Christmas

Some random pictures from Christmas this year.

I'm sure more are coming as people email me their pictures.
Snuggling with Auntie Syren. Lily refused to get dressed, she wanted to run around with just a diaper on. So Auntie indulged her but kept her comfy cozy while reading a book.

My ever stylish child takes her baby out for a stroll while wearing Auntie's new mittens and Calorimitry.

Feeding the chickens, ducks and horses at Boppa and Grandma Dude's house. Both girls loved doing chores but got a little chilly.

Look what I got in my stocking!
Can you see the joy on that child's face? Addie and Lily each bought each other a Disney princesses night light.
So many presents, so little time! What can I open next?

The girls want to send a shout out to CT who I think has been lurking but not commenting on the blog. :) The camera was a huge hit. So far we have photos of people's toes and chests but we have hope...

The Fun Never Ends...

One of our favorite things to play with lately. Please excuse the diapers, wipes and potty chair in the background. :)

On Sunday, just as everyone is starting to feel better, I decided to make spritz cookies. I love spritz. They're quick, they're easy and they represent Christmas to me. Well I took the first pan out of the oven and immediately Addie started asking for one. Not in a nice, "momma may I have one?" voice, but in a whinny give it to me now sort of voice. I told her she needed to wait until the cookies cooled off before she had one. They were much too hot to eat. I took the second pan out of the oven. As I turned to grab the first pan and put the cookies onto the cooling rack, Addie reached up and touched the edge of the cookie sheet with the back of her hand.

She has a nice burn along her forefinger and down onto her hand. It almost immediately blistered and popped. We had to bring out the Dora and Princess ice packs to cool it down. After 2 days it is starting to heal nicely. However, Addie gave everyone at daycare a lesson on burns this morning. She informed 2 of the teachers that burns are hot. You should never touch hot things because you might burn.

Why can't my child be an auditory learner?

The Strep Family Robinson

Is this the face of a sick kid? Perhaps she's a carrier? I call her Typhoid Mary.

I have filled prescriptions for 3 out of the 4 of us in the last 3 days. Addie just complained of a sore ear one day and a sore throat for about 2 days. Now she is fine to all appearances but tested positive for strep throat. I have a nasty sinus infection. Adam has a sore throat and feels miserable. He went in for a strep test (immediate one came back negative) and the doc gave him antibiotics just in case the 24 hr. test comes back positive. Lily just finished 10 days of antibiotics so she should be covered.

What did we do in the days before antibiotics!?!

Wormy Returns

Excerpt from the Poskozim Daily Press
December 11, 2007

A surprise discovery was made this morning when an exploratory mission to the shelf over the toilet turned up the long-lost, much-missed, Wormy. Wormy is said to be in excellent health and
was happy to be returned to the loving arms of his family. Wormy was held tightly in Adelaide's hands and was given a very brief drink of water in the sink. Wormy was then taken on a celebratory tour of the 2nd floor of the Poskozim house.

There was a brief discussion of ownership of Wormy later in the morning. This discussion ended before harm could be done with the appearance of Wormy's sister, Pinky. Both Pinky and Wormy seem to be renewing their acquaintances well.

I'm a Total Geek

I realize I'm a total geek. I need to have a plan. I need to have lists. I really need to know when I'm going to eat next and what it's going to be. I don't know why. That's just the way I am.

I am ecstatically happy that I found this. It's a monthly menu plan from Woman's Day. Now, it's not specifically dairy-free, however, I think I can substitute dairy free things or just change out those nights to fit my whim. All of the recipes are super easy looking but sound wonderful. Who wouldn't want to come home to Cuban Pork Chops, black beans and rice and tomato and cucumber salad? Or Broiled Curried Chicken Breasts, Jasmine Rice and Roasted Vegetables? Mmmm.... seriously, if this had pictures, it would be food porn. The site even has a weekly shopping list. Have I mentioned I love lists?

Oh yes, and for those of you who only come here for the kid pictures, I give you this.

That's the girls playing with Play Doh at our friend's the Kazel's house. That's whose house we were at during the HUGE storm we got on Tuesday.

Play Doh

I love Play Doh! It's so much fun. Mostly I just like opening the containers, sticking my fingers in to touch the dough and shutting the containers again. Oh yes, that red stuff you see on my face? That's from where I tried to eat a red marker at daycare.

