More cows

"More cows! More cows!" Imagine this phrase being uttered (ha! No pun was intended) about 798 times by an overly-tired, overly-sugared 2 year old between Newburg and Rochester. That's approximately 1 hour of trying to come up with different responses such as "yes, Josie, let's look for more cows," or "No, I don't see any more cows yet, do you?" I was ready to jab a pen into my eye.

There are a lot of cows to see between my mom's house and Rochester. And we had to look for all of them. And if we didn't see any, she'd make some up. Josie was so tired yesterday afternoon that she clung to the words "more cows" like a life vest in her attempt to stay awake on the ride home. And when we would go through a town or a dry spell in the cow sightings, she'd cry and kick and wail "mooooorrre cowwwwwwws!" She finally gave up the fight by the time we reached the north side of Rochester. Thank goodness. I don't think either Pat or I could take much more. She's as sweet as sweet can be, but the next 1 hour of silence was absolute bliss. :)

Peas in a pod

I was late for work today.

Why?

Because when Pat was grabbing a buy-one-get-one Caribou coffee coupon before we walked out the door, Josie desperately needed a coupon, too. So we had to find a coupon for her to tear out and take to daycare with her.

Lord help me.

Happy Girls = Happy Days

I suppose it's about time to throw you a bone. A little sumthin' sumthin'. A tidbit. A morsel.

Things are going smoothly. The ginormous lumps on Eve's head are finally making their disappearance. Thankfully, she didn't sprout horns, as I was fearing she might. She is sleeping (mostly) through the night. And in her crib. Albeit with a crazy system I devised so that she's slightly elevated. She is using a cup from time to time. She is on her hands and knees rocking, rocking, rocking, oh so close to lunging forward and crawling away. She has a mouthful of big, shiny teeth. All the better to chew on you with. She is snuggly. She is happy.

Josie is... just Josie. She lights up our home. Which is good - it's a little on the dark side. Not THE "Dark Side," like in Star Wars, just a bit drab since we face the north and don't get good sunlight. Anyway, Josie is talking. A lot. Kind of non-stop, actually. She's trying to learn her colors. And numbers. She helps dress and undress herself. She's not overly interested in the business of potty, unless it's on her terms. And that's okay with me. She's mesmerized by the carousel at Maplewood Mall. And we indulge her. I think she may be spoiled, but that's okay with me, too. At least she knows how to say "please," "thank you" and "excuse me." She gives lovely pucker kisses and big wrap-around-your-neck hugs. She helps us around the house. She is generous. Her enthusiasm for everything in life is contagious. I just may be a bit in love with my girls. If you couldn't tell.

Everything with me and Patrick is hunky dory, too. He passed his licensing exams for work. I'm wrapping up the assignment I'm currently on at the end of April. I think. I guess that door isn't officially closed, quite yet, I should find out soon. We're gearing up for a busy summer. Baseball games. Softball games. Family get-togethers. Weekend get-aways with friends. Busy, but fun. Even though the next few days are looking more like winter than spring, I've got spring fever. Bad. I'm even looking forward to a bit of yard work. Not the actual "yard" so much, but at least planting some veggies and flowers.

Goodness. It's time for work. Happy... Tuesday? Is it Tuesday - oh yes, indeed it is. Anyway - have a good one, whichever one it is. :)

More pictures than you can shake a stick at.

These are all wily-nily-out-of-order. I'd do captions, but it's a pain. So I won't. The one of Eve sitting on the floor in the pink outfit dated 3/21 is post-head-bump. You can *kind of* see the bruising on her forehead, and the scrape on her nose. And the one of Josie dated 3/10 in the pink jacket is when she fell off the sled and scraped her face. The next one of Pat is the same day. Who do you think felt worse? :) And also are some from Josie's first haircut trauma. And the last one is Lu and Jo having some puddle fun at Como Zoo.

Speaking of head injuries...

Ed isn't the only one who is going to suffer a head injury before the age of 2. Thanks to her parents doing exactly what we're all warned NOT to do via safety disclaimers, Eve almost (sidenote - Jo says "almost" all the time now. Except when she says it, it's "almosht!") suffered a head injury on Sunday night. Well, I guess she actually did, just not a serious one. Here's the story.

