Raising Cubs in a Campground

Thirteen ways to spend our (miracle) tax return money: 1. Go on a second honeymoon (We'd love to return to the Gunflint Lodge) 2. Pay off our last student loan (We had four between Brian and I) 3. Get off to a great start on a family vacation fund (We want to see the National Parks out West) 4. Pay off a credit card 5. Barely make a dent in a different credit card 6. Make a dent in yet another credit card 7. Buy a (much needed) new bed 8. Replace our dying dishwasher, garage door, or driveway 9. Put it in a savings account (boring, but the responsible thing to do) 10. Hire a personal trainer to help me lose the last 15 pregnancy pounds 11. Buy a killer digital camera 12. Put it towards classes for the kids: swimming lessons, music lessons, early childhood classes etc.... 13. Pay a cleaning service to come clean my house (at least for a little while)

 

One day Sam is playing in the snow and the next day, poof , it's 75 degrees and we're off to the park for some dirt scooping and swinging. Cool Slideshows Sam insists on pushing his dump truck all the way to the park by himself. My back sure wouldn't take that much bending over! Julia has a new perspective on the world now that she can sit in the stroller like a big girl. She thought the swings were pretty fun too. Daddy had the pleasure of giving her the very first push. This is going to be a great summer of playing and discovering new things as Sam is talking now. I can't wait!

7:00pm - Start bedtime routine with kids 7:30pm - Sam in bed, nurse Julia 8:00pm - Julia asleep, Mommy tackle a mountain of laundry 8:45pm - Hear yelling from Sam's room, go investigate... Sam was singing: Joy, Joy, Joy, in my heart OUCH!!! Joy, Joy, Joy in my heart OUCH!! Joy, Joy, Joy in my heart Where? *repeat many times* 8:50pm - Mommy is laughing too hard to tell Sam it's time to sleep, go get Daddy to talk to his son about how late it was getting, how he needed to sleep, etc.... 9:15pm - all is quiet. Too bad - Sam's song was really cute.

  After Julia's first big tub bath the other day I was surprised to find.... curls!   This is Sam, about the same age Julia is now. He had curls too - lots of them.

  A year ago to the day we were in Independence, California visiting our friends Carrie and Troy. They work for the National Park Service there and were gracious enough to host our family for a week. We had canceled the trip a few weeks earlier because I was still pretty sick with morning sickness. Of course the very next day was the first time in two months that I hadn't felt too terribly bad. This got us thinking that maybe we should try to go anyway. So.....on a Friday evening we decided to reinstate our plane tickets for Tuesday morning and then scramble to pack all that we'd need to travel 1,000 miles from home with an 18 month old. It was so worth the hectic couple of days! We've enjoyed looking back at the photos a year later. We hope you do too.

A huge grin - that is what I'm greeted with when I get Julia up from a nap or when she wakes up in the morning.     I wish I could crawl in and snuggle with her like Sam can.

So how am I suppose to survive without water for six hours today? With my handy, dandy, luggable loo of course! Seriously though, our water came back on a little while ago and I never needed to use the portable potty once. (I suppose that probably means I'm not drinking enough water.)It pays to be prepared though! I had every kettle filled with water and sitting on the stove just in case the repair took longer than expected. It'll be a while before I take for granted the ease of turning on the faucet or flushing the toilet.

NOTICE Water Shut Down Due to an emergency water main repair, there will be a water shut down today, from 9am to 3pm. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Water & Sewer Dept. at 555-4335. Thank you for your patience. This should be an interesting day!

  Our dog, Conor, is going to be nine in May. For the first seven years of his life he was our baby. We planned our life around him. Two kids later and he's become low man on the totum pole - spending much of his day on the steps away from kids who would love to pull his hair. Despite this, his love for us hasn't changed a bit. EVERY time I come in the door he is there to greet me with his tail wagging a mile-a -minute. Each time I pass by him on the steps he looks up at me with his shifty eyes (he has major vision issues) and is thrilled to receive even a little pat on the head. So when Conor nosed his way into Julia's room this afternoon while I was trying to put her down for her nap I was annoyed, but then my heart soften when I thought of how how he just wants to be where I am. I sat in Julia's room for a couple of minutes to make sure she was asleep before coming back downstairs. To pass the time I picked up my Bible from the nightstand and turned to today...

If you've noticed that there haven't been many posts about Julia lately it is because I've been having lots of trouble posting pictures to my blog. I've been taking gobs of pictures of my growing baby girl, but haven't been able to share them. Today I'm testing out a new method of posting pictures. If you can see this one of Julia's many belly rolls, let me know. Thanks for your help!  

