Picture Catch-Up

I have taken lots of pictures with the intent of sharing them in several posts! Each night once the kids are in bed, I am ready for bed as well so I haven't shared them yet. So, here are some just to catch up on what we've been up to - all in one post!

Joey has been working on sitting up :)

I love this shot because he was so excited, started to tip and I caught him falling over and my hand going to grab him. This picture just makes me chuckle!

Amelia is back into bananas. She was never really not into them but for awhile there she would only eat a bite or two and now she finishes them again :)

Joey takes this funny paci during diaper changes...usually. This is one of two pacis that we have had a little bit of luck with. I'd be ok if he never took one but at the same time he wants to pacify so I'd love for him to finally figure out that that's what pacis are for!

Amelia closed her door one afternoon while I was nursing Joe. When he was finished I went into her room to discover this:

She had Morrison trapped under a crate! I remember when my sister and I used to do this to our cats growing up. The only difference was that we used laundry baskets :)

When I set up Amelia's room I put this rocking chair between her bookshelf and her book crate. I had always envisioned her sitting in the chair, reading. It finally happened! She was listening to the Lion King soundtrack on her new Dora CD player Nana found at Goodwill and she got herself a Disney look-and-find book, found the Lion King page and looked at it while listening to her CD!

One evening while I was doing dishes Joe was fussing. I asked Amelia to find him a toy so I could hopefully finish up the dishes. This is what I turned around to find:

Joe buried under a ton of toys! That Amelia, such a little helper.

Yesterday morning Amelia and Jason watched Ratatouille together :)

Yesterday evening Amelia and I stepped outside to blow bubbles before dinner and somehow we ended up at the park. I had not intended for us to leave our parking lot so she was in her pajamas from the night before with a winter hat, I was in sweats and a nursing tank and luckily I had Joe in the Baby Bjorn.

This guy is growing like a weed!

We hope everyone is having a good week!

Kitty Cat, Night Night

Amelia loves to take people "ny, ny." What that means is she takes you to her room and closes the door and basically holds you hostage. She will even go so far as to "block" the door with whatever she can find. She honestly believes that her sippy cup or step stool will keep you barricaded in her room!

She is always running around the house yelling, "kitty cat, night night! Kitty cat, night night!" Her father has let a kitty cat go "night, night" before. I on the other hand am opposed to it. Here she is seeking out a cat to go "ny, ny."

For the Love of Cats

Last Saturday we took Amelia to the 'Saintly City Cat Show' which is part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Amelia LOVES cats and this was pretty much the coolest thing to her.


She ran from cat to cat and got really upset when she had to leave each cat.


She had two favorites and their owner was very patient with Amelia each time we stopped to see her cats.


As you can see she even opened their cages so Amelia could pet them but she was way more interested in opening and closing their cage doors than anything.

Since we were nearby we stopped in Rice Park to see some of this year's ice sculptures.


This year is the 125th St. Paul Winter Carnival and I liked this sculpture because it has each of the century logos for the event carved.

Mom and I:


Afterwards we had a cozy dinner at Mama's Pizza. By cozy I mean we fit all 5 of us into a little booth that would comfortably hold 3 or 4 people. It was interesting...


Nana and Grandpa had the pleasure of sitting with Amelia...who insisted on eating off of Grandpa's plate instead of her own (even though they had the same thing) and she was close enough to reach on over and help herself!

Napping Buddies

Ludo has found himself another napping buddy:


Grandpa and him spend a lot of time together on the couch. Until grandpa's lap gets too warm that is :)

A Normal Day

This afternoon we went to Burlington Coat Factory to find me a belt and Amelia left with some new sandals and these new sunglasses:


We got her to keep them on a minute or two so we figured she needed them. We'll see how she does with them this summer!

Other than our errands this morning, we have spent the day playing. You know, the usual:





We do have one thing to celebrate today, this guy turned 4!


Happy 4th Birthday, Ludo!

A Girl and Her Cat

Amelia "played" with Lucky for about 20 minutes after her nap. She was so happy!






*I did these in black and white to save the pictures. When I have black and white pictures it is usually because they are so washed out by sunlight that they look awful. Switching them to black and white makes a big difference though!

Spring is Coming!

The berries are growing...


The snow is melting...


The birds are back...


It is coming...SPRING!

This morning, after breakfast, we went on a "spring" walk. It was overcast, foggy and sloppy out but we went anyways so we could get some fresh air and listen to the birds.


We stopped at the playground at South Shore Park and Amelia had some fun in the swing for a little while:


Jason wanted to take her down some slides so he brought her to the top of one...


...and quickly realized that I was right, it was too wet to slide down! Next time.


