More marathon

Some more pictures from the marathon weekend!

Amelia and Hank drove the digger at the magic house.( picture #1)


The next day, Jessica and I took the kids to the park while Chris ran his marathon. Amelia and Hank rode the swings together for quite some time. Amelia was quite the little mama to poor Hank....he got more mothering than he needed. Amelia was very concerned about where he was and what he was doing all the time. It would have been sweet- but she was not as gentle as I would have liked! We have some work to do before Gemma gets to be big enough to be mothered around.

Chris finished his run around lunchtime and we all met up at home before heading out to the pumpkin patch! I'll be honest, this wasn't my best idea ever. It was close to 90 degrees and we waiting in a line for close to 30 minutes to get a parking spot. It was very crowded!

So: whiny kids plus hot weather plus tons of people meant we didn't stay for very long. But, it was long enough for me to get our annual pumpkin patch picture for our family calendar! Sadly, all those pictures are on the big camera and none on my phone.

After the pumpkin patch, we hit up a restaurant for dinner. I took a terrible picture with my cell phone to show what a trooper my husband is! He somehow ended up sitting with William next to him and the 2 three year old girls across from him. Then, while I was trying to get my food set up to eat, he held Gemma (and then I took her back). What a guy!

It was wonderful to have our friends here for a visit and to catch up! Thanks for making big trip!

Happy Halloween

William: "Hey Mom, who is the boogie man?"

Mom: "He is a pretend monster that comes and boogies in your house."

William: "Is it a monster that comes and leaves boogers in your house?"

Sad

It comes and goes. When we first moved here it was an adventure. I'll admit the adventure is gone and in the process we have found many wonderful places in our area we love.

It was never my intention to settle here permanently. Yet, here we are rapidly approaching the 10 year anniversary of breaking ground on our house. Unbelievable. It was always in our long term plan to return closer to our family before the kids started school. But, it just isn't happening for us.

I'm still sad every time we leave Minnesota behind. When we get in the car and drive away from our family, I feel like a piece of my heart has been left behind.

I'm sad when I go to a school/church/community event and I see other families together. Grandparents and cousins cheering a 5 year old at a turtle paced tee ball game have reduced me to tears at least one time this year (will admit, baby hormones were potentially involved here).

I'm sad when I know I'm missing important family events. This weekend was a bridal shower for my sister in law to be. I wanted to attend. Badly. However the distance is too great for a weekend trip. Other times we have missed graduations, birthdays, confirmations, and other celebrations. Everyone is so understanding. Everyone knows we can't be there. When we can make it, people are so appreciative.

We've built ourselves a great little community. Our kids happily call several women at church "grandma" - Relationships that delight both my children and the "grandmas". We have had "aunties" and an " uncle" step in for events when the need arises.

The grandparents do a great job of making events when possible- even moving around busy schedules to attend pumpkin outings with preschoolers. Even though we are hundreds of miles away, our children have managed to see their grandparents once a month for their entire first year of life (still a work in progress).

Yet, I'm still sad. I still long for my family to be available and to be more involved with then. As the holidays approach, it's harder to be away from them. I will most likely miss the annual lefse cook with my mom and auntA. I am missing more of my niece's first year than should be allowed. When your sister has a child, you should be able to kiss the baby's cheeks at least on a weekly basis, more if possible.

Waiting for the right opportunity is hard....


Sent from my iPhone

Marathon weekend

Our friends from the cities were in town last weekend so Chris could run the in the St. Louis rock n roll marathon. As a bonus, he brings my best friend and their kids when he comes for running.

They arrived Friday afternoon and we just relaxed and had some dinner.

When Saturday morning rolled around, we hit up one if the kids' favorite places : the magic house!

Gemma Kicking

Boeing family day

Every few years, Boeing opens its doors for a family event. The whole family is invited for a day of looking at airplanes and viewing all kinds of airplane production stuff. We also got to see John's office.

Several months ago, when the date for the event was released, we invited John's dad to attend with us. We were so pleased he was able to make the trip and join us for Family Day!

We wandered around for a long time - the kids surpassed my expectations of their tolerance. There was a lot of walking and lots of technical explanations occurring. Even Gemma was on her best behavior, forgoing two naps and delaying her eating times without complaint.

After 4 fun hours, standing in the sun and wind, this mama decided meltdowns were imminent and we headed home.

Sadly, no photography is allowed during the event for security reasons. So the only picture I have to share are part of William and Amelia's fleet of paper airplanes inspired by the family event.

My girl

Hold my hand mom.

Oh my big girl Amelia. She has had a year of hard changes in our family. She's not the baby. Her best buddy, William, started kindergarten. Mama is distracted by the demands of a new baby, working and keeping up with household responsibilities. I'd be lying if I said its been easy. We've been working through a rough patch with her.

Yet, when I step back and look at all the change and upheaval in her life, I can't blame her for being a little more demanding than usual. A little more stubborn than usual. A little more sassy than usual.

