Birthday Girl

Lily turned 2 on Saturday. We celebrated by having a ton of friends over for a party. The kids colored some cute little wooden ornaments and played with all of our toys. Then we did an Easter Egg hunt that was a HUGE hit with the kids. I couldn't believe how fast they picked up those eggs! I wish we could have done it outside, but the weather was a little crummy and we still have a bunch of snow on the ground. Instead we did it in the dining room.


Everyone enjoyed the pizza and cake. Grandma Argh made the cute bunny cake. Mmmm... Lily liked it so much, she had 2 pieces!
In other Lily news, she had her 2 year check-up on Monday. Lily weighs 23 lbs - that puts her into the 10% Club! Yahoo, Lily! Also, her pediatrician and I talked about retesting Lily for her milk allergy. I am positive from the reactions I have seen (we've had a couple of accidental milk ingestions) that Lily is still allergic to milk. I didn't see any reason to draw blood unless we absolutely had to. Lily's pediatrician agreed. We'll probably test her on her 3rd year check up. Until then, it's nuthin' but soy for this little girl.

Photo Shoot

When my Mom was here a few weeks ago she dressed up Addie and we took some pictures. It seems to be a bit of a family trend to take pictures of little girls dressed up in their pretty clothes. We have a picture of Grandma Betty and her mother, my Great Grandma Dory, dressed in costumes similar to this.

The Pretty Ballerina Bride

Keep Grandma in Your Thoughts

I wanted to let you know that I will probably be out of contact for awhile. My grandmother passed away last night. She would have been 89 years old tomorrow. This is a photo of 4 generations of Falk women; my grandmother, my mother, myself and Addie at 9 months. It was taken almost exactly 3 years ago.

Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
-Jess

Monna Dude

We went down to my parents house last weekend. Mom helped put on a showing of The Business of Being Born on Saturday so we all went to that. Lily soaked up all the snuggles she could from "Monna." She wasn't too sure about all the people. I had wanted to get a picture of Lily with Paula (the midwife who was at Lily's birth) and Dr. Feigel (the doc who delivered her) however the panel discussion at the end lasted longer than the girls could hold out. We went to a Mexican place for lunch with Grandma, Auntie 'Rene and Auntie's friend.

The girls played hard all weekend. They were troopers when I screwed up their nap schedule and made them deal with the chaos that is Wally World. They hung in there though! On Sunday we left at naptime, can you tell?

This was Addie 2 miles from my parents house. Lily didn't last any longer. They slept the entire way home!

Snow Cones

What do you do when it's too cold to play outside? Make snow cones!! Adam and the girls went to Menards last weekend and when they got home they had a short snowball fight with the new snow that had fallen. I asked them to bring in a snowball. (Sneaky Mom's way of getting them in the house!)

We took their snowballs and drizzled grenadine on top... instant snow cones!

Brrr... cold. It's an ice cream headache.

Lily is ever so happy with her snow cone. Addie on the other hand decided that she likes white snow best.

You might notice that Lily has two different placemats in front of her. I thought I'd mix things up a bit and let them swap placemats. Oh no, my OCD youngest child threw an absolute fit because she didn't have the Dora mat. That is her mat. Never have I seen a child who has to have certain things just so.

Just Chillin'

Yo, homie! Whatcha doin'?

Me? Just chillin' with my peeps, watching my Madagascar movie we rented from the library.

Feats of Manhood - photo heavy

Last night we had a Feats of Manhood Contest. The girls competed with Adam to see who was the Manliest of the Men. The contest consisted of, The Heavy Lifting. Addie shows that you don't have to lift with your knees to lift heavy objects.
Next up was the Drinking event. Whoever drank their shot of soymilk first would win.
I suspect that this was probably a bad bad idea. Let's introduce our 3 1/2 yr old to doing shots. Parents of the Year award, here we come!
Then it was the Arm Wrestling.

That Addie is a tricky one. She was caught using 2 hands a couple of times.

She was shocked when she lost that Feat of Manhood!
Next, we moved to the living room for the Throwing event.

The award went for longest throw. There was no specified way to throw, any way you could get the soft squishy Dora ball into the TV room worked.

Finally it was the Swagger and Pull Up Your Pants event. Lily won this one by a landslide. Honestly, I've never seen anyone pull their pants up to their armpits like her before.

The overall winner was Adam. To be honest, I'd be a little concerned if he didn't win!

Tonight, it's Feats of Womanhood. It could be anyone's win tonight.

Help Me Martha

Martha Stewart is doing a poll on her blog to determine what the next "Big Idea" is. One of the suggestions from a staff member is that they publish a Allergen Free magazine. I think this is an amazing idea. It would be wonderful to have someone as popular as Martha Stewart bringing attention to food allergies, especially in children. This might get the attention of big companies (see my rant against Gerber) to take the top 9 allergens out of food marketed to children. Right now it's the winning idea, please help Lily out by going to Martha's blog and voting for the allergen free idea.

So Sad!

What happens when you're almost 2 and you stay awake singing in the car on the way home from the cabin instead of taking a nap like your big sister? Well, if the almost 2 year old in question happens to be Lily, it goes a little something like this.

Sing all the way home from the cabin (2 hours).

