Family Getaway!

Anna didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday so we decided to do a mini-vacation and give our girls a much needed break from home.  Since Ethan's been born, we've done a lot of things in and around Madison, but nothing too extravagant for the sake of an infant.  We thought it was about time to do something more.

Sunday after church we headed up to the Wisconsin Dells to spend the night at Mt. Olympus (this was the same place we went last year).  We met my mom up there so we could have some help with the kiddos, since neither girl is big enough to do waterslides on their own yet, and Ethan was going to need someone else with him anyway.  We had a great time.

The girls did fabulously; it's amazing the difference a year can make!  They both jumped right in (literally) to the different water activities, both the kiddie waterslides as well as the big ones that they went down with an adult on a raft.  Anna loved the tallest waterslide whereas Kate would say "Can we do it AGAIN?" every time she made it down the medium slide.  They both enjoyed the lazy river, as did Mom and Dad after climbing those stairs over and over again.

The girls stayed with my mom in a room next door to Matt and me and Ethan.  These sleeping arrangements worked out great, since no one else had their sleep disrupted by sweet Ethan.

Speaking of Ethan, he was a little overwhelmed by the sensory overload of the indoor waterpark and so after the first try of us all being in the waterpark together, he had some quality time with Grandma in the hotel room while the rest of us played.

This little getaway gave us a nice break from the wintery weather here in Wisconsin.

Wishful Thinking

I suppose it was wishful thinking to think that Kate's cold wouldn't spread, or that I would continue my run of not getting sick this winter.  Alas, Kate, Ethan, and I appear to be trading viruses back and forth these days.  Thankfully, none of them are too bad, and certainly not as bad as the one that went through the kids in January, but it's a pain nonetheless.

I suppose it is also wishful thinking to hope that spring is just around the corner.  This winter seems to be lasting forever.  The few days that I've had a chance to get outdoors with one or both girls (or by myself!) have been great and I've felt much better for the rest of the day because of it.  However, it's just been SO cold that I don't feel comfortable taking Ethan outside for more than the walk to the garage to get in the van.  I guess Jimmy the Groundhog was wrong this year.  We'll just have to keep trying to enjoy the cold wintery weather for awhile yet

Valentine's Day was nice here for us.  We all exchanged cards in the morning and had heart pizzas for dinner and pumpkin cake (frosted with pink cream cheese frosting) for dessert.  Anna was excited to open up all of her valentines from school and she did a nice job of sharing some of the treats with Kate.

Our weekend was pretty low-key.  We were able to do a bit of cleaning on Saturday, although you can't really tell now :)

I guess for the most part we're just plugging along.  I need to do a better job of jotting down the silly moments and sayings over the course of the week so that I can remember to write them down here.  I'm sure we had some this past week, but I can't think of them right now.  Oh, well.  Maybe it's my cold, or the cold outside.

At least two of our three children are happy and smiling most days (Kate's the one who's been giving us grief lately).  Often we even get all three kiddos in cheerful moods :)

Day by day

I feel like the longer my sleep deprivation continues, the worse my memory and coping skills become.  Oh, well.  I know it won't last forever, but knowing that doesn't necessarily make today any easier.

At least there are many moments in our life that make us smile and laugh.

For example, the other night after dinner there was a disagreement about dessert.  I don't remember all of the details, but it had something to do with Anna wanting a certain piece of candy which belonged to Kate and then Anna started melting down when she couldn't have it.  Kate piped up, quite sweetly I might add, with "Well, if you keep crying then you may not get any candy."  Matt and I, trying very hard not to laugh, told Kate that she wasn't the parent and so those kinds of decisions weren't up to her.  To which she responded "I was just giving you guys an idea."

Anna has been diligently making her valentines for the students in her class.  However, she took a break from those last week and made some for all members of our family.  She'd sneak out of her room right at 6, and spend awhile in the kitchen making her cards and then hide them somewhere until Valentine's Day.  I'm looking forward to seeing what she made :)

In the midst of creating as much laundry as any little baby can, Ethan is often full of smiles and the start of giggles in the morning.  You may think I'm joking about his laundry needs, but his spitting up rivals any that the girls ever did and he probably generates more dirty laundry each day than anyone else in the family.

