18 month dr appt stats

Here are my giant-kid's 18 month growth stats:

• Height: 34.25" - 96th percentile
• Weight: 26.25lbs - 76th percentile
• Head Circumference: 90th percentile 

The doctor was very pleased with her progress and uber impressed with her language development. Morgan really blew her away when she started using prepositions ("in!!") while trying to get out the door. Morgan did well considering she only had a 30 minute nap before being whisked off to the doctor's office. I was proud of her. She hated being weighed and measured, but how cool is it to be sitting on paper in your undies with everyone able to see you? Yeah, I wouldn't like it much either. Lucky for her, she got a "dress" (gown) to wear while she waited for our doctor...

and sure enough, we come to find that our doctor is moving her practice to Bettendorf which would mean at least a 45 minute drive to the doctor one-way if we were to stick with her. The thought crossed my mind but realistically, it's not feasible on so many levels. So anyway, it started to sink in that after we FINALLY got our goal pediatrician (thank you Adam for your awesome work somehow getting us in), she's leaving us...us, like Morgan's the only kid on the earth...I started to kind of choke up. I thought I was going to get through it but then (this amazing ped) HUGGED me and I lost it and cried. Morgan was so confused, the poor child. I told her mommy's eyes were being silly again and I was pretty proud that she held it together and didn't cry with me. I always cried with my mom when I was little even if I had no idea why. Dr. Frye was great about it. I totally get why she's going although I won't bore you with the details.

Thankfully, however, there are positives to the whole thing:

1. Morgan's SUPER healthy and we're so very blessed for that.
2. Dr. Frye's replacement is actually a pediatrician from the Philidelphia Children's Hospital looking for a small town that's close but not too close to her hometown of Des Moines. I'm confident that we will have a good doctor coming our way and we've already requested to be put on her caseload. We started with the other doctor at the clinic we go to and I'd like to try the new one. Her name is Rebecca somethinghardtosay. Wish us luck!
3. Morgan's got the Seefeldt genes and will likely be tall. Sweet. Makes for an excellent outside/middle hitter, center, and pitcher. ;-)

So that said, our appointment went well. Morgan had to have one of her 4 (aw boo) shots after May 8th (are we REALLY still fighting with this vaccination mess up a year ago!?) so she didn't get her shots today but will in a few weeks. I vote Adam take her...although likely I will. He travels tons in May.

We're so proud of Morgan and how far she's come in 18 short but super fast months. We are the luckiest parents (yes, even when she's doing her new "shriek fussing") and couldn't have hoped for a better daughter at this stage of the game.

Easter Weekend 2011

We had a FABULOUS weekend this past Easter weekend. I easily remember pictures from last year's Easter and to pair them with the child that is Morgan this year really blew us away. Last Easter, she was just starting to sit up on her own for short seconds of time. This year, she's going up steps by holding a hand on the wall. Last year, she had no words and I was praying she'd get the sign for "more" any day. This year she's speaking in 1-2 word utterances, has a few spontaneous 3-word utterances, and will repeat anything (beware!) we say. It's amazing the difference a year makes. I'm sure we'll think of much of the same next year. Sigh.

adam's parents were down this weekend so G&G means grandma & grandpa, FYI. Morgan took a few more giant developmental (in my eyes) leaps this past weekend.

1. I looked down the stairs as Morgan and G&G were coming up. Morgan was leading the way...on her FEET. She had one hand on the wall and going up the stairs like I do, except she was going two feet per step instead of one...I almost teared up a little. Too big, too fast.
2. Morgan's verbal  skills continue to grow. See first paragraph. :)
3. She now recognizes where we are locally when driving. Any time we come near our subdivision, she starts saying, "Ays house?" (Mary's house) and we tell to wait until we actually get there. This also happens when we leave church - she says, "himming?" - you guessed it - church is very near the YMCA where she has her lessons. Unbelievable. 
4. Morgan's fine motor skills are way ahead of where they need to be. She can put tiny things in tiny holes, use a spoon with ease and minimal-no spilling, and is getting better at opening things on her own. 
5. Shoes...she loves shoes. This past weekend she was obsessed with wearing her grandma's shoes all over the house. She also tries to put her own shoes on all the time and then looks like she's walking in heels since they never get on all the way. I told Adam she's just getting ready for heels later. He swears she's getting ready for cleats. ;-)

While I'm writing this, she's fighting her afternoon nap. Bah. Of COURSE she'd do this on the afternoon she has to be at the doctor at 4pm for her 18-month well-check. Now she's yelling potty! poop! instead of mommy since I'm not answering. Too bad she did both right before she went down. Sigh.Silence? Could it be? Nah. That was too fast. I'll keep you posted.

