"You Look Like Kaitlyn!"

Kaitlyn is 16 months old. She's never had a hair cut, since we're trying to let it grow out so she doesn't have any bangs. It's very cute and she has curls, so I really dread having to cut it. She likes barrettes (to keep the bangs out of her face), but takes them out of her own hair usually within a few minutes of me putting it in. So most of the time at home, her bangs are in her face since I can't really do anything about it.
The kids and I were just playing on the couch, tickling each other and such, and James grabbed my hair and put it in my face. He then announced, "MOM! You look like Kaitlyn!" Ha ha ha.

Bye Dad! Have a Good Day at Work!

Nathan just left for work, and I wanted to write down something that makes me giggle every time he leaves. James makes him go around our huge family and give a hug AND a kiss to everyone. If Nathan forgets one of those, James reminds him. It's also James' tactic on getting Nathan to stay for ONE MORE MINUTE before he leaves for work. It's so funny! A few times Nathan has been half way out the door when James yells, "DAD! You forgot to give hugs and kisses!" So funny.
Likewise, when Nathan gets home from work at the end of the day we are usually here to greet him. He knows the kids are going to bombard him, so yesterday he went so far as to not bring any of the groceries inside when he walked in for the first time. Smart, smart man.
James always yells, "DAD! You're HOME!" and runs to him, while Kaitlyn always says, "Da-DY, Da-DY! Da-DY!" and runs to him. Their delight makes us smile and laugh and really appreciate their ages right now. It's so fun to see them light up when he walks in. Nathan always wrestles with them too, which is hysterical!
Right now the kids are running back and forth from the garage door to the ottoman laughing at each other. They are laughing hysterically. "They" always say that little ones under two years usually do what is called parallel play, they play next to another child but not necessarily with them. Apparently this does not apply to Kaitlyn, as she is a HUGE fan of her big brother, and loved to mimic him and run with him.
Just a few moments ago, James was teaching Kaitlyn how to sit on the kitchen floor and slide on her butt. Now... if only I could invent some way for those Swiffer things to stick to their bottoms, we'd get somewhere. :)

So NOW She Starts Having Fun!

Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn. We got to swim lessons this morning (first day of the last week), and as soon as Kaitlyn saw Alisha she stared to cry. Hard. Poor Alisha, it probably breaks her heart to have kids look at her and cry. But today we had a huge pay-off. About half way through K's lesson, she started laughing and smiling! It's almost as if a light bulb went on in her head, "Hey, this is actually kinda FUN!" I'm sure she was thinking that.
Such good news! It's so nice to see her enjoying something that usually frightens the pants off of her. :)

Monotany? I don't think so.

Monotony is not the word I would use to describe our summer. We have been so busy, with trips, jobs, and the kids (understatement). Although I really do appreciate how the days tend to go by quickly, it's no fun to be sick or not feel good for the ride. I got sick in Iowa and am still battling what I think is a sinus infection, so alas, I'll probably get to haul the kids into the doctor tomorrow so I can get checked out.
We are almost done with swimming lessons (ISR), and the kids are doing marvelously. James is almost a fish (not quite), but is doing very well. I think he'll be in good shape at the end of the program. Kaitlyn can float perfectly, but not swim so great. Alisha and I agreed that she's got the survival float down, but she's probably just not ready to swim. Fine with me! Alisha has done a wonderful job with my kids, and now I've even got her to come over to babysit! Hee hee hee! Just kidding Alisha, James is super excited to have you come over to play. I told him you wouldn't make him get in the pool though. ;)
I've decided to start looking for a part-time nanny for the upcoming school year. James will have school three times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so I'm thinking that I could hire a nanny for Tuesday and Friday. Nathan is off of work on Wendesday. This way I can have all day with both kids on Monday and Thursday, work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Make sense? Anyone know anyone that wants to nanny?
Last night Nathan and I went out to shop. We were at the mall at Millenia for about 3 hours, and then we went out for a drink at Park Plaza Gardens. OOoooh, I had their chocolate martini, very good. We stayed at Park Plaza Hotel the night of our wedding, so it's always fun for us to go by there and reminisce.
Nathan took the kids to the Science Center this morning while I was home nursing a migraine, NO, not from the martini, from the aforementioned sinus infection. We are now members, so this outing will probably become a favorite during the rest of the hot summer. Sounds like they had a pretty darn good time, I can't wait to take the kids there.
Mom, get home from Germany already, we miss you.

