Pizza Party

In spite of horrible weather over the past week, we ventured out last Saturday night to meet a couple of my co-worker's, who I'm happy to call friends as well, and their spouses and kids for pizza. We met at a home, since 6 kids between the ages of 18 months and 5 1/2 would have been insanity at a restaurant. They were able to run wild together and have fun. Here are four of the six (John corralled as many as he could find) in their pajamas, just before we the party ended. Maren and Emily have matching pajamas, which Maren found funny. Addison (the little girl in front on the right) is only six weeks younger than Maren, but looks like half her size when they are next to each other. Braden, in the back, is now asking his mom for a little sister, since he already has a little brother.

Tim and Stacey

We were so happy to have Tim and Stacey Cramer from Ohio spend the night and visit last weekend. Tim and John have been friends since they were...13 or so and Tim was the best man in our wedding (and likewise John in theirs). They are a lot of fun and always up for an adventure.

Last fall when we were in Columbus for a football game, they were nice enough to watch Maren for the day. Later that night we planned to meet them for dinner in the lobby of our hotel. Seeing Stacey through the railing of our hallway (down into the courtyard lobby), Maren yelled "Stacey! Staaaaceeeeeyyyyyyy!" about ten times on our way to the elevator. She loves spending time with them.

But I digress...they had been snowmobiling up at Crystal Mountain (http://www.crystalmountain.com/), a great resort in Northern Michigan and stopped to spend the night on the way back to Columbus. They are daredevils - it was their first time snowmobiling and they went more than 80 miles in one day! We all had a good visit, even though it seemed too short. John was happy to show off his favorite thing, his 42-inch flat screen TV, to another "techy" and Maren spent a great deal of time "cooking" for them and doing puzzles with a very patient Stacey. During prayers on Saturday night, Tim and Stacey got the shout out when I asked Maren "Anyone else?" "Stacey. Tim. See Stacey Tim now please." I told her they were at home, but hopefully we will see them soon.

I want John Robert!

Bathtime - usually fun, except for hair washing, which is always traumatic. No matter if I have Maren tilt her head, close her eyes, cover her eyes with a wash cloth, she always gets upset during rinsing. Tonight after I rinsed her hair she said "I want Daddy! All done bath!" I said "You want to get out of the bath?" She said "Yes, I want John Robert! I want Daddy!" Ha! Bathtime was finished very quickly to get her to her savior.

Belated Birthday

Yes, I'm the usual month or so behind with the pics...here are a few from Maren's 2nd birthday. We are having a continuing love affair with Elmo.

She wants it to be her birthday almost every day. We sing "Happy Birthday to Maren" (or Mennen) daily and she regularly asks for Elmo cake. Last week she said to me, "Get in car. Go Bunny's house. Elmo cake." Sorry to disappoint her, but we could not drive to Farmington Hills for cake on the spur of the moment!

Multi-Tasker

Okay, I'm over the paci. But, poor baby has been sick so much (currently just a runny nose) and she talks just fine, that we give in regularly to her. The other day she somehow managed to get two in her hands and then ran away when I tried to retrieve them. I said "Give me one of those pacis!" She looked at me and said clearly, "I need both."

Here she is last night, multi-tasking after a long day at daycare and another haircut.

She can't really work the DVR...yet...she has mastered putting DVDs in and out of the player and tapes in and out of the VCR (yes, we still have one).

The skirt and tights are a birthday present from Bunny and Grandpa.

How much do I love Target?

Let me count the ways...

I love Target so much that I almost blogged about my love from the store parking lot (until I discovered the dialing device on my laptop wasn't working).

Let me explain.

Maren and I dodged the sickness bullet. I had an afternoon/evening of being feverish and achy, but that was it. Poor John bore the brunt of it. But, that one evening put me behind for the rest of the week. We had houseguests on Friday night, John's best friend Tim and his wife Stacey, who we all love to spend time visiting. On Saturday morning, I was helping to give a baby shower for my friend Audrey (see Audrey and Uwe blog on the right-hand side of our blog). BUT, I had not bought any of my required items for the shower and we had some stale Cheerios to feed four adults and one child for breakfast and lunch. Not good!

