For the most part, we're back on track in our family. Kate's cold lasted through about Wednesday, although she had drainage on Thursday and Friday mornings. Anna's two-fold bedtime plan seems to have worked. After two consecutive nights of her picking out special music and then following the bedtime rules, she and Matt had a special daddy-daughter date. Now she needs five stickers for the next date. Since we started this plan, we haven't heard a peep out of her after we put her to bed. Hooray!
Our naps still seem to be out of wack, though. Anna's in a two day off, two day on pattern right now. It's hard to tell her not to sleep, although when she does, she lies in bed for a LONG time before she goes to sleep. Kate is rotating between one and two naps, depending on the day. Today was *supposed* to be a two nap day and after the first one went so well, she lay around for about an hour this afternoon before I finally gave up and got her up. We may have a long afternoon/evening with that kid. Then again, she may still sleep at some point.
After feeling quite cut off from the rest of the world while we were dealing with the girls last weeek, we made a trip to the zoo on Friday morning with some friends. It's funny how the most exciting part for the girls was running the length of the visitor's center and checking out the men's bathrooms after lunch. Who knew that would be more fun than the animals?
Saturday we had an impromptu "pool party" with some neighbors in the backyard. Granted, the pool is not that big, but it's certainly more fun when there are more people around :) Anna was great for the first 40 minutes or so, then she got hungry and tired (no nap day) and became quite cranky.
In this transitional time for Anna's naps, she's become quite a fan of puzzles and games. We've picked up a few of each from garage sales lately and she LOVES them. She is a great companionable player with games although I get a little sick and tired of playing the same one over and over and over ... right now her favorite is "Hi Ho Cherry-O". She does surprisingly well with puzzles.
Kate is just simply Kate. It's hard to believe that when Anna was 14 months, she was just walking, whereas Kate has been walking for 3+ months already. One of her favorite things to say is "ahh mmm", which generally means food. We think it started with her trying to say apple and now she just uses it if she wants to eat something. She knows lots of animals and what they say. My favorites are "woof", "mmmm" (moo for cow), and "owl" ... who knew she could say that? She's also mastered Mommy and Daddy, as opposed to Mama and Dada, and she always seems to want to be wherever Anna is :)
So life is certainly better than it was about a week ago. Let's hope it stays that way for awhile :)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Upside down and inside out
We're all feeling a bit upside down and inside out in our house lately. Life has been kind of rough for the Mischnicks since Anna turned three; whether or not it has to do with the actual birthday, we'll never know, but that's about when it started.
For some inexplicable reason, Anna, who has historically rarely had sleeping troubles, has been fighting bedtime with all of her will this past week and a half. We had probably only one or two nights last week when she didn't scream, cry, get out of bed, etc. for 1/2 hour to 2 hours (seriously!) before finally succombing to sleep. We tried reasoning with her; we tried conning her; we tried punishing her; we tried tiring her out, but nothing seemed to be working. Now we're trying rewards and so far so good. Last night she got to pick out the music she wanted to listen to, have two books in bed with her, and was told that if there were two nights in a row with her obeying the bedtime rules (in bed and quiet), then she and Matt would do a bikeride to a park just the two of them. Like I said, so far so good.
Part of this probably stems from the fact that Anna is transitioning out of her nap. She doesn't really need one every day anymore, but still needs to have some kind of rest time (and I still need that break in the middle of the day). The current plan is for her to have about an hour of quiet time in her room with some special quiet activities (puzzles, books, colored pencils and notebook). Again, so far so good, although she still falls asleep every second or third day.
The other reason we're all upside down and inside out is that Kate has had some kind of weird virus for about a week and a half. Early last week she had several days of diarrhea (which included several middle of the night diaper changes), which cleared up after a day or so on strictly bananas and toast. Then on Sunday evening she came down with a fever and has been just miserable since then. Stuffy nose, coughs, and the inability to sleep more than about an hour and a half (including at night) without help from Mom and/or Dad. We went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and he said that everything was clear (ears, lungs, and throat), and that she probably had a virus that started in her GI tract last week and then moved system wide on Sunday. Whatever the reason, we all hope she feels better soon.
So, combining a three year old who screams and cries until 10 or later and a sick toddler who has been up several times a night for the past week means that we're all a little out of sorts. Hopefully, life returns to normal soon!
