Pee Pee in the Potty!

Livi has finally started making some forward progress with potty training.  As with most things, it has to be her idea.  She says, "I make pee pee water and you say hooray."  She is consistently making her "pee pee water" on the potty - one tiny dribble at a time.  I think she realized early on that she gets a jelly bean each time she goes, so it is best to stretch out each time - a dribble...jelly bean...another dribble...another jelly bean.  Little stinker.  Doesn't surprise she would figure out how to work the system.  She is a clever girl.  I'm hoping to hit it really hard when Nolan heads to school this fall.  Hopefully she'll think that's a good idea, too! 

Wildwood Zoo

This weekend we made our annual trip to the Wildwood Wildlife Park in Minocqua.  We've taken the kids every year since before Olivia was born, and we always have a great time, though this year they really seemed to have jacked the prices up!  $75 just for our family to get in!  We still had fun seeing the many different animals and enjoying the many encounters with them.  We snuggled bunnies, fed the whitetailed deer,  got swarmed by birds in the budgie encounter, and fed carrots to the giraffes.  We finished out our morning with a picnic at Torpy Park by the lake.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time making family memories. 

Let it Go!

To get in the spirit of Olivia's upcoming Frozen party, we decided to do an Elsa photo shoot.  Pastor Kari and her girls came over and braided her hair.  I used hot glue, a headband, and some glitter to make her an ice queen crown, and Livi's personality added the rest.  She is such a funny, spunky girl and I love how she loves to dress up and play pretend. 

Chef Nolan

Last Christmas, Nolan received a cookbook as a gift and ever since then he's really enjoyed helping me in the kitchen.  This summer, we decided to expand the project into something bigger - Nolan would plan, shop for, and prepare the entire meal for our family's Friday night dinner.  He paged through his cookbook, trying to find the perfect recipes that he thought looked tasty and met Mom's food group requirements of a main course, starch, vegetable, and dessert.  He decided on homemade fish sticks, homemade baked beans, a fresh looking pea soup, and apple spice cake for dessert.  We began that morning by reading through the recipes.  Since he's such a talented reader, he did it with VERY little help.  I helped him check for the ingredients in our pantry and he made a list of the things we needed to get at the grocery store. He was an excellent helper at the store - constantly checking his list and crossing things off as we found them.  He learned about how to check the prices per item and how to pick the best value.  It was one of our best shopping trips!

When we got home, it was time to tackle some of our ambitious menu.  We started with the cake, and aside from the knife work with the apples, he did all of it completely by himself, with very little guidance.  His enthusiasm continued throughout the rest of the afternoon, with each of the recipes...until we got to the fish.  While he considered it his own personal challenge to beat eggs as fast as Mom, he thought it was GROSS to dip the fish into the sticky eggs and then into the cornmeal batter.  Mom had to finish that part...  

His meal turned out absolutely delicious.  And the best part was that both the kids ate everything - Nolan because he made it and Livi because Nolan liked it!  The pea soup and baked beans will definitely go into our meal rotation and the apple spice cake was AWESOME.  The fish was the only thing that wasn't my favorite.  The cornmeal breading didn't seem to hold up and it didn't have that crispy texture that makes fish so delicious.  Nolan loved it, however, and gobbled up several helpings.  

This experience was so fun for the both of us.  He learned SO MUCH and used so many higher level thinking skills.  Plus, it was rewarding for him to have made something that whole family could enjoy.  I'm so proud of him and can't wait to do it again!

Garden

Despite being the world's LAZIEST gardener, and not weeding the garden basically all summer, our plants are doing well and before long we're going to have tons of beautiful tomatoes and cucumbers!

Week 29: Something Someone Gave Me

A few years back when I was having a hard time adjusting to life as a stay at home mom and my self esteem was low, my best friend, Brigid, made me this incredibly sweet and thoughtful gift.  It remains one of the most precious gifts anyone has ever given me.  It helped me remember my strengths and gifts and made me feel so loved and confident.  Thank goodness for dear friends who know when and how to provide encouragement for those difficult times of life.

The Windmill

Grandma Patti has had going to the Windmill for ice cream on her bucket list for the last two summers.  But, with the craziness of moving last year we just didn't get there.  We decided to take a trip over to Tomahawk on Sunday afternoon for some delicious (and cheap!) ice cream.  The servings are sooooo big - the "tiny" cone is enough for 3 people.  We enjoyed Superman, Scotcharoo, JaMocha Joe, Chocolate Peanut Butter Revel, and Bourbon Butter Brickle ice cream and did our best to scarf it down before it melted!

"Brellas"

I bought the kids umbrellas a while back, just waiting for the perfect warm and rainy day to pull out a fun surprise.  As predicted, they were a huge hit and I had a blast watching them splash in the puddles, open and close their umbrellas, and dance around in the rain!

