New Year's Eve 2010

Well, to wrap up this year, I'd like to make this short and quick (since I'm supposed to be cutting veggies for the veggie tray for our party).

What a wonderful year. 2010 will definitely go down as a good one - Adam finished his MBA...Morgan grew and astounded us with all the things she has learned to do in the past year...I finally feel like I'm me again and have officially shed my baby weight as well as feeling like I've got a handle (mostly) at my job...I'm sure the new year will have its challenges but we will take them in stride and I anticipate it being another amazing year.

Happy New Year's, everyone. Be safe, enjoy the company of others, and much love and hugs to you all.

Christmas in WI 2010

Ok, so here's the real post about Christmas 2010 back in WI. It. Was. Wonderful. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful family members to spend out time with and while it gets a little crazy with so many Christmases to attend, we love seeing everyone and sharing in the good cheer that is Jesus' birthday.

I am so glad we decided to go a day earlier (had originally planned going Wed and went Tues night instead) b/c I woke up Wed with the flu Morgan had had Sunday night. Thankfully it wasn't the vomiting kind (or my stomach was stronger than hers or something) but it had me down and out most of the day. We went up to Steph & Patt's after discussion and feeling better (I hope they never got it) and had a nice time. Christmas #1, check.

Thursday (I have to check the #/date...oh my) we didn't have much going on that day. Adam took his turn with the flu and I went to my mom's to bake and decorate cookies while the two of them slept. It was a really nice time and I loved it. I hate missing time with my mom...it happens too much. That night we did something...waiting until Adam gets home to ask/remind. He told me we just sat and didn't do much. If we did something with you, I'm terribly sorry it slipped our minds.

Friday - We had a LOVELY brunch with my family (Dad & Susie) at Ross & Kristen's house outside of Valders. Morgan and her cousins got these creepy Sing-a-majigs which are actually quite funny. After some serious X-Box skills were displayed, we went to church (holy moving child - we sat in the way back and Adam found a tiny chair during one of their walks that saved us the rest of the service). We then headed to Schmidts' for Christmas eve night and had another lovely time with wonderful gifts.

Saturday - We had Christmas morning with Adam's parents and brother/gf before heading to Appleton for the Seefeldt family Christmas. Another good time was had and back to Adam's parents we went for more fun, food, and festivities. Morgan's gift pile by now had accumulated to a small mountain.

Sunday - Another lazy-ish day before heading to my mom's that evening for dinner and gifts. We had a really good time and awesome "mom's lasagna." Seriously none better (although my version of hers might be winning soon).

Monday - No morning nap for our little diva. :( She was supposed to nap on our way to Chuckie Cheese but failed miserably. She was more into mommy & daddy's McDonald's breakfast (she had her own earlier before leaving, don't worry) so she ate a good portion of my sandwich and then just had too much to see to sleep. We had a great time at CC with Adam's family and Morgan thoroughly enjoyed the cars to ride in and skeeball (sp?). We headed home for a nap (which of course was only 40 minutes long that day) before going to Smith (my step-moms side) Christmas that evening. YUM - the fettuccine alfredo that we always have was again a huge hit; especially with Morgan who ate almost as much as I did - I'm not even lying. More gifts and up until 1.5 hours past her bedtime...on a single 40 min nap...holy trooper of a kid. She had a few "moments" but they were short-lived and manageable. Part of this is her age...boy oh boy she's starting to have some lovely fits.

Tuesday - Breakfast with Adam's family, Morgan's nap, quick lunch, and the road we hit. We had SUCH a great time with all of our family but it's always good to be home in one's own bed and surroundings. I think I've got a handle on where all the new toys and things are going to go...but we left 1/2 of it in WI for lack of space and will be bringing that back with us on an impromptu trip to WI Jan. 13th. Sigh. More space to find...

So that was our trip home to WI. Again, it was great to have so much time there. It makes me excited for my trip back this summer sometime for a week with Morgan while Adam travels somewhere. :)

In other news:

• Morgan took a giant header into a door jam today with her face. No more slippery jammies and running on hard wood floors past 9am. Poor baby...it was awful. I almost cried it looked like it hurt so much.
  
