July Blog with Pics!

Well, I'm trying to do one blog a month, and I'm glad I remembered it was July 31st today or I would have missed one. Summer is going so fast and we have been having so much fun. We've spent lots of nice days at the beach, playing with our deluxe swingset, and so much other good stuff.

Bea is just the coolest kid. She's at the age where she is ready to tell stories. For example, in the car today she said, "Mama, last night I went to bed and then I woke up and I was scary [sic] because I couldn't see you [her nightlight burned out], and I made noise, and then you came to get me!" She also is full of funny things to say these days, for example today she told her teacher, "Miss Hannah, I like your butt." Nice. She loves playing with her babies, feeding them, and saying things like, "Baby, I so proud of you for eating your toast! Well done." She knows who President Obama is and she yells "OOOOOOOBAAAAAAMMMMA!" whenever she sees him on tv or in a picture. Obama is a great name for a kid to say, regardless of political party! Somehow I don't think "McCain" would have been as enticing to her.

She likes to "read" her books to us now. She says, "Mama, close your lips and open your ears" then, she holds the book up like they do at school and just talks a bunch... about whatever she thinks of. She also sings and sings. She now likes longer songs, like "If you're happy and you know it," "You are my sunshine," and my personal fav, "Row, Row, Row your boat, gently down the streeeeeeet!"

She's an extremely social kid. She says "hi" to everyone at the grocery store.Last week we went to a party at my office and when we got there she went around kissing the kids. Later, when there was a pinata, she passed out candy to all the adults. (note: she doesn't actually know what candy is... and we didn't tell her!)

We're also working on potty training. She gets a jelly bean when she "goes" which is pretty exciting stuff.

Well, now here's what you're probably here for, some pics! As I was putting these together I realized I needed to take some better pictures for the rest of the summer. I know my parents have some good ones on their camera, so I'll try to post some others when I get them.

Here's Bea proudly displaying her 101 Dalmations bandaid. Owies are big bragging rights these days. Even the slightest scratch is discussed for weeks and shown to everyone she meets.


Bea loves playing in the yard and hanging out with Bullet. Here she is opening the gate for him.


Grandma Liz and Grandpa Dick built Bea a very cool playhouse under her swing set. I'll post more pictures of that later (when I get them off their camera). But, here is a picture of Bea "helping" with Grandpa's hammer. She has a set of kiddy tools from Aunt Diane and her own tape measure, which she calls her "major." She goes around hammering, screwing, and majoring things all the time. A girl after my own heart. Just a note of caution, though, don't trust her major-ments. When she majors things and someone asks her "how big was it?" The answer is always three.


Bea also really (REALLY) wants to drive the car. She's got a few years to wait yet, but lately she's been getting a lot of practice on other vehicles. Here she is "driving" Grandpa Dick's tractor. She also drove an electric kiddy jeep at her "cousin" Gwen's house and attempted to drive Grandma Pat and Grandpa Steve's pontoon. We're going to have to start putting the car keys really high up.


For 4th of July this year we went back to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Pat's cabin. Grandpa Dick and Grandma Liz came, too. At the cabin there were lots of activities. Races for the kids in the community, a boat parade, etc. It was a ton of fun. Bea participated in the race for her age group, but got kind of freaked out and didn't do too well! ha! maybe next year. Here she is after the race walking back to the car between Grandpa Steve and Grandpa Dick, with Tio Jorge and Aunt Karyn in the background.


Here's Bea later in the day on the 4th lounging on the pontoon...


For my birthday in mid-July we went mini-golfing. Bea actually did really well and made it the whole 18 holes! She started out trying to golf...


For the majority of the course, she was in charge of the flags. She loved the flags.


Eventually, she became part of the gallery...


I just like this picture, because she is so cute. This is just a random day before school.


A couple weeks ago, Grandma Liz, Grandpa Dick, Bea, and I went to Wisconsin for "Acation." (Vacation.) Bea was very excited about Acation. And during the six hours to Appleton she kept asking when Acation was going to start. When we told her it already did, she started to cry and refused to accept that riding in the car was Acation. Luckily, when we got to Aunt Diane's house (which has more toys than Santa's workshop and built-in playmate her age, Gwen), Acation had finally began! I used my parents camera when we were at Diane and Mike's so I will have to get some pictures from them. There were lots of adventures.

