The Wuttke Clan

The Birthday Girl!

2009-03-27T15:48:00.005-08:00

How did the last two years fly by so quickly??? G is now 2! And what a big girl she is: she's talking in occasional sentences, playing with Q and friends (side by side and together), and is learning to dress herself. She's even showing interest in being potty trained! Here's the birthday girl watching her new Noodlebug DVD (from Nana and Papa), holding her new baby doll and duck (from Gm'a Jeanne and Gp'a Tom), is wearing her "worm" and standing on her "rocking" monkey (from us). She's still learning how to balance on the monkey, and is therefore holding onto E's hand. Thanks for all the great presents!
Cute kid stuff:
- Yesterday G picked out a pink dress to wear. Q's said "Mama, she looks like a princess!"
- G's favorite toy to sleep with is her "bear in pajamas" (Q's name for it): it's a bear head sewn onto the middle of a pink blanket. She calls it her "bee-or."

Kids

2009-03-13T14:17:00.019-08:00

A quick photo update of the kids. I'll post more at some point - I promise!!

September
Sarah and McKayla came to visit.
Wearing Dada's shirt.
Reading to the bear.
Happy girl!

G's new hat.
October
Let's read!
Sitting together.

The first family movie/pizza night. Enchanted anyone?
Yep. He's his dad's boy: he hates getting his hands dirty! Mama had to do most of the work....
November
Tired boy.
Playing together.
A masterpiece of creative preschool art!
December
Decorating cookies! G was much more interested in licking the icing off one cookie than she was in eating the cookies. Q was VERY into decorating and then eating cookies.
January
The Birthday Boy! (It took a couple of tries to get all 4 candles out....)
Playing with Mama's rocking horse.

House pics

2009-01-18T14:14:00.016-09:00

So it's been a while since I've blogged.... Yep, what was that date? Oh, yeah, 5 August. Oops. It's been a tad busy, and we're still not completely unpacked. I took pictures the first day we moved in, but due to a packing oops, managed to pack my camera cord in a box. E has saved the day by finding a cord that works with the camera (thank you for saving me from my nagging, um, helpful parents!), so hopefully I'll be blogging more. However (and this is a big one), I've decided to sit the PE exam this spring, so my time will be limited. For those of you who don't know what the PE exam is, imagine an 8 hour test which takes about 300 hours to study for, and that's the Professional Engineer exam. Oh, wait, you don't have to imagine it, that's what it is. Most people don't pass the first time, but I'm hoping I'll only have to sit through hell, er, the exam once. The pictures that show empty rooms were taken the first day we were there, and the rooms showing stuff/clutter have been taken since we moved in. Ok, enough chat, here's the photos!

Quin's room. Quin likes to tell people that he picked the green room and Gretchen picked the orange room. Very true. We drove by the house one day before closing, and the previous owner was there and gestured us up to look at the house. The kids were able to run around the empty house and pick their rooms; we were quite happy that the kids didn't both want the same room. Quin's room is at the end of the hall. Nana painted the two murals when she was up helping us move in August.
Gretchen's room. Gretchen's room is actually the master bedroom, and therefore has an awesome closet. I'm formulating plans to add two bedrooms over the double garage so that E and I can move up to the master bedroom at some point.... This picture was taken from where the bookcase is, and the window (and crib) are to the left). The two tone colors really show up in Gretchen's room, although Quin's room also has one wall darker than the other walls.
The upstairs bathroom. This is across the hall from Gretchen's room.

The living room. Our view faces west, and it's considered a partial view due to the trees. The first photo was taken from the dining room, and the second photo was taken today and has crepe paper up for Quin's birthday.
The dining room. Yes, that's baby-puke-green on the wall. I'm planning on painting this summer when I can open up every window and the sliding door to air out the fumes. I'm still hoping for a blue, but I think it will be a brown that matches the floor and cabinets. The kitchen is to the left, and this picture was taken from the living room. Oh, and yes, we have added our dining room table.
The kitchen. This picture is taken from the stairs (it's a split level); the living/dining room is to the right, and the kids' bedrooms and the upstairs bath are to the left. It's rather hard to tell in this photo (the baby-puke-green wall overshadows it), but the counters are a terra cotta color. One of the reasons I want to paint the wall blue is to mute the orange in the counters, but the color has grown on me. The counter wraps around to the dining room, and having counters in the dining room is awesome! Oh, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to a single oven... our oven has a small one on the top and a little one on the bottom! Love it!!
The family room. No, you don't get to see it with stuff in it; it's currently a mess (due to the massive amount of toys), so I don't have any current photos. E's desk is in the corner, in front of the window, and I'm on the opposite wall. We have a TV (gasp!) on the wall next to the window, and the rest of the bookshelves are on the wall to the right of the doorway (where I'm standing for the photo). The family room is located downstairs, along with our room, the downstairs bath, the laundry/mechanical room, and the two garages.
The downstairs bathroom. I love the robin's egg blue on the walls and ceiling!!
Our bedroom. Once again, you only get to see the empty photos. :)
As soon as I figure out where I put the CD with pictures from Nana's camera, I'll post those; she took some great shots of our yard (we have a half acre), and apparently I didn't. Keep checking back, and I'll try to post them before another five months passes.

