Happy Independence Day, 2009

We kept it low key for the 4th of July this year and generally just enjoyed the day together (me hoping that I'd go into labor at any moment; however, that didn't turn out). Our neighbors; on the other hand, decided to go all out and throw a big shindig. They put adorable invites with red, white and blue ribbon and a firework attached to each in all of our mailboxes and pulled their chairs and grills out to the front of the houses. We joined them for the festivities, and the late night fireworks; although Kate only participated in the daylight activities - to include holding her first sparkler and throwing those snapping things on the street with all of the big kids. She also saw some some cool, colored smoke bombs and told me, "that's a lot of smokin, Mama!" She probably didn't go to bed until about 10pm, but had a great time celebrating with her BFF Joey and the big kids of the hood.

Training - the Final Frontier

The final frontier before the baby comes, at least. I don't want to post a lot of details regarding potty's and all that, but I will say that the first day she decided she would go by herself, in the appropriate location, was one of the happiest days of my life. Back in December my mom made efforts at training her while Brad and I were in Mexico; to no avail. While Kate and I were home in May, Nanny tried again; and was met with unbelievably strong resistance. It was clear - even back in December - that she knew what she was supposed to do, and she didn't much care for a mess in her diaper, but the resistance was ridiculous, confusing and horribly frustrating. The other day, in between diaper changes, she marched into the rest room, closed the door, and moments later came running out hollering for me to come see. Sure enough - no prodding or begging from me! As suspected, she did it when SHE decided SHE was ready, no sooner, no later. I'm proud of her and she's been doing a great job. We have our accidents of course, but all in all it is a proud moment in our short time together. And now, Anna can come. After all, what will I do with myself if I don't have to buy diapers?

3 weeks and 4 days...

but who's counting? 3 weeks and 4 days until my due date. The way I'm feeling would indicate to any reasonable human being that I will deliver before that date; however, I would have sworn that same thing last time and I was induced 7 days AFTER my due date. That said, I really do feel differently this time. I was never so uncomfortable and in pain as I am now. I can't imagine this will last another 3 weeks and 4 days.

And so, we decided to go camping this weekend. Not cabin camping, not RV camping, but tent camping. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well (although I DID have a little elf crawling on top of me and my belly in the middle of the night) and I probably wasn't of much help to Brad with set up, take down, and watching Kate in between. But Kate had the time of her life and absolutely loved the tent and her new sleeping bag, as well as her first fishing adventure with Daddy. Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Can you spot the little elf peaking out of the tent window?

Yesterday we found a bounce house at a nearby neighborhood party. This face says it all.

Rainy Days and Monday's

Kate asked me during a downpour this morning if we could go play in the rain. As you can see here, she requested her umbrella, rain coat and rain boots for the outing. When we saw a worm she asked, "what's that?!?" Then quickly, "let's go, Mommy. Bye worm!"

Budding Penguins Fan...

Life Changes

I just realized that I have been out of touch regarding the blog. After our return home it took me a few days to get settled - with getting back in touch with my doctor, visiting a physical therapist for my back pain, sending Brad off on a 10 day trip full of fun and .22 work, and making the insane decision to jet off to Pittsburgh for Game 6 (and pawn Kate off on Phee and Peter!). Oh my. FYI - I am 8 months pregnant, so needless to say it was quite an effort to get myself across the country. But alas - well worth it! What an experience to see Dan in his element (well, at least his element since 2/15/09), as well as Mary Beth and Bryan, and a WIN in Game 6. It was fantastic. Dan has always been an incredible person to me, but it was insane to see his local fame in Pittsburgh. And of course, Lauda and her friend (my friend, too) Kat came along for the ride. And Nanny, Grizz, Phatty, Kase, Mal, Josh, Gary and Gracer, too. Oh my.
And then, last night Kate and I went to Phee and Peter's to watch Game 7. I knew the result would either be devastation or euphoria. I can't describe to you how the outcome has made me feel - and the chance to see my brother raise the Stanley Cup above his head. I go from cheering to silent reflection to bawling my eyes out. It is incredible.
And I can't wait to see that Cup in person! That "giant cup" as Kate says. Yes, Kate, a giant cup. Oh my.

A Day at the Beach

Actually it was just an hour, but incredibly exciting for Kate and rewarding for me to see her experience her first encounter with Lake Michigan. Grace came with us and showed Kate the ropes - sand castles, muddy sand pools to sink your feet in, blowing sand and toes dipped in freezing cold lake. I thought I would have a hard time dragging her away when it was time, but instead she said, "Wanna get an ice cream cone, Mommy?" and off we headed for the Dairy Treat. At one point this afternoon she had sandy feet, an ice cream cone in one hand and a Pronto Pup in the other. Life is good in Grand Haven!

