Fair Oaks Farm

Over Memorial Day weekend this year, Amelia and I went to Indiana with my parents. We used one of our days there to do something fun/touristy! We decided to go to Fair Oaks Farm since Amelia has recently been really into cows.

We went on a bus tour of one of their ten farms. Amelia got really excited when she saw cows and tried to get off the bus but once she realized that wasn't happening she just sat on Papa's lap:


We saw baby cows


an (empty) pasture between barns


and the rotary where the cows are milked


The rotary was the most interesting part to me. It holds 72 cows and when it is their turn they just walk into a stall, ride around, get milked and when the circle is complete they back right out. It was pretty interesting to see. Some people who I told about this seemed really upset about it and I just wanted to ask them, where do you think your milk comes from? This is what large-scale, modern farming looks like!

After our tour we went to the birthing barn and saw a baby calf be born.



This is something that we always miss at the state fair each year so it was interesting to see it.

Amelia rode around in this train several times.


(she is in the yellow car)

The first time she went she insisted that Papa ride with her so he squeezed in with her. Nana and I were in the birthing barn so unfortunately we weren't able to witness it.

Before we left we had fresh ice cream and cheese curds! Both were delicious. It was a long day for Amelia and she passed out in no time on the car ride to visit grandpa at the nursing home!

Visiting Great-Grandpa

This evening, a huge chunk of my dad's side of the family got together to visit grandpa. All of his grandkids and great-grandkids were there with the exception of my sister and my dad's brother's daughters.

It was grandpa's first time meeting his new great-grandson, A.


My mom found "big sister" and "little brother" shirts for little A and his sister P.



Tonight grandpa said he didn't think he'd live to see great-grandchildren and he has four!


Four who are impossible to get a picture of with them all looking at the same time!

It was nice spending the evening visiting with everyone.


It was also nice to see grandpa smile as much as he did tonight.

Cupcakes

After lunch today we stopped by a place called Designer Desserts in Valpo that was recommended by family. It was pretty tasty! Amelia devoured her cupcake faster than lightning.


She wasted no time in letting us know that she wanted another.


We are lucky we don't live here otherwise we'd be in trouble. I split a red velvet with mom and a mocha java with dad. Both were really good! I definately don't need to be eating those things more than once or twice a year - that's for sure!

Whirlwind of Family

Let me start out with, I am exhausted. What a long day. Ok, I feel better having said that.

Today, my sister, Amelia and I made a trip to Indiana to visit family. We got an early start and were on the road a little after 7. We went straight to Crown Pointe to visit Amelia's great-grandpa Joe and cousin Tori:


After that we met our new cousin, P:



She is just 6 weeks old! Amelia wasn't that interested in her new cousin:


She was sleeping the whole time, so I think Amelia wasn't too sure what to think of her.

We rounded out our visit by visiting Amelia's great-grandma and great-grandpa Mickles:


(I caught them off guard when I took the picture because I got excited that Amelia was smiling!)

Amelia didn't want to sit in the rocking chair with her great-grandma, she was much more interested in rocking the chair for her:


It was pretty cute.

We were in and out of Indiana in about 6 hours (plus about 6 hours of travel when you count Chicago traffic), so it truly was a whirlwind of a trip. We were able to spend more than an hour at each of our stops, so that was great. I was glad that we could spend time at home with our grandparents so Amelia could wow them with all her skills! They don't have video capability on their computer, so we brought Amelia over to show them in person!

Amelia did good in the car. By the time we were around a half an hour outside of Milwaukee, she had had it. She cried pretty much the rest of the way. We are all home and resting now, getting ready for another big day tomorrow.

Amongst Everything Else, I Have a Sick Baby

This post will be long and all over the place, I think, so bear with me.

Last Friday marked the second straight day of non-stop rain here in Milwaukee. My car has a leak in it...I suppose you can figure out where I am going with this:


A lovely tarp on my leaky car :( There is a leak on the passenger side and when the car sits in prolonged and/or heavy rainfall a pool starts to form on the passenger floor. I had this same issue with my other GM car (an Alero). It was fixed with the other car so I am hoping this one can be fixed just as easily. The trick is...when will there be time to bring the car in? Not this week, that is for sure. Next week taking it in is at the top of the to-do list!

Friday I worked which was interesting because we had no concessions to sell! The concession stand construction was in its final stages and we couldn't sell anything to anyone until 7. That made for a long, long day for me. People don't like to hear there is no popcorn at the movies!!!

