Sweet Talker

Every once in a while Olivia says something so sweet, so darling, that I try to hold onto that comment for as long as possible.

Like when she says, "Hearts are for Valentine's Day. The day when you love everyone."

Or

"When Anya and I grow up, we be best friends, OK?"

Or

"Momma we get cozy in my bed and read books."

Ah, just typing those preschooler sentences brings a smile to my face. So I attempt to remember them and think about them when she says other things, during the course of our day such as:

"Momma, I love you sometimes."

Or

"I want my dad" (this is usually in the form of a scream/yell followed by tears when she wants to get away from Little A and myself).

Or

"I miss my grandma." (Anytime I tell her no.)

Or

"Momma my poop is brown. Your hair is brown. My poop is brown like your hair."

Kids really do say the darnest things, don't they?

Mother's Day 2012

My request for Mother's Day was simple. I wanted a photo of myself and my daughters. Smiling. With our eyes open. Looking at the camera. All three of us at the same time.

Is that too much to ask? Apparently yes.

I keep smiling, waiting for O & A to look at the camera.

We have one child looking at the camera. Toe lint removal is Little O's newest obsession.

Poking her sister.

Stop for a kiss of encouragement.

Twenty five photos later, we got it. All it took was a bit of patience.

Big X, little X, what begins with X?

Little O recently had her first (and hopefully last) X-ray.

The injury was a bruised big toe, due to a Leapfrog laptop dropped squarely on the nail. At first, I thought it was no big deal and would be healed in a few days. But my drama queen preschooler hobbled around the house and complained loudly until she wore me down, I called the doctor's office.

That night she charmed every employee at the clinic, including the doctor. She earned a Thomas the Train sticker and a trip to the hospital for her first X-ray in the morning.

I was concerned that Olivia would be worried about going to the hospital. On the contrary. Guess who was awake at 6:30 a.m. jumping up and down (without flinching) demanding to go to the hospital to take a picture of her toe? Little O.

Safe to say, her toe wasn't broken. Not surprisingly, she did earn more sympathy at the hospital by the X-ray techicians and another 5(!) Disney princess stickers for "being a star patient." I'm surprised she hasn't tried to drop any other toys on her feet.

Meet Anya

Family Photo

Tipping the scales

First onesie

First hug from Dad

Meeting Little O

Anya loves to suck her thumb

The morning after the first sleepless night

Getting dressed to go home

Anya gives a thumbs up. She is ready to leave the hospital

V-Team Picks Anya in First Round of 2012 Draft

This just in from the Boro: After much anticipation and excitement, the V-Team has selected Anya Marie with its first round draft pick of 2012.

After some final visits to the sledding hill and playgroups, the V-Team focused its efforts on signing Anya at 5am on Monday, 17 days after they thought Garrison Keillor gave them a sign it would be a boy. During Keillor's visit to Frederick on January 28, he mentioned the name Jack Benny during his afternoon talk. Benny and Michelle looked at eachother as if it was a sign. It was not.

Anya initiatied the contraction action with a surprise wakeup call at 3am on Monday. After realizng the deal should not be completed on home turf, Michelle woke up Benny. Benny dropped off Olivia at Mrs. Tiffy's house and ran back home to pickup mom and bring the negotiations (contractions) to the experts (doctors and nurses) in the Boro. The 30 minute drive seemed like it took forever, but it only lasted 25 minutes (we got caught behind some non-baby-coming-out-any-minute slow-pokes in a no passing zone). After many raised voices about meeting demands for a private bedroom, a potential lockout was averted and a deal reached when the doctor arrived at the hospital just in time to catch Anya (literally). Anya became an official member of the V-Team at 6:12am on Februrary 13. Anya agreed to not only share a bedroom with Olivia, but also a birthday with her Great-Grandpa Donald.

Mom and Anya are doing well, looking forward to recovering at home around Olivia's familiar squeals that Anya heard for the last several months. Olivia and Mrs. Becky are enjoying their last days of running around the house without a newhborn. If only Olivia knew how her life was about to change.

This future sprinter weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and 20.5 inches long. While Olivia was drafted for her cuddly cuteness, fierce negotiating skills, and ability to generate oohs and ahhs, Anya has an uncanny ability to mesmerize competitors with her dimpled cheeks, double chin, blue eyes, red hair (only joking, it's brown) and ability to sleep and ignore Dad's pleas to wake up to eat (so far). Anya enjoys life in the fast lane, and she waits for no one. Anya will start on the triple A V-Team in Maryland, under the mentorship of big sister Olivia.

