Duckies, Puppies and Babies!

Currently, Reina is crying after being placed in her crib for nap time. We just moved her "big girl bed" into her room this weekend in order for her to get used to the idea before she had to give her crib up for Speck. She seems excited by the bed and happy to play in it, even says "big girl bed". However, today was the first attempt at an actual nap in said bed and after about 15 minutes of crying and then silence I thought, "Wow, that was almost too easy!" Then, very quietly, I heard a small knocking noise coming from her bedroom door. Apparently the side rails are not meant to keep an awake child in the bed. So, back in the crib and now she's tired and mad. But calming down as I type, have no fear, I'm not that mean a mommy.

Anyway, I digress from my intended subject. Over the past few days we've been lucky to have Bill home for family fun times. Friday, we had a leisurely breakfast at the IHOP where Reina enjoyed her "Rooty Jr." meal and discovered the cake for breakfast means pancake, but liked it. Afterward, we headed up to the local pumpkin patch/fruit farm and got some delicious apple cider, apples, farmer cheese and apple pie after playing with a barnyard full of animals. There were lots of goats, some cows and a pig, also bunnies and chickens, but Reina's favorite were the ducks. After playing in the corn maze and on the jungle gym, we also got a small pumpkin and broke out the hand sanitizer.

On the way home, Bill begged to stop by the animal shelter to "just look" at the puppies. There were several very cute little terriers, only 8 weeks old. But cute doesn't cut it in my book and I stayed strong. We did NOT go home with any more animals, despite Bill's rather graphic, if imaginative, description of what might happen to them if we didn't save them. More hand sanitizer on the ride home.

Saturday consisted of catching up on the honey-do list, which I am pleased to say got nearly obliterated. The man-cave post-overnight shift sleeping area in our basement has now become our official guest room in preparation for Speck, and as previously mentioned, Reina got a new bed. Saturday night we had fun with our practice baby Jonah who came over to play while his parents, Jordan and Andrea, had a hunting date. Yes, hunting, deer season is open and Dre bagged her first one. Although it isn't necessarily our particular hobby of choice, we definitely have enjoyed the bounty and the venison! Jonah was the perfect baby, Reina loved showing him how the toys worked and wanted to help give "Baby Nona" his bottle. I have high hopes for a good big sister.

Sunday and Monday have been pretty much full of football (the other plus of having Bill home) and now here we are at Tuesday. My brother Matt and Jen's wedding is less than 2 weeks away so we'll be working on getting ready for that 8 hour drive and our table manners. The high chair has been put away and Reina is exclusively in her booster seat. She says "please" and "thank you" unprompted (about 50% of the time) and usually follows her thank yous with a "welcome". She says "all done" and "excuse me", also "bless you" when someone coughs or sneezes. She's turning into a good girl with an ever expanding vocabulary. She has her moments, but most of the time she's hard to resist.

wardrobe malfunction at the corn maze

on the move again


hungry ducks

hungry chickens

hungry puppies

showing Jonah how the lion's mane spins, whoa!

trying to get Jonah to roll over

New Look

You may have noticed I'm trying on a new background for size. Perhaps I'm trying to distract my readers from my lack of content with fancy flowers. Anyway, things may change again and I'll try to add more meat and less fluff soon!

Windy City

Well, as most who don't live under a rock (or haven't lost power) have heard, we've had some sub-optimal weather lately. Not that we can compare to the hurricane ravaged gulf coast, but it is out of the ordinary to have hurricane force winds in the Midwest! I heard they were as fast as 50 or even 60 mph! We have been most fortunate, we are among the very few in our city to have electricity, they estimate around 800,000 homes are without power and will remain so until the weekend! Ugh! At least it isn't 90 or -10 degrees outside. Our house is missing a few shingles, but not 1/4 of the roof like our next door neighbor. We had both recently filled up our cars with gas and I was even able to buy milk at Kroger's today. I actually overheard people talking about how far they had driven to get to our specific store. Wow. Makes you wonder what would happen if we had a real disaster in town. Kind of worrisome.

Happy Birthday to Bill's cousin/God-daughter Lily. Reina and I got to help celebrate with Lily, Jack and Ant and Lisa at the local Japanese hibachi grill. Reina liked the chicken, but was not a fan of the big fire at the start of the show!

We've got power and we've got milk, but the wind seems to have blown the clothes off of Reina. Whoops. Can't have everything.

Payback, or A Sign of Things to Come?

We have had a very fun but busy Labor Day weekend...it started on Thursday. We joined some friends at a very local dive called "the Cabana" and, being about as far from the beach in this country as one can get, you can imagine the authenticity. Actually, despite the plastic cups and ketchup packets, or maybe because of them, the place was great! Very laid back, good music, decent food and a nice breeze. We had a blast and didn't get home until waaaayyy past Reina's bedtime. No problems, she seemed fine on Friday...

Saturday came and we were back with the same gang to celebrate the opening day of college football, woo hoo. We were also gathered to celebrate friends John and Natalie's engagement and to lament Jamie and Brian's departure. OSU won and Michigan lost. I think Bama won too for that matter. A good day. However, there is such a thing as too much fun and the lack of nap and additional late bedtime for the Queen were going to catch up with us eventually.

Sunday was our 6 year wedding anniversary, and as we neglected to plan far enough ahead for a holiday weekend, we had no babysitter in order to go out to eat. So, we drove up to my parents house for a "visit" while we ditched the kid and got a nice steak dinner! Mom and Dad, or should I say Nana and "P-Ga" as Reina has been calling them lately, were glad to watch our girl. Dad is less than pleased with the P-Ga, however. He had been planning on being Grandpa and for whatever reason, Reina has decided to switch her consonants around and thus the new title. It is out of my hands if it sticks. Some gratitude for watching her at the drop of a hat! Oh, and once again, we were home far later than bedtime. Noticing a pattern? Can you predict how this will go for us?

At this point I can't even remember what we did Monday, Tuesday we saw a women's college soccer game where Bill's cousin Jenna was a starter. We didn't stay due to a lightening delay, but yet again, we were too late for the standard 8pm night night.

I think that was the end of the fun and the start of the troubles. What day is today? Friday? Yeah, there have been lots of trips to the corner, 2 time-outs and several extended naps since then. Poor kid is having a rough time readjusting to our normal routine. I hope. I hope this isn't just her entering into the foray of difficult toddlers and that this "phase" doesn't last until she's four. We've had plenty of battles of wills and there has been a lot more climbing and a lot more throwing of toys (her, not me). I guess only time will tell now that we're back to business as usual.

Still, just when I am the most frustrated at her, she does something sweet like hug the dog or blow me a kiss and then she knows she's won. Clever girl.

Looking guilty digging through my bag at the Cabana

Can one get more Who Dey than this?!

Any port in a storm/Any car seat when you're exhausted

Hunting for "buttabyes" in Nana's garden

indiscriminate pruning

testing boundaries

The admiration is clearly not mutual. Poor Jedi. Reina sure loves her dogs and they sure love her...food.