So yes. Yes, I'll hold your hand big girl. Now and always - as long as you want me to. Just to remember the sweetness you are capable of.

Fall party!

William had a fall party at school on Thursday and we were able to arrange our schedules for the mama to attend! Two days in a row at school for the big boy made for a happy mama!

Gemma tooth 1 &2

I've been able to feel the little ridges in her mouth for about 3 days and today I can see them without use of a flashlight.  It is official: we have teeth!

Gemma's 1 &2 tooth: 10/10/12

F word

Grandpa and Grandma were visiting this weekend and on Saturday morning John and Grandpa were hanging around with the kids while Mama and Grandma scored some deals from our subdivision garage sale.  This story was related to me by Grandpa and confirmed by John.


The kids were playing when William suddenly piped up to announce "I know the F word!!!"

Amelia: You do??  Tell me!
John: (mentally) Uh oh....looks to father in law
Grandpa: (mentally) Uh oh....so glad I get to play the grandpa on this one


....the silence continues....

John: (mentally) think of something!  Distract him!


William: "It is......"

John/Grandpa: Oh no, oh no, oh no.....


William: FELIPE!!! FELIPE starts with F!  Isn't that great Daddy?  Grandpa?

John: Huge relief

Grandpa: ??What??

Gemma's 4 month dr visit

Gemma had her 4 month well visit with our pediatrician today.  We didn't have any concerns going in and the doctor didn't have any concerns on the way out.  The highlights:

Height:27 inches (110%ile for kids her age)

Weight 16 lb 9.5oz (94% for kids her age)

We talked about how she is a great size and growing well.  While discussing her weight, the dr asked how much formula we were giving Gemma and I got to say NONE.  NONE EVER. (Nothing against formula, we just haven't needed to use any and I'm proud.  It's been more work this time devoting the time and energy to nursing a baby. ).  He gave us the go ahead to start solid foods if we want.  We talked about waiting and he was fine with my plan to start roughly around 6 months old.

Gemma is doing very well physically.  The doctor was very impressed with her gross and fine motor skills.  She showed off a little when he put her on the exam table by promptly rolling over when he was reaching for his equipment.  Luckily, I was right there to keep her from rolling too far!  He also liked how well she is sitting up and bearing weight on her feet/legs.  He even went as far to say he felt she was roughly 2 months ahead of schedule for the growth motor development - just what mama likes to hear!  At this point, I asked if her supreme gross motor skills now would allow her to run without tripping over her own feet or hit a home run in a baseball game at the age of five.  He was not willing to commit to either one of those, so we'll just have to be happy with what we have: a very healthy baby girl!

 Our poor girl got her shots and we were on our way.  Hopefully we have a quiet night as this Mama is up late!

William!

I had the pleasure of joining William's class today in their field trip to the local fire station. We walked from the school and I very much enjoyed getting to spend some special time with my big guy.

While walking out of the building, we joined up with 4 other kindergarten rooms. Suddenly, I was in a chorus of "William!" "William!" "William" "William!" From all sides. Kids from many different classes were calling his name. I turned to William and said "Wow William! You sure do have a lot of friends here today!" William half nodded and then went back to his in depth conversation with another boy about Legos.

William's teacher overheard this exchange and nodded at me with a big smile on her face. "William is a pretty popular guy around here," she commented to me.

With much relief, I am now putting a huge worry to rest. We went into this school year not knowing any of his classmates and only one (1) other kindergartner (who was not assigned to his class). I worried countless hours about him making friends, establishing relationships and finding his way socially.

Apparently, he is fine. In fact, I'm happy to report, William is a pretty popular guy.

Look mom!

I'm swimming with my intertube on (Boppy)!

*photo from this summer

4 months

Gemma is sure tricky to keep on her back these days. She rolls very quickly and works hard to get to her belly. She very badly wants to be crawling and is making some progress towards the army crawl. Thankfully, she is slow going still - our house is nowhere near ready to have a crawling baby again! We have a lot of Legos to pick up!

Gemma is working hard on sitting up by herself and is doing a good job until she becomes distracted and tips over! She loves being upright and you can see on her face how proud she is to be doing it on her own.

Gemma adores her brother and sister. They make her laugh, smile and giggle on a daily basis. Her face lights up when they are around.

4 months old!

Gemma is 4 months old today! Which means it was time to make time to break out the camera and take some pictures. Not the easiest task on a busy day in the middle of a busy week. But, here are some new pictures of our littlest one (rest assured, there are many more high quality pictures on our nice digital camera. Phone is just so much easier!)

Running Ragged

Crazy busy appears to be the new normal standard at out house.  I feel like I am just barely keeping up and not ever getting ahead.  Only the most serious fires are getting my attention and even then, things that are important to me are getting dropped.  For instance: this blog.

