Just in the last few days, Addison, 13 months old, started walking all over the place alone (instead of holding our hands). She is so proud of herself, too. Alivia always tells us, "Look, Addison is walking!" Our baby is definitely a toddler now. Since she is so curious and into everything, we are lucky that she is 13 months old and understands "no" now, too.
Happy walking, Addison.
Today marks 8 years since Chris and I tied the knot. We plan on going out and celebrating this weekend. We would have never guessed back then that today we would be sitting here with 2 beautiful daughters and a baby on the way!
Happy Anniversary, Topher! I love you today and always! "A lifetime isn't long enough to show how much I love you!"
Chris entered a national poster contest at work and came in second. Congratulations Chris!
We recently came across this video from January 1 , 2007. This is how we began the New Year of 2007. Perhaps Alivia was trying to tell us something (this is mild compared to how crazy the rest of year is and will continue to be). Pretty funny, so enjoy!
* Note how she even tried to clean up her mess with the towel. :)
I got home from my trip to Cleveland on Thursday night. It was SOOOO nice to get home to Chris, Alivia and Addison, as well to real food! My parents had bought Mamas pizza, so I got real food right away. Let’s just just say the food at these meetings is less than desirable. The Rock N Roll Hall of fame was okay, but I was not impressed with Cleveland. That is all I will say about that.
Everyone had a good week. Addison did fine at her first overnight stay with Grandma Bet and Grandpa Bill. She did better than Alivia who displayed her usual fears of sleeping alone (and it was raining and thundering which did not help matters). Alivia is still not sleeping in her own bed. Anyway, Chris thought it was odd having nobody at home. Too quiet!
Well, the weekend plan is to go to the zoo, weather permitting, tomorrow. Sunday we will try to take it easy. Next week I have my boss riding with me and Chris and I will celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
Have a good week!
Still at home! My flight way cancelled, so I am going to try again in the morning. We went to the park tonight to sneak in the extra family time. Oh, one more night is so nice!
I am off to Ohio (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/clebr-renaissance-cleveland-hotel/) tomorrow (Sunday) through Thursday night. Alivia knows Mommy is going away, but Addison is pretty unaware. I am sure they will do fine. I am usually more upset than they are. Monday and Tuesday they will go to daycare. Then Tuesday after swim class, Grandma Bet is coming to spend the night. Wednesday they will go to the farm with Grandma Bet and Grandpa Bill and spend the day and night with them, before returning on Thursday night to go with Chris to pick me up at the airport in the later evening. It will be quite a week for all of us. This will be Addison's first overnight stay away from home! I guess it will be good preparation for December.
So, until my return...have a good week all!
The girls and I (and perhaps Chris) are suffering from the daycare blues. Our daycare itself is working out fine. Miss Rachel is really nice. However, the transition has been far from smooth. I took them part-time this week because I THOUGHT that would help with the transition. However, I think that may have made things worse. Alivia has started acting out at home, refusing naps and not going to bed at night. She was still awake at 10 pm last night and I had to wake her at 7 this morning. She is acting naughty in part because she is so tired.She has also started to have accidents. Although she seems to like daycare and the activities she is doing there, she clearly is having difficulty adjusting. She is acting much as she did in the previous daycare situation, except she is not crying when I drop them off. I am exhausted from trying to get my job done and get ready to leave on my trip (getting myself and things ready on the home front) and am frustrated by not having the time to do any of it. Chris, in the meantime, has major projects at work that have kept him later and he is brain fried when he gets home. The last thing he needs is me venting my day or coming up with his own patience to help Alivia through her transition to the new situation. I have to say, Chris was probably right when he said that I should just quit my job. I am stubborn. I have come this far, might as well just finish it out. Now, if I can just get Alivia to agree with me. Luckily, Addison is doing fine with all...knock on wood.
If you can't beat the heat, you may as well join in, right? Yesterday was a big day for us. We got up and went to Target for a few things before going to see Grandpa Lou who is in the Hospital. Grandpa looked well and was quite funny, actually. We were not sure if that was pain med induced or he was just happy to see us. :) We went from the hospital to a park to play and have a picnic. It was getting quite hot and Alivia was showing many signs of being tired (so, our short ride home was not a pleasant one). After putting the girls down for a much needed nap, I went off to get a massage. You read that right, a massage. Chris got me a gift certificate for a 1 hour massage LAST year for our anniversary (our anniversary is August 28, so the gift certificate was about to expire). I actually liked it for the most part. I could have done without the spinal massage (ouch!) and the ear massage (that was just plain weird). It was nice to have one hour of peace and relaxation, though. Next time I want to do a couples massage.
