fun with grandma

alternative title: "daycare for daddy daycare"

grandma is here visiting while mommy is off at her meeting (PA CME).  here's some of the fun stuff we're doing with grandma:

making pizza!  with pepperoni, cilantro sausage, peppers, garlic, tomatoes and feta cheese.
"delicious" -- erik

picking peas from the garden!  very crisp and sweet.

Reason To Smile

 

"Are you ready yet?"

 

                                                                     "Cheese" face

Hello Goodbye

Erik said goodbye to preschool this morning!  He had a great first year.  Next year we have no preschool set up since we are moving and the school system is different in Maryland than it is in Virginia.  He will likely not be eligible for any preschool program because he misses the September 1st cut off. Instead, if we send him anywhere at all, it will likely just be a mother's day out program 1-2 mornings a week geared for 2 year old kids.

My boy sure has grown.  Take a look....

HELLO

9/10/09

Goodbye

5/26/10

 After School Ice Cream Party

Lainey threw a "back-arching-flop-myself-on-the-ground" fit when I took her cone away.

Ha!

I have let her have dairy on occasion since she is turning one in a few weeks and I will need to wean her soon.  She seems to enjoy ice cream A LOT!  I have only offered her yogurt and cheese 1-2 times but she clamps her mouth shut when I get it near her mouth.  

Erik you are such a fun, sweet, kind, and loving boy!

I am looking forward to a fun summer with you!

The Census Worker

The Meanest Mom  provides me with a source of daily amusement.  This mornings post I found especially amusing.  I hope you enjoy it!

Summer Book Club

Top Ten  Eight Reasons To Join Us On Our Summer Reading Adventure......

(drum roll)

8. More fun than laundry

7. Good excuse to have someone else pick up the toys at night

6. Break from chasing after the mess-makers in your house (whether it is dog, child, husband, or you)

5. You might learn something

4. Fun, bright group of women to discuss the books with

3. It's a good way to make new friends

2. " Requires" you to get regular uninterrupted time by yourself!!!

1. Hopefully, help you/us become more confident, secure, happy women!

The summer book club will start June 1st -- if you want to join us and haven't bought the book yet you can get it here!

Princeton

We traveled to Princeton this weekend for a celebration honoring Mike and Sonja's graduation from grad school, Jamison's baptism, and Miin's 70th birthday. It was a whirlwind of a weekend that started out at a snail's pace. The first 44 miles of our 190 mile trek took 3 hours. There was no end in sight to the traffic so we stopped for dinner and transferred our hotel reservation to Baltimore for the night. Funny given how close that is to our house. The kids traveled well.

Once there it was a flurry of activity and eating. The weather was great and there is a fabulous playground right next to Mike and Sonja's on-campus housing so Erik spent all day digging in the sand, riding trikes, swinging, and sliding. Lainey, never too far behind, was covered from head to toe in sand by bed time.


Sleeping was interesting - 2 late night car rides were required. One with both kids at 10 pm and one with just Lainey at 2 am.745 am morning nap

It was the first time all 3 grandkids were together at the same time. Lainey (11 months) and Jamison (5 months) were very interested in each other. Squawking and grabbing at each other.

The travel home was smooth -- the kids slept for the first 2 hours and there was minimal traffic so it only took 4 hours to get back.

Sonja is really super woman -- a first time mom, working full-time with a one hour commute each way, and full-time load of graduate courses. Amazing!

I am very impressed with all your accomplishments Mike and Sonja. We are excited for your new adventures in Philadelphia.

i heart traffic

bridges, tunnels, cars
lovely view going twenty
plus, toy story...again

and a bonus:


tailights are red
police lights are blue
i heart lots of cars
and want some more

Prayer Request

My friend from college (Daron's college girlfriend) and her husband have been in Thailand teaching for the past year. They are right outside of Bangkok which has become quite dangerous. For more info you can go to her blog .... Karly and Mike

Thanks!

Lainey Lane

I tried to capture video of Lainey walking. This was challenging because she so desperately wanted my camera. She is walking more and more each day. I have seen her take up to 10 steps at once. She is starting to take steps on her own without me dangling a carrot in front on her nose.

Sassy Baby

Happy Birthday Victor!

This weekend we had a berry good time spending lots of time together as a family to celebrate of Victor's birthday!

Lainey picking (and eating) strawberries

Erik rode the cow train all by himself. I thought it would be a short ride (all within my line of sight) but it was about a 2 mile trip around the farm. All the other kids had a parent on the ride with them (and the kids were older than Erik). Erik had fun though and was brave without me. I felt like a bad mom. Oh well.