Eve was chillin' in her carseat Sunday night. Not strapped in. I know - stupid. I was putzing around, picking up toys and whatnot, Pat was on the loveseat reading the paper. Eve's seat was sitting on a low coffee table in the living room. I know - stupid. It says right on it not to place it on an elevated surface. But come on, tell me you haven't done the same thing yourselves. Please - tell me that you have, I'll feel a lot better. :) Anyway, while neither Pat or I actually saw it happen, I think that Eve must have leaned forward and shifted in the seat enough to tip it forward. And thanks to gravity, she toppled to the floor, with the carseat on top of her. She screamed. I ran to the living room. Pat picked her up. She had a heckuva red mark on her forehead, and a scrape on the end of her nose and just below her nose. I thought I was going to throw up. We called the nurse line right away. From what we described, they thought she was going to be okay - but said they thought it best that we take her in, just to be safe. So Pat did. We're getting a little too familiar with Children's Hospital. The main reason I was worried was because when I was holding and comforting her, she was dozing off. Granted it was 9:00 at night, but how could we know if it was just because she was tired, or if there was something more going on? But she checked out fine, and didn't even need any scans or anything. I did stay home with her Monday, just to watch her and make sure she acted normal. Aside from a pretty purple bruise on her forehead, and a sore little nose, she's fine. Not so sure her parents can say that, yet. Ugh. Needless to say, we're attempting to phase the carseat out of our lives. She's almosht too big for it, anyway... but is awfully attached to the stupid thing.

Let's see - what other drama do we have in our lives. Oh - Josie got a hair cut. Her first. Darn it all... everything I have to post about would be a lot better with pictures. I'll see what I can do about that. It's awfully hard to find time. Or make time. Whatever. Pat and I took her to Kids Hair last Friday. She was fine, until I put her in the chair and stepped away and the hair chick put the giant bib on her. Big, fat tears, and she wouldn't sit up straight in the chair. The hair chick was really trying. I gave Jo a lollipop, and that helped. Then she calmed down enough to look around at the other kids getting their hair cut, and that also seemed to help. Her hair is super cute. Just a simple little bob, but it makes her look so much older. Again, pictures would be nice, huh?

After watching Josie play for the past couple of weeks, and seeing that she was pretending to make pancakes by sticking a plate in her little barn toy... I decided it was time to get the girl a proper kitchen. And I did. And she loves it. Now we get french fries, hot chocolate and pancakes all the time.

We took a weekend road trip to my Mom and Erwin's house. There's nothing like corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. Yum. And even better... Grandma J's homemade rhubarb custard pie. Double yum. The kids did great - except that before we left, we made a stop at the store and Pat ran in. While he was gone, Josie said something to me, so I turned to look at her. Then she started saying "Look, look!" and then "NO - Mommy." After getting increasingly annoyed with me, I finally I figured it out - she was telling me to stop looking at her. Hmph. How do you like that?! She's more and more of a ham lately, I can't even do her justice. Do you know the song "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive? Here's the chorus - you'd know if for sure if you heard it:

You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round

That's Jo's favorite song at the moment. She calls it "Round," and we have to sing it to her while she walks / dances around the loveseat. Except that we only know the chorus and a couple of other lines. So that's what we sing over and over again. Gotta work on memorizing the rest of the song. :)

Pictures, soon. I'll try. Really.

And the AACTie goes to...

Steven W. Gwilt!!!

That's right... my brother won the award for Best Actor at the American Association for Community Theater festival for the Southeastern theater region earlier this month. The production he's part of, ESCANABA in da MOONLIGHT, by Jeff Daniels, and directed by Dave Johnson, also took Best Overall Production, Best Director and the Award for Technical Excellence. Now they're off to Charlotte, NC, in June to compete in the AACT National Conference. Way to go, and GOOD LUCK!!

Check out some other fun stuff the Drama Center Backstage in Cookeville, TN, has been up to.

Another one bites the dust...

or snow, as the case may be. Josie experienced her first "injury accident" over the weekend. She and Pat were sledding at his parents' house on Saturday morning. They wiped out. The snow had a nice, crusty layer. Josie's right cheek got a heckuva snow burn. Pictures to follow. All weekend she was a sad puppy saying "fall," and "down," then pointing to her cheek. It was all very traumatic. :)

Her vocabulary is skyrocketing. She's becoming a parrot, trying to repeat everything she hears us say. And she's *trying* to tell me about things that happen when I'm not with her - like when Pat took the girls for a walk while I did some cleaning and laundry, and they got stuck with the stroller a couple of times. And they lost one of her mittens, and stopped at the park and went for a swing. They came home and she came running into the house and told me "mitts! mitts!" Then "stuck!" Then "swww-wing!" It still takes a little deciphering, but I can get the gist of her stories. She still sticks to mostly one or two word phrases, but is starting to string some words together. The change in her just in the past couple of weeks is amazing.

I think we might have a hockey player on our hands. It was boys high school tournament time - so the hockey around our house was plentiful. Now she's walking around saying "Yeeeaaa, hockey! Yeeeeaaa, hockey!" and she actually sat with me while Pat was gone to the games on Friday and we watched some of the coverage. I'm sure she'll be able to catch on and follow what's going on much faster than me!

