80 Years Young

My maternal grandpa turned 80 years old on Saturday. The whole family (over 30 of us in total) traveled to my Aunt Kathy's house in Indiana to celebrate. We had a pig roast and were supposed to have a hot air balloon but the weather didn't cooperate. Seeing the actual pig roasting was a bit disturbing. But the result was delicious.The little kids (great grandkids) ran around the yard and played for hours, and my children were in heaven. It's so fun to see them interact with other kids. Grandpa Gene has nine great grandchildren in total. Maren enjoyed cornhole the most.I so enjoyed the "cousin time". As I've grown older I've come to realize just how unusual my family is, in that we are so close. We are a tight-knit group, and being around them feels like home to me. My heart ached for Meredith to be with us, especially since we were at the exact location of her wedding. She would have had the best time with us.Here are grandma and grandpa Warner with their kids plus spouses.No Warner get together in the fall is complete without a hayride. My grandparents used to have a farm - the same place my mom grew up - until a few years ago. Since the tractor, trailer, and hay are not available at their new house in town, we have to improvise on this fall tradition. Aunt Kathy borrowed a trailer from a friend, bought a few bales of hay, and we were pulled behind my cousin's SUV. Not your traditional hayride, but it worked.Another requirement for Warner hayrides is that we sing Christmas carols while we enjoy the ride. Don't ask why. Warner requested we sing Jingle Bells multiple times.Instead of a gift, the cousins all gave Grandpa a bag full of items that reminded us of him. It was so fun to tell our story of why we included the item as Grandpa pulled each one from the bag. My memories included he and Grandma visiting me in Europe when I was studying abroad, and the two horses they bought for me on their farm when I was younger. Oh, how I loved those horses.
Of course no birthday celebration is complete without cake. Grandpa, I'm so thankful for you and the man that you are. You have established a legacy of faith and character that will be passed on for generations. We love you.

Why?

It is officially upon us: the incessant, unrelenting, never-satisfied question from Warner: Why? In my mothering naivete I thought he might just skip the why phase, since he literally never asked why, not even once, until a few weeks ago. Now it seems as though he's making up for lost time.

The funniest part to me is the fact that he asks why to the strangest things. Not just in response to me asking him to do something. But to things like after me saying we're going to MOPS today, he'll ask why. How am I supposed to answer that?

Warner: Where's Daddy?
Me: Work.
Warner: Why?
Me: Because he has to work so we'll have money.
Warner: Why?
Me: Because it costs money to live.
Warner: Why?
Me: Because it costs money to have a house, food, and clothes.
Warner: and Maren?
Me: Yes, I suppose it costs money to have Maren, too.

Kevin's mom sent the kids these matching Halloween jammies this week. I love them. I relish any chance to put my children in matching clothes. I'm not sure why that is so appealing to me, but it is. Getting them in the jammies last night was easy. Trying to get a picture of them together in them was not as successful. And, she's done.

Food Battles

Maren is not what I would consider a compliant child. She is strong willed and although I'm confident this will serve her well later in life, it's not fun for her parents in the interim. Until a few weeks ago, Maren refused to eat anything other than Cheerios, veggie straws, animal crackers, or baby food from a jar. The minute something else would touch her lips, she would make a terrible face and spit out the offensive food. And this wasn't gross food, either. We're talking mac & cheese from a box, for heaven's sake. What child doesn't like that?

Well after a few Joan Crawford episodes on my part of giving her food to feed herself but not feeding her baby food if she didn't eat what I gave her, we're finally making some progress. Last week she fed herself cooked broccoli and strawberry chunks at dinner and I seriously thought I would start crying out of excitement. This reaction was to peanut butter on a piece of bread. That's more like it.
So then yesterday Kevin was eating a turkey and cheese sandwich that also had mustard on it. Spicy brown mustard to be exact. Maren grabbed the sandwich off his plate and shoved it in her mouth. Me, being happy that she was actually eating "real" food, forgot about the mustard temporarily.She wasn't so much a fan of the mustard.
Poor girl. Abusive parents, I tell you.Last night I found her sneaking up to some veggies and dip I had sitting on the counter to snack on.If it's her idea, it's a whole different story. Maybe reverse psychology will be the way to go with this girl.