Speaking of 18 month well check, I'm going to take a stab at what I think her stats are (ps I have NO idea how these guesses relate to percentiles at this point): Height: 33-33.5", Weight: 25-26.5lbs, Head Circumference: huge as it always has been. :) We shall see how close I am. And damn! A giant squeal-giggle followed by 10 billion more "mama"s.

Let's see, what else did we do this weekend...well, G&G came into town just before 9 on Thursday night. Friday morning it was junky outside so we had an indoor Easter egg hunt since it was raining and Adam was scheduled to be at an all-day softball tourney on Saturday. It went well except it took a while since she had to eat every teddy graham that was in each egg. :) Later that day, it was still gross outside but had cleared up enough for the guys to go golfing locally. Sherri and I hung out with Morgan and planned how we were going to attack making Easter dinner. We got a late start but it was very good. We then went to check out the flooding Mississippi which is currently at the 6th worst flood on record. It's really not a big deal but it's almost funny to watch other people freak out about it, especially on the news.

Saturday, Adam's tourney was canceled since the fields were so wet so we went to the QCs for errands, shopping, and lunch. Morgan did very well the entire time which was nice. We went to this place called Teske's that I'd heard about but didn't know where it was until we sort of stumbled upon it. It's this garden/pet store and I was in heaven as soon as I saw this little tiny black Schnoodle. Oh she was SO so so so cute and I would have done anything in my power to have this little black 8-week-old fluff ball except then it would mean I'd have to potty train it, make sure Jessie didn't destroy it, and then have THREE dogs and a toddler to take care of when Adam travels...so I opted out. Sad though...she was lovely. I told Adam that at some point I'm getting a lap dog who really IS a lap dog and not just thinks she is and is huge. :) Naps all around in the afternoon before Adam and I went on an impromtu date to see the movie "Water for Elephants." It was the best of the 5 movies playing at tiny Muscatine's theater and it turned out to be a really great movie. Neither of us had heard of it and when I saw the word 'circus' in the description, I kind of wondered how good it was going to be, but I'd highly recommend it. Adam also enjoyed it. And of course, we ate WAY. TOO. MUCH. Popcorn.

Sunday we went to late church and out for lunch before G&G left for the weekend. We're always so excited to have visitors and have a great time. It was the conclusion of the first of two visitor weekends, as my brother Ross and his wife, Kristen, are coming next weekend. Adam's brother Tom, and his fiance, Carrie (this is new information!! HAPPY ENGAGEMENT guys!!) are planning to come in May and we'll be home back to back weekends in May/June.

I have more to say but I'll say it later with her 18 month stat post. It's 3pm. She's still yelling for me. We have to leave in 45 minutes for her appointment. 30 minute nap this morning. We might be so very screwed...wish us luck.

"Beh hoo"

You will now find that anyone who says "Achooooo!" will receive a "Beh hoo!" (bless you) from Morgan. I don't know if she just picked this up by listening to us say it to her, but it's dang cute.

Why is it that Morgan pretends like she hasn't eaten for two weeks on swimming lesson nights and I sit there and wonder as she's asking for more "noodohs!" (noodles) if I'm going to see them in reverse in the pool. So far, so good. ::crosses fingers for the future::

Morgan's been getting up earlier and earlier each morning this week. This morning it was 5:50am right after I got in the shower. Dear Morgan, we have a FOUR day weekend starting tomorrow. Sleep until at least 7am, please, and you will have SUPER happy parents to come get you in the morning. Sleep, child, sleeeeep.

Have I mentioned that I'm super excited for this weekend? I am. I guess Morgan did very well at her daycare Easter egg hunt today so I have high hopes that she will do the same here...if the rain holds off tomorrow. We are having it tomorrow b/c of Adam's softball tourney all day Saturday and then all the busy-ness that will be Sunday morning with church, breakfast, and sending off Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Al.

Off to finish up last-second pick ups as G&G should be here any minute!! Let the 4-day weekend begin!!

