randomly, at the dinner table, in a sing-song voice, "someday, i get older, i have beard like daddy!"
"we goin camping. gonna sleep in a cabbage" (cabin).
love - "gwampa is at gwamma's house"
me - "no, grandpa used to be at grandma's house, but now he is in heaven with jesus"
love, matter-of-factly - "yeah, he works there. jesus tells him what to do."
after i helped her get up from sitting on the ground, she ran off saying, "i am back on the rails!"
i love this age! she is so much fun!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
day trip turned overnighter
it all started two days ago, on friday. it was supposed to be a day trip to the east side of the state with two goals: to get a much-needed crib for jobot at ikea, and then to visit our dear friends bekah and ryan in ann arbor.
we got out of the house in record time and hit the road, planning to be at ikea by lunch time. two hours in and jobot was sleeping and love was accidentally buying things on the iphone. oops. glad she only spent $1.96, though we didn't really want those digital coloring pages. we changed the settings on the phone so that can't happen again. we were cruising right along...until we weren't. the van stopped shifting gears and the rpms were getting higher and higher. (as a side note, i have always been worried about the transmission in this van even though two mechanics looked at it and said it was just fine. any time the van makes a weird noise, i say something about the transmission, which jeremy - understandably - finds irritating).
so the rpms were getting higher and higher and we were waiting for the van to gear down, which it wasn't doing. so, i said, "jeremy, this is not right. something is wrong with this, this is not what the car is supposed to be doing" and jeremy says, "don't go off on this tangent about the transmission again. we're just going up a hill" (may i add, it was slight incline in the road...not classified as a hill). cue smoke to start pouring out of from under the hood and also pouring into the van through the air vents. it smelled bad. something was really not right.
it was providential that in the minute that all of that happened, we came upon a rest stop and pulled into a parking spot. more smoke pouring out. someone pulled into the space next to us and asked if they could help us. it turned out that they knew about cars. they said it was the transmission...there was no transmission fluid. could just be that a seal broke and all the fluid drained out, or it could be worse.
thank goodness we were at a rest stop with bathrooms. anyway, we called a tow truck with aaa (knew there was a reason we pay for that every year!). they could tow us within a five mile radius for free, so we agreed to just tow it to the town that was (thankfully) only two miles away. the problem was that they didn't have a tow truck that could fit all of us. we called around town for a rental car. all we could find was a car that was available in an hour-and-a-half. so, the plan was that we would unload the van, the kids and i would wait at the rest area while jeremy eventually came back to pick us up with the rental car. it wasn't ideal considering it was 45 degrees outside and there was nowhere to sit inside the rest area...but that was our only option.
amazingly, at that moment, someone pulled into the parking space next to us. it was an older couple. the woman came over to our window and asked if we were having trouble. we explained the situation and she was very nice. then the tow truck came so we unloaded the van and up onto the two truck it went. the woman was still walking around and kindly offered to drive the kids and i to the rental car place! so, we loaded up the car seats and soon the kids and i were being dropped off there (the woman even gave me a big hug goodbye) and jeremy was at the mechanic. conveniently, there was a bucket of candy inside the office, so love enjoyed her first tootsie pop while i did paperwork. the rental car arrived earlier than anticipated and we headed off to the mechanic to pick up jeremy. we decided to just continue on with our day and wait to hear about the van. by this time, it was early afternoon and we were hungry so we stopped for lunch. as we were about to leave the parking lot after lunch, we got the call from the mechanic.
it was the worst case scenario...our transmission was shot. the quote to fix it: $2800. i kinda felt like i wanted to throw up. we started driving. we couldn't decide what to do. we ended up sitting in a parking lot and both kids were screaming in the back seat. then love decided she had to poop...it was crazy. we called our mechanic and asked for his advice. we decided to have the van towed home and fixed here. but we decided not to do anything until monday and try to enjoy the rest of the day.
so we headed to ikea. it wasn't a leisurely trip, but we fulfilled one of our goals - we got the crib. our wonderful friends in ann arbor offered to let us stay at their house overnight, and we thought that was best considering everything. after a quick stop to pick up a few toiletries, we headed to their house. shortly after we walked in the door, jeremy had a beer and i had a much-needed glass of wine in hand (thanks guys!). we enjoyed a relaxing evening of conversation, pizza, kid craziness, and staying up later than usual. it was such fun and we are so thankful for their friendship and their hospitality. after a rough night of sleep thanks to our children (i have officially self-diagnosed love with a made-up sleep disorder called "unfamiliar surroundings weird-somnia"), we enjoyed a bit more time with friends and headed out to make it home in time to drop off the rental car by noon. the trip back was less eventful than the way there, jeremy shared his starbucks gift card with me and bought me a chai and we had good conversation as we drove along. oh, and love didn't buy anything else, so that was a bonus as well.