I snuck out of work a bit early (okay, all afternoon) on Friday and hit Target, my lifesaver. Did you know you could get pecan-crusted tilapia in the freezer aisle? Two kinds of hummus? Cereal? Ice cream? Lunch meat? And, black pants, size 24 months? PLUS pink m&ms for the shower (baby is a girl). I did the dance of joy in the freezer aisle!

The visit with Tim and Stacey was fun, the shower was fabulous, and thankfully we have two pairs of black pants for Maren, since that is all she wants to wear these days.

Whew! We relaxed on Sunday and John has now loaded all available pics for me to finally update and add some interest to this site.

Book Group Shout Out

I have been remiss in mentioning the book group I've joined. My cousin Lisa let me crash hers last fall, and I've really enjoyed it. I tried to be a member a couple of years ago, but commuting to Lansing for two years killed any hope of being a contributing member to anything!

I'll keep a running list of books on the blog...and try to do something fancy to list a few comments.

The women in the group are all sharp minded and love to read. Hurrah!

It's the same old song...

Poor John has the stomach flu...as we are finally, ALMOST recovered from having colds for two weeks. Really, truly cannot believe it. Hoping and praying that Maren and I escape, but the odds of that are slim.

A Freezing Night Out

We braved the frigid temps to see a concert by Martina McBride last night at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. The review from the Grand Rapids Press is here:

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/01/mcbride_proves_worthy_of_count.html

Although I didn't get to hear one of my faves of hers ("Valentine," yes, I am a sap), she put on a tremendous show. We got a big kick out of her encore - an 80's shout out. She sang "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar.

Looking around the crowd before Martina came on John observed "There are a lot of old people here." I told him that we are now "old people." He also pointed out to me that this is our third country concert together. (Brooks & Dunn in NYC during the GOP Convention in 2004 and Willie Nelson in 2006 on our anniversary.) Hmmm...how did two people who love AC/DC and Madonna become country fans? We are OLD!

No Pants Zone

The high temperature in Grand Rapids on Saturday was 10. Maren refused to wear pants, or socks or shoes. So, we didn't force it. Here she is, sitting on John's lap and getting ready to "work" on the computer. If you look carefully, you will see she is pants free.

The Tubes are Working

That was the pediatrician's assessment yesterday afternoon after seeing the "gunk" in Maren's left ear. She said what we were seeing was outside of the ear canal. Without the tubes, it all would have backed up into Maren's ear and been another infection, YUCK. Now, we have to figure out how to hold 31 pounds of constant motion still while we put in ear drops twice a day (just to get rid of the gunk)...

Like a Greased Pig

A snapshot of our house last night...

After dinner, I hustled to get Maren's bath ready, as I had book club. She was happy playing with John while the tub filled, and happy to put almost all of her bath toys into the tub. I did rush the bath a bit, and while washing her hair noticed that her left ear was overflowing with ear wax (this will get graphic and a bit gross). Not only was it overflowing, it had hardened. I tried to get it out with a wet wash cloth (side note - her ear had been excessively waxy and leaky since Sunday, but I hadn't been concerned. Duh.) and she would have none of that, and started screaming as if I was beating her. Fine, I stopped. I called to John to tell him after the bath he'd have to hold her so I could clean out her ear.

I gave her a two minute warning, then a one minute warning, then I drained the tub. Maren laid down and clung to the bumpy mat in the bottom of the tub so that I couldn't pick her up, and screamed. I tried to appease her by saying "you'll get to rub lotion, you like that." After another minute, I scooped her up and forced her into her towel. She is crying and screaming with anger. John comes in to hold her so that I can perform the ear wax-ectomy. It was painful for all three of us. She is twisting, John is holding her, trying not to break her neck, and I'm trying to use my finger nail to pick ear wax out of a small, moving target. Finally, a sort of success. Two green chunks come out. That's not right. I plan to call the pediatrician in the morning.

She finally stops crying and we tell her that she can put lotion on herself. I give her the tube of baby oil gel, trying to hold it to control the flow of the lotion. Too late. She squeezes with all her might and a look of glee on her face, 1/4 cup of baby oil gel is now on her stomach. We stand her up and try to rub it all over her body. She is slippery and gets away from us and is now jumping on the bed. John leaves to get another towel to wipe her down a bit. She is jumping and looking at herself in the mirror and STARTS PEEING ON THE BED. She wants to jump into my arms. I have to go to book club and don't have time to change. I grab the wet bath towel and try to wrap it around her legs.