My kids don't have a baby book.  I'm not jotting down milestones anywhere else.  This is it.


I'm resolving to do this more and make time to sit down and write the precious moments DOWN now while I remember.  All too often, I forget.  So, here are two from the last few days.


1.  William overslept this morning.  He has been very tired lately which has led to some more difficult behaviors.  So, I let him sleep in which meant he missed the bus.  He took it well and we got ready without incident.  I drove him to school and I hit the timing perfectly. (side note: I rarely get the timing perfectly.  Especially with 3 kiddos to cart around).  On the way to school, I was mentally congratulating myself and giving myself some 5's for being so awesome.

I pulled up to the drop off loop.  This was my first time dropping him off and I was nervous about getting it right.  I wanted to get him in the correct door, stop in the right place, not hold up the line or otherwise embarrass myself.  I didn't want to look like the newbie.

I stopped at the right place.  I high fived my kid on his way out the door and told him I loved him as I directed him safely around the car.  Just as I started to congratulate myself and get back in the car to drive home, I realized I had shut the sleeve of my fleece jacket in the door of the van at the very top of the sliding door next to the luggage rack.  I shut the sleeve of my fleece at the wrist, so I couldn't move my right hand at all.  It was high enough up I couldn't reach the handle with the right hand and my left hand was positioned in a way I had to reach around awkwardly to open the door to release my jacket.

During this short period of time, the line of cars behind me grew and grew.  Everyone waited patiently while I danced around and tried to free myself.  So much for not looking like the newbie!



2.  (the kids are at home playing with Grandpa and Daddy on a Saturday morning)

William: Hey!  Guess what!  I know a "F" word!
Daddy: Whaaaat? (heart stops)
Grandpa: Well, I don't think that is something .....
William: Felipe!  Felipe!  Isn't that a great F word?
Daddy/Grandpa: Laughing....relieved laughing



3. (at a restaurant on a Sunday morning with Grandpa and Grandma)

William: Hey!  Listen to this joke!
(reads from menu)
Question: Why did the football coach go the the bank?
Answer: To get his quarter back!

(everyone dutifully laughs uproariously)

Amelia looks around and surveys the situation.

Amelia: Hey!
(pretends to read from her menu)
Question: Why did the guy go to the bank?
Answer: To get his penny back!

(Amelia looks around expectantly, everyone humors her with uproarious laughter)

3.5

Amelia turned 3 and a half yesterday. I meant to take some pics and write a post. Didn't happen ;(

Sent from my iPhone

ugh...a stomach bug

William woke up earlier this evening with a stomach bug.  Yuck.  Sadly, it started with him sweetly asking for me and then...unloading his stomach all over me.  This mom gig can sure be hard work sometimes.  For some reason, unexpected vomit (is there another kind?) creates a big adreneline rush after dealt with, so I can't sleep right away.

For the record, here are my tips for dealing with the stomach bug:

1.  Tag team it.  If you have the luxary of another adult.  Split the work.  One takes the kid, one cleans up the area (sheets, pillows, etc)

2. Shower curtain.  William is currently sleeping on the floor next to my bed on an old shower curtain with an old comforter on top.  I don't care about either one.  But, it protects my carpet and the plastic is easy to wipe clean.

3.  Beach towels.  There are some old beach towels I hang on to for occasions such as this one.  They are spread out to make a pathway to the bathroom.

4.  Buckets.  I highly recommend two big ice cream pails.  We store ours in the laundry room.  My personal rule is food bowls should not be doubled up for vomit duty.  The ice cream buckets can be washed/bleached/thrown out easily.  They are also good for watering outside plants, cleaning and washing cars.

5. Wash it now.  It isn't going to be less stinky or less gag making in the morning.  I promise.

6. Take it slow and small.  Small drinks of water at first.  Let it settle.  Dry crackers - just a very few.  Let it settle.  Patience will pay off here by not creating more of a mess to clean up when it comes back up again.

7. Remain calm.  Your poor kiddo is sick.  They do not need to see you panicking.  Do I like vomit covering most of the front of me?  No.  Tested that one out tonight.  Don't like it.  But, it doesn't do any good to throw a tantrum.  The first priority has to be the sick kid.  Be calm.  Be loving.  If they get more upset, likely they'll either 1)wake other kids for a real fun fest 2) work themselves up enough they throw up again.

8.  TV.  I limit how much my kids watch TV as well as what they watch.  That would be a whole different post, but when they are sick, the TV can be on.  I used to worry and try to get through the sickness without my TV's help.  Trust me.  A stationary vomiting person is much easier to clean up than a running one. 

9.  Have a spare.  A spare set of sheets and an extra waterproof mattress pad cover will make it possible for you to change out the dirty stuff and make the bed up right away again.

10.  Explain what to do.  After things settle down, make sure you talk things over with the sick child.  Make sure they understand what is happening with their body and what you would like them to do if they have to be sick again.