Eve now has 6 teeth. And I suspect that today or tomorrow we'll see number 7, and I also suspect that some of her back teeth are well on their way. Mind you - she's not even 8 months old yet. Yikes. We'll be feeding her steak and chork pops in no time! She's also about ready to start creeping. She'll get on all 4's, but does not realize what she can do with that, yet, so she drops back down and pushes herself backwards. She's pushing up on her arms and turning herself every-which-way, and still log rolls all over the room. Eve keeps the daycare kids busy watching where she'll end up, then they'll ask Betty if it's okay that she's under the chair or trying to chew on the coffee table!

So mad I could spit.

I've been sitting here stewing for the last hour - maybe if I write it down, it will help.

Pat and I ate lunch today in the food court here in the downtown skyway . We were sitting, eating, talking, people-watching, and there was a line just beside us at the St. Paul Cookie Company. A couple was at the register, paying for their order, and there were miscellaneous people in line behind them, including a couple of middle-aged women. They (the middle-aged women) appeared to be your average, everyday, downtown St. Paul office workers.

I saw the couple that was paying start to move forward, away from the cookie company, and the women in line behind them stepped up to the register... and as that process was happening, I saw money float to the ground. It was a $10 bill. My immediate reaction was to get up, and if I would have made it to the bill, my gut instinct would have been to hand it to the gentleman who was in the process of walking away, even though I didn't positively see it fall from his hand or wallet, it just seemed as though he dropped it. But before I could get up... one of the women moving to the register reached down and snatched up the bill. I thought - "oh, good, she's going to hand it to him..." but she didn't. So then I second guessed myself, and though - "oh, I was wrong, that was her money in the first place..." but it wasn't. I should have immediately gotten up and said something, and that's what I'm kicking myself about now. Instead I hemmed and hawed about it, because I didn't know for sure. So by this time, the couple had moved over to a food stand on the other side of the food court, but still within our view. And the evil women had skedaddled out of food court, never to be seen again.

So at this time, I still really didn't know that the money wasn't the woman's. But my gut told me it wasn't. So I watched the couple order their food at the BBQ stand, wait for their food at the BBQ stand, then go to pay for their food at the BBQ stand. Now is when I really start to feel bad. Sure enough, the man starts to feel his pockets, check the ground and look around back at the cookie stand. CRUD. He says something to the woman he was with, and she walks back over, retracing their steps, and asks the clerk at the cookie place if he gave them the wrong change... ugh. I know it was just $10, and I didn't know for sure in time to do anything about it, but I'm still feeling bad. I should have said something to the woman as soon as she picked it up. We didn't end up saying anything to the couple before we left because I figured that they weren't going to get their money back at that point, and then as we were walking away, Pat told me he heard the clerk at the cookie stand tell the man that he thought he saw a woman walk away with some money she picked up.

She HAD to have known that the money belonged to the guy in front of her, didn't she? That's why she picked it up so fast and walked away. She could have at least asked. Hopefully what comes around goes around - or goes around, comes around...? whichever way that works, and she has some bad karma come her way. But I guess by this same logic, I've got some bad karma coming my way, because I really should have said something. Shouldn't I? What would you have done?

So, hey - guy in the food court... I'm sorry. And evil woman - grrr.

I may be new to this Catholic stuff, but...

(I know it's Wednesday. I'm a bit late this week!)

I know enough to be able to tell that when we get to church and pretty soon everyone is kneeling and I look up front and sure enough... it's time for communion - hmm, yeah - we're probably late. Let's back up a bit.

Josie decided to get up at 5:50 AM on Sunday morning. When you're up that early, it's easy to make it to early church. Which we've never made it to before. We can catch the 10:30 service MUCH easier. So Pat thought the early service was at 9:00 am. I thought it was 8:45 am. We were both wrong. It's at 8:30 am. Oops. So imagine what a tool I felt like when our circus goes rolling into St. Jerome's at 9:02 am, now a half-hour late for mass. I'm sure the oldies think we're horrible just rolling in for communion. Oh, well. :) Josie seemed awfully excited to get to leave again so soon. If only she knew this isn't how it always is going to be.

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BABY NEWS!!! Congrats to Tricia and Kevin Mathews on the birth of baby BOY, William David. He was born on Friday, March 2nd at 2:41 am. AND he was a whopping 9 lbs, 8 oz. We love you guys to pieces and are soooo happy for you! And he truly is an absolutely stunning baby. And we're not just saying that. :) I'd give you a handy link to their family blog... but they don't have one. Nope. No blog. Hmm... wonder what they could do to remedy that...

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Everyone in the Daly house is doing fine. We're still handing the same cold back and forth, but we're holding strong for some spring weather, some outside fresh air and better spirits all-around.