Finally, she stops peeing. She gets wiped down, again (urine is sterile, right? No need for another bath.) and a new diaper and pajamas are now sticking to her, thanks to the baby oil. She looks up at me, with the face of an angel and says "More teddies, please." Translation - Teddy Grahams. I don't want to give her any since she didn't eat much dinner. But, John is nicer than I am and says "She just had a traumatic ear incident. A few teddies won't hurt."

The guest room looked like a cyclone hit it. The bathroom looked like the Titanic has just gone down. I am more disheveled than usual. Maren is laughing and dancing and eating Teddy Grahams. All is well.

The Happiest People on Earth

My Dad's people - the Danes! A nice story from 2o/20 about the people of Denmark. Not sure I'd want the high taxes, but the social gatherings sure sound like fun.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=4086092&page=1

Michigan Presidential Primary

John doesn't like to politicize the blog, but tis the season for at least a few political comments...

My friend Erinn did this short piece for Glamour Magazine and asked me for a quote. She changed my name to Allison and made me younger, so that I don't get any heat on behalf of my boss.

http://www.glamour.com/news/blogs/glamocracy

So, I've sort of been in Glamour now, right? It was only a matter of time before I stormed the national media. Haha!

A few birthday pics

As always...we are on a time delay, and slowly we are adding pics. These are both from Maren's birthday. The Pooh Bear phone is from Nana and Ampa (she loves that it plays B-I-N-G-O when you push the number 4). The kitchen is from us and she is very busy with cooking and shopping on a daily basis.

Oh, Crap

Text message that I received from John while I was at a baby shower on Saturday:

FWD:Maren is saying 'oh crap' and then says mommy says that

Hmmmm...guess it's not just Daddy who needs to watch what he says.

My Two Sickos

John took this on his camera phone this weekend. Here are my two sickos, looking cute, considering how bad this cold is hitting us. I am not including my picture, as I look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, thanks to the cold we all now share.

Another year, another trip to the pediatrician...

We start 2008 as we spent much of 2007, at the pediatrician's office. Officially, we were there for Maren's two-year old "well child" check-up. But, of course, she is sick again. Poor baby. Just a bad cold, but the cough that sounds like a barking seal is a killer to Mom and Dad's ears. The doctor said her lungs were clear and the worst should be over in three days.

Other than that, Maren is thriving. 36.5 inches tall (off the charts for her age) and 31 pounds (90th percentile for her age). Her head is only 85th percentile and proportionate, so she may yet escape having the van Blaricom jumbo noggin. The doctor said her sentence structure is closer to that of a three-year old than a two-year old.

During the exam, the doctor turned on her lighted scope to show it to Maren before examing her ears (still clear - yeah!) and nose. She asked Maren what was in the palm of her hand. Maren looked at it and said "Circle!" The doctor said "Wow, I was expecting light, but you are right, it's a circle." That's our smart little Punkin Pie :).

Whatta bummer!

Well, it was over by half-time. We have decided that we don't want the Bucks to be in any more national title games - too stressful! Any more votes out there for a play-off system? We agree, but John says the college presidents will never authorize that.

Game Prep

Maren is helping John get the new Block O flag ready to fly...in her own special way. It has many uses, even a zoo. Who knew?

Three Days til the National Championship Game!

Can you feel the excitement? The Buckeyes play LSU on Monday night in the National Championship game. Maren's two-year old check-up is Monday afternoon. John has informed me that he will be unable to go, as he needs to spend the entire day mentally preparing for the game (although he did wink at me...so I'm sure he will be there).

We will be sporting our scarlet and gray on Monday and cheering loudly. Maren has been well-conditioned. Every time there is a football game on TV, she yells "Go Buckeyes!," regardless of who is playing.

Uncle Max

Maren has had an active imagination since summer, when she started going on imaginary trips to the store (running into another room). A new development is an imaginary uncle, Uncle Max. She started talking about Uncle Max last week. I don't recall ever reading her a book or watching a video featuring an Uncle Max. Last night during prayers, we were going through our list and after I said "Uncle Jay," she pulled out her paci and said "Uncle Max." Well, alrighty then...Uncle Max is now on the prayer list.