May 25

Day 1 of Playset Building

We bought Tyler a playset for the backyard for his birthday. We figured if Mike started building it now it might be done in time for his birthday. We opened the instructions and the boxes and realized there are over 1500 screws. This what our garage looks like right now. Hopefully we will get some decent weather so it goes up faster. Today Mike and his dad were working on it but we were having 40 mile per hour wind gusts which wasn't helping to expedite the process. Mia and Tyler play more together every day. Sometimes it works out well and other times Tyler is a little rough with her. Mia will happily play by herself for 30 minutes or more but Tyler is always asking me, "Where is Mia, what is she doing?" He is such a busybody. He has started the "why" phase. Every thing we ask him to do is met with a "why" and the hard questions like "Why is there thunder?" are beginning was too early. Here is a picture of Mia waving to Daddy as he snaps her picture. Mia scared the heck out of me on Friday when I realized she had a quarter in her mouth. Tyler got a piggy bank and like to collect coins in his pocket which inevitably fall out while he is playing and Mia is always right there waiting for whatever treasure Tyler might have.

May 24 - Carly's Birthday Party

As you can see, Tyler was not slowed down by his injury. Grammy brought "snaps" that you throw on the ground and they make a loud bang. Tyler got a kick out of it. Mia is acting a little less shy and starting to feel more comfortable with other people holding her. She is just so sweet, I can't even describe it. She is learning to wave which right now looks more like "Hail to Hitler."

Of course, when we got home that night, we had to change Tyler's bandages because the gauze was so dirty and the steri-strip holding everything together fell off. It was supposed to last for a week so were kind of freaking out. After a quick call to the hospital, Mike devised a new bandage that seems to be working. We thought for sure Tyler would wake up in the middle of night in pain but not a peep out of him.

May 24

Ty's First Stitches

When Mia goes down for her nap and it's nice outside, Ty and I go outside and work in the yard. Well today, while I was weeding, Tyler tipped the wheelbarrow over and it landed on his thumb. At first, when he started crying, I thought it fell on his foot and I immediately ran over and held him and then I said, "Ok, tell me what hurts." and he said, "I need a bandaid for my thumb." I look down and all I can say it's amazing that I didn't pass out. His nail was hanging off and there was blood everywhere, so much blood that I had no idea how bad it was. As I was trying not to panic, I told him, " Ok, Tyler don't touch it just hold it out here." I was frantically calling Mike who was getting his tire changed and said, "What should I do?! I think his thumb is broken, there is blood everywhere." There was no way I could wait for him so I called my neighbor who ran over and we decided he needed to go to the emergency room so thankfully she stayed with Mia and we went to the ER. By this point, Tyler isn't even crying but I wrapped a towel around his hand and put ice on it, gave him a lollipop and drove to the ER about 10 minutes away. We met Mike there in the parking lot and the first thing Tyler says to Mike, "Sorry Daddy, I knocked your wheelbarrow over." The entire time we were at the ER, Tyler so stoic that he must have been in shock. They were cleaning out his wound and both Mike and I are close to passing out and Tyler is just sitting there watching them work on his thumb. It wasn't broken but they had to temporarily stitch his nail back on until a new one starts to grow. The only time he cried was when they gave him the three shots of lidocaine. It is not broken but he had to keep it wrapped up and we have to keep cleaning it but he doesn't seem to be in any pain which is remarkable because it looks awful and has to be throbbing. Mike took him to McDonalds on the way home and he was very concerned that he wasn't going to be able to go to Carly's birthday party later in the day but of course he did get to go. He could have asked us for just about anything and we would have said yes..

May 19

My wonderful Father-in-Law came over today and helped me finish the garden. He framed it in for me and then we went and bought more vegetables. While the kids were sleeping we planted everything. Tyler "helped" Papa all morning. There is nothing that makes my son happier than working outside with the "men". The garden is 10' x 20' and we planted a lot - beans, herbs, watermelon, cantalope, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and sunflowers and I am going to even try a pumpkin. After Papa left Tyler, Mia and I spread out a blanket in the backyard (now that we have grass we can actually do this) and had a snack of yogurt and graham crackers. And then I don't what happened, one second we were sitting there looking for animal shapes in the clouds and the next second my son looks like someone who just came from Woodstock. He found some mud by the garden and decided to partake in a mud-bath. After hosing him down several times, I still had to bathe him twice before I could get the caked mud of his hair. But just seeing how much fun he had and the pure joy that overtook his whole body like an excited puppy makes it ok. These days go by too quickly. So I do an extra load of laundry in exchange for a lifelong memory - every thing has its price...

