in front of the heat vent :)

Friday, Christmas Eve: I took Nellie and Annie to my parents' to make Christmas cookies with Emily, Dave, and Laurel. So wonderful. I love it when everyone is home! Kevin, meanwhile, took apart Nellie's bed and Annie's crib and started in on building the new bunk beds! Dave, Laurel, and I helped for a while, but then we were off to the Ward Christmas party. Kevin missed the entire Ward part, but came later for the family gift exchange. It was worth it to take the girls home to their new bunk beds! Nellie was excited but very curious about where the beds came from, where the old beds were, and how Kevin built them. Annie wouldn't come in the room.

The gift highlights of the night were probably the Dora backpack (the actual backpack. It sings. It has a map.), the Bitty Baby dolls (I think I like them more than the girls do), and the GPS from John.

Bitty Baby!

Backpack, Backpack

Cookies!

CHRISTMAS!: We actually all slept pretty late! Nellie and I were up first. I made her sit in the kitchen while I made orange rolls and coffee, and lit candles and put on Christmas music. She was fine with that, content to play with her new Disney princess paper dolls. Kev was up by 8:30, and we had to wake up Annie shortly after. We did stockings and presents, and it was all warm and cozy and fun. Nellie's favorite present from all of Christmas was in her stocking--silly bands. (Silly bandz?) Then it was off to Grandpa John's for waffles and more cousin time, then to my parents' for naps and more lovely gifts and gift-giving.

Kevin declared it the best Christmas ever because my mom got the boys marshmallow shooters, which are highly accurate and likely to cause serious damage. The brothers (Dave and Kevin) battled the wanna-bes (Chris and Peter) while we waited for all the little ones to fall asleep. We found that the furniture setup in my parents' living room makes an excellent marshmallow war course.

Annie's favorite present: The Christmas apple

New princess watches

Sunday the 26th: Church in the morning (while Kevin hunted), then off to Pam's for the Harrington/Keys party. It was a smaller party than usual, but it didn't seem like it because of the four little girls running around (at least Alli stays put for now!) Annie managed to turn off the ringer on my phone then hide it in Alex's boot, so no one could leave for an extra hour while we all searched for it, calling it over and over to no avail. Meanwhile, the older girls played "getting ready for the wedding party" in Pam's bathroom, washing their hair in the sink and creating a huge mess of the bathroom and themselves.

Monday the 27th: Kevin's 30th birthday! We celebrated by eating french toast and bacon off the new electric griddle in the morning, then pork loin and pineapple-upside-down cake in the evening with the McAlveys. We also unknowingly celebrated our last barf-free day of the season. Don't tell Nellie I said "barf;" she's just learning it's not a nice word.

Tuesday the 28th: With much of the celebration behind us, we spent the day at home. I had gotten sick with a cold on Christmas day, Nellie and Annie had been coughing for several days, and Annie threw up twice that morning. So we all took two naps and I took cold medicine and tylenol so we could still go out with Dave and Laurel for "adults only" dinner at PF Changs. All was good until I found shards of glass in my dessert cup, which earned us $90 in gift cards and four free appetizer coupons. Plus there were no internal injuries, so all in all it was a nice time. The girls and I spent the night at my parents' since they were already sleeping when we got back.

Wednesday the 29th: We spent the morning playing at my parents' house, then went shopping for the food for Kev's birthday party.

Thursday the 30th: To Grand Rapids to see the Christmas trees at Frederick Meijer Gardens and to visit my Grandma and Grandpa. The girls got MORE presents - a very fun Leapfrog laptop and programmable doggy.

Friday the 31st: New Year's Eve! Nellie and Annie threw up in the morning. We went to my parents' to hang out with them and Dave and Laurel (and Xander) in the evening. We played games and watched Back to the Future 3 and managed to stay up until midnight.

Saturday the 1st: Happy New Year! I threw a birthday/bowl game party for Kevin at my parents' house. Both our families were there, which makes a lot of people! It was good food and good company, if I do say so myself! Annie was grouchy, but the other girls had lots of fun. Kevin got so much beer for his birthday that have a large cooler full to last us the rest of the winter. Or at least January. We ended up spending the night at my parents' again, because Emily and Lane + their friends are so fun we had to play Catchphrase and watch more football all evening. Also, eat more party food.

Sunday the 2nd: Again with the barfing! Annie again, but I got sick too. I spent most of the afternoon sleeping on the couch with Annie while Kevin and Nellie watched the Lions win.

Monday the 3rd: Annie and Nellie threw up in the morning, plus Kevin was sick and had to stay home from work. Yuck. I actually had a pretty productive day. I undecorated the Christmas tree and wrestled it to the curb, hauled out all the boxes from the bunk beds, and went grocery shipping, all while not throwing up myself. Just when I thought things were getting better, puke struck again at the dinner table right after Nellie announced how yummy the dinner (spaghetti, her choice) looked. Tutoring was cancelled.