It's ours!!

2008-08-05T20:15:00.002-08:00

Almost - the house deed will be recorded tomorrow! I have the car packed for our first trip over (around 10:30 in the morning), and am looking forward to letting the kids play in the house. We have a bit of a wait there tomorrow, as the local cable/internet/phone provider is sending out a tech to install an extra cable jack (or two or three... we can't remember what the cable jack situation is). I'm hoping to get in at least one more car load before we have to wait for the cable guy, but the timing will be close, and the kids may refuse to wait in the car while I unload the first, load the second, and unload the second. I guess I'd better go pack some more just in case I can squeeze in a second load!

I will try to remember my camera and take pictures and post said pictures within a reasonable amount of time. ("A reasonable amount of time" is at my discretion!)

For those of you who are looking at buying a house with another person: do NOT allow them to give you a power of attorney for closing!! Signing for a house is tedious enough. Signing "First MI Last by First MI Last, attorney in fact (AIF for most documents) AND THEN adding your signature is a royal pain. E is gallivanting off in the wilderness (legitimately for work), but somehow the timing of it all just sucked. For me.

And here's a link for parents and kids: Tinkering School.

July

2008-08-03T16:20:00.014-08:00

Gretchen loves walking around with my Crocs on her hands. I have no idea why, but she's always so proud of herself!
I think Dada may be a tad color blind....
Our friend, Sean, decided to go to the local water park for his birthday (his 38th...). We all had a great time, although both kids were a little scared of the water splashes at the bottom of the toddler slides. Quin and Gretchen both enjoyed splashing in the water, and Quin adored playing on the pirate ship. Gretchen became tired rather quickly, and cuddled close as we went around the lazy river again and again and again and.... She went around with pretty much everyone, and got to the point of exhaustion (and being overwhelmed by the sounds and sights of the indoor water park) that she didn't even bother lifting her head to look around, but instead just laid her head on a shoulder and sucked her fingers.

Gretchen had her choice of bathing suits, and continued to chose this one, regardless of how many I showed her. Quin, on the other hand, immediately picked one out, and stayed with it, giving me looks of "Mama, I already have one, see?"
Quin and E at the bottom of the slide; a random child wanted to get splashed, and jumped in front of my two boys. Humph.
An unfortunate experience. Yes, she was stuck, but she wanted a particular toy so much that she continued to get stuck in her quest to reach that toy.
Gretchen's first puddle stomping experience. No rain boots in this shot, but she has some now. Due to the lack of availability, both kids have the same boots. It should be an interesting autumn for puddle stomping and getting boots mixed up.... Gretchen loves puddle stomping as much as her brother!!Spending time with Dada.

"Gretchen, you ride the ladybug and I'll ride the horse."
Art time!
Eating at the table like a big girl. (Ignore the phone book....)

Camping

2008-08-03T15:48:00.013-08:00

We went with friends to Hatcher's Pass on July 3rd. (I'm now a firm believer in camping with other people - one preschooler and one toddler to six adults was perfect!) It was the first time the kids had gone camping (we had an abortive backyard/trial attempt last summer when we first bought the tent, but we ended up sleeping in the house). Gretchen enjoys walking on uneven surfaces (she loves to walk on people when they're laying down), so the squishy tundra was a HUGE hit with her! Quin was enthralled with the idea that he didn't need to pee on the potty (although we had his little one, just in case).

Paul and Robin found a great campsite, close to the river but off the road, that fit three tents and a screened shelter. Luxury camping at its best!
Due to the last minute nature of our departure, we managed to forget some items, like jackets. Gretchen wore a silk-weight shirt of mine for warmth, and was quite cute!
Sean "allowed" her to try on his hat - stylish!
Dinner was a unique affair, as the kids aren't used to eating while standing up. Gretchen wandered around with her vegetarian hot dog, chirruping at everyone, while Quin mostly stood in one place until he'd finished eating one item, then wandered around between "courses." "Marshmelons" (aka marshmallows) were a huge hit with both kids.

Quin loves sleeping in his sleeping bag, and had no problems going to bed in the tent. Gretchen, on the other hand, had a difficult time sleeping. She cuddled with all six adults throughout the evening, but was happiest on Dada's lap. Around 11pm we decided to try to go to bed; I say try because "she-who-always-falls-asleep-by-7pm-at-the-latest" was still wide awake. By midnight, I gave up and took our darling baby daughter (not the words that were used at the time...) to the car to go to sleep. I love our Prius, but it is NOT a good sleeping place! I made a blanket nest in the back of the car, put Gretchen in the back, climbed into the passenger seat with my sleeping bag, and proceeded to watch her play happily for about 15 minutes before passing out. She just needed to have some quiet alone time before going to bed. She woke up several times during the night, but was easily comforted back to sleep.
Our plan of pancakes for breakfast was a flop. Do you remember me saying we had a hurried departure? Well, we managed to forget several items, like the griddle top for the stove. Oops. Fortunately we had leftover hot dogs.