  Without a tape deck in the house Sam has to use my old Walkman to listen to my childhood tapes. Today selection: A 1977 Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too story

When your two year old is literally bouncing off the walls you know it's time to find a place other than your house to absorb some of the blows. We decided to take the kids to an indoor park where Sam could burn off some energy and Daddy could try to keep up. See if you can find Sam in the tree house. Hint: He's wearing green (It's St. Patrick's Day after all.) If you have trouble, look at the second photo - a zoomed in version of the first one.    

Sam got a haircut today. He's had so many that I've lost count. What made this one worth blogging about was the super nice lady at Great Clips who cut his hair. Janet was kind, upbeat, and let Sam help her. She didn't rush through or mind that I was snapping pictures. She even put gel in Sam's hair for him. He didn't call it something cute, like "gello"; instead when I asked him what was in his hair he replied, "poop". Kids say the darnedest things! Cool Slideshows

We're not sick, but Grant is, so I was off from work today. I didn't want to waste this opportunity to get out on a weekday, and my friend Jennifer was game for taking our kids to the Minnesota Zoo. Sam and Kieran fed off of each others energy and only slowed down when we got to ride the monorail. Cool Slideshows Want a better view of the ray trying to jump up at Kieran or Sam's fishy face? Use your mouse to move the magnifying glass over the pictures. Pretty cool huh? Check out Jennifer's blog for more pictures of the boy's adventure.

  The transition from 2+ feet of snow to 50 degree days can be messy, but if we look closely   we can see that God's beauty is all around us. It's not easy to take ALL the kids outside, but it is so worth it!

  On Tuesdays I have my two kids and two daycare kids at my house. Most of the time their schedules don't overlap but sometimes I can be found sitting on the floor trying to juggle three bottles at once. Not to be left out, Sam has to drink from his water bottle at the same time. Thankfully he doesn't need me to hold it for him!

Sam and I were both brave this past Friday, but for different reasons. Me, for putting a swimming suit on for the first time post-baby and Sam, for going down the caterpillar slide at the Community Center pool. It took me 20 minutes to convince him to sit on my lap and give it a try. After he did that a few times he got brave enough to do it all by himself.   My camera battery died so I found this picture of the slide at the Community Center website. When I discovered that my camera didn't work I considered not letting Julia go in the water after all since I wouldn't be able to document this "first", but then I realized how stupid I was being and let her splash around with her brother. The water didn't phase her a bit. I think if she could talk she would have said, "Geez Mom. What did you expect? It wasn't that long that I was swimming in amniotic fluid. How is this different?" If you are wondering how I took two small children to the pool ...

At dinner the other night Sam was actually eating the same thing Brian and I were - tacos. I didn't want him to worry about how messy tacos can be so I showed him that it was OK eat the stuff that had fallen onto his plate with his fingers. I must have been a little over zealous in my demonstration because with a very serious tone Sam said, "Slow down mom." Good thing the lenient food police officer, A.K.A Sam, was on duty.

So far Sam has been able to stay neutral on this one thanks to Grandma Pauly's great garage sale finds. Thanks Grandma! (It helps my cause that Grant's parents are from Wisconsin like me - Go Packers!)    

I'd never considered cloth diapers before, but after seeing how easy it is for my friend, Jennifer , I am willing to give it a try. Sam currently wears a size 5 or a 6 and Julia wears 4 and 5's. It works out nicely for me that in the cloth diapers they'll be wearing the same size liner. To all my wonderful and much appreciated babysitters who read this - don't worry, we'll still have a stash of disposables for your convenience. I placed an order online with a company called thanksmama.com and am anxious for my package to arrive in the next week or so. When I added up how much we spend on diapers in a month I realized that the cloth diapers would be paid for in as little as three months. My diapering days are LONG from over so I think this will be a good investment. It also feels good to help the environment and the bottoms of my babies will benefit from not sitting in the chlorine in disposables 24/7. Time will tell whether this will be an easy change for us...

What you don't want to see when you walk into your child's room when they're suppose to be napping: all their clothes off What you don't want to hear after they've 45 minutes of not napping: "Ready get up. All done nigh-night." What you don't want to feel on your child's bed when you've decided to just let him get up without sleeping: A HUGE wet spot where he dumped out the entire contents of his water bottle p.s. I'm not so sure about the parenting technique I used here and am open to suggestions: I didn't acknowledge the fact that Sam was mostly naked (thankful he'd left his diaper on) nor did I say anything about the wet spot. I just picked him up and brought him downstairs. I was afraid that saying anything would encourage him to do it again to get out of napping on another day. Note to self: No more water bottles in bed with Sam anymore.