Hi Sprinkler!

James helped me roll the trash bin to the curb this morning, and when we got to the curb he saw a sprinkler across the street. He said, "Mom! Sprinklers! Hi Sprinklers! Oh it's just one sprinkler... hi sprinkler!" :) He has always done this, said hi to inanimate objects as if they have feelings or see him standing there. So funny!
Kaitlyn is dirtying her diaper as I type, for the second time this morning. I had a dream last night that I put her on the potty and she pee-peed right away. Ha, if that was true, she'd probably be pooping in the potty before James. Ha ha ha.
Today is Friday and Nathan is off of work today instead of Wednesday this week. I was supposed to get him up at 7:20 for me to get out of the house and go work out. Alas, I've come up with every excuse in the book to stay home and be lazy instead. Ha.
I'm excited to be shooting tonight, for a Mom in my MOMS group. I get to see friends out in Clermont tomorrow and take photos of their kids, so fun! I can't wait to see them, as we don't get time to get together much. I'll finally be able to give their kids some attention, instead of having to focus on my own kids since I'm not bringing them.
The kids are off playing with toys and I just heard James say, "I broke it! Fiddle-dee-dee! Oh well." Ha ha ha.

Why Buy Toys?

I swear, I'm not going to buy any more toys. Ok, yes, I'm kidding, but seriously, kids like playing with everyday things such as the cardboard roll that your wrapping paper came on, or the laundry baskets. Once in a while the kids will spend a half hour playing with laundry baskets...!

Go Cameron!

My niece Cameron got to play "Wendy" in her drama camp's performance of Peter Pan!
What a doll. I'm so sad I missed her debut, sniffle sniffle... achoo!
Love you Cam.

Mommy's Night Out, Thanks Ladies!

Oh I love having friends. I was blessed last Spring when I was given the chance to meet a group of women through the MOMS program at Saint Margaret Mary Church here in Winter Park. Just after my family and I moved to Winter Park, I ran into a high school friend of mine, Kelly Bert. She married her high school sweet heart, and their son attends the school that James attended last year. It was always fun to run into her, and once when I saw her she told me that she was facilitating MOMS in the Spring. I decided to commit and go through the 8 week program with 9 other women (3 facilitators, 7 members). This group has been so fun, and I enjoy everything we do together. We all immediately hit it off and became friends. When our MOMS program was over on the calendar, we made up our own schedule, we'd meet twice a month, once to discuss a book and once to have a social outing. All have been going very well and I am thankful that we have kept it going this long, and hope to keep it going as long as possible.
I adore these women, and many of them have given me the opportunity to photograph their families (see at www.meredithwilckephotography.blogspot.com). They are all very pleased with the work that I have done for them, and for that I am grateful to God for blessing me with my talent. Their support has allowed me to boost my business to the point of actually making money instead of shooting as favors for people. They have given me encouragement when I need it, and for that I am thankful. I am thankful to be able to support them in their times of need and times of excitement and sadness, they really are true friends.
Last night we went out for mexican food in Baldwin Park at Colibri. I like the social meetings much more than the spiritual book meetings! We laughed about stories of our kids, our recent travels and experiences, and celebrated a new pregnancy by talking about how to get rid of nausea! :)
Thanks Raquel, for inviting me into your home to see my work so beautifully displayed in your home!
See you in a few weeks ladies!

Kaitlyn's New Words!

Kaitlyn has now added NO, ow, baby, bye, and kitty (sounds more like daddy though) to her list of frequently used words.
She loves to wave bye bye too with her whole arm bouncing up and down. She also claps for herself... like this morning, she pointed to a boy on a game box, said, "baby" and then clapped for herself. I guess she learned this trick from Bennett Neipert on our recent trip to Iowa. :)

Go, Diego, GO!

James keeps pestering me to play with him as I sit here and dink around with restyling my blog. He has a tool set from Gr. and Gr. Wilcke that has a pretend bird house that you can put together, take apart, put together, etc. At this time we are demolishing it. He just brought the saw to me, and two pieces of wood that are stuck together by velcro, and said, "Mom, cut this! In spansish we say, 'pila'!" Now you tell me... (after my education of two years of Spanish in high school and one year in college,) is that right? !?!