After Appleton, we continued our trip by visiting Brian, Denise, Molly, and Zoe in Sauk City near Madison. Brian and Denise have been friends of my parents for 35 years or so. Molly and Zoe are their cocker spaniels, which Bea adores. They live in a big house out in the middle of a farm that is just gorgeous. They also have grandchildren -- Nicholas and Reese -- to play with so there was more fun to be had!

On the way to Brian and Denise's house, we took a car ferry. Here's G.Dick, G.Liz, and Bea on the boat.


Here's Bea swimming in Brian and Denise's backyard pool!


Bea picked many wildflowers in the fields around the house.


And she walked in the TALL corn fields!


Well, I will post some more in August. Hope you summer is going great!
Melissa

Swimming at the lake

This was probably the first true "lake visit" for Bea. My parents have a cabin and we went there last year, but she only hung out in a toy pool, not the real thing as she was just over one at the time.

With the unusual heat today (it actually went over the average high) we ran off for an hour to take a splash because Bea has been asking us to go swimming since her swim lessons (with Melissa when I was at school) ended about 6 weeks ago.

We went to Lake Nokomis for an hour or so after her nap. From a two year old's perspective, it was perfect. Good people watching, lots of dogs, dogs swimming!, ducks, low flying airplanes (from the nearby runways at the airport), boats, occasional motorcycles and a lake!

I have the primary role as the "parental kid tosser". I took turns throwing Bea up in the air (and catching her of course) and jumping up together and splashing (without going under). She liked them both equally. Since it's been a cold summer and it's mid-June the water temperature was cold. Thus Bea was shivering uncontrollably and her lips starting turning blue but she didn't want to stop getting tossed in the air or get out of the water. Having her cling to my chest with a huge grin and laughing consistently was a memory I hope to cherish forever.

We did make her take a couple of breaks (and a mandatory beach timeout from the lifeguards helped). We focused on making our first sand castle as a team. Mostly it was Dad running water for making the sand moist, Melissa was the sand scooper and I unpacked the sand from the forms. Bea was an assistant waterer and we did our best to keep her from washing out our creations. Bea was interested in pouring water anywhere, the sand castle didn't matter much.

There were kids running into the water from the beach and diving in. Bea decided to do that and did a great face first dive, with a full spread eagle (arms extended out right), in about two inches of water. The crying was quickly subsided by some quick tossing in the air and into the water. Melissa and I did our best not to offend her by laughing too loudly. I don't know if she was crying because it hurt or her ego was hurt. It was extremely funny because the form was perfect but the location, not so much. She just froze there, laying on her stomach, arms outstretched, and was trying to figure out what just happened and what went wrong.

It all lasted probably a little more than an hour, but the memories and fun were bountiful.

Bea is 2 and 1/12th

Well, it's been more than a month since Bea's birthday, and I'm just getting these pictures up now. oops.

So, Bea is now two, but if you ask her how old she is, she'll say "three." (She always does.) Bea has definitely entered the "terrible twos" stage and is quite talented with the tantrums, but other then that, she is tons of fun. Currently, she really likes to sing Happy Birthday (to whoever) and loves to play ring-around-the-rosie.

She talks so well now, here are some recent quotes:
-"Mommy, I wuv you." (Awwwww!)
-"The wind makes my hair so cold!"
-"Bullet, you're a good dog, big dog...I pet you. You need a hug?" (then tackles Bullet)
-When asked what happened at school one day: "Alayna threw rocks at Miles and she was in trooooooble. I ate beans."
-"Mommy has a big nose, Mommy has a big nose." (Matt told her to say that, nice.)
-When there were no geese in a pond near our house: "The geese went on vacation to Wisconsin to see Denise and Brian and Molly and Zoe." (Denise and Brian are friends of my parents, Molly and Zoe are their dogs...)
-When her daycare teacher asked her why she took another child's artwork off the wall: "Because I'm naughty"

BIRTHDAY PICTURES


Here we are at Bea's birthday party. Not a great picture of any of us, but we all have our eyes open, which is a rarity. This is before Mommy's big haircut.