what a saga. but, you know what? the weird thing is...these days weren't horrible. we were encouraged because we didn't have a huge fight, which certainly would have happened at past times in our marriage (we must actually be learning something!). we enjoyed being together, and we were amazed at the ways we saw God taking care of us and providing for us amidst the craziness. we thanked him all throughout the days. we enjoyed visiting with friends, jobot now has a crib, and we made it home safe and sound, thankful it was only a transmission and not a car accident or serious health problem.
we got out of the house in record time and hit the road, planning to be at ikea by lunch time. two hours in and jobot was sleeping and love was accidentally buying things on the iphone. oops. glad she only spent $1.96, though we didn't really want those digital coloring pages. we changed the settings on the phone so that can't happen again. we were cruising right along...until we weren't. the van stopped shifting gears and the rpms were getting higher and higher. (as a side note, i have always been worried about the transmission in this van even though two mechanics looked at it and said it was just fine. any time the van makes a weird noise, i say something about the transmission, which jeremy - understandably - finds irritating).
so the rpms were getting higher and higher and we were waiting for the van to gear down, which it wasn't doing. so, i said, "jeremy, this is not right. something is wrong with this, this is not what the car is supposed to be doing" and jeremy says, "don't go off on this tangent about the transmission again. we're just going up a hill" (may i add, it was slight incline in the road...not classified as a hill). cue smoke to start pouring out of from under the hood and also pouring into the van through the air vents. it smelled bad. something was really not right.
it was providential that in the minute that all of that happened, we came upon a rest stop and pulled into a parking spot. more smoke pouring out. someone pulled into the space next to us and asked if they could help us. it turned out that they knew about cars. they said it was the transmission...there was no transmission fluid. could just be that a seal broke and all the fluid drained out, or it could be worse.
thank goodness we were at a rest stop with bathrooms. anyway, we called a tow truck with aaa (knew there was a reason we pay for that every year!). they could tow us within a five mile radius for free, so we agreed to just tow it to the town that was (thankfully) only two miles away. the problem was that they didn't have a tow truck that could fit all of us. we called around town for a rental car. all we could find was a car that was available in an hour-and-a-half. so, the plan was that we would unload the van, the kids and i would wait at the rest area while jeremy eventually came back to pick us up with the rental car. it wasn't ideal considering it was 45 degrees outside and there was nowhere to sit inside the rest area...but that was our only option.
amazingly, at that moment, someone pulled into the parking space next to us. it was an older couple. the woman came over to our window and asked if we were having trouble. we explained the situation and she was very nice. then the tow truck came so we unloaded the van and up onto the two truck it went. the woman was still walking around and kindly offered to drive the kids and i to the rental car place! so, we loaded up the car seats and soon the kids and i were being dropped off there (the woman even gave me a big hug goodbye) and jeremy was at the mechanic. conveniently, there was a bucket of candy inside the office, so love enjoyed her first tootsie pop while i did paperwork. the rental car arrived earlier than anticipated and we headed off to the mechanic to pick up jeremy. we decided to just continue on with our day and wait to hear about the van. by this time, it was early afternoon and we were hungry so we stopped for lunch. as we were about to leave the parking lot after lunch, we got the call from the mechanic.
it was the worst case scenario...our transmission was shot. the quote to fix it: $2800. i kinda felt like i wanted to throw up. we started driving. we couldn't decide what to do. we ended up sitting in a parking lot and both kids were screaming in the back seat. then love decided she had to poop...it was crazy. we called our mechanic and asked for his advice. we decided to have the van towed home and fixed here. but we decided not to do anything until monday and try to enjoy the rest of the day.
so we headed to ikea. it wasn't a leisurely trip, but we fulfilled one of our goals - we got the crib. our wonderful friends in ann arbor offered to let us stay at their house overnight, and we thought that was best considering everything. after a quick stop to pick up a few toiletries, we headed to their house. shortly after we walked in the door, jeremy had a beer and i had a much-needed glass of wine in hand (thanks guys!). we enjoyed a relaxing evening of conversation, pizza, kid craziness, and staying up later than usual. it was such fun and we are so thankful for their friendship and their hospitality. after a rough night of sleep thanks to our children (i have officially self-diagnosed love with a made-up sleep disorder called "unfamiliar surroundings weird-somnia"), we enjoyed a bit more time with friends and headed out to make it home in time to drop off the rental car by noon. the trip back was less eventful than the way there, jeremy shared his starbucks gift card with me and bought me a chai and we had good conversation as we drove along. oh, and love didn't buy anything else, so that was a bonus as well.
