the makings of a really bad day

monday night our network at the office had some sort of virus problem that kept it down until after business hours on tuesday. as i am approaching my maternity leave - very quickly - every day counts and it was difficult for me to have a day down. i did what i could with calling folks on my cell phone (my office phone runs through our network and therefore did not work). once everything came back on line last night i got to work and got in 3 to 4 good hours. and that was really, really lucky...

i did a few quick emails before taking madelyn to school this morning. i did the unusual and made myself a large iced coffee to get me going for my day hoping to make up some work missed by being down the day before. and that was my mistake. my large coffee found its way to my laptop keyboard, iphone, remote keyboard, expense report receipts, notebook, files, etc. almost as soon as i sat down to work after dropping madelyn off. (it might have had some help from mason...)

my reaction was so quick that i scared mason. he laid face down on the floor crying the entire time i cleaned up the mess. it took an entire roll of paper towels and about 15/20 minutes to get everything cleaned up. i quickly undocked my computer, removed the battery (it has already turned itself off - almost instantly), and turned it upside down. i used our personal computer to search for tips on what i should do. i was actually feeling nauseous at the idea of damaging my computer that had just been repaired and returned to me a few weeks ago; not to mention having more down time.

my computer is still not working. i spoke to our m.i.s. director after two hours to see what he wanted me to do. i hated to even call him about this after the past few days he had dealt with but it actually gave him a great laugh which actually did make me feel a little better. he has overnighted me the replacement computer again (the same computer i just returned to him a few days ago) and we are just hoping that my regular computer is salvageable - or at least that the data will be.

and it wasn't just my laptop, my iphone got some of the spill and would only work on speaker phone all day. i am happy to report that it seems to be working properly again this evening. whew!

to post about this now does not even begin to capture how stressful all this was today. i still just can't believe that it ever happened and feel horrible. mason just cried and cried the rest of the morning until i finally just put him down at 11am when he wouldn't touch our early lunch (i was taking a mental break from my office with lunch). it occurred to me this afternoon that he was probably such an emotional mess because of all the shots he got yesterday. madelyn always had a day or two where she was just 'off' and more emotional after shots.

when i went to pick up madelyn from school this afternoon i learned that her teacher was at the hospital getting her water broken after being 6cm dilated at her check up this afternoon. she was due 2 weeks before me. i am flying to kansas on sunday afternoon for work and have to go to the doctor's office tomorrow to get cleared to travel, a letter for the airline, and my medical records - just in case. after the week this has been i am starting to be a little nervous... (really i am not worried but my doctor is on vacation so i am meeting with someone i don't know and that makes me a little nervous.)

but then i was able to keep it all in perspective after hearing that baby jake was born last night and went to be with God shortly thereafter. there are worse things in life than some ruined electronics or the risk of a missed business trip. i just kept praying for terri and austin all day.

on a lighter/happier note, here is a video of mason 'dancing' and 'nodding'. madelyn adds in her own wacky dance at the end. (she was feeling fancy when she got dressed for school this morning. i think the selection might have been influenced by letting her sleep in a dress-up gown last night.) they love to dance together and daddy joined in the fun after dinner. such a happy way to end this day. love.

15-month check-up

what a morning! mason had his 15-month check-up this morning at 9:30 so of course he started his day around 5am. that way he could be nice and cranky right around the time the appointment would start. he must have quieted back down because i fell back asleep until he got into madelyn's bed a little before 6am and she called me in to ask if he could sleep in her bed. since she obviously wanted to go back to sleep and mason didn't, mason was taken to the toddler bed in his old room to finish out the early morning. i was determined to get him to sleep a little more and he did for at least another half hour. he and madelyn both woke up again a little after 8am. we had to hustle to get breakfast, dressed, and out the door but we made it to his appointment on time.

mason started crying as soon as i put him up on the table to be measured. here are his stats:

height: 34 inches (98.7 percentile)
weight: 26lbs. 7oz. (75.5 percentile)
head: 50.3cm (99 percentile)
bmi: 39 percentile

he perked up as soon as the nurse left and did great for the doctor. she is just thrilled with his diet and growth. she said that he could really weigh more for his height but i don't think that there is any way to get more food into him. she was impressed with his crayon skills and his willingness to clean them up.

now for shots. both kids ended up getting flu 'shots' and mason got two other vaccinations. madelyn choose to have the inhaled flu 'shot'. i say that she chose because i let her. i didn't want her to be left out of getting an actual shot because she talks about them a lot. the nurse was kind enough to give her a band aid anyway because she asked for one after getting the squirts up her nostrils.