After breakfast we walked down to the creek. Quin loves playing next to rivers! E stayed with Quin and Paul played with Gretchen while I took some photos of the scenery.
We then packed up our stuff and figured out who was riding with whom. The kids and Eric were exhausted, whereas the rest of us were interested in hiking, so I caught a ride with Paul and Robin. Unfortunately, we didn't find any good hiking trails on that side of the pass, and we didn't want to turn around, so we headed home. I got the best end of the deal: I didn't have to drive, and I didn't have to be in the car with two exhausted kids who took the best naps of their lives that afternoon.
We had a fantastic time, and I hope we can get in at least one more camping trip this summer!

June

2008-08-03T14:14:00.018-08:00

Yep, it's been a while since I've updated the blog. My excuse? I packed the camera cord, and we all know what happens when I post without pictures: Toki and my parents complain. We can't have that happen, now can we? ;) We packed for most of June and July, and we're finally getting ready to close next Tuesday! More about the move on another post.

Gretchen's hair is finally long enough to put into a pony tail.
Isn't she the cutest?? I'm just a tad biased, I know....
"I'm smarter than the president." as modeled by Gretchen:
"I'm smarter than the president." as modeled by Quin (May 2006):
What a silly boy!!
Forrest was extremely kind and sent Quin some of his PlayMobile; Quin loves playing with it! Thanks again, Forrest!
Quin managed to convince himself that the mosquitoes would leave him alone if he covered his ears. I have since managed to convince him that wearing his light jacket and his hat will give him better mosquito protection. Leila insisted on wearing her swimsuit, even though it was about 50 degrees out.
Who's a silly girl?!
We have bookworms!
Look, Mama, Ethan has a belly button too!

My baby is walking!!

2008-05-22T15:03:00.003-08:00

She is officially walking now! We went to Quin's last day of school picnic today, and Gretchen kept walking away from me....

Spring update

2008-05-18T14:52:00.026-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated (as friends and family keep reminding me...). My only excuse is that it's been busy around here: E's been traveling a lot recently and we're getting ready to move to a larger house here in town. The pictures are in chronological order.

Our favorite dive shop is Diva Alaska; I'm hoping to get dry suit certified this summer and do a refresher course so that I can join the rest of the group for diving! I think E and I will swap who has the kids when, so that we each can start taking "diving breaks." Jolene was very kind to offer to take the kids for a weekend so that we can both go diving at least once together.
She really does slurp it up!!
All dressed up and nowhere to go. Well, not quite; we were ready to walk out the door, when "Mama, I have to go potty!" rang out from Quin.

I want to go outside too! (I keep telling her that as soon as she's walking, we can start doing more stuff outside - without the play pen!)
A little bedroom surprise one night - Quin wanted to make sure the elephant was tucked in for bed.
Dada's home!! E came home from Deadhorse when I was watching Leila and Ethan; all the kids were thrilled that he was home and I was beside myself with joy!!
25 April, 2008. We got almost two feet of snow.
Bunny watching. We have two adult gray bunnies, one juvenille black bunny, and three gray baby bunnies in our yard. I don't think the babies have left our back yard yet, but I know the older ones are out and about from talking with neighbors. (Carey - are you coming by to "rescue" these creatures soon??)
Gretchen is almost walking now. She can take about 5 steps before falling down. She's cruising everywhere, and enjoys the challenge of walking between things. This shot was taken before she was cruising a lot, but she was enjoying the vertical aspect of life!

Today we took a bike ride - the first "real" bike ride for two years. When E asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I asked for a bike ride. However, due to scheduling conflicts, I didn't get my bike ride last weekend (E was diving - at my insistence), so we went this weekend. We biked down to Zorba's for a gyro lunch (chicken gyros were VERY popular with the kids - next time we'll need two!), then stopped at a park to let some energy loose.

Getting ready to go - the excitement is mounting!
A quick snack while the gyros were cooling.
At the park.
Gretchen fell asleep on Quin's shoulder on the way home, and he was very disturbed by this. The kids had a quick snack before heading off for a good nap.

Gretchen's first birthday

2008-04-01T19:24:00.006-08:00

I can't believe my baby is 1! Time moves so much faster than it did just a few years ago. Sigh. She had a great time, although the older kids enjoyed unwrapping her presents more than she did. Next year she'll know all about ripping into wrapped gifts!
I think I want a nap.
A classic Quin pose: waiting to see if something will be loud.
Gretchen wasn't able to "beat" her brother's record of 4 (or was it 5?) cupcakes on her first birthday, but she made a go of it! She managed to eat 3 cupcakes before filling up. Heck, it's her birthday! She managed to fit another cupcake in after dinner. Imagine that.

Skiing!

2008-03-01T10:28:00.010-09:00

One of Quin's presents from E and myself was a pair of skis. They're designed to fit over a child's snow boots, and they're quite cute. Today I was finally able to get Quin to go skiing with me in the back yard! Of course, the snow was absolute crap to ski on (a layer of ice on top of the snow, combined with footprints from previous outdoor play), but we had a lot of fun! He did really well, and hopefully we'll get our normal March snow soon so that I can take him out on a tracked trail.