The girls and I had dentist appointments yesterday after school so I bravely approached the dentist office with all three kids.  The "plan" had been for Ethan to sleep through the whole affair, but he appears to have reached the stage at which new places are more exciting than sleep.  Oh, well.  Our family got several compliments for how well behaved the kids were, but I suppose that's just a perk of not watching much TV in our house.  Each of the hygienist's spaces are equipped with a TV so the girls' eyes were glued to the PBS station.  Ethan, surprisingly, was content to just hang out in his car seat and take everything in.  Of course, as soon as we got in the car, both girls melted down about something and were pretty crabby the whole ride home.

Last Thursday Bible Study was cancelled due to freezing rain and more snow, so Kate and I had some special glamor time in the morning.  She got braids, and painted fingernails and toenails at the Mommy Salon.

Unfortunately, Kate has a cold again.  We will continue to hope that no one else in the family catches this one, especially sweet Ethan.

Pretending

First of all, Ethan had his 2 month check-up last Thursday.  Ethan, like his sisters, is long and lean and with a big head.  He weighed 12 lb. 11 oz. (53%), was 23.5 inches (65%), and had a head circumference registering at the 84%.  He's meeting all of his milestones and even checked out clear in his ears and lungs after his first cold.

He also got his first round of immunizations.  The poor kid (and mom and dad) had a rough evening/night on Thursday.  Ethan was pretty sore and miserable, but perked up again on Friday.

Now for a glimpse into our lives.  Kate, moreso than Anna, is fully immersed in an imaginative stage of life.  For the past year or so, she will latch onto a particular story for a few months and pretend it again and again, with her own variations.  She will also insist on being called a certain character's name and give every member of the family a name from the story as well.  Anna, of course, plays along and will often direct which pretend story they will be playing.

Anyway, the current stories in our home are The Lion King, The Lion King 2, Aladdin, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and The Little House on the Prairie.  So Kate's names vary from Kiara to Jasmine to Cinderella to Ariel to Laura.  After Matt and Anna leave in the morning she'll often announce to me "I'm Cinderella.  Who do you want to be?" or "Hi, Ma!"  In reliving a lot of the "classic" Disney fairytales, I've come to realize that there are not a lot of positive adult women, so I choose the fairy godmother over the evil stepmother :)

Since the snow day last week we've had more fresh snow every few days and some slightly warmer temperatures so we've been able to play outdoors a little bit.  It's nice that I can even send Anna and Kate out to play on their own after school some days and be able to stay inside with Ethan.

I love playing outside with them, but when I'm on my own with all three kiddos I can't do it very often.

With Matt home over the weekend, though, the girls and I got to have a couple of Mommy-Daughter dates.  First, we spent Saturday morning doing Kate's make-up music class and then running a few errands.  Then on Sunday afternoon I took the girls swimming for the first time since Ethan was born.  We had lots of fun :)

Perhaps the weekend really tired Kate out because on Monday while I was feeding Ethan, she crawled into bed and fell asleep.  This kid has not taken a nap willingly in her bed in at least a year!  Then she slept in until almost 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning!  We were gearing up for another round of sicknesses, but other than a little bit of congestion and a slight sore throat, Kate seems just fine.  Maybe she just slept this virus off and didn't pass it on to anyone ... let's hope so!  Here's a shot of our sleeping beauty.  (I needed to take a picture to document this rare event.)

Life continues

On this Wednesday afternoon I'm sitting inside while Anna and Kate play outside in the snow with a neighbor and while Ethan is sleeping.  These "alone" moments don't come very often nowadays, especially this time of the day!  So dinner (a big batch of chili - yum!) is on the stove, I've done as much picking up as I'll do without the girls to help, I don't care about laundry right now, and it's time to do a quick update here on this blog.