and then we were told that both kids needed to get their iron levels tested again! i knew that mason would most likely getting retested but i guess that when we brought madelyn in for her abdominal pain over the summer they drew blood and she tested slightly anemic. we went over to the lab and waited for over an hour. thankfully, i had enough snacks and toys to keep them mildly entertained and contained in the very crowded waiting room. both kids did really great with their blood draws. they missed madelyn's vein and had to move the needle around for longer than made me comfortable. she took it like a champ. i know that it hurt but she held still and was patient with them. as a thank you they gave her juice, graham crackers, and stickers. we finally left around 11:30 and went straight home for lunch.

this picture is from yesterday while madelyn was in school. mason likes to play on our personal computer while i am working and for some reason he kept laying his head down on the keyboard. it was cracking me up and i had to take a picture (actually, i took several). this one is going to be my new wallpaper! so funny. love,

princess party

this afternoon madelyn attended her friend ava's fourth birthday party. the theme was princesses and prince charming/superheros. all of the boys came as superheros and the girls were delighted to be twirling princesses.

after playing a bean bag toss game everyone got to go on a treasure hunt. it was very cute. ava's mom would read and clue and all the kids would guess the answer before running to find their 'treasure' to take home. madelyn found a fruit snack (for energy at the start of their hunt), a lunch box, a puzzle, and an ice pack (for the lunch box).









pinatas are now low risk/violence. instead of beating them with a bat the kids take turns pulling ribbons until the bottom opens up. today was the first time i had actually seen one in action. honestly, the kids seemed to enjoy it just as much. instead of candy, the pinata was filled with pennies. again, it didn't seem like anyone was too disappointed. actually, one of the kids said that he could take the money and buy some candy.

and now it was time for cake and ice cream! ava had a pink barbie cake and it was gluten-free. this was my first gluten-free birthday cake and it was really good. ava's mom generously had 'real' cupcakes for any of the kids that complained about the texture but i don't think that any of them even noticed. madelyn told me on our walk home that the cake was her favorite part of the party so it definitely didn't bother her.

after cake and ice cream it was time to open presents and some of the kids (including madelyn) started without the birthday girl. i think that is one of the drawbacks of gift bags at children's parties. the party balloons began to lure the kids away from the gift opening. and towards the end none of the kids were really watching the gifts be opened. instead they were bobbing the balloons up and down. one of ava's gifts was a pretty nifty see-saw from her parents and the kids got to try it out in the backyard before heading home. here is video of madelyn taking her turn:

and i had to take a picture of the card madelyn made for ava. madelyn isn't really in to coloring or writing but she very willingly wrote this out to ava. i only helped with some of the spelling. i think this is the most she has written in a single sitting and i was so proud of her. i think she was pretty proud of herself too. love.

my notes from the past week

i have been taking very few pictures but i have been trying to keep notes on the kids. here is what i have from the past week:

- mason has started to make an 'o' face for his own amusement. it is kind of funny because it is a long 'o' face.

- mason loves to dance, i have mentioned before, but now he spins in circles as part of his groove.

- mason is adding more signs and using them more frequency without my having to remind him. the newer one is 'water'.

- he has also started his own version of nodding. he sort of tucks his chin to his chest and tilts his upper body almost as a nod. he also adds a high-pitched affirming sound. and it has been extremely helpful for him to answer our questions. tonight, as a joke, i asked him if he was going poop in his diaper and he 'nodded' yes while grabbing his pants and started to walk towards the changing table, gesturing for me to come too. sure enough, he had pooped.

- related to the dirty diaper above, mason was trying to pull his pants down in our bathroom while backing up to the edge of the toilet. he was trying to get on and nodded when i asked if he wanted to go potty. if we weren't running late for church i would have let him try it out.

- we were playing in the playroom and mason found some coasters he had brought in the day before. he picked them up and took them back where they belong in the living room - all on his own! i was so proud of him. this wasn't the first time he has done something like this but this was the only specific one i jotted down.

- as a sign of approval we have been giving mason high-fives. he comes running to you with his hand up and ready to go; very cute.

- mason loves his shoes. as soon as we get him dressed (or sometimes before we get him dressed), he heads over and picks out a pair of shoes. he tries to put them on himself and then brings them to me for some help. he is also getting better at sitting down to take them off when we come back home.

- madelyn mortified me this week when the internet/cable guy was working in my office with us to fix our modem and she said, "mommy, i am scared of that man." did i mention she was less than five feet from him and he was black? (i might have been more sensitive about this because all summer we have been doing racially charged readings in our book club.) i suggested that she tell him hello and tell him her name. he was so nice to her and introduced himself. she obviously felt comfortable with him because when the stink from mason's diaper could be ignored no longer, madelyn chose to stay in the office with the internet/cable guy. when i came back they were chatting away like old friends about the picture she was coloring.