I'm supposed to do what with these things on my feet?
Hey! This is kinda fun!
Look at me go!
Oops - how do I get up again? Oh, yeah, you come and pick me up! (His split lip is from playing at the gym yesterday and falling off the mats, not from skiing. He's fine, although it's still a bit tender.)

We watched this video about 5 times while eating our post-ski snack.

It's been a while....

2008-02-29T21:41:00.021-09:00

Quin's three month stats:
Height: 38.5 inches
Weight: 34 lbs

Gretchen's 9 month stats:
Height: 28 inches (70th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs, 4.3 oz (20th percentile)
Head Circumference: 43.5 cm (35th percentile)
(Yes, I know she's now 11 months old. If you're lucky, I'll post pictures in a month along with her 1 year stats.)

Quin loves feeding Gretchen; it's a very messy affair, so it doesn't happen often. Don't ask me why I agreed to let him feed her oatmeal....

Quin being silly.

Building block towers with Gretchen.

Now don't you wish you were bigger like me??
Quin, Leila, and I built a snowman the other day. We had a great time playing in the snow while Jessica (Leila and Ethan's mom) watched the younger two.

Chubby Little Snowman
A chubby little snowman - had a carrot nose.
Along came a bunny - and what do you suppose?
That funny little bunny - looking for some lunch,
Ate that little snowman's nose - nibble, nibble, crunch.
Nibble - nibble - nibble - nibble - nibble - nibble -CRUNCH!

A pseudo-self portrait; I was taking a picture of Gretchen, and was zoomed out further than expected.
Gretchen being silly.
Presents from Nana and Papa.
Grandma and Grandpa Boa gave Gretchen a tunnel for the holidays, and it's the biggest hit. It was hard for Quin to wait until Gretchen had gone through it once, by herself, before he was allowed in.
Ethan, who is a week younger than Gretchen, has a pacifier. Gretchen doesn't. Gretchen has satisfied her desire for a pacifier by stealing Ethan's whenever they're together. When he isn't around (or when the pacifier is up on the table, out of reach), she uses her sock.
Gretchen loves to pull books from the shelves and look through them. We're trying to break her of the habit of chewing on the books, especially as she usually pulls down the paper books, not the board books.
She's standing! Gretchen has even managed to stand without support, but tends to topple as soon as she realizes that she isn't holding on to anything. Ethan is a "bad" role model because he's walking - I keep telling Gretchen to cover her eyes whenever Ethan is showing off his new skill!
We're all in this together!

Cookies!!

2007-12-20T12:30:00.000-09:00

We have had a two day cookie extravaganza! Yesterday we made cookies with Leila and Max and today we decorated cookies with Leila. The kids had a ton of fun, and it was a good reminder for me to just relax and let the toddlers play.

Cookie making was more cookie dough playing. Fortunately, we made butter cookies (the recipe I grew up with) which don't have any eggs. I had high hopes that I could roll out the dough in front of each child, and the kids would use the cookie cutters and cut them out. I would then place the perfectly cut cookies onto the baking sheet, and stick them in the oven. That wasn't quite how it happened.

Look at me! This is how it should be done!
The kids creating their masterpieces. Leila preferred hearts and butterflies while Quin took after me and used the rocking horse. Quin mastered the art of eating the dough very quickly, another trait he shares with his mother. Leila and Max weren't too interested in eating the dough, but Quin asked for more cookie dough several times.
The decorating went much better, from an adult's perspective. The icing actually made it to the cookies. For the most part.

Which color should I start with?
Mom's watching, I'd better decorate a cookie.
Wow! I like what she's doing! Can I eat it also? (To be fair, Quin wasn't interested in eating the icing.)

Mom's not watching!

I have all this icing left, can I decorate one more?

Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah!!

2007-12-16T11:41:00.000-09:00

Zip-A-Dee-A!
My, oh my, what a wonderful day!!

Today is the last square on the potty chart! We've been talking about it, and Quin (I hope) understands that this is his last (of two) potty charts before he is potty trained! He has been going poop in the potty consistently for 4 days now (with two exceptions while asleep), and he's only had a couple of minor accidents. I'm so excited! E's so excited! Of course I have a brand new box of size 5 diapers in the garage... but since he's still wearing them at night and for naps, I guess that's a good thing.

Leila's already wearing undies full time, and was encouraging Quin to use the potty last Wednesday. Nothing like a little bit of positive peer pressure!

December already??

2007-12-07T20:22:00.001-09:00

Where did the year go? Oh, yeah, that's right: time goes faster for the sleep deprived! I figured that since I was posting, I would get a jump on December; maybe I'll figure out how to post pictures more than once a month this month!

Let's see, Gretchen is crawling everywhere now, and she can really move too! She can push herself up into a seated position, and is starting to realize that there is a vertical aspect to the world. I'm not overly thrilled about it, and Quin is even less excited than I am.

