Mommy's trip to Denver

This past weekend I flew out to Denver to visit my brother, Adam, while I was still willing and able to travel. I had kind of figured that if I wanted to actually see him where he lived (as opposed to him always coming out to Wisconsin), it was either now, or in something like three years ... so we opted for now :)


After a rough flight out there on Friday we had a great time on Saturday and Sunday. (Silly me forgot how much water I should have been drinking ... and how often I should have been eating ... and the whole idea of altitude sickness ... and then on top of all that we had terrible turbulance for the last hour or so of the flight). On Saturday we visited Red Rock Outdoor Amphitheater, the HUGE REI store right around the corner from Adam's apartment, and the downtown Denver outdoor mall before I succumbed to the need for a rest. Then after a tasty dinner of grilled steak and veggies (and a good night's sleep on Saturday), we headed up to the mountains on Sunday.


We visited Loveland Pass, Keystone ski resort, and Breckenridge (only the town, not the ski area) before we headed back to Denver so I could catch my flight. What great scenery and good company! I must say, however, that we felt rather conspicuous at Keystone where we were probably two of a very few number at the top of the mountain who didn't have ski/snowboarding gear on ... and I'm pretty sure I was the ONLY one who was 6 months pregnant!

Overall, it was a great trip (and Matt and Anna did very well on their own at home, too!), but I was definitely grateful to be back home :) I'm also pretty sure that this was the latest that I could have made a trip such as this. Flying with a big, pregnant belly isn't the most fun :)

This morning Anna was pretty happy (and relieved, I think) to see that Mommy was home. We had breakfast and then she got to open up some special gifts that I brought back. Adam picked out this great frog puppet that "ribbits" three nursery rhyme songs. Anna LOVES it! Of course, it's a soft stuffed animal, a puppet, AND it makes sounds ... what toddler wouldn't love it :)


Finally, I think, we're done with our big traveling before baby #2 comes. Matt and I are both really looking forward to a few months of being home-bodies :)

A new car?!?!

Well, actually a new mini-van ... we realized not too long ago that two car seats don't comfortably fit in the back of our little Honda Civic while still allowing Matt and I the leg room we need so we joined the ranks of other multiple child families and purchased a mini-van. It's still a little weird driving it around, but we really like our Kia Sedona and know that it was definitely a good purchase :) Now we just have to work on selling that '96 Grand Am that's been in the Colba/Mischnick families for 13 years ... yikes!


In the midst of (or probably because of) all the traveling and car shopping that has happened in the past few weeks, we've come down with pretty nasty colds here in our house. Anna and Matt have been working on sore throats, runny noses, and coughs for almost two weeks while I just started with the sore throat last week. We tried to lay low last week, but still haven't quite managed to kick things yet. Matt and Anna are definitely on the mend, and my cold doesn't seem to be as severe as what they had ... yet!

One of the few things we actually did last week was head over to Milwaukee to visit with Gretchen and Josh for our monthly play-date. I rationalized the trip with Anna's cold because it meant that she'd be spending a good 3 hours in the car resting during the day and then probably do nothing different at Josh's house that she would have done had we stayed home :) Anyway, it was fun and the kids love to see one another and play together. The kids certainly try to talk to each other now, but their pronunciations are a bit different from one another and so we still end up having to translate for them. Either way, I think Anna appreciated seeing her "valentine" :) (Josh made her a card ... with Gretchen's help.)


Hopefully we'll all finally kick this cold and be able to enjoy more of our weekly activities. Music class this morning was definitely a hit, but we'll see how we're doing tomorrow before we head to church for play group.

Yes and No

The biggest change in our family dymanics in the past few weeks has been because of Anna's use of the words "yes" and "no". It started a couple weeks ago with her using a very sweet version of "nnooo", mainly if she was playing and something didn't fit right or if she was responding to a general question. The following week her favorite word was "yah", which she would use to respond to almost any question, whether or not the answer was really yes. (FYI ... Anna's been communicating her yes and no to us for a few months by various head nods and other sounds, but this is the first time with the real words.)

In the past few days, "no" has become the favorite, in a very forceful way. We've seen the fiercely independent toddler emerge once again in our home. Now if Anna doesn't want to wear a certain shirt or coat, or have her face wiped after a meal, or put clothes on after a bath, or stop playing a game, etc., etc. we hear "no, no, NO!". Of course we know this is a stage like any other, but Matt and I were commenting this weekend that it seems like we've hit this new stage without any transition time :) Oh, well. Life goes on.

Of course, Anna's language is not all about yes and no right now. If we thought she was having a language explosion a month ago, I'm not quite sure what we'd call this one. Anna's adding several words to her vocabulary each day now, though she doesn't always use the same ones from day to day. She's even started initiating two word "sentences" like "Daddy caw" (Daddy's car), "no fit" (for shapes that don't fit in a shape sorter), "moh peas" (more please), "Mommy shoe" (for Mommy's shoes, boots, or slippers), and a whole host of other combinations. It's great to be able to communicate more freely about life with her.