- on one busy and exhausting day of parenting this week madelyn and i took some time to just color together before bed time. she and i had some confrontations about behavior that resulted in her spending time alone in her room more than once. i was asking her about how she enjoyed her day (we had gone to the library, etc.). i asked her what her favorite thing was from the day. she said that she didn't know so i started to name off some of our highlights. then she said, "mommy, you are the best part of my day" and gave me a big hug and kiss. that was the best part of my day!

- mason is obsessed with belly buttons. if he is with me when i am getting dressed he can't resist my outtie. i finally have to cut him off and cover it with a shirt because otherwise he wouldn't stop pushing it in. and he goes after his as soon as his shirt comes off. the funny part is that he tries to see his belly button but can't quite bend enough over his belly to see it.

- madelyn is convinced that only one person can sing a song at a time. even if she asks you to sing a song because she can't remember all the words, you can't sing when she starts singing. it has kind of put a damper on car trip sing-alongs. i figure she will have to get over it once mason can join in.

- out of no where madelyn came to me and said, "mommy, i tell the truth and you don't." apparently "truth" falls into the same category as singing - only one person at a time. she was unable to give me any example of when i didn't tell her the truth and i couldn't think of any instance where i have told her even a 'white' lie.

- other recent expressions are "you hurt my feelings when..." and "my eyes were starting to water". each of these usually comes into play when she doesn't get her way or gets into trouble.

- her "eyes started to water" and her "feelings got hurt too" when i was trying to comfort mason after madelyn had unintentionally slammed three of his fingers over and over and over in a door. it must have been almost 10 times. she had opened up the door to the storage part of the basement while i was working on friday and i told her that she needed to get out of there (it is where the toys that aren't taken care of end up). i realized that she was having trouble closing the door and that mason was crying. i asked if she was getting his fingers in the door and she told me no. another minute or two of door slamming and crying and i got up to investigate. i thought that mason was just crying because he didn't want the door closed. she had left the light on so i opened the door and turned it off. that was when i saw how mason was holding his hand perfectly straight. his fingers were being pinched in the hinge side of the door. i would have taken a picture of his fingers because it was dramatic, but he didn't stop crying for almost an hour (well, it was off and on once i got him calmed down and eating a little lunch) and i just couldn't justify a picture. i am happy to report after lunch and a nap he was perfectly fine. he has no discoloration either which is truly remarkable after seeing the initial injury. there is just a faint red line where the fingers were actually pinched - no knuckles or nails were caught. having had my fingers slammed in a van door as a child, i knew how bad his hand hurt. madelyn felt just awful about the whole thing and i had to assure her more than once that i knew it was just an accident. she was really scared when she saw that he was really hurt.

i am going to do a separate post about their sleeping in the same room tomorrow. love.

more ballet

madelyn was really excited to be going to ballet class this week. it is a challenge to get us there on time. besides the normal get everyone dressed and out the door madness there is little to no parking near the dance studio.

i didn't bring the stroller this week as an experiment to see if mason would be quieter (he fussed in the stroller towards the end of class last week). he loved it! he was so good. we will definitely try this again next week. i had to hold him a little bit when he started crying inexplicably while i was standing up to try and see madelyn through the doorway (the video gets a little wobbly there).

madleyn was in a particularly talkative mood for class and was cracking up all the parents sitting in the lobby - because of the open concept we can hear everything (pretty much everything you hear in the videos that isn't the teacher is madelyn). i tried to get some video over the heads of the folks that stand directly in the doorway because madelyn was the 'line leader' this week. she keeps getting distracted by her own reflection in, what i am assuming is, a mirrored wall and by seeing me watching (i missed it with the video, but madelyn was announcing, "i can see my mommy!" over and over until i quickly took a seat so that she couldn't).

this one is of them practicing position number one. madelyn is upset that she can't see herself in the mirror because she is at the front of the line.

in hope you enjoyed the peek into her class. love.

mason's first year in pictures

obviously, i am a few months late on this but i just ordered all the prints for mason's first year picture frame. here are the pictures selected:
and there you go, the first year of mason in review. love.

movie night - horton hears a who

after church we stuck around for hot dogs and popcorn for movie night. tonight's feature was horton hears a who. at first mason was great sitting, eating his hot dog and watching the movie. i had actually never seen him sit so still for so long (and be awake). after that he got to wandering around and climbing into every chair that he saw - his dream.

at some point some pre-teen girls started playing a game of running up and down the aisle on the side with him. i think that this was a great help to daddy while madelyn and i watched the movie. at some point madelyn declared that she was tired and wanted to go home (it was only 7:10pm). the end of the movie got a little too scary for her. she was very upset by the monkeys poking horton with sticks - and rightfully so. we left as soon as all the other animals heard the whos on the spec.

