Be cautious of open drawers.

A few nights ago I was sleeping upstairs in the guest room since James was still sick. I heard Nathan call out to me, "Mommy! Help?" So I sprang out of bed and went in James room to see a pile right by his face. He must have done it in his sleep. Poor kid. He didn't even have time to react to the fact that he threw up before Nathan was in there helping him out of bed.
I took the sheets downstairs and did my cleaning... it's amazing how rock hard a stomach becomes after being a Mom dealing with throw up. I remember when James constantly spit up and threw up several times as an infant thinking, "It's really no big deal... it's just milk." It's a little more difficult now with the chunks in it, but some how I manage to think the same thing... "It's really no big deal... it's just pizza a ranch dressing, with grapes." SICK.
I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt to bed and the sleeves got wet, so I went into my bedroom to change my shirt. I noticed that my top drawer was slightly ajar, so I closed it, opened my bottom drawer, got out a new shirt and proceeded to go back upstairs to bed. We got James all tucked back into bed with clean sheets and Mickey since Monkey was now having a "bath" in the clothes washer.
I woke up about 30 minutes later (?) with Nathan at my bedside trying to tell me something. He says, "Did you close a drawer in your dresser?"
"HUH?" I asked.
"Saki was in your drawer in your dresser stuck inside. Now THAT is funny." He says.
Oops. I guess I should watch out for cats nestled in my underwear before I close my drawer in my dresser. LOL. Silly cat.

Settle down!

Last night we went over to my parents for home-made pizza and salad. Mmmm. The kids are still recovering from ear infections and other issues, so they weren't looking like their normal happy selves (little dark around the eyes).
James and Kaitlyn were playing in the kids' room while Grandma and I were talking. Mom asked me how old Harrison was now, and I said 4, and we talked about how time just seems to fly by. When James heard that I said Harrison was 4, he piped up... "He's 3!" I had to tell him that Harrison had just had a birthday last week, and now he is 4. Mom and I started talking again about how "Harrison is only 7 months older than James and soon James will be three and a half! ... and then pretty soon he'd be 4! My baby is going to be FOUR!" I got so excited. Mom was laughing and chiming in with me and all of a sudden James says while smiling and laughing, "Settle down! Settle down Mom and Grandma!" We just laughed, and laughed and laughed.

I can do it by myself!

James has definitely turned the corner these last few weeks (although being sick) into a boy who wants to do things by himself. For about a month now, he's been getting up in the morning, undressing enough to get his nighttime diaper off, then putting his jammy pants back on. One morning he even got his own slippers on before coming to wake me up (in the guest room since our room is downstairs).
He seems to think that it's all fine and good if he goes to the potty, poops, and wipes himself. Not all fine and good. Yesterday I had to have a little bit of a talk with him about how he can do it himself, but he needs Mommy or Daddy to check to make sure everything is "spotless".... if you know what I mean. :) The other day he helped himself to the bathroom after his nap, took his diaper off and went poop in the potty all by himself. He was so proud! We are so proud of him too... especially after months of telling him that he should only poop in the potty now since he's 3.
One more "milestone" for James was a few nights ago. I put him to bed as usual, tucked him in and came downstairs. When I went to check on him about an hour later, he mysteriously had socks on that he didn't have on when I left the room! Ok... so James is 3. He's tall enough to reach to the TOP drawer of his chest (5 feet high?), pull the drawer open, reach over the top of the drawer and get a pair of socks. He's not even 3 and a half!!!!
When I saw those socks, I grinned and chuckled pretty hard under my breath. I got a bit closer to inspect... one was inside out, and the other had the heel of the sock on the top of his foot. But, he did it himself. I love him so much.
We call Kaitlyn "Miss Independent" and she's really sticking to that lately. She has graduated to sitting at the table with us on a booster seat. Goodbye highchair! She's really enjoying it too, I can see the little glimmer in her eye when we're all sitting around the table. Maybe it's the reflection of me beaming that I see in her eye, but it's there. :) She also is getting VERY good at using her spoon, and gently tipping her bowl to get the remains of whatever is in there... usually yogurt or cereal. Thinking that I need to bite the bullet eventually and risk her spilling, I gave her a cup of water the other night to see how she did with it. She did wonderfully! I just had to remind her that she couldn't shake the cup like she does with sippy cups.
This morning (oh by the way, I'm still waiting for James to wake up, and it's 9:07) when we were having breakfast, she ate all of her cereal and milk with bananas all by herself. She wanted more, so I shared my Cheerios with her. She polished those off and I smiled and clapped for her and said, "Kaitlyn! Good girl!" and she says, "Thank you!" My little drama queen.
After breakfast was over, we headed to the family room. I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to watch a show, and she said, "BARNEY!" clear as a bell. She doesn't ever really get to pick what they watch, since James is usually around and it's whatever is on Disney or Noggin that plays. But this morning, Kaitlyn is watching Barney!