Meanwhile, in the few days in between Kate's symptoms and before things completely fell apart with Anna, we had some fun days :) Friday night we went to a friend's house for dinner and then stayed to watch some fireworks. In retrospect, that may not have been the best choice to make since we didn't get home until almost 11 and Anna cried for about a half hour before she fell asleep, but at the time it was a lot of fun.
Saturday we went to a local fair for awhile in the afternoon/evening. The girls LOVED the animals and rides. I took both Anna and Kate on the carousel and then Anna and I rode a bear ride. That, including dinner and ice cream, was about the extent of what the family could handle at this point.
Sunday afternoon we set up a kiddie pool and rigged up the slide so both girls could slide down it into the pool before getting out some (pretty tame) fireworks. Anna loved the fireworks, but Kate was already feeling ill by then and didn't think they were too great.
This week we've been just trying to maintain status quo, even with Matt being off on Monday and Tuesday for the 4th of July. We hope, for everyone's sake, that things look up soon for everyone here.
Let me end on a positive note, though. Anna has thoroughly been enjoying being a big sister recently, to the point of feeding Kate her breakfast this morning (giving her a few pieces of toast at a time and talking to Kate the entire time ... "You want more? You need to finish what you have first before you can get more. Show me with your signs that you want more, Kate. There! That's good! Here's more toast for you." It was a lot of fun to listen to.) She also will lead Kate around and ask her to play with her now, too. Very sweet stuff.
Kate is pretty funny, too, at least when she's feeling well. She can indicate to us yes and no, now, and both are great to watch. An easy no is when she simply shakes her head, but she'll yell loudly while shaking her head if she really means it. Her yes is this full body bob with a great big smile. She doesn't quite have the muscle control to just nod her head yet so she kind of bends at the waist or twists her arms to show us she means yes. Maybe you've just got to see it; it's pretty cute.
Okay ... Anna's rest time is almost over. We'll see if she's alseep or not ;)
For some inexplicable reason, Anna, who has historically rarely had sleeping troubles, has been fighting bedtime with all of her will this past week and a half. We had probably only one or two nights last week when she didn't scream, cry, get out of bed, etc. for 1/2 hour to 2 hours (seriously!) before finally succombing to sleep. We tried reasoning with her; we tried conning her; we tried punishing her; we tried tiring her out, but nothing seemed to be working. Now we're trying rewards and so far so good. Last night she got to pick out the music she wanted to listen to, have two books in bed with her, and was told that if there were two nights in a row with her obeying the bedtime rules (in bed and quiet), then she and Matt would do a bikeride to a park just the two of them. Like I said, so far so good.
Part of this probably stems from the fact that Anna is transitioning out of her nap. She doesn't really need one every day anymore, but still needs to have some kind of rest time (and I still need that break in the middle of the day). The current plan is for her to have about an hour of quiet time in her room with some special quiet activities (puzzles, books, colored pencils and notebook). Again, so far so good, although she still falls asleep every second or third day.
The other reason we're all upside down and inside out is that Kate has had some kind of weird virus for about a week and a half. Early last week she had several days of diarrhea (which included several middle of the night diaper changes), which cleared up after a day or so on strictly bananas and toast. Then on Sunday evening she came down with a fever and has been just miserable since then. Stuffy nose, coughs, and the inability to sleep more than about an hour and a half (including at night) without help from Mom and/or Dad. We went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and he said that everything was clear (ears, lungs, and throat), and that she probably had a virus that started in her GI tract last week and then moved system wide on Sunday. Whatever the reason, we all hope she feels better soon.
So, combining a three year old who screams and cries until 10 or later and a sick toddler who has been up several times a night for the past week means that we're all a little out of sorts. Hopefully, life returns to normal soon!
Meanwhile, in the few days in between Kate's symptoms and before things completely fell apart with Anna, we had some fun days :) Friday night we went to a friend's house for dinner and then stayed to watch some fireworks. In retrospect, that may not have been the best choice to make since we didn't get home until almost 11 and Anna cried for about a half hour before she fell asleep, but at the time it was a lot of fun.
Saturday we went to a local fair for awhile in the afternoon/evening. The girls LOVED the animals and rides. I took both Anna and Kate on the carousel and then Anna and I rode a bear ride. That, including dinner and ice cream, was about the extent of what the family could handle at this point.
Sunday afternoon we set up a kiddie pool and rigged up the slide so both girls could slide down it into the pool before getting out some (pretty tame) fireworks. Anna loved the fireworks, but Kate was already feeling ill by then and didn't think they were too great.
