Goodbye 2008

What can I say about 2008? William went from "almost 2" to "almost 3".... Lillian was born... and overall it was a great year. William is in to Handy Manny (both the toys and the tv show) and loves to eat ramen noodles. He hardly wants to eat anything else but noodles and fruit. Lillian is so sweet- she wakes up smiling and goes to bed smiling- she's too young to give us much trouble. She started sleeping through the night nearly every night in early November- when she was about 3 months old. We all get pretty good sleep. The kids really love each other (I hope that never changes). We welcome 2009 and especially spring weather, camping trips, playing outside, working in the garden, bluegrass festivals, drive-in movies, and going to the park!

The Dreaded Christmas Pictures

Just like me when I was a kid, my kid hates having his Christmas picture taken. I have been trying to get a decent one for weeks, and it goes something like this "NOOOOOO! waahh.. no way!" He was laying on the floor crying and screeming "cheeeese". As a result, we didn't get a good picture this year. I'm working on putting some older pictures together for a photo card.. the best I can do. Here's a picture from today. If you look closely, you can see the tears.
Before I forget- here's what William says he wants to be when he grows up:
"A doctor, a cop, and a monkey!"

Lillian-Almost 4 Months

Our little girl is almost 4 months old. She is sooooo sweet and we are enjoying every minute with her! William is a lot of fun too. He is 2 and 3 quarters... and he says the funniest things- like this conversation we had the other day:
Wm: Let's get Lillian and go for a walk in the stroller.
Me: It's too cold out!
Wm: But I'll wear my jacket and Lillian can wear her pumpkin! (that was her halloween costume)

And when he was eating noodles: "I'm Wiyyam.... I'm Wiyyam... I'm Wiyyam Bob Noodle Belly!"

OBAMAAAA!

We were there............ and as the newspapers just reported, so were 74,996 other people (give or take). Barack Obama visited Kansas City today for a rally at Liberty Memorial. It was a beautiful day and the crowd was anxious and excited. Josh & I and the kids had a late lunch at Kabuki then walked over, and we couldn't believe the line- extending from the south memorial entrance all the way down the hill to union station. People eager to get a glimpse of the next president (or so we hope) although relatively few were close enough to see him. William (2 1/2) had quite a good time and had been excited about this for days. He yelled BARACK OBAMAAAA as loud as he could and got many laughs. When he saw people taking pictures he assumed they were taking his picture, so he would shout "cheeeese!". What a cutie. Lillian seemed less interested in seeing Obama. She was quiet, just looking around taking it all in. I wondered if anyone so young had ever seen so many people.

It was inspiring, exciting, fun. I am so glad were were there.

We were standing near the back of our area, but this picture of the crowd is just a tiny portion of the overflow area that was behind us. Josh said "Obama was like a rock star... people were fainting and passing out.... of course those were the diabetics".

William and Lillian at the rally:

Ok.... this last picture isn't from today's rally, but I couldn't resist adding a picture of "our first black President"...

William's Big Bite

As I was taking this picture I thought.... "how cute! he's kissing her!".... a few seconds later she let out a wail-- yes, he was biting her ear. William is being nicer to his sister every day now, as he is getting used to having her around. Mostly he just kisses her, but sometimes he's a little rough. I told him to be gentle with her, she is a delicate flower. He said "I want to be a deliclower flower too!". He gives her a sniff like he's smelling a flower, and lots of kisses on top of her head. Lillian turns one month old tomorrow. She weighs almost 9 pounds now and is a good eater. She is almost grown out of her newborn clothes- we may have a week left before she's wearing her 3 month size. They grow so fast!

Happy to be home.....

We are so happy to be back home......
Sunday morning as I was feeding Lillian, I noticed she felt very warm. Took her temperature and it was 101.5! Very scary for a 3 week old baby. Called Children's Mercy and they said to bring her right in to the ER. They took her temperature and it was 102. When a newborn has a temperature this high that means an automatic hospital stay. Then ran blood, urine, and spinal fluid cultures and 24 hours later we learned that Lillian has an Enterovirus. By Monday morning her fever had come down (and she was eating well and acting normal all along), but we had to stay in the hospital another 24 hours to get all the lab results back and make sure there was nothing bacterial. The preliminary cultures all looked good so we got to come home around noon today and we're so happy to be home, but even more happy that our little girl is feeling well. Since there is really no way to treat a virus, she has to fight it off all by her little self. I got to spend extra time cuddling her while we were in the hospital, without distractions such as tv, phones, computers, and errands. I tried to worry as little as possible, and all the great nurses and doctors at the hospital reassured us that she would be okay. Lillian's very own Aunt Erin is a nurse there at CM South, but unfortunately her days off were the same days we were there. She still came by every day and made sure the nurses were taking extra good care of us. Erin will be a mom herself next week, if little Max doesn't decide to show up before then. We can't wait to meet him!!!