News with The-Man-Formerly-Known-As-Uncle (that's my mom's husband, Erwin, for those of you not familiar:) The large-cell diffused lymphoma he's battled twice before has returned. It's concentrated in the knee area, and they will determine a plan of attack today. His doctor is hoping to get him into a study group which is trying out a new pill. He'd take it once a day, and would only have to go into the Clinic once a month. Sounds too good to be true! Keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, whatever you want, just send some good tidings his way, please!

NO WAY.

My work just announced over the intercom that they are officially closing down at 3:30 this afternoon. That's like, only the 3rd time in 20 years. Wow. Color me HAPPY!!

Braced

I set the alarm clock to go off a little earlier (5:05 am. YIKES!) this morning in anticipation of bad roads and a longer trek to work. Actually, I planned to have to shake Pat awake for 10 minutes so he could go shovel a bit before we left. But granted, since we're only 5 minutes away from daycare and 10 minutes away from work and take side streets the whole way, weather really usually doesn't play a factor into our commute. Which is such a blessing. Anyhoo - our whole morning went off without a hitch. Pat shoveled. We remembered to set the recycling out. Josie was in a delightful mood. Eve was up early and was rarin' to go. I had a chance to pick up the house a bit before we left. And we were about 7 minutes early to daycare, where we had a happy drop-off. Pat commented as we climbed in to the van after saying goodbye to the girls that he felt a bit "off" having everything go so well! Moments like that make me stop and realize how fast-paced our mornings and days usually are. What a treat to have a second to relax and enjoy a "happy" morning! We'll have to strive to have more of those in the days ahead.

While most around here are anxious and dreading the storm that's a-brewin' (actually, it's already brewed - and here in full force,) I have to admit that I kind of enjoy the chaos that ensues when we start to get some snowfall. There's something exciting about throwing everyone into a tailspin. Maybe I'm just weird that way. And I guess since I have chauffeur service for drop-off and pick-up at work, that helps, too. :) I'd probably be whistling a different tune if I was the one who had to brush off the snow and scrape away the ice this afternoon. OH. Which reminds me... I wonder if Pat checked to see if we have a snow brush in the van... Hmm. Can you believe we live in Minnesota and have to even ask that question?

Here's some of the fun stuff Josie has been up to lately, in no particular order:

• Getting herself *mostly* undressed and sometimes, dressed, by herself.
• Constantly asking Daddy for piggy-back rides.
• Loves to brush her teeth. I think she just likes the rinsing and spitting part. Ask her sometime what a camel does. Then take a step back. :)
• Washing her hands. Anything to do with water, she loves.
• One of her favorite games is to lay down a dish towel on the table, set some various sized glasses and cups on the towel and put a bit of water in them, then pour the water from one into the others. Oh - I guess I should clarify - she isn't the one to lay down the dish towel. We finally learned that trick after a few times of playing this game.
• If you ask her where something is, instead of just saying "ummm," she'll also throw out an answer. Usually she starts with "Kitchen?"
• Asking for ketchup and mustard at supper. No matter what we're eating. Did you know mustard is tasty on fish?
• Helping put away dishes from the dishwasher. She's particularly good at the silverware.
• Says "love you" without prompt. I especially like that one. :)
• Learned to play "cut the pickle.. tickle, tickle!" from Lucy. Not sure if the cut-er or cut-ee is supposed to be the one doing the tickling, but she does it both ways.
• Knows most of her body parts now. Especially is fond of armpits. And elbows. Except she seems to think that elbows are on your belly.
• Loves to name colors of objects. Granted, she's usually wrong, but you gotta love the enthusiasm she puts into it.
• I mentioned before how she likes to "sniff" when Daddy toots, and scold him. Well, now that game applies to anyone. So watch out if you're around her anytime soon. You may get told you're stinky, even if you're not guilty of the crime. :)

And Eve. My Doodle is growing up so fast! She cut another tooth - but it's not the other front tooth. It's on the other side of the front tooth she already has. Far be it from her to do things in the order you're supposed to! I'm sensing this may be a trend with my youngest. Guess time will tell. But she's been a much happier little girl since this tooth came in. She loves to sit in the highchair and have an array of toys laid out on the table in front of her, then she grabs each one and tosses it. This usually brings a frustrated exclamation of "Ee-eevvvie!" from her sister. But Josie will always pick them up for her and hand them back. Over and over again. They were adorable together last night - they were playing this game, and Josie had her hand on the highchair and Eve grabbed her fingers. Josie laughed and laughed, then did it again. And Eve laughed and laughed at Josie laughing. They went back and forth this way for a while, and I never wanted it to stop. That's one of those memories that will be forever etched in my mind. So sweet. I'll have to remember that one in the future when they're pulling each other's hair. :)

Sweetness

Ahhhh.

