Babies Babies Everywhere

Is it just me or is everyone seem to be pregnant right now? I know SO many people that are expecting - how fun! One in September, one in November, two in December, two in January, one in February and one in March! Does anyone else want to let me know that they have a bun in the oven so I can add them to my list!? And the crazy thing about the list is that 5 out of the 8 are my cousins!!! I guess everyone had the same plan :) And I know I haven't mentioned it thus far on my blog, but one of the most precious babies in the world will be born in January... Jeanne and JT's baby!!! I am so excited that they are expecting their first baby! Whoo-Hoo! Another baby to spoil! :) I can't wait to meet my newest niece/nephew and hold him/her in my arms!

Everyone's Still Sick

What a horrible, rotten week. Josh and Maryn are still sick. Josh seems to be on the upswing now, while Maryn seems to be getting worse or staying just as bad. Monday night she threw up probably 10 - 12 times. She couldn't get comfortable at all and anytime you would move her even just ever so slightly she would vomit. We had a scary moment where she started choking on her vomit and stopped breathing... I freaked out but luckily Josh was there and he stepped in and got her to get it out and start breathing again. Thank God she's okay. After things finally calmed down a little, I found a good position to hold her in (that didn't bother her stomach) and I just sat there holding her while she slept from 2:30 am - 5:30 am. It was a long night to say the least. Yesterday she was acting sick (with glimpses of hope at times) but still had some diarrhea. Well last night she was up quite a few times dry heaving. Now she just wants to sleep. We're working very hard at trying to keep her hydrated which I think is going just fine. She will take a bottle if we offer it to her (this morning she was mad that we wouldn't give her more) and she is consistently having wet diapers. I'm just praying this doesn't last much longer and that Makenna can stay healthy.

Okay strike that - Makenna just told me she wasn't feeling good, so I took her temp and she has a fever. Looks like we're adding to the sick list at our house.

My sick little MarBear... she just lays her head on anything she can find, but her favorite pillow right now is Pup Pup. This is her yesterday resting her head while in her exersaucer. To give you some idea of how sick she is, typically she will throw a fit if we try to put her in this thing (because it limits her mobility) but while she's been sick she welcomes it because it supports her and thus she doesn't have to work as hard to sit up.

Makenna Is Cracking Me Up!

This child is on a roll lately. It is just one thing after another. I feel like I have at least a few really good stories to tell Josh each night when he comes home.

I took Makenna shopping with me to Toys R Us to pick out Maryn's birthday presents. Makenna insisted on buying her this little toy piggy bank that she had played with at a friend's house and loved (you can already see her motivation behind this, can't you?!). Well we got it home and she kept begging me to let her take it out of the box and play with it. I repeatedly explained to her that it was Maryn's gift and that we need to wrap it and give it to Maryn on her birthday. Well Makenna decided to give it one last try... I was washing dishes and she came up to my side and once again said "Mommy can I open the piggy bank?" I said "No you can't." She replies with "But I talked to God mommy and He said that Jesus said it was okay to get the piggy bank out." I couldn't believe this was coming out of her mouth. And just a day or so before this when I told her no to something else she responded with "Uh-huh mommy, the Bible said so!" Well at least she's soaking up everything we're trying to teach her about God and the Bible, but the stinker already thinks she's going to use God against us to get her way!

On that same trip to the toy store that I was talking about before, I caved in and bought Makenna a Toby train (from Thomas the Train if you didn't know ;). She was so thrilled to have Toby and insisted on carrying him around the rest of the time while we were running errands(still in the packaging mind you). So the excitement continued and the next morning while I was getting Maryn and myself ready for church (Josh was sick) I told Makenna she could watch Thomas the Train for a little while. Low and behold, the story that day was about Toby... she picks up her new Toby train off the floor holds him up to the television and says "Toby do you want to see yourself on TV?! There you are!"

