It's Monday

Eve got tooth #3 last Friday. Upper-front-left. She's been a cling-on, I'm guessing that's why. I'm assuming that she's working on #4. And she's already figured out how to grind her teeth, which happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves :) Right behind Styrofoam, the white stuff on oranges and people who don't swing their arms when they walk.

We bought a portable dishwasher on Saturday. I know. Finally, huh?? I just can't take it anymore. The final push came when Jo decided that she'd like to "help." Every time we turn the faucet on, she's grabbing a chair and pushing it over to "help." I'd estimate that it now takes twice as long to do dishes when you have "help." You may ask why we went the portable route, and I may tell you that's because we can't afford to lose any cupboard space by having a regular dishwasher installed. And we're lazy. And cheap. And didn't want the fuss of figuring out the logistics of where it would go and how we'd replace the lost storage space. I'm sure having the portable dishwasher taking up space is going to be a gigantic pain in the butt... but I'm willing to take that chance. Oh - we don't have it yet - supposedly, it's being delivered today. I'll let you know how it all went after that first load of dishes is unloaded and happily put away.

Here are some pictures to start your week...

I Had Me A Word

So I marched myself on over to Old Crusty's house last night.

We got home and Pat got the mail. I was busy getting my coat off and such, and he came into the kitchen with something in his hand and said, "here's something you might be upset about."

Never a good way to open up a conversation.

As he was sorting through the mail, he saw a blank envelope, and he knew it couldn't be good. Sure enough, she did it again. This time it was short and sweet. Something to the effect of "Take down that birch tree. I'd hate to have to sue you for damages."

Give me a flippin' break. Does she really thing that these notes are going to suddenly open up our eyes (and bank account) and we're going to have an "ah-ha" moment and say "OH! She's RIGHT!! We'd better have that tree taken down IMMEDIATELY!!"

Methinks not.

If anything, her ineffectual pieces of annoying correspondence are steeling our reserves against EVER doing ANYTHING with the tree, no matter what shape it deteriorates into or what threat it poses to our own home, not to mention hers. Argh. I'm so annoyed.

So, anyway, I slipped the coat back on and headed out the front door. After talking with her, I really think maybe she's losing it. She kept kind of laughing - which I found somewhat disconcerting. I was pretty composed, surprisingly, considering that my blood was boiling, and simply asked her to stop. I told her that we were not concerned with the tree, and had no plans to remove it any time in the near future, and that if she wished to sit and obsess about it, then that was her business, and to please leave us out of it. And furthermore, we had a tree specialist look at it, and he told us that it posed no immediate danger of falling on anyone's house.

She hemmed and hawed, and tried to make a couple of lame arguments, and kept going back to the fact that we'd have to pay for "the whole thing." Whatever that means. Then she said something about didn't we see how she had that tree taken down in her back yard. I'm not sure what that's supposed to do with anything - but I told her that was great. That's her property and her business, and this is our property and our business.

So we'll see what happens next. I'm tempted to plant a whole row of trees right along the line between our properties. Then maybe we'll host a big block party for Arbor Day next year.

Midnight Pomegranate

The good folks at Bath and Body Works have too much time on their hands. Their newest fragrance is Midnight Pomegranate. What does that even mean? Seriously... is a pomegranate at midnight different than a pomegranate at noon? I'm sure it's just as much of a pain in the arse to eat, maybe it's just more exotic in the dark. Or something.

Anyway.

The Big 2nd Birthday Extravaganza Weekend of Never-Ending Parties did, in fact, come to an end. Josie had a party at daycare on Thursday. And we spent the day with her Friday doing various indulgent activities that we let ourselves get away with due to the excuse that it was for her birthday. Like going to Culver's for lunch. And finishing off the cupcakes from her daycare party. Then we went to my sister's on Saturday to celebrate with my family. And had more desserts. Then we had Patrick's family to our house on Sunday. And had more dessert. Good thing there's a lull in birthday party celebrations for a while. Thank you so much to all who contributed to her wonderful birthday experience. She enjoyed herself very much. Except now she thinks all wrapped gifts must be for her. :)

And for those of you who don't know it already (hard to believe since I make my distaste for working on my birthday quite vocal,) I took the day off yesterday for my birthday. Thank you to all who sent me cards, or left me voicemails and emails. You are all very sweet and I appreciate your kindness very much - especially considering I probably don't deserve it since I'm an awful slug when it comes to timely cards and gifts lately.