In honor of the day, we dropped off flowers to the grave site of Grandpa and Grandma Oole on Friday. It was nice to see Grandma's name - Anna - printed on the stone, born exactly 100 years prior to our new little Anna soon to arrive. How happy she would be to have another Anna around, and it is always nice to have a reason to remember Grandma and Grandpa Oole. Happy Memorial Day to all!

Michigan Visit Part III

Last week we wrapped up our time house/kid sitting at Grandpa Grizz and Aunt Phatty's house and I took a few days to visit Lauda in Chicago. While we were in GR Kate attended more softball games than she had ever thought about. The great part was that she used her new hockey game cheering skills for her big cousins AND there were other little kids at the games. This little girl became Kate's friend. I know this because Kate walked up to me and said, "This is my friend."

After I snuck away to the train station during the wee hours of the morning, Grandma took Kate to the zoo. I received a call about the time I arrived in Chicago with news that at that very moment Kate was riding a camel. Here is the proof. I hate that I missed this...

Part II - Visiting the Oldest Cousins

We've now moved on to house-sitting and hanging out with Kase and Mal in GR. They treated us to a lovely Mother's Day brunch at their country club and we've been attending a couple of softball games, much to Kate's delight. She's learning a lot about being a big kid (last night she watched Mal paint her toe nails from about 2 inches away with great curiosity), but she has started asking to go "home". I don't know if she means back to Grandma's, or back to Boise, but needless to say, hanging out with the big kids is fun. Oh - and watching Uncle Dan's hockey team in the fight for the Stanley Cup has been super fun with them, too. Lots of cheering, jeering, and inappropriate behavior ensues. I love it.

Grand Times at Grandma's House

We've been keeping busy with cousins and soccer games and Penguins hockey games. We're having a great time and Anna has been growing by the minute. Here's a quick look at our first week here.

Goodbye Cabin!

We said goodbye to the cabin this weekend. Hard to believe it's been six months, however; it does coincide with the start of my pregnancy, so I guess it does make sense. We packed it up this weekend - shocking to us how much we packed in over the course of our time there. It was a great experience, and it was fun to think about how much both Kate and Ben changed during our time there. Ben started off as a baby that laid on a blanket in the middle of the room or chilled in his bouncy seat. Now he pulls himself up, feeds himself and cruses around the furniture. Kate started off getting into everything and being naughty at every turn. Now she has conversations, plays pretend for hours at a time, watches videos on her own up in the loft and is talking about the potty. Good times were had by all. Thanks to the Bausch's who included us in this great adventure!

"Thank You, Easter Bunny!"

This Easter was a lot different than last year's celebration. If you look back at that entry you'll see that when Kate saw the Easter eggs in the yard she didn't give a hoot. This year the Easter Bunny visited us in the night (he managed to find us at the cabin!) and we participated in an Easter egg hunt on the bunny hill at Brundage Mountain (http://www.brundage.com/13/easter-in-the-mountains/ for photos, as I didn't take any) where Kate appeared to have the time of her life. As we ran down the hill she looked up at me and said, "LOOK AT MEEEE!" Because we were one of the youngest participants, and not on skis, there weren't many eggs for the taking - but Kate didn't care. 3 eggs total, a little candy and some great fun in the sunshine. Thank you to Daddy who insisted we attend!!

A Glimpse

Today we had another ultrasound to check in on a couple of potential issues. The report is great - Anna is doing wonderfully and I, of course, appreciate any opportunity to catch a glimpse of her. Here is her adorable profile; a replica of Kate's ultrasound photos.

The Smallest of Gifts = The Greatest Excitment!

I've been a slacker blogger lately, but I suppose life has just gotten in the way of keeping you up to date on what's going on. Kate is becoming more and more of a person. Instead of repeating everything I say, she is starting to come up with her own thoughts. Yesterday she heard an airplane outside and said, "Listen! An airplane going to Grandma's!" This comment after much talk of taking an airplane to go visit Grandma B late this month. She has also discussed taking a rocket ship to see Grandma, and as you may know, when you take a rocket ship you have to cheer it on to make it go, "high up!" (from the show Little Einstein's). So is television teaching my daughter everything she knows? Maybe,... but it is a delight to see her singing songs, saying her ABC's and counting to 20. She is also starting to get very interested in babies. Don't you know, babies are "soooo cute!" I've laid off talking about her baby sister and all that, but we've started discussing how cute babies are, and how much fun it would be to get one. We're only 3 months away people! Enjoy this video of some conversation Kate and I had at the cabin last weekend.