And on a sweet note (at least for me) - the other day I was holding and snuggling with Makenna on the couch. She looked up at me and at that moment she immediately reminded me of Josh (both of my girls have this ability). I told her "You're just like your Daddy." To which she responded "No Mommy, I want to be just like you!" Sorry Josh, but it just melted my heart :)

Multi-tasking At It's Best

Unfortunately this blog was born out of illness... Josh's and Maryn's. I guess you could count Makenna too since she has been sick for two out of the four weeks of August. Josh was sick with a stomach bug all weekend long and Maryn started off our day today by vomiting all over me and the couch after her first bottle this morning. Luckily Maryn seems to be doing okay up to this point (at least much better than Josh), but taking care of my little munchkin got me to thinking about some things.

Now I know it's been done before and talked about many times, but it just amazes me the variety of jobs a mom peforms and how well moms have to be at multi-tasking. We wear so many "hats" as moms! This is just what I could think of this morning as I was rocking my sick little baby...

Nurse, Doctor - obviously on the top of my mind today
Psychologist, Counselor
Maid, Dishwasher
Short-Order Cook, Personal Cook, Baker
Chauffer
Coach - Josh and I had fun just the other night playing softball with Makenna in the backyard - she's better when you pitch to her than with a tee!
Teacher
Referee
Health Care Advocate
Spiritual Advisor - one of the most important aspects of the job if you ask me
Massage Therapist - hours and hours logged in rubbing or tickling backs at bedtime :)
Personal Shopper - can any other mom tell me the last time she actually went to the store to shop for herself?
Professional Entertainer (ie. Singer, Musician, Dancer, Puppet Master, Dramatic Story Teller)
Artist (ie. Painter, Colorer)
Security Guard - mostly comes in handy when you have pesky neighborhood kids like we do
Banker
Comedian - oh the stupid things you'll do to make a baby smile!
Detective - who left the slimy streak of grape jelly across the floor?
Hairstylist - more likely for those of us with girls
Manicurist - we all know how difficult it is to trim a tiny babies fingernails, but have you ever tried to paint bubblegum pink nailpolish on a 3 year olds toenails??
Photographer/Videographer - this is definitely my favorite artistic aspect of the mom "job"
Author
Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy - Josh thinks I get a little carried away with this one
Warden - this is only for the really bad days ;)
Waitress - can any mom honestly tell me the last time she ate a hot meal?
Events Coordinator - I get to really try this out in the next few weeks... Makenna will have preschool twice a week, church on Wednesday nights, Ballet on Tuesday afternoons, and playgroup for the girls on Friday morning. And as soon as Maryn gives up her morning nap we are going to take Mommy and Me swimming classes. This probably doesn't sound like much to those of you with older kids but it will definitely be a switch for me.
Pharmacist - Tylenol, Orajel and Ibuprofren count... right?
Police Officer

Some of you could probably add seamstress to your list, but since I couldn't even sew on a button if I tried I decided I shouldn't add that :)

Any moms out there have anything to add? I'm sure there are many things that I am missing that us moms do on an every day basis. It's amazing how many things you learn to master in order to be a mom. But our little darlings are so worth it... I'm glad I can be Maryn's nurse and be the one to comfort her. Being a mom is so priceless and definitely a gift from God.

I Love This Age!

Have I mentioned before how much I love the age Maryn is right now?! It is SOOOOO fun! She is learning at such a fast pace and thoroughly enjoying her newfound mobility, increasing verbal skills and a whole new world of food! A little over a week ago she learned the fun game of raising her arms in the air whenever someone says "SOOOOO Big!" She loves this game! And then as of Friday, she can now clap her hands. I think Makenna and I were singing along and clapping to some song and then all of a sudden I notice that Maryn was doing the same. Only Maryn has her own version of clapping! She makes a fist with one of her hands and hits it with the other hand. It's quite adorable! She made up her own style of clapping! She is also starting to mimic a lot and figure out what different items in the house are used for. An example I can think is that she found Makenna's comb on the couch and she immediately put it up to her hair like she was combing her hair out. Maryn seems to be a pretty easy eater as well (just like Makenna). She is eating more and more solid food and within reason we give her whatever we're eating. She is doing so well. It cracks me up what she likes... in the past few weeks she has tried tomatoes, kidney beans, spaghetti, pizza, cantaloupe and fresh peaches for the first time and has devoured all of it!