I had a great day, despite this bugger of a cold that hit me. Patrick took the day off, too, and we spent the day shopping, going out to eat and to see a movie. Husbands are quite handy to have along to carry coats, purses, packages and such. All 3 activities very enjoyable, and practiced not often enough lately.

I have some cute pictures from the weekend I hope to post soon. And for those of you who have gotten really spoiled by the increase in frequency of my posts as of late, don't get too used to it. I am going to start to get pretty busy again here soon. Sorry to have gotten your hopes up :)

2 Years, Josie May - can you believe it??

I know I won't have a chance to go online tomorrow. I could kid myself and say that I'll do it when the girls are napping or something, but I think we all know that's not going to happen. So here is my trip down memory lane in honor of Josie's second birthday, one day early. I don't think I've ever documented Josephine's birth story, so here it is, two years later:

I had been put on modified bedrest in December of 2004 when I was 31 weeks along due to pre-term labor symptoms. I was taking Terbutaline to stop contractions and it was Dr. Lille's goal to get me safely to 36 weeks before letting me go off the nasty drug that made me shaky. So I spent a long month at home, in my comfy robe, warm and snug inside while a cold winter hit outside. I stopped taking the Terb on Sunday, January 16th. At my 36 week check-up with Dr. Rolando (Dr. Lille was on vacation) on Tuesday, January 18th, I was 3 cm dilated and was 50% effaced. My blood pressure was high, and my feet and hands were very swollen. Uncomfortably swollen.

Wednesday morning, January 19th, 2005 - 36 weeks and 3 days along: Patrick left for work at 7:40 am. I stayed in bed, awake, but not ready to relocate to the couch quite yet. At 7:50, I rolled (not an easy feat!) from my left to my right side, and as I did so, I felt a strong popping sensation "down there." Sure enough - my water had broken.

I managed to get out of bed, grab the phone and make it to the bathroom. I called the labor and delivery department at Woodwinds Hospital. (A very nervous first-time mother, I had already had the number memorized for weeks.) Since I wasn't feeling a lot of movement from baby, they instructed me to come in as soon as possible. I stayed in the bathroom since I didn't know what else to do, and tried to call Pat. He didn't have the cell phone turned on. I tried to call him at work. His telephone at the time worked through his computer system, and he wasn't logged on, yet. So I kept trying, every 10 seconds, until he was finally logged in. This is how the conversation went-

Me: "My water broke."

Him: "What?? Are you sure??!"

Me: "Uh - YEAH. I already called the hospital, and we're supposed to come in asap."

Him: "Oh. OH. I'm on my way."

My bag was packed, and I just needed to throw in a couple of last-minute items. I made a piece of toast, got dressed was *trying* to get my shoes on when Pat got home. He pulled up to the front of the house, grabbed some stuff for himself for the hospital, and off we went. We were at the hospital by 9:00 am. I called my sister, she called my mom, and they made arrangements to head up to the hospital. We got checked in and I got geared up in my gown and belly band and monitors; I was checked and was dilated to 4 cm.

We worked through the contractions, I had some lunch, watched some television, and labored mostly on the labor ball and in the rocking chair. The contractions were getting stronger, and I asked to get into the tub. Before getting in, I was dilated to a 6, and decided to ask for an epidural. The nurse, Janice, ordered it and I got in the tub. While trying to relax in the warm water, I was getting more and more uncomfortable, and very very hot. I was dilated to 7 when I got out of the tub, and relief had arrived in the form of a large needle and I was ready for it. It was about 2:00 pm when I got the epidural. Patrick sat in front of me while the anesthesiologist prepped me, and the look on his face when he saw the size of the needle was one between absolute terror and total disbelief. Everything went well, and I was able to sleep for a bit and was much happier.