We look forward to the rest of spring training, and the debut of Anya's rookie season as part of the V-Team when Grandma Kann comes out at the end of February. The V-Team will welcome the visit of this veteran Mom and Grandma, who will bring a wealth of wisdom to the parents who may be a little rusty since their rookie season in 2009.

Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!

Benny, Michelle, Olivia and Anya

Bottom's up

I love a brewery tour. I am a sucker for the self-promoting, bragging tour guide explaining how a bottle of beer brewed at a particular brewery is better than the rest of the beers in my refrigerator.

In my lifetime, I've taken three tours: Budweiser with my mom, Colleen, Adam and Rachel in Colorado in 2006, New Belgium with Uncle Glenn and Aunt Heather in Colorado in 2008 during the V-Team Farewell Tour, and Orion with Benny in Okinawa in 2009.

Orion was the most interesting considering it was self-guided and nearly all the information was written in Japanese. The samples at the end were good, according to Benny. I was pregnant at the time and unable to enjoy the best part of the tour-- the free samples.

Last Friday, I was again the pregnant woman getting strange looks on a brewery tour. This time it was Flying Dog brewery in Frederick.

Our tour guide was wearing this T-shirt.

A tour of Flying Dog (which moved from Aspen, Colo., to Frederick in 2006) topped our Maryland to-do list when we first moved here last spring. But the brewery didn't give tours because of a Maryland beer-serving law snafu. In August the rules changed and we immediately began planning our tour date. Benny made our reservation on November 28 for our January 27 tour.

Drew, Mel, Steve, Kristi, Michelle and Benny

While they sampled the coffee beer ...

I was left with a glass of water. Yes, we got to keep the glass.

Just the two of us

So what did I learn on this tour? That I love Flying Dog. There is a connection between the beer and the Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Super cool. My journalism student heart went pitter patter when that fact was stated during the tour. A freedom of speech lawsuit supported by the ACLU with the company temporary changing its slogan to "Good Beer, No Censorship." Again the writer inside of me went gag-gag. And the reason I love Blue Moon and Kansas City's own Boulevard is because it's unfiltered beer. Got to love when a brewery tour unexpectedly turns into an educational event.

Reality sets in

It happened today.

I flipped the calendar to February and one date in particular caught my eye.

Only two weeks until my due date. Wow. Where did the last nine months go? My first pregnancy with Olivia seemed so slow moving. This pregnancy flew by. Or time sped up.

After my initial panic this morning, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that Benny and I have been preparing for Valentino/a's arrival since New Year's Day.

The crib is assembled. Olivia and Valentino/a will share a room, so we had a little rearranging to make the two beds fit in the bedroom. I had a weeklong conversation with big sister Olivia about the crib that went something like this:

"No, you can't sleep in the crib. The baby is going to sleep in there."
"No, you can't nap in the crib. That's for the baby."
"No, you can't put your dolls in there. It's for the baby."

Eventually Olivia said to me "Momma the baby is going sleep there (pointing to crib) when I'm a big sister." Yes. we got it.

We washed, folded and put away the infant clothes, hats, socks, mittens, blankets, etc. Olivia was happy to match the socks for me. She also had George, her monkey and best friend, try out many of the baby's items, including the Baby Bjorn and baby bathtub.

All these cute onesies from 2009 are making a second appearance in 2012.

I forgot how small the newborn onesies are and was amazed as I tried to remember Olivia being that small and quiet.

We lost the backseat of our car after Benny installed the infant car seat. We will soon lose our living room as the pack and play, swing and bouncer are placed in the center of our house. I packed my hospital bag and the bag for the baby. We finalized the plans for who is watching Olivia when the time comes to go to the hospital.

Lastly, we received the baby's going home from the hospital outfits. When we were pregnant with Olivia, I asked my sisters to pick out a newborn girl outfit and a newborn boy outfit for the baby's big day. Olivia had the cutest polka dotted dress. Colleen and Rachel didn't disappoint this time either.

If Valentina is Anya Marie, she will wear a cupcake onesie, sweatshirt and pants home from the hospital.

It's so adorable. Olivia asked if she could wear it.

If Valentino is Jack Benny, he will be rocking his first button down and cargo pants on the ride home.

Who knew boy stuff could be cute?

Now the only thing left to do is wait.

February is only a week away

February is only a week away and I finally feel like I've recovered from the month of December. We had three holiday parties, one ornament exchange, one Christmas-themed bunco, one date night to the Nutcracker and several potlucks. My calendar was packed and when the time came to celebrate on Christmas Eve, I was under the weather and exhausted. I may have overdid it ... just maybe.

December began with Benny's work Christmas party, my 32nd birthday and a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.

Benny and I

Olivia's first Christmas tree. She "helped" cut it down.

