Friday, July 31, 2009

Swimmy Class

Tessa started taking swimming class at the city pool this week and it goes through next week as well. It's only 40 minutes long, about all the little guys can really take. She's in the parent/tot class which means one of us has to get in with her. Since I was sick most of the week, Jeremy was up.

We'll be back at it next week and I'm feeling pretty good after some more antibiotics and a new allergy medicine, so I'll be strapping on the suit as well.

Tessa really liked going swimming, although she got cold and cranky a few times. She really liked kicking her feet in the water and has been 'swimming' all over the house.

Getting ready for the first day, telling Charley and Hayden all about what swimming would be like.


This is as close as non-swimming parents are allowed to get, so you just barely see them. Her and Jeremy are on the end, kicking their feet before the got in.

On the day I went, she had finally agreed to put her head under for the first time, and the minute she did they blew the whistle because there was lightening. They instead did water safety class in the locker room but I think that would be over her little head.
Swim Coach
I love her green suit and tried to get her to show it to me for a picture but she was too cold

Charley was there too, learning moves for next summer!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Hypocrite

While Charley had 'super porridge' for lunch (the name that super baby food book gives to any cereal made by blending up whole grains...in this case brown rice).


Tessa and I had McDonalds!
Double fisting the french fries. She ate an entire cheeseburger happy meal and then asked for more.


It sure has been a junky food week around here, but at least one of us (Charley) is eating healthy. I guess that's what happens when Mommy is sick, Daddy's out of town and you have swim lessons in the evening. Our chinese food is on the way as I type. Nothing cures a cold like hot and sour soup.

Charley's 6 month pictures

Another home photo shoot with fabulous results. Thanks Mom (and Mom's fancy slr camera)!

Charley had his 6 month appointment at shots yesterday.His stats are:
-- 17.12 lb- 55th %tile
-- 28 inches- 95th %tile
-- 18 cm head- 95th %tile
So his weight has leveled off some, when he was first born he was 95th on everything (possibly due to his warm and ice cream laden environment?) Doc says he is perfect!





Our photographer had an assistant, complete with a toy camera

eating sweet potatoes

Okay, enough pictures already!


For comparison, here is Tessa's 6 month photo. I don't care what they say, dressing up little girls really IS more fun.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Holy Garlic!


We dug up our garlic (the goose neck like plants above)and braided it to dry. We have over 40 heads drying and another 10 or so that got dinged or bruised in the cultivation process. Who knew digging up garlic was so precarious?

Mom helped me braid them while the boys were at the race last weekend, and being a skilled 4th grade teacher, Mom's braid (not pictured) was much neater and stronger than mine (below)


Vampires beware!! Well unless it's Edward Cullen, and of course he's always welcome :)

Tooth Doctor

I had a dentist appointment yesterday and just by happen-stance Jeremy had one this morning. When I was there I asked the doc when Tessa should come in for the first time and he suggested she come with Jeremy!

I was sick and in bed this morning, but as promised Jer took pictures. She sat quietly while he had his exam then sat in the big chair herself. All last night we practiced how she would open her mouth for the 'tooth doctor' but I hear that when she got there she wasn't so keen. It apparently was a Cinderella toothbrush that sealed the deal.

Dentist says her teeth look great, keep on brushing!




While Jer and Tess went to the dentist this morning, Charley and I are off to the physicians this afternoon. He has his 6 month well check and they agreed to squeeze me in to discuss allergy meds. I've been sick like the whole month of July...I need drugs! It's been several years since I've taken an allergy prescription, and I guess it's time to start again. A-choo.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Happy 6th month birthday, Mr. Screamy

Charley is crying right now on his play mat. Why? I'm not holding him. Just like he cried all the way through my dentist appt this afternoon and last night when we were trying to watch Big Brother and Jeremy was holding him. Has to be Mom, has to be all the time.

Because he has to be held it's pretty much impossible for me to do things like, oh...shower, fold laundry, cook dinner, finish the 1/2 stained fence (because Mr. Wii hand can't do it), or pull the 5,000 weeds in our backyard without the constant drone of a crying Charley (which I've pretty much grown acustom to).

When I hold him he lights up like a Christmas tree. I guess I should take that as a compliment.