And the other fun, exciting accomplishment for Maryn - yesterday she took her first step!!! And I say only "step" because it was only one and she didn't do it again. She took one the day before as well but it was pretty much a step as she was falling down so I didn't count that ;) Now she has been practicing all day today but still can't seem to get her feet to move underneath her. She'll stand up all by herself (not holding on to anything) and squeal and balance herself with outstretched arms. You can tell she is just trying to move her legs but nothing is happening. It's bound to happen soon :)

Oh and I almost forgot... she kisses now! :) I will never forget this... the first person she kissed was our neighbor Rhonda! Rhonda was holding her and Maryn very obviously leaned in and kissed her on the nose. I couldn't believe it and then she did it again! But as I got to looking I figured out that she could she herself in the reflection on Rhonda's sunglasses and I think she was trying to kiss herself (but no one tell Rhonda that - it would crush her)! The very next day I found her kissing the dishwasher because she could see herself in it (it's stainless steel)! And now if you pucker up and ask for a kiss she will lean and give you a very sloppy wet kiss! It's so sweet! I love baby kisses!

Our girls enjoyed playing at the water table together the other night. It was the first time they were able to do it together :) Maryn's stable and mobile enough to enjoy playing with it now, plus I was waiting until the weather got a little cooler. Maryn kept trying to suck the water off her fingers. I'm pretty sure she ate a few bugs but it's good protein, right?? Just kidding - we put brand new water in right before they played in it. But Maryn was fascinated by the water... it must taste better coming from a play table rather than a sippy cup.

Half Ironman

Josh completed his first half Ironman triathlon today and boy was it memorable! He started out on the swim remarkably fast (his fastest time yet for that distance) and felt great. His exact quote to me in the transition area after the swim was "That was fun!" I think you can see it in the look on his face as he's running into the transition area here...



He took off on the bike and told me that he was feeling great. He was keeping up with some of the elite guys and keeping a great pace.

About halfway into the bike... Josh was going about 20 mph down a hill and didn't notice that the next turn was extremely tight. He had the option of either hitting the breaks hard and sliding along the pavement or trying to make a landing on the grass straight ahead. He picked the latter... he ended up sailing into a curb at 20 mph, flipped off his bike, had the bike flip over his head and they both landed in a heap on the grass. Thank God he is okay. We have heard numerous stories of how many triathletes have been paralyzed this exact way. We are saying our prayers of thanks tonight that he is still able to walk and is doing okay. Josh's guardian angel had to work some overtime today.

Now most of you know my crazy husband and can guess that yes, he picked himself up and decided to try and finish the rest of the race. As he was sitting on the ground after his crash, two other racers came by and laughed at him. I would love to find these guys and knock them out personally, but of course that was all the motivation Josh needed so he hopped on his bike (first had to fix the chain because it was royally messed up from the crash) and took off after those guys. And guess what? He caught them! But unfortunately the crash and the extra energy it took to catch those guys caught up to him during the run and his run didn't go as well as he would've liked.

But all of that doesn't matter to me because I am so stinking proud of him! He swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles and then ran 13.1 miles all in one outing. HE IS A HALF IRONMAN! I'm sure many of you are just like me and you can't even fathom trying to do this. It is an incredible feat and not something that many people can say that they've done, let alone the fact that he did half of the race after a major accident. Tonight as I write this I am so proud of him for completing this race, but I am even more thankful to have my husband with me safe and sound and in one piece.

On to the pictures -

You'll notice the half smirk on Josh's face in the picture below... probably in disbelief that he is starting the 13.1 miles of run right after that accident. All the while he was running by me he was trying to tell me about it and all I could see was the huge scrapes all along his back. Other passers by that heard me yelling back and forth with Josh then told me that they witnessed the crash and told me how incredibly horrible it was. Now I had to sit and wait and see if my husband would make it through the run okay....


