This week...

B and I are going to the zoo tomorrow morning with Kim and Addison. Wednesday we are meeting Grandma J at Mall of America, and Mike and A have swimming lessons after dinner. Thursday is a school meeting, family picture at JCP, and Friday is the big day.

Please pray for Bennett on Friday. His surgery is at 10:15. Grandma J is coming to stay with A (she doesn't have school on Friday because of conferences, but we already had her conference last week). We should be home sometime in the afternoon. I didn't end up making these into t-shirts to support B in his endeavour, but I thought I'd share my graphic design anyway. Here it is:

Sweet Child O' Mine

6 months old

I'm so proud of Annalise. She is so well-behaved; it has become easy and fun to take her places. Tonight Mike went upstairs with A and B, and I came up shortly thereafter. Mike was in B's room reading books with him, and A had spread her pajamas and nighttime diaper on her bedroom floor, and was putting her clothes in the hamper in the bathroom when I encountered her. I love how she does things on her own without being asked, and without being nagged. I have to remember to blog about things like this, so I can go back and read these posts on hard days.
We had a pretty low-key weekend, with the exception of Friday night. We went OUT! My friend Kim stayed with the kids, and Mike and I went out with Becky and Christopher for appetizers, drinks, a movie, with wine and dessert afterwards. We saw Gone Baby Gone, and we all liked it. We stayed out LATE, and had a great time! Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Party, and then G&G J. came over to help insulate the basement (and distract the children). Sunday was quite uneventful; we stayed in for most of the day, and Mike and the kids carved 4 jack 0' lanterns, and I roasted the pumpkin seeds.

Father/Daughter, Mother/Son taken with outstretched arm

Fun Weekend

We had a nice MEA/NAMTA Friday with G&G. Mike came home at lunchtime, and drove us downtown to Grandpa's office. We had lunch there, and then walked to the Central Library. We read books and played for a few hours, and when Grandpa met us there, we then got on the light rail, and took the train to Cap's for barbeque. Bennett had such a good time on the train, he cried when we got off, and when we started to head to our truck in the parking lot (Mike met us at Cap's after work), B was devastated that we weren't getting back on the light rail.

We took A and B to the Gophers game on Saturday, and besides Annalise not liking the loud fireworks and crowd noise and the Gophs losing to NDSU, we had a nice time. It's sure hard to eat Core at the Metrodome though (I had a hotdog and diet Coke). Sunday we went to Mike, Sarah, and Tommy's to watch the Vikings game. The kids played very nicely together/next to each other. It's so nice to socialize with fellow parents, who also have learned the art of conversation- picking up where a story left off between diaper changes, redirections, fetching of sippy cups, etc.

I am now sick as a dog, and am doing my part to avoid nationwide antibiotic resistance by not getting an Rx for my bronchitis (yet). If I get worse after a few days, and start to be feverish, then I'll go in. I've been working here and there on the kids' costumes, and have to be done with B's by his class on Friday, and A's on Saturday morning for the Edina Family Center Pumpkin Party. Woo!

Neat Toys

I received a catalog from Annalise's school this week, and it has some nice child-sized real life things, like pitchers, potato mashers, bowls, rakes, etc. The website is: www.forsmallhands.com.
If there is anything you would like to buy, let me know by Monday. If Annalise's school places a large enough order, they earn free materials for their school.

Boys are weird

Or maybe it's just mine? B loves to throw things down the stairs. Anything at all. Can't stop him either. He also loves exploring in our bedroom. He likes to open up a box on Mike's side table, and finds some spare buttons in a little plastic bag, and carries them all around the upstairs. Along with his catapulting obsession, B loves to play with my perfume bottles. They are on a mirrored tray on my bedside table, and he especially loves taking the cap off and on of the Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely bottle. We love our little Beezer!

Here are the kids

Since it's been so long, I thought I'd post a few recent pics, since they've changed so much in appearance since late August (only sort of kidding).

Jumping back in

Okay, here I go. I'm just going to start typing. I don't really know what happened, but the longer it's been since I've posted, the harder it seems to sit down and note what's happening in our lives. First of all, the way I've lost 11 pounds pretty closely resembles Weight Watchers Core program. It goes like this: eat all the fruits and vegetables you want (no dried fruit or fruit juice), broth-type soup, fat free cheese/plain sugar free yogurt/skim milk, eggs, lean cuts of meat, and brown rice/potatoes/whole wheat pasta one meal per day. No bread, no sugar, no alcohol. No full-strength Mountain Dew!! Take a multivitamin daily and drink 8 glasses of water. It's going really well because Mike and I are both following the guidelines, so we eat the same foods for meals, and enjoy luscious 94% fat free microwave popcorn for snacks. Now I need to add an exercise component to the plan.

I posted a very long time ago about my concern regarding B's privates....well, we took him to a pediatric urologist on the 2nd, and he will be undergoing bilateral orchiopexy at Childrens' West on Nov. 2nd. The procedure seems very straight forward, and Mike and I both really liked the surgeon; my only point of apprehension is that B will be under general anesthesia. It sounds as if his recovery will be pretty quick- he should be up and running (or as close to running as Bennett comes) a week after surgery, and hopefully will just need a staggered dosing of motrin and tylenol to cover his incision pain. He's supposed to wear two diapers to protect the incision sites from falls, car seat straps, etc. and I got some Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers for post-op. They are so soft, and cute; I really think B will like wearing them.

Annalise starts 4 sessions of swimming lessons tonight. Mike is going to take her so they have a fun father/daughter activity. I've been busy working on the kids' Halloween costumes- they are coming along well.

I'm going out tomorrow night with the moms from B's ECFE class, and I'm really looking forward to it (I will not be sticking to the Core plan for the evening). Friday, the kids are off from school (B for MEA, and A for NAMTA (N. American Montessori Teachers Assoc.) meetings. My mom and I are going to do something fun with them, and then Mike and I get to run around for a few hours, doing basement-remodeling related errands, while Mom and Dad babysit.

There, that wasn't so bad. I will try to post more regularly. I haven't been taking many pictures lately- the kids just aren't cute anymore, I guess. :)

p.s. The basement is coming along- cabinetry will be ordered probably by Monday, and we are ready to get the drywall going.

Play Pals Reunion

A group of moms, kids from A's 2 year old class, and siblings had lunch at Byerly's today. We're going to try to get together on a monthly basis. We were all pretty busy with kids, but it was so nice to see everyone again! Also, I really enjoyed receiving my first compliments about looking like I've lost some weight (9 lbs so far). Mike and I are doing a pretty good job with the new eating plan, but it sure is encouraging now that my clothes are getting big in the waist, and friends I haven't seen in awhile are noticing.

The electricity weekend was a success! We are all wired, and ready for business- drywalling business, that is. You never know when that's going to happen either- Mike's dad might be able to make an appearance any day now. We've ruminated long enough on the fixtures, and I think we're ready to order them by this weekend. Now I get to start wandering around town with paint cards and carpet swatches, to match to my tile and stain. Yippy!