A visit from Citty

We got to enjoy a visit from my friend, Cathy, today. Cathy, fondly known as Citty (or Aunt Citty to my kids), is from our neck of the woods but lives in California now. We met her for lunch and had fun catching up. When we visited them in March Kyle kept calling her Meow the entire time, but as with many other cute things he used to say, he now calls her Aunt Citty. (Of course I will give up those cute little things for the conversations I can now have with him!) My favorite news of lunch was that Cathy and Gary may be moving back here as soon as next year! Of course we will have to find a new winter vacation spot now, LOL!

Cathy and Erin
Kyle found the perfect spot to eat lunch. The table was pretty tall and the bench seemed kind of far, so Kyle sat on the large window sill to eat! Hey, it worked perfect!
After lunch Aunt Citty bought Kyle some Skittles from the machine and indulged Kyle when he wanted to sit at the bar.
Kyle peeking out from a mum and pumpkin display downtown South Haven.
And as if lunch with Cathy wasn't enough of a highlight for the day, I came home and had two children fall fast asleep! And it's been two hours already! I almost don't know what to do with myself. ;-)

... And I spoke too soon, by the time I placed the pictures I had two kids awake!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

We just returned from Jack's second birthday party. Happy Birthday, Jack!! Kyle was excited about it all week, he kept asking if there would be cake and party hats. Aunt Beth did not let him down!

As you can see, Kyle did get a cast on his arm. He will have it for four weeks, and seems to be adjusting well. He has gotten used to the idea that it is staying on, even though yesterday he kept asking to have it off. He does use his arm some for smaller tasks, but mostly uses his right hand. You may think breaking the left arm would be good, but our boy seems to be a leftie. And no, it has not slowed him down at all!

All the partying tuckered little Erin right out!

Sticks and stones may break my bones... or couches...

Well, for Kyle it was a couch. Mike and I have wondered several times while watching our fearless daredevil how long it would be before he broke a bone. We guessed it would be before age five. Well, it was before age three.

This morning while we were getting ready to go to play group Kyle and I raced to over to the window to watch a military plane zooming by. Kyle was standing on the couch pillows, and as I turned to pick Erin up he either jumped over the arm of the couch or fell over the arm of the couch. Either way, there are stairs there and he had a uneven hard landing. As seen here...

Kyle was really shook up. He was sobbing and trembling. I held him and held him, and then he wanted to lay down and I got him his blankie, puppy and heen (pacifier). After a few minutes, through his little sobs he kept saying, "P-p-play g-g-group?" I asked him if he really still wanted to go to play group and he was pretty adamant he did. I figured it would take his mind off the fall, and I could watch to see if any part of him seemed hurt. He seemed a little protective of his wrist, but not too much. When I asked him where it hurt he kept telling me, "Got hurt right there, Mommy," and pointing to the couch, LOL.

We did play group and he was fairly clingy and quiet. As we were leaving he asked if we were going to McDonald's, as we usually do with some of the other moms, and he was sure he wanted to go. It became very clear in the PlayPlace that he definitely had hurt his wrist. After putting his weight on it he started crying a lot again. I figured two more hours wasn't going to make a difference for his wrist,and we headed home for his nap first. Without the nap it would have made a huge difference in how smooth the ER visit went!

Kyle was a trooper in the ER. When we got into the room to do the x-rays there was a small bathroom off to the side. As we got ready to get on the table Kyle said, "Go potty, Mommy. Go potty." I looked at him and said, "You've had no interest in potty training and NOW you want to go potty?? I don't think so!"

After the x-rays came back and were read the diagnosis was a buckle fracture. It is common in young children because when they put their hand out to stop a fall the bone buckles on one side. He has a splint on it tonight and we need to call the orthopedic doctor in the morning. We will find out then if he wants to put a cast on it.

While we were in the ER Kyle had to make sure that the doctor knew that his train's name was Toby. And also that doctors say, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed." LOL

So here's Kyle with his splint. He was not happy to get it on at all, but he has been doing well with it. It helped that he had an Elmo cupcake to eat from Aunt Beth. ;-) You can also see it isn't stopping the playing, and it hasn't slowed him down at all.