18 Months (and a day late)

Oops. Lost track of time in all my proud-ness for being a "fit and active" (ha ha ha, you can laugh with me, it's ok) mom and forgot to blog on her 18-month birthday!!! And what an 18 months it has been so far...Here goes! Stick with me if you can...

• Morgan is a genius. I'd have put a cuss word in front of 'genius' but I'm trying not to act like I'm 15 anymore. (good luck, self) We love watching her figure things out and it's beyond amazing what that kid picks up such as...
• Letters. She continues to learn more of the letters of the alphabet and was easily entertained yesterday while we were picking up Papa Murphy's pizza to wander around and check out all signs at her level and tell me the letters she knew on them. Sweet Jesus, that's amazing to me.
• Numbers. What. My kid knows numbers too now??? Monday night while playing, I started counting with her as part of our play and sure enough, she almost made it to ten (with some initial word prompting) but I didn't even know she could go past three!! THEN, while in the bath that night, she was playing with her numbers and letters and she knew the number 5. Then she nonchalantly hands me the 7 and says, "heben." Woah. Maybe all kids do this? Still floors me.
• Morgan is sleeping well now (hello, jinx). I've heard it gets harder as they get older. I'm savoring it now while friends of mine with kids a year or so older than Morgan go through the difficult bedtimes and up at night for random things. Our nights of sleeping are numbered...
• Sometimes I feel like I don't challenge her enough to learn new things. I realize I'm paranoid. I'm over it.
• Potty training is pretty much complete. She hasn't had an accident for quite some time and if we're only counting waking hours, she's potty trained. Sweet.
• Morgan can now complete a 9-piece shape sorter and even identify some of them if we name them for her. I think this is awesome.
• Morgan continues to explode with her vocabulary and her 2-word utterances are increasing. This makes me a happy SLP-mommy camper!
• She continues to follow 2-step directions with greater ease and accuracy. Go brain cells!
• Morgan now LOVE going up and down steps with alternating feet while holding our hands or the wall. I know I said this in a previous post but she giggles when she does this. Tee hee hee...

I think that's all for now mostly because my brain is on off since I'm tired. In-laws are coming tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it! Should be a GREAT Easter weekend and we're eager to finally spend it with family this year. 

Who was this good girl at church?

Morgan was SUCH a good girl in church this morning. Since Adam didn't go to his softball tourney yesterday with all the rain, wind, and SNOW (WTH) (it was postponed until April 30th), he went golfing this morning (I have feelings about this but whatever. I'm not changing his mind this summer). But back to my good little girlie...it's always a gamble taking her to church alone but today she was my cutie in a green dress and white tights. She could have used a little more whispering than loud "HIs!!!" but meh, we sat in the back where that sort of thing is expected. I just have to say that she was SO good for me all by myself. Yesssss.

We've had a good weekend so far save for the YUCK weather we had yesterday. Friday night I met Adam at Keiblers' after his flight landed and we participated in "Stir Crazy: Mexican" (or something like that). It consists of people coming with predetermined ingredients, getting into 2 teams, divvying up the ingredients and "stealing" the good ones from each other until they're all sorted, and then cooking a three-course meal from those ingredients with sheer talent alone. No recipes. It was a great time and showed me that I'm better at cutting items than cooking them when it comes to Mexican food. I might have to start working with this more on the weekends...it was SO good! We stayed until about 10:45 and then left to relieve the sitter...speaking of...

We braved (and by we I mean I) a new high school sitter on Friday. Her name is Tia, she's the daughter of someone Adam works for, and I had no problems with her but was more concerned that Morgan would cry the entire time, not go to sleep, and just be a naughty little monkey. Tia got here a little early so I left them in the playroom (basement) so I could go write down phone numbers and make dinner for Morgan (mac n cheese, yum). Morgan didn't even notice I was gone and then wouldn't come upstairs to eat when I was leaving b/c she was having too much fun. Needless to say, I practically skipped out the door without nary a tear from the she-child to go have all the fun. Whew. New Year's Resolution, complete. I have NO problem leaving Morgan with Tia from here on out. Yeah!