what a saga. but, you know what? the weird thing is...these days weren't horrible. we were encouraged because we didn't have a huge fight, which certainly would have happened at past times in our marriage (we must actually be learning something!). we enjoyed being together, and we were amazed at the ways we saw God taking care of us and providing for us amidst the craziness. we thanked him all throughout the days. we enjoyed visiting with friends, jobot now has a crib, and we made it home safe and sound, thankful it was only a transmission and not a car accident or serious health problem.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
sleep and stuff
i'm exhausted and a bit frazzled tonight. whew...it feels good to sit down. the kids are both in bed and my hubby is making me an omelette. he recently busted out his omelette making skills, impressing me, as every time i try to make an omelette it turns into eggs scrambled with whatever i was trying to put in the omelette. ha. turns out he worked in the cafeteria when he was in college and spent saturday mornings making custom omelettes for students. he became a pro. how did i make it through over four years of marriage before learning this about my husband? i'm not sure, but i'm glad that now i know that fact and am able to take advantage of it almost weekly. and also glad to know that we are not finished learning about each other yet.
it is amazing that it is 7 pm and both kids are in bed. and neither one is crying. jobot recently got into a really, really bad sleep pattern. a few weeks ago he was usually going down for the night around 9. he would fall asleep while nursing and then i would carefully creep up the stairs and lay him in bed. sometimes he would keep sleeping and other times his eyes would pop open and we would have to go through the whole thing all over again. once sleeping, though, he would sleep until 4 or 5 when i would get up and grab him and then doze in my chair while he nursed. that was all liveable (though not ideal). enter about ten days ago when he got a cold. he wasn't feeling well and was waking up more during the night. he refuses to take a pacifier and doesn't suck his thumb, so the only way to soothe him is for me to nurse him. we started sleeping together in my chair because he wanted to nurse and i wanted to sleep. then there was last wednesday night when he cried all night. i took him to the walk-in clinic in the morning as soon as it opened. yup, it turned out he had his first ear infection.
antibiotics took care of the ear infection, but unfortunately, they did not take care of the new habit of sleeping all night in the chair with mommy, a routine that quickly became unlivable for me. oh, how i wanted to sleep in my bed without a baby attached to me! (can you tell that i'm not exactly into attachment parenting? my time without kids is necessary, and so is my sleep).
so...jobot has moved into his own room and has been crying it out a bit. i absolutely hate having him cry, but there doesn't seem to be another way at this point. the good news is that he went down tonight (at 6 pm) with no crying at all. so, it seems that he is learning to soothe himself and fall asleep without me. this is one of the aspects of parenting that i strongly dislike, but it must be done, i guess.
i have a lot more to say, and i want to share some photos of the great camping trip we had with my mom a couple of weeks ago, but now i am going to go spend some time with jeremy. goodnight for now.
it is amazing that it is 7 pm and both kids are in bed. and neither one is crying. jobot recently got into a really, really bad sleep pattern. a few weeks ago he was usually going down for the night around 9. he would fall asleep while nursing and then i would carefully creep up the stairs and lay him in bed. sometimes he would keep sleeping and other times his eyes would pop open and we would have to go through the whole thing all over again. once sleeping, though, he would sleep until 4 or 5 when i would get up and grab him and then doze in my chair while he nursed. that was all liveable (though not ideal). enter about ten days ago when he got a cold. he wasn't feeling well and was waking up more during the night. he refuses to take a pacifier and doesn't suck his thumb, so the only way to soothe him is for me to nurse him. we started sleeping together in my chair because he wanted to nurse and i wanted to sleep. then there was last wednesday night when he cried all night. i took him to the walk-in clinic in the morning as soon as it opened. yup, it turned out he had his first ear infection.
antibiotics took care of the ear infection, but unfortunately, they did not take care of the new habit of sleeping all night in the chair with mommy, a routine that quickly became unlivable for me. oh, how i wanted to sleep in my bed without a baby attached to me! (can you tell that i'm not exactly into attachment parenting? my time without kids is necessary, and so is my sleep).
so...jobot has moved into his own room and has been crying it out a bit. i absolutely hate having him cry, but there doesn't seem to be another way at this point. the good news is that he went down tonight (at 6 pm) with no crying at all. so, it seems that he is learning to soothe himself and fall asleep without me. this is one of the aspects of parenting that i strongly dislike, but it must be done, i guess.
i have a lot more to say, and i want to share some photos of the great camping trip we had with my mom a couple of weeks ago, but now i am going to go spend some time with jeremy. goodnight for now.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
the zoo!
we went to a zoo with papa - such fun!
love had a blast feeding the giraffes! (i love this photo!)
and so did daddy. (really, all of us did.)
we rode the zoo train. it was definitely a highlight for love - and a highlight for all of us because we got to watch her enjoy it.
jobot was very interested in the goats...
they rode the carousel.
we all rode the tram.
and this kid looked cute, as usual.
we were all tired out at the end of the day, but we were thankful for such a fun day and good memories made with papa!
lately
what have we been up to lately? oh, just the usual. you know...
playing with homemade slime in the sink...
