Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A playmate for Gwen!

Congratulations to Heather, Andy, and Hayden! Madelynn Renee was born at 1:30 am July 29th, 7lbs 2oz just a mere 35 minutes after arriving at the hospital! Sounds like a girl I know ;-) I can't wait for a year or two from now when both girls and boys can play with their respective friends. In the mean time, I wish you all lots of sleep!

Oh what fun a camera is!


I don't know what it is about cameras, but Trevor loves to take pictures and not be in them. I had asked Russ to take my camera to the T-ball game because it was going to be a final game before a few kids had to be out of town or busy next game which is the true last game. So I came home from golfing and checked the photographs. I had thought that I could put all the pictures on here so you could see what I saw. It was pretty quick that I realized that Trevor had decided he was going to take pictures for himself. Ended up taking over 30 pictures. So rather than bore you with each and every one, I'll just hit the highlights. The first one is the first true one that I saw.

The next one is one I saw 5 photographs in where I see how much fun he had.










Then come pictures of his "friends". The sponge bob ball:












"Floppy" the butterfly balloon from the Butterfly festival when we were at the cabin.













Gwen looking a little crazed that Trevor is behind the camera












A few pictures of Goldie and Curious George, individual and group photos













I'm pretty sure she's going to kill me for publicly posting this picture, but it got a chuckle out of me













a very cute picture of Gwen, I would guess when she thought Trevor was being cute asking her to smile














An eye picture that I would guess is Russ














A few pictures where daddy was showing Trevor how to take pictures of himself













And finally the T-ball pictures.

Now remember: the pictures happened in the reverse order. But I saw them in the order I gave them to you.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Another good week!

I was very happy with the way this week went at camp. I think Trevor was happy to know where he was going once we pulled into the parking lot on Monday. I know he didn't have any friends in his class, but he was able to keep busy because they don't spend their whole day indoors, since it is located at an elementary school.

This week was called "Story time fun" and they focused on stories with characters on the TV channel PBS. While Trevor really knows Curious George, Clifford, Super Why, and Dragon Tales the best, he has also seen and knows Arthur and Caillou. But there was one he probably wouldn't know. But I'm sure with his love of stories, he'd do just fine. And he did. And I was pleasantly surprised by the art projects he came home with. The best one was on Thursday when he made his own story. He was really excited to show me and read me the story. And wouldn't you know it was called "Trevor and the Twins Game". He talked about Joe Mauer (and drew a player with what looked very near a number 7 on his shirt). He talked about how the bad team was the "averies". Then he even had two pages where the players were in the field and the score was 0-1, then the second page was 0-2, and then the final page was the score 0-3. Twins win of course. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given how creative at playing he is, but I love that he put it into a book and wanted me to read it back to him once he had read it to me.

Unfortunately, both Trevor and Gwen got colds on Wednesday. Trevor just had a bad night on Tuesday night and sounded sinus-y but didn't get that bad. Gwen did get the worse end of the stick, but being 9 months old, I guess that's what happens. I'm hoping she is over the worst of it, but she is definitely having trouble sleeping at night and for naps during the day. So I've been giving her tylenol and motrin to make sure she doesn't feel that bad. It's now turned into a cough and a yucky nose, but isn't bad when she is awake, just when she is laying down.

And I think both Russ and I have the colds. Like Trevor, it isn't that bad, but just exhausting and yucky feeling. So lots of sleep and plenty of fluids is what the doctor ordered for this weekend.

Next week is "Down and Dirty Dudes". Trevor is very confused by the title as he doesn't know what the "dudes" part of it means. But again, it is at the same place as last week so I know when he goes through the day he'll love it.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

I don't know how they do it

I was expecting another bad night, or at least that Gwen would wake up screaming this morning like she did yesterday. But neither happened. I know Trevor came into our room last night, talking. I had to put him back to bed, but no real harm done. He wasn't screaming like he was the previous night, and it was only once, not multiple times.