Picky, Picky.

James hasn't always been the best eater. He ate like a champ when everything was pureed and smooth, but when things started being in chunks and had texture to them, things went downhill. He wouldn't eat things, and still wont, if it LOOKS weird. Pureed peas? No problem.... Real peas? No way. Pureed corn? No problem.... Real corn? No way. He has finally started eating corn and he's 3!! I'd even try to sneak a pea or corn into soup, and he'd find it in the pasta shell and pick it out. Sneaky, sneaky.
One distinct memory I have of James eating was once when we were having pizza for dinner. He wouldn't eat it. I don't remember who we were eating with (and if it's you reading this, let me know), but they pointed out that it was quite screwy that we were withholding fruit for bites of pizza. "If you have one bite of pizza, you can have more fruit." That type of thing. Nathan and I just laughed and looked at each other and agreed that maybe sometimes our kids would be strange. Ha.
A few nights ago we were having Taverns and once again, James wouldn't even try it. Well we were also having broccoli... his favorite green vegetable. "Try a bite of sandwich and then you can have more broccoli..." we'd say. Very strange!

Kaitlyn says, "WHOA!"

Kaitlyn makes us giggle with her funny sense of humor. Last night we were having scrambled eggs and toast for dinner, and if you've read before, Kaitlyn isn't very keen on scrambled eggs. She has proved to me that she eats them, but only if she's in the mood. Last night she was attacking her toast with peanut butter, but leaving the eggs alone. Hmmm, what about ketchup? I asked her, "Kaitlyn, do you want ketchup to dip dip?" She grinned so hugely that I got it right away.
As soon as I squirted some on her tray, she says, "WHOOAAA! Whoa!" Like it was the coolest thing she's ever seen! It was so funny! I ended up putting more ketchup on her tray two more times, and each time, the same WHOA! :)
She has also done this when I break out the red grapes and watermelon for "dessert". Both of my kids love their fruit!
Kaitlyn has also been using a fork and spoon for about a week now. She really does better with a fork, since it doesn't matter which way it is flipped, it'll still get the job done. Marilyn and I were laughing in Iowa because you could put anything down in front of Kaitlyn and she'd eat it if she could stab it with the fork. Even broccoli! She's never been a fan, but if you give her a fork, she eats it! She likes it! She likes it! :)

ROCK ON!

Kids... go play!

Last night Nathan and I were in the kitchen while I was making "Taverns" (hamburger, onion and cream of mushroom soup), and James and Kaitlyn were playing together and laughing together in the living room. It was one of those moments in time, and Nathan put it best, as the time in your life with babies/toddlers that you can finally say, "Kids! Go play!" and they actually do!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday, it's one of those milestones, but if I dare say which one, I'd never hear the end of it. We got to celebrate with her on Friday night at their house with friends, family and BBQ! You can't get much better than that. I put together a book of photos for my mom, and my brothers put together a photo slideshow for her that made us all laugh and cry. Mom was doing fine throughout the slideshow until the one picture of KALEY popped up on the screen. Kaley was Kevin's short-haired Collie that Mom grew quite close to during Kaley's life. Mom watched the dog a lot, and she even lived at Mom and Dad's for a while. Kaley passed away quite suddenly over a weekend when Kevin was out of town. I'll never forget the tears I sobbed when Mom called me and told me that she had died. OVER A DOG! :) They are truly part of our families. It just made me laugh that of ALL of the moments that were re-lived, births, parties, fun times, the one thing that got to her was the dog. :)
The party was very nice, and thanks to everyone that came over. For someone like Mom who didn't want a party in the first place, she seemed to have a pretty good time. Thanks everyone.

We love Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Gary

Grandma Marilyn once again made us feel welcome and at home at their house in Ames. I struggle with allergies, BADLY in Iowa, and this time James had allergies too. Too bad we hit Ames right in the middle of pollen season.
Nevertheless, Marilyn made us feel at home with her love and FOOD (mmmm!), and she even made me chicken soup when I got a cold. She helped Nathan a TON when I was sleeping for two days, and I thank her for that!
Gary had to leave town for work, so we didn't get enough Grandpa time. Next time Grandpa!
Here are some pictures of us playing at their house and some other shots from the trip.
XOXOXO, we miss you Iowa family!