Dr. Rolando was called and arrived a bit before 5:00 pm and everything was ready for me to start pushing at 5:00. My sister, Pat's mom, and Pat were in the room with me. Pat's dad and my mom waited in the waiting room. Everyone helped hold my legs as I couldn't feel them or move anything on my own. I was having trouble feeling the contractions, and they weren't showing up very clearly on the monitor, so the only way I knew when to push was by the pain I was feeling in my bottom. I pushed for an hour and a half, and Josephine May Daly made her appearance into the world at 6:29 pm. She was 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long, and the most beautiful little pink bundle I'd ever seen.

Two years later, and after what seems like a million diapers changed, tears shed, tantrums thrown, giggles giggled, books read, kisses given and songs sung, I am still in disbelief every single morning when we go in to her room to get Josie up, that we are parents. We created this beautiful little girl and have somehow, miraculously, gone from a silly, naive, newly-married couple to a family, in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Happy Birthday, Josie. Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know!

I lost my tonsils 6 years ago

So I opened my email this morning to a big, bold, happy note from my supervisor congratulating me on my 7th service anniversary with Securian. 7 years. Holy Moly. I totally forgot it was my anniversary. Eve's 6-month birthday was yesterday, and Josie turns 2 tomorrow, and my mom keeps reminding me that I also have a birthday coming up, and I guess with all that excitement going on, it just didn't occur to me to remember something like a service anniversary!

Oh - and 6 years ago yesterday, I had my tonsils out. But I didn't get an email to remind me of that.

Kid update - I noticed last night that Eve is dangerously close to figuring out how to get on all fours. She can't really be getting old enough to start all this, can she?

C'mon!

Picture it:
If you have never been to our house, it's a 1 1/2 story expansion with the kitchen and living room at the front of the house, and the girls' bedroom, bathroom and playroom at the back. (The expansion upstairs is our bedroom, then the basement consists of a rec room on one side and laundry/storage area on the other.) There is a doorway leading from the playroom to the kitchen, the kitchen leads into the living room, the living room into the hallway which then leads back into the playroom. So one can run, walk, stroll or crawl in a big circle through our house. All of which we've been doing a lot of lately.

Now picture this:
Josie is pushing her doll stroller around and around and around the aforementioned circle through our house. She's not alone. She may be pushing a doll, or stuffed animal or potholder - whatever object she has determined most needed strolling at the moment. In line behind her is either Mom or Dad, or sometimes both Mom and Dad. Mom and/or Dad are not in line behind her by purely choice, but more by command. A command from an almost-2 year old that sounds like "C'MON!" and is accompanied by an emphatic hand-wave motioning you to follow her. And in line behind Mom and/or Dad is Brewster, who has also been commanded to "C'MON!" Brewster tends to fall out of line to sniff something, eat something or attempt to lay down, but is always busted and must fall back in line again in prompt fashion. And Mom and/or Dad are not in line just for their looks or to get some exercise, but to serve a very-needed purpose: to carry things for Her Majesty, Josie, that she may need to have while strolling. Like her sippy cup. And blankie. And Eve. And a tub toy she found along the way. And a magnet she found on the fridge as we passed by. And as we stroll around the house, we have to stop at the top of the basement steps (which are located by the doorway between the playroom and kitchen) and point down the stairs and say "Vacuum!" Every time we pass by. And then as we go into the kitchen we have to stop at the stove and say "Hot!" Every time we pass by. This procession can last for what seems like hours. Trust me - it seems like hours, but I'm sure it's more like 15-20 minutes. But when you're the one carrying a 16 lb. baby and all of Josie's stuff, it feels a lot longer. Thank goodness that the strolling usually is happening after we get home from work and are trying to make supper (which can be difficult when you get busted for falling out of line to stir something on the stove and are told to "C'MON!" and get back in line) so eventually there is the distraction of food to stop the line. Since it's dark out when we get home and we have to have the lights on, and our house is on a bit of a small hill and you can see into our kitchen quite easily from the street, I'm sure we must be quite the sight strolling around and around and around. Stop on by sometime and let me know how we look :)

Who Does Number 2 Work For?

Tooth #2 for Evie, that is! She got her second tooth (bottom-front-right) yesterday. No wonder she's been attacking things like a little shark lately. She sees her victim, leans in, and dives in for the kill - complete with a head-shake once she has hold of her target with her mouth. And we have perma-drool pools on our shoulders.