We have some camera phone pics of our trip to CA but I can't figure out how to get them to here. Mom also has a million pictures of Tessa's visit, Charley's 6 month photos and pics of our garlic braiding project on her fancy camera but her internet is down until at least tomorrow so I can't get those uploaded either.

Tessa is currently at her first swim lesson with Jeremy because my sinus/allergy problem has returned with a vengeance and I didn't feel well enough to take her (even though I shave my legs for the occasion!). So pictures of swim lessons will appear eventually but not tonight.

So I'm sorry to say, dear blog readers that I have no witty stories or fabulous pictures to offer you. My apologies. All I have is a crying baby on the floor.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I'm a Nerd

I was so proud of myself for getting everyone packed and coordinated (in our small suitcase no less)...and I even thought to charge the camera. I never charge things...my cell phone is constantly dead and I never realize it until I go to call someone.

I pulled out the camera to take a pic of Charley at the airport and I had the camera but left the damn battery in the charger! Yup Charley's first plane ride and trip to CA, meeting several of our friends for the first time and I have no camera battery. Nice.

Monday, July 20, 2009

My Mantra

Because our family is incapable of doing anything simply like say...fly on a trip together, Jeremy hopped an early flight to Chicago in order to catch a phone meeting, and Charley and I are headed to the airport in about an hour or so to fly and meet him so we can all fly to CA together. We got upgraded to first for the long leg of the trip and I'm way more excited than I should be....comfy seat, movie, free wine, NO TODDLER! We could turn around and fly right back and I would be content.

I'm not a person who tends to ever be running late and rushed, so as is my style I am ready way too early and now I'm all anxious to leave. We're packed up, fed, shut down and I've got an hour before leave time. Oh well....so I'm surfing the web!

Yesterday we dropped Tessa off at Mom and Dad's for her first overnighter without Mom and Dad. Reports are she is doing just fine and slept like a champ. She called me this morning to say Mamaw had given her a 'big sticker' for going potty. I've already called like 4 times, and at last report they were shopping at Wal-Mart and Tessa didn't even notice I was missing.

While we were there yesterday Charley got his first pair of Crocs and tried some sweet potato baby food...


While Tessa made herself right at home


On my last post Melissa commented and mentioned that she liked the little mantra I have written on our fridge. It's been there since Tessa was just a tiny babe. I scribbled it down one day when I was feeling overwhelmed by my to-do list and all the things that I couldn't get done by days end. I decided than rather than beat myself up for not accomplishing the to-dos, I should make my daily goals much more simple.

I see it every day but Melissa's reminder about how good it is is a reminder to me as well. Lately I've been tending to revert back to those old ways and dogging on myself when things are left undone.

When I scribbled this down it was off the top of my head, the things I would love to accomplish on a perfect day. I put no restrictions on it....some days 'learn something' means a piece of news I heard on the radio. And while I probably should restrict myself to all or mostly God made food, it just doesn't always happen...but at least eating some is good! Improve my home? Some days it's a deep clean of every room, while other days it's just making sure that flies don't start to buzz around the dishes.

The hardest one of course is exercise. Some days I bust it out on the Wii and at stroller aerobics, and other days my exercise is the number of trips I make up and down the stairs. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Anyway this is what the fridge says:

Today Did I.....
-Love
-Laugh
-Teach Something
-Learn Something
-Improve My Home
-Eat God made food
-Exercise
-Rest
- and Pray?
Then today was a PERFECT day!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

A Salute to 3 Years of Service

Any woman of child bearing years knows the one question they ask you every time you visit the doctor. If you go for a scratchy throat or broken finger they ask you...what was the date of your last period?

Reason being of course that if you are pregnant they use this date to calculate the 40 weeks of gestation and predict your due date. When you are, in fact, pregnant you get to repeat it over and over throughout the many doctors visits you will attend. Every doctor you see (in my practice it's 5) and nurse who checks you in will ask you...what was the date of your last period?

It's fair to say that over time that date gets stamped in your memory. And I remember, without a shadow of a doubt that Tessa's date was July 18th of 2006.....I repeated that date over and over as they used it to calculate my weeks gestation and predict her due date of April 24th, 2007 (of which she arrived exactly one week early).