Drum roll... and the verdict is... ear infections!

James has ear infections. I asked him yesterday if his throat hurt, knowing that strep is going around, and he said yes. Ok, awesome, I thought, we'll go and get him swabbed and find out. I also asked him if his ears hurt and he said simply, "No!".
Today when we were in the doctor's office seeing Dr. Middleton, and he clearly has ear infections. I asked him, "James, do your ears hurt honey?" and again he replied, "No."
Now how weird is that? Dr. Middleton told us that he's probably throwing up because of the drippage going down to his tummy. Ick.
My mom told me that my brother used to do that when he was little too. He'd have ear infections, never complain, just throw up. So... keep that in your notes. Man oh man... I wish my ear infections never hurt!
James has picked Chick-fil-A for dinner. YUM. Good choice, James.

Kaitlyn was diagnosed with an ear infection on Friday, and I have a sinus infection! Sheesh! Antibiotics all around!

Thanks for the blankets Grandma...

... but we'd rather play with the wrapping! HATS!

Photos from Thanksgiving

For all of the photos, click here otherwise, here are some highlights. I didn't take many photos this trip! Sigh.

Clenliness is amazing.

James threw up last night at about 9 PM, so naturally, he though he should throw up tonight at approximately the same time. As Nathan and I were about to sit down to watch House, we heard a whisper coming from the top of the stairs... "I have to throw up!"
So Nathan ran upstairs to help James, a little curious to see if he was really serious or just playing. Nathan got the potty seat off of the toilet and put the seat up and said, "You know, I really don't think you have to throw up."
James put his hands on the potty, looked down and said, "Wow, this is a really clean potty!"
Back to bed he went.

James did end up throwing up at around 1 AM and may have earned a trip to the doctor's office today. We will see....

Eh-heh I got the flu.

Kaitlyn has digressed in her "yes" into a less formal "eh-heh" for yes. This all started in Iowa, and from out of no where. It is funny, although I much prefer the "yes".
So I got the flu. Tuesday morning at 5:55 I woke up and started the worst 16 hours of my life (for this year anyway). I thought I was going to avoid getting it, but alas, I wasn't so lucky.
Thankfully, Ashley was here to watch the kids all day, and I'm praying to God that she doesn't get sick. Nathan came home at 5 to a crying wife that wanted to go to the hospital. I've never been so uncomfortable, not being able to be still, head pounding, legs aching, puking, and not being able to drink water. I literally was close to calling an ambulance, that's how horrible I felt. I finally was able to nap for an hour or so, only the Lord knows how I ended up falling asleep. After that nap I decided to try some ice chips and water, then a few swigs of soup broth and felt much better. After a bath I felt even more normal, and today I feel good, but not awesome.
One thing I always think is so funny about little ones: they get garlic breath too. Nathan fed the kids pasta and red sauce last night for dinner, and apparently had a bunch of garlic in it because I smell it on Kaitlyn's breath this morning. Not so much on James' breath since he puked it all up last night all over the bathroom. Poor Nathan, bet that was a fun mess to clean up!
I promise more upbeat and fun blogs from the rest of this week! :)