Quin's enunciation has returned; when Gretchen was born he regressed with his enunciation. He did get better over the summer, but nothing compared to now! We're also making positive strides in potty training! Only parents of potty training toddlers can get excited over BMs, but my little, um, big boy made two BMs today - ON THE POTTY!! ALL BY HIMSELF!! WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING!! I'm so proud of you, Quin! E and I decided that Quin was going to be wearing undies any time we're not going to school, running errands, going down for a nap or bedtime, or going to visit. So far it's working pretty well. It helps that Leila and Avalon both are potty trained; I can use them as a good example: "don't you want to wear undies like Leila and Avalon?"

For those of you who don't know my husband, E loves to play computer games. We don't have a headset for the phone, so E improvised.
It's still hard to get Gretchen's smiles on camera, but I'm getting better!
Nana and Papa gave Quin some large, magnetic letters. He loves them! He knows how to spell "Quin" ("Q-U-I-N spells Quin!"), and this was his first attempt. I did have to encourage the letter placement a little, but only a little! He knows most of his letters, although he will occasionally get K and X mixed up. Along with spelling, I've also started working on basic math:
"How many blue trains do you see?"
"2"
"How many green trains do you see?"
"1"
"How many green and blue trains are there?"
"1-2-3"
This probably makes the teachers out there cringe, but it entertains me while we're playing trains. I should restate that. It entertains me while I watch Quin play with trains - I'm rarely allowed to do anything but watch him play, but he wants me there. It's the little things that keep him happy and me amused.
Leila came over last Wednesday, and the two kids had a great time reading together. *Sniff* My little boy is growing into a bookworm. You go, Quin! I was informed that Leila is his best friend on the way to school on Tuesday. She is a cutie!
Tonight Quin helped me make brownies. Gretchen really wanted to help too!

November catch up

2007-12-07T19:42:00.000-09:00

I've been bad about downloading my camera lately, but here's the latest!

Papa teaching Gretchen how to "zip it!" Quin loves this game: the mouse runs its paw over it's mouth as it says "Zip it!" However, "zip it" isn't nearly as popular as the mouse throwing up. What is it with boys and vomit? Seriously?
Papa hard at work. Being retired has taken a lot out of this poor man. Playing with his grandbabies, visiting friends, sailing... it's hard work, but someone has to do it! (For the record, he refused to use the table, claiming he was more comfortable on the floor.)
Nana and Papa encouraged E and me to go out for an evening. I left some pumped milk, but turkey girl (a.k.a. Gretchen) decided she wouldn't take a bottle. After we were called home (Nana sounded very desperate on the phone), they discovered that she would take milk out of a cup. Fortunately, we were at the end of a movie at a friend's house when they called. Yes, it is taking both of them to feed her this way: Nana to hold Gretchen, Papa to control the cup. She was practically snatching it out of his hands; the poor thing was starving!
Nana and Papa decided to ride the tandem with E on his way to karate one Saturday. Nana's not too sure about Papa being in charge of the steering and gear changing.
Quin loves to do "sink work" - here he is washing dishes.

Gretchen has this thing for chewing on my hair. I'm not sure what it is; it doesn't matter if it's clean or dirty, up or down, but she will always go for my hair and stuff it in her mouth. I swear she loves the challenge of pulling my hair out of its "pony-bun" when she's in the backpack. (E's name for this hair style - well, it was somewhat styled before Gretchen got a hold of it!) I have to put her in the Jumparoo when I do floor exercises or play with Quin - she'll come over and start to eat my hair. Very distracting when trying to do sit ups!
Gretchen loves to chew on tags. She's a "mouthy" baby - she sticks everything into her mouth. Quin wasn't like that at all; we could put him next to almost anything and he would rarely put it in his mouth. Gretchen, on the other hand, is very orally fixated.

These are her favorite two fingers to suck on.
Quin has been fascinated with pretending to eat and make things recently. I'm not sure why. He was going on and on and on about making pancakes, so we made pancakes the first non-school morning. Quin was a great helper and an even better eater!
"No, Mama, I wanna feed Gunkin!"

The Sensei

2007-12-02T10:40:00.000-09:00

Last night we saw an amazing movie: The Sensei.

It was a very powerful movie, and I highly recommend that everyone go see it! When it comes out, that is. We were fortunate to know someone who invited the writer/producer/co-star, Diana Inosanto, to show a private screening of the movie for World Aids Day.

The link has a synopsis of the movie, so I won't include one, but it is a tear jerker, so bring your hanky. If there is a screening in your area, go see it! They are doing a word of mouth, grassroots advertising campaign similar to The Blair Witch Project and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. A definite must see!

Last Day!!

2007-11-30T09:29:00.000-09:00

Yikes! Order your truffles and caramels TODAY if you're interested! (See the 24 Nov. post, below.) The Sweet Hope link is to the right. Tasty, tasty, tasty!

Pink-eye Tips

2007-11-27T08:47:00.000-09:00

1. Did you know that when your toddler wipes his nose on the back of his hand (to many protestations of "I don't WANT a Kleenex!"), and then perhaps rubs his eyes (due to lack of sleep or just plain itchiness), that he can give himself pink eye?? I never knew this. I honestly thought it was something that had to be passed on from another person. Tip: always wash hands after touching mucus.