Decorated by Benny while Olivia and I napped.

Olivia using the Christmas countdown that I had as a child.

This was the first Christmas that Olivia was involved and understanding that December is a special time of year. This meant daily discussions about not touching the Christmas tree ornaments or Baby Jesus. Olivia was obsessed with my nativity set from Japan.

One day we were at the store when an employee asked Olivia if she was going to bake cookies for Santa. Olivia looked at me with a panic face. "Cookies for Santa?" she asked. "Yes, we'll bake cookies for Santa," I answered. Then every morning we talked about when we would bake the cookies. I thought we should wait until December 23. Olivia wanted to do it today. Every day.

Benny and Olivia baked the cookies together on December 22. It was quite the stressful adventure. Not nearly as fun as when we were children. I wonder if our mothers were stressed out during this activity with us? Olivia was in full helper mode and wanted to do everything which translates to cookie dough and flour everywhere. She later cleaned up by rolling around in the flour on the floor.

Rolling out the cookie dough

Using the cookie cutters that I used as a child

Oliva is bored with cookies. She creates a mountain with the flour instead.

The end result. Olivia said Santa wanted pink cookies.

Cookies for Santa wasn't Benny's and Olivia's only project this holiday season. They also worked together on our family Christmas letter. Olivia was hands-on by painting her handprints on each and every letter. (Benny's idea, not mine.) I took photos of that project, but can't seem to find. I promise once I locate them, I'll post them.

Finally Christmas morning arrived. We told Olivia that Santa came and she was excited when she saw presents under the tree. Prior to that, we only had brown boxes delivered by "Santa" AKA the UPS guy or mailman.

Olivia immediately dug into her gifts. She went for the presents with ribbons first. Then asked "where are the ribbons and bows, Momma?" Oh, Olivia, Momma doesn't do bows and ribbons.

Eventually she reached for a gift that wasn't for her. It was for Benny. This created our first of five Christmas morning tantrums. Hmmm, we should have explained that Santa brings gifts for everyone in the family, not just Olivia. So every time a gift wasn't for Olivia, she started to cry. Wow. Imagine if she had to watch her seven cousins open gifts. The drama of the two-year-old.

I will not smile for the camera.

The gift she requested ... her own computer.

We must play with each gift after opening it. It was more than 2 hours to open gifts.

Olivia's reaction when I asked to take a photo of her in her coat from Grandma.

Each time, I asked to take a photo of Olivia with her gift, she said "NO!" and made a grumpy face. Nice. Holiday memories to treasure for a lifetime, right?

On December 26, Olivia woke up and asked "Did Santa come?" On December 27, Olivia climbed out of bed and asked "Did Santa come?" She eventually caught on to my answer about Christmas is only once a year and explaining what Santa was doing that particular day (drinking hot chocolate with the elves, napping with Mrs. Claus, feeding the reindeer, etc.) Olivia is lucky her mother has such an active imagination to keep up with her constant questions.

We experienced additional Christmas withdrawal when Benny took down the tree and decorations one night. After searching the house for holiday items during breakfast, Olivia came to this conclusion while looking at her new calendar.

"First we have baby. I become big sister. Grandma comes. I have birthday. We have Halloween. We have Momma's birthday. We have Christmas tree. We have wreath. We have snow. Then Santa comes!!!! Then Olivia opens presents!!!"

Giant grin by Olivia.

Place Your Bets

It's January 14. Baby Valentino/a's due date is exactly one month away. And while Benny has a whole list of things to get completed before the baby's arrival, I thought I would work on the most important thing: the baby pool.

Is Baby Valentino a boy? Or a little sister, as Little O has predicted? For those of you who swear by the Chinese fertility chart, the "official" website predicts a girl. It correctly predicted that Olivia would be a girl.

Will it share a birthday with its cousin Hanna (Feb. 8) , auntie Patti (Feb. 12), or great-grandpa Donald (Feb. 13)? Will it be a holiday baby (Valentine's Day or Presidents Day)? Will it be a Mardi Gras (Feb. 21) baby? Or if it's way overdue, a leap-year bundle of joy (February 29)?

If you look back at historical data from Olivia's birth, a late, rather than an early delivery may be a wise choice. Olivia was born at 5 a.m. on March 8, exactly 24 hours before my induction appointment. I was 41 weeks, 6 days.

The winner for Olivia's baby pool was Auntie Colleen. Will she be a repeat winner?  Or will there be a new winner? Remember the winner gets a prize from the V-Team. It will be cool, I promise.

Good luck and happy guessing.

RU really from Iowa?