That's Bob Dylan

More than once now William has pointed at Lillian and said "that's Bob Dylan". We don't know where he got that! William loves his little sister. He has been picking on her some though- so far he bit her ear, her nose, and her foot. Nothing too serious, but boy did she scream! We have to watch him every second. Hopefully he'll get used to her soon and we can all relax a little. I wonder if he'll teach little "bob dylan" to play guitar someday..... he has a guitar, mandolin, harmonica and kazoo. He wants to be in a band like his daddy.

Lillian's first bath

Lillian is 5 days old today. Her umbilical cord fell off this morning so she had her first real bath. She really liked it! ...until the water got cold.
William was ready with the lotion and anxious for us to finish her bath so they could take a ride in their new double stroller. It was a relatively cool day today and they had fun. She is such a sweet baby. We just love her!!

lillian to earth

The big day finally came. Now I know that this is not the best picture of me, but I like it just fine. This is my brand new daughter, Lillian Christine. At this age she looks alot like her older brother, William, but I think that will probably change as she gets older. If you look really hard just above Lillians face you will see just a little bit of my new tattoo as well. Maybe I should have a special post for my tattoos, but that will be another day.

Birthdate: 8-01-2008

weight: 6 lbs 6 oz

length: 20"

and lots of hair

Camping

Some pictures from a camping trip earlier this summer. William had a great time!

Lookie My Got, Mommy!

William wants to thank his "aunt" Karen for the presents yesterday. As he opened each one he said "Lookie my got, mommy!" which means "look at what I've got!". I will post a picture very soon. He has also starting saying "nice to meet you, mommy!".

close to done

Well, it's been a long time coming. You may remember, if you've been following along, that I have had a project motorcycle. This is my 1982 suzuki gs650glz. This motorcycle rolled of the japanese production line just 3 months before I was born. If you are looking closely you may notice the brake line just kind of hanging to the side in picture 1. Well, this is because of the totally awesome handlebars I have put on it, I just need to add a little bit of brake line. I am waiting on the last of the parts I should need to actually get it running. I wish this were an American made machine, but as they say beggars can't be choosers. I am also excited because dad just bought a 1979 harley custom chopper. I will be blogging again when something exciting happens. Josh

I'm in a band.....

Yesterday William (2 yrs, 3 months) picked up his mandolin, sat on the couch- and banged on some strings. Our conversation went like this:
Wm: Wanna play mandolin. I'm in a band.
Me: What kind of band are you in?
Wm: Mine!
Me: Is it a bluegrass band?
Wm: No. orange
A few minutes later.....
Me: What kind of band are you in William?
Wm: rubber!

Humor

Lately William is really showing his sense of humor, for instance when Josh told him "wave to Mommy" the other evening, he waved to me with his foot and giggled. Some other cute things he has said or done lately:
me: "Hi Spongebob!"
Wm: "Hi Spastrick" (Patrick, the starfish from Spongebob Squarepants)
me: "hi Spongebob"
Wm: "no spunsebob, name's BABY!"

last night when Josh sneezed I said "bless you" and William said "I wanna bless you.... aaaaacho!"

me: "William, if you had a million dollars, what would you buy?"
Wm: "buy milk!"

He is 2yrs plus 3 months now- and can count to 10 --although usually not in the right order. He knows his colors and shapes pretty well, and the names of most animals. If asked: what does *any animal* say?, he says "goes Raaaaarrr"! This is true for people too. Like "William, what does mommy say?", Wm: "goes Raaaarrr".