AJ very carefully sculpts his Play Doh. Do you see the look of concentration on his face?

Worms! We love to make Play Doh worms. Addie had a whole slew of worms made. She carefully lined them up and counted them. Dana and I then tried making all the characters from Sponge Bob. Addie decided that my yellow square did not look like Sponge Bob. However, Dana's pink star did look like Patrick. She's an art critic already!!

Oh Macaroni! & Thank Goodness for Friends

"Oh Macaroni!" has become one of Addie's favorite phrases lately. It seems to be an "Oh Da**" sort of thing.

Yesterday we got the surprise storm of the year. I dropped the girls off at daycare (after winning $20 and a Christmas CD for winning radio trivia!) around noon. It was snowing pretty good, but we only had an inch or two. It continued snowing heavily all afternoon. It didn't take us long to pass up the predicted 3" of snow. It seemed that there was a line of snow created at the head of the lake that just kept dumping on us all day and into the night. By 2:00 I could barely get across the high bridge to Superior (and my office). By 3:00 Adam was calling me telling me to get out of the office and get back to the girls. They were closing down the bridges.

At 3:30 I told my boss I was going home. At 4:00 I was finally able to close down my computer and go. I ended up leading a string of IT guys across the bridge because they didn't have 4 wheel drive and didn't know how to get across if both bridges were closed. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to daycare, which is usually a 30 min drive. As I was crawling up Thompson hill, I saw several semi's that were stuck or jack-knifed in the road. Once I got to daycare Adam called and told me both bridges were closed and the alternate way was almost white out conditions. I called our friends Dana and Jeff and asked if we could crash at their house for a bit.

We ended up having supper and playing at Dana and Jeff's house for awhile. I called Adam at 7pm and found out that the bridges were open again. We headed back home, going 20 mph almost the whole way. It took me an hour to get home.

All I can say is thank goodness we have such good friends who will just open their homes for us. I really appreciate their generosity and friendship.

Paging Dr. Poskozim

Addie was playing doctor yesterday morning. She checked my heart, it goes "thump thump thump." She checked the blood pressure on each wrist (8 on the Left, 15 on the right). Then with her little yellow otoscope, she checked my ears. She gravely announced that I had bugs and dinosaurs in my ear. I asked if that was normal. "Oh yes, it just fine." Well good, at least I know I always have bugs and dinosaurs in my ears. I wonder if I should name them like pets.

Enchanted

Addie saw her first movie in a movie theater this weekend. We went to see Enchanted with Grandma, Auntie Syren and Auntie Rachel. Addie was thrilled to be there. I talked it up beforehand so she'd be properly impressed with the sheer size of the screen. When she got there and saw grandma and auntie she said, "I can't believe I'm really here." Her eyes did not leave the screen the entire time! She ate almost all of Auntie's popcorn. She loved it!

The Tinkerbell dress she was wearing over her clothes was a huge hit with all the big girls at the theater. She got several admiring glances from 20-somethings.

The only problem (other than convincing her it was really time to leave the theater) was when the mean witch became a dragon. That was a little scary. But she sat on Grandma's lap and covered her eyes through most of it.

1st Haircut

I got my first haircut on November 15 (that was last Thursday, Momma's not good about updating everyone.) I don't think I really needed a haircut, but Momma seemed to think so. I got to sit in this very high chair with an extra high cushion on it just for me.

Then, this crazy lady started spraying my head with water. Yuck, that was almost worse than Momma dumping water on my head in the bathtub! It was very traumatic. At least the lady listened to Momma and only took a little off the back. She removed what Momma calls my "ducktail." I happened to like being a duck. I don't know why they would remove that.

After all the trauma, I at least got some Skittles. I do love my "Lily M&M's." I can't believe Momma forgot to get a lock of my hair for my scrapbook. She's talking about clipping a piece of my bangs just so she has something to save. I say, Stay away from me crazy lady!

Hug Me!

The girls were goofing around in the kitchen this morning while I packed their lunches. Lily would say, "I hug, Addie." Addie would then give her a hug. Then, they would laugh hysterically. I thought the fun would stop when I got out the camera, but they just kept going! It's so much fun to have a sister to play with!