When the girls woke up, we got them ready to go to the Fremont water park. We had not been there before, and it was a lot of fun. Since trains run through Fremont, it is a train theme. There is a big train with 3 or 4 slides coming out of it. There is this water tower and when a train horn blows (which is really loud and made our girls cry), a gush of water comes falling down. Addison grew to not mind this but it bothered Alivia the entire time we were there. They also have a baby section, splash park, wave pool and a big water slide that Topher tested out for us and reported was quite fast and fun. Alivia spent most of her time jumping off the side to Topher or I. She had fun. Addison just swam around mostly, walked around the pool, and ate pretzels. She liked the splash park and would just walk through and get completely soaked. Her little hat was drenched. After convincing Alivia that we should go and home and eat, we left after 2 1/2 to 3 hours of good play (and exhaustion). I was driving, so we had to stop in Valley for a DQ treat BEFORE dinner. Nobody seemed to mind. After putting Addison down for the night, Alivia and I went out for a little more shopping (this was the second night in a row for shopping. I think I am starting to get Alivia to like other stores other than Von Maur, aka the Choo choo store bc they have a Thomas train set). Needless to say, I think the fun in the sun wore all of us out.
So, today is going to be more low key. With the girls napping, I am just going to attempt to catch up on Dey work, which I am procrastinating doing. We will probably spend the afternoon in our little pink pool on our patio.
This week and the weeks to follow will be quite busy. This week is the girls first week at their new daycare. Wish the girls (and Chris and I) luck! Next Sunday, I leave for a 5 day trip for work to Cleveland for a product launch meeting. That is all I will say about that. When I return, my boss comes to ride with me while Chris and I try and celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. Then, we are into Labor Day when Alivia will begin preschool 2 days a week. Yikes, that is a of stuff! We have a special day tomorrow that I will try and post pictures of as well.
So, we are just trying to squeeze every fun moment out of summer that we can. I think next summer we will be family members of the Fremont water park (when we have to pay for 3 of us at $11 each it will make it worth it I hope) and use less of the little pink pool that Chris and I rely probably too much on (because we just want to sit and watch the girls play without having to pay attention to all the other big kids around them). Gotta love hot summer days, though!
I had my ultrasound today. Baby was 15 oz, heartbeat was strong, and looked healthy. No, we did not find out the sex of the baby. My Dr knows, however, which was a little annoying when she laughed and said,"I know what you are having!" The due date was moved up just a tad to December 24, making me 20 weeks 2 days according to the ultrasound. I have gained more weight to date than I gained with Addison or with Alivia total. Considering everyone keeps saying I do not look pregnant, where is all of that weight going? Humm. Hopefully I am not looking like J Lo or something. That would be the only difference I am seeing in pregnancies. I have been craving chocolate and cheese, but not together. :) I have been tired a lot, so I thought I may be enemic. But, now I think it is the toddler in our bed that is making me tired. My Dad has said that I do not seem like the type to be a mother of a boy, but my mom thinks this baby is a boy and so does Chris. I had a dream last week that I delivered a baby boy who was an early arrival. Chris was not present at the delivery because he could not find anyone to watch the girls (which is completely realistic). Really, I do not care either way what we are having. I just want the baby to be healthy. That is one of the main reasons I did not want to know the sex now, because it does not matter. There are few surprises left in life. This pregnancy came as a surprise, so we might as well take it to the end that way.
So, to answer the big question, "What are you having?" We are having a baby! It just would not be right to open our little present before Christmas. We will wait until Christmas to see what God will be giving us this year...a baby girl or a baby boy.