Jason picked me up from work (he drove me since my car was covered in a tarp) and when we got home we had plans to make baby food. Well, Amelia filled her carseat...completely on the drive home. Can I just say, "EEWWW"? We got her cleaned up, got the squash and pumpkins cooking (for baby food) and started to try and get her carseat clean. We got it done and ended up throwing the cooked squash into the fridge so we could get to bed. The night did not go as planned.

Saturday Amelia continued to have explosive dirty diapers. It was alarming. I fed her some apples and got her ready to walk to Target. We needed a few things so once I thought she was done pooping we left. She looked very cute in her bunny snowsuit:




We made it home from our Target trip with no problems. Once we got home though, the explosive diapers started again. I tried feeding her some rice cereal because it constipates her and I was hoping to counteract some of the explosiveness. Well, whe threw that up instantly and I started to worry. I paged the doctor and she assured me that since Amelia wasn't running a fever and she was in good spirits that I should just keep an eye on her and call back if she got a fever or stopped having wet diapers (dehydration warning). The doctor thought it sounded like she had picked up a virus of some sort.

Once Jason got home he drove me to work again. He told me when he picked me up that there had been no more disgusting diapers. What a relief that was. I thought we had turned a corner...

Sunday morning Amelia still had not soiled herself so I got us all packed up to make the drive to Indiana (my dad and sister were down there, to see Grandpa). We got on the road at around 7:30 and made it there by 10:00. When I got there I had a dirty baby again :( I got her cleaned up, my Grandma took her clothes to get them washed, I changed three dirty diapers in one hour, and then my dad, sister and I headed to lunch with cousins Matt and Liz. Amelia tried a tortilla chip (they were not salted) at lunch:


After lunch we all went to the nursing home to see my Grandpa. We didn't stay too long. I stopped at Meijer with my dad and sister before they headed back to Minnesota and then I headed back to my Grandma's house. We went to dinner at House of Kobe (one of those places where they cook right on your table). Amelia was very interested in the chef. She watched him very intently the entire time:


When my soup came I looked over and saw this:


I thought it was pretty hilarious! It was almost like she was wondering where hers was :)

Doesn't she look like such a big girl sitting up in a restaurant high chair?!


We didn't make it through dinner without an explosion...and there was no changing table at the restaurant! I seriously think it should be required of all public places to have a changing table. I have been so many places without one and it is annoying and hard. I had to change a baby out of her clothes (which were so soiled I just threw them away) and get her cleaned up and in to a new diaper and new clothes on the disgusting bathroom floor. I had a changing pad but that only helps so much.

Anyways, I cancelled plans to meet one last cousin (Tori) after dinner and just got ont he road. I needed to get Amelia home. We made it just after 9:00 and she wasn't too bad. Her carseat was a little dirty again, but it was nothing compared to what I'd been dealing with all weekend. I got her into bed and started to unpack all our stuff.

Half an hour later there was a panicked cry and I found her sitting there, filthy. I felt awful. We got a bath ready, some clean clothes, changed the sheets and it was back to bed for her. It didn't last. I eventually got her up and she watched Beetlejuice on TV while I put some stuff away. Eventually she went to bed and by the time Jason got home I was in tears. I felt like all I had done all weekend was clean up poop. I tried 3 diaper types, different brands even. I am convinced that there is no diaper on this planet, disposable or cloth, that could have contained what was coming out that little girl this weekend.

**Jason thought it might have been the apples causing the diarreah so we stopped them but the diarreah continued. I did some research Sunday night and whole apples, like in applesauce, are actually ok to feed someone with diarreah problems. The whole fruit contains pectin which helps firm stools, therefore, it can be good for someone with diarreah. I started the apples back up Monday!

Monday I stayed home from school in the morning (which turned out ok since one of my morning classes was cancelled). We went to the laundromat Monday to get all the poopy things we had sitting around washed. I just couldn't stand to think of it all sitting around here another 2 or 3 weeks. Monday night I went to work.

Tuesday (yesterday) nothing got done around here. I had a headache so Amelia and I just layed low. Last night though, before bed, she began throwing up uncontrollably. Once we thought she was finished she went back into bed. She woke up, covered in puke, so she got up and got cleaned up, some new clothes and went back to bed. She did watch a little of Hocus Pocus first though...we were watching it while eating a pizza... I know...the girl watched a lot of TV sometimes...she'll be ok.

Today I went to my morning class and then came home. Amelia has been so much better! She even had a dirty diaper that was not diarreah for the first time since Friday :) I think we are finally turning that corner I thought we had turned Saturday. Here are some pictures of her from this afternoon:

Amelia L-O-V-E-S this cat toy:


She always crawls to it and then plays with it!

