Fondulac Farm Park

We took the kids to a petting zoo on Saturday and Megan had so much fun. She was a little nervous about getting too close to the animals, but she loved to help Peter feed them. She was fascinated by the chickens, especially scared of the horses, and loved the ducks and geese. I think that's because she didn't have to get close to feed them; she could just throw the food in the water.

Feeding the goats

The horse is getting a little too close for comfort...

Peter and the kids by the barn

Feeding the ducks and geese

Megan wanted to get in the water and swim with the ducks

One for me, one for you...

Little Chunky

Our little bookworm

First Solids

We gave Colin his first taste of solid food on Sunday - rice cereal. As you can tell from the pictures, he didn't like it very much and was inclined to eat the bib rather than the cereal. I mixed it with water since we only had a little time so next time I am going to mix the cereal with milk and I think he will like it better.

The funniest part was that Megan insisted on having a bowl of rice cereal, wearing a bib, and using an infant spoon just like Colin. It's the only way she has tried to imitate what Colin is doing besides wanting her own blanket to lie on during his tummy time.

Cute pics of Megan

Megan organizing her Care Bears

Megan likes to put on Mommy's sunglasses!

The many faces of Colin

These pictures of Colin made me laugh so I thought I would share his cuteness!

For Sara Randall

This post is for Sara, Colin's cousin.

Sara - Colin wants to show you his favorite thing to suck on! Next time you see each other, you and Colin can share tips on the best way to suck on the corners of your silky blankets!

P.S. This is Colin's other favorite thing to suck on.

New Cast

Megan went back to the doctor's yesterday to take new x-rays of her arm. They removed her cast so they could get a clearer pictures. It turns out that she broke both bones in her forearm (Peter said some breaks don't show up for 10-14 days until they start to heal) and the doctor and Peter both agreed she needed a few more weeks with a cast to heal completely and avoid re-injury. This time Megan chose pink and she will get it off in 3 weeks.

The whole process of removing her old cast, taking x-rays and then re-casting was a little traumatic. Poor Megan!! By the time they finished putting on her new cast, she was so tired and spent from crying so hard for almost an hour. As soon as we walked in the door of our house, Megan and Colin both had complete meltdowns. Sleep will do wonders, though, and we are all looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Peter's Birthday

Peter celebrated his 29th birthday last Saturday. He got breakfast in bed, went bonsai tree shopping, grilled steaks with Chris and Dusty, opened presents, ate cake and ice cream, and ended with a movie date with me...and Colin. I'd say he had a pretty fun (and pretty busy!) day.

Notice the smoke...

Updates

Colin

He had his 4-month appointment this week. He weighed in at 15 lbs. 2 oz. and is 26 1/2 inches long. That means he's gained almost 3 lbs. and 3 1/2 inches in the past two months! In fact, he grew so much that the nurse measured him several times because she couldn't believe it. He's jumped up to the 95th percentile in height.

He still loves to laugh and giggle and is starting to reach for toys and books when they're held out to him. He rolled over from tummy to back a few weeks ago and now we are working on going the other way.

Megan

She still has her cast on but life continues to be lots of smiles and laughs for her. We went in a week ago for another x-ray to make sure it was healing correctly. We have an appointment in a week and they'll take the cast off, x-ray her arm, and decide if she needs another cast put on or if her arm has healed completely.

This week she had her first ice cream cone and of course, loved it! It's kind of sad that she is 2 years old and has never had one, but if we have dessert it is almost always after she's in bed and we never buy ice cream cones for ourselves. We let her go at it and she had Cookies n' Cream all down her dress but hey, that's what being a kid is all about.

After lots of discussion and lots of prayers, we have decided to start Megan in speech therapy. I had been praying about it intensely one night and the next day, my visiting teachers came and one of them asked "Does Megan talk much?" and then proceeded to explain that her son (who is Megan's same age and is very similar developmentally) is been in therapy for six weeks and can already say a whole list of words. I felt like it was an answer to a prayer. We have tried everything we can think of to help her and yet she says fewer words now than she did a year ago. Someone will be coming to the house next week to evaluate her and we are excited that she'll finally be able to express herself and not get so frustrated sometimes.

Marilee

Sorry, no pictures. Not that I am embarrassed to post pictures of myself - there simply aren't any recent ones! I think I now understand why there are only a few of my childhood pictures where my mom is actually in the picture with me. :)

I am happy to report that I am faithfully following my new running program. It is not always easy to get out the door since by the time the kids are in bed, I am usually so tired. But I am determined to do this and it helps that Peter is so encouraging. I can already see changes it has made in my life. I feel better physically and seem to have more energy. I am sleeping better. I am making healthier eating choices - I no longer eat a huge dish of ice cream every night! I feel like I am calmer and more patient throughout the day because I have an outlet. I am thinking of switching to morning runs but that means getting up early, early so I can be back before Peter leaves for work. So, we'll see.

I have been spending my "free time" trying to catch up on scrapbooks and editing my sister's wedding video. Our new printer (our old one went crazy on us after a plant fell on top of it) prints directly onto DVD's and I am so excited to get our edited home videos some proper labels and cases. I have a list of projects a mile long whenever I want to take a break from cleaning, paying bills, etc. - all those fun things I get to do while the kids take their afternoon naps.

Peter

We gave Peter his big Father's Day/Birthday present early so that he could actually enjoy it on his big days. He has talked about wanting a grill since I first met him and so the kids and I presented him with a coupon to go pick out a grill of his choice. He is having so much fun with it - in the first week and a half, we have already grilled 4 times. I am having fun with it too - if we grill, it means I don't have to cook!! I should have thought of this four years ago and bought him one then.

