Enjoying Summer

It's starting to finally feel like summer to me! The weather has warmed up and become more "summer-like" so we've been able to do lots of fun things outside recently. On Saturday morning we took a spontaneous family trip to the zoo and had a great time. The last time we'd been to the zoo, Anna REALLY wanted to ride the train, but I convinced her that it was a special activity to do with Daddy ... I didn't want to try and haul Kate on the train, too. When we told Anna we were going to the zoo, the next words out of her mouth were "Ride da twain wif Daddy?" They had fun :)


On Sunday afternoon/evening we had a picnic at our neighborhood park with some neighbor friends. Anna seems to get more of a kick out of playing in the sand than anything else at the park right now, except for maybe the swings. And of course, not just normal swinging, but big swings are required. Anna usually wants to be horizontal on the back part of the swing to think it's a big enough swing ... I wonder who taught her that!

I decided to try a repeat of the picnic at the park on Wednesday morning because it was such a beautiful day and we didn't have any plans for the morning. It went fairly well, but I don't think Anna quite understands that at a picnic, you're actually supposed to EAT your meal, too :)


Somebody should keep an eye on this kid when she learns to drive; all I asked her to do was say "yeah" and she took both hands off of the wheel. Crazy driver! By the way, the play equipment in the background is what we did all the fundraising for last fall; it's finally installed!

One thing that has made this past week more enjoyable for me is that I'm getting some real sleep these days. Kate officially slept through the night (roughly 8 until 6) on Friday night and has been keeping up with it since then, although this morning she gave us a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call. Looks like we still have to work out some of the kinks, but I'm just thankful I'm getting better sleep than I have in probably 7 or 8 months! Kate seems to appreciate the longer sleep, too.


And finally, for anyone who's wondering, we're managing to keep up with most of the garden stuff still, although the tomatoes, corn, and zucchini aren't ready yet. The peas didn't do so well this year, but we're still harvesting and freezing broccoli like crazy. The beans and cucmbers are slowly (thankfully!) and steadily coming in; the potatoes are huge this year and are slowly being dug and dried. We had a great crop of "spring" raspberries and we still have the fall crop to enjoy while the apples, pears, and plums look to be growing well. I haven't seen too many pumpkins or other squash just yet, but they've still got plenty of time. Good think Anna likes to help with all of the garden stuff!

Doctor's Visits

Yesterday (Thursday) we had doctor's check-ups for all the girls in the family ... Anna, Kate, and Mommy. We met Matt for lunch and then he came with us to the doctor's for an 1 1/2 hour long visit (a LONG time for a two-year old who should be napping at that exact time!).

Actually, Anna did great. We've been reading books about doctors for a few weeks and we think this is why she was amazingly comfortable and herself during the check-ups. She visited with both the nurse and with the doctor for a little while during her appointment and during Kate's.

Both girls are fine and healthy (so is mom, of course!). The only questions we had for Dr. Shearer were regarding Anna's funky pinky toenail, Anna's apparent need to talk to herself for 30-45 minutes after we put her to bed, and Kate's lingering stuffiness from her cold. The toenail is probably the result of a stubbed toe awhile back and is just taking a long time to grow out; the talking is probably because Anna has recently discovered language and just needs to practice it by talking to herself about the day as she winds down; the stuffiness is not a big deal, it will clear up soon.

Here's Anna's stats:

Height: 34.5 inches (62%)
Weight: 31 lb. 4 oz. (91%)

Obviously, Anna's a good eater :) The doctor said that as long as she's getting her calories from good healthy food, her weight is completely fine. Anna likes to eat her fruits and vegetables, enjoys peanut butter and no-fat plain yogurt (with a few blueberries in it), thinks black beans or refried beans are great, drinks 1% or even skim milk, and her "juice" is almost completely water so we're not concerned.

Here's Kate's stats:

Height: 23.5 inches (83%)
Weight: 12 lb. 8 oz. (83%)
Head: 40.5 cm (85%)

As the doctor said, "she's a very proportional baby" :) Kate also had to get her first round of shots ... yuck! She, obviously, did NOT like the actual shot and she seems to be a bit more bothered by them than Anna ever was. We've kept the tylenol regiment up today and she's a bit more settled, but yesterday evening was kind of rough for the poor kid. Even a nice, warm bath didn't seem to help very much :(

As for the rest of the week, it was pretty low key. I took the girls to the library on Monday to check out books, and then to the "flower park" (Olbrich Botanical Gardens) on Tuesday, mainly just to get out of the house. Going to the doctor's was enough for yesterday and then today we had some friends (Emily, her brother Benjamin, and mom Mary) come over to play in the morning. I think Anna REALLY enjoyed having a few people her size and age to play with :)


This picture is from Olbrich Gardens. Anna was too interested in everything around her to look up for a picture :) Her favorite activity there was to play in the fountains and then tell me "I get wet!" ;)

Kate's big day

Saturday was a pretty big day for little Kate, or at least in terms of infancy.