Now if you didn't know, the reason I expected a bad night was because they both have bad colds. At least with Trevor, he can get Sudafed before he goes to bed. But poor Gwen, just gets a dose of tylenol before bedtime and that's all I can do with her. And I have to abandon my nap sleep training for the time being. She actually fell asleep in the car before her portrait session yesterday. She gave us some great pictures again, which is nice. Both of them took early afternoon naps, and when she slept for over a half hour, I just brought her back downstairs to sleep on my shoulder. So overall, she took a 3 hour nap. I can't help but think that when she is sick, that is more important than trying to learn to sleep in her crib for naps. It also helps me think that it will help prevent her from getting another ear infection. Add to it that she is working on her second bottom tooth, and I have a feeling she might have a few teeth coming in at once which will not make a very happy camper.

So that's the story of this week. I can't tell yet how bad the cold is. I think Trevor needs at least another day before I can tell how bad it is for him. Right now he's still sneezing a lot, but not a big runny nose yet. If it hits him hard, it will hit Gwen even harder and a much worse chance that Gwen will get an ear infection. So we are just on a wait and see time!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Blech

Things were going well. Gwen had been finally sleeping in her crib for naps the past two days. We had a fun playdate at Heather and Hayden's house on Saturday. We went to the MOA at the Nickelodeon park that night. We had a good drive up and back on Sunday for great-grandpa's 80th Birthday party. And it sounds like Trevor really enjoys his new camp. This one is "Story Time Fun" where he does crafts and activities based on a story that they read. The stories are from PBS kids - Curious George, Caillou, Arthur, etc.

And then last night happened. Both kids were up later than normal, so hopefully that had something to do with it and not getting sick. But last night was no fun. Trevor woke up 4 times screaming out. I would try to get him to wake up, but most of the time he would not. When I finally got an answer out of him about what was going on, he answered that it wasn't pain, but something that he was dreaming about. So when Gwen woke up this morning screaming, I felt in a big fog. I did let her cry for a while hoping that she would wake herself up and realize she didn't need to be screaming as she sometimes does. But nope, she was screaming and up for good.

So today, Trevor has has camp and Gwen has pictures. Both of which I just have a BIG wish and hope that they both can do well today. Also, we were invited to a pool party at 3pm today. I don't know if we will be able to make it given what is going on today and the bad night last night. But we will try.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Crazy week

While we were at the lake Monday and Tuesday, it has been a crazy week here at home.

First off, I wanted to pass on my congratulations again, although a little late to Erika and her family. They had a beautiful baby girl on Monday. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE her name. Piper Chloe. Their daughter Caroline picked out her middle name. Hopefully she'll get her night's straight soon!

Here at home, it has been a nice return to the house. Trevor has been tough on Thursday but pretty good yesterday. He did get in trouble early on Friday but when I told him he needed a time out, he brought himself upstairs. WOW. I just hope that his attitude continues until next week for camps. I read him the description of the classes for the coming weeks and he sounded very excited. I think he was also very happy that he wasn't going back to art camp. Poor guy. I hope I didn't scar him for life with that one.

Gwen has been going on a nap strike for most of the week. I have successfully gotten her to stop napping on my shoulder. Although I do have to get her to sleep that way. I think she is finally on her way to popping a tooth, or some kind of milestone because she is not enjoying her bottles. I know Trevor did this too and we had tried to change bottle flow thinking that that was the issue. So this time I'm pretty sure it's just a phase or else her teeth are bothering her.

Hopefully she'll figure the nap thing out soon. It would be nice to get some stuff done around the house!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A Hatfield Vacation

So because of the bad match to Trevor in his Dinosaur Art camp, I decided to pull him out for Friday and instead head down to the lake house on Thursday afternoon. Of course the time I wanted to go, the cities were getting hit with bad storms. It got REALLY dark inside. Trevor was a bit weirded out by it and kept asking what was going on. Our alarms in the area were going off as well and I was watching the radar.