Sister gets to go to the "office" with Daddy and pick out a movie at the "movie store."

You on the other hand, get to cuddle with Mommy and drink a bottle. However, instead of enjoying the cuddle, you will whimper the entire time.

Momma will lay you down in your bed where you will alternate singing and crying for about an hour. Maybe you will nap for a few minutes.

Then, when Momma takes pity on you and rescues you from your crib, you will do this ... She justs wants her "bottle."

It's All About Lily

Lily is "ticky, ticky" Daddy's toes! She thought it was hillarious to tickle Daddy's toes. She just kept going back for more.



...and for your viewing enjoyment... Lily singing! Sorry for the shakiness at the end. I was laughing at Addie and couldn't control the shakes. She's not at all used to being the center of attention.

The Business of Being Born

Check out The Business of Being Born. You can rent it from Netflix, or go to 4 different showings in the Menomonie area the weekend of February 23.

This is obviously something that is near and dear to my heart. I believe that women should have options about where their children should be born and in what setting. Our bodies are made to birth babies and if left to their own devices our bodies do amazing things. The medical community is taking this power away from women.

Medical studies consistently show that for most women, midwife assisted childbirth is as safe as or safer than physician-attended birth. Midwife-attended women are:

• 9 times less likely to have severe perineal tears
• 3 times less likely to have postpartum hemorrhage
• 6 times less likely to have fetal distress before birth
• 4 times less likely to need help to start breathing
• 4 times less likely to develop an infection

The routine use of medical interventions such as induction of labor, episiotomies, electronic fetal monitoring and cesarean sections is the greatest cause of complications associated with childbirth.

Sources: Center for Science in the Public Interest, the World Health Organization, and A Good Birth, A Safe Birth, by Diana Korte and Roberta Scaer, 1992. General Questions

The Girls Are Home!

They're Baaaackkkk.... Grandma and Grandpa brought the girls home on Saturday. Our quiet house immediately got loud and raucous! Addie immediately had to catch up with all her snuggles. She just kept walking up to us and giving us hugs. At one point she said, "Momma, I like your lips. I like your nose. I like your eyes." Do you think she missed me?

Lily settled right in by taking a 4 hour nap on Sunday. She woke up with a horribly runny nose but other than that, she's doing fine.

My favorite quote of the weekend was Addie saying, "I have to pee, my eyes are green." Hmm... where did she get that?!

I Miss My Girls

The girls are at Pirate Grandma and Grandpa's house this week. Our house is so quiet. I was able to get quite a bit done this morning before leaving for work. It's amazing what you can get done when you don't have 2 little ones to get ready as well as yourself!

I'm trying to keep myself busy all week long. Hopefully the week will go fast. I am really going to need some serious "nuggle" time with the girls when they come home though.

Lily's Spot

"Oh baby, you tired?"
"OK"
"Night, night baby"

I think every kid should have a little spot to call their own. Lily has carved out a spot between a chair and a table in between the living and tv rooms. When she wants to play quietly by herself, she takes a baby and it's blankie and puts it to sleep in her cradle. She sings to it and talks quietly. All of her mothering instincts come out.

Rock-a-Bye Baby!

Behavior Modification

Every once in awhile I get to use my psych minor. We started a behavior modification program with Addie yesterday. First, some background. Addie has been having trouble following directions lately. She laughs and runs away when I ask her to do something. It's a struggle to get dressed in the morning, a struggle to get her outside clothes on, a struggle to get home after daycare. Basically it's the Terrible 3 1/2's. She is constantly asking for treats and throws a temper tantrum if she doesn't get them. Lily has also picked up on this behavior, mostly because she sees that it gets Addie attention. Something had to give.

Yesterday I told the girls that they would be getting check marks on their hand every time they followed directions or shared with a sister or friend. At night we will count up the check marks that they have gotten. Both girls were very excited about their checks. Right now I am giving them check marks for anything that is remotely good behavior just to get them into the routine. We may do a weekly treat if they have earned a lot of checks, but they don't seem motivated by a long range treat right now. The checks seem to be incentive enough.

Last night as I was making dinner, Addie wanted some blueberries. I gave her the package of blueberries to share with Lily. They ate them all and came into the kitchen looking for more. When I told Addie that the blueberries were all gone, she threw the package on the floor. I asked Addie to throw the packaging in the garbage. Addie said, "NO!" Lily calmly walked over to the packaging and threw it in the garbage. Lily got a big hug and a check mark. Addie didn't like this one bit. She threw a total fit, screaming and kicking on the kitchen floor.

When she wouldn't calm down, I asked her to come into the living room with me. I asked her if she would like a chance to earn a check mark. The waterworks stopped. "Yes." I asked her to pick up the blocks that Lily and Addie had been playing with earlier. "OK, Momma, I can do that. Can I pick up the ponies too?" Absolutely!!

It's Day 2 of the program and the girls are still going strong. They are doing much better getting dressed without a struggle. Sometimes as a mom, you just have to try the crazy things that don't seem like they would work!

Photographer in the Making

One of Addie's first attempts at taking a picture by herself. She does really well looking through the viewfinder, if only we can keep her from flinching when she pushes the button. That expression you see on my face? It's me saying, "Do you see mommy in the picture?"

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!