Yummy key lime cheesecake with strawberry sauce and Strawberry pie with freshly picked organic strawberries.Happy baby eating strawberry pie!

Thank you for being a great husband and father!
We love you!

11 Months

Can you believe my baby girl is 11 months old already? The first year has been a lot of work but it has gone by quickly.

Lainey is so fun now. She really does seem like a toddler to me now instead of a baby. Here is what she is up to....

Climbing -- Especially the stairs and into her rocking chair. She is careful on the stairs but reckless on the rocking chair. Last night I caught her standing up in the middle of the rocking chair -- surfing back and forth (not supporting herself against the chair at all). Yikes!

Walking -- She has started taking steps. She isn't really walking yet but she has taken up to 5 steps at once. She is so cute!

Trouble -- She really likes the toilet and toilet water and toilet paper. She LOVED Erik's potty chairs so I got rid of them and she has now moved on to trying to get her hand in the real deal. Gross!

Baby tricks -- Lainey loves to give us big wide mouth kisses; claps and dances along to music; loves to play peek-a-boo

Eating -- She still loves to nurse. She nurses in the morning, before and after each nap, and before bed. She sometimes sleeps through the night but often nurses once in the middle of the night still. She has started to eat solids better -- still picky though.

Playing -- She loves whistles, putting blocks in and out of containers, the sand box, anything Erik has!

Family -- She loves Erik so much. She gets really excited when I tell her we are going to go get Erik up from his nap or from school. She also gets super excited when Victor gets home from work -- if he doesn't come pick her up immediately she cries. So sweet!

Communicating -- She says momma, dada and that's about it. She seems to nod her head up and down for yes. She signs all done and milk inconsistently. She can gets her "needs" met without any problem. She is a spunky spirited baby! Nothing gets past her!

11 month stats:
Weight: 18 pounds 12 ounces (25%) -- at the doctor 5/14
Length: around 30 inches (80-90%) --this was done at home

As I had mentioned in the previous post I thought she may have another ear infection. She didn't -- the doctor said she had fluid in her ears and a really, really red throat. Another virus. She seems to be feeling better today although now she has started coughing. At least the fever is gone. Poor baby.


Lainey you are so cute and sweet I can hardly stand it! I am so happy to be your mommy!

Lainey Dances

Summer Book Club

My cousin Julie and I have decided to start a book club. So far it is just the two of us but we would love it if other wanted to join. We are going to read So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us by Beth Moore starting June 1st. I can't promise you that it will be a good book but as woman I think we all struggle with insecurity occasionally. We still don't really know how often we are going to have a book discussion -- maybe you can help us figure that out!

Another bad friend to us has been ear infections. I believe Lainey is on number 5. This is what she thinks of that.....

Unravelled

unravel [ʌnˈræv^əl]vb -els, -elling, -elled US, -els -eling, -eled

1. (Clothing, Personal Arts & Crafts / Knitting & Sewing) (tr) to reduce (something knitted or woven) to separate strands

2. (tr) to undo or untangle (something tangled or knotted)

3. (tr) to explain or solve the mystery was unravelled

4. (intr) to become unravelled

I am usually a pretty put together person and on the days I am not so put together I usually don't chose to blog about it. Today, despite trying really hard to keep it together, I fell apart. Completely unravelled. Not fun and I still can't sleep so now you get to hear about it.

The day started out fairly normal -- kids were up around 6:oo or so. Victor left around 6:30. I was more tired than normal because I went to bed too late and both kids get up once during the night. Err!

Erik had school today but did not want to go. He likes school but hasn't really been there for 2 weeks so I think he felt a little anxious about going back. This created a struggle for every step of the morning preperation. He fought getting dressed, getting in the car, going to the bathroom. He was also overtired so he was very particular about what he ate for breakfast, what plate it was on, how it was prepared, etc. He is usually flexible and cooperative unless overtired.

When we get to school he realizes I am going to leave and takes off running down the hall as fast as he can. I catch him and pick him up -- now carrying both kids in my arms. Drop him off at his class -- he is screaming and crying. I of course feel terrible but know he is okay (he was fine all morning). Slightly stressful.

After dropping him off Lainey and I get groceries and then go home.

As most of you know we are planning on moving again soon so I have started the process of arranging someone to sell our home in Waukesha. The first realtor went through the house yesterday. When I got home from the grocery store I checked my e-mail and found his very disappointing proposal. We knew we were going to lose money but the amount was just magnified significantly (50,000-60,000). I e-mail and call Victor to talk about how disappointed/scared/frustrated I am feeling but he is not available.