We just had a very... satisfying... weekend. The house is *somewhat* clean. Kenny was washing the dishes when we left this morning. Laundry is done and put away. Eve has been sleeping soundly through the night for the past few nights. A few inches of snow trapped us at home, but that was okay. We played and played and played with the girls, and I think it was just what we all needed. The girls and I had wonderful playdate at the Gronaus on Friday. Jo and Lucy play together so well - they cook, (and thanks, Meg for the tasty pancakes, I think you have definitely assured that Josie will love you forever!) they play ring-around-the-rosy, they run around and they giggle and giggle, and it's awesome. Then I got to have a wonderful playdate with my friends on Friday night. We don't run around much, but we do cook and giggle and giggle!

Josie is still occasionally using the potty chair. She asked to go potty this morning, and she did sit down and tinkle. But then we struggled with getting her convinced that it was time to get dressed and go to daycare. She preferred to just sit naked on the potty and finish snacking on her dry cereal. She has just been so fun. I can't even describe all the things she's doing now - it's mind-boggling. OH - I don't even know if this is appropriate, but I need to get it down so we don't forget... so now when Pat um, toots... Josie runs over to *sniff*, so that she can say in a disgusted tone, "Da-aad-ddy." It's so inappropriate. And so hilarious. :)

Eve is figuring out how to sit on her own, unsupported. She's doing pretty well, with a flop on her face or side once in a while. I don't know when she's going to get interested in crawling - she's pretty efficient at getting where she wants to go by rolling. She was all over the place last night, even under the couch! She's eating a ton, smiling a ton and changing so fast. I just love her to pieces and can't get enough of her chubby cheeks.

So there's your kid update for Monday morning. Have a good one!

Snaggle Tooth

Here you can *kind of* see her poor, lonely, one little toofer on top. Still waiting for the other one!

More than meets the eye.

Do. Something.

These are the words that have been knocking around in my head like tumbleweeds on a windy day. I've been in a "funk" lately, to use a phrase frequently uttered by my bookclub friends. We seem to spend a lot of our time figuring out the complexities of "funk-ness." What causes it? What fixes it?

Sometimes, the answers to both questions are the same. The weather - dreariness can cause a funk while a sunny day can fix it. Family duties- the drudgery of daily tasks can cause a funk while caring for and supporting those we love can fix it. Career decisions - feeling "stuck" in your current role can cause a funk while doing what's necessary for the betterment of yourself and your family can fix it.

In my ponderings, I consulted Merriam-Webster. Here's what (s)he had to say:

Main Entry: 1funk
Pronunciation: 'f&[ng]k
Etymology: probably ultimately from French dialect (Picard) funquer
1. to give off smoke or a strong offensive smell.

Well - that's not quite the "funk" I was thinking of. This one's better:

Main Entry: 3 funk
Etymology: perhaps from obsolete Dutch dialect (Flanders) fonck
1 a : a state of paralyzing fear b : a depressed state of mind
2 : one that funks : COWARD
3 : SLUMP 1

While I've not been paralyzed with fear, and I don't really think that a "depressed" state of mind quite fits... and I really don't like to think of myself as a coward - although maybe that one will take some more thought... perhaps "slump" is a more fitting description for what I feel on occasion. That would accurately indicate the highs and lows, the ups and downs, the rollercoaster of emotions that comes from being a mother and a wife, of a coworker and a friend and all that these roles entail and the ways they intertwine.

Back to the "Do. Something." part of the post. So I've made a conscious decision to not sit around in my funkiness any longer. And I document it here today to hold myself accountable for it. I get so sick of myself sometimes that I can hardly stand it. Perhaps Webster's first definition is accurate and I am giving off an offensive smell - and the only way I'm going to change it is to shower it away, shake it off, change directions so the funk is downwind. And the most effective way of changing anything is to first change my attitude. I try, but I too easily allow myself to fail. So I'm going to try harder. To be a mother and wife my family will be proud of, a coworker and friend that others will be happy to have touch their lives, to be a positive person that I will want to be around. Choices, choices - it's all about choices. And I have to do a better job of remembering that.

My friend Michelle recently posted about how she is not an open book and that there are many things in her life and in her family's life that she doesn't write about - and I feel the same way about myself. Looking back on my entries, it all seems somewhat superficial. I give you a quick peek, a summary of our days and updates on my kids with some recent pictures - and that's about it. And a lot of the time, that is enough for me. But sometimes, there is more going on, and pouring it out here is exactly what I need.

So there. With that said, I wash my hands of this current slump. Onward and upward.