Hum. Perhaps I should rephrase my title to, Chris, the money saver! Chris did some investigating into our water heater problem today. After hearing his frustration in the utility room, I sent him to Lowes to just buy a new one already. When he returned, the girls and I were off for a walk to the neighborhood sprinkler park. When we returned home, Chris had repaired the water heater himself by buying 1 part for $8. Wow! This comes from a guy who admittedly is not especially handy. He even looked up online how to check for a gas leak, and found that we do NOT have one. What a guy, penny pincher, and do I dare say, HANDYMAN! Thank-you Topher!
"Nothing is ever easy," Chris often says. I wish he could come up with a new line. :) We got back from our trip and were sitting outside while the girls played in the 90+ temps and Chris says, "I can not wait to take a shower." We should have known. Soon after, we went upstairs to get the bath water ready to find we did not have hot water. Chris tried over and over again, but the pilot light would not start. So, I DIPPED the girls in and out of the bath (after a 6 hour car ride, they needed at least that!). This is followed by 2 very intensely cold showers for Chris and I. As I showered, Chris kept saying from outside the shower, "Oh, come on, it has to be refreshing!" Oh, when he got in to shower, his story changed to a small whine. :)
Needless to say, I want to move to an apartment (if only they were made for a family of soon to be 5). I can not take anymore homeowners expenses. I should not say this, but the only things that have not died for us are the furnace and the kitchen appliances. Everything else has been replaced either this year or in the last 3 years (many this year!). So, let's pray that we can maintain our kitchen appliances and stay warm this winter without ANY MORE ADDED HOMEOWNERS EXPENSES!
As for the water heater, I am heating water to do dishes and baths and taking cold showers, for now. We think we will just replace the thing since it is $100 just to have someone come out and stare at the thing (and probably break it if it is not already broken so we have to get a new one). As you can tell, I am losing all trust in people that do home repairs until I find a good, honest one.
So, welcome to our little house on the prairie or something.
Thank-you Grandma & Grandpa for sharing your wonderful lakehome with us! We had a great time and have memories that we will talk about for years and years. We enjoyed every moment, and we hope we did not exhaust you too much. If we did, just wait until next year when we add one more little Austin to the mix!
Thank-you!
Oh, and when we came home, I made chocolate chip cookie dough and a couple batches of fresh cookies just so the adjustment to home life was a little easier. :)
Our family vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks with my parents was wonderful! We left at 8am as planned on Tuesday morning. We arrived at the lake around 3, making only a couple of stops. We stopped at a great park for a picnic lunch and then the girls played. I think that helped them cope with the 6 hours in the car. They did amazingly well. Alivia got some new dvds to watch on Aunt Nikki's DVD player (now we want one for Christmas!). This year, Alivia actually watched them, and Addison did too! That helped pass the time a lot!
We arrived to Sunrise Beach to sunny skies and warm temps. It was wonderful! We spent our days in the water, going to a bar and grill that had a beach via the boat (Addison may have liked the boat but did not like her life jacket - so it was a long boat ride!), going to Osage Beach to the candy store (Alivia's favorite), riding the jet skis, taking canoe rides, and cooking our meals. We did not eat out at all! We only went to McDonalds on the way home for some icecream. Chris and I did go out on a date one late night and went to see the Borne Ultimatum. It was a great movie (but this is coming from someone who sees 1 movie every other year). Alivia and Addison both liked climbing up and down Grandma and Grandpa's stairs. My favorite part of the trip had to be the beach! What a great place to take the girls. Alivia and Addison both loved swimming and playing in the sand. Addison, who got in 2 more teeth on this trip, spent a lot of the trip not feeling well with a fever and what we believe to be a heat rash. Both are gone now, of course, and she appears to be back to her normal happy self. Chris probably would say his favorite part of the trip was the jet ski and the canoe rides (I loved both of those things too). Alivia would probably say the beach and playing with all the noodles in Grandma and Grandpa's big pool (the lake) and going to the candy store. Addison liked playing on the stairs outside and splashing in the water at the beach. We all loved the "little something" Grandma would give us after meals (aka cookie dough or fresh cookies!). We had such a wonderful time. I always get crabby when it is time to leave just because I don't want to! Alivia was excited to leave because Grandma told her we were going to eat lunch at the park on the way home!
We have already decided...next year, same time, same place, same crowd with one little addition of course but for a longer period of time! Let's start the countdown now for the Austin family of "5" vacation to Grandma and Grandpa's house!