Peter is battling a head cold right now and we are hoping he will recover in time to celebrate his 29th birthday this Saturday. Somehow he always seems to get sick on holidays! Hopefully he will recover in time to enjoy the Barbecue (yay for grilling!), cake and presents, and our date!

Family Stuff

We enjoyed a quick visit this week from my sister Melissa and her husband Kevin as they drove from Provo back to Ohio. Melissa and I went shopping for baby things (she's due in 4 weeks) while Kevin and Peter went to Best Buy and bought Kevin a new Ipod. Megan and Colin loved having them here (Kevin and Colin were inseparable) and it is strange to think that the next time we see them will be when they bless their baby!

Happy Father's Day!

We want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there! Both Peter and I appreciate our fathers and grandfathers and their examples of faithfulness and kindness.


And Megan, Colin and I want to tell Peter how much we love him and how grateful we are for everything he does for us! He truly is an amazing father and Colin couldn't have anyone better for an example of a man of God .

Happy Father's Day, Peter!

We love you so much!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday! We hope you have a great birthday! We love you, Dad!

Has this ever happened to you?

I had my yearly appointment at the optometrist a few days ago and though I was able to leave Megan home napping while my brother-in-law babysat, I took Colin with me. At the end of the appointment, the doctor put drops in my eyes to make my pupils dilate so he could check for certain eye conditions. The drops took 20 minutes or so to take effect so he left the room. I decided to use the time to nurse Colin so that I could put him down for a nap as soon as we got home.

I was burping him on my lap when I looked down and realized that he was having what my sister likes to call a "poop-splosion." He had a t-shirt and shorts on and I can only describe what I saw coming out as lava from a volcano. I tried to catch as much of it as I could on a blanket, but I was too late and too slow. Poo was everywhere!! On Colin. On me. Everywhere.

And into this scene walked the doctor. Luckily he has kids so he didn't seem upset. I told him I would need a few minutes and he said it wasn't a problem. Then I could tell the smell had wafted in his direction because he got a funny look on his face and said "I'm, uh, going to go check on something."

I managed to get Colin changed and cleaned up and in a new outfit that happened to be in his diaper bag. My only foresight was in neglecting to pack an extra outfit for me. The lava poo had run all over my shorts so thickly that the bottom half of one leg was completely saturated and the other was pretty darn close. I tried to wipe with some water, but the stain, and the smell, obstinately remained.

The doctor finished the exam quickly and I was hoping to rush out of there as quickly as possible to avoid offending anyone else's sense of smell, but I had to wait another 20 minutes before I could order my contacts. I apologized to each unfortunate person who happened to sit next to my poo stained shorts and the poo filled diaper bag , but they were all mothers so I received a lot of "Oh honey, don't worry about it. I remember one time when..." stories.

I was proud of myself for not being too embarrassed but instead laughing it off. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture to prove to my brother-in-law who will become a father next month that "poop-splosions" really do exist!

Broken arm

On Friday morning, Megan and I were headed out back to play. I picked Colin up off the couch and there was poo all over him and the couch. Nice. So, I told Megan to wait a minute so I could change his diaper. The deck door was open (almost always is these days to help cool things down) but she doesn't usually like to go down the two steps to our patio by herself. She always wants to hold someone's hand.

I had barely removed Colin's poopy diaper when I hear screaming from outside. I ran out and found Megan on the ground on the side of the steps. She was holding out her hands and I thought she was hurt because they were scraped up a little. The rest of the day, however, she was inconsolable and all she wanted to do was snuggle on my lap. I thought this was weird because she usually recovers very quickly from injuries.

But it was Peter who noticed that something was definitely wrong. He was playing with her later that afternoon after her nap and noticed that she wouldn't use her left hand for anything but just let it hang there.

The next morning I took the kids to see Peter at the clinic (good thing Peter is a PA for hand surgeons) and they took x-rays and sure enough, her arm was broken. It is a greenstick break (just sortof bent, not broken all the way through) and so she only has to wear her cast for three weeks.


After we came home from the clinic, we watched Cars and I gave her a new Little Mermaid pens and notebook . That night, we went out for McDonalds and had a little picnic on our living room floor.


Though at first she had a tough time sleeping with the cast on because she couldn't get comfortable, Megan is her usual resilient self and is still laughing and playing. In fact, she did better in nursery today than she has in several weeks!!

Play time

We bought a slide last week for Megan to play with in our backyard and she loves it!


Other fun things Megan likes to do:

Writing with a pen in her notebook (it looks like we have a Leftie)

Playing with her My Little Ponies

Sidewalk chalking with Daddy

And here are some of Colin's favorite pastimes:

This picture is 2 months old, but the list would not be complete without
mentioning his activity gym.

Tummy Time

In the swing

Playing with his new aquarium (it's helping him to fall asleep on his back)

Batting at toys in his bouncer

Peter and Colin

No one can make Colin laugh like Daddy can.

Running

I have decided to start running regularly again and today is Day One. It has been awhile. I ran in high school and even though I was never very good, I enjoyed it. I continued to run somewhat regularly during my first few years of college but it was actually on my mission that I began running six days a week again. This continued after I returned home until I injured my ankle when I stepped in a pothole during a night run. Over the past four and a half years, life has offered me enough excuses that I have never found enough energy and motivation to resume my running: marriage, graduation, pregnancy, new baby, pregnancy again, moving, etc. It is always easy to find an excuse not to exercise.

Since I had Colin at the end of February, I have wanted to begin running again, but during the past few weeks I feel driven to finally just do it. And not just to lose the lingering 10 pounds of baby weight. I feel like I need it on several levels: physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. A time when it is just me and my thoughts. A time to strengthen and renew.


I found a Couch to 5k program online and I think it will help me start running again without killing me the first week.

So, I am starting tonight and once I have posted this, there can be no more excuses!


Couch to 5k program: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml