September 30

I went to the grocery store today. Among my finds were giant pumpkins for a mere $3.49 each. Of course I bought two. I barely had room for groceries in my cart, but I didn't regret the decision.

I'm not sure you can tell from this photo, but Caleb was really pleased when he woke from his nap to find the pumpkins. He immediately claimed "his" pumpkin, then asked that we please weigh it. I'm not sure why he cared, but it weighed 23.4 pounds.

Then we woke Daisy and went to visit our friends Amber and Michael to celebrate baby Gussie's baptism. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Gussie.

Actually, you can see his little feet poking out here. Hello, tiny Gussie feet! Amber was tending to Gus while the girls "supervised" and Michael Jr. played in the dirt. 

Caleb was enthralled with their play house.

 At bedtime tonight, he asked me if we could have a toy house like Catherine and Mary and Michael's. I replied that, sadly, we were not likely to have a toy house like this, but isn't it fun to go to friends' homes and play with their toys? Maybe we can go back soon and play with the toy house again. And we have lots of toys that Catherine and Mary and Michael don't have.

(We're having a bit of a problem right now with Caleb wanting everything he sees. Everything. Every night, he has a new request (or three) for some sort of toy he wants. And the kid doesn't even watch TV to see the ads. He just wants things. I have no idea how to gently steer him away from this desire for more, more, MORE and encourage him to be content with what he has. It makes my heart hurt. Any suggestions?)

Gussie's baptism celebration would have been awesome anyway, but it was rendered completely spectacular by the fact that Amber procured a keg of rootbeer from Fitz's. Rootbeer on tap? My kind of party!

I just love this photo of a sharply-dressed Michael, barefoot, pulling a wagon with all his might.

And how about Daisy, in the rocks, wearing her new white loafers, even though it's well after Labor Day? This girl throws fashion rules to the wind.

I know you can't tell from this picture, but Michael and Daisy were "dancing" together in the rocks. Daisy was waving her legs frantically as Michael did a little jig.

And then he pulled her around in the wagon. Despite the look of terror concern on her face, it appears that Daisy and Michael are fast friends. What fun!

September 29

This morning was just a lazy Saturday morning at home, but we had big plans for the afternoon: Chris was running the Warrior Dash! He was signed up for the 4:00 wave, so our plan was for him to head out early, and the kids and I would come cheer him on after they woke from their naps.

It didn't pan out that way. Somehow, we started digging around online and discovered that event parking was $20 a car! Since it's not exactly in our family budget to spend $40 on plain old parking (not even valet, or involving a car wash or detailing or a plate of warm cookies!), I ended up staying home with the kids. I think we were all disappointed, but Chris had a great run, and the kids and I had a fun afternoon.

Oh, yeah. That's right. We had a ribbon dance party.

You know you're jealous of this awesomeness.

(Caleb was pretending he was one of the "flag girls" we saw last night at the football game. Should I be concerned that my son would rather pretend to be color guard than a football player?)

We played the same song on repeat for twenty minutes and danced our hearts out. Pardon the mess, but I like that this picture shows that Daisy was waving her ribbons dancer, too.

Then Chris - our warrior - got home, bearing booty for both children.

Caleb got a fuzzy viking hat, and Daisy got Chris' medal.

Chris decided to keep the t-shirt for himself.

(I know - no presents for me?)

Caleb was pretty tickled by his hat, except that it kept falling off when he ran. Perhaps that's why they gave them to the runners at the end of the race? (Well, that and the mud. There was lots of mud.)

Our warrior in training!

September 28

Daisy woke up at 4:20 this morning. I suppose I can't complain too much because she (technically) slept through the night, and because Chris got up with her while I slept. But still. That's crazy-early. We'll have to work on that, but we're just now getting her back to sleeping through the night after that random molar came in.

So today Daisy took two naps instead of our normal one nap, which meant that my day involved entertaining both of them, then entertaining Caleb, then entertaining Daisy, then hastily putting Daisy down just as Caleb woke from his nap, then making dinner. Yikes! 

While Caleb napped, Daisy and I played on the porch. She grabbed my phone, climbed into a chair, and began her conversation:

"Huh-wo? Mimi? Ha Mimi! Bah-bye!"

Apparently my sister, Emily, is her favorite person to call on the phone.

Also, I think it's funny that we have at least two real, but dead, cell phones for the kids to use as toys, but somehow they always prefer my phone. 

I was just trying to put Daisy down for her nap when the doorbell rang. I figured it was probably a salesman and not worth my time to disrupt naptime to go check, but I did. Boy was I glad. It was FedEx with my camera! Chris shipped it to the Canon Service Center in Virginia exactly one week ago, and it was already received, repaired, and returned in just one week. Crazy! Way to go, Canon!

Of course I was beyond-excited to have my (newly properly-functioning) camera back, and to finally have a chance to play with my new lens. I was so excited that I didn't manage to discover that they had switched me back to JPEG from RAW until the end of the night. Boo. But oh well.

Here's Daisy in Caleb's tent. She has just started saying "peek-a-boo" (it sounds like "bah-boo!"), so she had a great time popping in and out saying, "Bah-boo!"

"Bah-boo!"

Another new favorite trick? 

Climbing up on the banquette and turning the lights off and on. Girl is so good, she can do it while balancing on one foot.

After dinner, Caleb had his customary race to the street corner and back. I ran with him, and happened to hear the sounds of the football game going on at the local high school. (The school is actually a mile away, but we could barely make out the sound in the breeze.) I looked and Chris, and we instantly knew we were going.

It was a good decision. 

Rather than pay for tickets for our mildly-interested toddlers, then confine them to the bleachers, we set up a blanket outside the fence. It was perfect!

Caleb and Daisy were actually fascinated by the band, the lights, the cheerleaders, and of course, the football.

Sweet girl.

Or maybe this shot is better.

Most of my pictures of Caleb didn't turn out because he was wearing a dark hoodie on a dark night. But he loved the game! Every time the band played, he got up and danced like a wild man. Chris and I couldn't stop laughing!

Daisy is obsessed with the moon lately, largely due to the fact that Chris has been reading her "Goodnight, Moon" before bed every night. She couldn't stop pointing at the moon and saying, "MOon. MOOOON. Moonnnnnn. MOON."

Daddy gave Daisy a lift,

And I gave her some snuggles.

And then the children all piled on top of me. 

It was a good night.

September 27

Daisy would like to show you her new trick:

She can now climb up onto our kitchen bench, all by herself. I discovered this when I returned from a Mommy bathroom break, only to find her cruising along the table. Yikes!

Later, we went to Costco. I was delighted to discover that they once again have in stock my favorite-ever treat, the dark-chocolate covered caramel with sea salt.

Of course, I had to sample one in the parking lot.

Of course, the children accidentally witnessed this.

Of course, I had to share with them.

Of course, Daisy made a mess. I took this picture with my cell phone at a stop light. I was quite impressed with the contortions necessary to make it work.

By the time we had gotten home, she was even messier. 

But what a happy mess!

September 26

Because yesterday's post was all about Caleb, and because it was so darn serious, I give you this:

That would be Daisy, covered in mixed-berry yogurt, grinning her so-ugly-it's-cute grin.

You're welcome.

September 25

Today was the day we've been waiting for since Caleb's 3-year checkup back in July: his tongue-tie release.When we realized back then that he needed to have this procedure done, I knew right away I'd need time to prepare him for it. So that day, his wonderful doctor walked us to the procedure room, showed us her tools, and talked to us about the process. Since then, I've occasionally mentioned the procedure and reminded him what his doctor will do. 

Once we were back from vacation, I began preparation in earnest. Caleb and I began playing "procedure", in which one of us is the doctor and the other is the patient. We both wear goggles, and the doctor wraps the patient tightly in a blanket. Then the patient has to hold his/her mouth open and lift his/her tongue while the doctor shines his/her light in the patient's mouth.

Caleb loved this game. LOVED it. By yesterday, when he was the doctor, he would console and encourage his patient. "You're okay. You have to hold your mouth open because that's the way the procedure works!"

Caleb's 8am appointment came all too soon. Chris was able to stay home with Daisy while I took Caleb to the doctor's office. At the medical building, Caleb chose to climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He held onto the handrail and took two flights' worth of stairs all by himself. Such a big boy.

We arrived at the doctor's office, only to find our friends Travis and Jessica and their beautiful, brand-new baby Stella there, too. Stella had a slight issue, and so the doctor bumped our appointment back. We waited an hour, reading books, watching TV, playing Angry Birds and Handwriting on my phone, and looking at pictures. Despite the delay, Caleb didn't fuss once.

Then it was our turn. The doctor came in, and Caleb was pretty excited. When they handed him his special goggles, I had to snap a picture with my phone.

He wasn't very happy after that.