2. E and I have had experience putting eye drops into Quin's eyes. After all, the boy's tear ducts practically sealed themselves shut for the first couple of months or so. Smearing cream into a newborn's eyes and then trying to get him to blink is much easier than holding down a squirming 31.5 pound 2-1/5 year old to put eye drops into his eyes! I swear an extra pair of arms and legs are needed, because they will always manage to get a limb loose and bat at the eye drop container. ALWAYS. Oh, and when the doctor tells you that you can use the same drops on your infant daughter, should she also contract the bacteria, then of course your toddler will squirm more, attempting to wipe said bacteria onto the tip of the bottle and making it unavailable should the 8-month old need it. (Happy 8 months, Gretchen! She weighed in at 17 lbs 5.4 ozs at the doctor's on Saturday.) Tip: grow at least an extra set of arms for administering eye drops to a toddler. Should that prove impossible, learn yoga and judo in an hour, and use on squirming toddler. If you're really lucky, another adult will take pity on you and either a) do it for you, or b) help hold the toddler down.

3) Ear infections can come on quite suddenly with pink eye, and are a common secondary infection. Wow. Talk about sudden. Quin went from a 1 (perfectly healthy ear) to a 10 in just a matter of hours. He was complaining (OK, whimpering) that his ear hurt yesterday morning before I went into the office. I called and got an appointment (since the kind doctor told me this would probably happen). The doctor he saw yesterday was impressed that Quin wasn't running a fever and was just cranky (and whimpering in pain) with such a bad ear infection. He's never had one before (which the doctor was also impressed by), so this is new territory. I'm just quite thankful that the doctor gave us an oral antibiotic rather than ear drops. Oh, and we get to continue the eye drops in order to clear up the pink eye faster. Tip: when your toddler is whimpering in pain, but isn't doing any of the other stereotypical ear infection signs, TAKE HIM IN.

4) Just when you think everything is going to be OK, your infant will get diaper rash. No pink eye for her yet, although we have been warned she will most likely get it. I will hold out hope that she will not only avoid getting it, but that she won't get an ear infection if she does. I'm not holding my breath, I'm just washing everything that she touches. Tip: wash everything.

So, to sum that up: Quin has pink eye and an ear infection, he's on two different antibiotics, and he's taking some acidophilus (these at least are blueberry and chewable) to maintain some healthy fauna (flora?) in his gut. No sign of pink eye for Gretchen as of this post, but I'm watching her very carefully. Tip: teach your toddler how to wash his hands after wiping snot on them, blowing his nose, or getting mucus on them in any way, shape, or form. Also teach him how to not rub his eyes unless he's washed first.

And finally, what is it about having pink eye in the house that makes every healthy eye itch insanely??

Adoption Truffles

2007-11-24T11:15:00.000-09:00

Hello all!

My friend from high school, Lisa, is doing her annual adoption fund raiser. The company is Sweet Hope, and the link is to the right. She is selling truffles and caramels (Rich's recipe - all the sticky goodness, none of the cooking!), and half the proceeds will be donated to a family that is currently trying to adopt. Her goal this year is to raise $1200. Wonderful candy for a great cause!

H A double L O W double E N

2007-11-18T16:21:00.000-09:00

Quin loves that song! Ok, back from 3rd grade sing-alongs - we had a great Halloween! Quin's friend from school, Leila, came over with her brother, Ethan (a week younger than Gretchen), and her mother, Jessica. We had a great time trick-or-treating!

The pre-trick-or-treating playdate went quite well, although it was amusing watching the two-year-olds try to understand that we were waiting until a little later to get the candy! Nana and Papa had a fun time teaching Quin and Leila to knock on the door and say "trick-or-treat!"
And then we had the kids dressed and ready to go! Oh, wait, no, you can't go outside yet, all the parents want PICTURES!! It was hard to convince the little ones to wait just a little bit longer, just one more picture, please!
Ethan changed into Quin's puppy costume from last year due to costume issues. He really is only a week younger than Gretchen! Leila made a beautiful princess, Ethan made a cute puppy, Quin was a ferocious tiger, and Gretchen was a playful dalmatian.

We loaded the babies into the "chariot" (a.k.a. the bike trailer). Ethan fell asleep rather quickly, but E had to move continuously in order to keep Gretchen happy. She was finally taken out and carried for the last portion of the walk so that she wouldn't wake up Ethan.

The chariot was also used by the older kids when they wanted to take a break from walking. E was a sport by biking along with us - his headlights were so bright, we didn't need a flashlight!
We had a successful trip, and Quin continues to ask to go trick-or-treating when we go for a walk around the block! The kids only needed minor prompting for this shot - they were waiting for the door to open.
Candy was enjoyed after the event - after all, E and I were going out while Nana and Papa stayed with kids! (Thanks to Toki for doing the red-eye adjustment magic on this photo!)

(In my defense, I am still waiting for the Halloween photos from Nana and Papa's camera - they were downloaded onto E's computer, and it's been difficult getting them away from E.)