madelyn's mood perked right up when she was given a goodie bag on her way out with candy, a green pencil with a pink pom-pom glued on top (a la a horton hears a who clover), and a devotional book. she did ask about the monkeys poking horton with a stick the whole ride home. we didn't have much in the way of a satisfying answer for her - they thought that he was a liar and weren't being nice.

before church madelyn drew "the new baby on her hand" because she "loves the new baby very much" and then proceeded to hug and kiss my belly (aka the new baby). how sweet is that? love.

three in the bed

after such an easy bedtime last night it only figures that mason and madelyn would wake up at 5:45am this morning. matt had gone in and turned on their music for them as a way to keep them happy in the room playing until the sun nightlight turned on at 7. they were having fun but getting a little too noisy so i went in to lay in one of the beds to supervise.

i think some time around 7am the music turned off and mason started to snuggle up with me. i asked madelyn to turn off the light and she snuggled up too. i was laying on my side in mason's bed with my back up against the wall. mason was laying with his head on my shoulder/neck and madelyn was laying with her head on my belly. and that is how we all slept for the next hour. i woke up with a stabbing pain in my hip but couldn't move because i was covered in sleeping children. i just laid there for about 15 minutes trying to make slight adjustments to relieve my hip but it just wasn't happening. and then i started thinking about how cute we must look and wished that i could have a picture.

thankfully mason woke up and madelyn followed shortly thereafter so that i could finally move. and so our day began. love.

apple harvest

this morning we took the kids to the apple harvest at the local nature center. there were a lot of storms over night and we weren't sure how muddy it might be but the sun started to come out and it was really nice. we didn't get there until about 10:30 because daddy and madelyn went to the kids workshop at home depot first.

i think madelyn had the best time because she did several affordable crafts in the kids area for most of our visit. she left with a necklace, a window cling she colored, a bat visor (she picked the bat design - odd), a coyote paper bag puppet, and a humming bird feeder all for about $10 in tickets.

after that we went over and purchased a caramel apple (for home) and some apple crisp with ice cream that we enjoyed there while listening to some live music. mason was just dancing along with the band. mason rode along in the stroller most of the time but while madelyn was making the humming bird feeder daddy took him for a walk. mason was really, really excited about the horses pulling the hayride. he might have been a little too excited because daddy was worried that he was going to try and touch them.


and we couldn't go to the apple harvest and not buy some apples. they had over 50 varieties and an apple expert that you could ask questions. madelyn was determined to have him tell her about apples. okay. what do you want to ask him? "i want to know about crushed apples." what? the expert didn't really know what to say. he thought that maybe she wanted to know about apple cider, but i really couldn't help him because i have no idea what she was talking about either. oh well. she said thank you and we went to buy the apples we had picked out. madelyn had selected a small red delicious and started eating it the second we stepped away from paying for it.

we had never been to the apple harvest before because we always seem to have plans that day but i am glad that we made it today. it was a nice morning to be outside and it was a cute little event. the kids really enjoyed it. and tonight is movie night at church so a fun filled day. love.

rough day

the kids slept until around 7:30am today and i was very thankful because i am struggling with a head cold. i think that it is from stress and a general lack of sleep. they slept in because they were up late enough playing in their room to end up being separated for the night. what was the last straw? madelyn came out to say that her eye was burning. she was making up some complaint about her eye the night before because she had bumped it so i didn't pay too much attention to it - until i smelled her. what had she gotten in her eye? bug repellent! it was accidentally put in their toiletry bag that was on top of the tallest dresser.

so i am forcing her head down in the sink and trying to hold her eye open for rinsing while mason is climbing up on the stool to see what is going on. the bottle said to hold the eye open and rinse for 15 to 20 minutes which seemed like a totally unreasonable request. matt called poison control too who also suggested the unreasonable time frame. while we were rinsing madelyn's eye, first in the sink and then in the bathtub, she was screaming like she was being tortured and we only made it through about five minutes. since her eye wasn't red and she said that she sprayed it on the outside corner of her eye, we decided that she (and we) had had enough and she could go to bed. mason had already been put in his toddler bed in an attempt to just get him out of the way and he was asleep.

nobody worry - she is fine. this was a minor occurrence. i almost didn't put it in the blog because the grandparents get so worried, but i decided that i wanted to look back on it and laugh some day. no need to mention or ask about her eye. it is fine. really.