After the storm had cleared and I finished packing the car, we started off. Gwen hadn't napped yet that day so she was asleep before we even left. Trevor fell asleep on the way over to Bubba's house and unfortunately woke up as I pulled in. So he was stuck watching "Cars" on the way over. We had waited long enough so that we just got some rain the last half hour or so of the ride.

We got in around 5pm and then went to dinner. They got hit with more rain and we heard about a restauarant that we would sometimes go to and the fire that destroyed it. Now that leaves only one kid-friendly place in the area to eat dinner at. And that place is only opened for dinner on Wednesday thru Sunday.

We had a quiet dinner and figured with the Palms being burned down, that the Stone's Throw would be pretty busy unless another restaurant opened up. So we got our reservations in for Friday. Now, ever since this week, Trevor has had a pretty difficult streak going. And Thursday wasn't much different. He was very excited to be at the lake, but he is a bigger kid, and he really wants to show me he can do things by himself. New boundaries were set. He has no problem going outside whenever he wants. There isn't anything that he can't figure out. He had to get one time out and no ice cream on Thursday night to know we were serious. He couldn't go outside without telling an adult, couldn't leave the table or make loud noises at dinner, and couldn't go down to the beach without an adult. Now it doesn't mean that he will be perfect at this from now until he is old enough to go off on his own, but at least he knows the boundaries and can test them if he wants, but that is what they will be.

Thursday night to Friday morning there were some pretty bad storms that passed through. I was fully expecting Trevor to come and get me because the storms woke him up at night. Hey, I was up listening to the hail pounding on the roof. Gwen was up a bit before 6am and there was another storm going on. My mom was up looking at the radar making sure it wasn't going to be worse than it was. Trevor strolled out of his room at 6:30. Most of the storm had passed by then. And the weather still was decent that day. Very windy but warm anyway. Bubba and Trevor got to go swimming in the lake and had a lot of fun riding the waves with a raft and his floaties. Gwen and I enjoyed the new toys and change of scenery for the day. Trevor and Gwen took a nap at relatively the same time, so I got a little time in the sun while they were napping. After waking Trevor up, we went back to the Stone's Throw for dinner. Trevor was pinned in the back corner of the restaurant so he could wander around a little and not get in trouble. But he still ate a good dinner and walked with Papa over to get some ice cream for dessert. After we settled the bill, we drove over to pick them up at the ice cream place. Trevor was yelling over to us. When we picked him up, he asked if we noticed the signs they were holding. That kid and his imagination.

Friday night/Saturday morning we got another round of storms that I didn't hear, but Trevor woke me up for more water at 1am. Then he was up right at 6 and out on the porch yelling at the hummingbirds. I woke up with Gwen a little later with the stomach flu. Wonderful. I must have slept at least 14 hours that day and night. I didn't eat anything all day. Saturday happened to be the yearly Blue Butterfly Festival at Black River Falls. Another thing that Trevor got to do with Bubba. He came back with McD's and sounded like he had a great time. He got a giant Blue Butterfly Balloon which he quickly named Floppy. Of course he wanted to take it everywhere including outside and in his room at night. Not a good idea with how crazy he is to make sure everything is not scary at night. Big shadows and things moving that he isn't sure about would not make it a fun night. Rather than have Stone's Throw food for three nights in a row, Bubba went and picked up some frozen pizza for the evening. Granted, Stone's Throw food is good enough to eat three times in a row, but frozen pizza is good too ya know.

