Good luck!

James just told me, "Good luck Mom, I'm going surfing now!" Huh?
I think we're pretty fortunate to not have been flooded while spending our 3 years in Iowa. I can't help but wonder what I would have done with myself had that happened to me. I just can't imagine.
What is the language called that uses clicks? Kaitlyn is fluent in it now. When I ask her if she's hungry or wants a snack, she looks at me and clicks her tongue like she's got a glop of peanut butter on the roof of her mouth. So funny.
I need to start making notes to myself during the day about what I want to blog about, because I go to write and then I completely forget what I was going to write about.
Oh, well, you ask... how are swimming lessons going? Well, while trying to float, James keeps asking Miss Alisha, "Can you please pick me up Miss Girl? Please?" Poor thing, she doesn't know what to do- crack up or cry. Ha. Kaitlyn is swallowing pool water since she can't get the fact that she has to keep her mouth closed while under water. Alisha and the other instructor, Denise, seem to think that it's either the way she's entering the water or from teething. ? I don't know. So on Monday, they are going to start working on her floating, since that's the key safety part of Safe Start. Fine with me.
James' birthday is approaching... 3 whole years! I was just flipping briefly through his baby pictures to see if he was interested in looking at them... NOPE. Maybe next year. Ha. He makes me laugh every day with his enthusiasm for the silliest things. Especially when he sits at the edge of the pool cheering on Kaitlyn, and then when he figures out it's his turn, he runs away and cries. Cute, but makes me sick to my stomach to do that to him. I just keep it in my head that it's for his benefit.
Funny about Kaitlyn: she's learning to give kisses really well. Last night, or was it the night before, she was walking from me to Daddy giving us kisses. She kisses with her nose, though, it's either that or an open-mouthed slobber. I'll take the nose. ;)

Big Night OUT...

... to IHOP!
Nathan asked me what was for dinner tonight, and I said, "Well I was going to bake that chicken, but forgot."
He replies with, "Let's go out... the four of us are going out!"
"Where to?"
"I really want to go to Denny's or IHOP... preferably IHOP."
"WHY?" I asked.
"I don't know, I just want to, and I don't even know what I want, but they'd have it."
Ha ha ha.
James' vocabulary is just getting funnier every day. While at IHOP the waitress asked him if he wanted a booster seat. He said, "No... but yes." Then proceeded to ask the waitress, "Mrs. Girl, will you get me the BLUE booster seat?" Ha ha ha. Note the blueberry syrup all over his face in the photo. :)
Swim lessons went okay today, but Kaitlyn threw up. Yuck. Luckily it was only liquids. She's swallowing a bunch of water because her diaper was SOAKED about two hours after her lesson. Hmmm... better work on keeping that mouth closed.
While at lessons today, James decided to tell his teacher Alisha that, "That was AMAZING." I think he was referring to how he swam and got the wall. :)

June 10, 2008

Wouldn't you like to wake up to this face every day?
We've had a few milestones in this house the last few days.
Kaitlyn and James both just started Safe Start yesterday, a swim lesson program at the YMCA for infants/toddlers to give them the necessary tools to stay alive if they fall into water. Beth was right in her most recent blog when she said that motherhood isn't for chumps. It's really hard to sit there and watch some stranger (kindly) dunking your child under water and then having them come up and almost throw up because they are crying so hard. BUT... yesterday was only the first day, and today went a little bit better. They both still cried the whole time (just like all the other kids do), but they did better on the whole. We have this every morning for the next 6 weeks. Our instructor said to me this morning that James might finish early since he's really doing well. Hooray! Does that mean I get some money back? Ha. RIGHT. I can't yet bring myself to take pictures of this "horrific" scene so you'll have to forgive me for that. I'm pretty sure you'll understand.
The other milestone is that James pee-peed on the potty like daddy does for the first time by himself. All by himself! And he didn't even make a mess. 'Atta boy! Be clean about it! ;) He told me that he had to go but he was mad enough at me for some reason that he didn't want any help so he said he could do it by himself. Well... I said, "SHOW ME!" and that got him over there really quickly. ha. Voilla! He did it!
Things for me have been a bit hectic lately between working and taking care of the kids and a sick husband. Nathan was only down for one day though, and his spirits were back up for his birthday (pics on June 8 blog). We had a good 'ol pizza party for him at my parent's house. Cameron, our niece, made him one of the best cakes I've eaten in a long time... butter cake with both chocolate and vanilla icing, and she decorated it with a football! How cute! Great job Cam!