This week we've been just trying to maintain status quo, even with Matt being off on Monday and Tuesday for the 4th of July. We hope, for everyone's sake, that things look up soon for everyone here.
Let me end on a positive note, though. Anna has thoroughly been enjoying being a big sister recently, to the point of feeding Kate her breakfast this morning (giving her a few pieces of toast at a time and talking to Kate the entire time ... "You want more? You need to finish what you have first before you can get more. Show me with your signs that you want more, Kate. There! That's good! Here's more toast for you." It was a lot of fun to listen to.) She also will lead Kate around and ask her to play with her now, too. Very sweet stuff.
Kate is pretty funny, too, at least when she's feeling well. She can indicate to us yes and no, now, and both are great to watch. An easy no is when she simply shakes her head, but she'll yell loudly while shaking her head if she really means it. Her yes is this full body bob with a great big smile. She doesn't quite have the muscle control to just nod her head yet so she kind of bends at the waist or twists her arms to show us she means yes. Maybe you've just got to see it; it's pretty cute.
Okay ... Anna's rest time is almost over. We'll see if she's alseep or not ;)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Anna turns three!
Turning three for Anna was a monumental occasion. A lot of things seem to happen in our house when you turn three. For example, you learn how to "play with the arrows" (meaning you get to play with all of the cards in Uno), you're old enough to change the music on your own CD player, and your special blanket stays in your room (in an effort to reduce the thumb-sucking, hopefully). I'm sure there will be plenty of other things that happen this week that will occur simply because she's three :)
Anna's actual birthday was quite an adventure. After stumbling out of her room a little after 6, she opened cards and presents from Mom and Dad before eating her birthday muffin. Then we headed off to early church before coming home to make cupcakes, find 3's, have lunch, play a couple of games of Uno, and take naps (albeit short ones ... hmmm).
My parents stopped by for awhile on their way through Madison and were able to give Anna her birthday present, a turtle maze that my dad made for her.
Just as they were leaving, she got to talk with her other grandparents on the phone before the friends showed up for Anna's party. Carly, Sadie, Audrey, and families joined us for some music crafts, playtime, pizza, and cupcakes to help Anna celebrate.
At one point, there was a jumping dance party in Anna's room on the extra mattress, complete with little girl squeals and screeches.
Notice that Kate is sitting right in the middle of four jumping three year olds; she loved it.
Just like she loved Matt bouncing her later in the evening.
Anna was a great sport through the whole day, but was obviously a bit overwhelmed by everything. In fact, after lying around in bed for awhile last night, and actually whimpering for part of the time, we had to deal with "I'm tired, but I can't fall asweep!" for a long time. Then, of course, she was up bright and early at 6 this morning ... urgh.
All in all, a good day. It's still hard to believe how much not-so-little Anna is growing up. Matt and I were looking back at some pictures the other day and were surprised by what we already seemed to have forgotten, or at least needed to be reminded of.
Backing up to Saturday, we had a great afternoon/evening as a family. After Anna rested, not napped (we're getting more and more of those days now), she and I headed off to the local outdoor pool while Kate finished her nap. Matt and Kate joined us a little later and we had a lot of fun playing in the kiddie pool as well as the big pool. Then we had our picnic dinner before playing at the park for a bit. Fun stuff.
Backing up even further, last week was good, but busy. Having swimming lessons every day from 4 until 5, in addition to various morning playdates, appointments, etc. certainly made things busier than normal.
Plus the garden is getting to the "almost out of control" stage, and it's not even July. Anna helped me freeze a bunch of broccoli last week and we've been having raspberries and snow peas virtually every day. The green beans will be ready soon, Kate and I saw some little zucchini and cucumbers earlier today, and the corn and tomatoes are taller than Anna already. It's a good thing that our neighbor, Alexia, is helping out one morning a week again this year!
Anna's actual birthday was quite an adventure. After stumbling out of her room a little after 6, she opened cards and presents from Mom and Dad before eating her birthday muffin. Then we headed off to early church before coming home to make cupcakes, find 3's, have lunch, play a couple of games of Uno, and take naps (albeit short ones ... hmmm).
My parents stopped by for awhile on their way through Madison and were able to give Anna her birthday present, a turtle maze that my dad made for her.
Just as they were leaving, she got to talk with her other grandparents on the phone before the friends showed up for Anna's party. Carly, Sadie, Audrey, and families joined us for some music crafts, playtime, pizza, and cupcakes to help Anna celebrate.