Saturday, we decided to go run errands in the morning to the Quad Cities since Adam wasn't playing and I had a few things that absolutely needed to be purchased there this weekend (thank you lovely Muscatine for your "fabulous" shopping selections). Things went...well...ok. Morgan had taken a 15 minute nap which will once in a while suffice on a busy morning. Today was not that day. So there was often fussing, crying, and overall her being "that kid" in the store. It eventually frayed my nerves and I was SO. READY. to go home it wasn't even funny. Thankfully I got a majority of my errands run (stupid victoria secret for not carrying undies in my size...I'm not THAT huge) and could go home and take a nap with Morgan. Adam worked on a few bathroom projects that have had items purchased for months to do but not done yet. Yeah! I'm pretty excited about these new transpirings and hope they continue.

The rest of the day after her giant 2+ hour nap (and mine too - whew! I had needed that), we hung out around the house while we played, Adam worked on his projects, and eventually we all made our way down to the basement to watch some Dora and hang out as a family. I could not seem to shake my bad attitude, unfortunately, and was just overall crabby most of the rest of the day. Thankfully today I seem to have shaken that so onward, ho. I have no idea why I was crabby. I can't tell you how many times I'd snap or say something dumb, look at Adam, and almost start laughing b/c it was so stupid that I'd get crabby about whatever just happened. Meh. Day over.

I'd like to take a nap right now, but yesterday I didn't hear Morgan wake up from her afternoon nap (A heard her) so I'm worried she'd be yelling "mama! potty!!" and I'd be comfy on my couch and not hear her. We shall see...if I doze off, I'm not complaining.

Off to said potential dozing off. I'm not doing anything until Adam comes home. Except playing and relaxing, of course. :)

Swimming Lessons!

So we finally restarted swimming lessons after a rather long hiatus and Morgan....LOVED it. She splashed, kicked, *tried* going on her back but wasn't the biggest fan, blew 2 bubbles (otherwise licked at the water), CLUNG to these two toys when the toys came out while desperately wanting to play with all the other ones, and put both ears in the water 3x each. She was fine with coming out but when she realized she wasn't going back in, it got a little rough. :-D Nothing a raisin snack chaser didn't help with. But oddly enough I'm rather tuckered out from swimming lessons, so it might be an early night for me...after some apple pie and whipped cream, that is.

But now I'm tuckered out, glad it's Friday tomorrow, but also am a little nervous b/c I'm testing out my New Year's Resolution and we're trying a new sitter. I've heard she's great but I'm just scared that Morgan's going to cry the entire time. We're going to a party where you bring a few pre-determined ingredients and then have to create based on what you have and the knowledge in your group. No recipes. Should be fun....so long as I don't find out Morgan's at home bawling. Get over it, self. Get over it.

By apple pie, I meant grapefruit. Suddenly citrus sounds better. Maybe I'm still sick. Who wouldn't want apple crumb pie and whipped cream!? Too bad I don't have room for both.

Obviously I hated the old font I tried. I think this one is significantly better and maybe one that might stick for more than 4 days.

Holy random thoughts post, batman.

Morgan's New Skills

I realize I haven't updated solely on Morgan's skills in quite some time and noticed a few things this week that were new, so if I put anything in that I've already mentioned in the past week or two, well, then don't read it. ;-) Morgan's hot new skills include:

• Gross Motor: Morgan now prefers, with hand-holding (one up, two down), to go up and down stairs on her feet instead of hands and knees. She started doing this going UPstairs, but down was tricky as only one little leg was allowed to bend and bear her weight...but she's getting good and giggles while doing it most of the time.
• Fine Motor: Morgan has now pretty much mastered using a spoon. Her wrist coordination is quite impressive, actually, and she can eat yogurt and cottage cheese on her own save for the little shnivels at the end. Soup or cereal? Not so sure there.
• Expressive Language: Morgan now uses many many single word utterances (primary), several two word utterances (still emerging), and some "pat" three-word phrases (I did it, There it is). She continues to improve and gain new language daily. 
• Receptive Language: Morgan follows one step directions (save for the fact that she's a toddler and likes to refuse some) and has gotten a pretty good grasp on two step related/unrelated directions especially if there's something yummy involved ("Morgan, put your shoes away and then we'll have a snack). We're working really hard on first/then to help decrease her frustration and tantruming even though I'm very aware that much of that is her age. 
• Morgan would spend 99% of her waking hours outside if she could. If we're not eating and it's nice outside, chances are Morgan is at the door yelling, "Ow-side!!" and out we go. Favorite outdoor past times include: writing with sidewalk chalk and standing on the letters mom writes/says as well as naming many of them, kicking/throwing/playing ball with her balls and Jessie's balls, swinging (endlessly), walking around taking in the world around her, finding the moon and yelling "MOON!" (what's the poor kid going to do when it's not daytime moon anymore?), helping get the mail, going for walks, bubbles, and pretty much any and everything we can think of to do outside. I heart this time with her. It's great watching her explore (but not so great watching her fall and skin her knees). 