The procedure didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped; the anesthetic wore off halfway through, and Caleb got pretty upset. Our doc evaluated to see if she could just stop things there, but she determined that we really needed to finish things up. Poor Caleb whimpered and fussed and really didn't want to do it, so we stopped and prayed, then wrapped Caleb back up and got to work. It was hard to watch my sweet little boy struggle through this, but I was so proud of him. Though he fussed and whimpered a bit, I could tell that he was trying so hard to be cooperative. A lone tear rolled down his cheek, but he tried his best to be brave.

My sweet little man.

Finally, the procedure was done. The doc and her nurse unwrapped Caleb, and he gave me a big hug. Then he turned to the doctor and nurse and said, "Thank you!" Our doctor took Caleb to pick out a sticker, and told him he could take two for himself and one for Daisy. For himself, he chose Belle and Cinderella. 

Yes. He chose Disney princesses.

For Daisy, he chose Hello Kitty and a Dolphin.

Then he reached back into the sticker jar, and I started to correct him. But he grabbed just one more sticker and said, "But Mommy, this is for you!"

It was The Avengers. *sigh*

Then he turned and gave our doctor a hug. 

I love my little boy so much. I love that he loves his doctor, but more than anything I love his loving, snuggly, cooperative spirit.

And then we got ice cream. We walked to the hospital cafeteria to get him a popsicle. The whole way there, he rolled his tongue about in his mouth, marvelling at his new mobility. I had never realized how little he could use his tongue, but now that it's loosed I can see all that he missed out on. He couldn't touch his tongue to the roof of his mouth. He could barely stick his tongue out. He could barely lick a popsicle.

When I gave him his popsicle, he was amazed by all he could do with his tongue. What fun! Aside from a little bit of fussiness, his recovery has been easy. Within 24 hours (really, less), he was back to his old self.

When we got home, he just wanted to dress up like a construction worker.

I asked him what he was going to build, but he told me, "I'm just pretendin' to be a construction man, Mom." Oh, okay. Glad we cleared that up.

All construction workers have Cinderella and Belle stickers on their chests, right?

(Side note: that hard hat was from my days doing temporary data entry work at the cream cheese factory. Glad I kept it!)

September 24

Have you noticed that I haven't posted for a while? 

Here's what happened:

Way back in June, I bought a new camera. Remember that? I bought a refurbished Canon 60D. Love it. Only it didn't work right. My focus points weren't showing up in my viewfinder, and I saw way too many ERR01 screens. Luckily, there's a 90-day warranty. But since I couldn't stand the thought of being without my camera, I waited.

But finally, when we were safely home from our Florida excursion, I called Canon's customer service. They were great, and on September 21st, I sent my camera in to be repaired. No other camera is up to my standards now, so I just didn't take any pictures for a few days. But finally, my addiction overcame me. Between my phone and my point-and-shoot, I'm back to taking pictures again. And the good news is that my camera should be safely home in just a week or two!

So here's what I've got:

Big news on the car seat front. Caleb is now forward-facing! Though the new guidelines are to keep a child rear-facing until they are two years old, I have kept Caleb rear-facing much longer. It's just so much safer for him. But while we were installing and uninstalling his seat for our travels, I took some time to read the fine print. It's OK for rear-facing up to 35 pounds. And that got me thinking - the last time I weighed Caleb, he was just over 30 pounds. So when we got home, I weighed him, and he clocked in at 33 pounds. It was close enough to make me nervous, so I decided to make the switch.

Now he can see Daisy (and the road) from his seat. Pardon the blurry cell phone pic, but here he's holding her hand. They like to hold hands. 

Also, we're still adjusting to the cool weather back home. In Florida, it was consistently 85 degrees. Here, it's been in the 60s!

Riding his "motorcycle" and pretending to be our neighbor.

Hey, handsome! You match your bike!

This girl's outfit was so funny, I had to photograph it.

Also, notice the glimmer by her nose? She came down with a cold Sunday afternoon. I find it crazy that she handled two airplane rides without getting sick, but catches a cold once we get home.

Also, the tube in her mouth is a Saxoflute, courtesy of Auntie Grace. The kids have been fighting over it like crazy lately. Really, they've been pretty crabby since we returned from our vacation. It seems like every other word I hear is "MINE!" My new policy is that every time I hear "mine", the toy AND the child gets a time-out. We'll see if it works.

September 19

Florida Day 8
Read about our trip from the beginning here.

Today, oh blessed day, is the day we go home. We had all been ready for this day for at least four days now. Our flight left West Palm Beach at 2:25, so we had to be on the road by 10:30. Just enough time to clean up the condo, load up the SUV, pay some visits, and say our goodbyes.