• Morgan answers "no" for almost everything but has random appropriate "dess"es in there too. She gets really proud of herself when she says yes. Silly child.
• She's growing again. She is now full-fledged 18-month clothes and pretty soon will be in 24 month ones. :( My baby...where are you going??
• She's imitating tons nowadays. Today she kept saying "up!" when going up the stairs for her slide in the basement. I responded 'yes, you're going up the steps' to which she replied "deps!" SO cute esp given my SLP background... ;-)
• Over break we've been working on using the potty...she's pretty good with her own potty chairs (little and soft insert one) but not so much with me holding her (although sometimes there too). I'm going to try to convince Mary that Morgan can bring her own potty seat since Mary usually just holds the little ones which is why, I think, that Morgan decided to be done with it (or less reliable) after Thanksgiving break. Today she's gone in the potty all but once. Sweet. We are not pushing her hard but ask her often and she rolls with it. Sometimes she goes into the bathroom and yells. In WI she'd sometimes take her potty chair insert to the bathroom door (closed for puppy repelling) and yell more. She's on her way foh sho.
  
• Speaking of potty things, she's back to cloth diapers. LOTS of leaks yesterday. Hmm.
  
• Tomorrow night we host our annual New Year's Eve bash...but this year it's kid-friendly and there is a pack-n-play set up in the guest bedroom instead of actual beds (although those are there too). Things are a'changing, folks. :)

If you're still with me, sorry this was the longest post ever. Lots to catch up on. I'm sure I missed some but this will have to do. ;-) Off to Iowa City for some shopping and dinner with my little fam once the monkey wakes up from nap attempt #2. SIGH.

Home - Christmas 2010

I'm exhausted.
We had a BLAST at home in WI.
It's well past my adjusted bedtime for tonight.
Our daughter was a delight and such a trooper.
We are so blessed.
Morgan has more toys/books than Santa on Christmas Eve.
I can't wait to go shopping with all my gift cards.
More later, I'm almost asleep with my eyes open.
The end.

Few more days, please...

I could really use maybe 1-2 days before we have to leave for Christmas and it's strictly for my comfort. I will get everything done...but it would be nice to have those extra days. Perhaps that's what part of Wednesday will be while we're at home. I'd just like to have it done to have it done.

I called the kennel where we board the dogs yesterday to firm up our dates over Christmas and find out if there was a cancellation fee as 8 days suddenly sounded like an eternity to be away from our fuzzy babies. Turns out the reservation I KNOW I put it wasn't in their books at all! She said she could still squeeze us in but that just confirmed that we were supposed to bring the dogs home with us for Christmas anyway. I'm fine with it except for the ride home. That should be interesting considering all the wonderful things Morgan (and us, but let's be real) will be bringing home. ;-) We'll make it work. Anyone want to come visit sometime the first two weeks of January?

Adam came home yesterday and it was lovely. I got even more Christmas shopping done and am essentially done save for one item we're going to get when we get home and another that just needs a little something more. I just finished up a project that was taking forever but turned out really nice. I'm glad to have it done. Two left and I'm set. Those are fun ones that bring out my inner Martha so we shall see where they go. I feel less stressed about these two last projects than the one I just finished.

I have splendid news I'm dying to share (nothing of ours, don't worry) but can't b/c it's not time. SO very excited though. Isn't that quiet enough, friend? :)

Adam is off hunting again. Tomorrow is his last day of being gone a full day. Then Monday night it's pack like crazy b/c we are heading out of town Tuesday after we all get home from work. My students get out at 1:20 (early dismissal) that day so as soon as my paperwork is done and things are ready to go for the new year, I'm outtie. It really doesn't pay for me to be the last one in the school on the brink of winter break if all of my work is done. ;-) Yeah!