so this morning i decided that we would go to the zoo because it was going to be a nice day and it is going to be cold and rainy on saturday. we actually had a pretty nice time at the zoo and i let mason walk through most of the exhibits. mason did a great job of listening for the first hour but the rest of our time was a little rough. we got this cute picture of the kids together at madelyn's request. i think she was inspired by the brothers sharing the seat next to her. mason was too into kicking his feet to look at the camera.

mason really liked the gorillas and the sharks. he was hesitant to get too close to the gorillas at first. i don't think he realized that there was glass separating us from them. it was sort of like the hog video from last week.

actually, mason's favorite thing at the zoo wasn't an animal. it was the enormous crane that they were using to replace what looked like an air conditioning unit on top of one of the buildings. i had a tough time, physically, today. i even had to hurry us out of a few exhibits because the warmth and the smells were making me feel nauseous and light-headed. i just wasn't feeling well all over so we loaded up a little earlier than normal to head home for lunch and work.

mason wasn't interested in a nap after lunch. he did dose in the car on the way home and i guess that was it. i was really hoping that he would nap so that i could have a little bit of a break. since he wouldn't sleep i let him try using play-doh with madelyn for the first time. of course he loved it! he liked that he could 'stamp' shapes into it with the various tools we keep for playing with the play-doh. once he started trying to eat it he and i went back downstairs to work and left madelyn to her creations.

she made a huge mess but she was content, helped clean it up, and was apologetic for the mess. on a day like today i considered that a 'win'. as i was on the phone finishing up my work day, madelyn called down that she had peed in her pants. oh geez! i excused myself from my call, told her to take care of her dirty underwear (she has known what to do by herself since the day she was potty trained), to put on clean underwear, and got back to my call. once i was done with my call i went upstairs to discover the damage. i guess she couldn't get out of her bed where she and mason were playing because she had pulled the sheets and blanket off the bed and started her pee trail there. oh no!

and then daddy called to see if he could go to the driving range after work. i didn't think that today was a great time to do that and he agreed to come home quickly. the kids and i were waiting outside when he pulled up. i just couldn't have any more crying and mess in the house. instead madelyn did her crying in the front yard. i am happy to say that things improved after bath time.

we tried putting the kids down separately tonight. mason down and asleep before madelyn got into her bed. i just read her books in our bed until i thought mason was asleep. much more effective. we will get this figured out eventually. here's to a better tomorrow! matt is golfing in the morning and hopefully the weather will clear up for the afternoon so that we can check out the apple fest at the nature center down the road.

now it is bedtime for mommy and her aching body. love.

prayer request

there are so many people who persevere through such awful things in this world. i am always humbled by their stories and so grateful for the many blessings we have been given.

when one of our old neighbor, turned blogger buddy, posted about her cousin i just knew that i would have to share their story with you all too. terri and austin are due to have baby jake two weeks before i am due with our baby boy.

their attitude and faith in what is an unimaginable circumstance was so inspiring to me. i hope that you are also inspired and remember them in your prayers. here is a link to their blog and you might want to have some tissues handy:

http://austinandterri.blogspot.com/

love.

ready to go

last night the kids went to sleep around 10. we put them down at 7:30 and they chose to play until daddy shut them down at 10 because they were getting a little too loud. madelyn told him something about her dance shoes being comfortable but he didn't really get what she meant and didn't ask any more questions. this morning she came out in her nightgown and ballet slippers all ready to go to her first dance class this afternoon.

you might remember that when madelyn was invited to a friend's dance class she didn't do very well. in fact, she started crying and wouldn't go back in. we were a little hesitant to pay to have her in a class, but i thought that it was worth trying and it would give her something to do leading up to the baby being born. this afternoon was the first class. (madelyn is the one sticking her butt out; second from the left.) the class is at 4:30 so i have to bring mason too.

there isn't a window into the studio but it is an open design so that you can hear everything being said. all the parents were gathered around the doorway to the studio with their cameras. since i had mason with me in the stroller and the fact that i can't suck in my stomach to scoot by, i had to settle for just listening. when a few parents stepped outside to make phone calls i made my move to get a few pictures.

i was pretty impressed by the class. it was much more technical than i would ever have expected. but the teacher was wonderfully child-friendly too. the were doing some sort of stretching at the beginning of class and she asked the class what color wings they wanted to have today and without a second of hesitation madelyn called out, "i want mine to be red." everyone else answered, "pink".

she loved the class but said that she "can't dance at home" so she couldn't show daddy what she learned and didn't want to have her picture taken so it is lucky that i was able to get a few pictures at the class. love.

the house with the red door

it was pointed out to me that i have never posted about madelyn imaginary destination so i thought that i would take care of that now. so madelyn apparently splits time between our real house and her "old house with the red door". i think the description comes from when we went by the house that matt and i owned in kansas where we had painted the front door red during our trip this summer.