Tuesday the 4th: Nellie threw up in our bed (I know, too much information) around midnight and I spent the rest of the night on the floor of their room. Kevin and I had to move around our schedules to avoid having the babysitter here. We have finally come to terms with the fact that we are actually sick, that people are not throwing up for random reasons (too much milk! drinking milk lying down! Sinus drainage, etc. etc.), and that we have probably infected our entire families.

Oh, Nellie.

Tonight at dinner, Kevin and I were discussing a potential 30th birthday party. After a couple of minutes, Nellie interrupted.

N: Could you guys stop talking about that?

Me: Stop talking about what? [I was a little worried that she didn't like that we were quasi-arguing. Kevin does not really want a party.]

N: That boring thing.

Kevin and I found this very funny, but it was also kind of rude so we were trying to laugh subtly. Which made it infinitely worse.

N: Mommy? What's wrong? Are you crying?

Me: No, I'm laughing!

N: Daddy? Are YOU crying?
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After dinner, we went to the Grand Ledge Christmas parade, where Nellie yelled "Merry Christmas!" and waved wildly to everyone in the parade. Because she thought it would make them throw candy. It worked.
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On the way home, Nellie wanted Kevin to tell her about the story where she, Robynne, and Leah go to the zoo and then they eat seeds and then in the morning they eat breakfast and they fall in a hole and then a mean dragon comes.

K: Nellie, that's a really good story! You already told the story!

N: I did NOT tell a story. I didn't say "once upon a time."
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Unrelated, Kevin just suggested we sign up for eHarmony to see if they match us up. That might be because we are still up at 12:30, because we drank very large cups of coffee at the parade.

Goodbye summer, hello fall!

Okay, like, 6 weeks ago, but who's counting? (Hi Mom.) The facts that the girls are changing quickly along with the weather, and that school is demanding and the rest of the time I'm fighting clutter and playing and trying to get people to go to sleep mean I have had no time to actually write about any of these things. Then all the funny stories and milestones pile up so high, it's even harder to record them. But it's time to try.

Annie:

• Is walking, of course. We left a teetering baby with my parents when we went up to Mackinac Island in early September, and we came home to a full-fledged walking toddler. (The trip up north was wonderful, by the way. The two-night trip actually turned into a three-night trip, because who knew the ferry stopped running at 8:00?)
• Is talking. Some of her words: Mama, Dada, NeNe, Doggy, Bottle, Blankie, Milk, Book, Hat, Papa, bye-bye, uh-oh, all done (in words and signing), please (sign), more, duck (which we first heard when she stuck her head out of the door, saw the dead duck Kevin had brought home, and said "duck!"), baa, baby. Most of these are only recognizable by us, but it's still fun!
  
• Is impossible when it comes to changing her diaper. As soon as the darn thing is off, she's off and running.
  
• Loves, loves baby dolls. She feeds them, wraps them in blankets, puts them to bed, kisses them, reads books to them. It's all very serious business.
• Is done nursing, officially. As of less than a week ago. I feel like there's a lot more I could say about that, but in the end, it was pretty uneventful.

Nellie:

• Is still into princesses, weddings, Dora, and Sesame Street. And now, Mary Poppins. My mom orchestrated that, because we're going to the musical next weekend. Nellie is in love with the movie and the music, and we're finding it a lovely change from the princesses. Although we just started watching The Princess and the Frog, and that's a really fun movie!
• Wants a new baby sister named Snoopy.
• Is done napping, officially. I have declared it so. The last two times she took naps, she was up until after midnight.
• Wakes up in the night, every night, and comes in bed with us. That is getting very old. It's one of those things that was fine once, then twice, then a month later I panicked about the new trend. We're working on it...she told me that she gets lonely in bed by herself.
• Went swimming in Gull Lake with Kevin and Pam the first weekend in October. Her idea. It was freezing. She wanted to go again the last weekend in October, but we said it was too cold. She offered to wear her sweatshirt.
  
• Is so, so ready for preschool. She would love it. The child has so much energy, it's ridiculous. She never stops moving. She is "aggressively friendly," as we like to say. I think expending more mental energy would do her good.
• Wants to be Spiderman for Halloween next year.

The rest of us:

• Kevin has settled in at Woldumar. It seems like a great job for him. He's doing sales and running education programs and cutting down trees and fixing vehicles
• Many grouse, woodcock, and ducks have met their demise at Kevin's hands. No deer, yet!
• More of the same, for me. My relatively light semester has picked up, and it's crunch time.
• I spent three days at a conference in Columbus last weekend, and it went smoothly! Kevin and the girls had fun, and I slept all night long, three nights in a row. (Note that the sleep is the most noteworthy thing about my trip. Also, the ice cream. We got ice cream twice in one day.)
  
• We're already getting excited for Christmas. This is mostly because Nellie loves everything about Christmas because just about the only family video we have is of Christmas-related events--getting the Christmas tree, opening presents, etc. We took out the nativity on November 1st, and it didn't seem at all crazy. Later, we hung our coats on the coat rack (recently returned to the kitchen after a loooooong stay in the basement during remodeling the kitchen) and Nellie called it decorating for Christmas. :)
  

The biggest news? Both girls are currently sleeping in their room, together. This is the first time that has ever happened. I mean, they have slept in their room plenty of times, but they have never, ever both gone to sleep in their own room; we always had to separate them between the two rooms. It didn't help that napped-Nellie stayed up until after 10:00 every night. Anyway, I hope it starts a trend...we'll see.