I think those are the major highlights for now. After a sort of craptastic start to the week, I must say today was a great turn-around. I feel a million times better, Morgan, although grumpy most of the day, was absolutely adorable in her pink and purple sparkly outfit we broke out (think pink/purple/gold tutu with matching leggings and tshirt), and low and behold a bouquet of my wedding lilies showed up at work for me this afternoon. Now it's starting to smell like my wedding in my house and I love it. Feeling like a pretty lucky girl today...

I got the sickness

Morgan had a stomach bug on Saturday but you'd never know it b/c she was constantly running all over the place and only taking time to "be sick" while going to the bathroom. Well, being the "careful" mom I am, I wasn't careful and totally got it. I was up at 4am this morning wondering why my stomach hurt and then wham from all directions. Oh well. Just like that my crazy day got much slower after all the cancellations I had to do and sent Morgan off to daycare. 1) She was SO good for me even though I felt like junk and 2) thank you God that Mary lives two doors down. And of course I drove there. :)

"Negotiations" last night went very well. I feel better about the whole thing and can't wait for a hug on Friday night. The end. Back to resting although so far I'm keeping fluids in so maybe this is going to be a short bug like Morgan's was on Saturday. Whew.

Being Strong and Wearing My Hats

I'm wearing my hats and I think I'm doing a fairly good job at it. These hats include (and are not limited to)(and not all are in a particular order)**:

1. Wife
2. Mom
3. Housekeeper
4. Childcare provider (sort of goes with mom, I suppose)
5. Cook
6. Dog care provider (wipe muddy feet, feed, water, stop from barking at the neighbors, play, brush, medicate, clip nails, brush, etc)
7. Full time employee
8. Friend
9. Attempted exerciser (yeah, b/c this is regular...)
10. Bather of people (human and fuzzy) smaller than I

That said, it can get really overwhelming when I don't have everyone in the family on board. I'm currently "in negotiations" with the other major provider of the household and it's left me somewhat overwhelmed. Lots of it has to do with how "free time" (b/c that exists anymore with an adorable little monkey hanging around all the time) is spent and how much some get and others don't. It absolutely does not help that Adam travels and we are at the beginning of a very busy 3 month run here (again, this is a life we chose and I'm very aware of that). However, outside of that, it's still a bit busier than I would anticipate for a family of three (five, if you count the fuzzy humans) so on to "negotiations" it is. 

**Disclaimer: I realize that many other women wear these hats and that I'm not the only one who feels overwhelmed by them sometimes. Our job is to delegate and be tough. ;-) Or something like that.

Hot hot hot!

It's 85 degrees outside, the windows are open, and a great wind is keeping us all from being overly hot. Morgan is napping in her birthday suit (and diaper, I'm not completely losing my mind in the heat), the lawn is mowed, I've got my coffee and creamer for the week (thank you HyVee for carrying my creamer - Peppermint Mocha YUM), and I think we're ready for an Adam-less, first day back to swimming lessons on Thursday kind of week. Life is good right now.

We are off to the QCs in a bit for a family dinner with the Ries and Keibler families and then home to relax for the week. Thankfully it's my last full work week of April as I have Good Friday and the following Monday off - sounds good to me. These 5-day work weeks are killer. ;-)

I wish:

1. I could get Morgan to understand it's more PC to whisper "potty" in church rather than yell it out loud. Super loud. Every time.
2. Adam didn't have to travel. I'm not going to lie. 
3. That everything (including myself) would go get itself ready to go in a bit.
4. That I could have a pedicure tomorrow.
5. That I will be able to continue to thank my lucky stars for all the amazing blessings in our life. Amen.

The Zoo!