Baby Cousin Love

New Water Table!

BETH!

She's one-upping me, but I'll happily oblige.
http://www.theneipertnarrative.blogspot.com/
I'm going to link it to my website list.

June 8, 2008

Nathan turns 29!
Happy Birthday Honey!

The Wilckes and Neiperts visit Florida

I've been told that I need to blog... ha, hi Pat.
I haven't been able to do so because we've been super busy around here. Nathan's family arrived for a visit on Sunday night. We met them at the beach, and had a blast at the condo for a few days. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Beth, Harrison and Bennett will leave tomorrow, and we're very sad about it.
I had a shoot on Sunday afternoon, and then the kids and I headed over to New Smyrna to our family condo to meet up with Nathan and his family. They had all been in Blacksburg, Virginia for a family wedding, and then drove back from there together in one van. Crazies.
During our time at the beach we swam, looked for shells, walked on the beach and laughed a lot. Marilyn found two whole sand dollars and a starfish. I have a TON of pictures of all of us on the beach, especially the kids, and I'll try to upload some of them later. Harrison is sleeping in the office. :)
James still doesn't like the beach much, he loves the condo and loves the pool, but takes after his Mommy and does NOT like the sand much. Things got better when Nathan got out the sand castle stuff and they were allowed to dig.
Kaitlyn loves the ocean, especially likes to sit in the shallow part, and watch the waves come up onto her belly. She was always very cautious too, when a wave would approach, she'd stop dead in her tracks and wait until it passed.
Bennett and Harrison did fabulously on the beach, both were content to just sit and dig. It was a lot of fun to see them on the beach, and they are so young- but it's not their first time on the beach!
One funny story.... We were all in the pool, and Aunt Beth was taking pictures of James and me. She said to James, "Say pizza!... and look at the camera!" So James says, "Pizza and look at the camera!" :)
Beth and I took Harrison and James to Sea World on Wednesday. What a day! We had so much fun. We got there around 9 when they opened, then first went to the sting ray area to touch the sting rays. James shocked me by actually putting his hands in the water and feeling the slick creatures. He loved it! "How 'bout again!" he'd say.
We fed the dolphins, saw penguins, sea lions, otters, whales, a polar bear, a walrus, and ORCAS! Harrison calls the Killer Whale an orca because that's what Diego says... so cute. The Shamu show was the last thing we did, but it was worth it for those kids. We had to sit there for 45 minutes waiting for the show to start... so we had Shamu Ice Cream bars (made in LeMars, IA), and Beth and I each thoroughly enjoyed a Bud Light. Ha. It was a very trying day, James wasn't feeling absolutely 100%, and made me carry him all over the place. Hind sight- RENT A STROLLER STUPID. :) It was a day that we'll never forget, and my first experience taking James to a theme park. It was 93 degrees that day. Whoa. Needless to say, both kids were passed out within 5 minutes of the car ride home.
We like the Wilckes because the come to visit bearing gifts. We all received our birthday presents... James got a T-ball set, and a croquet set. Kaitlyn got two ADORABLE dresses, I got two really cool magazine subscriptions dealing with families and crafts, and Nathan and I got a new ear piece for our phones. Very cool, thanks! The kids also got one of the coolest books I've ever seen called 'Gallop' that looks animated. Amazing.
While here in Orlando, the kids have had a lot of fun playing together. Amazingly enough, we haven't had many fights. Bennett started walking this week, taking about 10 steps before falling to the ground. Kaitlyn won't sit still, and laughs hysterically at Harrison. The kids have gotten to swim in the pool and play with James' new water table. The babies went to town on that while we were at Sea World. We have had so much fun, but now they need to leave so I can lose the 5 lbs. that I've put on in the last few weeks. Ha. They sure like their ice cream! Ha ha ha.