Nellie's Christmas List

So it's been over a month since I added anything here, which I'll point out coincided with my first day of classes. Anyway, there are a million things that have happened since then, but for now I'm only recording one--Nellie's list she gave us tonight of her ideas of what to buy people for Christmas.

Papa Roger: a pretend polar bear

Grandma Linda: a pretend Christmas tree to put in her house

Emily: a snow thing that talks. (According to Nellie, it will say "Hi Emmy" in a really creepy/evil voice)

Dave: a mouse

Kevin: a frog

She wants an Easter bunny.

She walks!

Kind of. When I set her at arm's length, Annie will take one little step before collapsing into me face-first. (Isn't is funny how babies do that?) But I also caught her taking 3 or 4 steps at Pam's last weekend when she didn't know I was looking, so I think that confirms my suspicion that she's just choosing not to walk!

Maybe I'll figure out how to load video one of these days when she really gets going.

Things that make you go hmmm.

Conversations I've had with Nellie over the last two weeks:

1) Trying to explain why it's not exactly correct to say that "Jesus is making my sins grow big and strong!"

2) Talking about how old you have to be to have: pierced ears, breasts, a wedding, a baby, a bra, and an Ariel doll.

3) Telling her a fairy godmother is kind of like an angel, to which she replied "well, the Tigers are playing the Angels right now, but they were playing the White Sox."

4) My personal favorite--

N: Mommy, what's that thing called on the mommy cow?
J: It's her udder.
N: You have udders.
J: No I don't. Well, we don't call them udders.
N: Can I call them udders?
J: I guess so. [Insert Kevin laughing silently.]
N: I'm going to have udders when I grow up.

Family updates

My goodness, it's hard to believe it's been a month since I last wrote. I made it through several weeks of preparing for and implementing advisory board meetings for my research assistantship. In the middle of the week of meetings I had to take the final exam for my summer math class, which I had foolishly believed would somehow be easier and more relaxed than a regular course. I survived, and now I have a week and a half to catch up on the rest of life before classes start again. Also, I came home from our vacation to find out that a conference proposal I co-wrote was accepted, which means I get to go to California in January!

We're still unsure exactly what Kevin will be up to in the fall, but it's looking like he'll be at Woldumar working full time. Unfortunately, we may not find out how that will actually pan out until we're already into the fall. Of course, he'll no doubt be spending time in the woods, too. He's out right now caring for his pigeons, which he'll use to train the dogs, whom he'll hunt with all fall.

Nellie has grown increasingly interested in weddings, princesses, and all things "being grown up." She's also ridiculously naughty, and has developed a flair for the dramatic. Lots of throwing herself down, head on her arms, with fake shoulder-shaking sobs. This is most definitely from watching too many Disney princess movies, since I noticed Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle all do the same thing.

Annie is still not walking, which makes her generally grumpy because she wants me to carry her all over the house. We'll be working on that. Why did I think that having a big sister would make her want to walk earlier?

I do have one exciting thing to report: we are finally, finally sleeping better around here. I'm not actually going to come right out and say the girls are sleeping through the night--partly because they usually aren't, partly because I don't want to jinx it--but it has happened. The effect might be surprising to some, but is exactly what I expected. I am exhausted. It's like my body is saying, "okay, you gave me 4 hours a night for over a year, now I want 14 hours a night plus two naps for a few months." I figured my energy would come to a crashing halt at some point! The good sleeping started around Nellie's birthday and has gradually improved over the last month. I think Annie's slept through the night twice. I need to catch up with them, though--I'm usually up two or three times just anticipating one of them waking up!

We were at Pam's last weekend, and spent a couple of nights at Michillinda Lodge on Lake Michigan. I wish we had pictures to post, but I don't think we took a single one! We mostly ate, played, and napped. Heavenly.

Funny, enlightening day

I am always fascinated by the way kids take what we tell them and what they observe and make sense out of it all.

Today, Nellie decided first thing this morning that she wanted to play dress-up. This has never happened before, and I was shamefully unprepared. I let her pick out some of my jewelry, a pair of sandals with heels, then gave her a--well, let's just call it a nightie--to wear as a wedding dress, because she told me she wanted to pretend to get married.

(A small digression here. Just recently, Nellie has become more interested in girly things. She's been such good buddies with Kevin lately, she usually just talks about how much she loves hunting, asked for binoculars for her birthday, likes to investigate bugs and frogs, get dirty, etc. But more and more, Nellie wants to look at wedding pictures, watch the romantic scene in Aladdin, and play with this "big girl" doll that used to be Aunt Pam's when she was a little girl. Not a baby doll, mind you, because she is wearing underpants and that is the very definition of big girl.")