Patrick took her to the new clinic for her 6 month check-up yesterday. Very happy with the new doc! Here are her stats (Eve's, not the doctor's):
Weight: 16 lbs. (50th percentile)
Height: 26 in. (55th percentile)
Head circumference: 95th percentile!! They didn't write the measurement down - not that it really means anything, anyway. But she's got a big noggin!

A Peck of Pickled Pictures

We never claimed he was the brightest dog in the world. That's a cheese ball container on his head.






Josie and second-cousin, Taite.









Great-Grandma Janet with the girls.











Four Generations. Back row: Mamma Susie, Grandma Janet, Sissy Kay and Val Val. Front row: Em Schmem, Josie-Bean, me and Evie-Doodle.










Daddy and Eve.









Mommy and Eve.








Back row: Lucy, Eve and Jo
Front: Vivian and Ed








Sorry the pictures all seem so dark for some reason. They aren't like that in real life. If anyone has any tips for getting little ones to pose for pictures, please let me know. :)









Evie. Now that I really look at this picture, she may be pooping. It is a rare occurrence lately, so it's good we have it documented.










Calla and Not-So-Merry-Christmas Eve. This is Pat's cousin Kate's little girl who was born one day before Eve.







Our little helper. Unfortunately, she doesn't help clean up the water from the counter and floor when she's done washing dishes. :)










She loves hats. If it can go on her head, it's a hat!











Again, with the hats.

What a terrifying sight the blank blogger page is...

I sit here and stare at the blank page before me - overwhelmed at the task at hand. Or fingers. So long since last post - oh, where to begin?? How 'bout a chronological listing...

Friday, December 22nd. Patrick took the day off work so we could head down to my mom's in the morning. The trip went well, Eve slept the whole time and Josie didn't start to melt down until around Preston. (Which means we were almost there, for those of you not familiar with Iowa... oops, I mean extreme southern Minnesota!)

Saturday, December 23rd. (Don't worry - I'm not going to cover every day between then and now.) A lovely Christmas celebration with my side of the family. Josie played Santa and passed out gifts. She was very excited, even did a couple of "mule kicks" - and did a very good job at delivering presents, except for a couple of Eve's that didn't quite make it to her, but got opened on the way. Josie's new favorite word is "wow." It got used a lot during this holiday season. All in all, the stay in Newburg was great - but we did have a couple of crazy nights with screaming Eve and crying Josie. Oh, well. Sleep is overrated, right?

Sunday, December 24th. Back on the road, headed for home. Lunch and naptime, then off to Patrick's aunt Kathy and uncle Randy's house for the Daly-side family celebration. Yummy food, fun games, good company and we're off again! This time, to Patrick's aunt Helen and uncle Joey's house for the Ashton-side family celebration. The girls were troopers through all of our running around. Then, we got to go home! It was nice to be back in our own beds - although the house was a disaster since we didn't really have time to unpack or put away gifts.

Monday, December 25th. Merry Christmas! We got to have a much-needed morning lounging in jammies at home, just me and Patrick and the girls. We opened our stockings and gifts under the tree. The gifts were under the tree, not us. I don't think we would have all fit. Although we did have a beautiful tree this year. By this time, Josie was a bit overwhelmed by all the presents and holiday hoopla. We asked her if she wanted to open presents, and she said "no." We'll have to remember that in the years to come. After the gifts, we went to 10:30 mass at St. Jerome's. This was the first service I've been to since Father Peter passed away. It was quite sad and distracting for me to not see him leading the service. At around 3:00 we went over to Pat's parent's house for dinner with his family. And of course, more presents. So many presents. The kids were all very excited. Grandpa Mike gave Trevor, Trent and Josie guitars. Oh, yes. Guitars. Josie wasn't quite as into hers as the boys were... oh, their poor neighbors. We all got so many nice gifts - thank you ever so much to everyone! And more than that - thank you for the gift of time spent with us. It was great to get to see so many of our family members this year. And to those we didn't have a chance to see, we certainly hope to very soon in 2007!