Sea World!

Since Beth hasn't posted pics of Sea World yet, I will. :)

May 31, 2008

Kaitlyn has really been trying to talk. It's still all babble at this point, but her intonation is getting better. She'll do this thing now where there's a long string of babble, and then she follows at the end with a higher pitch... a question. Da bababa da da ma, ah? It's so funny... and she does it all of the time.
In the car today, we were heading home from the farmer's market, and Kaitlyn was babbling away. James pipes up and says, "Mom! She said, 'easy'! SHE TALKS!" Ha ha ha. Reminds me of that old commercial for Life cereal... He likes it! He likes it!
I'm excited for the time when she really starts making sense with her words, not so she'll talk all of the time, just so she can tell me what she wants. Although I'm pretty sure I can read her mind, just like every other mom has that super-natural power when their little ones can't talk. :)

Sweet Kaitlyn

Things I don't want to forget about Kaitlyn at this age:
- The way she toddles around so unsteadily with her arms outstretched in front of her body.
- She knows the word 'yogurt' and if I ask her if she wants some, I better be able to give it to her NOW.
- She loves the White Grape-Pomegranate Juice that James calls "Red berry juice", and loved to toddle around holding a sippy-cup full of juice.
- She eats mostly everything, except eggs, and she loved to face-plant on her tray and shovel things into her mouth.
- She loves to go into my bathroom and unload the band-aid drawer, dropping everything onto the floor.
- The way she gets excited and starts to laugh and walk fast if you ask her where she's going.
- She is really starting to try to mimic everything we say... hi, daddy, step, stick, etc.
- The way she is starting to remember things, and how something is associated with an object. For instance, if she sees the graham cracker box, she whines for one. Or when we read the Touch and Feel book about wild animals, she always puts her index finger on the sticky tree frog's legs and looks up at me and waits for me to say, "stick!" and then smiles.
- When I sit down to put James shoes on, she tries to put on her own shoes.
- She just started to wave bye-bye.
- She's opposite James in the sense that she can fall asleep in the car within a minute and stay asleep or go back to sleep when we get her out of the car. James hardly ever slept in the car, always would fall asleep 5 minutes before we got somewhere, and then not go back to sleep the entire day.
She is so precious. I could go on and on forever.

May 30, 2008

Many family members have told me that they like the blog... I'm glad. I'm not just doing it for myself then. :)
Nathan left this morning, again, for Virginia. I know, it seems like he leaves a lot, but it just happens to be this month. May has been busy. He's in VA for a wedding, and he is meeting up with his parents, sister and our two nephews. They DROVE from Iowa. Never in my life would I drive for two days with a three year old and a 14 mo. old. You guys are CRAZY! :) On Sunday they'll be driving here to meet the kids and me at the condo in New Smyrna. I'm so excited to see them! They couldn't get here fast enough. Watching James and Harrison play is just hysterical.
One side story.... We went to Iowa a few months back, and it was a busy day. We drove to Sanford, flew on a huge long flight, then had to get the rental car and go to Aunt Beth and Uncle Chris' house in Des Moines. James was so excited to see Harrison when we arrived at about 7:30. Well that's when Diego is on Noggin. Harrison was on the couch watching Diego when we let James loose in the house to go see him. James ran into the family room, stood between Harrison and the TV and said, "Hi Harrison! It's so good to see you!" ... long pause, then putting his arms up in a why pose... "Aren't you going to talk to me?!?" Ha ha ha ha. I guess Diego was really good that night.
I'm beat tonight. The kids kept me busy today, especially when James had a super-duper tantrum before his nap. He has had summer "camp" at school for this week, Tuesday through today. I really think it wore him out entirely. By the time he had gotten up stairs for his nap today, he thought he should have a bath before his nap. Whoa Nelly. He was throwing such a fit I actually had to go hold him and hug him until he settled down. It was like he couldn't stop crying. Weird, very weird. I'm excited school is out for a while now... next week I might have a different opinion. Too much stimulation for a two year old.
We went to Target this evening, and then instead of trying to beat traffic home before Kaitlyn lost it from hunger, we went to Steak and Shake for dinner. See how I rationalize these things? We HAD to go. :) Kaitlyn likes their fries, and LOVES chocolate malts. ha ha. James too, naturally.