Tomorrow night we're supposed to go to Mary's (sitter's) Christmas Party in the Quad Cities. I wish it were closer but thank you Muscatine for being a fine town with nothing in it. I have to get my Usborne books tomorrow in the QCs anyway, so we'll just plan the pick up to coincide with the party and voila. Good times in the afternoon (involving pizza, of course).

Last night Adam and I were lucky enough to find a last-minute sitter and went out with some friends. It was relaxing, hilarious, and just a really good time. We were only out for about 2 hours but there's something about doing that sort of thing that just resets a person and brings you back to ground zero so you can be "mom" all over again the next day. Speaking of, Morgan, my dear, darling, Morgan, decided to sleep until 7:40am this morning!?!!! That allowed me to get an extra (almost) TWO HOURS of sleep today. I love her. And am laughing (mean) a bit b/c Adam got up extra early and missed the sleep in.

Well, it's off to wrap Morgan's daycare presents and check the "hot fire." That's how Morgan refers to it (signing) so we'll go with it. It's more fun to say 'hot fire' than just plain ol' fire, anyway, no?

First Real Snow

So I've been back and forth a lot today. Love this, don't love this, then love it back again. Here goes:

Love: pretty, untouched snow outside that we woke up to this morning
Not feelin' the love: No 2hr delay for my school but Muscatine (where I am 60% of the time) had one.

Love: I still got to do my "Speech Christmas parties" with all my kids today (no late start).
Not feelin' the love: it wasn't as fun as I thought. I don't think we'll be doing this next year. The kids, however, loved it. Hmm.

Love: coming home to a child that can walk so we could start shoveling before dinner and break it up.
Not feelin' the love: It takes 10 minutes to get a tiny child ready to go outside in winter. Thankfully she can't yet say "Mommy now I have to PEE!!!" as soon as she's set to go outside. :)

Love: Not having to make dinner, really.
Not feelin' the love: I'm sick of leftovers and boring dinners. Can't wait to make something yummy and complicated for dinner this weekend as a result of (gasp) time!

Love: Shoveling when it's not windy and low/mid 20s outside. SO peaceful.
Not feelin' the love: She made me go in b/c she was fussin' all over.

It takes a long time to get a child ready to go outside in winter.

I'm ready to go outside, Mom!

Woops. Fall down in snow #24

Mommy's helper (or walker arounder/moral supporter)

Skyping with Daddy during her bedtime snack. She
LOVES to wave and give kisses to the camera for him.

Skype

Of course tonight would be the night that Adam texts me from Montreal to say he's all signed up and ready to go with Skype on his end. On the Iowa end, we have a camera in the box and everything else all set to go on my laptop. After quick scrambles to relieve the box of its camera and get things going, the internet is down. Quick call to the internet provider reveals there is an "internet outage" and "they" are working on it right now. Bah humbug. No Skyping tonight.

So I checked a few times while Morgan and I were playing and nothing...and then during bedtime snack, I checked since we were sitting there and sure enough, internet!! So I quickly called him up and there he was, right in front of us. I positioned the camera so he could see Morgan best and it was great. I can't BELIEVE we haven't done this sooner and I could just kick us for waiting. Adam was a little emotional which I didn't find odd, but wasn't expecting. Then later I was talking to Sherri (Adam's mom) and I broke down b/c it was actually really hard for me (tearing up now again) to see him sitting on that hard hotel couch and knowing that we're here in our comfy, cozy house with everything we want of ours at our fingertips...so while this whole week and a half of two weeks I've been having a mini-pity-party in my head while carrying on with life, it's nothing compared to what he must experience missing us and home. (Well, maybe not nothing - it's still pretty hard here too.) Anyway, thank you God for giving someone the wisdom and ability to invent Skype and share it for free. You are making my family closer and stronger.

PS. I also thought it was great that when I was talking to Sherri and telling her how easy it was, that she was ready to go buy a new computer tomorrow (theirs isn't always reliable) so they could also Skype with us (Morgan). :) Ah, the power of a grandchild. We will be setting them (and whomever else wants to know!) up over Christmas. Fun stuff!