At one point while she was exploring her hands and fingers she managed to get one of those crazy thumbs into her mouth for a few seconds. She was a bit baffled by it, but we're hoping she may find it for real before too long. Either that or figure out how to put that pacifier back in her mouth on her own :)

A second big moment for her was when she accidentally rolled from her tummy to her back. As with the thumb, this was a total accident and she hasn't done anything similar since, but still ... it's a big deal for a little kid.


Kate also had her first experience with the exersaucer on Saturday night. She'd been doing so well at holding her head up and pushing down with her feet that we thought we'd give it a try. We think she really likes the different view, but obviously can't handle it for too long.

Kate also got to see what it's like to have a fire in the fireplace ... that's right, we had a fire in the middle of July! Can you believe that our highs were in the low 60s this past weekend?!?! What happened to summer?! At least it was in the 70s today, but nights are still predicted as pretty chilly.


On a different note, last week we said good-bye to our crazy cat, Pounce, and found him a new home. As Matt so eloquently put it in our Craig's List posting, "we don't need another reason to be woken up in the middle of the night". For awhile now a neighborhood cat has come in our yard to torment Pounce, who then would take it out on Shadow. We had one too many experiences of being woken up, or having kids wake up, because of a terrible cat fight in the basement. So ... adios Pounce. Enjoy your new family!

Fun firsts

Grandpa Colba called last week to let us know that blueberry season had started and to invite Anna to come for a visit to pick blueberries. So, after thinking about it all and evaluating some options, I packed up Anna and Kate (leaving Matt at home to have a few days of "peace and quiet") and we headed up to Eau Claire on Tuesday afternoon after play group for a mid-week visit with Grandpa and Grandma.

This trip included a lot of firsts for us girls ... our first overnight trip with the van, my first trip with both girls by myself, and (probably the biggest first) Kate's first long car ride and overnight visit anywhere!



Anna also had a lot of firsts ... her first experience blueberry picking (which she LOVED, but also involved a lot of running up and down the paths and eating blueberries instead of actually picking them),



her first ride on Grandpa's boat (which was okay, but not as much of a highlight), her first walks in Grandpa and Grandma's woods during which she walked by herself the entire way,


her first chance to water flowers with Grandma, and her first real visit to Grandpa and Grandma's during the summer.


Overall things went well. Anna is an excellent traveller, both in the van and when we're at our destination. She had so much fun and was able to make some really good memories with both Grandpa and Grandma. (On a side note, she's definitely into a male role model stage ... no matter how much fun she has with Mommy or Grandma or any other female, it's the man who stands out in her mind ... Grandpa, Daddy, neighbor John, Carly's dad Travis, etc.) Anna was certainly exhausted by Thursday morning and seems to be enjoying having some down time so far today.

Kate, on the other hand, is not a very good traveller ... yet. She doesn't particularly like her carseat and is never very happy in one position for long periods of time. So, we heard a bit of fussing and some all out screaming on the way up to Eau Claire, but once she fell asleep she was fine. She also had a hard time adjusting to someplace new and was fairly crabby the first evening. By the time we left yesterday, she was already out of sorts so there was quite a bit more crying, fussing, and screaming on the way home. At least now we know what trips with her will be like :)

As I said, overall things were great. Not only was it good for the girls, but it was a nice change of pace for me to have someone cook for us and clean up after everyone :) Plus, Matt got to ride to work three days this week and have some uninterrupted play time in the evenings :)

Return to "normalcy"

We didn't have any set plans this past week and weekend ... hooray! This meant we all had the opportunity to rest and relax after a couple of busy weeks. It also meant that we could do a few fun, spontaneous things.

Thursday afternoon we headed into McFarland to the farmer's market and to do some errands using our *new* stroller. I'd been hoping for awhile to find a sit and stand double stroller on Craig's List, but wasn't having much luck. Then Matt surprised me by ordering one online and having it delivered Thursday morning. We've already used it half a dozen times and I LOVE it. Kate can stay in her carseat (until she's big enough to sit in the front part) and Anna can either sit strapped in or stand in the back behind Kate.