My New York Trip!

Ana really showed me a fabulous time in NYC! Wow, the food, the FOOD! Warning: most of this blog is about food, so if you're not part of the Focus on Food family, you may want to skip this one. :)
I arrived at Newark Airport around 1:00 pm on Friday. I literally almost threw up on the plane... bumpy, bumpy flight. Ugh. The poor girl in the row next to me looked green. That was the low point of the trip and I wasn't even in the state of New York!
I took a car to Ana's work, Pier 59 Studios, a gigantic mass of studio space complete with a restaurant, where ads are shot, scenes in movies (such as the walk-off in Zoolander), and MANY famous people frequent. LUCKILY for me (not), it was dead there that day and I didn't get to see anyone famous. Boo. I did meet a very nice Pinot Grigio, however, and my vacation had begun.
After I had the tour of the studios, Ana took me to her apartment and then out to dinner. I got to meet some of her friends, one which one I had met in Santa Barbara. We had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Little Giant. We also had lots of wine. Ha. See photos.
The next day, which was Saturday, we headed out of the apartment to do some shopping and to have brunch before Mama Mia. We had brunch at Extra Virgin, a cute little place where you get to know your neighbors since you're sitting so close to them. We literally had to move our table over to get our neighbor out of the booth. Ana and I split brunch: an order of french fries served with gorgonzola fondue (never had anything like it!), a Monte Christo sandwich, with all kinds of fabulous cheeses and meats, and the bread tasted like it was french toast. Whoa. Glad we split that meal.
Mama Mia was spectacular, Ana's boyfriend James scored us second row seats. What a show. It was fun, energetic, hysterical, and also a good story. The only thing that Ana and I kinda thought was weird was that not all of the ABBA songs went exactly with the story line. Some of them were a quite stretch. But, on the whole, it was a great experience. I even had seen one of the actresses in Beauty and the Beast when I had been in NYC with my parents back in college.
Ana and I continued to shop, drink coffee and EAT (Dean and Deluca has amazing cheesecake). I found Nathan a fedora, something that I actually knew that he wanted, and got myself a hat and shirt at H&M (best store ever except they sold me a purse that fell apart the first day I used it- RETURNED that one).
Finally when we really couldn't walk any longer, we landed our bottoms at Accademia di Vino, a fabulous restaurant. James' friend runs the kitchen... I could be really good friends with that guy. :) Unfortunately his friend wasn't in the kitchen that night, but the food was amazing anyway. We started with antipasti of meats and cheeses, then split grilled pizzas with sopresetta and red pepper puree, and a carbonara pasta dish. James picked an amazing wine for dinner and then a very tasty dessert wine to accompany our cheesecake with peach compote and our brownie with cherry butterscotch sauce. :) Ha ha ha, all of the details that I remember are from the desserts. Thanks for dinner James!
The next day, Sunday, Ana and I headed out for brunch again... this time to the Bowery Bar. If I lived in New York, I'd be 300 lbs. for sure.
Now that I've waited a week to do this blog, I'm forgetting all of the stuff that we did between meals (ha ha ha), but it all included taxi rides, shopping and getting coffee at Starbucks!
I really got a treat that night. James' friends had invited Ana and James over for a Memorial Day BBQ to their amazing apartment. So naturally, they had another guest, me. James made us dinner, you know, the usual burgers on the grill. But these were no regular burgers. NOT AT ALL. He made burgers that he had ground himself at home out of short ribs, and then served them with a bacon and onion compote. Holy cow. I've never had such a good burger. Only in New York. Ha.
I had a great time at the BBQ, meeting some of James' friends and talking to other New Yorkers. The hostess is about 5 months pregnant, so we had a lot to talk about. They were lots of fun, and I could see myself being friends with them if I lived there. The best part of the night (besides the burger) was getting to see their Great Dane up close and giggling as that huge head sniffed my face. HUGE! That dog could bite my head off... but he's so sweet.
The next day, Memorial Day, we headed out early and shopped. I bought a few souvenirs for the kids and me, I heart NY shirts, and fun bows for Kaitlyn's hair from Bergdorf's... the only thing I could afford at Bergdorf's. ;) I saw shoes for $945.00! Yes, I wanted them, they were gorgeous.
Food was mediocre that day, nothing to write about. Ha. The only thing I have to say about it is that only in New York City do you find goat cheese on a club sandwich! Mmmm.
I ended my trip with a delay in Newark, an uneventful (thank goodness) flight home, and greetings from my husband at Orlando International. Jet Blue was okay- major props though for them to have private satellite TV and XM radio at each seat. NICE.
Thanks, Ana, for a great weekend. Back to our diets.... :)