Sunday was Papa's birthday! Unfortunately the weather on Saturday and Sunday was not the best. It didn't get up to 80 either day and the wind was crazy. Now Friday the wind was pretty bad too, but at least it was hot and humid so the wind was actually nice. Trevor was able to fly a kite a few times during the weekend. We were hoping to get out on the boat at some point, but with the windy weather, it wasn't looking good. Sunday birthday dinner was steaks on the grill, corn on the cob, and yummy strawberry shortcake. If you ever get the chance, ask Trevor what card he got for Papa's birthday. When he was in Black River Falls, he picked out a card that had three kids' butts on the front, that said "Happy Birthday you old fart". Apparently he just STARED at the card and loved it. Now of course when someone read him the card, he was very confused. He could pick out all of the words when they read it to him, except we substituted the word "toot" for "fart" so he kept asking to point out the word "toot". MAN that kid is smart. You can give him a book that is like a board book that contains maybe a total of 20 words and he can read it based on the description of the picture and what the story is about. Yes, he needs help on a few words that may not make sense, but he really is gaining a lot of knowledge.

Anyway, it was pretty chilly when we woke up on Monday morning. But the weather forecast said it wasn't going to be windy and it was going to get warmer. While I put Gwen down for a short morning nap, everyone else went to go put the boat in the water. After she woke up, I took her down to the shore to watch for the boat. It was pulling right up! Gwen got a quick boat ride which she did great at, and then Trevor, Bubba, and Gwen all got back off at the cabin. I got a nice ride where I got a lot of color since I wasn't wearing any sunscreen. WHOOPS. And as I got out of the boat, Trevor wanted to go swimming. Now it wasn't THAT warm out, so I got in with a raft and went up to my waist. Trevor was still able to float around and play for a while before he got too cold from the water. We went inside to eat lunch and then a little later we went back on the boat to bring it out of the water. That was where Trevor got to drive the boat a bit and then get a speedy ride. OH was he in heaven. Squealing in delight like only a 4 year old can, it was great to hear. Not just one fast ride, but two. Then it was back to the cabin. I ran in to BRF again for dinner and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Oh, and spattered throughout this trip there were probably 304833847 baseball games played. I guess it is better than sword battles of some kind, but the kid is obsessed with baseball right now. And he will.not.let.you do anything except "play" with him. At least with Nascar all you had to do was listen to him do his announcing with what was happening on the racetrack. But with baseball you have to hit, pitch, run the bases, the whole thing. And he's actually still on that kick. Thankfully he can play t-ball once a week "for real" and watch the Twins on TV when we are in the area. But oh my GOSH does that kid never tire.

SOOOO that was our trip. And it took me a good 2 days to write it all out. Sorry for the delay.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Well they can't all be great...

So we are on to the next "camp" for Trevor this week and it is NOT going well. I LOVED the art projects that they did at the last one, and actually hoped that he would have the same teacher so that they would do similar projects. But nope....different teacher, way different art projects. Add to it, that Trevor has been out of sorts lately and getting into "trouble" in class and this week has been an all around disappointment.

I've heard from a lot of moms that their kids, if they act up, it's usually the worst at home and so much so that sometimes it is amazing to hear that their kids can be angels when they are at preschool or another activity where the parents aren't involved. But with Trevor, he seems to test any adult or new authority if he even senses that they aren't firm or will let him get away with anything. I have seen that this week is a little off for Trevor here at home, but it has also brought with him at camp too.

His biggest thing is that he gets so upset at something that he doesn't know how else to react to it but to swing out and hit someone. Usually because they do something he doesn't want them to. I've tried the "use your words" thing. Mostly to try to battle when he feels like he has to hit back. Because I've seen when he is the one that starts it. I could tell that it won't work then. So now we are on to clapping when he feels like he has to hit someone. No idea if it will work. But we'll practice a bit before we go to camp.

The art projects have been paintings, chalk drawings and some clay stuff. All of which are things I could do here at home if I were so motivated. So this week was a dud. We will be going to the cabin today to spend a long weekend and won't be back to camps for another week. So hopefully Trevor will be over his funk by then and have a good time. Maybe a weekend at the lake is what he needs. We'll see!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Tired...but happy

Ahhhh.....we are home. The family went on the almost annual 4th of July trip to Solon Springs. We left bright and early on Thursday and came back after the kids went to bed last night. To avoid traffic. It worked very well. Well, except for the fact that I think Gwen was due for her "shake it up" sleeping schedule this weekend. So she didn't sleep at all on the ride up and didn't nap very well while there, and even was up before the sun was up on Saturday morning.