Playing in the Leaves

We spent a very nice afternoon raking leaves last weekend. Well, it was very nice for 3 out of the 4 of us. Adam ended up with a very sore neck and back from the manual labor. However, the weather was perfect for raking leaves. It was sunny and cool, but not too cold.

The girls came out for a bit to help pick up sticks. This has become Addie's job. She takes the sticks out of the piles of leaves (or any minuscule sticks she might find on the ground) and creates one big pile under a tree. It's actually incredibly helpful as you don't really want sticks poking holes in your leaf bags.

The girls and I also took a short walk. Lily walked on her own down 2 city blocks. I ended up carrying her all the way home. Addie decided about halfway home that she was too tired to walk the rest of the way. So I ended up carrying both girls for over a block. I think my arms are more tired from the carrying than they are from the raking.

The girls then decided they needed to take a break under the tree. It was so fun to watch them talk together like big girls.

The Great Pumpkin

The Great Pumpkin came to our house Halloween night. It took all the chocolate (non Lily safe) candy and left a few presents instead.

The best part was not actually the presents, but taking out and putting back things from the pumpkin.

Hmmm... let's see, what do I have in my pumpkin...









Ahhh... a kitty I took off the coffeetable, a Mommy and Daddy action figure (also off the coffeetable) and Addie's fairy Godmother figurine.








And what did Lily get from the Great Pumpkin? A froggy that she immediately threw on the floor and ignored. Nice!






Look Mom, a purse! I look just like you!

Trick or Treat!

Trick or Treat!

We had two little ballerinas at our house for Halloween. Addie was a pink ballerina and Lily was a purple ballerina - it's a small yet important distinction. Just ask Addie.

Actually, Lily was a Fighting Illini cheerleader for daycare (thanks Uncle Jim & Aunt Judy!!), but had to change into a different outfit when she got home. I almost put her into the bumblebee costume because it was so cold, but then we decided to have Adam and Addie go trick or treating and Lily and I stayed home to watch the door & give out candy.

The biggest excitement for Addie was not the trick or treating, it was that the Kirchoff's came to our house and asked for candy. She was excited to see her big friends all dressed up! Addie believes that the song, Stacie's Mom Has Got It Going On, was written for the Kirchoff's. You can understand her excitement to have such a famous family come to our house.

Deceptively Delish!

I bought the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld the other day on a recomendation from my little sis. The idea (in case you're living inside a cave and haven't heard about this book) is that you make fruit and vegetable purees and you hide them inside regular dishes so that your kids get a healthy amount of vegetables every day. Jessica also says that you should serve whole vegetables along side the meal just like you normally would so your children get used to seeing and eating them this way.

I'm not going to get into the controversy that this is plagerized - I have no idea. I think this is a fairly brilliant idea and I know many people who have been doing this forever. I tend to hide things in my spaghetti sauce and lasagana anyway. I also feel the need to say that my kids are very good at eating their vegetables. Their favorites are broccoli, peas (still frozen even) and squash. But I feel it never hurts to add more vegetables into their diet.

I've tried 2 recipes so far... the "Buttered" noodles and the spaghetti sauce. The noodles call for margarine, squash puree, milk and parmeasan cheese on the noodles. I made it without the cheese and with soy milk instead so that Lily could eat it. It was fantastic! The squash I used was acorn squash out of my garden. My husband doesn't normally touch squash and he had seconds of the noodles. In fact, he asked me what was in it since he knew it couldn't be cheese. I served it with a chicken & olive skillet thing that I make and it really went well. The spaghetti sauce was just jarred sauce with broccoli puree. Again, the kids ate a ton of it!

Since I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, I'm branching out tonight. We're going to have pancakes with fruit puree in it. I'm hoping that this turns the pancakes a nice pink color. :) Not much different than putting whole fruit in pancakes, but still yummy and slightly different enough. There's a banana french toast recipe that is begging to be made also.

Roughing It

What do you do when the Packer game is on and Daddy won't let you watch an "Addie Movie?"



Momma steps in and builds a tent!

Complete with a mini DVD player to watch Shrek. Everything is more fun when you have a tent to play in.