May 22, 2008

The kids and I are sitting here having snack time... James is having a purple popsickle, and Kaitlyn is having goldfish. Mom bought these things at the toy store that hold a popsickle stick on one side, and when you flip it over, it'll hold an ice cream cone. The grip is big and steady and the bottoms of each side catch all of the drips. AMAZING! One of those things that you say, "Why didn't I think of that?!?"
I'm off to NYC tomorrow to visit my friend Ana who lives in Manhattan. I'm so excited, sooooo excited.

May 21, 2008

Here is how to have the best birthday in a long time:
-Start with a fabulous, best-ever massage
-Have lunch with your Mom
-Get an AMAZING diamond/Onyx locket necklace from your husband
-Eat cake and ice cream with your Mom, Dad, Hub, and two wonderful kids
-Watch your baby girl face plant into the cake and ice cream and laugh hysterically
-Go out to eat at a restaurant with your husband and share a bottle of smooth red wine, and have an amazing dinner
-Top it off with watching the season finale of American Idol

What a birthday!

I'm 30... waaaaaaaa! But I still feel young and vibrant. :)

May 18, 2008

We have two cats. Saki is black and white and scared of everything, and Rosco is all black and scared of nothing. James has been able to distinguish between the two cats ever since he started talking (probably even sooner). He can say Saki fine, but Rosco, not so much. He's been known as Frocko, now Srocko or Rocko. :) Once in a while I'll hear Rosco, but it's rare. If I ask him to say Rosco, he will, but otherwise it's one of the more fun versions.

Tonight we ran and ran and ran until I worked up a sweat. I put the kids in the bath tub together (one of those precious moments), and after I had Kaitlyn in her jammies, she started to run out in to the hallway. James was running around naked except for his towel hanging on his head like superman. It was hysterical. James was chasing me and I pulled one of those run-over-the-bed-to-get-around-him moves and I thought he was either going to fall over in hysterics or pee. Kaitlyn was ROLLING around in the hallway, partly because she was laughing, and partly because I was tickling her and chasing her. We had a blast.

Tomorrow is very exciting. Daddy comes home, and Grandma and Papa will be home from Irleand!