Here's Bea reading one of her birthday cards. She has all of the greeting cards she's ever received in a bucket in her playroom, she takes them all out and looks and them periodically.


The birthday girl blowing out her candles. We didn't even practice this ahead, so I was really surprised that she did it. Bea's party was bunny themed, mostly because I call her "Beatrice Bunny" but also because Easter was a week later and the decorations could serve a dual purpose! I was pretty proud of the cake, which I made myself.

During the cake and ice cream, Bea and Sadie had a conversation that went something like...
Bea: Sadie, you need a bib.
Sadie: No, I don't need a bib. You're a baby. I'm a big girl.
Bea: Yes, you do, you're dirty.
Sadie: No, I'm not (wipes hand on shirt)


We got Bea this toddler fort/tent and it was the hit of the party. Bea and Sadie giggled in it for almost an hour. Some of the adults tried it, too.


Here's Bea coming out of the tent's tunnel.


Grandma Liz and Bea trying out the tent the day after Bea's birthday.

EASTER


One week after Bea's birthday came Easter. I think Bea was beginning to think gifts were going to happen every day by the end of all the celebrations. Here are Bullet, Bea, and Matt at Grandma Liz and Grandpa Dick's on Easter morning.


Here is Bea showing off some of the jewelry the Easter bunny left for her at Grandma Liz's house. Bracelets, in particular, are some of Bea's favorite things. The Easter bunny left things at our house and both sets of Grandparents' houses. Bea was spoiled indeed.


Bea, Sadie, Grandma Pat, and Grandpa Steve at Pat and Steve's house in Princeton. They had a big egg hunt all over the enormous front yard.


Here's Bea in serious egg hunt mode. This was her fourth egg hunt in three days, so she was well prepared and very excited. She was running ahead of everyone saying in a creepy gremlin voice, "More eggs, more eggs, more eggs!". She was also covertly stealing eggs from Sadie. I guess she's a little competitive. I wonder where she gets that from?

SPRING HAS SPRUNG


Here is Bea in our front yard with a flowering shrub, we have all enjoyed getting out now that the weather is nicer!


Bea also got a fancy new swing set for her birthday (but it didn't come until a couple weeks later). Here we are just yesterday playing on it -- and there's my new haircut!

Hope you're having a great spring!
Melissa

New Pictures - Jan-Feb-March

Well, we are really getting bad about updating this blog, but as Bea gets big, we just have too much to do!

Bea is just bursting with energy these days. She runs fast, talks a mile-a-minute, and more. She learns new things everyday that just amaze us. She also likes to sing a lot. Her repretoire includes:

-ABCs
-Twinkle Twinkle
-Rock-a-Bye Baby
-People on the Bus
-Little Bunny Foo Foo
-If You're Happy and You Know It
-Two Elephants Went Out to Play
-Itsy Bitsy Spider
-London Bridges
-Ring Around the Rosie
-Row, Row, Row Your Boat
-On Wisconsin (I'm not joking-she even marches like the band)
-And much, much more...

She really started talking in sentences in January when one day she said, "Mommy, let's go tell Daddy I tooted." (Classy.) Since then she's just exploded and comes out with some of the funniest things.

She loves anything to do with animals. She loves doggies -- Bullet of course and Sadie (the dog) next door. She loves the birdies, squirrels, and deer that come into our yard as well as books about animals -- some of her favorites are "Is Your Mama a Llama?" and "Going on a Bear Hunt."

She also loves going to the zoo. We have a year membership and we go often. In fact, we were just there today. Bea and Sadie (the human cousin) were just inches away from an enormous grizzly bear who was looking at them through the glass. They were literally nose to nose. Even though I know it's safe, I still shuttered! Bea, just looked at me and said, "Mommy, a Bear... Rarrrrrrrrr!" (Today at the zoo, we also met another little girl named Beatrice who is just a week younger than our Bea!)

