Lazy Sunday Update

This week was fairly quiet with me in training locally Tues-Thurs and Clint in town all week long.  On Monday we had our 2nd parent teacher conference for Maci at daycare.  As usual there were lots of positives but also a few things we could work on : her volume, being able to calm herself vs having loud outbursts and to keep working on shapes/colors/numbers.  Do 15 month olds typically know their shapes/colors/numbers?  I mean holy cow!  I am impressed that she can sign and pretty well say "please!"  They admitted that they wouldn't know those things yet but we should keep reiterating it. . . ha I always chuckle after these conferences.  Tuesday was her Spring picture day at daycare.  Maci wouldn't sit still for the photographer (what's new?!) and she kept pointing and talking during the pics.  I am glad we weren't counting on these pictures turning out very good :)  By Thursday we had swim lessons and Maci had a blast in the pool with dad but she missed her friend Natalie who still has an ear infection and therefore her Dr recommended keeping her out of the pool.  Friday finally brought the weekend and Clint went with some buddies from work to a distillery for happy hour/Friday night fun while Maci and I played outside after work and cuddled watching TV.

Clint's Bottle of Vodka & Initials that will now head off to stores for sale. . . 

Friday was such a gorgeous day which was nice because it got a little cooler on Saturday and then today has been rainy and gray all day long!  Yesterday was a day of errands so nothing too exciting to share there.  We believe there will be much more excitement coming soon with the warm weather and excitement of me balancing lots of activities at work :)

There aren't many pictures this week but we look forward to sharing more next Sunday.

Maci had to "walk" during our walk. . . 

it took about 200X longer than usual but look at that cute/happy face!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Here's to Long Weekends & Easter!

Yay - we are enjoying the end of a 3 day weekend!!  This was a busy but good week, no sickness!  Clint had to leave to Memphis for a quick two day trip Tues-Wed of this past week but Maci and I were pros on our own.  We met up with my former co-worker from Sidney, OH on Tuesday night for dinner since she was in town for some training.  Maci did so good through an almost 2 hour dinner convo!  I probably told her about 100x on the way home how proud I was of her :)  The rest of the week was the usual daycare fun stories and busy shenanigans at work.

Clint and I were excited for Friday to roll around.  Cargill recognizes Good Friday as a work holiday and since we both work there, we had the day off together!  However, Maci's daycare was still open so we got a "free" day date!  We slept in a bit after I dropped Maci off at school.  After we got up for the day, we ran a few errands that were much easier without Maci in tow and then we headed to mall of America where we got some shopping done for both us and Maci.  Clint also got a pedicure (since I did mine last Sunday with some girlfriends).  It was a wonderful afternoon and then we got to go pick up our buddy around 5p.  It was such a productive day, after picking up Maci we decided to get our grocery shopping done for the weekend, wild and crazy Friday nights these days HA :)

Saturday started with the usual gym class, Maci was in a great mood since it was a parachute day!  We then ran a few last minute Easter bunny errands before family nap time.  Saturday afternoon we had a 1st birthday party for Brielle.  Her parents are friends of ours that recently moved to Minneapolis (September of last year).  We didn't know them but our mutual friend Ashley (roomie of mine from college) knew them from Chicago (where they lived before moving here).  She put us in touch with each other this past fall and they have been a great couple with lots in common.  Maci had a great time at Brielle's birthday party and was quite patient with allowing Brielle to open the gifts (Maci is going to love this coming Christmas!)  but she didn't wait as patiently for her bites of cake!  We had a great time and then played at home the rest of the evening.

Today was Easter Sunday!  Maci woke up to lots of goodies from the bunny so she had a full early morning of playing with her new gear.  It was a GORGEOUS MN Easter!  We watched so many people walking to sunrise service at the Lutheran church across the street.  After playing, we got dressed in our Sunday best and Maci really enjoyed being all girly (a true first for this tom boy).  She kept swishing around in her little dress and tights.  Maci did well at church until about the hour mark and then her and all other children begged for an end to the mass.  By the 1.5 hour mark, I believe many of the adults were as well!  Afterward, we went to Cooper's for brunch (restaurant at the west end shopping area near our house) with our lil fam.  Maci ate very well and had fun looking at "babies" at the table near us.

 Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Gilroy for my cool Easter train!

Testing the timer on the camera

We learned that Maci thinks the beeping & flashing of the timer is hilarious . . . 

Who knew this is what it takes for a good picture from her!

After nap time, we headed for the Zoo!  With 70+ degrees and zoo babies going on, it was the perfect way to spend our Easter afternoon.  I took so many pictures today because Miss M is just getting more and more fun each time we venture out to the zoo.  Today she cried many times when I made us move on to the next animal display.

She loves this view - I still get nervous!

 GOATS!

 PIGLETS!!

 Bengal Tigers!

 Cutest Playground - Maci was in an Ostrich Nest!

 Turtle - Turtle!

 Checking out the Lynx cat with a New Buddy - he seems shy compared to her!

 Baby Chicks

 This face says it all - Happy Lil Stinker!!

P.S. . . . we now have "real" pigtails

We wrapped up our evening by playing outside in the backyard with some of Maci's new Easter toys and after dinner, Maci/Clint rough housed while I folded laundry and worked on this blog.

We hope everyone has a peaceful and joyous week!
Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Spring Time and Hoping to Start Feeling Fine!

This week's weather for the most part was AMAZING and a welcomed reminder that Spring is here and warm weather is about to stay!  Unfortunately Miss M still hasn't fully kicked the sickies as we had a few "interesting" puking incidents this week which make Clint and I in the running for parents of the year ;-)

So let's see what were we doing this week?

Daycare - Maci had a fun week at daycare and fortunately only 1 of her 3 puking incidents occurred here this week.  We were also fortunate that it was at the very end of the day and seemed to be a fluke (1st one of the week) so they let her come back the next day (Thursday).

Fell asleep sitting up in her snow suit to go outside - this was at the beginning of the week when it was still some what chilly in the morning.

First Buggy Ride of the Year 

Maci is way in the back with the purple hood up

 Playing in the sand table outside

 This girl is happiest outside!

 Painting - girl loves herself some art time!

 Snack time outside - Maci is near the fence in the peach jacket

So beyond daycare the end part of our week got pretty "exciting."  After the "fluke" puking at daycare  Wednesday, Maci seemed just fine and went on with her Thursday like any other day.  We went to swim that night and she LOVED the pool as usual.  However, she has now started jumping into dad - such a big girl.  Afterward, we did our usual dinner with friends but decided to do Five Guys burgers instead since Applebees took so long last time.  We no sooner are about to put Maci in her high chair and PUKE everywhere.  Poor restaurant goers that had to see this because I am sure I wouldn't want to eat.  However, like Wednesday, Maci was perfect afterward, even ate dinner and never ran a temp -weird!  Then Thursday night I woke up and PUKED - UGH!  This isn't good. . . I was too weak on Friday to go to work so worked from home and actually took a 3 hour nap - GEESH!  However, it seemed to be done, or so we thought.

The weekend came and we were excited to have the break!  Friday night, I met up with two girlfriends for happy hour (Jaycee & Halston) while the guys met up with the babies at Ryan & Jaycee's house.  I opted for Diet Coke since I wasn't quite sure how my tummy would do with liquor at this point.  Saturday we had the usual gym and Maci was quite excited this week to be playing with the others.  We then ran some errands before meeting up with our friends Gena/Vinny and their lil guy Emmett for a twins game.  The babies did great!  I was worried with Maci walking that she wouldn't sit still but we got there in the 1st inning and Maci was great up until the 8th inning when we decided we had enough fun.  She sat in Clint's lap eating her snacks and pointing at all the action going on around her.  The Twins even hit a few homers so the kids saw fireworks - so fun!  Afterward we took a family nap and decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  Everything was going fine until. . .Maci PUKED again!  Ughhhh I mean 2x in one week at restaurants!!  This time Clint and I were a little more subtle, cleaned it up, got Maci and I out of there and he paid the bill.  However, she once again seems fine afterward and has kept all other meals down as well as no temp.  We have decided to not attempt any more restaurants with her until this seems to be gone once and for all :(  Poor kid!  So today we are chilling around the house.  Maci is napping right now, Clint is watching golf and I am about to get some work done before meeting two girlfriends for pedicures.  Nice little Sunday if I may say so myself :)  Please pray that we have no more buggies in our house this week!  Work is getting too busy and I don't have time to deal with feeling yucky!