i am not sure that i can capture the entirety of "the house with the red door" in a single post, but i am going to try and cover the basics. pretty much anything imaginary in madelyn's life has the color red involved - that is always our first clue that what she is saying is pretend. it is also where she can do and have anything that she might not be able to do or have in her real life.

it might go something like this, "i took my red car to go see my sister and we had red ice cream!" usually the story is much more elaborate but that gives you a taste. she will even get excited when she sees something advertised on tv because she has it at her house with the red door. one that stands out is the water bottle station by one of the water filter companies. she says something every time it is on.

she also says that she has been on trips before. like while we were in minneapolis she told us about the time she flew there on her red plane and rode the rides. and she could see her house with the red door from the plane.

today we were doing our united states map and she told me that her house with the red door was in michigan. of course the picture on the michigan puzzle piece was a red car...

it is so funny how consistent she is with this and we enjoy hearing all the things that she dreams up to take place at her house with the red door. love.

everyday is fun

it has taken me more than a week to get our vacation posts up, but there has been lots of other stuff going on too.

- madelyn has been very excited that it is finally cold enough for her to wear her 'cozy jammies'. and of course we had to get mason some too.

- about a month ago madelyn was asking me about the buttons on the water/ice dispenser on the refrigerator. while explaining what they were and what each one did i told her that crushed ice was papa's favorite. well this week she decided out of no where that crushed ice is her preference now. and she told us that she liked it just like papa.

- on sunday night the kids were having a 'party' after we had put them to bed. (house rule is that they don't have to go to sleep but they can't come out.) we haven't moved the video monitor into the room with them yet but were listening to them on the regular monitor. a little after 9 all the power in the neighborhood went out. that made it very unfortunate that they were still awake. madelyn was upset that her music and ceiling fan weren't working. it was also concerning that there was no light of any kind available. matt and i were using our cell phones as flashlights. i was actually surprised how quickly the kids both fell asleep after we explained the lack of power to madelyn several times. the main concern was for when the power came back on at some point in the night (the power company was guessing around 11:30) and all the lights, tvs, etc. in the house would come on. matt did his best to manually turn off as much as possible. at least we got things situated so that the lights and music in the kids' room wasn't going to wake them up. now i think i was woken up at least twice from the power coming on and going back off again. it was not the way that i wanted to start what was going to be a very busy work week - exhausted.

- the kids have been so funny to listen to after we put them to bed at night. once we get the video monitor moved back into that room i will try to take some video to share.

- friday morning i took the kids to run errands so that we would have food to eat. at the grocery store mason was hugging me and my belly, as he likes to do at shopping cart height, but madelyn started to cry because she wasn't getting any hugs. so i had to kneel down in the store to give her some hugs and kisses too. but all was set right when we went to sams and they could both ride in the cart. people were actually laughing because i could barely push the cart because they had me so doubled over with hugs. it definitely makes errands more fun when there is so many hugs and so much love!

- on the same trip to sams i let madelyn get a sample of peach yogurt. she shared it with mason and then even let him hold the cup and spoon to feed himself towards the end. but the amazing thing was that he took turns feeding himself and her too! like i have said before, their sharing amazes me. maybe it's the house rule that if you can't share it, you can't have it.

- mason can kick a ball now. he just started doing it the other day. this is a nice change from his habit of throwing them.

- yesterday when we stopped by the blue park on our way to my doctor appointment, madelyn used really great manners with a boy that wasn't being totally friendly towards her and she ultimately won him over. they played nicely together for a while before we had to leave. i told her how proud i was of her staying polite even when he wasn't. the best part was when she was trying to tell him about the toys she had brought to the park and he kept saying, "what?" she would start trying to tell him again and again he would say, "what?" after about four times through this routine madelyn said, "you can hear me." she was totally calm about it and was just stating what was an obvious fact given that she was only a foot or two from him. i just thought that it was really funny that she called him out.

- today mason went up to a sign on the wall at madelyn's school and said (what sounded like) "duck". i have thought that he says "duck" but this was the first time he did so unprompted. he still isn't 'talking' but there is so much effort on his part that i think it will be soon. he gets the number of syllables right when we ask him animal names from his picture book. he's getting there.