Self Portrait

This is Olivia's self portrait that she drew today.  When I asked her what that thing was between her legs, she very confidently told me it was her "penupt."

Week 28: Ocean, Lake, or River

We were lucky enough to be invited up to the Mode/Naatz's cabin again this summer on Big Lake in Land O'Lakes.  Ray and Abby, Aaron and Lauren, and all of their kiddos were there for the Fourth of July, and since we rarely get a chance to see them, we were thrilled to have the opportunity.  We enjoyed paddle boating, splashing around in the water, and a delicious dinner together.  Aaron and Lauren's oldest kid, Liam, and Nolan really hit it off and spent hours acting out Pokémon and Star Wars.  They were two peas in a pod, and although Liam is a few years older, I'm quite certain that if they lived closer, they would be such good friends.  Nolan was so sad to leave him and ended up writing him the sweetest letter when we got home.  It's so hard (for all of us!) when distance separates us from our friends and loved ones!  We had a great time reminiscing and catching up and sincerely hope it won't be so long before our next visit!

Pneumonia

While we were in Eau Claire, visiting for Father's Day, Olivia got a horrible cough.  At bedtime, she was coughing so hard that she threw up and nothing that we tried seemed to make her be able to stop coughing.  The next day she was running a fever, was congested, and hardly ate or drank anything.  We decided to take her in to Urgent Care at Sacred Heart, but when we arrived they were closed and our only option city-wide was to have her seen in the ER.  Fortunately our new insurance has outstanding coverage, so we decided to go forward with the visit.  A year ago, on our old insurance, I would've had to make the choice between my child's health and comfort and our finances.  It's not right that one's finances should have to be a factor in a healthcare decision, but so often they are....so much in our country is broken.  Anyway, the doctor was very kind and diagnosed her with a nasty upper respiratory infection and prescribed her steroids and an inhaler to help us get through the worst of it.

Over the course of the next week, she slept in bed with me every night.  She woke up a couple of times a night coughing - sometimes to the point of vomiting, but during the day her cough was improving.  Her biggest complaint was that her tummy hurt.  She told me that multiple times a day - sometimes not eating because of it.  Aside from that, she was acting normal, so I assumed her tummy was recovered from the harsh antibiotics she was on for an ear infection before the cough started.

Ten days after our ER visit, she was still complaining of a tummy ache, so I decided to take her in to see Dr. Slette.  Everything checked out normally upon exam, but because Dr. Slette really listens and cares, she decided to run some additional tests to see what was going on.  Poor little girl was at the clinic for 3 hours and a myriad of tests.  Our first stop was the lab for some bloodwork.  She was sooo brave and was all done crying by the time they got her bandaid on.  I was so proud of her.  The next stop was x-ray, where they did chest and abdominal films to ensure everything was looking normal.  Livi was amazing for this, too.  By the time we got back to Dr. Slette, she had the report that Livi's white blood cell count was higher than normal, which pointed to an infection.  Being she had no other symptoms, the doctor thought it was likely a UTI, but we needed a urine sample to confirm.  I was given the choice between having her catheterized and bringing her home and trying to collect a sample.  I absolutely chose the second option and spent the next three hours with her in the bathroom at home to try to get a sample.  At 9pm, I finally got the liquid gold and was feeling a huge sense of relief and accomplishment.  At the very least, I knew they wouldn't have to pass a catheter and I was so glad for that.

The next morning, the nurse called and said the radiologist had looked at the films and saw pneumonia.  Apparently, toddlers can occasionally present with abdominal pain as the only symptom.  Dr. Slette said this occurs because the pneumonia sits low in their lung, near their stomach and can cause pain and nausea.  The good news was that we knew what it was that was causing her to be so sick.  The bad news was that I spent 3 hours crouched in the bathroom trying to get a urine sample from my toddler for no reason....Oh, the joys of motherhood.

We are now about two weeks out; She has finished the antibiotic and is feeling much better.  It's just hard to believe that she ended up with pneumonia in June!  Let's hope the germs stay away for a good, long while!

Week 27: Summertime

Summertime means water balloon fights and kiddy pools filled with ice cold hose water.  It means sprinklers and fun outside running, laughing,  and playing with friends.  Summertime is for popsicles and snuggling up in cozy warm towels that smell like sunshine.  The grass is green, the flowers are in full bloom, and the yard is filled with all sorts of creatures - birds, frogs, insects of all kinds, squirrels and chipmunks, rabbits, and even the occasional  deer.  Summertime means scraped knees from hours spent riding bikes and climbing around the yard.  It means swings and slides and playing pretend in the playhouse.  It means lugging water to the plants in the garden and enjoying the harvest of fresh produce.  It is my favorite time of year.