Bea also likes to immitate us a lot now. You might remember that Bea got a kitchen set for Christmas -- now she likes making everyone "tea" and "applesauce". She likes to stir things in her pots and pans, and running around the house pushing her babies in the stroller.

Lastly, Bea likes to dress up. Some days it's the fairy wings and tutu, some days it's the firefighter hat and sunglasses. It's a whole new world of fashion around our house.

Of course, it hasn't all been wine and roses around here. We've all been sick -- Bea had pneumonia. Bullet also had another cancerous tumor. And, Bea does not particularly like swimming lessons (she's afraid of water in general -- even in her bath). When the kids are supposed to blow bubbles "like fishies" at swimming lessons, Bea tightens her grip around my neck and says. "Bea no blow bubbles. Mommy do it." Greeaaaaaaaaaat.

But, overall, we can't complain. Here are some pictures for you from the last few months.


Although Bea had her hair cut a couple times by Grandma Liz over the past year, this is Bea's first haircut in the salon. She was a little taken aback by the water spritzer and the hair dryer. But, she loves the hair dryer now after swimming lessons, I think it's her favorite part of swimming lessons, actually.


Here is a picture of Bea and Daddy in our sun porch on the day Daddy took down the outside Christmas deer. Bea was very excited to see the deer up close when Daddy brought them in the house. Unfortunately, she was very traumatized when they weren't still on the porch when she woke up from her nap. I told her they went home to see their families, that they were happy, and they'd be back next winter... and for days after, her eyes would well up with tears and she'd say (bravely), "The deer happy, Mommy." It was so sad. We also had lots of real deer sleeping in our yard this year, and so every morning when the real deer would get up to leave, we'd have to go through the same "Deer are happy" routine.


Bea loves her sunglasses. She wears them all the time. Here is a picture from January with Bullet.


This is her glamorous look. This pic doesn't actually look too much like her... I think I caught her in the middle of talking.


And, here she is later that day, ready to go outside. Head-to-toe in pink.


Here's Bea wearing her fairy wings and tutu. We have two sets of wings, so usually Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, or Grandpa also has to put on a set of wings and "flutter, flutter" with her around the house. Fluttering consists of skipping, and saying "flutter, flutter." Grandpa Dick is a reluctant flutterer, but he looks nice in the wings. Bea loves this picture, and when she sees it she says, "There is Bea as a Butterfly. Flutter, flutter."


Here she is taking the stroller for a spin around the house with a lovely headband and gloves (and the sunglasses, of course).


Here are Daddy and Bea walking at the zoo. (Don't they look alike?!) In addition to the animals, Bea likes that she is often allowed to walk on her own at the zoo. Big girl.


One of the best parts of the zoo is this tunnel, which we spend 10 minutes going through every time. And, yes, I did say "we." Mommy is often summoned into the tunnel. It is v-shaped and in the corner of the V (but out of sight from the entrances) is a little cove where you can see some snakes through a window -- and Bea likes to show them to me.


Here's Cousin Sadie (left) and Bea at the zoo in February, by one of the fish tanks.


Here's Bea giggling for some reason at the dinner table.

Mommy and Daddy actually left Bea for five days to go to Mexico on vacation at the beginning of March. Mommy was a little hesitant to go, but it was wonderful for everyone! Bea spent half of the time with each set of Grandparents and didn't seem to miss us at all. In fact, when Mommy called to check on her, Bea got on the phone and said, "Hi Mommy. I eating goldfishes. Bub-bye." She also got to go to Daddy's old high school, where Grandma Pat and Grandpa Steve (that's Grandpa Steeeffff to Bea), showed her Daddy's picture on the wall as "Student of the Year 1990." I'm sure she was impressed.


Matt planned the whole trip without me, which was great. We went to the same resort that we went to on our honeymoon. It was the most relaxed we'd been in years. Here's the beach at our resort. Actually the hut we stayed in for our honeymoon is directly behind me in this picture -- we stayed a little further off the beach this time, which was a blessing, because the beach was a bit crowded with Spring Breakers.


Here is our "hut" -- actually a very nice one-bedroom, one-bath building. We spent lots of time on those hammocks on the front porch.