For example, this morning we went to the grocery store before music class whereas for weeks we would make our weekly trip to the store right after music class. I tried to explain this change on our way, but when we pulled in the parking lot of Woodman's, here was our exchange.

Anna: "no, no, no"
Me: "No, what? What's the matter?"
Anna: "cass"
Me: "Did you think we were going to music class?"
Anna: (pause) "yah"
Me: "We're going to the grocery store first, then music class today. Okay?"
Anna: (pause) "yah"

And life went on.



Besides talking up a storm, Anna loves to play games these days, especially Matt's fast paced ones. The other day Anna thought it would be fun to climb into an empty diaper box which was hilarious to watch in itself. Gross motor skills are not this child's strongest point; I think the climbing in was literally head first.


Matt thought it'd be a good idea to turn the box into a race car and push Anna around the house as fast as he could making fast car noises. Of course Anna loved the experience, until they had to stop because they were tearing up the box on thresholds. So ... Matt made some modifications ... with Anna's help ... and off they were again :)


On a final, random note, we did our taxes on Saturday and I had the odd realization that the 2008 tax year was the first year since 1994 (I'm pretty sure that's when I first started working at the Ozark House ...) for which I did not receive a W-2 form. Weird, huh?

What a weekend/vacation!

We just returned last night from a whirlwind trip of visiting as many people and places we could between here and Ft. Wayne, IN. It all started with leaving on Friday morning right after my doctor's appt. (all is well!) and stopping at at the new Union at Valparaiso University for a pit stop/stretch break on our way to Ft. Wayne. What a great facility!

We stayed with Matt's sister (Michal), her husband (Sam), and boys (Jonah and Seth) who will only be in Ft. Wayne for a few more months until Sam graduates from seminary.

On Saturday morning, we trekked up to Marshall, MI, to meet one of my college friends, Lauren, (and her husband and daughter) for lunch. It was really hard to believe we hadn't seen each other since Lauren got married three years ago! Despite neither of us feeling well (baby Keira had a cold and rough night while I also had a rough night due to a headache), we really enjoyed getting to see each other and meet one another's daughters :)

Sunday we attended church with the Needhams and had a delicious brunch at the seminary. By this point, Anna had not been eating too much for a few days straight and proceeded to gobble down two bowls of cheerios. Crazy kid! After naps we headed outdoors to play in the relative warmth ... upper 30s!

Here's a snapshot of the Needhams and our attempted snowman. By the time we got the middle snowball where we wanted, it was too heavy to lift. So we decided that the snowman is either sleeping, or dead :)

Anna enjoyed watching everyone playing in the snow, but she was certainly the first to be ready to go inside. Being the shortest, she had the most difficulty tromping around in the wet snow; I think she also decided that this snow didn't taste very good :)

We were able to watch most of the SuperBowl and it's commercials on Sunday night. In fact, all of the kids were asleep by half time so we really enjoyed watching the exciting last half.

By Monday morning, Matt had read this truck book with Seth about 2 dozen times. What patience!

After leaving the Needham's house on Monday morning, we spent some time with my Grandma Grossman who also lives in Ft. Wayne. We had a nice visit and she got to hear Anna say "beep, beep" to every smoke detector and fire alarm she saw, plus "cheep, cheep" (or something like that) to the birds in the Assembly hall, and lots of "hi" and "bye". Nothing too creative this time :)

On the way home, we made an unplanned stop at the Museum of Science and Industry. Too bad we couldn't have spent more time there, but we all enjoyed the brief visit, especially the baby chicks, the train layout, and the "idea factory".


Notice in the combine picture you can start to actually see where Anna's sister is making Mommy's tummy stick out :)

By last night, we were all really glad to be home. Anna didn't sleep from Chicago to Madison at all, and then was very wired when we finally pulled in the driveway. I'm guessing it's going to take us at least a few days to get back on track (she had a rough night last night and a tough time getting settled for a nap today), but the whole adventure was definitely worth it!

Up north ...

What a nice weekend we had up north with Grandpa and Grandma Mischnick! Everything was wonderful ... except not being able to start our car on Sunday when we were ready to go. Something about those negative temperatures and our Honda just don't agree; this was the second year in a row we had issues with leaving the grandparents' house because of the stubborn, cold car.



Anyway, Matt's parents have a "course" set up in their basement for both wagon rides and plamsa car trips (very cool toy!). Anna seemed to prefer the wagon rides, especially if Matt was pulling, or pushing, her along as fast as he dared.



Matt and I both prefered playing with the plasma car, and trying to figure out how it worked. Anna seemed to get the idea of how to move it (just wiggle the steering wheel back and forth), but definitely didn't go as fast as we did.