I also must say that it is super splendiferous that I have a clean house that took me about 8 minutes to pick up after Tornado Morgan went to bed. Sitting here, relaxing, ordering my Usborne books was just the ticket after some hectic evenings of cleaning like a crazy person. My show last night was SO nice...relaxing, people could mingle and I hope it was a low-pressure situation. I don't like feeling pressured that I need to buy something at parties so hopefully people didn't feel pressured at mine. Anywho, the books should be here before Christmas which means lots of fun new reading!!

Well, it's time to finish my hot apple cider (left over from last night) that is sort of helping my mild/mod sore throat and maybe work on a Christmas project. I know, I know, I'm sick of hearing me say that too. :) Here's to hoping that Morgan is able to sleep since she can hardly breathe (more boogers) *clink*

1/2 way done with Operation Missing Adam

We are 1/2 way done. Half way done with glimpses of Adam here and there for 2 weeks straight. Last week he traveled M-Th, then all day hunting Sat/Sun, now to travel M-F, all day hunting Sat/Sun next weekend...UGH. To say this is unpleasant is an understatement. Thankfully, Morgan was rather well behaved all weekend which is not always the case so now it's girls' week take 2. I have promised myself that a missing Adam is not cause for sirens to go off until after the new year. Then it's family time.

I was a machine today. Vacuumed, mopped (gasp - I think it's been months and months...don't judge), dusted, played, cooked, cleaned more, did dishes, 4 loads of wash, bathroom spotless...the list goes on and makes me feel like "super mom/wife/housekeeper/book party thrower/etc." As much as I sometimes loathe all of those things I have to do, when I do them like that it makes me feel awesome productive.

Today was awesome all around. More on this later, but it's amazing how one phone call can make a girl so dang thrilled. Nighty night, folks. Good luck Wisconsinites on your digging out adventure. Blizzard #1 2010 commences.

Christmas Baking 2010

This morning Morgan and I went to a Christmas baking "party," if you will, to join 7 of our Muscatine friends and three other kiddies to make as many goodies as we could fit into about 4 hours and then take home our stashes. It was wonderful. We were lucky the kids were so well behaved (even though Morgan gave me about 80 heart attacks going up/down the 1/2 flight of stairs on her own almost constantly throughout the duration. Only one small missed step, few tears, game on. Thanks to Olivia who gave Morgan her juice and made her feel better. :)

Morgan's been up early lately. Today was no exception and the child didn't realize it was Saturday and that we DON'T get up with Daddy when he goes hunting. Better luck tomorrow, perhaps. Adam has to leave around 4:30am to go to tomorrow's hunting extravaganza with his group of guys he goes with so I can legitimately let Morgan cry a bit to go back to sleep b/c honey, we ain't gettin' up THAT early. I mean it.

I have tons of cleaning to do to get ready for Monday night's book party. I'm not sure how much I really want to do today with a WHOLE day tomorrow for it to get dirty from the dogs and hunting husband. I've decided to have the party in the kitchen/dining room (basically 1st floor) instead of the basement to save on cleaning time/space just in case it doesn't all get done. I had good intentions, actually, to hire out my cleaning for this one but I sent an email, didn't get a response, didn't have time to pursue it further, and decided since it's so late I'll just do it myself. Morgan might be a little more bored tomorrow with a crazy cleaning mommy but meh...she'll be fine. :) Off to clean. Oh joy.

PS. Huge winter snow storm? Current blizzard warning? Funny...I see rain. Thank you mother nature for making it nice and muddy for my puppies' feet while I'm trying to get/keep the house clean. Good call. :-/

dop boodit!!

Which totally means STOP BARKING, duh. Morgan's said "dop" and "dop ba!" when the dogs (usually Jessie) bark, but today she really let loose with the 2 word (with -ing!!) utterance and said dop boodit all the way back to our house from helping a neighbor down the street take their Christmas picture (with horrible holiday sweaters - it was great!). Silly speaking like a crazy person child. :)

Adam's home. House is complete once again. And we really need to attempt Skype this weekend so next week is more fun while he's gone.