Little Miss Independent

Kaitlyn is spunky. She is starting to voice her opinion about things, not with words, but with gestures and reactions. She is entering the beginning of trial tantrum phase, where she's experimenting with cause and effect. What will Mommy and Daddy do if I do this? A few times now, if I'm holding her and tell her something she doesn't want to hear, she swats me in the face. When I give her a firm "NO", she cries. She is also starting to drop things or throw things on the floor if she doesn't get her way. I must admit, it's hysterical. I never let her know that though, of course. She's spunky! If I go this way, she goes that way. If I want her to eat one thing, she want to eat something else. And so it begins... when is it that I can start using the naught spot with her? Ha.
She is soaking up information so quickly and steals my heart every day. She's really into giving me kisses right now and today in the car I taught her how to blow a kiss. It's so cute. She truly amazes me. Her favorite words right now are Hi! and Daddy. Figures.

A Moon Piece!

As we were driving from the rehearsal dinner to the hotel, it was still light out. James looked out the side of the car into the sky and saw the moon. It was a half moon, but to my sweet little three year old, it was a moon piece. "A MOON PIECE! A MOON PIECE!" he was shouting and cackling, it was too funny!

Congratulations Marc and Emily!

We made this trip especially to be at the wedding of our cousin Marc Wilcke to Emily Markert. They got married on Saturday the 12th, under quite different circumstances. Emily and her sister Mary Jo were proposed to within a few weeks of each other, so they decided to throw a double wedding. I must admit, I only know of one other person that I've ever met that has had a double wedding. The whole thing fascinates me, and I'm so happy for these couples that pulled it off without a hitch. James and Harrison were the ring bearers for Marc and Emily, and wore tuxes and everything! The boys, including Best Man Nathan Wilcke, had to be at the church early for pictures, so we started prepping the boys as soon as we were up on Saturday.
Question: Is there a magic switch somewhere that someone likes to pull that makes sweet little boys act like totally different children when they are to do something special and important? I think it's God's way of playing a practical joke sometimes. "Ha ha ha, you will NOT have a good time today and NOT have a good listening kid today, and NOT have anything go the way you expect! Ha ha ha, you silly Earth beings!"
From the moment I started putting on James' tux, he was a different child. No listening, compliance, nothing. I love my child to bits, but this was extremely frustrating especially since I was already showered, now sweating like a pig, and hadn't even done my make up or put on my dress. I'm sure it's the stress that James can see on my face and the strange clothing and craziness of the hotel room that got him to act the way he did, of course. I kept my fingers crossed that things would improve. No such luck.
We got to the church for pictures, LATE, but that turned out to be fine, whew! The boys looked completely handsome, adorable, and got smiles and giggles from every woman in or around the church. They truly were some of the cutest things I've ever seen.
Beth and I were a bit on the smarter side and thought to bring bribes. I love bribery! Ha ha ha. M&Ms do the trick for James. It soon became time for the young kids to be in the picture with BOTH wedding parties in one shot. I am NOT envious of the photographer in this situation as I know what is involved. It's incredibly hard to photograph a large crowd in a dimly lit church, and get every one to fit/be in focus, AND trying to get the kids to smile and actually look at the camera. Hee hee hee, silly Meredith to the rescue.
I planted myself exactly behind the photographer, and started making silly faces, holding up M&M packs playing Peek-a-boo and doing all that stuff that makes me look like I'm out of my mind. Within a minute, I had both of the ENTIRE wedding parties laughing. Even the hungover dudes that waned to act cool and not smile in the photos were laughing. I have NO idea if the kids will be looking at the camera in these shots, but one thing is for sure, they were smiling, and YES they got their M&Ms! As soon as the photographer said that the kids were done, I was giving out candy like holy communion to three little birds holding their mouths wide open wanting food. I even got comments from people in the wedding parties later at the reception that what I was doing was a hit. Cool.
The chaos continued, and as you probably expect, James and Harrison did walk down the aisle, but not as we had planned. James led with Harrison a few steps behind, not walking side by side and holding hands like we had hoped. They are 3, we have to remember this at times.
James was so wiggly and whiny that he didn't even make it to the point of Mary Jo's entrance (she was the second bride to be escorted down the aisle) before I had him in the pew with me. {Enter Marge Simpson sigh}.
I got to see Emily and Marc say their vows and glimpsed over at them as they exchanged rings, but then I had to take James out of the church... "I have to go potty, Mom." Of course. We get to the potty, and well, no pee pee. Of course... of course.
So my now extremely overtired James and I hung out in the back of the church for the rest of the wedding. Grandma Marilyn came out, holding a crying Kaitlyn (who, I must add, did an amazing job at being quiet during Mass), who had slipped off the pew and was scared and crying. We switched kids, and Marilyn sat down with James and convinced him to rest on her shoulder. Ahhhhhhh... he fell asleep. At that exact moment... "the new Mr. and Mrs. Wilcke!" APPLAUSE! James is awake. Dang!!!!
Poor, poor James. He fell asleep again in the car on the way to the hotel after the wedding, and then again was awoken to go into the hotel. The poor child finally got a nap, in a dark, cool room, for an hour and a half. Just the thought of that makes my eyes well up. Poor kid. James' face in the photo of him and Daddy sums up the day in one look....
The reception was great, the kids came for dinner and then Chris and I took the kids back to the hotel with our babysitter that had come along for the weekend. We put the babies down for bed and went back to dance and have a good time... and a good time we DID have.