Declared: Jammie and movie day

Since Nathan was still not 100% healthy last night, I slept in the guest room upstairs. Good thing too, since I woke up at 8 a.m. to James saying "I'm going to frow up!" and running to the bathroom. Yep, he threw up. Luckily he didn't have much in his stomach so it was fine. He stood up, flushed the potty and said, "Bye bye frow up!" with a wave and a cheery voice. He says that when he says bye bye to pee pee and poop too. :)
He threw up one more time and had some bad pooping episodes, but it could have been a lot worse. He's still sick though, running a temp., coughing, etc. No school for James tomorrow.
Kaitlyn and I are still sidestepping the flu, but she has slept a ton today. She slept until I woke her up at 11! Then, she had some banana, goldfish and Gatorade and went back to bed at noon. Both kids and MOMMY had wonderful naps. It was definitely a jammies and movie day.
We set a record today too... both kids bathed, in bed and asleep by 7! I hope they don't wake up at 5 a.m.!
I'm still waiting for my bout with the flu... I've had a few nauseous moments today, but luckily, I think I'm in the clear... so far.

What a long strange trip it was....

Wow did we have a trip to Iowa.
We arrived in Iowa, as noted in the last blog, with ease and excitement, which continued throughout the first few days. Kaitlyn already had a cold when we left Florida, and then gave it to me and James.
On Thursday, we headed up to Charles City for Thanksgiving with the DeBolt family and we were welcomed into Grandma and Grandpa DeBolt's condo. We had to take two vans since our family has multiplied to 10. The guys (Gary, Nathan, Chris) took the older boys (James and Harrison) in one van and the women (me, Marilyn and Beth) took the babies (Kaitlyn and Bennett) in the other van. James and Harrison got to watch Madagascar on the way up, what lucky kids. :)
We had a nice drive up, and it actually went pretty quickly. Beth and I had a nice, yes nice, conversation about politics, Obama, McCain, Rush Limbaugh, etc. which made the trip go a bit faster. There is nothing like good conversation to get the time going.
It was great to see all of the family: Grandma and Grandpa, Karen and Andy, Pat and Rich and Ben. At the start of dinner we remembered Bobby with nice words and stories. Grandma and Karen worked very hard for us to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we did. Stuffed... totally overstuffed. :)
Friday was a nice relaxing day for Marilyn, me and the kids. Nathan and Gary drove down to Des Moines to help Chris and Beth rip up their kitchen floor and put down new plywood. The finished project will be wonderful. They had carpet in their kitchen, which is really weird, and Beth is super excited that it's gone.
Friday night, Nathan and I and Beth and Chris left our kids with Grandma and Grandpa for the night so we could go out to eat and have a little fun. We had a very nice dinner accompanied by Ted and Heidi at Star Bar. Very very good. I was sick by this point of our trip with a cold, so being the natural party pooper that I am, insisted we go home by 11. We still didn't get to bed until 1 or so, as we indulged ourselves in Friend's trivia questions and Totinos pizza.
This was the night that we also found out that Emily Wilcke had gone to the hospital for intense stomach pains. It was found that she had a gall stone that was passing, which causes incredible pain. She was in the hospital for three days, and still, I'm not sure if she's home or not. This woman has gone through so much in her life!
On Saturday, Beth and Chris had us and the rest of the family (Randy, Marcy, Marc, Fuzzy and Jean) over for chili and appetizers. We had such a great time in their cozy home, and loved every minute of playing Trivial Pursuit twice. As we were ready to head back to Ames for the night, Nathan came down with the stomach flu. Rockin' times. He thought he was done with it, so he attempted to drive back to Ames, but around 25 minutes into the drive, he finally listened to reason (aka Meredith) and let me finish the drive. The sickness continued through the night so James had Mommy as a sleep mate. Poor Nathan, he really had the brunt of it.
On Sunday, Marilyn and Gary put on a wonderful lunch for us with ham, salads, potatoes, etc. all of the good things we like. Beth and Chris and boys came up too, but Nathan spent much of the day in bed. Mind you... our flight was scheduled to leave at 8 p.m. on Sunday and my husband is lying in bed sick as a dog.
By 4 p.m., which was time to pack up and start the moving out process, Marilyn got sick. Now I was convinced that the kids or I would start puking momentarily. I told Nathan, "If the kids or I start puking before the flight, we are NOT going." Against my desire, we headed for Des Moines. Weather: cold. Roads: slippery. Highway 30 onramp: closed. Since we couldn't enter the onramp due to cars in the ditch or an accident blocking Eastbound traffic, we turned around and headed south on Highway 69... slowly. It's a good thing that we left early, as we needed all of that extra time to go 40 mph all the way to Ankeny when we finally got back to I-35. From then on out we were fine, I relaxed a bit, and no one else was throwing up. Good.
We got our three bags, two car seats, two kids and one stroller out of the rental car and Nathan took the car to be returned. The kids and I patiently waited for him by the check in counter and when he arrived, we moved all of our stuff to check in. As things were being finalized and our boarding passes printed, James tells Nathan that he's going to throw up. RUN!!!!!!!!!!! Nathan took James to the bathroom walking quickly and trying not to run, but came back pretty soon after and said that nothing had happened, that James was fine. Whew.
We got through security without a hitch (which to me was a surprise because the rest of the trip had been hellish), ate dinner at the restaurant, and boarded our flight without problems. Nathan and Kaitlyn slept in the row behind James and me, eventually. James and I watched Barney, and then I tried to get him comfortable to fall asleep on my lap, but he twitched and stirred until he couldn't handle it anymore. He finally passed out, and we immediately started our decent into Sanford. Perfect timing James! ;)
I could barely wake him up enough for him to walk out of the plane after we pulled up to the gate. He had to walk, we had so much stuff to carry, but he refused. Nathan carried him and Kaitlyn's car seat and I rolled Kaitlyn in the stroller to the baggage claim. We eventually made it home at 1 a.m. and headed to bed at 2 a.m.
It was very nice to see everyone, and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I'm very thankful to be HOME.