I'm eager for tomorrow - we have a guest speaker at the AEA for the speech dept and on paper this guy knows his stuff. His name is Dr. Ken Bliele (sp?) and several of our SLPs have had him as a professor during their grad and undergrads and loved him. I always enjoy learning new things and feeling like my time is well spent when I'm away from my students/paperwork.

Ok, now it's later than I thought it was going to be so I'm going to bed. In the same bed as my hubs which means I won't be freezing tonight. Sweet.

Poo

Tons and tons of poo. Poor Morgan has a stomach bug or something and has had diarrhea for about a day and a half (2 days??) now. She's drinking and eating fine and not running a temp, so she went to daycare today with the understanding that I'd be at my phone at all times. She's has multiple costume changes the past few days so hopefully she's feeling better tomorrow so I don't have to miss work. I have a hard time missing work so close to Christmas break...realistically I only have three more sessions with my Tues/Thurs kids so I really need to be there. Unless Morgan needs me. Then there's no question.

Speaking of stinky hinders, one of the dogs is trying to beat Morgan in a stinky dairy air contest. Gross, Maddie or Jessie. Gross.

I have had The Sing Off on in the background the past few times it's been on and I must say, it's positively LOVELY. It makes me miss singing in a group with a few solos thrown in. Hmm. I should really consider church choir, shouldn't I? Although I don't know if there is one at the moment b/c of our new music director. I'm in no position to LEAD a choir but I could sure help one sing the pants off of Jesus' music! :)

So sad, we had to miss Baby Lap Sit tonight b/c of Morgan's tummy bug. Which of course meant the dogs were going to be extra up-in-my-face and annoying. It's only b/c they are attention-deprived with Adam gone as I'm busier maintaining the house and child. Sigh. Poor pups.

I finally used a gift card from last Christmas and my new Badgers sweatshirt arrived in the mail today. I had forgotten I'd ordered it so it was LOVELY getting something in the mail for ME rather than the she-child. :) Merry Christmas to me!

Ok, I suppose since we only have 13 days until we're heading to WI that I should probably hurry my own self up and work on other Christmas projects. They're not so bad anymore...I don't have to worry about anyone else's deadlines (thankyoupostalservice/ups/fedex) so that helps. :) I really only have...three left, I think. This Saturday Morgan and I are heading to a friend's house in Muscatine for a baking day...and will be heading home with tons of goodies - SO excited! Unless I have to step on the scale afterwards... ;-)

Wait.

So today at work I jotted a few things down so tonight I wouldn't be so forgetful. 1st and 2nd nights of Adam gone this week? Success. Thankyouverymuch. We even had a dance party yesterday.

Few things I remembered not blogging about this weekend that I wanted to:

Wheel of Fortune is one of those shows I don't mind having on in the background so one night this weekend it was on while the three of us were playing in the living room. Of course I knew the puzzle before the contestants (Adam always tell me to try out for the show...I could handle the extra cash I suppose) and yelled out the answer. Two seconds later, Morgan is also yelling out the answer. Hilarious. It happened again on the next puzzle too. :) She kills me.

Morgan is now learning (and not really liking) the word WAIT. Since the "poor" child almost always has someone to give her attention, this increased independence on her part is not her favorite. However, yesterday morning when I took the first load of items out to the car (usually resulting in crying/yelling), she was standing at the door quietly waiting when I got back in. We're on to something people. :) I don't anticipate this one being 'mastered' any time soon though. What toddler is cool with waiting for almost any amount of time...? Ha. Not mine.

Ugh. I just remembered I have a report I have to finish for work tomorrow. Ugh Ugh double ugh. I suppose. I should do that if I'm going to peruse through the Usborne books catalog and start my list for the party on Monday. The party I'm not even close to ready for. The party that I'm likely not going to be able to have someone come clean my house Monday while I'm work for. The party I'm really looking forward to and hoping some are coming... ;-)

A Dusting...