I've been tagged

I was tagged on a friend's blog to fill out what we have been told is called a Meme. Hmm. Curiousity got me to Google it and I got this: At its most basic, an Internet meme is simply the propagation of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet (for example, email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, etc.) Anyway, I have been challenged to fill this out, share the rules, and tag another blogger. So here goes.

The rules are:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell six (6) unspectacular quirks about you.
Tag six (6) fellow bloggers by linking to them.
Leave a comment in each of their blogs to let them know they have been tagged.

Here goes…
1. I am addicted to books. If I had unlimited money I would likely buy several a day because I know of at least that many daily that I want to read/buy. The problem is, with a toddler and an infant I do not have time to read. Yet I continue to buy. Thus why I have a pile of books I want to get to. And don’t even talk to me about magazines.

2. I am obsessed with the couch pillows being where they belong and the couch blankets being folded. My husband, unfortunately, has the exact opposite obsession. I am working on this, but I still cannot go to bed without the front room being organized. It starts my day off on the wrong foot if I come down the stairs to pillows and blankets everywhere.

3. I have come to the conclusion that I have child-onset ADD. I did not have this before I had children, so it has to be child-onset. Although I just told Mike that it could be because I have literally not gotten a full night of sleep in more than a year. Maybe three. Wait, what I am talking about here? I’ve lost my train of thought. Train? Yeah, Kyle’s birthday party will probably be a Thomas the Train one.

4. Along the same lines, I think I used to be smarter. I thought this last night as we were listening to Karl Rove speak at Economic Club. I think back to when I worked for Fred Upton, worked on Capitol Hill, and lived just outside of Washington, DC. I used to grab the Washington Post from outside the front door before I even went to the bathroom in the morning to make sure I didn’t miss some big news event overnight. Being well briefed on news these days just isn’t happening.

5. I love taking pictures, as evidenced by the fact that in less than two years I have taken 10,600 pictures on my Canon Rebel XTi. No wonder I am way behind on my scrapbooking! I want to learn more about being a better photographer, but seem to be too busy taking pictures, LOL.

6. I am a clutter person. No matter how hard I try, I have clutter. I've always had a clutter room… one that I could quickly dump all the clutter in, shut the door, and my house could be “company ready” in literally moments. Someone could pull up, and I could have the clutter thrown in there before they were done knocking on the door. Y’all thought I was neat, didn’t you? Nope. BUT, now the clutter room is a playroom and I have no clutter room. It kills me, I tell you.

Okay… now, who to tag since Valerie already got a number of the bloggers I know. I will tag Christine, Carol, Mia, Jessica, Crystal, and Sarah.

Boys night in

Kyle's cousin Jack spent the night on Friday night, and the boys had a great time. Here's a recap in pictures.

Pizza for dinner.... YUM!

Silly Jack!

Bathtime fun!

The boys had matching PJs. Beth and bought the same ones this summer!

Stories before bed. Note... Kyle went to bed in the bed I am leaning on in the picture.

A trip upstairs to check on the noise level reveals this. (After several more visits by Kyle I moved Jack into the pack and play I had set up in our room for Erin!)

Morning couch time and a little Blue's Clues.

More play time before Jack heads home.

Kyle finds a way to go green

No need to waste paper here. You get one sheet for painting; if you need more, improvise.

Way to grow!

Erin had her four month appointment today and she is 14 lb 3 oz and just over 24 inches. Way to grow, girl! She took three shots and one oral vaccination like a champ. Everything was great!

I was told that I do need to keep giving her the very nasty, very gross oral vitamins (American Academy of Pediatrics new recommendation), and I should not be giving her cereal until six months (another American Academy of Pediatrics new recommendation). The first I'm grudgingly okay with, the second I may split the difference and start her at five months. It has to do with food allergy prevention, and we don't have any family history or them so I think she'd be fine.

Random thoughts from a grammar geek

Yes, I am a grammar geek, which is probably why I have a part time job from home that involves fixing other people’s grammar mistakes. It annoys me to no end when I see grammatical errors. I don’t really have a problem with them on Internet message boards, in emails, etc. because those are fairly spontaneous and I don’t expect people to sit and painstakingly proof their thoughts. (Clarity is good… but typos are okay.) I do hate it, though, when I see published or displayed text that has errors.