Well, the next thing I knew, she was stuffing a little monkey under her shirt and uttered the funniest, most shocking statement I have ever heard and had to NOT laugh at--

"I am getting married because I have a baby in my tummy and I need a fahver [father]."

She meant husband.

What I realized over the course of the day, since we played "pregnant" (what she called it) all day, was that she believes that all women give birth at their wedding. I am certain she thinks this because whenever she asks about how you get a baby in your tummy and so on, we tell her something like, "well, when you're a grown up you get married and then you can have a baby." I wasn't exactly sure how to approach this misconception, so I just kind of went with it. By the time Kevin came home she had three babies ("triblets") and was asking to play dress-up again tomorrow. Kevin said I should take her to Goodwill for some proper dress-up clothes.

This afternoon, I took out a small album of wedding photos to show Nellie. We looked through all the pictures and I explained every one. She asked if she was in my tummy at the wedding, and I told her that no, she wasn't born until a few years later. When we were done, she asked to read it again.

It was just a different kind of day--I had plenty to do, but I didn't particularly feel like doing any of it, so we just played all morning. The three of us, since Annie seems to be giving up her morning nap. My Little Ponies, "camping girls", and dress-up/pregnant. Who knows what we'll be playing tomorrow!

Long days, short years

I want to add to/amend my earlier birthday post that I ended talking about how fast time goes, but how that's okay and we're having fun. It is okay--I mean, there's no stopping it, right?--and we are having fun. But there's also something about it that is just the tiniest bit heart-wrenching.

The title of this post captures it exactly, I think. (I'm not sure where I got this saying; I think it's something I picked up from one of my mom's mother-at-home organizations.) I mean, how many times have I watched the clock in that painful hour before dinner with a whining girl hanging from my legs and I'm trying to cook dinner and pick up the house with one hand while holding a baby with the other and the dogs are spinning circles and it's 4:03, then 4:09, 4:17, 4:22, 4:31, 4:33, 4:40, 4:46, 4:57, and YES! FINALLY! 5:00! So that when Kevin comes in at 5:09 I'm shrieking "where have you been?" with a crazed look in my eye? Answer--a lot.

But then I wake up one morning and Nellie is three, the "baby" is one, and I'm putting the Jumparoo in storage (a.k.a. a shelf that Kevin built in the basement), wondering if/when we'll ever be taking it back out, and throwing out the last bottle of baby soap that we received at Nellie's baby showers. (Huh. Three bottles of soap lasted us over three years. This may confirm what my mom has been hinting at not-so-subtly, that I do not bathe my children enough.) Anyway, I'm reminded of the momentum of time, of it's weightiness, how it just keeps passing and there's no going back.

Most days I don't think about such things, I just revel in the new things the girls can do and the new happenings just around the corner, and breathe sighs of relief that we survived another infant stage.

But there are time when my arms ache to hold a newborn baby Nellie or Annie just for a moment, when I wish time would just slow down already.

Nellie

I got the idea from a friend's blog to interview the kids on their birthdays (thanks, Lisa!). Nellie is going through a phase where she automatically answers every question "I don't know," so I tried to ask her questions over the course of a few days.

Are you excited to be three?

Yes.

What kinds of things do three-year-olds do?

Go poopy on the potty. Go to school.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A firefighter. (This is what she's said for the past year or so.)

What do firefighters do?

They drive fire trucks. And wear seat belts.

What is your favorite color?

Brown. Like chocolate ice cream. (Normally she would say her favorite color is blue, but I happened to ask this while we were eating ice cream.)

Who's your best friend?

Daddy

What's your favorite book?

The big Winnie-the-Pooh book where you find things.

What's your favorite movie?

Aladdin

Sum-sum-summertime

Annie is One, Nellie is Three

The party was last weekend, but I'm pretty sure we're still recovering. It came on us quickly the Saturday after 4th of July weekend (our third weekend in a row at the lake) and a whirlwind trip to Charlevoix with mom, Dave and Laurel, and Steve, Erin, and Xander. It was a blur of grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking and baking, yard work, balloons, wrapping paper, cupcakes, squirt guns, and toddlers. We left the party mess at the house to go to a Lugnuts game, and got home late. In fact, as I was putting Nellie to bed, she said, "I'm finally three!" I told her she wasn't officially three until midnight, but when I looked at my phone it was 12:02!

It was fun, but the day after, I told Kevin to remind me next year not to throw a party. So much work. So many presents. But he pointed out that it's fun to have everyone over, and it's the perfect time of year for it. It gives us a good excuse to clean house and yard. So the girls are in luck; birthdays aren't canceled.

Nellie's actual birthday was relaxing in comparison! We all slept until 9:00. The girls played with the new toys and read the new books and ate Cocoa Krispies for breakfast (we're continuing the Wacyk "birthday cereal" tradition.) Mom and Dad had us over for a wonderful lunch to say good-bye to Dave and Laurel--well, the food was wonderful; the good-bye was horrid as usual. The girls both fell asleep on the way home, we had leftover hot dogs for supper, and Kevin took Nellie for a bike ride after Annie went to bed.