Grandma Lois Casey

I got this email from my mom today, on the anniversary of my Grandmother's death. I think it is important to include in the blog, especially to keep the memory of this wonderful woman alive in our hearts.

Hi dears,

Today is the anniversary of my mom's death. Can you believe it's been a whole year? I keep thinking of this day last year, how my brothers, my sisters-in-law and I were all around her bed, talking to her, even tho we were not sure she could hear us, and how good the nurses were about coming in and turning her, changing her sheets, treating her with such care and dignity. It was during one of these times that we all stepped out of the room,the guys went to check a football score in the lunch room and Sharon and I were visiting right outside Mom's door. The nurse from hospice was standing in the doorway, and gently told us that mom had not taken another breath for about 30 seconds. So we all came back to her bedside and she never did take another breath. And so her life ended here on earth, but the love she left behind still is with us and within us. She was a dear.

And you all are dear to me. Love, MOM

Grandma Lois Casey, Kathy and James

Grandma, Kathy and Kaitlyn

Four generations.

Whew! Made it!

We made it to Iowa, safe and sound. The whole trip went really well... actually... I really can't complain. Nathan and James were in the row in front of us (two seats), so they had their own little party up there in row 14. Kaitlyn and I had our own fun in row 15. :)
For a while I didn't think Kaitlyn was going to nap on the plane, but finally, sleepiness overwhelmed her and she passed out. It was about 3 o'clock. She and I BOTH slept on the plane for about an hour and a half to wake up to 30 minutes left in the flight. Perfect. I do remember slightly waking up to flight attendants walking by with carts and trash bags and throwing them dagger eyes... DON'T WAKE MY BABY! Ha ha ha.
We arrived at the Des Moines airport and were welcomed by Grandpa and Grandma Wilcke. Harrison was supposed to come, and thankfully we didn't tell James this bit of info., because apparently he bailed at the last minute and didn't want to come after all. James was very excited to get to Harrisons house, so we loaded up our rental Dodge Avenger and set out on the 3 minute trip to the Neipert house.
When we pulled into the driveway and parked the car, James couldn't take it anymore... he giggled and said, "I'm so exctied to see Aunt Beth!" Ha ha.
We had a great dinner and family time at their house and now we're in Ames for the night. Tomorrow we'll set off for Charles City, Marilyn's hometown, to see the DeBolts. It'll be fun, but it'll be tight. 13 adults and 4 kids in a condo. Snuggle time!
I am very excited about tomorrow, it should be fun. Grandma and Grandpa are having a lot of fun with the kids, especially with Kaitlyn and her extensive vocabulary. Hopefully she'll convince Bennett to get on the talking train.