I knew that the Pinstripe Bowl was going to be a home game for the Rutger's Scarlet Knights, but I had to go to my first Iowa State football game in nine years. It was only 250 miles away, and Michelle said "you should go." I bought tickets before she had time to think about it and possibly change her mind. Were we really going to try and take Olivia and her uber-pregnant momma to NYC and possibly have baby Valentino in the back of a NYC cab, or even worse, a subway car? Not a chance.

Thankfully my friend was an honorary Cyclone for a day and joined me for our adventure to NYC. What kind of great friend would leave his house at 4am to be at yours by 6am, only to jump in a car and drive for 3.5 hours to catch a train and subway and be ridiculed by Rutgers fans for the next 90 minutes? Jeremy (after receiving permission from his better half).

Was it as easy for Jeremy to get permission to go? When I first asked Jeremy's better half (Andrea) if Jeremy could go, she answered with "Jeremy is not allowed to go." Thankfully she was only joking and started laughing after my jaw hit the floor in disappointment with a look that said "What did you do?" Andrea wished she had her camera to catch my reaction, I'm just glad she was only joking.

Back to the train. I knew it was going to be a long day when I walked on the train wearing my yellow Iowa State hat and was booed immediately, like a false start call before the train even departed. Thankfully these RU fans were good natured, and our conversation went something like this:
RU fans: RU really from Iowa?
Benny: No, I'm from Minnesota.
RU fans: Did you come all the way from Iowa?
Benny: No, I came from Frederick.
RU fans: Where is Frederick?
Benny: Maryland, but he (Jeremy) came from DC.
RU fans: Wow, we won't bust your balls so much. What time did you leave?
Benny: 6am for me, but 4am for him (and he's not even a Cyclone, now that's dedication).

The next fans on the subway had tailgated and had consumed more libations, and were doing the Rutgers chants all the way to the Stadium. Their chants were like a remix of being with Seabees. They somehow combined "RU" with "Ooh Rah" - it was impressive. On the subway, I was a classic picture of "Some of these things belong together, one of these things doesn't belong at all" with my yellow hat in a sea of red and white.

After the "RU, RU, something, something, Ooh Rah, Ooh Rah, something, something, Rutgers, Rutgers, something, something" chants faded on the train, my second conversation with a Rutgers fan went something like this:

Excited RU fan: We say RU, what RU?
Benny: a Cyclone
Excited RU fan: I know that. But we say RU, what are RU?
Benny: an Iowa State Cyclone?
Excited RU fan: No, no, no. We say RU, what do you say?
Benny: Oh, ISU.
Excited RU fan: whatta U?
Benny: I. S. U. - as in Iowa State University
Excited RU fan: shaking his head
Benny: Or we say Let's Go State!
Excited RU fan: Whatever
Benny: Is this the train for Des Moines?

Walking from the subway to Amy's B&B to drop off our bags, we passed a nice gentlemen who admired my yellow Iowa State hat and Iowa State pullover and let me know by saying "DAMN CYCLONES!" as we passed by him. I know he was nice because he followed it up by saying "Enjoy the game."

The Game: you need to score touchdowns to win. We didn't score one until the fourth quarter. A rough game to watch, but a fun one to be around other ISU fans in the bleachers... not so fun to watch the floozies spill beer behind us, all over the back of Jeremy's jacket.

Saturday morning we headed out and grabbed some grub at the Paradise Cafe (the breakfast burritos on the sign outside caught my eye). There was a smell that seemed to be everywhere. We determined that smell to be the beer on J's jacket or the subway. We later learned that most Midwesterners still appreciate a cheap lunch while observing the line of ISU fans that extended way out of Subway (or they were not going to be caught at Paradise Cafe).

We did visit the 9/11 memorial and are grateful to the memorial employee who hooked us up with tickets although we didn't have a reservation. It got me thinking about the events of ten years ago and how our lives have been changed since (as a result of 9/11 and events unrelated).

Other observations:
- The mumbling subway conductor "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriv...., mumble, mumble, mumble."
- All the rules that apply to boarding a school bus in kindergarten do not apply at Newark Penn Station. Rather, they play a game of seeing if if all the people can make it off the train before all the people boarding are able to get on the train. I missed the orderly lines of the subway and train stations of Japan.
- I felt for the poor guy who was with his wife who apparently didn't realize that her poor husband had to experience the joys of boarding a train at Newark Penn Station every day for the last ten years. "OMG, this is retarded" she said. His response "This is nothing, I've been doing this every day for the last ten years."

All in all our adventure to NYC was well worth it, and I look forward to going again with Michelle, O, and Valentino/a. Hopefully the Cyclones can beat the Scarlett Johansson's next time.

(I forgot to post pictures, they'll come eventually... or maybe I'll forget)

Happy New Year!