Crazy Uncle Matty

Crazy Uncle Matty and his girlfriend, Katherine, came to visit us last weekend. We went out for breakfast and then went to the Great Lakes Aquarium. Since Matt and Katherine live in Chicago, we wanted to show them a little bit of Lake Superior.

Lily loved the aquarium! She loved all the fish, especially the really big trout. For some reason she kept going back to that tank. Lily also loved the ducks. They had an area with wood ducks and goldeneye ducks that had been injured in the wild and so couldn't be released. I think we could have spent all day watching one little duck paddle around the pond while his buddies slept. Another BIG hit was the otters. The aquarium has 2 otters that are a blast to watch. Next to the otters is a slide. Lily and Addie both loved the slide, but Lily felt like she was a really big kid on it!

The kids were exhausted by the time we got home. They went right to bed for their afternoon nap. Addie really enjoyed having people "stay over" at our house. She now wants to know who's staying over next. So... who's it going to be? Anyone want to come visit us? The girls will let you snuggle and read books to them!

While I'm typing this and uploading pictures (and getting some CM stuff typed up for my retreat this weekend), my wonderful hubby is cleaning up supper - unloading and loading the dishwasher and cleaning up the dishes. Did I mention he also cooked supper tonight? Pretty cool! Thanks hon.

Pumpkin Patch

If Peter Piper picked a patch of pumpkins, how many pumpkins would Peter Piper pick?



The answer: 6 pumpkins (one is hiding in the back of the wagon because it is tiny) and 7 acorn squash - all picked from the pumpkin patch in the back yard. Now, how many pumpkins will Peter Piper carve?

We're Exhausted

Lily had been sick since Tuesday afternoon with a temperature, so on Friday morning I made an appointment with a pediatrician. That morning she seemed worse than ever, more clingy, more sad, saying "owie Tummy." She didn't eat or drink much.

We got to the pediatrician's office Friday afternoon and were seen right away. The doctor did the normal sick kid check - ears, throat, lungs, etc. Everything seemed fine, except she clung to me and just whimpered. When he got to the pushing on the stomach part, Lily came unglued. She screamed bloody murder. The doctor ordered a CBC (blood test) and urine test. They had to do a catheter because she is so little (horrible experience that I hope to never have to go through again!) The blood test went slightly better, but not much. The urine came back negative for a urinary tract infection. Her white blood count was a little high.

The pediatrician decided that Lily was too sick to send home - he thought she might be having an apendicitis. Although it's rare in small children, it does happen. He told me to take her over to the attached hospital and get her admitted. She would need to be sedated and have a CT scan.

When we got to the hospital we were seen by a very nice nurse, Vicky, and a resident. Lily was again prodded on her stomach. He asked me to poke her stomach. Later a hospitalist also came in to check on us. She poked and prodded Lily's stomach and checked her ears and throat. They asked if she had been exposed to anything at daycare. The only thing she had been exposed to was strep. They were concerned about her being dehydrated so they ordered an IV and a blood test to test her electrolytes. I asked if we could just try getting her to drink fluids first. Lily drank about 4 oz of formula and some ice chips. She was happiest with the ice. Finally they ordered Tylenol for her.

By this time, Adam had found someone who could watch Addie so he came to the hospital. Mom and Dad were on their way up from Boyceville. We ended up getting a meal for Lily (of which she ate little) and Adam got me some food because it was getting late. The doctors ordered a strep test which came back positive. They ordered a shot of amoxicillin and canceled the blood test. They told us we could go home that night.

By the time we left, it was 10:00 pm. Lily fell asleep that night at midnight. The poor thing was exhausted by all she had been through.

Last night she had a hard time falling asleep. She didn't go to bed until about 11:00. Lily woke up at 2:30 screaming that her tummy hurt. I am completely exhausted, just drained.

My Monkey

I had a little monkey this morning. Her name is Lily. She didn't want to get dressed, she didn't want to drink her milk, she didn't even want to eat breakfast. She just wanted to cuddle on Momma's lap. She slept very late this morning and just woke up a little clingy and cuddly. My monkey thought it was pretty neat that I took a picture of her baby.


Big sister thought it was pretty neat that I took a picture of her. In fact, big sister insisted that I take a picture of her teeth. She wanted a close up of her teeth, but settled for a picture with her sister instead.