The girls went to see Dr. Dave the next morning for their check-ups. They were very good (so I was very relieved!) Here are the stats--

Annie's height: 30.5 inches
Annie's weight: 18 lbs.
Head circumference: 17.5 inches
Chest circumference: 16.5
75th percentile for height, 5th percentile for weight!

Nellie's height: 38.5 inches
Nellie's weight: 32 lbs.

Over the span of just a couple of weeks, Annie learned to crawl, pull herself up, cruise furniture, stand on her own, and walk holding our hands or a push toy. She doesn't sit still anymore, that's for sure! We're amazed every day by the new things she can do and the things she understands. She has a top tooth, too. Just today Annie started telling us what a doggy says and what a lion says, playing in the sandbox, and copying Nellie's fake burping noises. So sophisticated, our girls.

Nellie loves Disney princesses (her new Snow White movie is a huge hit. Along with the princess sleeping bag and Cinderella doll from Grandma Cathy, and the Belle doll from us,) the movie Annie, and Dora. She's still crazy about Sesame Street and Curious George. Kevin found a kid-sized guitar at Woldumar and is teaching Nellie to play it. She makes up stories and songs and games (though all the games are "like hide-and-seek." As in, she'll give us a choice of Beepo, Bonko, or Borka, and you pick Beepo, and she tells you it's like hide-and-seek, but it really is exactly hide-and-seek.) She likes to write letters that sound more like prayers. "Dear Emmy, thank you for this day. Thank you for Nellie and Annie. Love, Emmy."

I know I've said it before, but one of the best parts of life right now is watching Nellie and Annie learn about being sisters. Nellie climbs in the crib with Annie and they sing songs and dance around. Though that also means they can't nap in the same room. They hug and kiss and play "bonky sisters" where they bump heads and laugh wildly. Again, very sophisticated. Nellie blames her transgressions on Annie, which is bad of course, but also part of growing up. They steal each others' toys and always want to play with the same thing. They keep each other company and entertain one another.

Their birthdays remind me of their births, and how quickly they are growing up. But that's okay; every day is an adventure and teaches us new things. We're having fun.

Bedtime Counting

I took a complimentary 10 x 10 number square from a teaching conference because I thought Kevin might be able to use it with his students. It has been in the book basket ever since, though Nellie takes it out to look at the numbers on it every once in awhile. Tonight she was supposed to be picking a bedtime story for Kevin to read. She picked one book and the number square, saying "first let's do some counting, then we'll read this story."

I listened while Kevin very patiently helped Nellie count all the way up to 80. Like mother, like daughter?

Take me out to the ball game

We got back at midnight last night from an 11-inning Lugnuts game. We have "season tickets" to 6 games, and while it's always fun, every time a game rolls around we go through a process involving the following questions--do we take Annie? who should stay home? what should we do with Nellie? everyone should come?--and then usually we all go.

Last night, I'll admit, I joined all the other 200 moms with young children in checking the clock every 30 seconds wishing the Lugnuts would just get it over with and face the eventual loss. But we had promised fireworks, and fireworks we would stay for gosh-darn-it! Well, the Lugnuts won in a dramatic 7-6 victory, so it was worth the hours of holding a squirmy Annie, I guess.

And there were definitely some highlights. Nellie made up a song/game called "C'mon everybody stink your head" where you face funny faces at each other. Kevin took Nellie down at the end of the game to catch a victory ball--which he did, in a stunning display of athleticism. He gave it to Nellie, who promptly threw it back on the field.

Now the girls are clinging to me and whining, probably ready for naps 20 minutes after waking up. It's hard to type this way, so it's on to other things!

Birthday week

Annie and I celebrated our 1st and 29th birthdays this week, respectively. This is the first year of MANY to come where we celebrated Father's Day and two birthdays in five days! All in all, it meant many calories were consumed and lots of fun was had.

We just finished up Annie's not-party. (Not a party because the official party will be shared by Annie and Nellie in July. Okay, it was kind of a party.) Unfortunately, she's been sick all week with a high fever, little appetite, and no desire to sleep. Coincidentally, Nellie was sick the days before her 1st birthday party, and my mom tells me I was sick on my first birthday! Anyway, today was the first day she perked up enough to play again, and play we did! That is, we played around Annie's two three-hour naps.

The thing about being the younger sister on your 1st birthday is that your older sibling gets to pick what you do. Lucky for Annie, Nellie picked the splash pad. It was awesome. I had taken Nellie before; in fact, we were there the day I went into labor with Annie. But Nellie is older and braver now, and Annie has never been. It was hot enough that the water felt good, and while it's fun to go with friends, it was nice to be just the three of us. Nellie's favorite was hiding under the "umbrellas," Annie's favorite was probably the water! She's a little water baby. There was a moment where I held Annie up, and she had a brilliant grin on her face with the blue sky and fluffy white clouds as the backdrop, and it was like a little piece of heaven. There were no tantrums, no injuries. Wonderful.