October

2007-11-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

And this post is dedicated to Nana's nagging - she was fully supporting Toki's call this morning....

Again, it was a quiet month. We haven't done much this school year - the cold that wiped us out in September was still hanging around in early October. Gretchen cut her first tooth (lower left) at the end of the month. She seems to be trying to cut a top tooth as well as the other bottom front tooth at the same time. Ouch!

It seems like every morning before school we have a poopy diaper from one of the kids. On this particular morning, I ran upstairs to change Gretchen, and when I came back down, Quin had finished my request to put on shoes and coat. I hadn't specified his shoes.

Quin helped me rake leaves in the back yard. It took a while to get the rake away from Quin, and he consoled himself by climbing the stump and reaching for the sky. He's very into reaching for the sky (and touching the ceiling when ever possible) right now!
Quin put on his own pants. He's still learning that when you lay the pants out, the tag goes on the bottom.
Gretchen is really moving around now. She can roll all over, and she's mastering the army crawl. She still isn't crawling in the traditional sense, but she sure is trying!
Quin has been very into "houses" (aka forts).

Quin has a great friend from school, Leila. Here the kids are practicing for Halloween. The costumes were Forrest's - thanks again, Forrest!
Nana and Papa are currently in town. Poor Papa has been roped into watching Blue's Clues ad nauseum (or so he thinks, he can't sing most of the songs).
Yes, I have purposefully left off pictures of Halloween. Leila's mom has a ton of photos, as does Nana and Papa. My camera was charging when most of the pictures were being taken, so I have to wait. And wait. Oh, and Nana and Papa left their cord on the boat, so we also have to wait for E to be home long enough to use his card reader.

Funny sayings I've heard during this visit:

Nana: "She's jumping! That little turkey!" (Gretchen was in the Jumparoo while Nana wanted to take pictures)

Quin and I were having a talk; one of those talks that occur after a little boy has a meltdown because he wasn't listening.
Me: Will you listen to Papa, and do what he says?
Quin: No, Nana do it.

September

2007-11-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been a while. So long, in fact, that Toki actually called me to nag me about Halloween pictures today. No, you're not getting them today; I'm still waiting for Nana and Papa (my mom and step-dad) to download their photos and for a friend to send me the pictures she got. Ok, enough about Halloween - this is September's post!

We had a great month - all four of us were sick with a cold that hit us twice, so we were sick for about 6 weeks. "Great" is probably an overstatement, but we did survive. Two less bugs for the kids to catch in school (E brought them home from judo). It was quiet, we gorged on birthday cake (well I did), and stayed home, blowing our noses. We should have invested in Kleenex!

Quin and Gretchen playing on the couch.
My Picasso - he loves to paint, and really likes making circles!

Quin loves to puddle stomp!

Gretchen wasn't as impressed with puddle stomping as Quin was - just wait until next year!
Gretchen playing.

Toilet training conversations

2007-09-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

J: "Quin, I'm so proud of you for wearing undies!"
Q: "Babies don't wear undies. Gunkin too little to wear undies. Quin wear undies just like Mama does!"

It's going pretty well. This is day two of wearing underwear. I think I'll be doing a LOT of laundry for a while because Quin insists on wearing 2-5 pairs of undies at any given time. The good side is that accidents don't spread as far. The bad side is that we have a limited number of undies (around 10). Just now he told me he needed to go potty, and up the stairs we went. However, he had just gone, but he's now happily sitting on the big potty ("big boys use big potties") reading a book. I'm hoping he's going to get it soon!! He has asked to wear undies to school on Monday, and I told him that he could as long as he continued to let me know when he needed to go potty. I have to remember to pack extra clothes on Monday....

Quin's first success!!

2007-09-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

We had a successful potty use tonight! The first one without a diaper!! (We one last winter, with a diaper on.) I can only hope he'll be potty trained in a matter of days. Murphy's Law says that will happen: I bought a Costco size box of size 5 diapers yesterday.

Further August activities

2007-09-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

The last post was getting long, and children started needing attention! So, after we returned from WA, we introduced Gretchen to rice cereal. She had been watching us eat for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to wait until we were back from vacation before starting her on solids. Like most kids, she had some initial reservations about this strange, white stuff that smelled like milk, but didn't quite taste or feel right. We now make it with water instead, which is much easer for me!! She now eats 1 - 2 tablespoons of rice cereal at a time. We've tried carrots (not interested), and I'm going to introduce a new veggie this weekend.
The Alaska State Fair is in August, and we took Quin and Gretchen. We met our friend Paul, and his mom, at the fair, and it was great having extra eyes to watch for the running toddler! Quin wasn't that interested in the animals when we looked at them, but as soon as we left the barn, all he could talk about was visiting the animals again. Quin was able to pet a rabbit and see some baby chickens! He really liked the baby chickens!!
My mother-in-law, Carolyn, won Best in Show and Division Champion for her sweater! Great job on such a beautiful sweater!!
We walked by the right spot at the right time: the Toddler Trot was about to begin! We signed Quin up, got him to the start line (with a lot of other parents), and the kids were off! Quin wasn't quite sure what to do, so he turned to me, grabbed both my hands, and I ran the race with him. Until he tripped. By then he knew what to do, and took off running. He almost ran out of the race track!
We ate a lot, had a great time, and the kids were great! We were at the fair for 6 hours, and E learned how useful a stroller can be! Quin was fasinated with the rides, but we decided he was too young this year. We stopped off to look at the animals on our way home, but all Quin wanted to see was the baby chickens. He is still talking about them, and knows that "baby chickens say peep, peep!"
It was a long, hard day at the fair.