I tried to tell Lily she was too cute in her little fleece vest to cry, but she cried anyway. She also ripped the vest off just to show me that she's cute even when crying and without a vest.

Food Allergy Special

The Food Network is doing a special on Food Allergies:

Edible Enemies
"Edible Enemies is a one-hour special report that looks at the mysterious increase in both the number and the severity of food allergies in the United States. 12 million Americans now have food allergies. There is no cure. There is no treatment, other than a shot of epinephrine in an emergency. We will hear from the parents of small children, and from teenagers and adults living with life-threatening food allergies".

AIR TIMES:
October 13, 2007 4:00 PM ET/PT
October 19, 2007 10:00 AM ET/PT

Thanks to a different blogger, I got a recipe for Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie that I'll have to try out for Thanksgiving. Yummy!

Why Momma?

Tonight Addie and I were snuggled up in the green chair watching Shrek. Addie kept asking me all sorts of questions, such as, "Why Shrek sad Momma?" "Momma, why they looking at the stars?" "Momma, why Pincs Fee-oona kick that man?"

I did the typical, "what do you think Addie?" But it really wasn't working. Finally I had a chance to ask some questions of my own. "Addie, why do you think you ask so many questions?"

"'Cause I have lot of questions to ask. And I ask you them." Very simple, very concise. She has questions so she asks them. She isn't worried about internally filtering her questions, she isn't worried about what anyone else will think of her. She has a question and she asks. Man, kids are amazing.

Shave and a Haircut, 2 Bits

Nope, not a post about my new haircut/hair color. Just a post about the girls. If you ever want to see two little girls enthralled for long amounts of time... say over a half hour (which is an amazing amount of time) get out a cheap can of shaving cream.

You just put a blob of shaving cream on the high chair or table top and let them go at it. It was great! Lily tried tasting it, "yucky." Lily then tried to shake it off her hands. Then she squished... and squished and rubbed it all around. By the end she was packing shaving cream into her ears! She had two little shaving cream/hair horns sticking out from her head.

Addie on the other hand got into it right away. She smeared it all over the table and then drew pictures in it. I was instructed to take pictures of her pictures. Too cute!

Hopefully I can get those pictures off the horrible will not download camera and put them up soon.

Daddy's Home!

Daddy's Home! The full mountain man beard is gone, my house looks a little like a camouflage bomb went off (with a generous helping of pink little girl toys used as shrapnel). It is great to have him home.

I think Lily said, "Daddydaddydaddy..." constantly for 2 days. Addie got a special trip down to the cabin on Monday with Daddy all by herself. The girls are extremely happy to have him home. (me too!)

Lily and Addie would like to say "Happy Birthday Darla!" We were going to call you in the car this morning, but Grandma gave the girls fruit snacks for the ride and there was NO WAY I was handing my phone to that sticky fingers.

Thank You

Thank you everyone for your encouragement. I'm feeling better today. It might be because Addie fell asleep in the car last night and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning.

Most likely it is because my mom and sister are coming tonight (Dress warmly Syren, it's really chilly here!). Thank goodness for moms, they can fix anything. Auntie Rene is a rock star around my house so the girls will be ecstatic to see her.

I realized this morning that the girls are acting out a lot more with Adam gone because they aren't getting as much attention as usual. (Yes, you can smack me in the forehead for being so dense as to not figure this out!) They're used to getting attention from both Adam and I. If I'm busy cooking dinner, they can always go to him for a snuggle or a book. When it's just me, they tend to fight each other for attention. So that's why I can't have a moment's peace. That also explains why they have to be next to me every waking moment. "Momma, why you showering?" "I come in too?" "Momma, you peeing?" "Momma, I put on makeup too." Seriously, is a moment in the bathroom alone too much to ask?

So now that I realize the attention portion, I think it will be easier to bear.

Deep Breaths

"...and this too shall pass."

I talked to Adam this morning and it sounds like he will be coming home on Saturday. So I just need to hang in there until then. It's not that the girls are doing anything too terrible, it's just that I'm the only one there. I'm the one that always has to be the enforcer. I'm the one that has to put them to bed every night. I'm the one that has to fight Lily to get dressed while stopping Addie from throwing a shoe at our heads. It's just a lot to deal with.


