I want a pony...

In the car this morning, Maren said to me "I want a pony like Alexis and Madison." Those are two of the little girls in her room at daycare. I said "A real pony or a pretend one?" She said "A real one!" I said "Alexis has a real pony?" "YES," she said.

Arriving in her room at daycare, I ask her teacher if Alexis has a real pony. She laughs and says "No, but we talk about their pony tails all the time." Those girls must stand still for their mamas! Maren's teacher, Paula, asks her if she wants a pony. Maren says yes and stands perfectly still for her to put a small pony tail in the top of her hair.

This picture was taken by John after he picked her up today. Pony tail intact!

It must be me...

Welcome, Lola!

Here is the sweet, sweet baby of our good friends, Audrey and Uwe Heckwolf (their blog link is on the right-hand side of the page). Lola Katharina was born last night and she is a big girl (almost nine pounds) and gorgeous. Maren is excited to have a new little friend.



She was born at St. Mary's, and John and I were both able to visit her this morning. John took this picture on his phone.

She is a miracle child, as all babies are.

In her Easter Bonnet

The hat is new. The dress is Jana's - circa 1974. For sure Bunny has had it in the basement for 30 plus years!

A few Easter pics

Notable Quotables

"No poop, just pee." - Maren, announcing this to us every time she needs a new diaper, even if it is not always true.

"Mama is driving, yes she is; Daddy is drinking coffee, yes he is. Maren is playing with her doggy, yes she is." - Maren, singing a song that she made up in the car. NOT a real dog, a stuffed one.

"Daddy Bear, come here to Maren Bear. Mama Bear, come here!" - Maren in her crib, not sleeping, making up songs and stories.

The old lady turns 38

Easter and Big Mama's birthday in one weekend - plus six inches of snow on Friday to put us over 100 inches for the season! So much to write, so little time. We had a quick trip to Farmington Hills on Saturday and back on Sunday. Maren was convinced it was her birthday, so Grandma Bunny got me an Elmo cake. It was eaten with relish.

"I like yaks!"

We like to tease Maren a bit by saying the opposite, such as "You don't like cookies, do you?" She gets very worked up, "Yes, I like cookies!!" She cracked us up recently by saying "I like yaks!" in response to John saying, "You don't like yaks, do you?" She was carrying one of her small zoo animals around at the time, she doesn't have a weird obsession with yaks.

Here she is at Frog Hollow park yesterday. She and John spent some quality time together while I took Aunt Nan to see Smucker's Stars on Ice at Van Andel Arena. http://www.smuckers.com/promotions/starsonice08/schedule.aspx). It was a great show, although I did miss seeing Maren go down the 20 foot high slide that John described to me. Although, seeing that might have turned my hair gray. They had a great time!

Still breathing...

We solider on...Maren is rolling and rocking like she hasn't been ill at all. Her resiliency is amazing to me. As I lay on the bed on Saturday, thinking I would die, and she sat next to me asking "How you feeling, Mama? How you feeling?," I was filled with joy and sadness. Joy that we have such a caring and sweet little girl and sadness that I couldn't enjoy family time on the weekend. Oh the gift of health! And we have things that will pass in a few days. Another reminder to be grateful for the many good things we have every day.

Thank goodness that John was slightly better on Saturday, he did everything for Maren when I could barely lift my head off the pillow.

We are all slightly better every day, although I'm thinking that an afternoon nap will do us all some good.

The Plague, Again

It's been quite a week in the Gregg house, again sadly filled with sickness. John came home a week ago with an incredibly high fever (104) for an adult and that should have been our tip off to get him to a doctor immediately. We've learned our lesson! He didn't go to the doctor until Thursday, and was diagnosed with bronchitis/strep throat/sinusitis, a trifecta of misery.

Maren had a cold all week that seemed to get progressively worse. I took her to the doctor on Friday and he diagnosed a possible sinus infection, and cautioned me to wait to fill her prescription.

I succumbed late on Friday to what I thought might have been bronchitis or a sinus infection. Yesterday I went to urgent care and was told that I had the flu - the upper respiratory flu. I was kind of embarrassed, and also annoyed, since we'd all gotten flu shots in the fall. The doctor told me that this year they were finding the flu shot to only be 40% effective. Gee, thanks. With all of these germs floating around, I filled Maren's antibiotics prescription. Hopefully it will help her little body ward off anything worse than a sinus infection.

John said it was the worst he's felt in his adult life. I have to agree. I don't think I've felt this bad since I had a c-section when Maren was born. The body aches are the worst. Today is slightly better than yesterday, but probably because I was in bed all day yesterday, except for the trip to urgent care.

Hoping for good health along with the long delayed warm-up in the weather this week!

Allison's new 'do!

Allison got a new hair cut "chin length" and it looks great!

she likes the spike wig for fun though!

Allison on the run....

Here is cousin Allison running laps at her HHCA booster! She ran 3.1 laps and Maren says "why is she running" and "I want to run" when we show her this picture.

Way to go Allison!!!

Watering the Animals

Maren's daycare is closed this week so she is at home with John today. Here she is "watering" her animals.

Quote of the Day

"Come inside, Daddy! Stop working!"

Maren - yesterday to get John to stop shoveling ice off the driveway.

Our stats for the winter as of Friday, February 29:

97 inches of snow for the season and 41 inches in the month of February ALONE.

My poor John and Maren - both with colds again. Let's hope and pray this is a quick one.