We skipped rocks at the marina:



Amelia and Jason shared a moment by the water:


Jason had some fun:


(click to enlarge)

I did not find this fun. I kept telling him we needed to go before we got in trouble! (for the record, he was right, we did not get into any trouble)

We finally headed home and had an awesome lunch of homemade chicken soup and bread and now everyone is napping (except me, obviously).

Next up for us? Taking Poopy to the vet. The poor guy is having some troubles and he needs to be seen :( We think it all started with the missing chicken wishbone (from the whole chicken used for the homemade chicken soup) that Jason stepped on...but half was missing. They seem to think that he might have some sort of bacterial infection that may stem from this missing piece of chicken bone. We are pretty sure it was Poopy who "got into" the bone. It's always him causing the trouble/messes, well, at least it is him 95% of the time. He is such a bad influence on my perfect little angels - Ludo and Lucky ;)

Hopefully everyone is having a good week so far! Today has been very good for us since the week got off to a rough start - mostly for me - which impacts Jason's week too!

Kitty Clubhouse

Well, tonight Lucky and Ludo disappeared. I looked around and then realized that I knew where they were...the kitty clubhouse!

What is the kitty clubhouse? Well, it is our bed. Yep. They have managed to tear apart the bottom of the box spring which gave them their own secret lair.

I remember the day we discovered their secret lair. We were getting ready to leave town and I just wanted to make sure they were all here before we left (our neighbor, Ellen, was going to be checking in on them) and Ludo was nowhere to be found. I got really upset because I thought he had gotten out while we were packing the car. After thirty minutes of searching, Jason found him...in the bed. Since then they have continued to make more entrances to their lair, like this one:


Here is a peak into their lair:


Oh yeah, this baby is two floors! Why you may ask? Once they tore down the sides to create entrances, the middle sank down. Two floors are created by a huge down blanket under the foot of the bed and 2 large rubbermaid containers (you know, the long ones made for under the bed) under the bed towards the head). Ludo has chosen the lower level, with the large down blanket I mentioned, as his recovery spot:


Lucky kept him company from above:


(he is atop one of the rubbermaids I mentioned)

There you have it. Everyone has a secret clubhouse at some point in their lives. Even cats.

ps - Poopy goes into the clubhouse from time to time. Tonight, he was more interested in keeping me company while I tried to take some pictures than going in and joining his brothers.

Patience

I have had lots of opportunities to practice patience this week. Especially, today.

Amelia has been going through a phase, which started sometime this week, in which she needs to be with Jason or myself all the time. Honestly, I find it annoying most of the time. Then I remember that I will miss it someday. I remember that she does it because she loves me.

It is just so hard for me because she is a very independent baby usually. She does well playing on her own. She likes to explore. She is busy. Now, all of a sudden, she wants to be held. If you put her down she sits there and cries. She won't move. You can call her from the next room and she just sits there, crying, where in the past she would come looking for you (happy or sad).

I leave her to cry before I give in to her wishes and pick her up. If this keeps up I am going to have to wear her around the house in a sling all day because my arms start to hurt after awhile! It's ok, one day I will wish I could hold her all day I bet. I just have to be patient with her.

Another patience lesson was tonight. My computer's security stuff wouldn't update, so my computer was not protected. I went online to tech support and "chatted" with a representative online. I tried his suggestion. It failed. I called after that. Was told to call another line especially for Dell customers etc. Normally, I get very frustrated when I am on the phone with companies like this, being passed around from representative to representative. Tonight I was able to not do that and the whole ordeal didn't ruin my night! It took 50 minutes to get it all sorted out and fixed but at least it is fixed!

The best part? I put Amelia in her pack 'n' play so I could deal with it and she was quiet the whole time! I think she was beyond bored though:


Almost every time I looked in there she was standing there, chewing on the side of the pack 'n' play and staring at the doorway. It seems she practiced patience tonight as well.

Lastly, Ludo is home! His belly is all shaved and he has a huge incision! He doesn't seem too mad at me...and he made himself right at home on our bed tonight:

Ludo Update

Well, little Ludo is feeling pretty bad. Since right around Christmas he has been in and out of the litter box 20+ times a day (5-6 is normal/average). We noticed because our apartment turned into a sandbox. There was that much litter being tracked around. Saturday I called his Milwaukee vet and they recommended I take him to the Animal Emergency Center.