May 18

We are putting in a vegetable garden and today Mike rented a rototiller and got the ground ready. It was pretty much an all day project with a few breaks in between.

May 17

I went and got my hair chopped off this morning and Tyler FREAKED out. Tyler is very opinionated about my hair. He likes it blow-dried straight. He does not like it wet. He does not like it when I wake up in the morning and he does not like it when I curl it. Most mornings this is what I wake up to as I am trying to burrow my head under the pillow, "Mommy, I don't like your hair like that." I didn't tell anyone I was getting it cut off because I myself didn't decide until I got there so when I got home and Tyler saw me, he just turned white as a ghost, dropped his lunch and ran into the office where he proceeded to hide for the next hour. He refused to look at me for most of the day. I honestly wouldn't have gotten it cut if I knew he was going to get so upset but Mike really likes it and it will be nice and cool for the summer.

This crazy outfit Mia is wearing is actually a pajama top paired with winter paints and a polka-dot onesie. This is what happens when daddy dresses her, not realizing that there are actually several thousand shades of pink used in baby girl clothing. Now that Mia is more mobile, her and Ty really play together. It's still hard for Tyler to share his toys with her but he loves rolling around with her. The other day, I saw him head butting her so I said one of those things you think you are never going to have to say to your child, "Tyler, no head-butting Mia." And little Mia sits there smiling and laughing. Tyler's response, "See Mommy, Mia likes it when I head-butt her.

We took the kids to the park this afternoon. It was a beautiful park in a prairie preserve area. Tyler is digging in his pocket for money. He just got a piggy bank and is on a mission to commandeer any and all spare change. After we went to the park, we went to Barnes and Noble to get a Dora book on visiting the dentist. Tyler has his first dentist appointment on Wednesday and is not very enthusiastic about it. We have already read the book about five times and so far he is no more excited about it.

May 15

Today I hosted a neighborhood tea. It was a lot of fun aqnd we met a lot of new nice neighbors it but made for a very busy week of cleaning and shopping. This morning really started off with a bang when I was in the kitchen making breakfast and Tyler was playing with one of my purses and he says to me, "Mommy can you help me get this kitty toy in your purse." I look up and Tyler is holding a dead mouse by the tail. The cats must have killed it and Tyler thought it was one of their catnip mouse toys. I said to Tyler, "TYLER THAT IS NOT A MOUSE TOY!! Please drop it on the ground and let me wash your hands!" Once we kind of understood what I meant, he thought the whole thing was hysterical. The only thing that would have been worse is if this whole event at taken place while our house was full of women and kids.

I knew we had about 20 toddlers and preschoolers coming so I had set up multiple play stations in different rooms on the first floor and the night before we had spoken with Tyler ad naseum about the virtues of sharing. When everyone arrived, he was a little overwhelmed but as the morning progressed he got more comfortable and by the end, when someone was thanking him, he answered back, "It was my pleasure."

Maria, the cat, made a lot of new friends. All the kids were just hovering all over and she just sat their purring. I am sure there were about 10 little kids who went home begging their parents for cats.

Happy Mother's Day!

We went out again today to celebrate Mother's Day with Mike's family. We are two-for-two. Tyler and Mia were great. Mia's beautiful flower is from my friend Sarah. Mia got so many compliments. Sarah and I both have three-year old boys and baby girls and we are just savoring the wonderful world of "girliness" - bows, dresses and just the sheer pleasure of little girls.

We wish we could have spent this Mother's Day with all our moms and grammys. We miss you! Sending hugs and kisses your way!

Uh-oh. Look what Mia discovered today!

May 9

Pre-Mother's Day Celebration!
In an effort to avoid the Mother's Day Brunch chaos, this morning Mike, Tyler and Mia took me out to breakfast. This was our first breakfast in a restaurant in probably a year and it was wonderful. Both kids were really well-behaved and Tyler got his promised "whipped cream and strawberries." It didn't really matter what the whipped cream and strawberries were on. Tyler was only concerned with getting whipped cream and strawberries on something.