At one point, there was a jumping dance party in Anna's room on the extra mattress, complete with little girl squeals and screeches.
Notice that Kate is sitting right in the middle of four jumping three year olds; she loved it.
Just like she loved Matt bouncing her later in the evening.
Anna was a great sport through the whole day, but was obviously a bit overwhelmed by everything. In fact, after lying around in bed for awhile last night, and actually whimpering for part of the time, we had to deal with "I'm tired, but I can't fall asweep!" for a long time. Then, of course, she was up bright and early at 6 this morning ... urgh.
All in all, a good day. It's still hard to believe how much not-so-little Anna is growing up. Matt and I were looking back at some pictures the other day and were surprised by what we already seemed to have forgotten, or at least needed to be reminded of.
Backing up to Saturday, we had a great afternoon/evening as a family. After Anna rested, not napped (we're getting more and more of those days now), she and I headed off to the local outdoor pool while Kate finished her nap. Matt and Kate joined us a little later and we had a lot of fun playing in the kiddie pool as well as the big pool. Then we had our picnic dinner before playing at the park for a bit. Fun stuff.
Backing up even further, last week was good, but busy. Having swimming lessons every day from 4 until 5, in addition to various morning playdates, appointments, etc. certainly made things busier than normal.
Plus the garden is getting to the "almost out of control" stage, and it's not even July. Anna helped me freeze a bunch of broccoli last week and we've been having raspberries and snow peas virtually every day. The green beans will be ready soon, Kate and I saw some little zucchini and cucumbers earlier today, and the corn and tomatoes are taller than Anna already. It's a good thing that our neighbor, Alexia, is helping out one morning a week again this year!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Venturing out into the big, wide world
This past week saw some big events for Anna. In the past seven days, she's participated in two separate activities that were completely without mom or dad, first music camp at church, then swimming lessons. I know other kids may reach this point earlier in their lives, but for Miss Anna, these have been the first big events (besides baby-sitters, of course) ... and she's done just smashingly ;)
This year our church hosted a music camp instead of Vacation Bible School. The official cut-off age was 3, but Anna (and a couple of other kids whose birthdays are this summer) was cleared to participate. Every morning she spent two and a half hours at church playing instruments, singing songs, listening to Bible stories, doing crafts, playing games, having snacks, etc. all while Kate and I ran errands on that side of town (or hung out in the nursery with other moms). As far as we can tell, Anna did great, and came home chatting about all of the things she did.
Poor kid was so overwhelmed, however, that her naps were all messed up last week. First too short, then too long, then not at all on Thursday ... yikes! Oh, well. The week's activities culminated with all of the kids from camp leading the music portions of worship this past Sunday. Anna proudly shook her egg shakers while her class sang its song :)
Our first session of swimming lessons started this afternoon and Anna is in the 3's and 4's class, even though she won't be three until Sunday. In her class each kid gets a high schooler as their personal instructor and they take the water adjustment skills to the next level. Watching from the bleachers on the side and from what Anna told me afterwards, I think she really enjoyed her class.
The only issue was when I was in the water with Kate during her class and Anna was watching from the bleachers with neighbor Alexia. Anna slipped and bonked her head and then didn't want me to leave her alone again. So she joined Kate and me for the second half of Kate's class. It turns out this might have been a blessing in disguise, though, because the instructors for Kate's class said that Anna is more than welcome to join us, which means that Anna will be getting a full hour of water time every afternoon for the next two weeks. Kate, by the way, LOVES the water so far :)
Speaking of Kate, last week's craziness helped us make the real transition to one nap a day instead of two. What this means is that she no longer gets the pacifier in the van (which means she *usually* doesn't fall asleep), and only takes one nap in the middle of the day. The crying and yells of "BA!" (her word for pacifier), are balanced out by the fact that both girls are now napping at relatively the same time ... hooray! Just in time for gardening, right?
On a slightly different note, we went to a local farm breakfast with some neighbors this past Saturday for the third year in a row. Maybe this one is going to be a family tradition. We all ate our pancakes, eggs, and ice cream (to celebrate National Dairy Month, of course!) and then visited the animals. Kate's favorite, we think, were the ducks since she kept yelling "Duh! Duh! Duh!" Anna was most looking forward to running around with the chickens, but I think she ended up liking the baby goats best because she got to feed one a bottle. We did our traditional wagon ride around the farm and then headed home before it got too hot.