Tonight I had the rare opportunity to hold my sleeping first-born in my arms. He had fallen asleep on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house and surprisingly didn't wake up when I carried him into the house. I snuggled up on the couch to gaze at Sam's face and give him lots of kisses. Sam is an affectionate little guy, but he doesn't usually want to stay still so I can nestle my nose in the crook of his neck or kiss the bridge of his nose. His skin is still soft as can be and I can only imagine what he was dreaming about as his eyelids fluttered. If I had to guess I'd say all the fun he had playing with Grandma and Aunt Sharon. Since I didn't want to wake him by taking a photo I dug up this baby picture of Sam snuggling with me at a family wedding a couple years ago. You'll have to take my word for it that he looked just as peaceful tonight - Get Your Own

Sam was complaining about his toes hurting and I figured it was a toenail that needed trimming. I got out the clippers and convinced him to be brave while I clipped his nails. I put his sleeper back on (today is pj day) and thought we'd be good to go. No such luck. He didn't want to walk and kept asking me to clip his nails. I'd clipped them as short as I could so I just carried him up to bed for his nap. I thought that nap time was going to be ruined by his whining about his toe and was starting to get frustrated. I pulled his foot out one more time to inspect it for an owie only to discover that he'd been walking on a couple pieces of cereal he'd lost down his sleeper during lunch. If only all owies were this easy to fix!

Sam is picking up new words left and right. I keep a collection of words that he adorably mispronounces. For now I'll share the most recent additions to his vocab: I-kay (Okay) Puppy-roni (pepperoni) stay tuned....I'll post the longer list soon.

***************************** WARNING ***************************** This topic is a touchy one. We know people might not agree with us, but Brian and I felt it was important to share the information so other parents become aware that they have a say in this area of their children's health care. Please read this post with an open mind and know that we only want to increase awareness so you can make the best decision for your family. The back story: My mom has been studying to be a nutrition therapist for a while now and has graciously shared the information she's acquired through her studies with me. Back in September she got really sick and spent the night a hospital. They found a cyst on her kidney and tried different antibiotics to treat it. This was not successful and she spent the next two and a half months very ill. She was able to work and go about her daily routine, but she was very weak and lost a bunch of weight. By mid-December she was back in the hospital w...

- Get Your Own Poor Sam! Today at the community center there were three other moms calling out "Sam" at various times. My Sam couldn't figure out why everyone was calling for him. There was 2 little boys and one girl with the very same name. I guess it's time to start teaching Sam what his last name is. Sorry Mommy and Daddy didn't pick a more unique name for you Sammy! You are such a Sam though. I couldn't imagine you with any other name.

Julia has changed so much in the past five months, but she'll always be our little peanut. | View Show | Create Your Own Julia is starting to discover her tooties, she's learning to sit up, and she's trying to put everything in her mouth. We love you JoJo! Happy five month birthday!

| View Show | Create Your Own

No wind, no snow in his face...what a great place to enjoy the snow | View Show | Create Your Own

My mom was a big health nut (and still is) when I was growing up so the only way I could get my hands on junk food was to trade for it during school lunch. The problem was I didn't have anything in my pink My Little Pony lunch box worth trading for. Kids would give me their burnt chips or the ones with green edges and I was happy to take them. When I got older and could buy all the junk food I wanted, I thought my mom's methods had backfired. Little did I know that I'd become a health food nut myself when it comes to my kid's diets. Now I'm the one who buys organic raw milk (not homoginized or pasturized to preserve nutrients). Our bread is filled with what my sister, Katie, calls bird seed. I guess she's right since birds eat millet too. Sam's favorite snack is Veggie Booty (the only way I can get him to eat veggies other than in his Vruit Juice). While I know that someday he'll eat french fries, I'm trying to delay that day from coming a...

Next time I buy vitamins for Sam I'm getting the kind that only has one shape. No more of this "popie linie vinnie pease mommy" only to change his mind and now wants "bown elfint" (orange elephant) after I've searched half the bottle for a purple lion. Taking a multivitamin has turned into a ten minute event - and that doesn't include the time it takes him to lick it until it's so sticky that I finally insist that he pops it in so he doesn't choke on it when I go tend to the babies.