Learning to Say "Cheese"

William has started smiling for the camera. He squints his eyes when he does this. Then he says "wanna see baby" because then he wants me to turn the camera around so he can look at the picture I just took. Then he says "I see baby!". We still haven't been able to get him to say his own name. When we say "What's your name?" he usually says "baby!". But sometimes he says something else like "Maggie" (the dog's name) or "boogie"... not sure why "boogie"! On the subject of names, we have a friend named Mike and William calls him "Microwave". Today William said "hi sweetie mommy!". I'm so lucky :o)

Under Repair

A few years ago Josh and I were at the Sally Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Queen City, MO. After spending a very hot July day in our tent, my Gibson F9 started coming apart at the neck. Recently our friend and excellent mandolin builder (and musician!), Mark Franzke (check out Flinthills Mandolins) started fixing it. He said the saws and hammer are there for comic effect. I didn't think a thing of it! But glad to know they weren't required. He is also putting on some wider frets and will inlay some fretboard dots! I can't wait!!!

Spring!

Spring is finally here- although it doesn't quite feel like spring today! We are taking advantage of some nice weather on the weekends to put a flowerbed in front of the house. I'm not quite sure what I've planted, but mostly it's blue and lavender flowers. Peony plants line the sidewalk- but it will be a while before they show themselves. I buried some landscaping bricks to create a border- basically level with the ground so as not to get in the way of the lawnmower. Will post some updates as things fill in.

Who is this kid?

Do you recognize the little boy in the picture? Neither do we! William got a real little boy haircut this morning. He sat quietly in the chair while they clipped several inches of blonde curls from his head. I will miss the long hair-- but it'll be back......
oh.. and that red spot under his nose? He fell off his cousin's bike yesterday. Ouch! Now he goes around the house saying "nose... bike"

The Cute Things He Says

Every day William says such cute things. I can't possibly remember all of them. This morning as I was leaving for work-- after the usual "bye byes" he said "bye love.... careful"... it was adorable. Last night I was asking him "William, what's your name?". He used to answer "bean bean" for some reason, now he usually says "baby" but last night he said "Cooper" then "Pooper".. then repeated whatever name I said. It was fun to see how well he could pronounce different names. He was best at saying "Josh". He didn't seem to want to say "William".. but he did whisper something like "Wih-um".

William and Gracie

William and his favorite girlfriend, the lovely Gracie :o)

One year ago.......

My oh my how they grow. Here is William one year ago :o)
Check out the background of the two pictures. I have killed that plant, drunk that wine, and stained that highchair.

William Turns 2!

Today our little baby turned 2 years old. We can hardly believe it. Shortly after he woke up he asked for "bean beans" (green beans). A few minutes later he saw the left over birthday cake his Grandma had for him and he said "Happy Birthday!". He also asked for his favorite drink "shocky bock" (chocolate milk). Here are some pictures of him eating green beans and birthday cake......

It's a................

.........baby! Yes, William is going to be a big brother!! Today was the day I told my co-workers. During our monthly meeting, my boss said a few words about my "utilization" dropping off at the end of FY08, then put this slide on the overhead. Our official due date is August 2nd.

From Mommy to Mom

A lot can change in a day. Back around Thanksgiving, William suddenly stopped calling me Momma and started calling me Mommy. That was pretty exciting. Today my new name is "Mom". It is so grown up and I'm not ready for it. Maybe when he's sad or hurt he'll call me Mommy again. If that's what it takes, I'll be happy to stay "Mom".

Baby's First Haircut

Is he still a baby? I guess not. William turns 2 on Sunday (Feb. 10th) and had his very first haircut last Friday..... finally. We loved his curls and had a hard time parting with them. We took him to Shear Madness in Zona Rosa. They are a kids haircut place- and he didn't complain a bit. They did a nice job-- didn't take away his curls but gave him a neater look with a little style, and got the hair out of his eyes. He looks more grown up with his hair cut, but I guess he'll always be my baby.

Snow Day

We got a lot of snow today so I worked from home. Kind of difficult with a 2 year old running around. Josh went to his granparents house to shovel snow-- so it was just me and William for several hours. Besides getting some work done, it was an eventful day.

I set William in his high chair with a bowl of ravioli. I heard the usual eating noises for a while, then things got really quiet. I went to check on him and found him fast asleep........

Later I was in the living room on the computer, and William was playing in the kitchen. I heard some strange noises which I ignored for a little while then I went in there to check on him. He had pulled a chair up to the kitchen island. He had a big cup of water and he put into the water: my cell phone, my watch, a pack of aaa batteries... and he was stiring it all together with a toothbrush. My phone is pretty well fried so Josh got a new one (free!) today and I get his old one.

I wonder what he was trying to make.....