Have a laugh

I was going to post about how I'm having a crabby-nasty-impatient-teacher day, but then I got this funny bit in my email today and I decided to share that instead. Enjoy!

Birth class Q & A

Q: Will keeping a hand in a bucket of ice during class really approximate labor pain? A: Yes, more or less — just imagine the ice is the polar ice cap and you're slowly being crushed under it while somebody jabs an icicle in your spine.

Q: Will there be men in the class who snicker every time the instructor says the word "vagina"? A: Yes.

Q: Will my husband be one of them? A: Probably.

Q: Will it be annoying when he and the other men in the class high-five each other during the break and say, "Our boys can swim!" A: Yes.

Q: Will there be snack breaks? A: Not enough. Put small pieces of food in your hands and pretend you're biting your nails.

Free entertainment

Can't beat the price of a free movie.

The Regal Theatre chain is offering free kid movies in the mornings this summer. Looking through the list for our nearest theatre, it seems Anne is still not quite big enough, but some of you have older kids (or friends with older kids) and might want to give it a try.

http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx

Again, a free movie, 2 hours in the air conditioning, and an audience full of other understanding parents...Sounds like a pretty good deal. Ooh, and a guilt-free reason to buy a bag of Sour Patch Kids :)

First Haircut

Annie joined the Haircut Club on Saturday. At 19.5 months old, it was high time. We got up on Saturday morning, had a bath, and headed to the salon with Auntie Erin. My strategy was to either hold Anne on my lap while Erin took pictures or feed Anne fruit snacks while Erin took pictures. Either way, I wasn't going to do it by myself.

We had a nice early morning appointment, so hardly anyone was there. Anne met Ali and we got her situated in the chair. She looked so tiny to me in that huge chair! Ali did a great job of working with Annie as she jerked her head around to look at different things and trimmed up the mop-top quite nicely.

All I can say is we are thankful for delicious Gerber fruit snacks and the fact that my child is a total narcissist who enjoys looking at her own mug. The giant mirror was nice for her, as was looking at the LCD screen on Erin's camera. "Ah more Nannie?" she would ask.

And bad Mommy that I am, I have no "After" picture! She looked adorable for the rest of the day--Ali put some "product" in her hair to help the curls hold their shape and she looked so darn cute. We did some shopping downtown that afternoon and Anne received several compliments from strangers on her curls. And I figure we'll have more than enough pictures of her this week as we take part in all of the wedding festivities. More to come, for sure!

Annie at the park

We are fortunate to have a small playground on our street. It is halfway down the block, right at the intersection of our street and my parents' street. So Oma takes the kids there almost every day when the weather is nice. Erin tagged along on Friday and snapped some pictures of the kids enjoying their playtime.

She swings. "I wing!" she says.

She slides. She's oddly brave when it comes to the slide. Afraid of the stairs, not afraid to go flying down the slide all alone.

Ooh, pea rock. Dusty gravel. So fun to scoop.

I feel I have to explain her outfit. The logic goes like this: I will dress her in her cute MN Gophers dress. But it is chilly, so leggings go under to keep warm. Then this is the sweatshirt she has at daycare right now, so apparently that went on top. Tres chic!

The most gut-wrenching thing you'll read all day

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/05/letter_from_a_dodge_dealer.html

The results of the "bailout" of Chrysler--50 people lose their jobs and a family goes bankrupt. Thanks, Barack! That's just what Americans need right now (not that they need it ever.)

As promised...

Some new pictures of our kiddo. My "non-climber" figured out how to step up IN TO the fridge on Saturday. I contained my laughter long enough to get the camera and snap a few pictures. Seriously, this girl can barely walk up stairs, but she hopped right in there for a snack!
The kid closet! No, not for storing children , but for organizing their piles of "necessary stuff" like socks and bibs. With the addition of the toddler bed to the nursery, we had to either lose the chair or the dresser in there. I chose to keep the chair for night-time rocking and lose the 3-drawer dresser. To make up for the lost storage space, Sam installed some shelves, bumped the hanging rod down, and we bought plastic bins for the kids' clothes.