Tuesday, December 26th. Hmm. I really will skip a day here, soon, I promise :) Back to work for me, while Patrick stayed home with the girls since we didn't have daycare this week. I don't remember being so thoroughly exhausted in months. Probably since after we brought Eve home. Then Patrick tells me that we're getting together with a college friend from Illinois, Marc, and his wife (Sandy) and daughter (Allison - 14 months) that night for dinner. Wow! The good times just don't stop! So good to see them and Allison is such a cutie. It was a late night again, but definitely well worth it.

Wednesday, December 27th. The Rosenbaums are in town! A huge thank you to the Gronaus for hosting all of us at their home. We owe you, big-time. Babies (Ed and Vivian and Eve) and toddlers (Lucy and Josie) and a pregnant belly (Tricia's), oh my! And... yippee for Peg and John... they are expecting a little one in May! Our Winona gang is growing. There will be 9 kids between 6 couples by the end of next May.

Friday, December 29th. Gronau playdate at our house. Lucy used Josie's potty. Josie was peeking in the bathroom, intrigued. After they left - Jo decided that she needed a piece of that potty action. Although so far, she's been saying "potty" as she's going in her diaper, then just wants to take off her pants and diaper and sit on the potty chair. She's quite pleased with herself. I'll be more pleased when we actually see something in the bowl.

Sunday, December 31st. The Crandalls were kind (or crazy) enough to have a few of us with kids over for a night of kid-friendly fun. The chaos that ensued when we all tried to get our little ones to bed was hilarious. Exhausting, but hilarious. Hip-hip-hooray for my first non-pregnant New Year's Eve since 2003! Although it wasn't as action-packed as you might imagine - we were actually on 35E on our way home when the clock struck 12:00.

OMIGOSH. I can't believe I forgot. So Patrick found out on December 20th that his job in Agriculture and Association Sales got eliminated. And then he got promoted to the Group National Sales Office team. All in one meeting. Exciting, but stressful. So as of yesterday, he has a new job. I don't really know what it is. Neither does he, so that's okay :) All I know is that his paycheck will be bigger. So rock on.

Monday, January 1st. A lazy day at home. I even got to nap! A genuine, curled-up under a blanket, real nap. It was a beautiful thing. Thank you, Patrick, for taking care of Eve while I slept. Eve doesn't really believe in naps. She says they're for babies. But you know what she does believe in...? Getting teeth! That's right, Eve is the proud owner of a brand-new, lower-left front tooth. She was chewing on Patrick's finger, and he felt a noticeable difference in the level of pain her chomping caused. And there it was! At 5 1/2 months, a full 2 months earlier than Josie. And that also explains why she's been somewhat impossible to get to go to sleep the past few nights, and has been waking up at 2:30 in the morning. Darn teeth. What are they good for anyway?!

Tuesday, January 2nd. I got to stay home with the girls. Daycare Betty called last week to let us know that her husband took her to the hospital because she was having chest pains. She had fluid on her heart, caused by a virus. She needed to have a follow-up EKG on Tuesday to make sure everything was okay, and it was, thank goodness. So the girls are back with her today. We are so blessed to have her. She gave Josie a huge hug this morning and said she missed her, and you could tell she really meant it. It helps so much having to leave my girls somewhere during the day when Josie gets excited on the way to Betty's house.

New things Josie is up to: She tells us we're "bad, bad," then we're supposed to act sad so she can give us something (like a toy or blanket) to make us happy again. It's her favorite game right now. Such power she has to make someone sad and happy again in 5 seconds. And now she says "Ummmm..." when you ask her a question before she answers. I've noticed since she started doing this that both Pat and I do that a lot. Her favorite Christmas toys (for today, at least) are her big truck from Daddy and doll pack-n-play and swing and stroller from Santa.

So here we are in 2007. What a whirlwind the end of the year was. I know that traditionally, Thanksgiving is the time to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for, but Christmas and New Years always make me think about the blessings in our lives. We have so much and are so lucky. Family and friends, health and happiness, and most of all, two beautiful children. Some doors may close and new ones open, but what really matters is the people in our lives we surround ourselves with. So thank you to all of you who read this - we send our best wishes to you for a happy New Year!