I was so thankful to see Josh at this point in time. I was worried sick that he wouldn't make it through the run after his crash.


Coming into the finish and SO glad to be done!


We owe a huge thank you to my parents for watching the girls for us during all three triathlons this summer. It required a lot of early mornings and time from them so that Josh could compete in his races and I could go and cheer him on. Thank you so much for all of your help and support Mom and Dad! We really appreciate it!

Where'd Cleo Go?

Unfortunately earlier this summer my family's cat Cleo saw the end of her days. She was extremely old (20+ years old) and had numerous health problems (including recurrent strokes). It was finally just time to put her out of her misery. Cleo was a wonderful cat and I'm sure many of you had the pleasure of meeting her at some time or another. I have lots of great memories of Cleo but one thing I will always love her for is her ability to know when someone needed her. Whether you were sick or feeling sad, she could sense it and she would come and just be with you. Cleo rarely slept with us in our beds but on those few occasions when we were sick or upset about something, she would lay right by our side until we felt better. It's amazing how you can think a cat is so aloof and has no clue about what is going on around her, but yet my experience with Cleo showed that she was very in tune with what we needed and liked to comfort others. What a wonderful kitty cat.

So that leads me to my next story... trying to figure out what to tell Makenna about Cleo. Honestly, I was just hoping she wouldn't notice. Horrible, I know, but I really wasn't looking forward to explaining death to a 3 year old. I kept putting it off and finally the inevitable came - we visited my parent's house and she went down in the basement (where Cleo typically was) and asked where Cleo was. My mom came running upstairs to give me my two minute notice that she was sending Makenna upstairs to talk to me about Cleo. Talk about pressure - I was seriously trying to rack my brain about everything I've read on what is age appropriate to tell a 3 year old about death.

Here comes my innocent little daughter with a concerned look on her face asking "Mommy where'd Cleo go?" I kneel down next to her and tell her that Cleo went to live with Jesus in heaven. I told her that Cleo hadn't been feeling very good lately and that when she's in heaven with Jesus she feels better. Makenna seemed very happy with this response and just said "Oh okay. Cleo is visiting Jesus."

I thought it was no longer on her mind but then a few nights later in the bathtub out of the blue Makenna asks "Mommy, is Cleo coming home from Jesus' house soon?" So I had to try and explain to her that Cleo was staying at Jesus' house because then she would feel better... if she had to stay here she wouldn't feel good anymore. Once again, she seemed satisfied with that answer and hasn't brought it up for weeks.

Okay so I feel like I've completed one difficult parent conversation... only a million more to go, right? What's next??? "Mommy where do babies come from?" I'm just waiting for that one. She's such a curious, bright child, it's bound to come up sooner or later. I'm so sending her to Josh for that one!! :) Who will in turn remind me that I was the one that used to be a health educator and then deflect the conversation back to me! Right, Josh???

Tomatoes Anyone?

We've had a plentiful harvest from our garden this summer. This was the first year for our garden at this home so we started pretty small. Tomatoes, green beans and green peppers... but the green peppers have been a bust. It looks like we are going to get a total of 2 green peppers from 3 pepper plants. Oh well. You live and learn. Our tomatoes on the other hand...



This is just from one day of picking and we typically pick every other day if not everyday. And this picture is not counting the dozen tomatoes I already have sitting on my kitchen counter from the other day! Anyone want some tomatoes? Especially the romas... we're getting more of those than we know what to do with and we only have one roma plant!

I also thought I'd include a picture of some of my pretty flowers from this summer. These are some of the only flowers I have left... a lot of them took a hit with the rough storms we've had lately.



Our big summer project is completed. It took longer than we thought but the garage was finally complete at the beginning of July! We are very, very happy with the outcome and would recommend the framer/sider/roofer guy to anyone. The concrete company is a completely different story though. Now we need to work on all the landscaping that they messed up during the construction process.