Here is a path through the buildings at our resort. We were lucky to be at the end of a path where it was nice and secluded.


Here's a flower I particularly liked. There was a tree full of them outside our hut's shower window.


And, lastly, here is Bea wearing a new hat... a sombrero from Mexico. Actually, to tell the truth, she doesn't like it that much. I guess it doesn't go with the fairy wings.

Well, that's all for now. I might not blog often, but at least when I do, I do it right. Hopefully, I will have time to blog again after Bea's birthday (next week!) and Easter!

All the best,
Melissa

2 Years Later - Remembering Elsa

This is Matt. I'm going to start a message on today's two year anniversary of our surgery in Cinncinnati and Melissa is going to follow with her message.

This anniversary is a lot easier then the last anniversary. It's largely because we're so happy with Bea. She's just so much fun and a great distraction. Time also is mending my heart, but I don't think I ever want it to mend fully and don't think it will. It's still crazy to stop and think that Bea has an identical twin and to wonder what that would be like and what'd she be like. Through all of our ultrasounds we easily determined Bea was the lively twin with all of the energy and that matches with her current personality and mannerisms. Elsa was the more mature and reserved twin. Thus I'd expect her to act that way. Just this morning Bea was hiding her spoon in her high chair from me then would go "Where's spoon" with her arms up and hands out and a questioning face with raised brows, when I'd say "I don't know" she'd snatch the spoon out and say "Here it is" and then laugh three times "ha, ha, haaaa.". That's Bea. Elsa would be something different.

Two nights ago I walked Bullet and the star constellation that I think Melissa has identified as Elsa's constellation was staring right at us through down the street between the tall trees and right above the horizon. It was over the nature center with limited moon so it was extremely bright. It made me feel very warm and like Elsa was saying hi. I said hi to her. I love that constant reminder.

*********

This is Melissa. It’s too bad the sky is so cloudy tonight and we can’t see the stars. Grandma Liz and Grandpa Dick sent us the most amazingly perfect card for today, it says:

Just before you go to bed tonight,

Look out your window…

See that one little star shining down just for you?

Every time it twinkles, it’s me saying I love you and I miss you,

And I can’t wait until you’re here with me again.

Today was such a busy day for work that I felt guilty and sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend too much time on Elsa, but as I was leaving the house at 6:30 this morning, two little deer ran in front my car and one stopped to look. She probably stayed in front of my car for 30 seconds. I know the deer were too young to be the twins I used to associate with Bea and Elsa two summers ago, but I still thought it was Elsa sending me a “hello” and telling me it was ok to go about my day.

Elsa is still with me every day. Sometimes consciously, sometimes she shows up in my unconscious – and sometimes I just look at Bea and think, “Wow. There could have been two of them.”

I used to dream about Elsa a lot. Elsa and Bea as 5- or 6-year-olds riding bikes by a lake was a pleasant recurring dream for awhile. I really haven’t been dreaming much at all lately, though, except for a dream I had the other morning that I will never forget. The majority of the dream was a horrible nightmare. The first thing I remember was Matt telling me that, “The baby is gone.” I assumed he meant Bea, and I was frantically running through this unfamiliar, large building – sobbing and angrily pushing over furniture and slamming doors. I was going through the motions of searching, but I knew somehow that I wasn’t going to find her.

Eventually, I flung open the doors to a large patio overlooking a beautiful valley and saw a nicely dressed lady leaning on a railing looking over the valley. It was sunny and warm, but I was still angry and I shouted to the woman, “Do you have my baby!?” As the lady slowly turned to face me, she said “yes” with a drawl that distinctly belonged to my Grandma Marcie. It was when I saw the wide smile and the sunshine lighting my Grandma’s healthy face that I realized the baby I was searching for was Elsa. With a twinkle in her eye, Grandma said, “Yes, she’s with us and we SO enjoy having her there. She’s JUST beautiful.” Right at that point the real-world Bea woke me up. It was morning. At the time, I was disoriented, exhausted, and just relieved that Bea was safe. But, in the last few days I’ve come to realize how lucky I am that I know both Grandma and Elsa are warm, safe, and happy, too.