While the girls napped later, I baked lemon cupcakes (round two--the first batch from last night burned) and made lasagna and mopped the kitchen floor. Erin and Xander came for dinner, then mom and dad stopped by for cupcakes and presents. Of course, Nellie had a hard time with the whole thing and opened all of Annie's presents. Oh well, it worked for this year!

It's hard to get as much attention when you're the second child (ahem--we know from experience--ahem) so it was nice to celebrate Annie today! It's been a great year with her. She's so easy-going and sweet, very thoughtful and happy. She's finally crawling--well, doing a version of a hermit crab walk--and one of these days she's bound to start sleeping through the night. Annie adores Nellie and it's been interesting to watch them meet and get to know each other this year.

Happy birthday, Annie. We love you!

Memorial Days of Old

We had a great time for our long weekend and unofficial summer kickoff this year. Of course we remembered family no longer with us and the men and women who have fought for our country, but it was also a good chance to remember some of the past Memorial Days since Kevin and I have been together.

2002--We spent the weekend with Josh and Rose on South Manitou Island. It was freezing and rained the entire time, which of course we were utterly unprepared for. We pressed on, packing 3.5 miles to our campsite and exploring the island. One would expect that under such miserable circumstances we'd be...well...miserable, but it was so much fun. Luckily, we were with awesome company who didn't let a little (lot) of rain get them down. Oh, the memories. Chipmunk Army. Dorky campers. Mr. Fumbly Hands. I'll stop there.

2003--Pam's house. I don't remember much, except that Alex pushed Kevin in the cold lake, and Kev lost his glasses so the boys had to snorkel around looking for them for a long, cold time.

2004--Our first married year. We spend the weekend in Cass City, again with Rose and Josh. We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. by the campfire drinking beer and smoking cigars (ew--my first and last) and listening to Tom's stories.

2005--New homeowners, we stayed home. I don't remember exactly, but there's a good chance we were uprooting the 12-foot-wide juniper bushes in front of the house. Blech. I'm glad that's over!

2006--Up to Traverse City with most of my family. I was running a half marathon and we rented a house on the bay. It was a little bittersweet...the race was great, the weather was beautiful, and we had fun. But it was a rough point in our lives--Kevin was unhappy in his job, we'd been hoping for a baby for over a year, and we were burdened by divorces among friends and family. We were also planning our escape to work at camp that summer.

2007--Up to Mackinac Island with my family and Pam. Everyone else did lots of biking and exploring; as I recall, I did lots of waddling around 8 months pregnant.

2009--To Pam's with Sarah and Alex and the girls. John came and joined us on a trip to Binder Park Zoo. Once again, I was 8 months pregnant and wondering if I had made a mistake in thinking I was ready for another baby!

And that takes us to this year. We spent the weekend at a family cabin in Newaygo to celebrate John's 60th birthday party. It was heavenly--hot, dirty, and generally sticky. The girls all had a great time together wading in the river, fishing, and sleeping in tents. There were even a few blissful minutes when all four girls napped and Sarah and I sat in the sun reading. I'll admit I looked over now and then and was inwardly relieved she is the one 8 months pregnant this year. I learned that there is a limit to the number of brats I can eat in a weekend--3.5. Overall a wonderful time.

If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking with my nostalgia. Looking over a series of simple weekends full of vacations and barbeques, it's incredible to see how much has changed and how far we've come. We are blessed!

P.S.

Ahhh, lest anyone (including future me) think that we are too good to be true, I thought I should point out that the wonderful and fun planting happened before and after a serious Nellie fit that ended with me pinning her down and forcibly removing her bathing suit so that we could leave for the store. Hence the napping in the car. Then today when I planted the flowers, she spent the whole time looking at the cat in the window next door, refusing to come inside when I had to get Annie (who was refusing to take a nap), then doing some strange whining fake-cry (a real winning combo) in the front doorway. She also learned the art of sulking this weekend. Seriously, where do kids learn this stuff? It's really an unattractive kid habit, in my opinion, so we're going to have to figure out how to nip that one in the bud. I did pull out my grandma's line, "if you stick out that lip a little bird is going to come poop on it." Oi.

So there's that.

In the garden

We are just sitting down after a long weekend of work on the yard and garden. We started slow Friday night with dinner at the new Michigan Brewing Co. restaurant. We went back and forth about whether it would be trashy to take the girls, finally calling the restaurant to ask. No, they told us, it would not be trashy, they had real high chairs and kids' menus and crayons. It was nice! Loud, but nice, and good beer of course!

Saturday, we bought all of our flowers, soil, and supplies, and put in a couple of hours of prep work before heading out to another restaurant--this time, Macaroni Grill for Grandma Carolyn's 80th birthday party. I want to personally apologize to all the wait staff and other patrons at the 28th Street Macaroni Grill for all the toddler antics--there were four girls under three at one table, for goodness sake. Messy. Loud.