May 17, 2008

Today was a super-Mom busy day! I started the day off getting the kids ready to go to Ben's soccer game with Aunt Mandy, Cam, Ben and Jack. They usually sleep in until about 7:30, but this morning Kaitlyn was up with me at 7:00. I had to WAKE UP James, which I never like doing. I got them breakfast and go them out the door at about 7:45. Mandy said they did very well, and loved all of the attention that they got at the game. Ben scored TWO goals! Way to go BEN! Unfortunately, the other team scored more goals. I'm so proud of my nephew. Thanks Mandy for taking them along with you!

While the kids were with Mandy at the game, I went to a photo shoot at Kraft Azalea Park located on Alabama. We started shooting that at about 8:30, and didn't end until about 10. We had so much fun though! This family was hysterical, and kept things interesting. There were 16 people, so I had my work cut out for me, but the shoot went well, and I'm so happy to be able to capture these moments for the family. Check out my photo blog in a few days to see some images from the session.

The birds... the birds! We had to go to the car wash after the shoot. It's probably a good thing since the Odyssey probably hasn't been washed in a year (not kidding). The poor guys there saw me pull up and I swear they sighed. ha ha. OH NO! NOT ANOTHER MINI-VAN WITH GOLDFISH ALL OVER THE FLOOR! ;)

After lunch the kids crashed hard, and then we ventured over to the Home Depot. We got two beautiful new plants for in front of our front door. I'm going to see how long it takes me to kill these "very hearty" plants that are virtually impossible to kill. I'll find a way. ha.

James has entered the "WHY?" phase a bit early. NO! He's not 3 yet! I used to crack up when our nephew Harrison would look at me and say, "why?" not in an inquisitive manner, but his top lip would contract up and it was like he was saying, "eeewwww". So funny! And now James is doing the same thing. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Well James, why do YOU think? That usually does the trick.

This entry is getting long, so I'm gonna end. The kids need my attention... maybe. Ha.

You know you're a Mommy when....

You know you're a mommy when...
- you can wipe snot off of your child's nose... with your fingers instead of a tissue. Ewwww.
- you get desensitized to cleaning up poopy bottoms, and actually starting to find the contents of the poop interesting.
- you start to eat your meals when they are already cold, and then start PREFERRING them on the cooler side so you can eat them faster.
- you wait until your coffee is lukewarm and then chug it like you were a college freshman chugging beer.
- you find JOY in PB and J sandwiches.
- you melt when you see your child smile and laugh.
- you stand over them at night while they are asleep and praise God for every day you have with them.

Pool time fun

May 16, 2008

Whew, I get to sit down now. Nathan is gone, in Tampa this time. The kids and I are doing well.

I ordered a bunch of shoes from Zappos, so the kids and I got to try them on this morning. If you knew my shoe shopping situation, you'd understand why Zappos is my best friend. I wear a narrow, and no stores seems to think people like me exist anymore. Rude. To sum up, I ordered 7 pair, and kept 2. Those two that I kept are the same brand, maybe also my new best friend. ha.
Anyway, the kids and I were playing in my closet, and James kept trying on my shoes. It was too funny. I just kept giggling to myself and thinking, "What the heck would Nathan do if he saw this." hee hee hee. We had fun. This reminds me of a picture that Mom has of Cameron at about 18 months wearing her Rangoni shoes and wearing some big clip on earrings. Love it.

Kaitlyn is now starting to show anticipation with having fun. When I say something like "I'm gonna get you!" she starts to walk fast and giggle. She's babbling a ton now, and really looking at my mouth and face when I read to her.

The aliens have returned our James back to us from some weird planet. He is back to his happy self, thank goodness. He is also starting to watch out and take care of his little sister. He'll get her sippy cup for her and give it back to her after she's launched it off of her high chair. He's also sharing his coveted yogurt covered raisins with her, which she now adores, of course. He tickles her and also adoringly shuts her fingers in a drawer... ok, maybe he's not watching out for her 100% of the time. :)

One thing I want to write down about Kaitlyn that I don't want to forget is her ability to do the "downward facing dog" yoga position. Inverted V. She loves it and does it all of the time. Then she'll look at me and say, "Hi!" 'Atta girl, Namaste.