I forgot how incredibly sweet a 9-month old baby is but this picture of Mike and Mia completely captures it.

May 8

Could I be any cuter?

May 6

Only in Chicago can you have snow and 85 degrees in the same week. Finally, Mia got to wear one of her summer outfits. She finally has enough hair to wear a bow but I am finding out that I have the only 9 month old with NARROW feet. Even in a size 2, all her sandals just fall right off.

Here is a picture of some wild ducks that have made their home in our backyard. I say, "wild" because they don't seem to understand the concept of us feeding them bread even after two weeks of trying to feed them. It's very frustrating to Tyler but at the same time, I can understand why they are a little fearful when he runs to them screaming, "Here duckies, I have bread for you!"

May 5

The ingenuity of a two-year old

I continue to be amazed at how quickly Tyler can get into mischief. Today, I was upstairs dressing Mia and Tyler yells us to me, "Mommy, I just washed my hair!" He comes bounding into the room and there are gobs of soap in his hair and water running down this face.

Me: "Tyler, what did you put in your hair?!"

Tyler: "I'll show you mommy."

I follow him down the steps and into the powder room, where the water is still running and the hand soap (with almond oil in it) is dripping onto the counter.

Tyler: "See Mommy, I washed my hair by myself!"

Me: "Tyler this soap is for washing our hands not our hair. This soap will get in your eyes and burn!"

So upstairs we go again where I proceed to put him in the shower and wash his for hair for 10 minutes to get all the soap out.

May 3

Pool Day!

We had another rainy Saturday so we took Tyler and Mia to a local indoor pool. This was Mia's first time in the pool and she was a little hesitant at first. When Mia is a new situation, she won't cry but she is very quiet and expressionless and holds onto me very tight. The other day when we were at the doctor's office, I asked one of the nurses to hold Mia while I helped Tyler with the potty. When I came back to get Mia, her face was bright red and her eyes were as big as silver dollars and she was very obviously right on the verge of bursting into tears. The nurse said to me, "You could tell she was terrified but she held it together." Anyway, she was very hesitant in the pool but once she got used to it and all the commotion, she started to smile and laugh and probably most importantly to me, her skin was fine. This is a good sign for the upcoming summer.

When Tyler woke up from his nap and we told him we were going to the pool, we immediately stripped out of his clothes and put on his bathing suit, no assistance required. The one problem with this was that it was only about 45 degrees outside. He was so excited and it's amazing how fast a toddler can move when properly motivated. He had a blast and the whole way home kept saying, "I had so much fun at the pool."

And can I say that only a guy would think to include his 9-month post partum wife's bikini body in the picture. Ugh, this is the only picture that was not too awful to post.

I took Tyler on errand this morning and we were at The Children's Place clothing store and Tyler says to me, "Mommy, look at all the scarecrows!" For the longest time I could not figure out what he was talking about since it's a little early for Halloween clothes until I realized he was referring to the mannequins..

May 2

These are Tyler's "baby trees." I hope next year I am posting a picture of 3 feet tall trees but my "green thumb" is somewhat of a family joke.

May 1

Mia is 9 Months Old!

Oh, this year is going much too fast. Mia turned 9 months old today, which also happens to be Grammy Collins' birthday and May Day. In case you were wondering what May Day is (I didn't know). Here is what Wikipedia says, May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. As a day of celebration the holiday has ancient origins, and it can relate to many customs that have survived into modern times. Many of these customs are due to May Day being a cross-quarter day, meaning that (in the Northern Hemisphere where it is almost exclusively celebrated) it falls approximately halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Very interesting..

Anyway, Mia is still our little peanut. She was 26" (20th percentile) and 19lbs (50th percentile). She still has the chubby rolls going on. It's the only time in her life where it will be considered cute to be chubby so I say, "Enjoy it while you can Mia!" In comparison, Tyler was 4 inches taller and 3lbs heavier at his 9 month appointment. If she continues growing at this rate, she will be about 5 feet tall. Which is fine for a girl but thank goodness it's her not Tyler!