August also saw the start of school. Quin has been looking forward to school all summer, and we were counting down "one month to school," "two weeks to school," and finally "school starts today!" Quin picked out his clothes, got dressed, and was ready to leave 15 minutes early! It was hard explaining why we couldn't leave immediately! When it was time to go, I loaded Gretchen, loaded Quin, smelled something suspicious, unloaded Gretchen, unloaded Quin, changed an extremely nasty diaper, then back into the car. Quin was so excited about school, it was hard keeping him focused on getting his slippers (indoor school shoes) on, hanging up his backpack and rain gear, and getting a kiss good-bye. He wanted me to stay for all of 1 minute, then he was off doing his own thing. *sniff* My baby is growing so quickly!
Gretchen wants to go to school also, and wasn't happy about staying home.

August activities

2007-09-09T09:37:00.001-08:00

I'm still a little behind on pics and news, but hopefully this post will catch us up to September!

Our friends from Portland, Westen, Avi, Scott, and Kate, came up for a visit. Kate, who is 4, taught Quin about wearing costumes; he hadn't been interested before this.

Quin and Gretchen snuggling.
Look at those eyes! Look at those bubbles!
We took a trip to Washington so that E could try a Wind Cheetah recumbent trike and go on a diving trip while all of us visited family. We went to the Seattle Aquarium one afternoon.
Happiness is being with grandparents! (Although it's hard to get this girl to smile on camera!)
Quin loved learning how to water the plants! One of the few times I've heard him tell others to go away - listen for the "No Grandpa do it!" at the end of the video!

Great-Grandmas are great for naps!
There are a couple of great shots of Toki, Fizzie, and Gretchen, but unless we get a lot of requests, I doubt Toki will let me put them on the blog! (Toki and Fizzie are some friends from Portland.)

We met Jennifer and Amelia at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. It rained that morning, but cleared up by the early afternoon. Quin had a great time teaching Amelia what to do with puddles! We did discover, however, that he is afraid of walruses. I had to carry him past the walrus enclosure!
No more videos due to Blogger issues - I'll try again later!

Quin-isms

2007-09-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

2-year olds are funny, and sometimes what they say is hilarious! Here's a short list of the funniest and cutest:

1. "Kin likes Gung-kin." This was heard on July 2, 2007. I left his pronunciation on for amusement and prosperity (Kin = Quin, Gung-kin = Gretchen).

2. "Kin wants more Gung-kins." We both told him that no, he isn't getting any more sisters. Or brothers.

3. "Mama no hold nipples." Quin is rapidly learning body parts, but occasionally gets some mixed up; what he's trying to say is "Mama no hold ankles" when I change his diaper.

4. "Mama be a cow." At first I thought I should be offended, but then it occurred to me that at 2, he doesn't understand that asking someone to be a cow is potentially offensive. So instead I mooed. Then the animal requests came fast and furious. I can say that the poor farm animals are probably terrified by the number of bears in their vicinity. Oh, and for the record, we Googled the sound a giraffe makes, and discovered that they make a high-pitched bleating sound.

5. "Kin eat Kashi in a bowl, not from floor." E accidentally poured some Kashi cereal onto the floor during breakfast.

Family vacation

2007-09-02T14:31:00.001-08:00

No pics again this time - sorry! I re-made the family vacation blog (new address, link to right), so check it out and let me know your answers! (Blog/websites I know of: Rich and Alayne, Alyssa and Brian, and Amy.)

Amy - any chance of putting up pictures on your blog so I can link it?

July pics

2007-08-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

So it’s been a while between my last post and this one. I really did have the best intentions to get photos up before this! Life just keeps getting in the way!

Great Grandma Joy (E’s grandma) and Scottie came up for a visit in late June and early July.

Quin and Gretchen are all smiles!

A brief history

2007-08-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Yes, I've moved. It is a rather long story, but the short of is is that my account was somehow deleted, and Blogger isn't giving me the original blog name back. I was hoping to have everything sorted out by the end of July, but that hadn't happened, so I kept waiting and hoping. My lesson? Make sure you have your blog backed up if you're at all interested in keeping it. I lost everything from early February 2006 until my last post in June (??) 2007. My fault for not copying and pasting into Word, but, oh, was I mad about loosing it all. And I still am. However, what's done is done, and I will be backing up everything regularly or using E's suggestion of writing the post in Word, then copying it into Blogger. I will be getting the links and family vacation blog back up as well (that will also most likely need a new name - fortunately I did bookmark the websites that were suggested), but it may take a while longer.