Pictures!

Our camera was hiding beneath a bed in my parents' condo at the lake, probably thanks to Maren who likes to squirrel things away. Yesterday I found two legos and a stuffed toy in a basket in our entertainment center that holds photo albums. She's like a little bag lady, carrying things around with her and hiding them in odd places.

The bad news is I'm not happy with the pictures I've gotten since the camera has returned. Kevin says we need a digital SLR to capture action shots. I don't want to spend the money, but it might be worth it. I'm always missing the good moments.
We headed to Sawyer Point yesterday for a family park outing. Kevin took the kids there earlier in the day so I could clean the house without little people "helping" me, so this was their second trip in one day. The fact that they had been there just a few hours earlier didn't seem to negatively impact the trip.Since there were two parents watching kids this time, Maren was able to roam freely, which she enjoyed immensely.
Gone are the days of Warner smiling eagerly for the camera. My newest trick is to say "okay Warner, whatever you do, don't smile. Don't do it!". This is the reaction I get. A canned, fake smile. I guess it beats a scowl. Maren still smiles for me. I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.Today marked a big milestone for Warner: his first day of preschool. We've been talking about school for quite a while now. At first Warner thought he was going to Miami (as in Miami University, my alma matter) since that and UK are the only schools he hears Kevin and I talk about. He then thought he'd be riding a school bus, since he's seen those on the road and knows they take kids to school. Thankfully he wasn't disappointed when he arrived at Lakeside Presbyterian Church via minivan today instead of Miami University via a big yellow school bus.Kevin was off work today so he got to come with us to drop-off.Maren wanted to stay and play in Warner's classroom. I'm looking forward to the one-on-one time she and I will have while Warner's in school two days a week.

Wiggles

Ahh, the Wiggles. When our niece Abby started watching these overly-happy, slightly obnoxious Australians, I swore I'd never let my children watch their DVD's. That was, of course, before we had kids of our own.

After realizing that the Wiggles are magical for my kids (especially Warner) I gave in and let them watch their movies. So, when I noticed that the Wiggles were coming to town with their live show this month, I knew Warner would love it and we just had to go. My mom stayed home with Maren and Warner, Kevin, and I had an evening together. It was complete with dinner at Qdoba (Warner's choice) and ice cream after the show. Here are pictures from Kevin's phone (yes, our camera is still missing):
The show was actually very entertaining and we had decent seats. I think Kevin was a bit star-struck as we saw Anthony, Jeff, and Sam up close (Murray couldn't make it. Boo.) Warner had a blast and I'm so glad we went. Oh, the things we do for our kids.

If you're looking for pictures, this is not your lucky day.

Our camera is MIA and I'm really upset about it. I think it might be at the lake but I'm not sure. There is really no telling where it's hiding, but I hope it shows up soon. I don't want to buy another camera again. After Warner threw one in the toilet last year it would be ridiculous to buy yet another one.

You'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you my kids get cuter with each passing day. They became even cuter this morning after I hadn't seen them in 48 hours. That saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" - it's true. My mom and I took a trip to Gatlinburg for the weekend while Kevin watched the kids. It was two days of absolute bliss. I hadn't been away from the kids in, well, I don't think ever for Maren and it's been over a year since I left Warner. So, to say I was excited for a little "me" time is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, I did miss waking up to "Mommy. Mommy. I need chocolate milk" in a whispered voice from Warner, and the sound of Maren throwing things out of her crib. But, for two days it was nice to be footloose and fancy free.

Now it's back to reality. Actually today Warner has said some of the funniest things in a long time, so I feel the need to blog about them so I won't forget.

At dinner tonight I told Warner that if he ate all of his vegetables he could have a chocolate pudding cup (impulse buy at Kroger. It's so hard to pass up their 10 for $10 deals). He was beyond excited. So, midway through dinner he tells me "Mommy, you eat all your veggies then you get pudding!" Then he adds: "You'll like it."