French Fries and Doggie-do

Children are always listening. Of course, everyone knows this, but we tend to forget. We are reminded frequently, like when we go through the drive-thru at Wendy's on Saturday, place our order, and pull up to the window to get our food. The lady leans out and recites the order back to us, and all of the sudden, Josie is yelling "French Fries! French Fries!! Yea!" And when Pat was going to bundle up the girls and take them outside for a little while and I told him to watch out for the dog puke on the sidewalk and for all the dog crap in the yard (can you tell that perhaps I thought going outside wasn't that great of an idea?) and then Josie is walking around saying "dog crap, Mommy." Oops.

(Changing the subject.) I did something yesterday that I have never done before. I honestly didn't think that I ever would do it, or if I did, that I would enjoy it so much. I'd heard others talking about it, and I was a little puzzled that they seemed to like it. But now that I've tried it, I'm hooked, and I want more. I went to a movie... by MYSELF. And it was fabulous. Not even the movie so much, (I saw the cheesy chick-flick "Music and Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore - which was cute and enjoyable and the perfect mix of everything that I needed and wanted from a movie yesterday) but the experience as a whole. The freedom of walking out of the house, alone, with only my wallet and keys, the luxury of a small popcorn and pop all for myself, and the satisfaction of 2 hours of doing... absolutely. nothing. productive. It was heaven. Don't get me wrong, I love going to movies with friends or Pat... and I would relish the opportunity to accompany someone again, someday, but I think for now, I've found my new guilty pleasure. :)

Lovely Girls

Could they look any more alike?

Note the red cheeks on Evie. Those are her "teething indicators." :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mommy is bad-bad, and Daddy is a good girl!

Not much for news here, so I'll give a few kid updates.

Both kids have coughs and runny noses, again. Therefore, we had a quiet weekend at home. Well, we probably would have had a quiet weekend at home, anyway - but now it just sounds like we were trying to be good parents and keep our germ monsters contained. Not that you can escape the crud this winter, it's everywhere.

Josie is... well, just Josie. We've entered the "terrible twos," and it certainly can be. Terrible, that is. But it can also be terribly fun. She was Daddy's girl this weekend, and for some reason, I got told repeatedly that I was bad. And when Daddy cleans his plate, or goes pee-pee in the potty, he gets a very vehement "good girl, Daddy!!!" Guess we should start working on gender differentiations. Although she is able to distinguish between mommy/daddy and grandma/grandpa, and likes to label everyone she sees in a store or parking lot. Hopefully no one gets offended if they are, in fact, not what Josie has labeled them to be.

And as Evie ages, so begins the sister-relationship. They love to be able to ride in the van together, and since Eve is still facing backwards, they can see each other easily. They giggle and smile at one another and it's very cute. Josie now wants to show Eve everything; she points out the window at whatever fascinating thing she sees and exclaims "Evie! Evie!" or wants her little sister to acknowledge the amazing feats she's accomplishing at home like feeding her baby doll or stirring the cereal and milk in her bowl. But it's definitely not all fun and games. Like when Eve grabs hold of one of Josie's baby dolls. Or Josie's hair. Or Josie's blankie. Eve frequently is on the receiving end of little shoves. And dirty looks. Oh - the looks that eldest daughter of mine can give. We might be more effective disciplinarians if she weren't so stinkin' cute when she's being naughty. Like when she "accidentally" gets marker on her shirt, and you ask her who did that and she says "Evie." How are you not supposed to laugh at that?? But we try not to and say "No, Josie, I don't think Eve did that." Then she stops for a minute while staring at her shirt and looks at you and says, "Brewster!" It's a losing battle. :)

Her vocabulary is skyrocketing. And I'm already finding myself wishing sometimes that perhaps she couldn't talk so much. Not that she even talks THAT much, but it's... enough. "No," and any variation thereof, is her fav. "Nope" is used a lot, and sometimes we even get a "naw." And as she's sassing away, Evie is just sitting back, taking it all in. Waiting her turn. :)

Speaking of Eve... she growing. Fast. She's still holding (and biting) strong with 3 teeth, and is learning to drink from a cup. She'll end up in a completely different part of the room (via rolling and scooting on her back or tummy) if you leave her along for a minute and I feel like she's doing so much so soon. But I guess she is creeping up on 7 months here soon. *sigh* It goes by so fast.

Whoa - and so does a quick break at work. Gotta go for now!

Ni-Night, Kitty-Kitty

He may not have been the brightest cat in the world, but I'm pretty sure he was the sweetest. Goodbye, Buford. We'll miss you. Even Baxter, even though he says he won't.