Lainey and I head off on a walk. Nice chat with Grandma. Still freaking out about the house.

Go pick up Erik. We play with some friends on the playground for 30-45 minutes. He is cooperative when we leave but as soon as we get home he is a mess. Fussing, kicking, crying about everything.

Lainey starts whining too.

Feed the kids lunch. Ignore phone call from realtor.

Take Erik and Lainey up for naps. Erik gets up after 30-40 minutes (instead of 2 hours). He is a bear for the rest of the day. Nothing makes him happy -- believe me I tried it all.

Lainey wakes up so warm her skin is sizzling -- check her temp 103.3. Poor baby. She is actually acting comfortable as long as she is held. This just makes Erik all the more fiesty though.

5 pm -- call Victor explain how I am feeling frustrated, tired, worried. Please come home soon.

6 pm -- Kids are "fed". Erik only wants crackers. Spitting things out onto the floor that was vacuumed earlier in the day. Err! Lainey will only eat watermelon. Ignore another call from the realtor - he leaves a message that is somewhat "rude" telling me that it is important that I call him back.

6:30 - Victor comes home. yeah! He gives Lainey a quick bath. I put her to bed. Erik complains that he is hungry. Imagine that. I offer him a bran muffin. He whines because I took the paper off. I give him a different muffin. He whines because HE took the paper off. I walk away. He crumples up the muffin -- crumbs all over the recently vacuumed floor. Clenching my teeth I send him upstairs for a bath.

7 pm -- Call the realtor. He remembers our house from 2 years ago. States, " I really liked your house two years ago. I tried really hard to get a client to buy it. It was pristine. Now it shows some wear and truthfully looks like a large toy box." In defense of our tenants they have 2 small kids and a dog and have lived in the house for 2 years. They are good tenants and we think they have taken fine care of the house but this conversation makes me realize that not having control over the state of the house for showings is going to be very frustrating.

7:30 pm -- Victor comes back downstairs after putting Erik to "bed". I start to tell him about my day and the concerns I have. Victor offers explanations for Erik's less than pleasant behavior (was not looking for an explanation so irritates me). Pitter patter -- here comes Erik. I talk to Victor for little bit and then send Erik back up to bed. Erik dinks around for another 30-40 minutes.

8:30 pm -- Recognize I am stressed out. Leave for the gym.

9:50 pm - Walk back into a messy house. Victor is in the kitchen using the computer. I can't remember what I said to Victor but his response is something along the lines of, " What's wrong (with you) ?"-- with a very annoyed/perplexed look on his face.

9:51 pm -- I become completely unravelled. Poor Victor.

Does anyone else have days like these? Now that I have it written out I feel less stressed but embarrassed. I wish I could say I didn't get unravelled -- that I turned all my frustrations over to God. But I didn't and I should have. Instead, I ended up yelling at my husband. Sure, Victor could have been more in-tune/engaged/empathetic but ultimately it is not his responsibility to be my all time comforter/provider. I should have turned to my worries over to God and maybe I would have greeted my husband with a kiss instead of a scowl. Off to ask forgiveness and hopefully to get some sleep. Better day tomorrow!

Delicious

I can't get enough of this sweet baby.

Welcome to the Family

Introducing our newest addition....

Doctor Daron Williams

Wish we could have been there
We are proud

Green Family Fun

Look at our awesome garden! We 'finally' got to harvest our first crop of the season. Yum yum! I am so excited about the garden. Hopefully, all of our crops won't peak during the 10 days we are going to be in Wisconsin in June. We will see!First salad

(front to back)
lettuce
carrots
green beans
peas

Sunflowers

Disney Trip, part 3

The ship had lots to do -- for both young and old. We spent the days swimming, walking around the 4th floor deck, playing shuffle board, eating, playing.

Port hole in our stateroom

Erik's favorite game

Erik's favorite baby

Sweet sassy baby girl

Taking a break -- isn't she getting big?

Notable Quotes

Tonight at the dinner table Erik was quietly eating his meal. All of a sudden he says, "I'm so sorry mom but I am really frustrated with you."

Ha!! Victor and I thought it was hilarious. Clearly, Erik has heard me say that to Victor or Erik (probably both) in the past but wasn't clear on what it means. So funny!

Happy Mother's Day!

'

To some of my favorite mothers!
(this is not an all-inclusive list of my favorite mom's just the ones I had photos of)