That means that for exactly three years to the day I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding with no break. I overlapped Charley's pregnancy and Tessa's nursing by only a month cause I found it just too taxing on the body.

My body has given me three years of excellent service. I had two wonderful and uncomplicated pregnancies, which produced two extremely healthy children. I had two great labors, one without the use of medication. Both children have enjoyed the benefits of breastmilk...one for 14 months and one for almost 6 months and still going strong.

I guess when I look in the mirror I only see the devastation left behind after my body's three years of service...stretch marks, floppy skin and a breastaraunt that is bigger than I could have ever imagined (or desired). I still weigh about 35 lb more than I did three years ago today and am finding it extremely difficult to lose more weight while still nursing Charley. I look worse for the wear.

BUT when I look in the mirror and start to feel sorry for myself I have to remember everything that my body has done and all the changes it has been through....and feel proud that we've come out on the other side feeling stronger and healthier than ever.

Good job body, keep up the good work. You're not perfect but that's okay, nobody is!

We're Famous!

Well not us in particular, but an internet community that I belong to. This article was written by one of my friends online. I know it sounds cheesy to have internet friends, but I'm not ashamed to say that I do!

Most mamas are familiar with babycenter.com and their public forums or 'birth boards'. I belonged to a birth board for April 07 and would ocassionally post. Babycenter later changed their format to something alot less popular and a group of us broke off and started a private internet forum. Although the private forum has a couple hundred members, there aren't that many of us who post regularly...maybe 50?...so I feel like I know them very well.

We've been together since we were all pregnant with our April 07 babies and have seen each other through lots of different things...marriage, divorce, more babies. Recently one of the mothers lost a prematurely born baby and we all banded together to send her a donation of money, a necklace and each person lit a candle in their own home on the day of the baby's memorial. We all took a picture of our candles from around the country (and even a few in other countries), and sent them to her. It was so special..hard to believe that most of us have never met!

I did meet two of the mommies who live in IN back in December at the Children's museum, and in two weeks we are having a much bigger meetup in Chicago.

Anyway, here's the article written by Elizabeth, one of my friends that I get to finally meet in a couple of weeks!: link

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Tippy Toes

I just got confirmation of Tessa's enrollment in at the Tippy Toes dance studio starting in September. It's a dance studio that focuses only on ballet for little girls. Our friends go there and I've seen pictures..it looks like so much fun!

I think I'm way more excited about this than Tessa who obviously has no idea even though I just showed her the website. She said 'oooooh wow'. She will be in the 2-4 year old class on Tuesday afternoons, and I'm already dreaming of the tutus and cute little shoes.

Check out their website: http://www.tippytoesschoolofdance.com/

Or Maybe Not..

Jeremy went to an orthopedist today who says his wrist is NOT broken! I guess where he injured it it can be hard to tell (they even originally said they might have to do an MRI to get a good image)

The tendon in his wrist was strained by being too aggressive on the Wii boxing (seriously he looked like he was having a seizure) and using his blackberry....an injury that they used to refer to as 'Nintendo thumb'. Please, try to stifle your snickering.

He got a cortozone shot and still has the brace as needed. No cast, no surgery or anything like that.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Another trip to the Museum

Because I didn't take a camera and she did such a good job of capturing the day...I'll refer to Brook's Blog to recap our day.

Needless to say we had fun again at the Children's Museum although it was SUPER crowded. Rainy day in summertime I guess, plus the new King Tut and Egypt exhibits.

Getting Warmed Up

Charley started eating his avocado a couple of days ago. He seems to like the actual food well enough, but still doesn't like the idea of us sticking something in his mouth. Since he doesn't take pacis or bottles, I guess it make sense that he is a little freaked out by anything non-boob. But by the fourth day he was starting to get into it, leaning into the spoon for a new bite.



Here's his first of a lifetime of bitesThe bib was a major distraction the first day we by the second day we ditched it until he gets used to eating. He kept trying to chew on it.
By the third day we figured out the highchair was still a little uncomfy for him cause he can't quite sit up, so we used the Bumbo Aunt Jessie provided us! Check out the stud's hair here...and I do mean Charley not Jeremy.