This past week Ethan, and the rest of us, survived his first cold.  He caught whatever Kate had at the same time that Anna caught it.  Poor guy had lots of snot and coughs and just didn't know what to do with himself.  Matt and I had a few rough nights because of Ethan's cold, but we've decided that we can function on much less sleep than we ever thought we could :)  Anna is almost 100%, with only some coughs and congestion right away in the morning; Ethan seems to be about 100% as well, with only some lingering coughs.  Hooray!  Now let's hope that he starts sleeping better again!

Poor guy made it almost two months without his first cold.  Oh well.  Happy two month birthday anyway, Ethan!

Last weekend I was able to have two (that's right, TWO!) extended periods of mommy-time.  Matt is awesome!  Saturday morning I headed to the outlet mall to take advantage of the end of the season sales and pick up some clothes for Anna for next fall ... and I went ALL BY MYSELF.  I think that's the longest I've spent alone since Ethan was born.  It was fun :)  Then on Sunday, I was able to go out to eat for lunch with some friends to celebrate Melissa's graduation from the education program at UW.  Ethan came along for this one, but slept for most of the time.  Again, it was nice to have some normal girl time.

This week has started off pretty crazy in terms of our Wisconsin weather.  Monday and Tuesday we had record high temperatures, rain, and even thunderstorms.  Today school was cancelled because of a winter storm.  Tomorrow and Friday the wind chill is predicted to be -20 or lower.

Our snow day today has been a lot of fun.  The girls played, then painted, then I was able to play outside with them for about an hour while Ethan slept, then we had lunch, played some more, and finished with a playdate inside and then outside with the neighbors.  I think the girls, Kate especially, will be pretty tired tonight :)

Before the snow came last night, and while it was raining, the girls got out some excess energy by jumping into the pillow pile.  They love this kind of activity.

Ethan loves to watch, along with the girls' babies.

 

Well, the girls came in, had a snack, and are now watching Martha Speaks (Kate's favorite show these days) downstairs while I finish this up.  I'm going to go finish watching with them :)

Long weekend

Last week was the end of the semester for Anna's school district so the elementary age kids didn't have school on Friday or then again on Monday.  Miss Anna was ready to have a few unstructured days here at home :)

Thursday night Anna came up with the idea to have a theme day on Friday; her teacher has had "Super Spartan Fridays" off and on throughout the year and I think this gave Anna the idea.  She came up with a zoo theme and then she and I planned out a handful of activities that she, Kate, and I could do together on Friday.  Actually going to the zoo was not included on this list; it's a little cold for an infant to have his first zoo visit.

So Friday we had animal pancakes, made animal masks, made a zoo with animals and blocks, and wrote/illustrated a book about the zoo.  It's always nice to have a focus for these days when we'll be home all day, especially for Anna.

Saturday we took a long overdue trip down to see Miriam, Chris, and their kids (Mark-8, Nate-6, and Claire-1) down in Hinckley, IL.  They moved there last summer and we just hadn't been able to make the drive with all of my pregnancy and traveling issues.  The kids all did wonderfully, even though Kate was on day three of a pretty nasty cold.  Anna and Kate were able to watch Aladdin on the way there; Anna had earned this privilege by successfully choosing to not suck her thumb at night since the first of the year.  She had stopped using her thumb for sleeping last summer, but with school starting, changing sleeping arrangements, and then adjusting to Ethan, she slipped back into that habit.  Now, hopefully, she's done for good.

Here's a few good photos of the trip.

 
Sunday we ended up not staying for Sunday School because Kate was still battling her cold.  Then Monday Anna had off of school again.  By this morning, she was definitely ready to go back.  Here's hoping it was a good day!

Today, Kate, Ethan, and I did a visit to the preschool Anna attended last year for Kate to get refreshed with the preschool experience.  We'll have to see how things work out for Miss Kate.  This year our school district started a four-year-old kindergarten program, but CLM won't have any openings in their 4K program for next year, but they also have a preK class that's separate from 4K.  There's only one other 4K site in our district, so we'll have to see how things go after the informational meeting in a few weeks and I get a chance to ask questions.