(That's neighbor Carly on the left; both of our girls started with hats, but refused to keep them on ... urgh.)
One more thing, Kate learned how to say "Whee!" yesterday while swinging at a park. It was hilarious to hear her keep saying "Whee! Whee!" both yesterday and then today when she was pushing any kind of toy swing :)
This year our church hosted a music camp instead of Vacation Bible School. The official cut-off age was 3, but Anna (and a couple of other kids whose birthdays are this summer) was cleared to participate. Every morning she spent two and a half hours at church playing instruments, singing songs, listening to Bible stories, doing crafts, playing games, having snacks, etc. all while Kate and I ran errands on that side of town (or hung out in the nursery with other moms). As far as we can tell, Anna did great, and came home chatting about all of the things she did.
Poor kid was so overwhelmed, however, that her naps were all messed up last week. First too short, then too long, then not at all on Thursday ... yikes! Oh, well. The week's activities culminated with all of the kids from camp leading the music portions of worship this past Sunday. Anna proudly shook her egg shakers while her class sang its song :)
Our first session of swimming lessons started this afternoon and Anna is in the 3's and 4's class, even though she won't be three until Sunday. In her class each kid gets a high schooler as their personal instructor and they take the water adjustment skills to the next level. Watching from the bleachers on the side and from what Anna told me afterwards, I think she really enjoyed her class.
The only issue was when I was in the water with Kate during her class and Anna was watching from the bleachers with neighbor Alexia. Anna slipped and bonked her head and then didn't want me to leave her alone again. So she joined Kate and me for the second half of Kate's class. It turns out this might have been a blessing in disguise, though, because the instructors for Kate's class said that Anna is more than welcome to join us, which means that Anna will be getting a full hour of water time every afternoon for the next two weeks. Kate, by the way, LOVES the water so far :)
Speaking of Kate, last week's craziness helped us make the real transition to one nap a day instead of two. What this means is that she no longer gets the pacifier in the van (which means she *usually* doesn't fall asleep), and only takes one nap in the middle of the day. The crying and yells of "BA!" (her word for pacifier), are balanced out by the fact that both girls are now napping at relatively the same time ... hooray! Just in time for gardening, right?
On a slightly different note, we went to a local farm breakfast with some neighbors this past Saturday for the third year in a row. Maybe this one is going to be a family tradition. We all ate our pancakes, eggs, and ice cream (to celebrate National Dairy Month, of course!) and then visited the animals. Kate's favorite, we think, were the ducks since she kept yelling "Duh! Duh! Duh!" Anna was most looking forward to running around with the chickens, but I think she ended up liking the baby goats best because she got to feed one a bottle. We did our traditional wagon ride around the farm and then headed home before it got too hot.
(That's neighbor Carly on the left; both of our girls started with hats, but refused to keep them on ... urgh.)
One more thing, Kate learned how to say "Whee!" yesterday while swinging at a park. It was hilarious to hear her keep saying "Whee! Whee!" both yesterday and then today when she was pushing any kind of toy swing :)
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sisters ...
Here's what the Mischnick girls are up to these days:
Anna likes to help show Kate how things are done outside. (a.k.a. showing her how to eat the strawberries, raspberries, and peas; running up and down the driveway with her; giving her wheelbarrow rides.)
We've been opening up the gate lately when the stairs are supervised so that Kate can learn the fine art of running laps on rainy days (of which we've had quite a few recently). Both girls love to chase each other around while dragging their favorite push/pull toys.
We went strawberry picking on Saturday morning and got a surprising number of berries to take home and freeze considering how much both of these girls like their strawberries. The deal with Anna was that since she's almost three she needed to put three strawberries in Matt's container before she could eat one. Then she would feed one to Kate, too :)
Who wants more strawberries? (Actually, this is the look we get from Anna now when we ask her to look up at the camera :)
After picking strawberries in the morning and having lunch at home, the girls and I went to a local bluegrass music festival on Saturday. We played at a park, listened to a friend's band, shared an ice cream cone, and then headed home. Both girls were OUT in the 15 minutes it took to get home. My favorite part is that they are sleeping in the exact same position :)
Anna likes to help show Kate how things are done outside. (a.k.a. showing her how to eat the strawberries, raspberries, and peas; running up and down the driveway with her; giving her wheelbarrow rides.)
