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 :(

It's Spring!

I am a week behind since I left to Spain last Sunday evening and unfortunately the blog didn't get checked off the to do list before leaving.  It was a nice trip but I am glad to be home and work travel free for at least the foreseeable future!

Last Weekend
Friday - Our good friends Trip & Lori came over for a visit after having not seen them in quite a few weeks.  This shows how icky winter has been since we use to see them almost every Sunday for football games and in the summer Trip/Clint are golfing quite a bit together.  It was nice to see them and share recent travel stories.  Miss M showed off the entire visit :) and we ate some yummy grilled steaks!

Saturday - We had our weekly gym class and Maci loved parachute time.  Clint got some great pics of her reactions!

Later in the day, Miss M got spoiled, what's new?!  We decided it was time to tear down her baby swing, amazing gift from Aunt Christie, but she is far too big now :-(  So to take up that corner of her playroom, we bought her an inflated ball house.  She LOVED playing inside of it, throwing out balls and then (like her mom's OCD) had to rush to pick up all the balls and throw them back in, just to do it all over again a few moments later!

While shopping for her ball house. . . we wasted time in the checkout trying on a variety of sunglasses. . . she thought she was very cool!

While I was gone in Barcelona most of this week (Sunday evening - Thursday evening), Clint did his amazing husband/daddy duty and sent me several pictures of Miss M.

So then I had to share some pics of my week. . .

I got over my jet leg much better from Europe than I had from Asia, I guess to be expected.  Friday was a busy/productive day at work followed by my good friend from Sidney plant days, Jim visiting. He was in town for work and we got to benefit from his last night in town.  He was very thoughtful and brought Clint his favorite shake as an early bday present, me an ice cream sandwich and Maci an adorably soft bunny (her 4th sleeping buddy)!  It was great to catch up with him over basketball, our brackets are DONE!

Saturday we had gym (fun as usual) and then errands/family nap time.  Come dinner we went out for Clint's birthday with two of our couple friends and their toddlers who are Maci's gym friends (Natalie/Harper).  Harper's parents (Halston/John) have been talking about Acapulco for some good Mexican food and so we finally had a reason to try it out.  It was quite yummy and the kids were really good.  They even danced to the 80's in the bar area for a bit before we left before their bed time.

Today was AMAZING weather!  Spring has sprung, finally!  It was in the low 60s and so nice.  We knew it was going to be great and with Clint's birthday being on a Monday, we celebrated all weekend long instead.  We ran some errands in the morning after sleeping in a bit.  At 1p we met up with the same friends from dinner last night for a day at the zoo, they also have memberships!  The kids had fun and we can't wait to do this more in the summer once the farm area with the petting zoo opens back up, only 2 more days!!!  We can't wait for this city to come to full life again, such an awesome city in full bloom!  We wrapped up the evening with a long walk around our neighborhood before dinner/bedtime.

Miss M went to bed about an hour early tonight and felt a little warm, please say some prayers she isn't coming down with anything, especially since Clint is off to DC Tues-Thurs of this week!  UGH

Have a great week!
Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Top O' the Morning to You!

Yay, it is almost St Patty's Day!  Maci has been wearing a lot of green leading up to this fun holiday and she will be all decked out tomorrow at daycare, along with Mommy at work.  We aren't sure if Daddy is wearing green tomorrow since he is left for Fayetville today and we didn't see if he packed green, probably not!

This was a busy past week and I suffered from some bad jet lag towards the early part of the week but I finally feel back to normal, just in time to leave for Spain not this week but next ;-)  I also had a hard time getting caught back up at work since I was only in the office Monday and Friday of the week.  Tues-Thurs I was in my 2nd module of Coactive Coaching, a great training session and valuable time spent but it has left me quite a long to do list :) Life goes on!

Last Sunday's zoo trip was a blast!  Miss M loves the Zoo more and more each time we go.  This time she got to pace with a Lynx cat, bought a sloth stuffed animal that is quickly becoming a 2nd fav behind lamby and she got to run around/ride on daddy's shoulders!  We LOVE the zoo and can't wait for fully warmer weather so we can enjoy all of the zoo, not just the indoor portions.

Maci had a lot of fun, as usual, at daycare this past week.  Enjoy some of these funny pics of our gal this past week.

Water Table Fun

Playing with the texture of noodles

 Lunch time with friends!

HA - Maci will NOT stop climbing on tables at daycare, they told her to put her feet down and this is what she did.... GOOF Ball!!

Clint and I enjoyed a date night on Saturday night and this is the text we got from our sitter, Ali.  Miss M must have been worn out by Ali because she fell asleep on the floor during PJ time :)

Have a wonderful GREEN week!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Ni Hao, Momma is back from China!

I had to share this one picture from the week before I left to China.  I didn't have time to write a post last Sunday before I left due to packing and watching Miss M while daddy was in Chicago with work (Wed-Sat).  However, I think the following picture sums up my thoughts from that week as well, exhausting!  Miss M couldn't make it from lunch to her cot for nap time, reminds me of Grandpa Mike ;-)

I had a very nice time in China but I am also glad to be home.  Shanghai was much cleaner than I remembered and much more modernized since my last trip 17 years ago!  It felt like NYC for the most part.  I struggled a bit with the true authentic Chinese cuisine but usually there would be one dish at the meal that I really enjoyed and would load up on that :)  We had a safe trip home and I have enjoyed my shortened weekend back with the family.

Tao our China Country Tax Manager & Host for the Week

 Dinner night 2 in Old Shanghai, very cool buildings

 Bund View from a Swanky Restaurant on Thurs night

Miss Maci had a great week with daddy but this week didn't involve much hair brushing or ponytails so enjoy the following photos :)

Right after Mommy Left

Rough Hair Day but at least it was "Green Snack" Day

 Thank goodness daycare stepped in and started doing her hair!

 Making Mashed Bananas - So Fun!

I got home Saturday morning 11a CST and even though I was extremely jet lagged, I was so happy to see my family.  Miss M did gym class with daddy right before I got home.  Below you see a picture of a spider web crawling thing they put up.  Dad was bragging when he picked me up that she was the ONLY kid out of like 15 kids that would actually climb through it - she is so brave!

After mommy got home and settled, it was time for her first haircut!  These pictures all week made me realize her hair is quite sloppy right now when it isn't pulled up so I took her to my salon :)  So fun!  She did great and I distracted her with a push pop candy sucker thing!

Well we are off to the zoo, it is in the 40s here today and so that feels like a beach vacation!  We hope you all have a great rest of your weekend and good next week as well.  We are happy to all be in town next week and enjoy some routine!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M