Here's a few more pictures of Ethan's smiles.  They are really fun when they come, but he's had a couple of pretty crabby days recently.

 

We think he may have caught a bit of Kate's cold.  Thankfully he hasn't yet had a full-blown sickness, and even this just seems to be mild.  However, any kind of congestion when you're a baby is no fun!

Snapshot stories

Here's a few stories that I want to have a record of for later in life :)

Last week Anna and Kate decided to "play some tricks" on us in the mornings.  One morning Kate climbed into Anna's bed with her and they waited in bed giggling and singing until one of us came in to wake them up.  The next day they did the same thing, but this time started getting their pj's off.  When Matt went in to get them, I heard Kate say "I'm naked!" and Anna shout "I'm topless!"  The next day, Kate again crawled into bed with Anna and then they switched pajamas.  It was nice to wake up to a couple of smiling, happy girls for a few days :)

Kate has really come into her own at different places since Ethan has been born.  Instead of staying close to be, being shy, and refusing to talk to Miss Debbie at music class, or the librarian at story time, she now proudly stands in front of her music class and tells about her assignment, or introduces Ethan to the rest of the kids at story time.  She also really, really enjoys her Sunday School class, repeating the story almost word for word to me after I come to pick her up.

Part of Kate's assignment for music class this past week was to draw an "outdoor scene".  On Friday, she spent about 40 minutes talking her way through this picture.  The amount of detail she described was amazing!  Some of the details she shared with me included black pupils in her eyes and then blue eyes; five fingers on each hand, except that on one hand she's wiggling her fingers so you can only see four of the fingers; the green and yellow "G" on her black and blue dress; and the trunk, branches, and leaves of the tree.  Kate never ceases to amaze us.

This past Sunday at church, Matt thought he felt something in his shirt sleeve.  Thinking it was a dryer sheet, he reached in only to discover a pair of Kate's underwear stuck in there.  Oops!  The best part about the story was that he was lay minister at the early service that day, and didn't notice the underwear until about halfway through the late service!

Last week one afternoon the girls decided that they wanted to give each other ice cream cones.  So we found a handful of coloring pictures online, they got one another's orders, colored the ice cream appropriately, and then stuck them in the freezer so they didn't melt.  Then Anna wanted to do the same thing with other food, thinking that they would play "restaurant".  But first they needed a name for their restaurant.  They came up with "Dzert Ferst" (Dessert First), but only had enough time to make the sign and name tags for each other before we were going to have our real dinner.

Yesterday Kate fell asleep in the van on the way to pick Anna up from school (while Ethan was screaming because he spit out his pacifier).  She very, very rarely sleeps during the day so this was pretty surprising.  Anyway, she kept sleeping even after we got her home and I carried her in, took off her coat, boots, and hat, and put her in bed.  When we were finally able to wake her up about an hour later, she ended up with tons of energy that needed to be used up before bedtime.  So we told her to jump on the trampoline 100 times.  She started jumping and counted correctly until she got to 39, then she asked me what came next.  I directed her to Anna.  Here's their approximate conversation.

Kate: Anna!  What comes after 39?
Anna: Well, Kate, what comes after 3?
Kate: Umm ... (thinking ... she really knows that one)
Anna: What will you be on May 16?
Kate: 4!
Anna: So what comes after 30?
Kate: 40?
Anna: That's right!

Kate continued jumping and counting with Anna helping her in a similar way when she got to the next set of 10s.  Then she started over and jumped to 100 a few more times.

Here's a couple of pictures (finally!) of Ethan smiling!  Those smiles are coming more and more often these days.  He loves to smile and coo at his sisters, and Matt and I get our fair share of smiles, too.

Plus, this seven week old baby figured out how to roll from his tummy to his back yesterday.  He did it several times, but then got a bit tired.  He did it again today several times.  We'll see if this skill sticks since he definitely uses the weight/size of his head to get the rest of his body moving over.  I don't know that I want to have an early mover as our third child ...