- mason only has one more molar to go before we get a little break in the teething for a while.

as you can see life is full speed ahead. and i have one more post before i am caught up - finally. love.

farm day at the zoo

we went to church sunday morning because we had the block party saturday night. it was so beautiful sunday that i couldn't even think of keeping the kids inside. so i thought that the kids and i should go to the zoo to check out the family farm weekend for a little while before lunch. daddy had to work on getting the lawn mowed so he couldn't join us. (the last time he was mowing the yard one of the wheel bolts broke and he needed to get that resolved before our yard got too much more out of control.)

i fed the kids a quick snack, changed their clothes, and we were off. we were going to only have an hour or two but that is the beauty of the zoo pass, it didn't cost us anything. we rarely go into the farm portion of the zoo because that is where the playground is and i like to avoid it; we can go to the playground at home.

it was a beautiful day and not too crowded. we walked up right as they were giving an ice cream making demonstration. madelyn got to wait in line and take a turn at the crank before getting to sample the ice cream. after that we walked over to the bee exhibit and madelyn got a stamp on her hand (it was very exciting) and i bought a few honey sticks. madelyn and mason ended up sharing a stick of honey (essentially it was a plastic straw filled with honey and pinched closed at the ends). we sampled strawberry and chocolate milk and walked through the 'dairy barn'.

we stopped by the butterfly garden on our way out. i was surprised how many butterflies there were in the garden. the path was mulch so madelyn explored it on her own so that i didn't have to fight the stroller down the path. she was also delighted to find out that there was a bench just her size in the garden.

as part of the farm weekend they had the lady who raises the butterflies for the garden set up next to the garden with some monarch caterpillars and several chrysalises. i guess we had missed a new butterfly that came out an hour earlier. madelyn really liked looking at everything and hearing about the whole process.

i was glad that we made the trip out to the zoo. madelyn was a little disappointed that we didn't go see the rest of the zoo but i told her that we would be able to come back soon. love.

32 weeks

today i am 32 weeks with baby boy #2. and i had a check-up this afternoon. there isn't really much to report from the appointment. matt couldn't make it so i had both kids with me and we had to wait almost an hour. this is only the second time in almost 4 years that i have ever waited so it wasn't too big of a deal. thankfully, i had a diaper bag full of snacks and we had stopped at a local park on our way (it was actually madelyn's idea to go to the park before the appointment) so it wasn't too bad.

the good news from the appointment is that my doctor doesn't mind if i fly to kansas for a few days the first week in october. i will be 35 weeks the day i return and that is usually the cut-off time for air travel so everyone has been concerned about me making the trip - except me of course.

here is a picture of me today (on the left) and me at 31 weeks, 1 day with mason (on the right). this boy is a little lower but i look about the same size. which reminds me - i measured exactly 32-weeks at my check-up. love.

block party

saturday night we went to our annual neighborhood block party. madelyn's music teacher was leading a music class in one of the driveways when we arrived so mason used the distraction as his chance to play in the little bounce house. madelyn had a lot of fun singing, dancing, and playing instruments with her friends.

while the music class was finishing up several emergency vehicles pulled up the street. the kids were able to check out a fire truck, police car, and ambulance. as you can imagine, these were a huge hit. madelyn was really excited to get a badge sticker too (actually, she had been asking me for one but it was mason that was given one later - i just gave it to madelyn). one of the firemen was very nice to take mason through himself so that i didn't have to climb up into the firetruck that mason very obviously wanted to check out again. mason kept running back over to it after we had already visited it once with daddy.

it was a little concerning to see how happy all the kids were to be sitting in the back of the police car - although it did make for some cute pictures.

we had a big pot luck type of dinner with everyone grilling their own meat on grills set up in the street and sharing side dishes. there was a bean bag toss tournament (matt was eliminated in the first round by the team that ultimately won the whole thing). and lots of bubbles, side walk chalk, hula hoops, etc. for the kids to keep busy playing. mason was particularly taken with the bubbles. it was a windy night so he could dip the wand and pull it out to get wind blown bubbles most of the time. i think that he enjoyed the dipping most of all.

the kids both had dessert which is a very rare occurrence. almost all the kids started to loose it around 7:30. it was funny to hear crying and then good-byes over and over as all the kids started hitting their bedtime wall. our kids were a little sugared up and madelyn was sobbing about a lost plastic golf club from the set she brought from home after a bathroom break.

we had to give them quick baths before putting them down but i seem to remember them falling asleep a lot quicker than i had thought that they would after eating cookies and being overtired.

it was a fun night with the neighbors. love.

minneapolis vacation - day four

for our last day in minneapolis we went back to the mall of america (moa) so that madelyn could ride the rides. we were planning on going to ikea for breakfast (it is super good and super cheap - our favorite kind) but it didn't open until 10. so we headed across the street to the ihop. when did breakfast get so expensive?! we couldn't believe the prices. anyway, we ate and then headed to ikea to pick up a mattress for mason and a few other items before moa.