The stroller is great for trips to the zoo or walks to our local park, too, which, by the way, is finally having a slide and climbing equipment installed! Until we got this new stroller, I had to put Anna in the backpack and Kate in the stroller or Anna in a stroller and Kate in the front carrier just for a walk to the park ... having them both in a stroller is MUCH easier :)



Anyway, Friday morning we went to the zoo with Peter, Tina, Sadie, and Lukas. The babies were great and the older girls were wonderful. They loved playing the puddles (it had rained the night before) in addition to seeing and hearing all sorts of animals. They also liked taking turns poking their heads through various animals :)


Unfortunately, Kate is working through her first cold. Anna brought the germs into the house this time with a nasty cold that started right before the 4th and stuck around for the first part of last week. Then she passed it to me and I fought with a sore throat and runny nose last week. Yesterday morning Kate started coughing and sneezing a bit. She had a stuffy nose and a fever yesterday afternoon and evening, but seems to be well on the mend today. Still a bit of a cough sometimes, but she's a lot more pleasant and her fever is pretty much non-existant. Hooray!

In spite of the colds, we decided to go for a family bike ride on Saturday afternoon. Anna gets to sit in the seat behind Matt while I pull Kate in her carseat which gets installed into the bike trailer. Everyone did great until the last third, when Kate got tired of being jostled. Then she gave us some pretty pitiful cries every time I'd ride over the smallest bump ... poor kid. We may have to wait a bit longer to try one of these rides again :)

Those precocious girls ...

Both of our daughters have been labeled as precocious fairly early in their lives. I can't remember exactly when Anna got that label, but Kate first received it when I went in for my postpartum check-up last week and was also called precocious by several family members this past weekend. Maybe this is why ...

Here's Anna reading a book about Winnie the Pooh to my mom and my brother. She turned each page and talked to them about whatever she saw on that page ... pretty accurately, too. Not only did she read to them, but being an alphabet book, she pointed out the letters that she knew (A for Anna, D for Daddy, M for Mommy, K for Kate, G for Grandma, etc.)



Here's Kate how I found her after putting Anna down for a nap today. I'd set her in her swing (she really likes to be upright) and given her a book to look at. When I came out of Anna's room she had grabbed a page and was looking at the pictures. Hmmm ...

I think Kate earned the precocious label from people this weekend mainly because she is SO awake and alert during the day (and thus sleeps pretty well at night ... hooray!) She also was giving out smiles right and left to grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc. This is our best shot of her smile so far. She definitely has a wide open mouth, full body wiggling smile. Lots of fun :)


And finally, here are those rockin' sisters. Kate was looking out the window in her "blue rocking chair" this morning during Anna's breakfast. While I was cleaning up the dishes, Anna pushed her rocking chair into the kitchen from the living room so she could "yook out da window wif Kate". So sweet :)

Parties and Baptisms

This past weekend was a big one for our little family. On Saturday we celebrated Anna's birthday with all of her aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins and on Sunday we celebrated Kate's baptism into God's family.

Saturday was a great day ... even though Anna was tired when the day started ... she refused to nap on Friday afternoon, thus falling asleep by 7 p.m. on Friday night and waking up a little after 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. Anyway, Matt and his brother-in-law Chris went mountain biking in the morning while my parents and brother came over to help get things ready for the party. Not only did we get everything together, but my brother and my dad even picked and podded a whole bunch of peas!

Anyway, the whole Mischnick clan and the Thompsons (Peter, Tina, Sadie, and Lukas) came over for dinner, pie, and Matt's rendition of a fireworks display. We don't go all out for fireworks by any means, but Matt really likes to "modify" the cheap ones you can get at the roadside stands. The kids loved it! The boundary for the boys, Anna, and Sadie was a red pipe laid out in the yard. They all obeyed very well and responded with lots of "oooo's", "ahhh's", "wow's", and clapping :)



Sunday morning Kate was baptized at our church. She "behaved" very well even though she woke up as soon as I handed her off to Tina, her godmother. Tina and I were a bit nervous that she'd start fussing, but Kate just took in the whole affair with wide open eyes.



Here's a good shot of the ever-growing Mischnick family, who amazingly have all been able to get together three times in the past year!
After the baptism we all headed down to the gym to let the boys (big and small) and girls run around for a bit before lunch. Anna was completely wiped out by the time we left church. She fell asleep on the way home, but woke up when I had to take her thumb out of her mouth to transfer her to her crib. She ended up not sleeping anymore yesterday and went to bed by 7 again last night, sleeping until 7 again this morning. Poor kid was ready to crash early for her nap today. I think it may take her awhile to recover from all of the excitement (and lack of sleep) this weekend.