The girls are good, minus Makenna having a little stomach bug this week. Poor child is scared to go to the bathroom now. Can't say I blame her after what she's been through the past few days. We're ramping up for the fall! Where did the time go? Makenna is starting school and Maryn will be turning one! Crazy! Maryn is doing more and more by the day and is definitely keeping us on our toes. No steps yet, but she is so close! She just walks around our house with her little push toy like it's no big deal but then the second we take it away from her she immediately squats to the floor :) When she's ready, she'll do it!

Here is Maryn sitting in the shade in the garage one HOT, HOT afternoon that all the kids insisted on playing outside. This is the only way that Maryn and I survive on those sultry afternoons. Can you tell that pup pup is her all-time favorite stuffed animal? She can't sleep without him and they somehow manage to snuggle together all night long :)



Makenna playing on the deck.

Hi Daadee!

Maryn is talking, talking, talking! She says "mama", "nenna", "hi", and "pup pup" but her all time favorite phrase is "Hi Daadee!" I can't quite type how it sounds (since it doesn't sound exactly like Daddy), but it is so adorable! She does it in this high-pitched squeal and just about turns inside out! When Josh comes home from work she starts flailing her arms and bouncing up and down. She's always so excited to see Josh. He is definitely her favorite person these days :)

Maryn has really gotten into reading lately. We read to her almost every time before she goes to sleep (two naps per day plus bedtime). She does all the typical things that Makenna used to do (pet the pictures, turn the pages, etc), but she is very particular about her books. She has about a dozen or so books that she loves, but will not stray outside of those books. I try introducing at least one "not favorite" book each time we read and she will push it away, try to get off my lap or shut the book on me! Every time without fail! There are a few new books that over time she has come to love (Elmo's book about Love, The Bunny Hop, and That's Not My Bunny), but she likes to stick with her old standbys :) I guess she's a creature of habit just like her mommy! Now if I could only figure out how to get her to love two of my favorite children's books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear).

Makenna has been sick this past week. From Sunday afternoon until about Thursday morning she was fighting off some type of virus. She had a fever that would only go down with Tylenol and was just kind of out of it. Luckily she is feeling much better now. Today she got her haircut and she's very excited about school starting in a few weeks. Her vocabulary continues to provide entertainment for us. The other day she told me "Mommy I'm impressed" when I was doing something for her!

Makenna - 3 Years

I know this is a few weeks late, but I like to do an "all about..." blog for each of my girls when they reach certain ages. It's a good recordkeeping tool for me and helps me to remember each of our girls at specific ages.

All About Makenna at 3 years old....