She ate a TON on Friday so I think that was what the deal was. Just her turn to do a growth spurt and screw up her sleeping. Great timing Gwen. She was also extra tentative with all the new people around. But it was sweet to see her take to Russ's aunt Linda and grandma. Both Gwen and Trevor had a great time playing with Nevey who is almost 3 years old. She liked the new toys she got to play with because I brought a few familiar toys for both Trevor and Gwen. And I think she also enjoyed the new people around.

So most of the days were just letting Gwen climb around, play with toys and try to nap. Nevey also had a little pool outside that she was nice enough to let Gwen use. So Gwen got to play in a pool for the first time.

For dinner we went over to the "little cabin" which is on a small lake. Next year it will be great because Gwen will be walking around and can play and splash in the lake. But this year, she is only able to sit and pull herself up which is really all she wants to do. And it is kind of hard to let her do it in the dirt. So we spent most of the time in the cabin. And on Friday night, she fell asleep at 7. After not napping much during the day.

Trevor said his favorite part of the weekend was playing with Nevey. Now that must have been spectacular because of all the other fun things he got to do. He went golfing, he went swimming, he went fishing, and he watched fireworks. Then when he was at the house, he was so lucky that he was able to play on big dirt piles. And swing and play on a swingset. Linda and Pat just finished building a new house on a huge plot of land so they had a lot of dirt to play with. Plus three beautiful dogs.

Trevor slept pretty well, although he was wiped out on Friday and should have taken a nap, but did his usual fall asleep in the car, and then when you get home, you can't fall asleep to take a nap bit. So because of his no nap thing, he wanted to go to bed pretty early, and slept until a decent hour.

Unfortunately, Trevor had a bit of bad luck when it came to the biting insects. He got quite a few mosquito bites (although I'm not sure how many he had before we got up there), then he got bit by a big black carpenter ant. Which I think scared him more than anything. Then, he got scraped and when dad went to wash his hands with purel, he screamed in pain. (ok...but that didn't have anything to do with an insect) And finally, when we were giving him a bath, we found a tick burrowed in his back. At least there weren't any big bangs, bruises or bumps. Hopefully, the bugs won't give him bad stories for a long time.

Dinosaur camp starts on Monday, so it will give him something to be distracted by for a while. In the mean time, it was a great pleasure to hear Trevor wake up, come downstairs, and say: "Oh Mommy! I was so surprised to be home!" And when I asked him if he was happy to be home, he said: "Yes! It is good to be home. Next time, I want all them to come down to my house." Such a cutie!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Week number three - Gymnastics

It wasn't a very event-filled week last week. It was a long camp...ran from 9:30 to 12:30 every day. I did get to see the set-up every morning when I dropped him off. The teacher looked really skilled at teaching young kids the basics in gymnastics. She would put out hand prints and butterflies for where your hands and feet were supposed to go when doing things like cartwheels, hand stands, somersaults, etc. And I did see how she would put more mats for the kids to try to leap over with their feet to get them stronger at pushing themselves in a cartwheel-like motion.

At the end of the week, I got a hand out for her actual gymnastics classes. I noticed they were only a half hour, twice a week. It was pretty cool that she was doing this class and I also heard that they didn't actually spend all the class inside. Every day for the second half, they got to go outside and play on the playground. And on Friday, Trevor said they got to watch a program that someone else was doing based on Disney movies.

This week, we are off of our camps because of the holiday. But I'm happy that I signed up for more of these camps through the school. It looks like they are really knowledgeable about kids and what they can tolerate.