The bottom shelf of blue bins are for the Little Guy, the red ones are Annie's, and the top shelf are shared items like towels, sheets, bibs, and medicines. The very top shelf is junk in boxes we rarely need. Each child has 7 bins: Miscellaneous (seasonal things), Socks and Undershirts, Pajamas, Shirts, Pants and Shorts, and Outfits (matching things). You can only see 5 bins in the pictures because our closets are stupid and are quite wide, but the door opening is not as wide.

We got the bins at Ikea for $1.50 apiece. I couldn't find any baskets/containers in town for less than $4, so I was super-stoked about my good find.

I also got 3 pop-up hampers with handles to sort laundry in the closet. One for Boy, one for Anne, and one for sheets and blankets. I know I sound ridiculous explaining all of this to you, but this is the sort of thing that makes me excited! And thanks to Sam (and Karl) for putting all the hardware together, and God bless Sam for saying "Are you going to label those bins?" which meant "Please label those so I can follow your system and you won't yell at me."

And this is what Anne would look like on the ice. It was part of an assignment I had my kids at school do, and I thought it was kind of funny.

Update

I made a list, cleaned off both of my desks, and now I feel much better. My snazzy chart of things to do will serve me well these last few weeks.

Oh, and apparently in the last 3 days I went from "Oh yeah, I'm pregnant" to "Oh God, I'm so pregnant!" Out of nowhere we have the achy joints, night time leg cramps, and overall sense of someone else in my space. And I'm pretty sure I was waddling today. Yikes.

D'oh!

I had fun pictures from the weekend, and I left the camera at home this morning. I was too focused on trying to make a smoothie in the blender without waking up the child. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow. (As for the smoothie, it was pretty good. Though I need to admit to myself that I do not like bananas and need to stop trying to eat them. They are not good. Cherries, on the other hand, are delicious and should be in all foods.)

I've been frantic this morning trying to get ready for the day--Monday morning staff meetings are not good! They eat up all my copy-making time :) This is adding to my overall sense of impending stuff to do...I have lots of projects in the works here at school that need to get wrapped up; there are only 13 student days left, meaning projects to grade and overdue notices to send out; and Erin's wedding falls in the middle of it all! I'll be glad when I make a list and sort through some piles so I can feel more in-control of the situation!

So cute pictures to come tomorrow, as well as my closet-organizing glory. You WILL be jealous.

Important Days I Forgot

Okay, so in my posting about our Chicago trip I forgot to mention that Sam turned 25 on Saturday! He spent his birthday working and waiting for his girls to come home, which probably wasn't very much fun. He did get to play Wii with his pal Jaime for a while, but I felt bad that he had been alone for 23 hours of his special day. So, sorry hubby! Erin and Todd helped me make up for it on Monday night with a backyard fire and chocolate cake.

Sunday was Mother's Day. We slept in to skip church (bad!) and went to brunch with Harriet, Parva, Sarah, and Ben. We had a really good time, and Sarah had made a nice photo collage of all of us for Harriet's gift. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the house, discussing baby names, and taking Anne to the playground. All in all, a nice relaxing day, especially after being on the road for 2 days.

And finally, today Sam and I cheesily celebrate our "anniversary." It was May 14, 2000 that we were "officially dating" as two clueless 10th graders. Nine years later, here we are! The only reason I keep recognizing this day is because it is much more indicative of our relationship than our wedding anniversary. Two years of marriage doesn't quite seem to show how much of our lives we've been together--9 years is much more correct.

So that's the Westphall Holiday Cluster for the year. Love you, Sam! Happy 25th, thanks for a great Mother's Day, and hopefully the next 9 years will fly by as fast as the first 9 did (though maybe be a little less tumultuous...)