To this end, I continually think to myself that every sign manufacturer or graphic art house should be required to have a grammar specialist on staff. I think if I were a lawmaker I would make it a law. If someone comes in and orders a sign, gently let them know that they look dumb the way they have it and suggest the correct grammar.

Here are some recent pet peeves of mine…

I told Mike that never, ever could we live in the new residential area under construction north of town that says “A lakeshore sub-division” on the sign. Why, why would you put that hyphen in subdivision?

And the McDonald’s here in town has a very large PlayPlace. According to their billboards the PlayPlace is “Michigan’s” largest indoor PlayPlace. Is there some reason why Michigan should be in quotes?

Some businesses in downtown South Haven will close for the winter, so they are winding down now. Yesterday I saw a sign in the window of one that said, “Nothing more than $19.99 or less.” So apparently every item in the store is $19.99, since nothing is more and nothing is less.

Finally, this summer our church got a new sign in front. It is much larger and you can put messages on it. They needed a volunteer to change the wording once a week or so and I volunteered. I told Mike I figured we lived so close and I could just take the kids over in the stroller. He said, “Yeah. You know you just want to make sure the grammar is right.”

I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next version of this book to come out to replace my old eighth edition from my All-Phase days. I figure edition 11 has to be soon. So there's my embarrassing ramble for today. :)

Happy 4 Months, Erin!!

Happy four month birthday sweet girl! Erin is four months old today, which seems so hard to believe. She is growing up much too fast!

Erin’s biggest activity this past month has been toys, toys, toys. She loves to pick up and look at toys. Whether she is lying on the floor or sitting in the exersaucer, Bumbo or car seat, she is grabbing at toys. Her hand/eye coordination is really, really good because she always makes contact with whichever toy she is reaching for.

Erin rolls each way occasionally, while not often she has been picking up the pace on it in the past few days. She enjoys lying on her side, so I don’t think she feels a lot of motivation to roll all the way. She does turn, though, when she is lying on her back. She is sort of like a spinner on a game because she doesn’t move away from her center point; she just goes in a circle one way and then the other. In general Erin is very strong. Her neck and shoulders have no problem supporting her when she is on her belly, and she stands with a lot of strength when supported.

Erin tried her first bite of cereal a couple days before turning four months. I’m not sure how much actually made it to her tummy, but she had no problem with the spoon and the taste of the cereal. She probably doesn’t mind the spoon since she puts everything in her mouth lately. Her favorite thing to do is suck on her thumb or her fingers with her blankie in there as well. She seems to really like fabric!

Erin continues to be really easy going, nothing fazes her. She is always ready with a smile, especially for her brother. Kyle hands out kisses and hugs to Erin constantly and she loves it! She will squeal with delight when tickled or nuzzled. She is a bubbly, happy girl and we are so lucky to have such a joyful baby!

We’re still waiting for her to sleep through the night; in fact, we would like her to just get up once a night to eat instead of twice or even three times! But we’ll get there when she is ready.

~~

Here are a few pictures from the past couple days of Erin, including her first bites of cereal. The one with the pillow is the comparison shot I am doing each month to show her growth.

Ahhhh, school stuff

I've always loved to read, and I was always one of those kids that looked forward to school starting again. Don't get me wrong, I loved summer vacation, but I was always ready to go back. When I was in college I loved that Michigan State was on quarters. Ten weeks was perfect for classes. Just as I was tired of them we got to start all over again with new classes.

Now I am so excited to see Kyle show such a love of reading. I'm overjoyed to watch his enthusiasm and pride over all he is learning right now. He is thrilled to know his colors and tells me colors all the time. We'll be sitting at a red light and I'll hear, "Red car, grey car, two grey car, blue car, brown car," from the back seat. I'll look, and sure enough, there's a red car, two grey cars, a blue one and a brown one. We'll walk across the Wal-Mart parking lot and I hear, "W-A-L-M-more A-R-T," and a glance at Kyle confirms that he is eyeing the side of the building. He points things out to me all the time just to say the words and relish that he knows them.