it was "toddler tuesday" at nickelodeon universe (aka the theme park in the center of the mall). it was nice because for $9.95 madelyn could ride all the toddler rides for three hours instead of the $40 it would normally cost. and the rate was good for daddy too. madelyn was almost in tears at the suggestion that she might have to ride some of them by herself so we got matt a pass too. mason and i were just spectators on their adventure.

and mason was a great spectator too. he actually enjoyed seeing daddy and madelyn riding everything. it was nice because madelyn waved and yelled "hi" very excitedly every time they would pass us. madelyn's cute little wave made it worth waiting around for me too. i thought that i had taken video but it looks like i was just turning it on each time i thought that i was turning it off. its too bad too because it was funny to hear madelyn yelling happily the entire time she was on each ride. she loved every minute of every ride. i think daddy had a less enjoyable time watching him squeeze into each ride and even getting whipped around in a car ride.


the highlight for madelyn was going on the wonder pets flyboat. i thought that it might be a little too scary for her after reading the description in the brochure ("...let it lift you 20 feet, then bounce you up and down..."). she loved it!












and then daddy got a little sad because while waiting in line for the blue's skidoo madelyn met a little boy. and when it was their turn to get on the ride madelyn took the boy's hand and said, "i am going to ride with him, daddy." she took off with this boy and didn't even look back. poor daddy.

we walked around the mall a little more to visit a few more stores and then loaded everyone up for the ride home. we stopped on the way home for dinner at mcdonalds. (it is just the only place that we are guaranteed some room for mason to stretch his legs too.) i decided that ice cream was in order and madelyn and i had caramel sundaes. she shared half of hers with mason. she loves to give him whatever she is eating. they are so cute sharing their treats so nicely. i really hope that this phase lasts a while because i am enjoying it. both for the peace and just because they are so sweet and gentle with each other. maybe i can catch it on video some time...

we got home around 9 and quickly unloaded so that the kids could go to bed. they were both so happy to be home and mason just kept running around seeing his toys again for the first time. it was a wonderful vacation! i am so glad that we were able to take the time to go. while it was utterly exhausting, physically, it was mentally very relaxing. love.

minneapolis vacation - day three

monday brought our only pre-arranged plans for the trip - a twins baseball game. the game didn't start until 1 so we had the morning to fill. we headed down nicollet mall again to have breakfast at panera and then walked the opposite direction down the mall from the mississippi river towards loring park and the minneapolis sculpture garden.

it was a great morning for a walk (although we were all sore from all the walking) and the parks were lovely. i was hoping that the parks would allow mason to wear himself out before we had to contain him on our laps at the game. we walked all the way to the sculptural gardens first to check things out and then went back to loring park so that the kids could play on the playground. the playgrounds were in sand and we weren't really keen on them getting too dirty before the game so we didn't stay very long. i think madelyn's favorite part was the pedestrian walkway over the interstate to get between the two parks. she also thought that the ginko tree leaves were pretty neat too (at least i think that is what variety they were).

the parks wore him out alright (and daddy who was on mason patrol for the trip), but just enough for him to fall asleep on our way back to the hotel. we let him sleep for a little while in the room while we switched up our gear for the rainy weather expected while we were at the game. and we were dropping off the stroller so that we wouldn't have to mess with it at the stadium. of course, now matt would have to carry mason all the way to target field. and this meant that mason got to have his first ride on daddy's shoulders!

here are pictures of our adventures to the ball park. you can see madelyn's forehead injury from the day before too. we didn't stay at the game for too long. mason got very squirmy after about two innings and we had gotten there so early that all the food and snacks had been consumed by that time too. we normally walk around the stadium a little while to give the kids some distractions but with the wind and rain it wasn't all that much fun. we watched a little more of the game and then decided to just head back to the hotel.

but now what... it was about 4 and too early to stay in for the night. so we decided to try going to the como park zoo and conservatory again. we were hoping that the rainy weather would lessen the traffic over by the fair and the zoo too. we were right. it was a night a day difference from the day before. we had about an hour and a half before it closed and that was pretty much the perfect amount of time. first we visited their butterfly exhibit. it just so happened that it was the last day of the last year for the exhibit. madelyn was really excited about it and mason really enjoyed walking through too (no strollers were allowed).

the other main draw for the zoo was a baby giraffe that had been born over the summer. it was a great way to end our day. here are some pictures from como.

we ended up driving around for a while before stopping for dinner at applebees. matt and i were talking about how sad it was that we had only eaten at chain restaurants on the trip but with the kids it is just easier stopping places that we know they can eat.

matt suggested that mason should sleep with madelyn monday night and daddy could have the pack-n-play all to himself. poor matt. he spent another (sleepless) night sharing a bed with madelyn. love.