Winter 1994 - February 8, 2007

Josie's 2 year check-up

Josie got to see her new doc yesterday afternoon. It was actually fun to take her - I can't remember the last time we got to do anything just "mommy and Jo." Anyway - the appointment went well, except when Josie decided she didn't want anything to do with getting undressed or taking off her boots to get weighed. But who can blame her - it's winter in Minnesota! She did eventually decide it would be okay to have her boots off after I stepped on the scale and told her that she could have a turn, too. But we never did get her undressed. She was 28 lbs., which is just a bit over average for her age, and 33 1/2 inches, which is just a bit under average for her age. So I'd say she's just about perfect :)

Happy Anniversary to us!

12 years ago today in a little town called Winona began the "official" dating days of Patrick and Carol. He suckered me in by cleaning his dorm room and inviting me over to watch "Sleepless in Seattle." And as they say, the rest is history :)

Who knew something so magical could start with a Bonkers candy wrapper?? Boy, I tell ya, smooth to the groove. Like sandwich bread.

This made me chuckle

So my mom has been emailing a very select and privileged group of individuals over the last year with daily "Bushisms." It started because, knowing how much she adores our fine leader, I gave her a daily calendar so that she could ponder and wonder over his intelligent witticisms and profound thoughts each and every morning, and she loved them so much that she decided to share them. So now we've continued into the next year, and she's added Dave Barry quotes, as well. The one for today really cracked me up, so I thought I'd share with the masses:

"Hygiene is not the only area where parents of babies have to lower their standards. There is also the area of intellect. When I'm home alone with my daughter Sophie, there are entire days when the single longest sentence I say is: "Down came the rain and washed the spider out!" Also I am reading a lot of books with names like 'Conrad Cantaloupe Has a Sad Day.' As far as I can tell, modern children's books are written by people who (a) get paid by the page, and (b) are hitting the bourbon pretty hard."

Happy Wednesday!

HOW could I forget??

Dishwasher update:

It's a large monstrosity.

But it's fabulous.

We've been running it after the girls go to bed. So nice to just load the dishes in after dinner - out of sight, out of mind, and let the beauty of Kenmore do it's work for us. And having a bit more "counter top" is always a good thing. Of course, it's a good thing as long as it doesn't become a "catch-all" for the mail and various other assorted crap. Which is probably exactly what's going to happen. :)

I am SO. COLD.

It is our right as Minnesotans to complain about the weather non-stop, right??! But seriously - it's flippin' cold out there this morning. Remind me about this next July when I'm complaining about how hot it is.

Another crazy weekend has passed. Julie Zarn and I threw a baby shower for Tricia (Burk) Mathews on Saturday. It went well. Lots of food and friends and lovely gifts for Baby Mathews. We hung out at the Mathews residence Saturday night with out-of-town friends, the Speth-Mikolajczaks, and in-town friends and their kids... as always, complete chaos when the kidlets are involved, but so much fun. Sunday we went to a Super Bowl party - again, kiddy mayhem ensued and Josie decided it was time to go home. Which was perfectly fine with me since we had a late night on Saturday and an early bedtime was just what the doctor ordered.

As we were getting ready for bed last night, Josie sat on the potty chair... and tinkled!!! We made a huge deal about it and she was so proud she almost burst at the seams. She wanted to keep sitting on the potty, but kept getting up to look at the pee-pee. And so the potty saga begins. Wish us luck. :)

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!

My kids are cute.

Even though this time of year is crazy-hectic-busy, I don't want to let myself disregard the fun things the girls have been up to the last couple of weeks.

• Like Josie talking. Not a lot, and not full sentences or anything yet, but lots of words and phrases. She pulled out "vacuum" this morning at Betty's - that was a new one. And she's always giving things to people and then saying "there you go!" We're in an upswing with the manners, too... she's using "thank you" and "please" quite nicely. For the time being, at least. Although we have had a few time-outs due to hitting issues. Just us, and at home, so far - nothing at daycare or with other people, yet.

• And like Josie running. She is fast. And takes off at inopportune moments, like when you're trying to get her dressed and only have the top half of her pj's on. Then she giggles and giggles when you chase her around the house to finish getting her dressed. Oh - and she put on her own shoes the other day. When did she learn that??! And she got her hat on by herself, too. It's exciting. But a little bit sad, too.

• And like Eve eating cereal and applesauce before bed and sleeping soundly all the way through the night and not waking up at 11:00 pm and staying awake until 2:00 am like she did to us the other night or waking up at 4:00 am like she did a few mornings in a row a while ago. Mommy and Daddy were not pleased. So now we fill that kid up before bed, and so far, it's working.

• And like Josie pointing out every Christmas decoration and every set of lights on every house we pass while driving to and from daycare. And we must ooh and aah and be equally as amazed as she is.