Anyway, we started working right after church today, and "finished" around 10:00 tonight. We raked and weeded, replaced the window boxes, planted and watered. It was HOT, so Nellie spent a good part of the day in her kiddie pool and the sprinkler. Annie, who won't dare to set her feet in the grass, loves the sprinkler! Icy water spraying everywhere--she couldn't get enough. Looks like we have another water baby on our hands! We took one break to pick up more flowers and some chicken wire (and delicious iced cappuccinos at 5:00, which is probably why I'm wide awake), more so that Nellie would finally take a nap than anything else.

When we got back, it was time to do some serious seed planting, which Nellie really, really wanted to help with. On one hand, I knew we were running out of daylight and needed to hurry, on the other, she was so cute! And not bad at planting...it was fun to see her putting seeds in the trenches and cover them with soil--or tuck them into bed, as we called it. If she found a worm, we'd bury him in the dirt and say, "thanks for helping our plants grow, little worm! Maybe we'll take you fishing later!" She dutifully watered each tomato and pepper plant. All the seeds on the edges of the garden probably drown, and time will tell what actually grows, but it was worth it! We had so much fun doing it together. Hopefully, in the next couple months we'll have peas, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, basil, spinach, cilantro, lettuce, parsley, carrots, beans, zucchini, and two kinds of squash.

Some other cute moments: after we'd planted one row of the garden, Nellie stood up and said, "well, it looks like our work here is done. I'm going scuba diving in my pool."

While planting with Kevin, "Daddy, you're so strong! You're as strong as the sky!"

Right before bed, I asked Nellie what Kevin had showed her in the living room. "A funny thing called a bat." Kevin shook his head. "Um...a moustache." Kevin, trying not to laugh--"no, a moth."

It was a lot of work for a Sunday, but there is something very satisfying about taking a shower and drinking a beer after hard work in the sun. I'm not complaining!

Chatty Cathy

In a letter to Nellie that I wrote in her baby book, I said "I can't wait until she can start talking so I know what she's thinking!" It was before she turned a year old, so it's been a couple of (short, fast) years since then. But I remembered that last night, when the following one-sided conversation took place in the span of maybe one minute.

Hey mommy, the heater turned off. Which one is left? Is this left? Oh that feels good on my feet! Big Bird, feel this on your feet, doesn't that feel good? Sit up Big Bird. Sit. Sit. Hey, Big Bird is sitting up by me! I think I can use this [plastic bin] as a stool. Hey, I used it as a stool! Mommy, this can be my new stool! Oops, sorry baby bear. I stepped on my baby bear a little bit. I'M ALL NAKIE! [Bouncing on the bed] nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby! Mommy, what'cha doing? I need my towel. I want to wrap up in my towel. Mooooo, I'm a baby cow! Hey Mommy remember when I was a baby and you got me this towel? Whobody got me this towel?

So that is what she was thinking.

Annie-bannie

Little Annie is getting to be so much fun. Not that she wasn't fun before, but this is a good age (10 months). Some of her tricks include: clapping, waving, giving "five", saying "hi", "mama", "dada", and "nene" (okay, at least that's what we like to think that's what she's saying), putting her blankie over her face for peek-a-boo, standing supported, flipping the pages on books, and scooting the teensiest little bit--if she can grab onto our new fluffy rug. She can put blocks into our farm toy and likes opening and closing the doors on the little kitchen. Annie is great at feeding herself, and eats just about everything we put in front of her. Which often includes stuff we're not supposed to feed her but forget, like honey. (Really--what is botulism anyway?) She has two teeth, finally!

There are still a good many things she doesn't do. She doesn't crawl. Or roll over. Or pull herself up. Or sleep at night. Actually, I shouldn't say that. Since my last complaint about sleeping, Annie started sleeping for 4-5 hour blocks. It lasted about 3 nights, and now she's back to getting up every 2 hours or so. But something tells me it's going to get better soon. Just a hunch.

The especially fun part has been watching Nellie and Annie figure out what it means to be sisters. Nellie is getting better about sharing, and helping. Today I was rubbing Nellie's back and Annie started rubbing it, too. They lay in bed together and giggle. I catch them holding hands across the backseat.

Of course, there's also plenty of hair-pulling, pushing, hitting, and "NO ANNIE"s, too. I'm not really expecting that to end anytime soon!

Potty training....grrr....

Nellie has been potty trained for #1 since she turned 2. She spent one weekend with her 3-year-old cousin, came home, wanted underpants, and never went back. She wore Pull-Ups during nap time and nighttime for a couple of months, but then it was all underpants, all the time.

So. We just spent another weekend with said cousins, who both wear Pull-Ups at bed time.

Note: Both also poop in the potty. Nellie does not. After one horrific 3-hour ordeal several months ago that I won't get into here, which ended with her throwing up on me once and peeing on Kevin once that night when she just looked at the toilet, we are letting Nellie set her own agenda on that one. She has gone in the potty, we know she can do it, but she told us she is waiting until she's three. Fine.

Anyway, Nellie came home and informed me that she needs to wear a Pull-Up to bed. Kevin and I discussed this with her calmly, but inside I was thinking "Ohno ohno ohno ohno what do I do we are not regressing do I let her wear one what if it lasts what do I do she is never going to be fully potty trained oh geez this is not happening." Overly dramatic? Maybe. In the end, I decided to let her try it. She put on the Pull-Up, put on the pajama pants.