Chicago, Chicago

Some fantastic pics from our brief weekend in the Windy City. Part of our excitement over going to Chicago was to visit the original American Girl store. Erin and I both had American Girl dolls as children and continue to love many aspects of this company (though we love it less now that it is a branch of the Mattel tree). Anyway, I had decided Annie needed a Bitty Baby of her very own. Bitty Baby is a baby doll that has many adorable outfits and accessories and is, in general, the cutest baby doll you can buy your daughter. No batteries necessary for any of it; just a beautiful little baby for your child to nurture and imagine with. (Grandparents and aunties, click here for 5 years worth of birthday and Christmas gifts.)
As part of their customer service, the clerk unpacked Annie's doll from the box so she could hold it as we left. Erin captured her excited face!

Friday continued as we went to campus to meet up with Todd and his parents for dinner. Annie wanted to walk most of the time ("I wuk" she says) But to keep up with the rest of the non-pregnant, non-toddler-toting crowd she got a few rides on Opa's shoulders. Pretty good view up there!
Anne roamed the courtyard in front of Todd's building while we waited for Jon and Faye. She had lots of practice going up and down the little stairs and enjoyed checking out the flowers.
Saturday was much colder and windier than Friday, so we wore our sweaters and attended the commencement. Anne was very well-behaved, though she and I did wander the halls during most of the ceremony. I heard the speaker and got to see Erin and Todd both walk across the stage, so that's all that matters. Anne continued to stretch her legs afterward as we meandered around campus.
Oh, what's that? You want a picture of the actual graduate? Okay. Apparently Annie moved in this one--blurry face!
We made it home late Saturday night, but overall it was a good trip. Good baby, good food, good company, and lots of good help from Oma and Opa in wrangling the kid.

Pictures to come soon

Annie and I spent Friday and Saturday in Chicago for Erin's graduation. We drove down with Oma and Opa on Friday morning and came back on Saturday evening. A good time was had by all, and Annie was a trooper the whole time. She did very well in the car and toddled around Chicago's north side like a brave little explorer. She also had her first "campus visit" as she wandered the grounds at North Park.

At NPU they give an award to the top student in each graduating class. As they presented the medal, I made sure to whisper to Annie that being a good student is very important! We are very good about telling her how pretty she is; we should tell her more often how smart she is, too.

Since Erin is the more diligent photographer (and has the nicer camera) she did most of the picture-taking. She'll be uploading pictures later today so I can share them with you.

Wild Night

So, the bed was not Anne's friend last night. She got up 8 or 9 times between 8 pm and 6 am. She also got herself stuck between the bed and the wall a couple of times, prompting a visit from Mom or Dad to free her. We were grumpy parents this morning, and I actually hid under the covers after she woke me by smacking my face with a board book saying "Read boot!" Why, why after a week of good sleeping did she suddenly turn on us? Tonight we must be firm--stay in bed. And no sitting by her until she falls asleep! Crabby, pregnant, tired Mom is not a nice person!

It was kind of hard not to laugh when she said "I get out" Yes, yes you did.

On the plus side, Sam built new closet shelves yesterday and now we have a hyper-organized kid closet. I will have to take a picture to share with you. Those who know me well enough will know what kind of glee I get from a color-coded organizational system. :)

One year ago

Here's some video of Annie having some Cheerios last May. I remember taking this when Sam spent a few days away at Dish Network training. Look at what a baldy she was!

To compare development, last night she ate a chicken nugget and fed herself soup with a spoon.

Nineteen Months!

Today's the day Annie is 19 months old. So big! Here are some highlights of the last month:

--She will try to repeat almost anything you say. She's gone from her own vocabulary to a mimic-monster. Some funny new words in recent weeks: soup (sout), amen, and sorry (sah-he).

--She strings lots of words together. She went from "milk" in the morning to "milk beep" (meaning we need to microwave the milk first). She's very good at saying "please" and only needs occasional reminders of "what do you say?" She also says "I have/got ____" as in "I have fruit" or "I got bunnies" One of our favorites is "I hit balls!" which refers to her plastic golf clubs.

--She has more "concept" words, like "yucky" and understands when you say "We need to do ___ first, then we'll do ____."