lining up trains in empty egg cartons...
dressing up like a princess...
finding trains "resting" in our slippers...
learning how to use scissors...
looking cute...
riding a pony for the first time and loving it. (she saw another girl riding the pony and looked at me and said sweetly, "mama, pretty please i want to ride the horse". how could we say no?)
being goofy. (the eyes were a birthday gift that love picked out for jeremy at the dollar store. "daddy wants those eyes!" apparently he did. haha. they came in a pack of twelve, so we've had creepy eyes rolling around our house for a week now).
waiting for papa at the airport. he just left yesterday after a fun-filled twelve day visit.
making sure we are prepared for winter...
enjoying lots of time with papa.
the kids and i have a cold, so we have been laying low around here. wiping noses, snuggling, waking up more during the night, missing social events, and soothing a frustrated baby who can't eat and breathe at the same time. we also had a short incident of the stomach flu from love. short as in
(thankfully) only one episode of vomiting. unfortunately, the episode occurred on monday evening during dinner out at a restaurant. she went from happily sitting at the table to walking around hunched over and moaning and crying and saying her tummy hurt. and then all of a sudden we were those people...the ones who were sitting in the middle of the restaurant whose kid vomited all over. and yes, that was my husband who was examining the vomit in his hand and actually asked me what i thought a chunk of it was. seriously, he did that. (sorry, that's probably too much information). we sat there awkwardly while the servers brought towels upon towels, assured us that it wasn't a big deal and that it had actually happened three other times this week. we packed up our food, our just opened bottle of wine, and i took our girl to the bathroom and changed her clothes. it was an unfortunate outing to have forgotten baby wipes and an extra shirt...but we made due and used a baby blanket as a shirt. sometimes you just have to get creative, right?
i'm not such a happy mama when it comes to staying home with sick kids. especially when i'm feeling under the weather myself. i'm ashamed to say i was pretty grouchy this morning before jeremy left for work. i think there may even have been some words out of my mouth that went something like, "i am thankful that i can be the one to care for our kids during the day, but today i really don't like my job."
but...i had a few more swigs of coffee and said a few prayers, and i was "back on the rails" as love would say. the morning went okay and jeremy even got to come home early. he is working...but he is sitting on the couch next to me working instead of being an hour away. i like that better.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
campers
mid-summer came and i got the camping bug. it happens every year. i longed for the musty smell of the tent, the coziness of sleeping bags, the fun of roasting hot dogs, the smell of the campfire, and the atmosphere of a campground.
i knew that camping with a two-year-old and two-month-old wouldn't be relaxing. (and it wasn't.)
but we wanted our kids to experience the joy of camping. so...we packed up and headed out. we originally planned to be gone one night, but after all the work involved in packing and setting up, we decided to stretch it to two. that was a good decision.
we camped at our favorite spot - ludington state park. we ate hot dogs. we introduced our girl to smores. we walked around the campground and went for a swim in lake michigan. jeremy finally conceded and agreed that swimming in lake michigan is better than swimming in the ocean.
we set up for meals and then cleaned up. we found that one of our tent poles had snapped sometime since our last camping trip and creatively made due without it. i forgot our sweatshirts (oops), so we made a stop at the gift shop. we slept on a bed that was covered in sand. we found out that our air mattress has a hole in it, and our lantern needs a new rechargeable battery. we went for drives both nights in a last ditch attempt to get love to finally fall asleep. we put up with her night terrors at 4 am the first night (and so did all of our campground neighbors!). we laughed in shock and sighed with relief when in the midst of her night terror, she suddenly plopped her head down on her pillow and fell asleep. we endured early morning thunderstorms complete with rolling thunder and constant lightning. we sopped up the puddles in our tent in the morning. we packed up a soaking wet tent and set it all up again to dry after we got home.
love touched her first fish. we enjoyed snuggling up with two cozy kids in the cool of the morning. we admired the 18 pound fish our neighbors caught on their fishing expedition. we marveled at our other neighbors who had a flat screen tv set up on their picnic table. we watched our girl sit in her little green chair and wave at cars, bikers, and walkers who passed our campsite. i snuggled with jobot and nursed him by the campfire. we scoped out other people's camping gear. we laughed together the first night after we put love to bed with a glow stick and then saw the light moving all around the tent as she walked around inside. we played games at the picnic table.
early morning in the tent. love these two little snugglers!
special cereals when we go camping!
enjoying some hot chocolate...
tired out from a late night and then some wave jumping in lake michigan.
nursing by the fire. something so cozy about that!
first smore...haha.
yummy!
a walk around the campground.
and a kind kid who happened to catch a fish right when we walked by. he showed love and let her touch it and then we watched the fish swim away!
we are pretty sure that was our last tent camping experience for a while. it's just really challenging with kids! but...we both agreed that it was worth it and it was definitely a memory maker.
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