Sunday Funday

'Twas a good day.  Unfortunately, it didn't start with going to church and that makes me sad.  I miss our church!  Max naps during the service and I haven't figured out how to get around that.  When he transitions to one nap a day we'll be able to go again.  I am strict about sleep because I know how important it is to my children's health and behavior.  Have any other parents of young children figured out how to go to church when it was during naptime?  Would love to hear your experience!

We had a lazy morning and then I met my dear friend Sarah for coffee at Caribou.  We had a great chat and then I did a little Christmas shopping (so much faster by myself than with two tag-a-longs!) and got groceries at Target.

We enjoyed an afternoon at home of playing, baking, and football-watching.  And I made lasagna for an early dinner. This evening, Daddy ran an errand and Claire, Max and I spent 50 minutes driving around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights.  Claire is just enamored with the lights.  It's going to be a fun December- I think we'll spend several more evenings enjoying our time together and marveling at those pretty lights.

Claire was a great (really, she was) helper today. She unwrapped the hershey kisses (and only ate one, with my permission). 

Max contributed by buying our baking supplies. (He took TWO steps on Friday! Yay for my big boy! He just can't know he's doing it).  

Then she placed the kisses very carefully into the center of the pretzels. 

Max made sure the goodies baked just long enough.

I enjoyed my four day weekend, especially the 2.5 days of it that I was relatively healthy.  It's back to work tomorrow, but it'll be nice to get back into the swing of things. And I have next Friday off, so it's another short week! Anyone want a playdate on Friday??

Authentically grateful

I loved this post by a Minnesota mom of seven.  It's a reminder to be authentically grateful.  A reminder that many...(even most?)...  people are aching for one reason or another beneath their holiday smiles.  It's a quick, easy read, and I hope you'll be blessed by it like I was.

Scenes from Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed breakfast with my dad (at our house while Max slept), lunch with the Dockens, Parks, and Sue and Julie at the farm, and dinner with the Thydeans, Farmers, Brody, and my mom and Brad at mom's house.  We have much to be thankful for!

(Oh and that French Silk Pie?  It was forgotten on the kitchen table and subsequently thrown away.  Oh well, it was cursed from the beginning.) 

You are my God, and I will praise you.

you are my God and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

His love endures forever.

Psalm 118:28-29

Scattered Thanksgiving Thoughts

I started getting sick the day before I left Seoul.  When I was sitting in the Seoul airport and getting the chills and body aches, I knew it wasn't a good sign.  When I got home, it was a full-blown illness.  By Sunday I had lost my voice completely.  Josh thought he had died and gone to heaven- I was home but I could not talk...perfect!  Side note--I learned this week that when my 2 1/2 year old is not listening to me, it's actually more effective to whisper really quietly so she has to stop and listen carefully than it is to speak louder.  Definitely putting that one in my parenting toolkit. 


By Tuesday I had 1/4 of a voice and today I have most of my voice, but my illness has traveled to my noise, stomach, and head.  I have slept on the couch almost every night since I came home last week because my coughing wakes up the kids and Josh.  I also got to experience what it feels like to take an Ambien but then not sleep due to coughing... you start seeing little green gnomes! (I also had a dream last night that my mom was throwing rocks at me and trying to seriously injure me. Weird).  Today I was absolutely miserable at work.  I was constantly coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, or visiting the bathroom. I would have stayed home yesterday and today, if I had not been out for almost the past three weeks and out the remainder of this week.

To top it off, my commute home took 90 minutes due to an accident on 169 and I ran out of fresh kleenexes half-way through.  I was going to be late for Max's haircut (across the street- convenient) and Claire was going to miss gymnastics because Daddy had to stay home to watch Max.  Luckily, Grandma took Max to his haircut and Josh took Claire to gymnastics.  I caught the tail-end of Max's haircut (his FOURTH one in 12 months- incredible!).  I fed him dinner and played until Daddy and Claire returned.

Then I had to go to Target to buy ingredients to make a dessert tonight for tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration with Josh's family.  It was honestly the last thing I felt like doing, but I took Claire with me at 7:00PM.  Lo and behold, Target was out of stock in some of the key ingredients for my dessert.

No problem.  I'll buy ingredients for the other dessert I was considering making.... the recipe is conveniently located on my phone.  Fail.  I forgot my phone at home.  No phone means no recipe which = no idea which ingredients to buy.

We went home empty-handed and I told Josh I'd have to go to Target again after we put Claire to bed and I collect the recipe.  Thankfully, he had his senses and suggested picking up a pie from Perkins.

Would it be perfect? No.  Was it real life? Yes.

So tomorrow we'll be bringing a French Silk pie from Perkins to the Docken Thanksgiving (I apologize in advance if that disappoints anyone) and I'll be praying tonight to finally start feeling better.

In a strange way, I am sort of thankful for this illness that is still going strong on day seven.   I rarely ever get sick and I forget how truly wonderful being healthy is.  Being in poor health this week has made me more thankful and cognizant of good health.  You never appreciate good health until it's gone...isn't that the truth?