Earlier today I picked a zucchini from our garden that was enormous. Kevin and I were laughing about it and he held it up to his leg - it was seriously the size of his leg from his knee to his foot. So at dinner tonight Warner holds up one of his green beans and says "this BIG bean geen (that's how he pronounces green bean). Big as me leg!" As he holds it up to his leg.

So he has also caught on to me using the phrase "oh my goodness". Evidently I use it a lot, because as I was unloading groceries this afternoon Warner looks in one of the bags and says "Oh my goodness Mommy you got orange juice". He wasn't even very excited about it, he used a very matter-of-fact tone, which for me made the "oh my goodness" part even funnier.

Cross your fingers that I find our camera soon so I can post pictures along with my stories and so you can see for yourself how cute my kids are.

12 Month Stats

Maren had her 12 month check-up with the pediatrician today. She is 22 pounds and 30 inches long, which puts her in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. We skipped shots today because she's on an antibiotic for an ear infection and an oral steroid for another asthma flare. So, we get to go back to the doctor in two weeks for the immunizations. Good thing their office is close to our house.

We visited the ER again on Saturday evening because Maren was having an asthma attack that didn't respond to the medicines we have at home. As much as I appreciate the quality health care we have available to us, I am really not enjoying the amount of time (not to mention money) we're spending with doctors lately. We are back to two breathing treatments a day for Maren and look to be headed toward ear tubes as well. My poor baby girl. She has been such a trooper through all of this though. The nurses in the ER kept commenting on how happy and social she was, despite not being able to breathe.

Here are some of her 12 month pictures. As you can see, she was not very interested in posing for the camera. In fact, these are from round two at Portrait Innovations. You can imagine how fun the first visit was.This girl is all personality. I love it.

Hot.

It's hot here. Sweltering, humid, sticky ... hot. This is the time of year that I am tired of summer and long for all things fall. In an attempt to keep the kids cool without lugging the kids/sunscreen/pool toys/drinks/snacks/towels to our neighborhood pool (only to stay 45 minutes - it gets to be very tiring), I set up our kiddie pool once again. This time Warner ditched the baby slide for the bigger swingset slide.
I had a hard time getting good action shots.
He would zoom down the slide at warp speed and land in the pool, sending about a gallon of water onto the grass. Then he'd jump out of the pool and run to the ladder of the swingset while shouting "again!".
Maren enjoyed watching Warner, working on her walking, and swinging. This was the second day of our swingset/pool combination and I opted Maren out of the pool part that day. We had too many near misses of Warner crashing into her as he landed in the pool off of the slide.She was just as happy to ditch the pool. Maren enjoys swinging SO much. Each time I put her in the swing she kicks her legs and squeals in delight.Warner has graduated to a big boy swing but we have a long way to go on the pumping the legs thing. So, as I push him I listen to him repeat "more high mama, more high!" (meaning please push me higher) and I repeat "Warner, say push me higher please". How many times will I have to remind my children to say please and thank you?
I realize summer will be over before we know it, so I'm trying to enjoy these days. Even if they are miserably hot.

Happy birthday, Maren!

Maren turned one last Thursday and we celebrated with family on Sunday. I did a cupcake theme, complete with a cupcake shirt for Maren (and a tutu, because what one year old girl doesn't need a tutu for her first birthday party?), cupcake napkins and plates, and cupcakes to eat. I made the cupcake stand myself with cardboard, food cans, wrapping paper, and ribbon:Martha Stewart would be proud. Maren enjoyed her party and unwrapping presents (with some help).I had big expectations for Maren's first taste of cake and icing, but I'm afraid she might not end up being a sweets girl (gasp!).
She touched the cupcake, scooped up a bit of icing on her fingers, and slowly took a taste. Then she started offering it to other people.
When it was all said and done I think the balloons tied to her highchair were a bigger hit than the cupcake. She started walking this weekend too, taking quite a few steps and even some turns. She was happy to show off this new skill at her party. I can't believe my baby is one. Happy birthday, sweet girl.