Amelia has been somewhat pulling up since the weekend! She pulled up on my dad at my grandma's house because she wanted something in his pocket! She doesn't get fully upright yet, but she gets up on her feet while holding onto something. Here she is right before she pushed up on her feet:


I was laying down, so I couldn't ever seem to get a good picture of her once she had gotten up because I was so busy telling her what a big girl she was :)

I assisted her into the standing position here:


She did all the hard work though! I just held her hands and helped her get upright to hold onto the walker :)

She does this all the time too:


She moves her paci to the corner of her mouth and chews on it. It is really bizarre...

Lastly, here is a silly face from Amelia:


Does that look like the face of a sick little girl? She is a trooper. I really hope we are past all the dirty diaper explosions. It has been a long and busy 5 or 6 days around here...

Now Amelia and I are headed to work to have a bar meeting...that is right, now that the new concession stand is in place, we are serving alcohol sometime next month. I really think it is unnecessary but I don't make the rules...

Our July 4th

This years July 4th Amelia and I were in Indiana and Jason was in Milwaukee, working. Jason's work was a sponsor for PBR-Fest and he ended up working from 8 or 9 in the morning until just after midnight. What a long day! Amelia and I got up really early and left for Indiana just before 7 a.m.

Once we got to Indiana, we went to visit Great-Grandpa Fronczek in the hospital. He is looking much better! We couldn't stay long because of my grandma's fourth of July party and the fact that grandpa kept dozing off...it was nap time for sure!

Amelia had a pretty good time at the party. She had lots of fun with her cousins (I will call them cousins to make it simple, and because I have no idea what they really are to each other...). She was laughing and talking pretty much all afternoon. Here she is with new cousin Grayson (he was born 2 months after her), holding hands:


After the party was over Amelia had some fun with American flags. She got really upset if you tried to take them away from her!



This morning Amelia was all smiles and had lots to say.




I am glad to be home. I think I might be the only person that is glad that this holiday weekend is over!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a pretty busy Memorial Day weekend this year! I worked on Friday and got home at midnight. We quickly packed up the car and I showered and we were on our way to Indiana at one a.m. We decided to leave then (vs Saturday morning) to beat all the Chicago and/or construction traffic. It was a great idea, we had NO delays in our travel (other than hungry tummies).

Saturday morning Amelia got her first experience with grass! Here is a picture of her, not so sure about a leaf:



Saturday we went to lunch with my dad's brother and his family.


Amelia with second cousins (I think) Monica and Melissa

After lunch we went to the nursing home and visited with my grandfather. We went outside to chat in a courtyard and Amelia was so tired and it was pretty humid out, so she got a little crabby. Her Nana was able to calm her down and she then napped on her blanket in the shade.


My mom and I were not really included in all of the conversation...they were talking about food the whole time!


After her nap, Amelia got some attention from Daddy in the grass:


The rest of Saturday was go, go, go and we were exhausted by the end of the day!

Sunday, my dad and Jason went to the Indianapolis 500. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, but they held off for the race luckily! They had a, well, you could say, an interesting day and made it home safely!

We found out Amelia can hold her own bottle! Well, only if it is almost empty... She always tries so hard to hold it and sometimes she can succeed!


Sunday, my mom and I went to Aunt Shirley's for a family gathering. I didn't really remember to take any pictures while we were there sadly. Amelia was a little stinker all day. There were other babies there and all we can figure is that she was upset not to be the center of attention ALL the time. We think this because as soon as you took her into a room to calm her down, she was all smiles and happy but then once you left that room it all started again! Stinker!

We did manage to get one picture of my mom, grandma, Amelia and myself before the party got underway:


Amelia needed a nap pretty badly and just wouldn't give in while there, so my mom got her to sleep and then had to hold her the entire time she napped. She was a happier baby (for a while) once she woke up:


After the party I met an old friend for dinner. We met in high school back home, working at Econo Foods, and she is now living in the town adjacent to where my grandma lives of all places! She also had a baby (a boy named Caleb) in February, thirteen days before I had Amelia. We had a great dinner and it was great to catch up with her! I also got to meet her husband! We are hoping to visit again when I am in town for the fourth. Once again, no pictures :( Amelia was asleep the whole time (shockingly) anyways.

After dinner it was time to pack everything up and get some sleep!

Here are a few other pictures from the weekend:






This weekend was long and tiring and full of events, good and bad. Now it is time to try and move past things, hopefully.

I start school in the morning. I pretty much forgot until about an hour ago that tomorrow was the start day, oops!