Off to Iowa tomorrow

We're leaving for Iowa tomorrow on our Thanksgiving vacation. We're so excited!!! Kaitlyn has been showing signs of getting a cold... figures! I just hope maybe it's teeth and it won't be some virus that will spread throughout the family while we're gone. That's the last thing we need.
I was trying to finish watching the latest episode of ER on our DVR while the kids were napping. Of course, both of them woke up with about 10 minutes of the show left. I heard James waking up, as usual, but then heard him talking from the stairwell asking me to come upstairs. Dang, ok... pause.
I got upstairs and James was BEAMING with pride. He said, "I got myself dressed Mom!" OOOOOH, my baby! I was so proud! We haven't even been working on this much, it's just something that he did! He has taken his PullUp or his Overnight off once in a while, and then put pjs back on, but this time, he put on his undies and his jeans! One little hiccup... the jeans were on backwards. I was so proud of him that I was beaming now too, but when he walked arond the corner, I had to turn around and giggle. I couldn't help it.
I will try to blog while we're gone, so bug me on email to get that done. :) I usually have some pretty good stories from these trips. WISH US LUCK!!!

See you soon Iowa family!

Kee Kew... Wehcome! Do it!

Kaitlyn likes to say "thank you" when you give her something, it is so sweet. It sounds like 'kee kew'... and since she doesn't really get it yet, she says "you're welcome" right after it. This sounds more like 'weh come'.
She also is starting a phase of mixing a few word to form a sentence. Such as... "Look! Flower!" or "Juice, please." She even says, "Look! A book!" or one of my favorites... "Do it!"
Kaitlyn is great at identifying vehicles, she always says, "airplane!" when she hears one, or "truck!" when she sees a truck outside.
I can't remember right now if this story has appeared in my blog or not, but one day we (James, Kaitlyn and I) were sitting at a stop light, and Kaitlyn was trying to say something. She would say is twice... and finally I looked over to my left and saw a bus stop sign. The city bus in Orlando is the Lynx, and the stops all have paw prints on them. Kaitlyn was saying, "A CLUE! A CLUE!" from Blues' Clues that they watch. James and I always say it when we spot a bus stop, so why shouldn't she? :)

Don't cry over spilled Mt. Dew

A few days ago, Nathan was on the couch enjoying a Mt. Dew. James came down from his nap and then spilled the Mt. Dew... all over our new ottoman and all over his shirt and pants. Oops.
Now THAT is the reason that I had an extra slipcover made and have it on the ottoman (under it are two absorbent crib pads to soak up the extras) just to protect the fabulous look of the upholstered fabric. Genius.
James cried... of course, as all kids do when they spill something. I remember that feeling when I was a kid that when I spilled something I felt just AWFUL. Why is that? Anyway, as we consoled James and told him that it was okay and we all spill sometimes, Daddy told him to take off his clothes. I think he thought that they were going to be gone forever since he replied with the sappiest tone in his voice (and a desperate frown on his face), "But I LIKE these clothes, and you buyed them for me...." So we had to nicely tell him that we'd wash those clothes and that he could just wear dry ones. Nevertheless, they weren't all that wet so we just cuddled up on the couch and watched a little TV.
Nathan let James redeem himself by going to get Daddy a new Mt. Dew from the fridge in the garage. Little stinker actually got it right! He's so smart.
Better go get showered. We are off to a play group at Monkey Joe's this morning with James' classmates. It should be fun, and since it's pretty chippy outside, it's good to play inside. I've never been to Monkey Joe's so hopefully it'll be great fun. Kaitlyn is going to stay with Mom, I think she's too young... and I really don't want to have to keep track of both kids in a zoo like that! :)

This week in the Wilcke Household

These photos are from the last few days...