We've been opening up the gate lately when the stairs are supervised so that Kate can learn the fine art of running laps on rainy days (of which we've had quite a few recently). Both girls love to chase each other around while dragging their favorite push/pull toys.
We went strawberry picking on Saturday morning and got a surprising number of berries to take home and freeze considering how much both of these girls like their strawberries. The deal with Anna was that since she's almost three she needed to put three strawberries in Matt's container before she could eat one. Then she would feed one to Kate, too :)
Who wants more strawberries? (Actually, this is the look we get from Anna now when we ask her to look up at the camera :)
After picking strawberries in the morning and having lunch at home, the girls and I went to a local bluegrass music festival on Saturday. We played at a park, listened to a friend's band, shared an ice cream cone, and then headed home. Both girls were OUT in the 15 minutes it took to get home. My favorite part is that they are sleeping in the exact same position :)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
To Indiana and back
This past week was spent recovering from Memorial Day weekend, and then preparing for our trip to Indiana. Sandwiched in between those two big events were a couple of rainy days, and one absolutely beautiful Thursday.
Here's what we did on that nice day ... ate breakfast fast so we could get out of the house and actually do something before Kate's morning nap; spent about an hour and a half at Olbrich Gardens playing in the fountains, running around the rose garden, enjoying the "touch and feel" garden, and resting by the Thai pavilion; played a game or two with Anna while Kate napped; ate lunch outside at the picnic table; worked in the garden while the girls napped; then towed both girls in the bike trailer to meet Matt at our new favorite local park for a picnic dinner. While waiting for Matt, we walked out on the public pier to see some ducks, fishermen, and waterskiers, then played on the playground before we watched and heard a freight train (up close and personal) go past on the railroad tracks. All in all, a great day!
This past Sunday we drove out to Ft. Wayne to visit with my grandma and to see my aunt, cousins, and my cousin's kids. The girls did pretty well with all of the car time; Kate seems to be getting better at travelling, especially compared with how she was last summer.
It helped that we stopped at a couple of parks on the way out and back to give both girls some running around time to (as Anna likes to say) "get the wiggles out". Here's an old college favorite, Valplayso, in good ole' Valpo. We actually found this one without having to ask for directions!
While in Ft. Wayne, we visited with Grandma for awhile in the afternoon and then met up with Aunt Sandy, Leigh, Travis, Lucy, Gus, and Judson at the hotel before going out to eat.
The kids seemed to enjoy meeting each other, although Anna was already pretty tired and out of sorts by that point in the trip. Sweet Kate was just as social as she always is. We remembered at the last minute that we wanted to get pictures of all of them together, but it's REALLY hard to get 5 kids under the age of 5 to be in a picture together :)
After dinner Matt and I played around in the pool with the girls (we can't really go to a hotel and NOT play in a pool these days) before crashing. Our original plan was to take a leisurely drive back home and stop at the Northern Illinois Railway Museum, but we missed the exit and the girls happened to both be sleeping about that time anyway, so we just got home earlier than expected.
It was a nice break and mini-vacation for our family, but it's also good to be back. Anna tends to get ornery and emotional when she's low on sleep and, since she doesn't really nap in the car much anymore, she has been pretty out of sorts today. In fact, just after lunch she was leading Kate back and forth around the house (for what reason? I'm not really sure) and when Kate decided she wanted to do something else, Anna just completely melted down. Poor kid. It didn't help matters that Kate woke the whole family up at about 5:20 this morning. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon :)
Here's what we did on that nice day ... ate breakfast fast so we could get out of the house and actually do something before Kate's morning nap; spent about an hour and a half at Olbrich Gardens playing in the fountains, running around the rose garden, enjoying the "touch and feel" garden, and resting by the Thai pavilion; played a game or two with Anna while Kate napped; ate lunch outside at the picnic table; worked in the garden while the girls napped; then towed both girls in the bike trailer to meet Matt at our new favorite local park for a picnic dinner. While waiting for Matt, we walked out on the public pier to see some ducks, fishermen, and waterskiers, then played on the playground before we watched and heard a freight train (up close and personal) go past on the railroad tracks. All in all, a great day!
This past Sunday we drove out to Ft. Wayne to visit with my grandma and to see my aunt, cousins, and my cousin's kids. The girls did pretty well with all of the car time; Kate seems to be getting better at travelling, especially compared with how she was last summer.
It helped that we stopped at a couple of parks on the way out and back to give both girls some running around time to (as Anna likes to say) "get the wiggles out". Here's an old college favorite, Valplayso, in good ole' Valpo. We actually found this one without having to ask for directions!