Tonight I am also remembering my gratitude for my beautiful, healthy, growing, learning, funny, charming, potty-training (at least one of them), nutty, mommy-lovin', little children.  And for their father, who handled my 12 day absence with total ease. I keep being asked at work how in the world Josh managed to take care of the young children, and the house, and his job while I was away. I am thankful that that was my last worry while I was in Asia.  Frankly, he probably did better than I would have in the situation. For him, I am grateful.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the lovingly-prepared food (especially that French Silk Pie if you'll be at the Dockens) and the time with family.  And enjoy seeing the Packers get their first tick in the loser column.  Go Lions!

Family playdate

We recently had a playdate at my house with six children, age 2 1/2 (Claire, the oldest) and younger.  Some of the kids are siblings (Everleigh & Briggs and Claire & Max), some of the kids are first cousins (Claire/Max and Brody as well as Everleigh/Briggs and Andrew) and some of them have baby siblings on the way (Brody and Andrew).  They are all children of siblings/cousins...so does that make them second cousins? Or is it first cousins, once removed?  That's always confused me.  Regardless, it was fun madness! 

Three boys who like to play in the kitchen 

A little appetizer before lunch 

It was the most successful group photo we've taken yet.  No tears. No flinging of bodies. No accidental pushing. It was a moment to savor. 

The same children, 11 months ago.  They grow more fun with age! 

Two worlds

Yesterday I traveled home from Asia, where I worked for 12 days. It was a long day.  Two meetings, one business lunch, one presentation to about 80 Koreans, one 1-hour drive and then 2-hour wait at the South Korea airport, one 13-hour plane ride to Detroit, one 3-hour layover, one 2-hour flight to Minneapolis, and one kind brother who picked me up (and gave me a big hug and said, "It's SO good to see you!". Gosh, love him) and drove me home from the airport (with an emergency stop at Chipotle. I had hardly ate anything in 28 hours) and I was finally home. 

I traded taking pictures of this....

Hong Kong (front) and Kowloon (back), taken from the top of a mountain

 and of this.... 

for taking pictures today of her.... 

and of him... 

And my heart is over-flowing.

A mix of emotions

Today is my fourth day in Asia. It's been quite an experience so far.  I find the city to be fascinating and I am remembering how much I love traveling abroad.  When I traveled in college, I stayed at cheap hotels (and hostels on occasion), took the metro/subway everywhere I went and ate on a budget.  This time I'm staying in a fancy hotel with impeccable service, I take a taxi everywhere and I enjoy fine dining (and without having to pay for it myself- bonus).  It wasn't really feeling like "me" though, so yesterday I insisted on experiencing the crowds, the smells, the lines, and the experience of taking the MTI (their underground subway) instead of the taxis.  It made me reminisce about all of the times my friends and I figured out the subway systems in cities such as Munich, Berlin, Rome, Florence, Venice when we couldn't read the language, didn't really know where we were going and somehow found our way.  It was always a fun feeling of having conquered the unknown.  Needless to say, I enjoyed my MTI rides yesterday. 

The people here are incredibly gracious.  In a lot of ways, the city reminds me of New York City with the dense population, skyscrapers, the hustle and bustle. But in New York, you constantly hear cars honking and in general it feels that folks are focused on themselves.  But here in Hong Kong, you very rarely hear honking and the people are tremendously polite. Even more polite than Minnesotans, if you can believe that. :)

On the one hand I am feeling grateful and excited for this adventure, but on the other hand I feel overwhelming sadness.

One of my co-workers, who was supposed to be traveling with me, didn't show up for the flight this past Sunday.  He had been sick the entire week prior so I thought maybe he was too sick to travel, but I thought he would have informed us. I learned last night that he unexpectedly passed away last Saturday.  He leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. My heart is so heavy and I have trouble wrapping my mind around the enormous loss that his family just endured.  The brevity of life....      Oh, Lord, You hear his family's cries. You feel their indescribable pain. Wrap your loving arms around them. Wipe their tears. Give them hope of seeing their husband and father again, in your holy kingdom. Use this tragedy to draw your people closer to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love from halfway across the world,
Whitney

Max at 12 months (and bon voyage)

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go, I'm standing here outside your door....

I leave in the morning for Asia.  I'm glad it's here because I've been thinking about it for so long and I'm ready to experience this great adventure and then return home to my babies (and hubby).  The not-so-good news is that Josh is ill.  He spent about 3 1/2 hours last night getting physically sick in the bathroom, while I laid awake praying for and worrying about him.  Neither of us feel great today, although he feels worse than me.  What's harder than taking care of two little people for 12 days by yourself?  Doing it while being sick.  What's even worse?  Doing it while the kids are sick too.  Right now is the ONLY time in the past 6 weeks that BOTH Claire and Max are healthy, and I am praying, praying, praying that it stays that way while I'm gone. 