The Flight to Iowa

On Thursday we headed to Iowa. I started my day off early, so I could pack for the kids and for myself. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:15 p.m., so we allowed the silly two hours prior to the departure time and hit the road with the kids. We were very excited, and timing was perfect. We'd eat a fast lunch and then the kids could take their naps on the flight. This was the plan in my head anyway. As Nathan went to park the car, the kids and I hauled all of our suitcases and car seats to the check-in counter where I was promptly told that they weren't checking in our flight since it was still 3 hours before the flight.
"Excuse me?" I said. "Our flight's at 12:15 and it's 10:30."
"No," the KIND lady replied, "The Des Moines flight leaves at 1:55. Come back and check in at 11:55, two hours prior to departure."
Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Seriously, you've got to be kidding me. Apparently we had booked our flight so far in advance that the scheduling changed and for some ODD reason, our updated itinerary was sent to Nathan's Mom's email address instead of his. AWESOME. So we had to hang around with our fully loaded cart of crap and our kids that were already about to burst just from the 30 minute car ride. We spent the time wisely, running around the airport, going up and down the escalators and having lunch once we were finally allowed to get past security. I remember actually making the comment to Nathan that it was nice to not be in a rush for once.
We did a little shopping at the gift store, and since the kids were at a breaking point, Nathan and I decided to let them splurge on a few new pals for the ride. The store had a bunch of character stuffed animals from a few of the shows that James frequently watches. There was Dora and her pals Boots and Swiper, Diego and his animal friends, Blue and her buddies (did you know Blue is a girl?), the Wonder Pets and a few of the Backyardigans, etc. I thought I'd throw a quiz at James and asked him if he knew who each character was. He amazed us with his knowledge. He knows so much, it shocked us. Nathan picked up a puppy that looked like Blue but was pink and had glasses. I said something like, "Oh, James, this must be a pink Blue, right?" and he replies, "That's Magenta!" Oh silly Mommy. Sure enough, the tag said Magenta. Nathan was pointing out Diego and his pals and made a remark something like, "Here is Diego and Panther..." and James says, "No, that's baby Leopard!" Smarty pants. We let the kids pick, well, James picked, Blue for himself, and Magenta for Kaitlyn. I must say, this was a very good buy.
So remember my plan from before, that the kids would sleep on the plane? Whoa, Nelly. By the time we had boarded the plane, it was 1:40... an hour plus after Kaitlyn's normal nap time. She was overtired, to put it lightly. We didn't even get to the part of taxiing before she had lost it. I tried my miraculous baby bounce that I've used on my own kids and on other kids, but she was so wound up even that didn't work. She was screaming, shaking and bright red. Nathan and I just marveled at how crazy she was being, our sweet little girl was MAD! Nathan finally restrained her enough to where she stopped fighting back, and I fanned her to cool her down. Alas, she slept, like a baby, for 50 minutes, on her Mommy. Ahhhh. Thank you God for watching over us.
James slept too, just like usual, and both kids were bright and cheery upon waking. We spent the rest of the flight watching DVD shows and playing with our new pals from the Sanford Airport, Blue and Magenta.