We got to the AEC late Saturday morning and were there for over 3 hours. Ludo had x-rays taken and they found a large bladder stone, in addition to discovering that his urine is bloody. Needless to say, he is has a lot of pain right now. He has some pain medication and also an antibiotic to help prevent bacteria growth. He also is on a wet food diet that is specially formulated to keep his urine neutral which will help prevent the stone from getting any larger. Amelia found ways to entertain herself while we were there "all day":



In order to make sure he is "ok", he has to be isolated from his brothers. We need to know that he is going to the bathroom and that he is not obstructed. If he becomes obstructed he could pass within as little as 12 hours. That's a scary thought! We have him in the spare bedroom. The door doesn't close all the way (this house is 105 years old - no joke, so the doors and frames are pretty warped) so we have it rigged to stay shut with a shoelace and 5 gallon water jug that holds coins. He has frequent visitors at his door:


We went in for a follow-up with his Milwaukee vet this morning. Amelia kept trying to get into Ludo's carrier with him:


Whenever they would come take him for tests or something she would freak out and scream and cry. She would watch them leave and once the door closed she would look at me and start wailing. It was pretty cute :)

Long story short, Ludo is going in for surgery on Wednesday morning. Poor guy. It will provide him immediate relief and they can analyze the stone to see which type it is - there are several, I guess. From there, we can work at long-term management of the problem. Until then, he is confined to his "isolation booth":

New Chairs and More!

We had another busy day up here. This morning we got up and I brought Jason into town to meet up with his hunting group. They departed a little after 9 for the cabin. Hopefully Jason feels better by tomorrow. He has been fighting off a sickness and sitting in the woods all weekend probably won't help him feel better...unless he gets a deer. Then he'd probably feel better!

Today my dad and I went to lunch in St. Paul at Cossetta's. I had a salad AND the mostaccioli this time since I never get there anymore and there is nothing in Milwaukee that can compare :) We also brought my sister some pizza while she was at work so she had a good lunch today too! After that we headed to Kowalski's to pick up some more baby food since I underestimated how much store bought food I'd need for this trip! While we were there Amelia got pulled around by her Grandpa:


She sat there swiping a pen back and forth on the cart and listening to the noises it made.

On our way home we stopped in Hudson and EP Rock elementary and introduced Amelia to Marie's mom. They hadn't met yet! While we were there Amelia took her first steps (holding on to someone's hands that is) for the first time! Marie's mom said, "See, she already learned something at school!". I also learned something at school today. There were big blue balls on all the desks, like exercise balls, with 4 prongs on them that looked like udders kind of. I asked why they were there and Marie's mom told me that they were the students' chairs. I guess it is supposed to better for their backs/posture? I thought it was cool. There were different sizes, green were the smallest, then blue and then yellow. Why didn't we have those for chairs when I was in elementary school!?!

Later this evening Amelia and I had plans to hang out with Marie and Lisa since tonight was the only time Lisa was available since she will be hunting all weekend! While we waited for Marie to get ready, Amelia tried out her new chair that her grandparents got her:


She looked so cute in it!

Once we got the go-ahead from Marie, we headed to pick her up and go to Lisa's. We ordered a pizza and hung out. Amelia got to eat her dinner in a booster seat that Lisa's sister has passed along to her for when she has kids:



After we all had dinner we decided that we wanted dessert. Well, we didn't exactly have anything laying around...so we made something! We made pumpkin rolls and they were so good!

We made two rolls so there would be leftovers for us... The girls getting things ready:


(I helped too, I got the frosting ingredients ready. I never cook or bake so I just want to make sure you all know I tried! As I always said to Lisa over the years, "I don't help cook/bake, I supervise")

The final product:


(I linked to the recipe above, in case anyone is wanting to make these!)

Amelia and Lisa's kitten, Callie, got along incredibly well. They played together the entire time we were there, seriously. Callie was so great with Amelia. I told Lisa that she should consider getting Callie a baby...he he. Here are some pictures of them playing together:




Callie really loved Amelia's toys:


I kept having to take Amelia's toys away from her! Lisa commented that Callie loses all her toys and I said she should get her baby toys since she seems to like them so much because they are bigger and harder to lose! We found a few of her toys though, under the stove. That is where all our cat's toys end up so I told Lisa to check there and sure enough, she found some!

Amelia did incredible well, despite being up way, way past her bedtime. She was even feeling good enough to get some pictures with her "aunties" before we left. Amelia and Marie (Auntie "M"):


Amelia and Auntie Lisa:


Before we left Amelia made sure to read up on this year's hunting regulations:


Now she can quiz her Daddy when he gets back and make sure he followed all the rules! (I am sure he did though)

Tomorrow we are planning on spending some time with my family. We always stay with them but never see them because we are always trying to fit everyone else in. Others don't seem to get that just because you are staying with someone doesn't mean you see them all the time! I mean, when you are out and don't get home until 10, when are you gonna see them? I am making up for it this trip. At least that is the plan!