I took many international trips between the ages of 16 and 21 (three to Ukraine (including Hungary one of those times), one to England and Scotland, one to Norway and Sweden, one to France where I studied abroad for a semester and traveled all over western Europe, one to France and England, and I think that's it) so you can safely say I had the international travel bug badly. Now I haven't traveled internationally in the past 9 years (except once to Dominican Republic, but I don't think that really counts) so I'm very excited about experiencing Asia, especially when I'm flying business class (for 16 hours! and not including the trip to Chicago) and on my company's dime.  I'll be meeting with about 13 of Tar.get's vendors, touring the port of Yantian China, touring a factory that manufactures apparel, and of course sight-seeing in Hong Kong and South Korea in the evenings and weekends. All the while thinking about my precious Claire and Max.

In other news, I thought I'd better write Max's 12 month update because he'll be nearing 13 months by the time I return!

At 12 months, Max:

• sleeps amazingly well at night. Now that I'm not nursing him in the morning, he sleeps from about 6:45-7:00PM until 7:30ish AM, often without waking.  His naps are on the shorter side and they're still frequent (about three a day), but with 13 hours at night, I'll take shorter naps.
• My last day of nursing was Friday, October 28th (tear....).  I feel very blessed to have been able to nurse both my babies for an entire year. Max still takes several bottles a day because he's not a fan of whole milk in the sippy cup yet and his doctor warned that we must take the bottle completely away NOW.  I'm at least going to wait until I return from Asia.
• Is already breaking the budget with his eating. He doesn't ever want to stop!  I need to introduce more variety into his meals.  Right now he mostly eats cheese, yogurt, fruit (any kind but apples. He thinks they're too sour), bread, lunch meat, Cheerios, and oatmeal.  He does not like vegetables and just refuses to eat them, even if I serve them first.  I don't know how to make him start eating vegetables?? 
• cruises along anything. While standing, he'll let go of an object for a second so he can grab hold of another (for example, let go of the couch so he can grab onto me). Walks while pushing toys and thinks it's absolutely hilarious. Crawls at lightning speed, especially if he's trying to reach me. He doesn't seem even close to having enough balance to stand on his own.  That's okay with me- I just don't want him to start walking while I'm gone and I think it's 99% likely he won't.
• Is still obsessed with his mommy.  My trip will provide good bonding time for Max and Daddy.
• Is not afraid of strangers, yet he is still a sensitive soul, as demonstrated by the tears during the attention at his birthday party.  When I discipline him ("No, Max! No biting Mommy" which he actually does when trying to give kisses), he often throws on the waterworks too.  Ah, so much like his sister.
• Seems like a "big" boy, particularly when compared to his sister, but it turns out he's on the small side. He's in the 25th percentile for height (28.75 inches) and 25th percentile for weight (20 lbs 15 oz) and his head is in the 80th percentile, though it does look proportionate. He wears size 9 months, 12 month, and 12-18 month clothing.
• Loves bathtime, Sesame Street (Claire had NO interest in TV at his age. In fact, she just started showing interest in TV at age 2 1/2 years), his sister, whatever toy Claire has, the dishwasher, car rides, Target, pop bottles, being outside, snuggling, the remote control, sleeping, and putting everything in his mouth.
• He doesn't like being left behind by his sister and big cousin Brody during daycare.

A glimpse through the year

This is a movie that I spent hours and hours and HOURS on!  I hope Max will treasure it when he's older.  It's his first year of life, sweetly summed up in ten minutes.

Here's another summary of his first year.  Look how he's grown! There's a picture from each month (top to bottom, left to right :)).

Halloween 2011

Josh and I both took October 31st off of work. It was nice to recuperate after Max's party and prepare for the evening's festivities.  We went to the farm (in-laws' home) in the afternoon and it worried me when Claire was insistent on NOT wearing her costume.  Fortunately, I have learned the effectiveness of M&Ms and that's all it took to convince her the wear the costume that evening.

M&Ms. Best parenting tool ever. 

 What a difference a year makes.  Halloween 2010- the night before Max was born. 

And Halloween 2011.  With a pumpkin one day shy of one year old. 

My dad has spent the past couple Halloweens with us and it's super fun.  He and Claire had a great time handing out candy.  She was mesmerized by the Halloween costumes and stared at the kids while sloooooowly putting candy in their bags.  One little boy said, "She sure takes her time!!!!".  I told her that the kids are going to start skipping our house because we slow them down! I totally get the must-maximize-candy-collection mentality.

With our neighbor friends.  Can't stand too close.

Rachel and I met in our childbirth and parenting class before our daughters were born and she has become a super dear friend.  We couldn't believe that this was the THIRD Halloween we celebrated together! It's so fun to see our girls grow up in these pictures. 

2009

2010

2011

We called this Max's "angry French pumpkin" look.  He was so tired and went to bed at 6:45. 

 Yay, we're so happy you're here, little boys!

Claire called the trick-or-treaters "friends".  "Yay, my friends are here!" she'd exclaim every time they came to our door. The morning after Halloween she said, "I want my friends to come today and have candy".  It's hard for her to understand we have to wait another entire year to have this fun again!