Since he is not yet three, I am walking a line between pushing him into learning more than he needs to just yet, or taking away from pure play, yet still challenging his mind and keeping him interested. Last week I was looking for workbooks with early learning skills, and my sister-in-law, Kimberly, told me about a huge warehouse sale coming up by a publisher not far from me. My sister and I went to it yesterday. Boy did I score big time. The workbooks I was looking at in Wal-Mart for $3 were available for 25 and 50 cents, for example. Software for as low as 50 cents. It was amazing!

I did spend $50 and bought more than we will likely need, but Erin will be able to use it, too, and some stuff is actually geared toward babies. When I added up the suggested retail prices on the things I bought it came to $270!!!! I saved $220 over what I would have paid in the store!!

Kyle already has been into the box and really anxious to use the stuff. When I got out of the shower today he'd taken everything from the box I'd brought it home in and had it all spread out. He was champing at the bit for me to sit down with him. We just keep passing this enthusiasm back and forth!

Our loot, all of it, then a couple close up shots. There are a few books that Kyle already took up to his room to read, so they aren't in there, and some of the big workbooks include computer software that you can tell from the picture. The big blocks in the corner are activity packs. Kyle loves his preschool one, and the other one is a baby one for Erin.

Picture Friday

I'm just squeaking in with my Picture Friday post, but, believe it or not, there weren't a lot to catch up on since last Friday since I did the tractor show as its own post. So here are a couple of Erin because she's so gosh darn cute!

This one tells two things about Erin. One is that she loves to lay on her side. The other is that she loves to play with her toys. Alright, it also tells that she is usually a very happy girl! :-)

Wednesday night we had our W.I.L.D. Wednesday kick off at church, it's the Wednesday night youth program. Our theme for the fall is God's Team, so we had lots of games and team things to play. Kyle had a blast in the bouncy Noah's Ark, and he got to enjoy his first root beer float!

Putt, putt, putt goes the tractor

Kyle, and the rest of us, got to see lots of tractors last weekend at the Michigan Flywheelers 25th annual Antique Engine and Tractor Show here in South Haven. We headed over Saturday morning for a couple hours to see lots of tractors, engines, a sawmill and a blacksmith. There was also a man there who had set up a huge table with different trains and tracks running on it... I think this was the true highlight for Kyle. He kept asking to go back and see the trains again. He would stand there just gazing and watching. I think he would have spent the day at that train table!

Plugging the walks...

I have several friends who are diligently raising money for really good causes right now by participating in walks. Sooo, if you're looking for some great causes to support, and some great people, here are the links.

Our family friends, the Donegan's, are supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This has become a passionate cause for them as they look to make a difference for Lucy. (As a side note, my cousin Debbie is also a tremendous fundraiser for this cause because her son Justin has juvenile diabetes.)
Lucky Lucy's team

My friend Colleen has been working her tail off to raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I have been so proud of her commitment to this great cause!!
Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

My friend Mia is also raising money for breast cancer research through the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure... another great organization.
Milwaukee Race for the Cure

Many of us find that at the end of the year we're making some charitable contributions for tax reasons... if that is something you do, why not pick up one of these causes now? Thanks!

Picture Friday

I'm going to try to designate Friday as picture catch-up day, and for misc pictures that don't really need their own post. Here are some recent pictures.

Erin is a swaddle girl. She can be fussing up a storm because she's tired, and you put her in the swaddle and out she goes. I've made several light weight swaddlers with a yard of fabric.

Erin also likes her thumb. :) Although she is currently trying out her fingers and we don't have a clear winner yet. She said she will decide in November.

And she likes to hold a blankie. :)

Kyle says, "Whoa up and brush those teeth fella." Kyle had been doing exceptionally well with the tooth brushing. We have a chart in the bathroom with stickers and when he fills it he gets a new train. Sometimes I have to tell him it doesn't count to brush them twice in a row without even leaving the bathroom, LOL.

Sibling love...

Erin in her "new" exersaucer (it's really Jack's.) As I was setting it up she was laying on the floor next to it and reaching for it. She was so determined she rolled from her back to her belly for the first time!! And Kyle is furious that he doesn't get to sit in it!

As I took Erin's picture in the exersaucer Kyle was intent on getting his taken and kept saying, "Cheese!!!"