• And like Eve just being so happy. SO happy. She's awfully fun right now. She wants to sit on her own and stand and move and grab things so badly, but just can't quite muster the coordination, yet. Although she is able to grab things I don't want her to, like the spoon when I'm feeding her and my arm when I'm getting her dressed. Then she just smiles and smiles. And so do we. Her good humor is quite contagious. And she's got a chuckle that cracks me up to no end. And a shriek that can split eardrums, but we are hearing less and less of that, and more of the chuckling. Thank goodness.

• And like Josie just being such a... little person. She's getting taller, and smarter, and she's coordinated now and wanting to do everything that we do, and to help. All the time with the helping. It's funny how long it can take to get something done when you have so much help! And you ask her a question and she'll stop for a moment and think it through before giving you an answer and you can tell she's actually weighing out the options and it's amazing.

"Drop that rhinoceros!"

That's only one of the phrases uttered at our house lately that made me stop and think "what if someone caught bits and pieces of conversations around here without knowing the full context of what was going on?" For example, "Drop the rhino" was meant for Brewster. He is the big brother Josie doesn't have. He loves to antagonize her by going into her room, picking out a stuffed animal and parading around the house with it in his mouth while she chases and scolds him. Here are a few other phrases, and the context of the conversation in which they were used:

"Is the tree done whooshing?"
*** We got a Christmas tree on Saturday. A real one. According to Pat, they need to "whoosh" before you can decorate them. We always had a fake tree at my house growing up, so I am still somewhat new to real tree etiquette. Kinda like when Pat and I lived in our apartment downtown St. Paul and we blatantly ignored the rule that you're not supposed to have real trees in apartment buildings because of fire hazards or something like that. Oops.

"You're silly, Evening Poodle."
*** Pat's nickname for Eve. Although probably better than my nieces' calling her Beve (Baby Eve.)

"Yes, that's where the elephant goes potty." (Substitute basically any animal for elephant - and we've probably said that, too.)
*** Josie is fascinated by anything "potty"-related. She wants to see the poop in her diaper, insists on throwing diapers away herself, makes her "that's gross" noise (kinda like eew eew eew, said very low and with a disgusted look on her face) when she points to Brewster's wee-wee, still runs in to sit on her potty chair when I go to the bathroom. She turns over toys and stuffed animals to look for their girl or boy parts, only to be disappointed that they are not anatomically correct. Although she still makes the aforementioned "gross" noise and points. All of this has been going on for months... I'm starting to wonder if the fascination will ever go away?

"Would you like to leave Santa down your pants?"
*** My personal favorite. This was said by Pat - and directed at Josie, so get your minds out of the gutter. When digging out Christmas decorations, I found a couple of stuffed Christmas toys - a Santa and a reindeer. Josie was playing with them the other night, and I guess Pat shoved one down the back of her shirt, and the other down the back of her pants. All I saw of this was Josie running through the kitchen with them stuffed down her back and backside. Pat attempted to take them out for her, but she didn't want them out, apparently.

As I mentioned before, I feel like we've had a lot going on lately - although, I'm not really sure what. Getting and decorating the tree, finally. And the weekend before, the female Gronaus and Ed came over for a playdate and lunch (if you can call my meager attempt at a meal, lunch!) on Friday, then my mom and niece, Emilie, came up later in the day to stay for the weekend to help out with the girls while Pat and I went to a Minnesota Wild hockey game Friday night and a wedding for a fraternity brother of Pat's on Saturday night. We also did a family outing on Saturday to the Mall of America so Em wouldn't think the whole weekend was totally lame. :) Then Sunday was the annual cookie bake with my bookie-girly-friends. God bless 'em. Not to mention the tasty treats - we just keep getting better and better every year! And there's the usual work, eat, sleep routine to keep up while battling getting ready for Christmas. Oi.

Eve is, finally, healthy. For the time being, at least. But I'll take it! She continued to have bouts of throwing up on and off for about a week. We switched her to soy formula, and she seems to be doing better. So now we're gradually slipping some regular formula back in, and we'll see how she does. Either it was just a bug, or there's a formula issue that will resurface once she's back to full strength. So now we're just battling the usual runny noses here and there, and that, we can handle. Although we don't handle the snot nearly as much as my mother would like... she's a Kleenex Nazi!!

OH - Eve rolled over! Last Saturday morning. Poor kid - everything they say about the second child is sadly true. Less hoopla around their milestones, fewer pictures taken, hand-me-down clothes... anyway - she rolled. Yea, Eve! You're one step closer to getting into Josie's toys :)

That's all the time I've got for today, folks. Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season!

Busiest time of the year?

Sure feels like it! As you can probably tell from the lack of posts lately, we've been busy. Just wanted to check in and say that we're all healthy and happy. We've had a lot of fun stuff going on lately, and I promise to tell you about it someday. :) Just not today! How's that for a tease?