--She has spent 1 whole week in her bed! She spent a few mornings standing on the bed yelling for me, and now somehow she figured out how to get out of bed. Around 7 each morning we hear her thumping around and then she magically appears in our bedroom! It is too freakin' cute to see her open the door and come toddling in. Cute more because it is 7 am, not 3 am...

--She pretends now. She will pretend to feed her babies or pretend to feed me from her little dishes. Sidenote: it is impossible to find plastic play dishes in our town. I had to settle for a tiny tea set because it was the only plastic dish set available. My sister and I had dishes out our ears as little girls, and my mom still uses them. But now, nothing but porcelain cups/saucers or sets with "real metal utensils!" Why the $#&* would I want those?

--She knows things are silly. Putting her teacups over her toes resulted in 20 minutes of smiles and laughter.

--She is figuring out how to move. Sam showed her how to sit down and scoot down the steps from our house to our deck to the ground (they are wide and shallow) and she did it all by herself yesterday. She also climbed two of the steps up to her slide. Slowly, slowly, we'll get this kid mobile :)

--She's outgoing. I found myself very proud of her last night at the playground when she walked right up to a group of kids and said "Hi!" I hope that is a trait she hangs on to--it is no fun being shy and clinging to your mom's legs. Be more like your daddy, little girl! She also shouts "Hi!" to random people at Target and the grocery store. She's charmed many adults and dumb-struck several children.

--She's pushing the limits. She runs away from us occasionally, then laughs when we scold her. She hits sometimes (this is why she knows how to say "sorry"). She's had a few time-outs in the crib and a few hand-slaps from Daddy. I've gotta say, when she's been scolded it is very cute when she strokes my hair and says "Sah-he, Mommy. Nice." Melts my heart every time!

We love you, Annie-Bell!

So fresh and so clean!

Some after-bath pictures from Saturday night. It always cracks me up to comb her hair--we smooth out the top, part it to the left, and she gets this curly mullet going on until it is all dry. Barry Melrose would be jealous.
Trying to take a picture of the both of us. She laughs when you say "Yikes!"

Business in the front, party in the back.


In case you don't watch as much hockey as some of us, this is Barry Melrose. Opinionated color man, king of "hockey hair."

Works for Me!

Some blogs I follow participate in "Works for Me Wednesdays" where they share a housekeeping/cooking/parenting tip that makes their life a bit easier. I can't seem to come up with something every week, but I found one last night that I'll share with you. Try it at your own risk.
Dirty shower? Take a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser into the shower with you. When you are done sudsing yourself, give the walls and tub a quick swipe. They really do work like magic, and you've already got the shower all nice and wet, so take advantage! I did it, and now we have a scuz-free shower that took less than 3 minutes to do. Much easier than leaning over the tub with a sponge full of Comet.


(I still love you, Comet. I'll never leave you. Your scour power is unmatched.)

And then, when you get out of the shower, take 30 more seconds and whip that Eraser around your sink real quick. Add a Clorox wipe for the toilet and Voila! Clean-enough bathroom to get you through to the next cleaning day.

D'oh!

After 4 great nights in the bed, we are currently trying nap #1 in the bed. It's not going well.

I laid her down, she kicked around for a while, and when I heard some funny noises I went to check and she was standing on the bed. Not getting out, but just standing there. I got a "Hi Mommy" when I opened the door.

So I laid her back down, sat with her for a minute, and then let her be. About 2 minutes later I heard a huge THUD and when I opened the door I was greeted by a flood of water soaking my socks. She was up again and had overturned her humidifier. So she's crying in the crib now and I'm off to do a load of towels (with one pair of socks for good measure).

These are the days I'm jealous of Sam and his schedule. He gets to be with her from breakfast until lunch, when she's most happy and willing to play or snuggle. I get the nap times and dinner times, when she fusses and throws food and is sometimes quite unpleasant. Once school's out I'll get the morning, too, but how do I get out of dinner duty for a while?