Best Day Ever!?!

I think it might be safe to say that all of Brad's dreams came true yesterday. We headed off to Brundage ski resort outside of McCall to rent some tiny boots, skis and a helmet. I waited in the car while they went in to rent the equipment, and when I saw him carrying her with her shinny red boots, jiggling helmet and 3 foot skis I couldn't stop my laughing. We took her to the Bear Chair lift and immediately she told me, "I ready, Mama!" I pointed out to her all of the big kids on their skis while we waited for Brad and she was pumped up! We clipped her into the skis and Brad and Kate headed off for the chair lift. I watched and waited with camera in hand to catch it all. Finally I saw the two of them come from around a bend, Brad holding Kate, stopping, putting her down on the ground between his skis and heading down the hill. I knew he was excited to share this moment with her, but I had no idea how much she would love it! She had a great time, and when it was all over (3 runs) she didn't want to give up the rented gear. Luckily, a packed snack of popcorn gave her some incentive to say goodbye to the red boots and the big helmet. An excellent first!
After an afternoon of rest and relaxation back at the cabin we headed back into town and decided to check out the skating rink. It just happened to be Open Skate and we decided to rent 3 pairs and another jiggly helmet and hit the ice! Skiing and ice skating in one day! Oh my! Brad indicated that it was my turn to be the instructor - as of the 3 of us I am the most steady on skates. Funny thing is that at 23 weeks pregnant I don't feel that steady these days, but it was fantastic. We quickly found the easiest and most constructive method was for me to skate backwards holding on to Kate's hands. I learned to skate at 2 yrs old while pushing a chair around the ice. The rink provided stacks of buckets to push, but Kate told me, "No bucket, Mama's hands" so that's what we did. She kept saying, "Look at me! Look at me!" I think we all had a great time enjoying another first.
I was very proud with how happily she embraced these two new, adventurous, potentially scary activities! Makes me marvel at the fun things ahead - ski passes, our own skates, maybe even some ski goggles and a figure skating skirt. Oh my! The places we'll go...

Progress Makes Perfect

It takes time to make perfection out of cast-offs. And, the Martha Stewart empire wasn't created in a day, right? But, if I keep this up, the next thing you know I'll have my own station on satellite radio. If only I could actually sew. Anywho, between wrapping up at the Special Olympics, normal life with a 2 year old and clearing out the crap that has piled up over our 5 years here, we're getting closer to a big girl room. It seems so strange that "baby girl" isn't baby girl anymore. She is very excited about the big girl room concept - the big girl room and bed, big girl panties, big girl bikes, etc. And thank goodness another baby girl is on her way, otherwise I might just be a little weepy about all of this big girl stuff.

Check it out - the "scarf story" from the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. This video was first shown at Opening Ceremonies (and made me cry!).

Big Girl This... Big Girl That...

Since our unproductive big girl bedroom furniture shopping (see previous post) I committed myself to finding a delightfully cute, hodge podge big girl room on craigslist.com. FYI, in the event that you haven't fervently sought out an object of your desire on craislist.com, IT IS HARD WORK! It is simply a dog-eat-dog world out there. You need to be available to search the website 24 hours a day, you need the stars to align and have the seller actually call/email you back, and need to be able to hop in your car at a moment's notice to go take a look at the item at the seller's convenience. Needless to say, I have none of those qualities.

This said, last week I secured a horribly ugly bed, a nice mattress and box spring, and a chest of drawers within a matter of about 35 hours. With the help of Home Depot, JoAnn's Fabrics and my Aunt Pat I was able to turn some pure crap into some pure delights for a big girl room worth bragging about.

Okay, so we're not quite there, but so close! The next item(s) on the agenda is taking away the remaining "office" bits of the room, in order that I can actually fit all of this new stuff in there. Good bye boxes of crap carried from Chicago 5 years ago! Good bye super slow clunker computer! And an especially enthusiastic good bye to a crumbling computer desk!! And can I please welcome the Weissenberger's to a new wireless world? I mean, please, it is 2009.

Enjoy (Brenna requested some "in progress" photos)...

Big Girl Beds!

We spent the day Saturday shopping for a big girl bed. Kate didn't really know what was on the agenda, until we walked into the brightly lit, pastel dream land of a local furniture store. She immediately said, "princess bed!" in the most airy and dreamy of voices and climbed into a swirling, silver wonder of a bed that looked like Cinderella's carriage. Needless to say, Kate LOVED it. We then found this bed, which Kate took an immediate liking to - since there were "kitty cats" involved. She helped herself...