I decided Morgan and I were going to go to the Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities today while Adam was golfing for something to do. Last year we went and I think she was probably 8-10 months old (see old posts, I'm sure it's in there somewhere) and while we had fun, she was a little young for it. This year she walked around the entire zoo like a big girl and did not want to be in her stroller. It was much colder than I thought it was going to be since it was supposed to be almost 80 (was actually 81 by the end of the day - yeah!) - it was about 50 degrees the entire time we were there. By the time we got home around 1:30 after lunch with the Gregory's (who came to the zoo with us), it was almost hot in jeans and a tshirt. I love the warmer weather! (tomorrow it's supposed to be mid-80s, WI-ites...not bragging or anything, I swear...)

Morgan then continued her nap at home for entirely too short of a time as I decided to nap with her. Adam decided to go to softball practice at 3pm today instead of 1pm tomorrow so we just have the whole day tomorrow as a family. :) Since there is nice playground at this ballpark and I can't stand the state of my filthy house right now, we decided to take a separate car (b/c one never knows if a little girl has to leave) and go along with him. We were there for an hour and a half before she finally tuckered out, asked for some cookies (and got crackers instead - that kid's been begging for cookies all the time lately), and we left.

On our way home, I nonchalantly asked Morgan what she wanted for dinner. I don't know what I expected from her in return, but sure enough if she didn't say "ham." I asked her again just to be sure that's what I heard and sure enough, Morgan wanted ham for supper. Maybe it's b/c I asked her if she wanted ham in her eggs this morning? Either way, I'm asking her at every meal I need to plan b/c we ended up having potato salad, coleslaw, green beans, and ham and it was awesome. Morgan is now the official meal planner for the Schmidt household. :)

Poor kiddo, though...starting...oh, last night, she started having some diarrhea. It continued throughout the day but wasn't bad enough to cause her any accidents or anything (although it did wake her up early from her afternoon nap, boo hiss) and you'd never know if she wasn't feeling well from it, but first of all, yuck, esp in a potty chair and second, yuck, I'm sure her tummy must hurt a little. Hopefully she's on the tail end of it by tomorrow.

PS. This working a full week and having a 2-day weekend is for the birds. I would like 3-4 day weekends from now on. Thank you. Oh, and of course be paid the same amount as a FT worker. :)

I think I even got a little sun today in the warmer weather. SO beautiful out now...and yes, I know when it's 100 degrees and humid as all get-out in the middle of summer, I'll want to escape to WI. Which we will. We totally win.

On that note, I see a couch with my horizontal name on it with PJs. Check FB soon for zoo pictures. Looking forward to dinner with Keiblers and Ries'/Rieses/Ries's (what the heck is the plural of their name!?!?) tomorrow night! I'm bringing my apple crumb pie and am tempted to make one right this minute to eat all by myself before bringing two tomorrow. :)

Wash Machine Workout

Meaning, the wash machine is getting a good workout tonight. My laundry schedule is all sorts of off (usually done on the weekends, particularly Sundays) so I'm doing laundry...but there are quite a few shirts COVERED in sidewalk chalk so the washer has its work cut out for it. Dear warmer weather, I heart you.

Reasons we love the warmer weather:

1. We get to use sidewalk chalk and write/name/stand on letters, make chalk Morgans all over the driveway, and carry the giant chalk all over while swinging our arms while simultaneously drawing all over our shirts.
2. Walks at any time as long as we're fed. ;-)
3. No coats.
4. Morgan's reaction to dog poo. It's hilarious. And thankfully for now, she walks around it and sort of ignores it.
   
5. Teaching Morgan all about the outside world around her.
6. Playing "I spy"
   
7. Swinging!!! (that was Morgan's addition)
8. Going to the park.
9. Everything moving 20x faster with one word - potty.
10. Morgan in sun hats and/or sunglasses.
    

Ok, so apparently this was a Top 10 list. What a great night we had. She was SUPER helpful and interested in making dinner tonight. Her cap is about 15 minutes of "helping."After that, it's more like whining, crawling up my legs, trying to crawl (and trip/fall) through my legs, crying, and general "not helping" activities.

Adam traveled to Montreal this afternoon for a trade show tomorrow and will then be home in the afternoon Friday just in time to pick up his new truck (finally). All extras will be done. Next week he's gone all week out west. Then a week of him home! We're on marathon mode for Adam traveling from now until the end of June...well, mid-June. We're on vacation the last third of June which is very exciting even if it will be hot as blazes in AZ when we get there. :)

I hear a grapefruit calling my name. Better that than the bag of chips, I suppose.