What a fast weekend. Rats. I hate it when they feel like that. We worked on team Christmas projects all weekend BUT we had Adam around all but 2.5 hours this weekend so it was GREAT. Today I got to do some things just that I wanted to get done and I was so thankful to have been able to do so. Anywho, it was great. I can't believe all we accomplished this weekend. But if I have to look at that project any more in the next 3 months, I'm going to die. (or scream)

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Potty update (I'm losing the obsession, trust) - I think Morgan is over it. Or getting there. She maybe used the potty 3x this whole weekend. She sat on it several times and even went in the bathroom to ask to sit on the potty, but hardly anything. She still wants her M&Ms as she asks for them...but apparently it's cooler to have a wet diaper. Sigh. We shall see. I still hold the fact that I didn't expect her to be potty trained anytime soon so this is still ok. Hopefully by the time she's 2 though, seriously.

Crawling through my princess tunnel

Adam's traveling again this week (only til Thursday - WOO) so we are working on projects to keep us busy. Monday or Tuesday we have a special Christmas present to buy and then Wednesday night we'll go to BabyLapSit at the library. Adam flies in late Thursday so we'll likely just hang out at home until he gets here. Was thinking of maybe meeting Adam at the airport but we'll see...likely not this time.

Ready to go for church!

So we now officially have a dusting of snow. I'm super jealous of friends as they are only about 25 miles away and they got INCHES. Nothing for us to play in just yet...all in good time, I'm sure. I had lots I was going to blog about but in all the bustle of the weekend, did I write any of it down or can I remember any of it now? Nope. :( More this week, I'm sure. Not only did we get a monster Christmas project done, I also completed a different Christmas project tonight that was a HUGE weight lifted from my shoulders. It's awesome, but super time-consuming. Thank God I had a partner in crime. ;-) You know who you are. G'night kiddies. It's already Monday again tomorrow. :-/

These are super fun, Mama!!

Ah, Friday.

So it's Friday. This week went relatively fast especially considering we went from a 2-day week to a full, 5-day week. Let's see...recap...

Morgan is talking like a crazy person. Not that she wasn't before, but seriously - I was writing the daycare check when I picked Morgan up this morning b/c I had forgotten to put it in her backpack when she left this morning, and all of a sudden Morgan said a THREE word sentence. Loudly. I stopped, turned to Mary, and said, "Did she really just say that?!" (bad mommy moment - I was so excited about a 3 word utterance that I later forgot exactly what she actually said.) She's said things like "I got it" (a favorite) but this was a clear, specific utterance...very proud SLP/mommy moment.

Peeing on the potty at daycare was a no-go this week. 1x/day for two days and then nothing. She went 2-3 times each night at home, but again, it's not a big deal to me...although I wonder why she is a little less apt to go there...anywho, we'll see how this weekend goes.

We have a jumper, ladies and gents. A few days ago I told Morgan to jump mostly to see if she understood the verb...and she bent her knees and tried! So we tried a few times and then went on with our evening. Tonight I had her show Adam that she could jump...and she went bonkers. She crouched super low (and fell over 1/2 the time) and *may* have actually left the ground for the teeniest of seconds. It was really cute to watch her try so hard and then get tons of "yay!!"s for her efforts.

Tonight after Morgan went to bed, Adam and I took advantage of the lack of snow (we were supposed to be in the middle of a ton of snow right now but nary a flurry in sight) and brought up another truckload of wood to the house from the creek behind our house (the wood is next to, not in, the creek). I guess that's one way to get a workout in, right? We now have two full rows of wood up by the house and typically go through 4-6 per winter. Hopefully the snow holds off (even though I was relatively eager for it) and we can get another 1-2 truckloads up tomorrow/Sunday. Once the snow comes, his truck (even in 4wd) cannot make it up our back hills. Trust me - we've tried. And then driven through our neighbors' backyards. :)

Ok, I have a headache (thankyouverymuch stupid day of caffeine) and I'd like to just lie down for the rest of the night. I don't even think I'm going to work on Christmas projects. Deal.