Grandma and Grandpa's house also comes equiped with a train table set-up (imagine that ... with two grandparents who love trains themselves and four grandsons who also adore trains). Anna prefered making "train wrecks" to actually playing with the trains :)


Both of Anna's grandmothers absolutely adore books so it's always a pleasure for her, and us, to have a new supply of books to enjoy when we visit them. Anything with animals, songs, or catchy rhymes quickly gets asked for again and again :)

Finally, Matt's mom found a great train cake pan that she has been using to make cake whenever any of the grandchildren visit; we were excited to have a tasty train shaped cake on Saturday night after dinner.



It didn't take Anna long to realize how good it was ... and how easily it fit into a wide open mouth.



Overall, it was a great trip, even if our departure was a bit stressful. Maybe next year we'll have to have a different plan if temperatures aren't expected to hit zero degrees when we're there ...

Busy week!

Just wanted to give a quick update on our busy week and share some pictures of Anna and Josh. Besides music class and Bible Study, this week also included a visit from Gretchen and Josh on Tuesday and a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum with Emily, Benjamin, and Mary on Wednesday. Plus, we're leaving tomorrow afternoon for Land O' Lakes to visit the Mischnicks, Sr. Like I said ... busy week.


Anyway, on Tuesday Josh and Anna totally hit it off. We're pretty sure they must remember each other, even if they don't see one another more than once a month, because it sure doesn't take them any time to warm up to one another and get playing. Besides that, Josh was asking to see "Ahh-eee" the whole way here from Milwaukee.

About half way through the day, Josh and Anna initiated playing hide-and-seek around the house, with Josh doing most of the hiding. Anna still thinks it's hiding to put her head down between her legs so she can't see you. They also were comfortable giving hugs all around (to each other and with both Gretchen and me), but usually when given the suggestion.

We did have to keep an eye on the two of them before lunch, though, because Josh kept wanting to close the door of the room where they were playing together. No boys in Anna's room with the door closed yet ... PLEASE!

In the end, we decided we're very sad that the Stanfords live an hour and a half away now instead of just 15 minutes :(

The Children's Museum on Wednesday was great ... until about three daycare groups showed up at the same time. Then it took all of Mary's and my attention to simply keep an eye on where Anna, Emily, and Benjamin were ... could you imagine trying to keep track of a group of 5-7 preschoolers on a field trip?!?! I think in the future we may take advantage of the members-only days on Mondays when outside groups aren't allowed ... a little easier for me and a lot more relaxing of a time for Anna, too. Poor kid can get overwhelmed pretty easily by big groups like that.

Having a garden pays off in January :)

I like to play this game at our meals where I point to different parts and say "that's from our garden and that's from our garden and that's from our garden", always seeing how many things grew in our yard. It's a lot of fun to be able to come up with a meal by just going to our "grocery story" in the basement. Our menus include lots of spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, salsa, and frozen veggies. Matt and I joke sometimes about how if anyone were to look at our grocery receipts, they'd wonder why we didn't eat many fruits, vegetables, or meat (the side of beef we got last summer also lasts a LONG time).

Having food on hand definitely paid off last week when we really couldn't (or shouldn't) make quick trips to the store. We were in the midst of the deep freeze covering most of the Midwest from Wednesday through Saturday morning. Schools were closed on Thursday and Friday due to the -30 (or greater) degree wind chills.

I tried to get out a bit on Wednesday with Anna because I knew we'd be cooped up the rest of the week, but it must not have been enough. Thursday was a LONG day for the two of us; we didn't leave the house once. Of course, it didn't really get to 0 degrees either.

Friday morning I decided that we would just have to brave the cold and get out of the house to preserve our (especially my) sanity. After calling around to some friends, we planned to meet Sadie and her dad, Peter, at the Madison Children's Museum for a bit in the morning. So I got Anna bundled in a fleece full body suit with warm boots, hat, and gloves. Then I slathered her face with vaseline before we left the car to make the 3-4 block walk to the museum. Well, as we got into the entry there was a sign that says the museum is closed whenever the Madison schools are closed ... hmmm ... change of plans ... new destination being the downtown Madison libary. We ended up walking another 3-4 blocks to the main Madison library. When we finally made it in the building and upstairs to the children's section, I was feeling like a terrible mother who had been out in subzero temperatures for 10+ minutes with a toddler whose face was a very bright red!

It all turned out fine, though, and by the time Sadie and Peter arrived about 10 minutes later, Anna's face was no longer cold and she was having the time of her life in a place with lots of toys and books (that wasn't home). Definitely worth it for all of us to get out of the house for the morning!

On a different note, Matt is learning that when Anna is having a lot of fun with him, it's hard to get her to stop whatever the activity is, even if it's very tiring for Matt. He's had to deal with ending piggy-back rides, tractor rides, games of chase, etc. before Anna's quite ready simply because he's too tired to continue or it really strains some part of his body :)

Here's one of the games they were playing the other night. Anna put the monkey around her neck and plopped down into the toy wheelbarrow while Matt pushed her around and around the basement. Not the most comfortable for Matt, but whenever he tried to stop Anna would shake her head furiously and say "sit, sit" then "daddee!" while pointing at the wheelbarrow.