I Tooted.

So before I forget I have to document this story that I've told some of you already simply b/c I'll tell anyone who'll listen and has half a sense of humor. (warning - this may be funnier in real life and not so much in text)

Friday afternoon after her nap, Morgan informed me that she needed to go #2. So off to the potty we went and while Morgan was pushing and doing her business, she tooted once (duh, she's poopin'). I try not to react too much when this happens b/c of course if she knows it's funny to toot then she's going to do so loudly at the front of church sometime when it's super quiet. So anyway, I barely reacted but her eyes lit up and she pushed harder and tooted again. I'm starting to giggle now and am holding her pants up in front of my face (sometimes it's hard to poop with your pants on, you know) to try to hide my giggles....and no kidding you the child pushes harder 3 more times to toot and has me practically rolling on the floor and doing my best to hide it. Finally she does more business and then realizes she's back to air and starts all over again. I'm bawling from laughing without laughing by the way. I told her "mommy's eyes were being so silly" from all the crying and then we were done and outta there. Who'd have thought that tooting could have made me die laughing and pray that someday she doesn't take it up in front of church and share her "humor" with tons of other people....thank you, bodily functions, for yet another laugh.

One other thing - it ended up being rather nice out today so Morgan was outside with her daycare friends each riding in their own car. Morgan just kept pushing backwards and saying "oop!" every time she ran into the garage, a bump in the driveway, whatever. Meanest mom ever = taking her home. :-( Oh well. She can play tomorrow.

It's IEP season folks...two down, probably 10-14 more to go in the next two months...bah. But then it's SUMMER. ;-)

You know it's Spring when...

It's 82 degrees outside. That's not a typo and I'm SO happy for that! It's windier than the dickens outside, but that's a small price to pay to be outside and hot in a t-shirt and jeans thankyouverymuch. (ps. this is from Sunday that I didn't finish 04/03/2011). It turned out to be beautiful outside albeit windy and we were all in shorts and tshirts by the afternoon. Adam and Morgan even mowed the lawn a bit since it was getting to that point in some places (thank you puppies).

Now on to Monday's post. We had a lovely (and fast) weekend. Adam's parents showed up around dinner time on Friday and we met Adam at Applebee's for supper (thank you limited Muscatine cuisine) where Morgan was actually rather well behaved (thank you Grandpa distracter-man). Saturday was lovely save for having to be at class a good majority of the day. Negatives to this class (even though despite all of these I'm glad I took the class): I got stuck at the last stoplight (and was running late) for 4.5 minutes (if you know, that is eternity in traffic time. 4 stoplights down the street stopped and went while I was waiting. I finally blew the light and went to class 5 minutes late); I learned nothing new as the guy went into significant detail in slow motion about what we did at our last class; my tablemates were at a full table when I got there late (thank you light) so I had to sit with others (thankfully other SLPs I know and are hilarious as well). Positives: I continued to learn more about something I already knew which means I'm better at the hand signals; I got to sit by other friends instead of strangers; I went somewhere yummy for lunch (yum - Bavarian pretzel sandwich)...and got to go home in beautiful weather.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful in a good way with lots of good food, time outside (super warm!), and great visiting.

Morgan LOVES being outside. She will frequently yell ow-side!! ow-side!! and stand by the door. I noticed today she's really beefing up on her verb use as she used several today - pay (play), heep (sleep), push, pull, among a few others.

Shocker, I'm too tired to go back and see if this post is coherent which I'm pretty sure it's not. Meh...it's the start of a FULL week of work. Ack. Thank GOD I only have 2 weeks of real work before another 4 day week and then 4 day weekend (thank you Easter). Apparently I have lots to be thankful for in this post. And now I'm going to be thankful I'm done. ;-)

Dear Facebook,

Consider this your notice that we are fighting. I had a loooooooong message to send to a friend/family member with tons of good ideas about a situation she was trying to handle...and LOST the whole thing. It was seriously a book of good ideas. Why did you erase everything I had written when I clicked on something else too fast? Now I have to go back and write it all over again. After all that (and Morgan having WAY too much fun in her crib for an HOUR before finally giving in to her afternoon nap with a quivering lower lip) I am ready to claim to be done with you. Although we all know that isn't true. Just know that I'm very, very mad at you right now. The end.

Not love,
Melissa