Crab walking with Dad @ Gym Class

Family Selfies at the Game

 She is SUCH a Beauty!

 This was earlier in the week - she was playing in the bottom of the oven drawer - GOOFY!

 YES - Goofy!

This morning - her and Boomer (Buddies) have a hiding place under our bed!

Looks like they are sharing her pacifier in this one!

We hope you all have great weeks!
Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Go Away Sickness!!!

This was the week of high maintenance Maci, poor girl.  She seemed to have a small cough on Sunday when we were at the zoo but it was nothing major.  Maci was a trooper through daddy's birthday on Monday and was still doing ok when he left to DC on Tuesday for work.  However, I got the dreaded daycare call on Wednesday during my late morning saying that she had a 101 fever and I had to come get her.  We got into the Dr same day around 2p and her lungs sounded fine, ears looked good and strep was negative so the Dr assumed it was viral, meaning it just needs to run its course.  She stayed home with mom on Thursday since Clint was in DC and she couldn't go back to daycare until 24 hours since the temp hit.  I was able to work from home and fortunately since lil lady didn't feel well, she napped 3 separate times and went to bed around 6p!  Poor Girl!!  She seemed herself on Friday and thankfully Clint got back home late Thursday evening.  We all went to bed fairly early since Clint and I are starting to have a cold as well.  Then Saturday hit and Maci girl was just NOT herself :( she was fussy through her entire gym class. . . we didn't even do breakfast with friends.  She did ok during our grocery trip but then napped for about 2 hours on me, which I didn't mind ;-)  (The only good thing about a sick toddler is the extra cuddle time)  She still wasn't running any temp and was just dealing with a cold so we went to our friend Gena/Vinny's house for dinner/hangout with friends.  Maci was herself again playing with all her friends but wouldn't eat much more than her cheerios/applesauce and milk (odd).  We got home around her normal bedtime and then today she woke up OFF again!  Today was far worse =( We had brunch plans with our friends Trip/Lori to have a belated birthday celebration for Clint.  Maci who usually LOVES breakfast out was sitting in her highchair just whining and dazing off into the distance.  She ended up spending the entire meal laying on daddy's shoulder.  I went home afterward to let her nap while Clint/Trip/Lori did virtual golf at Bunkers.  Maci continued to nap off and on and today would only eat liquids (applesauce, milk, yogurt etc)  She napped right through our will party (long story but really neat idea) with friends from 3-5p.  Afterward, we took a quick nap since we were in the 60s again today!!!  We thought the fresh air and Vitamin D may do her good.  It did help because the temp is fully gone and after a bath she was in bed by 6p.  If poor girl wakes up the same way again tomorrow, Clint is going to take her back to the Dr to see if there aren't more answers or meds we can get for her to feel better.  Please say some prayers that our house rids this crud sometime soon, especially in our poor baby!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Finger painting and still feeling fine (Tuesday)

 Longest Nap to Date - 3 Hours at Daycare on Tuesday. . . UHhhh oHhhhh

 Oh no, poor baby has a temp - sleeping at 10a in her daycare room =(

 Napping at home with mom on Thursday in the play pen

 Friday, looking better during art time with her friend Reese

 Snack time on Friday and eating like a good girl!

 This was the scene at our house of our girl today :(