I'm sure you've all been wondering. This is what Aunt Gladys looks like.

She doesn't look 95, does she?

Sadly, despite the smiles in the picture, Aunt Gladys never seemed to change her mind about us or our kids. We'll keep praying about it, though.

Then, onto our new family: Sonny and Carol. 

Though the pictures don't show it, we spent quite a bit of time at their house during our vacation. We were just too busy having fun (watching football, playing with toy cars, eating M&Ms, joking, laughing, arguing...) to take pictures!

Daisy's favorite part was Sonny and Carol's two pet cockatiels. They were funny, and she was in love.

 Bi

"BIRD. Bird. BIRD!!!!!"

Caleb was mildly interested, but Sonny's collection of HotWheels and M&MS was more appealing to him.

Carol, Sonny, and the kiddos. I wish the children looked happier in this picture, because they were truly in love with Sonny and Carol. What a blessing they were to us on this trip!

And then we hopped in the car. 

Got some cash.

Drove an hour.

Returned the crib.

Returned the SUV.

Arrived at the airport.

Checked the luggage.

Ate some lunch.

Waited.

The waiting area at our gate was pretty crowded, and we were directly across from a nice-looking young man wearing a fanny pack. At one point, Caleb looked up at him and said, "That is a CREEPY man!" And then I died. I tried to get Caleb to apologize, but he would not. I tried to get Caleb to see that the man wasn't creepy, but he could not. All I could do was apologize and laugh. Luckily, the man laughed it off and was quite forgiving.

Then we got on the plane. Caleb rocked the return flight - again with a no-plane-change layover - even sleeping during our first descent, layover, and second takeoff. Daisy, however, was another story. Poor girl had been sleep-deprived for a week, and she just wasn't into the whole flight thing. When I ordered a Jack and Coke on our second flight, our flight attendant told me it was on the house. I had earned it. It was that kind of a flight.

And then we landed, and Chris' Dad met us at baggage claim, and we were so, so relived to be home. Vacations with kids? Not the same as vacations without kids.

September 18

Florida Day 7

You can read about our trip from the beginning here.

Honestly, I don't remember what we did today. I am writing this post a week after the fact, and at this point in the vacation I was seriously tired, cranky, and ready to go home. I remember Chris went to play golf with Sonny, Aunt Gladys' neighbor and friend. Sonny is a lot of fun to be around: a retired police officer and rabid Ohio State Buckeyes fan, he is something special. At the golf course, he introduced Chris as his nephew. He's that kind of a guy.

To celebrate our last full day of vacation, we spent some quality time on the beach.

If you look carefully in Chris' glasses, you can see my reflection.

(Warning: the reflection makes it look like I'm approximately 20 weeks pregnant. I am not pregnant, so let's  not mention the unflattering reflection, OK?)

Daisy put her glasses on all by herself. Can you tell? I think she's trying to start a new trend.

This is Caleb's forced, "I'm-on-the-beach-and-I-hate-it" smile. Can you tell?

Success! On the last day of our beach vacation, we convinced Caleb to let the waves wash up over his feet without freaking out. It's a baby step, but it's progress!

(Meanwhile, Daisy was focused on her attempt to place her sunglasses in Chris' shirt pocket. She was eventually successful.)

Read about our last day of vacation here.

September 17

Florida Day 6
Read about our trip from the beginning here.

Today we visited the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center. The big attraction here is the stingrays; they have a tank where visitors can pet and feed the rays.

Caleb was pretty excited.

Unfortunately, we happened to be there when the stingray tank was undergoing renovations. That meant no rays. No feeding, no petting, not even any in a tank at Caleb's height. Bummer.

But he wasn't disappointed for long, because he discovered this little fishing boat with toy fishing poles and pretend fish. 

He worked really hard, but needed some help to "catch" one.

We got to pet sea cucumbers and anemones and horseshoe crabs, and then we went for a nature walk to see the Indian River. But the trail was flooded. Double bummer.

Luckily, there was also a big pond full of sea turtles and fish. The kids were fascinated. We were about to leave, when I spotted a fish food dispenser. And then? Miracle of miracles, I found a quarter in my wallet.

Daisy had so much fun feeding the fish!

We had seen everything there was to see, but Caleb was itching to get back to that fishing boat.

Daisy steered,

While Caleb caught more fish.

He was so proud of himself!

You may be able to tell from the steering picture, but Daisy was exhausted. In the five minutes it took us to drive from the Ocean Center to a nearby restaurant for lunch, she was sound asleep. Poor baby - vacations are exhausting!

Read about the next day here.