So I will look at cute peaceful pictures of my children. I will make a long leisurely hair appointment for when Adam is back in town. I might even get a pedicure so I can stay away from home a little bit longer! I will remember that I love my children (and I will remember that it would be wrong to sell them as child slaves.)

Missing You...

We miss Daddy. Today as I was leaving the house to go to work, Addie asked me to "Be Daddy." I needed to talk in a lower voice and give her a hug and kiss goodbye. After than then I could "be Momma" again for another hug and kiss.

This morning on her way downstairs with Grandma Argh, Addie announced that she missed Daddy. She then proceeded to go into a long drawn out story about how Daddy rough houses with her. There was a long description (including a demonstration of her wiggling) of how she gets away from Daddy. It was the funniest, cutest thing!

I've got a secret

Happy Day Before Labor Day.

Adam left for his 2 week long adventure to Colorado today. He'll be hunting in the middle of nowhere without cell reception, running water or easy access to medical facilities for 2 weeks. For those of you keeping track, this means he will miss my birthday. I say this not to make him feel bad, but because it is important for the rest of the story.

Today the girls and I were playing outside when Addie came running up to me and said, "Momma! I have a secret for you."

"You do? What is it?" Now, she's done this before and it's always been things like the fact that she's getting a birthday party or other commonly known facts.

"Momma, Daddy asked Grandma to make a cake for you. She's bringing you a cake on your birthday. Grandma's got a present too, because it's going to be your birthday! Shh... it's a surprise."

Now how cute is that!? How could I not just laugh and give her the biggest hug in the world? She was so serious about the whole thing!

Birthday Goodies

Is that an excited face or what?! We had a great birthday party on Saturday. Lots of friend and family, Addie is still talking about it. We gave Addie a new bike. It's one that starts as a trike and converts to a 2 wheeler. The first thing she said was, "Can I have a Pink one?" Nope, sorry honey, it only comes in red.


And when everyone else left, the cousins, Aunties, Uncle and Grandma & Grandpa were still there to play. The 4 cousins all get along so well.

Just in Case

OK so I'm really not all that bad of a Momma. I feel I should give a list of all the words Lily says so it doesn't look like "Sponge Bob" is the only words she says. :) By the way, she calls Diego "Sponge Bob" also. Not sure what that says...

Aggie (the cat, she uses this for most animals)
Addie
Momma
Dadda
Bott (bottle)
Blankie
Skuse Me
All Done
Mease (please)
Dog
Baby
Woof Woof
Up
Reese (her friend at school)
Book
Boppa
No
Back (her version of "Give It Back!")
*edited to add:
Poop
Potty

There are more... I just can't think of them right now.

Happy Birthday Addie!

My baby turned 3 yesterday. We had a great weekend playing with our friends the Hennemann's at the cabin. The Hennemann's are moving from Florida to Alaska (talk about serious culture shock!!) and were just passing through on their trek north. They have a little girl who is exactly 2 months older than Addie and a 8 month old baby. So Lily was gaga over the baby; calling her Reese (her baby friend from daycare) all day yesterday. Addie and Ellie played as only 3 year old girls can play. They played with their babies, had a rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippo (or Oh So Hungry Hippo as the girls were calling it), bounced on a giant inflatable castle, watched Sleeping Beauty, and generally just had a great time.

We brought some presents to the cabin and Grandma Argh made a cake so we were able to celebrate Addie's birthday. We'll have a big party next Saturday. In the meantime, everyone is glad to be home. Lily has been running a fever all weekend so she's feeling pretty crummy. It was 103 last night, but seems to have come down some. She's pushing teeth through but she must have a virus on top of that. Poor little thing.

This morning on the way home I was thinking about how much things have changed in three years. Three years ago I was shocked when the doctor told me I should have a C-Section on the following morning (Aug 19). I cried because this was not what I wanted, yet I was so excited to know that my baby would be there the next day. It was such a crazy roller coaster range of emotions. Then we saw this cute little thing with the crazy Don King shock of dark hair and the scream you could hear all the way down the hall of the Birth Center. Who wouldn't want to take her home? I love you to pieces baby girl! Even if you don't want us calling you our little girl anymore (Little Big Girl is acceptable though.)