Kaitlyn wearing Mommy's slippers walking around in her jammy shirt and diaper.

James holding up the card that he and Kaitlyn received from Harrison and Bennett.

James showing off his turkey hat that he made at school.

Kaitlyn is 20 months old today!

I woke up this morning to Kaitlyn babbling while waking in her crib. This is the usual way I wake up, but the babbling this morning made me smile. "Looooove you! Looooooooove you!" was coming through the monitor! AKA, Mom get up here now I'm going crazy in here! :)
Yesterday Kaitlyn went over to Grandma Kathy's house while James was at school. I had a chiropractic appointment so Mom offered to keep Kaitlyn company while I went alone. Fine with me! :) When I got back to Mom's house, Kaitlyn was playing on the floor in the family room with Grandma and the guitar that usually is perched up against the wall, but today was on the floor. Kaitlyn stood up, leaned towards Grandma and pursed her lips to give Grandma a big smackeroo! Of course she obliged, and then Grandma turned around to me and said, "She just gave me a kiss!"
Last night after dinner, Nathan and I were sitting on the couch while the kids were playing on the floor. Kaitlyn came up to me, looking like she was ready to rumble (get tickled on the couch), so I picked her up and gave her a good hug. She buried her head in my neck, giggled and said, "I love you!" AWWWW, Nathan and I just laughed... and were filled with delight.
She is changing so fast and every day brings something new for her. She can now go out on her own at the playground and I don't have to watch her every move... well... ok, I do, but she can get up the stairs and go down the slide all by herself... again, and again, and again! "FUN!" She says.
We think James is entering the stage of sometimes napping, sometimes not. Waaaaah. I really really really really like it when both kids nap. :) Hmmm... I guess all good things come to an end, but the question remains... WHEN DO I GET MY NAP? Ha.
James was laying on his bed the other day getting ready for a nap, and he said that he wanted to tell me something. I said, "OK...?" and he replied with some babble that I didn't understand and then declared, "Next! On Playhouse Disney!" LOL.

Fun!

Kaitlyn has taken to announcing that she's having fun or what she is doing is fun by saying, "FUN!" in the middle of her laughs. It's hysterical.
A few days ago we were all in our bedroom trying to get Daddy out of bed from his nap and the kids were taking turns jumping (assisted) off of our bed. James is big enough now to jump off of the mattress, but Kaitlyn steps down onto the foot-board that is only about a foot up from the floor. She was so excited! I'd make her go give Daddy a kiss, then she'd come over to me, sit down, hold my hands and then "jump" down. She'd laugh and then say "FUN!" and then come back around to the bed and climb up again. We could've done this for the rest of the night.
She has also been having a lot of fun pretending to be a snake and flicking her tongue in and out. She did this at the playground yesterday, and it was just so funny. I have NO idea!
Oh yeah, no more pooping in the potty as of yet. DARN!

Hard to keep a straight face....

I went to the Y on Thursday without the kids since Ashley was here to babysit. She helps us out a few times a week so I can have a sanity check and get a few things done... work, grocery shopping, workouts, etc.
When I came home and walked through the door, James greeted me with a big smile and eagerly asked, "Mommy, have you seen my BALLS? I have a small ball and a big ball! Come see my balls!"
While trying not to burst out laughing, I looked at Ashley all the way across the kitchen and family room to see her giggling and smiling... we were really trying not laugh hysterically.
Turns out that he had two balls under a pail on the couch... a small ball and a big ball.
Now really, if it were you, could you have kept a straight face?!? :)