I wish the same to everyone who is reading this blog and missing someone special.

Catching Up

Tonight is my last night before I start a new MBA class, and I said I would make a new post before I started so here I go. It's been a very busy and hectic break, just in the last week or two does it seem like any rest occurred. November and December were extremely busy. I'll highlight some of my favorite recent, and one not so recent events:

Culvers: This is not so recent. On the way back from Appleton in December we stopped by Culvers for lunch. We washed our hands and got Bea settled into a high chair while I was ordering food for all of us. I was at the counter and turned around to see Bea and Melissa sitting all the way across the restaurant within eye sight, and when Bea saw me she started yelling "Matt! Matt! Maaaaaatttttt!" as loud as she could. See when we were in Appleton Melissa was changing Bea in a seperate room and to get attention she yelled "Matt!". Thus now Bea yells "Matt" when I'm far away and needs to get my attention.

After I returned with the food at Culvers I was cutting up Bea's vegetables and somehow Bea had managed to reach across the table and steal a couple of fries under my arm without me looking at it, and we've rarely given her fries before. Very sneaky...and smart. After polishing off our food we needed to burn energy for the rest of the 2 1/2 hour ride home, so we started to walk around the restaurant. A recent fun game is to put our hands together behind our backs and waddle like a duck while going "quack, quack, quack..". Bea did quacked as loud as she could and waddled as much as she could with me back and forth the restaurant for several minutes, at least, to the amusement of many.

Zoo: Two weekends ago we went to the indoor section of the zoo for the first time. We have a family pass and saw the tropic (warm animal) and aquatic exhibits. Bea was extremely happy and loved everything, with the freedom to run around and look at stuff (that is meant to be touched by toddlers so there were limited "no's"). By the time we finished the tropics she was pretty wore out and the aquatic sections went quicker as we needed to hustle her home for food and a nap. Her favorite animal may have been a simple duck. They were doing a lot of paddling and diving for food. Melissa and I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Zoo 2: The past weekend we went to the zoo with Bea's cousin Sadie (and my sister and brother-in-law). Bea and Sadie had a great time. Similarly to the first zoo visit, one if the favorite things (maybe better then the animals) was a little tunnel/cave about 38 inches tall that they went in and out of and played for a solid 10 minutes with many other toddlers about 30-34 inches in height, it was very amusing for all.

Edinborough Park: Nearby is a large indoor play area/park with trees, etc. There is a four story climbing and slide area for the kids. There's also a much smaller toddler section to climb on with a slide. We've gone there twice in the last month. Bea can do well on the toddler slide but it's not easy to climb up on. I then took he on the smallest intermediate slide with me (about 10 feet tall and 40 feet long). We did that many times. On the second trip without Melissa, I could tell Bea really wanted to do the slide by herself, and since it wasn't very slippery like the first time I used my instinct and gave her a push. I followed right behind her. She LOVED it. At the very end she was a little scared then stopped at the end of the slide and when I came down she giggled histerically then ran as fast as she could to the beginning of the slide - which is a lot of work for both of us. There is a lot of climbing up and around things to get to the first level. After about 7 more times we were both tired and Bea had to give up as she couldn't crawl up anymore.

Then we made our way to a large gym area with lots of BALLS and little carts that spin around. Bea enjoyed the "BALLS" the most and also stacking the cones (like road construction cones) and pushing the cones around because she saw another kid do it. She also likes to grab whatever ball, toy comes rolling her way and abandoning her current toy. So while pushing the cones on a cart a ball rolled away from another kid and Bea immediately stopped and grabbed that ball. The other kid without missing a beat grabbed the cart and cruised off. You should have seen the look at Bea's face. It was puzzlement, anger, confusion, embarassment... I laughed and told her that's what happens when you try to scam other kids toys, it happens to you back.

Hey, We Finally Updated the Blog!!

We know, we know. We have been very remiss. Our November and December were so eventful that we had little time to spare. As a result, our blog was not updated since Halloween. To make it up to you, here are THREE blog posts with tons of pictures from the last few months. We'll just pretend I posted them in a timely manner. Enjoy!