While in Ft. Wayne, we visited with Grandma for awhile in the afternoon and then met up with Aunt Sandy, Leigh, Travis, Lucy, Gus, and Judson at the hotel before going out to eat.
The kids seemed to enjoy meeting each other, although Anna was already pretty tired and out of sorts by that point in the trip. Sweet Kate was just as social as she always is. We remembered at the last minute that we wanted to get pictures of all of them together, but it's REALLY hard to get 5 kids under the age of 5 to be in a picture together :)
After dinner Matt and I played around in the pool with the girls (we can't really go to a hotel and NOT play in a pool these days) before crashing. Our original plan was to take a leisurely drive back home and stop at the Northern Illinois Railway Museum, but we missed the exit and the girls happened to both be sleeping about that time anyway, so we just got home earlier than expected.
It was a nice break and mini-vacation for our family, but it's also good to be back. Anna tends to get ornery and emotional when she's low on sleep and, since she doesn't really nap in the car much anymore, she has been pretty out of sorts today. In fact, just after lunch she was leading Kate back and forth around the house (for what reason? I'm not really sure) and when Kate decided she wanted to do something else, Anna just completely melted down. Poor kid. It didn't help matters that Kate woke the whole family up at about 5:20 this morning. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon :)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Happy Birthday, Kate ... again :)
Kate celebrated her birthday with the family this past weekend. By "the family", we mean just about the entire family! My parents came on Saturday and were in Madison until Monday afternoon; Matt's parents, sisters, and their families came on Sunday afternoon and stayed until Monday evening/Tuesday morning. Although no one extra actually slept at our house, we had additional people around for most of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Whew! Busy, but lots of fun and lots of memories made.
Kate's official birthday party was on Sunday evening. She loved it. I think Anna's presence and leadership helped her enjoy things more than Anna probably did at her first birthday party. Kate was only a little shy when people first started arriving; she really warmed up to everyone when Bear (Grandpa and Grandma Mischnick's dog) arrived.
Monday morning we went to the local Memorial Day parade and, though it was LONG, the cousins all loved it. Poor Kate and baby Ruth were absolutely exhausted by the end, but both took power naps on the way to our house before eating and then taking real naps in the afternoon.
Everyone gathered at our house and we spent the rest of the day just enjoying one another's company. We couldn't have had a nicer time.
Poor Anna is still recovering; that kid is TIRED. No nap yesterday plus a very early morning today made for a pretty low key kid today; at least she wasn't very cranky.
Kate, on the other hand, has been a handful today. Over the course of the weekend, she finally became very confident with walking in the grass ... and she's fast. I'd turn around and she had walked over to the strawberry patch and was trying to pick and eat pink (not quite ripe) berries. Then she'd march over to the asparagus, pick the tops, and try to eat those raw. Then she was trying to make her way through the garden. This is all after I'd moved her out of the play area because she kept eating the mulch. So we tried the front yard, but then she'd march down the driveway straight towards the road. Hmm ... we've got some training to do with this kid.
Kate's official birthday party was on Sunday evening. She loved it. I think Anna's presence and leadership helped her enjoy things more than Anna probably did at her first birthday party. Kate was only a little shy when people first started arriving; she really warmed up to everyone when Bear (Grandpa and Grandma Mischnick's dog) arrived.
Monday morning we went to the local Memorial Day parade and, though it was LONG, the cousins all loved it. Poor Kate and baby Ruth were absolutely exhausted by the end, but both took power naps on the way to our house before eating and then taking real naps in the afternoon.
Everyone gathered at our house and we spent the rest of the day just enjoying one another's company. We couldn't have had a nicer time.
Poor Anna is still recovering; that kid is TIRED. No nap yesterday plus a very early morning today made for a pretty low key kid today; at least she wasn't very cranky.
Kate, on the other hand, has been a handful today. Over the course of the weekend, she finally became very confident with walking in the grass ... and she's fast. I'd turn around and she had walked over to the strawberry patch and was trying to pick and eat pink (not quite ripe) berries. Then she'd march over to the asparagus, pick the tops, and try to eat those raw. Then she was trying to make her way through the garden. This is all after I'd moved her out of the play area because she kept eating the mulch. So we tried the front yard, but then she'd march down the driveway straight towards the road. Hmm ... we've got some training to do with this kid.
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