I asked, "how does that feel?"

"Squishy. I want my underpants."

HUGE. SIGH. OF RELIEF.

Do you think we'll get a trophy?

"Mom, who do you think is the best family in the whooooooole world?"

"Hmmm, who do you think is the best family in the whole world?"

"Nellie and Annie and Big House [see below] and Connie and Maddie."

"Did you forget anyone?"

"And Mommy and Daddy."

"That's my favorite family, too."

A nice rainy day doesn't have to be an oxymoron

Today I woke up (just a little too early) to the sound of Nellie yelling "Mommyjamie, I can't open my drawer!" because lately she picks out her own clothes before she leaves her room in the morning. We got up and watched a little of her Dora movie from the library, then made a puffed oven pancake, sausages, and melon for breakfast.

By the time we finished eating, Annie was ready for a nap. Nellie and I headed out for the museum, which was a treat because we rarely go out just the two of us. We spent most of the time in the bubble room and at the water table, as usual. We made it home in time to join Kevin and Annie for Disney princess soup for lunch, then it was nap time.

Naps actually coincided today, so I was able to get some statistics homework done and write a little of my paper (the end of the semester is less than 2 weeks away!) while Kevin called turkeys in the woods across the street. When the girls were both awake, we took a family trip to Target for new throw pillows to match the new rug, then to Qdoba for dinner (we had a coupon) and Coldstone for dessert (ahhhh).

Everyone came home happy, so after Annie went to bed we let Nellie break out her new finger paints which was both an enormous mess and a lot of fun. After a quick bath, she went to bed without too much fuss. Now we're listening to the Tigers beat the Rangers and looking at pictures from the last couple of months that Kevin just put on the computer.

When the major catastrophe of the day is when the dog walks on the wet finger paint pictures on the bathroom floor, you know it's a good one.

The Wernets go to the Dentist

The thing about 2-year-olds is that you never know which kid is going to show up. Could be an angel, could be, well... For example, when we took Nellie to the race a few weeks ago, we purposely went with no expectations. We knew she would either run her heart out with a big smile on her face, or do exactly what she did. Not pretty.

It's because of this uncertainly that I have a pathological fear of a) taking the girls to get professional portraits taken, and b) taking Nellie to the dentist. My good friend recently had to leave the dentist's office before her normally good-natured son even sat in the chair because he ran away screaming from any grown-up who came near. But Kevin and I both had our annual dentist appointments back-to-back on Monday, and I resolved to make an appointment for Nellie while we were there. During my cleaning, the hygienist told me horror stories about the toddlers who came in and had to be physically restrained. Ugh.

As it turned out, Kevin brought the girls in for the tail end of my appointment and Nellie ran around excitedly looking at the fish in the tank, the buckets of prizes, and the photos on the wall of kids after their visits to the dentist. She met the hygienist and the dentist and admired my new toothbrush. When I went to the desk to inquire about an appointment for Nellie, they offered to squeeze her in right then before Kevin's scheduled time. Well, I jumped on it, if for no other reason than I could get it over with without losing sleep.

And wouldn't ya know, she was perfect. She climbed right up in the chair. She put on the funny bib and the sunglasses. She opened her mouth wide. She let the hygienist count, polish, and put fluoride on her teeth. She picked out a sparkly toothbrush and matching pencil. We sneakily convinced the dentist to tell her not to drink milk in the middle of the night. And that was that.

I was giddily happy that it went so well, and made a not-funny joke about the toothless Annie coming back in 5 years. Out of habit I swiped my finger along her gums, and lo and behold, her first tooth had broken through.

Busybusybusy

I've been neglecting the poor blog lately, but that's just because life has been very full! Here are some of the highlights.

We did a 5-K race on March 27th, and Nellie "ran" the 100 yard dash. Well, Kevin kind of dragged her, but at least her feet were on the ground. She was supposed to "run" the 1/2 mile, but one appearance by Ronald McDonald and it was ALL OVER. We did follow up with playing on the playground, watching a helicopter take off, the bounce house, pancakes with Emily and Chris, so it was a good day.

Easter weekend, we: had Breakfast with the Bunny at the children's museum (Nellie even sort of gave the bunny a high five and told him, "Hoppy Easter." Very funny when you're 2), went to the Wernet Easter party which included a giant egg hunt, pinata, and crazy cousin fun time, church, egg hunt with Xander, lasagna dinner with the Wacyks minus mom and dad and Dave and Laurel, and lots of fun times with Emily And Friends.

We moved in with my mom and dad while Kevin tiled the kitchen floor over his spring break. This has been overall great. High adult-to-child ratio.

During this time, the girls have been to the airport, the capitol, the library, the butterfly gardens at Frederick Meijer, visited Grandma Cathy and Papa Roger, played with the neighbor kids, celebrated my dad's birthday...we're exhausted! Maybe that's why the girls have ACTUALLY BEEN SLEEPING WELL. I'm kind of dreading the move home!

Spring has Sprung