Nicknames: Kenna and Princess are the only two that Makenna allows (she'll typically correct you if you call her anything else!). But as of this morning Maryn called her Nenna!
Weight & Height: 3 foot 5 inches, 38 pounds
Hair: Long blond hair - thin, fine, wispy and usually messy :) She has a few bangs but everything seems to be a different length given the various haircuts she has given herself over the past few months. Oh and the fact that Maryn loves to pull her hair so hard that her hair comes out in clumps :( She doesn't like to wear her hair in ponytails or braids, she prefers barrettes or having her hair down.
Favorite foods: You name it, she'll probably eat it. Probably the world's least picky 3 year old when it comes to food. Typical food for a day...
Breakfast - 2 whole grain pancakes with strawberries, blueberries and a few marshmallows or Oatmeal with berries or Cold Cereal with fruit
Lunch - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich or Turkey and Cheese Sandwich with piece of fruit or cherry tomatoes. Every once in a blue moon she'll ask for Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Salad, or Chicken Nuggets.
Snacks - string cheese, Care Bears fruit snacks, cold plums, goldfish crackers
Dinner - Eats whatever we eat. Favorites include brats, pizza, parmesan peppercorn steak, onions and red peppers on the grill, chicken pasta, broccoli, tomatoes, cheeseburgers, spaghetti, tacos, anything with pasta, watermelon
Dessert - This child LOVES cake. She kind of gets into a zone when she eats it, especially if it has frosting or whipped cream on it. Ice cream comes in a close second.
Favorite Drink: Mostly she just drinks skim milk, water and watered down apple juice. For a treat every once in awhile she'll have chocolate milk.
Favorite toys: Care Bears, Care Bears and more Care Bears. She typically doesn't play with many toys, she just uses her imagination. You can give her a few pencils or markers and she will turn them into characters, make up stories about them and play with them for an hour! She also likes to play tea party, doctor's office and other kinds of imagination games. She also loves arts and crafts activities, especially painting, cutting and pasting.
Favorite stuffed animal: Duckie
Bedtime: We aim for 8:30 pm but it has been trying in the summer with all the noisy kids outside
Wake-up time: Approximately 8:30 am (both bedtime and wake-up time are going to shift up one hour when preschool starts in a few weeks)
Naps: Almost nonexistent. Every once in a great while she will fall asleep on a long car ride if it is late in the afternoon after a busy day.
Favorite person: Any and all kids. Her cousins and the neighbor kids are on the top of her list. Maryn too depending on if Maryn is trying to steal her toys at the moment ;) And definitely all of her grandparents - Poppy, Peepie, Papa and Nana are always some of the first people mentioned in her prayers every night before bed.
Latest Accomplishment: Number and Letter Identification - she can identify all of her numbers 0 - 10 and can now identify over half of the letters in the alphabet
Likes: singing and dancing, playing outside with the kids, reading before bed, watering the flowers and garden, going to the library, reading books before bed, Daddy's Kenna and Kermit stories, birthdays (doesn't matter whose birthday it is, she loves it!), Sunday school, music by Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood
Dislikes: having to go in the house when all the other neighbor kids are outside playing, getting her hair done (this includes washing her hair), putting on Aquaphor, getting dressed in the morning (she would prefer to play in her pajamas all day),
What gets said about Makenna most often: how tall she is, disbelief that she is only 3 (typically she gets mistaken for a year older than she is), that she speaks very well for her age, that she is very polite
Best known for: being the social director of all the neighbor kids, standing in our front door or driveway and yelling at every one that drives or walks by, having a yellow duckie with her everywhere she goes, and being a very polite, sweet, enthusiastic child
Fears: the blinds in her room (we believe this is made up so that we won't leave her room at bedtime)
Favorite shows: Arthur, Bob the Builder, Care Bears movies, Berenstain Bears
Health: Makenna is an overall very healthy child. She is allergic to peas, bactrim and the sun. On top of the sun allergy, she also has eczema which is very rough on her skin. We use a lot of sunscreen and Aquaphor to control both conditions and it seems to be working for right now.
How she's like Daddy: Typically she can't/won't eat until she's been up for a few hours in the morning, likes to wrestle, her body temperature is always hot, when she gets busy playing she will forget to eat until someone reminds her or makes her
How she's like Mommy: Likes to cook, bake and make a mess in the kitchen, Mommy was a very social toddler as well
Interesting Tidbits: Makenna gets the hiccups more than anyone I've ever met (she has since she was a newborn), on a regular basis she will tell us that her foot is "wrinkly" (we believe she is trying to communicate that her foot is asleep), Makenna has to have the light on in her room until she falls asleep (but then we turn it off when we go to bed and she's okay with that - go figure)

Wasserbahn Weekend

We enjoyed a fun weekend at the Wasserbahn waterpark celebrating Ken's (Josh's dad) 60th birthday. Fun was had by all! Makenna definitely didn't want to go home - she wanted to stay and play with all her cousins and Papa and Nana.


The Budkes out to eat in the Amanas. The kids all behaved beautifully. If you look closely, you can even see Maryn waving in the back between me and Josh :)



Maryn trying to steal a bite of Josh's cracker at dinner on Friday night!



Papa and his girls :)



Josie and Makenna - The waitress asked them if they were twins! Makenna only wishes! Then she could live with Josie and follow her around even more than she already does :)



Maryn giving another smile at dinner despite not having a nap that day!



Proof that Makenna indeed did have a good time this weekend - this is her conked out on the floor of our computer room this afternoon. We thought she was just playing really quietly...