Tessa has been more than happy to clean up anything he leaves behind
Thankfully Jeremy found a replacement glass pitcher for the blender. Good timing...whenever it arrives here I will try Charley on some bananas and sweet potatoes.


This was randomly on my camera and I thought I'd share. The worship team had a dinner and meeting at our house the other night and Miss Jenny was smart enough to bring a parachute game to play while the meeting was going on. Our living room and office were like a preschool. Yes we are a young and fertile church!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Friday with Auntie Erin

My long time friend Erin (who has appeared on this blog many times!) had her hours cut some at work and no longer works Fridays. So every Friday afternoon, after we get home and cleaned up from stroller aerobics, I am going to pay Erin to babysit for a few hours so I can get some sanity time. I'll go do errands, doc appointments, whatever. Who knows, if I have nothing else to do maybe I will catch a movie!

I am SOOOO excited about our new setup. Especially when Jeremy is traveling, I am with the kids 24/7. They have joined me at the OB, dentist, hair salon...you name it. It's very very strange for me to ever go out without them.

Friday was our first time, and it was the 4th time I've ever left the house without Charley. I went and got my haircut, dropped off a meal for a friend who had surgery and went sandbox shopping around town. Sandboxes are expensive!

I was trying to grow out my hair but got sick of the akward length, so it's short again!....


Thank You Erin!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Sock Puppets

The other day Becky (as in my brother's wife) was in town and randomly stopped by with a craft project for Tessa, sock puppets! With all the testosterone in her house, Becky sometimes enjoys the company of a certain little girl :) It was very nice too because I was still feeling sick at that point and we would have probably spent our day watching movies!

Becky is so crafty, way better than me. I guess that comes with the territory of being an Elementary teacher. These are not just any sock puppets, they are the coolest! I found one of Tessa's purses to store them all in and she's been playing with them every day.



Our beautiful creations. I made the mad looking pink one, Tessa's is the crazy one on the far left, and Becky did the rest!
They talk and sing to each other alot

Charley was feeling a little left out so Becky included him. David was with her but he made himself busy checking out Tessa's toys.

Yup

Jeremy's wrist IS broken.
We don't know how it happened, but he's insisting that it is impossible to break your wrist by boxing on the Wii. Anyway, he's going to OrthoIndy next week, poor guy.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Lake Life

Last week we went on our annual 4th of July vacation to my family's cabin on Cedar Lake. We were there all week and had a great time with lots of relaxing. The weather didn't cooperate, it was rainy and cool almost every day. Jeremy and Tessa got in the lake twice but only for like 5 min per time because it was simply too cold to swim.

I was also sick with a sinus infection so we hung out inside alot and relaxed (vegetated). Jeremy grilled a bunch of healthy stuff for us and I finally finished a book for the first time since Charley's been born.

The lake was very quiet. We really didn't see many people at all until the 4th and even then no one was out swimming like usual.

Here's a photo recap....

Despite the weather we found time for a boat ride a couple of times a day. You can cover the whole of the lake in about 10 min, so it's fun just to go round and round. Tessa loved driving the boat, while Charley wasn't too keen on his life jacket.


Yes Charley's infant life vest still says JT...as in Joel Thomas, my cousin who is now 20 years old and like 6'7 or something, haha.


We went into the Amish town of Shipshewana for some shopping and soft pretzels. Nobody makes buttery soft pretzels quite like the Amish. We've learned to get to the lunch line early unless you want to stand there all day!



Shipshewana also has a carosel and Charley got to take his first ride



We had a great visit with Gramaw who came up for the fourth. I think she was entertained by the kids and their antics. Grampaw was sorely missed this year, and it was a strange sensation not seeing him there.




When it's too cold to swim you can still play with the inflatable pool toys!

Of course there is always time for a nap

We also mastered the art of sitting around the cottage watching movies and playing blocks and games. You can see Tessa took her potty and remained diaper-less. Only one accident all week!




Jeremy had his arsenal of fireworks to shoot off over the lake (I didn't get any action shots!). The people on other side of the lake do a mini- professional show and with all of the novices like Jer, I swear it looks like world war 3 by the end of the night.

Tessa slept through every bit of it though. We thought if she woke up we would bring her outside, but she never did. Charley wavered between amazement and crying.


Then we packed it all up and came back home!