there's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

we've had an up-and-down couple of days here. yesterday did NOT go well at all, abby-behavior-wise. but today was much better. i bundled her up and she played in the snow on the patio this afternoon...built a little hill out there and pretended she was sledding. i could hear her out there going, "whee!" and ian had awesome sleep last night (a new record 9-hour stretch!) and today during the day. i think he had been going through a growth spurt because he was wanting to eat all the time and not sleeping well, but i think we may be through that now.

tomorrow's a big day...we have church in the morning as usual, and then we're having the bahrs over in the afternoon and for supper. they haven't seen our new place yet, and were only at our old place once or twice, so we're pretty excited.

you're allowed to add things! it's called ad-libbing!

so, we've been enjoying our abby-less-ness for the past 36 hours or so. after church yesterday morning, we headed over to the pancake house for lunch with grandma and grandpa schultz before they took her back with them. all of us ate a LOT. abby ate 2 full-sized blueberry pancakes and a bowl of applesauce (and then asked for more of everything), i ate 3 smaller-sized pancakes, 2 eggs over-medium and corned beef hash, and brian ate gigantic flapjacks. thus sated, abby went off to appleton. brian and ian and i headed to target to return some diapers and pick up a couple of things, then came home. we unpacked several boxes from ian's and abby's rooms, and are still getting things set the way we want them to be. this morning i went for my doctor's appointment (BY MYSELF!), then came home. we hung out while ian napped, and then went to pick up a few things at the library and hit the grocery store. all in all, a very nice day. and so quiet! :)

the weather is supposed to get absolutely horrible here the next couple of days, so we'll be cooped up in here. unfortunately, abby has her study at the UW on wednesday, so we'll have to leave the house for that.

where does he get those wonderful toys?

abby mispronunciations:

magna-doodle=magnifying doodle
binoculars=nock-ee-lars
piano=pananno

also, all r's and l's are pronounced as w's. thus, lily=wiwy, etc.

tomorrow abby heads up to grandma and grandpa schultz's house to stay for a couple of days. we're meeting them at the original pancake house across the street from church, we'll have lunch there and then they'll head back up to appleton. it'll be pretty quiet here the next few days. :)

we had playdate yesterday, and it went very well. abby and mason played together great, and ian did okay. he was pretty cranky and didn't want auntie jenny to hold him, but overall it was okay. and lily pointed to ian and said, "BAY-bee!", which was super-cute, and ironic because he weighs almost as much as she does.

this coming wednesday, abby's doing another study at the university. a year and a half ago, they told us she wouldn't qualify for any more studies, and she's done like 3 since then. in about 4 months ian will start qualifying, so the whole process will start over. it's enjoyable, though, and a good way to get new books. :)

aliens? bears? ....alien bears?

ok, so that's a pretty obscure quote.

so ian had his 2-month appointment today. it was scheduled for 11:15, and we didn't get out of there till almost 1! we waited and waited and waited and waited...you get the picture. but, the appointment did end up going well. he weighs 13 pounds 11 ounces! i thought he would be around 12 pounds. so, no weight issues here! he's 90th percentile for weight and for head circumference (there's the schultz genetics at work), and 75th for length. so far he's tracking pretty similarly to what abby did...high percentiles for all, but always slightly lower for height. he freaked out pretty badly at the shots...turned magenta and went into silent-cry-mode where you're standing there going, "ok, BREATHE." but after i picked him up when they were done, he calmed down pretty quickly. i'm glad it's done...now he goes back again in 2 months for more of the same.

abby quote of the day: "it's my new book called oops i made up a steak!" actual title of the book? "oops, i made a mistake."

oh hon, you got arby's all over me.

stupid packers. that is all.

this is the picture to which i referred yesterday, with the blurriness. it looks, on closer inspection, to have focused in on the computer desk instead of on ian...i don't think i was too close, though.

anyway, we went to the library this morning, and abby was using the chalkboard easel. i was looking around, and all of a sudden, "mommy, i drew a C!" frankly, i didn't know what to expect when i looked, but sure enough, it was a C. and shortly thereafter, she drew an L. three years old, and writing her letters already. her kindergarten teacher is going to want to kill us because there will be nothing left in the kindergarten curriculum for her to learn. then after the library, we headed to the grocery store. it's snowing like crazy today...we're supposed to get 6 inches or so, but i'm not sure it'll end up being that much.

ian shot poop on the carpet, on the couch, and on brian this morning. what a wonderful way to start the day, eh? :)

here lies walter fielding. he bought a house. and it killed him.

t-minus 1 hour and 35 minutes until game time. abby's decked out in her packer regalia, as you can see. we have the AFC game on right now, and abby's saying, "i don't like the chargers." we have pizza coming at 5:30ish, too. it's a good day.

we're dealing with camera issues here...you may notice that a majority of the pictures taken with our camera in the last few months are a bit blurry. well, i took an AWESOME picture of ian just now and was so proud of myself, until i dumped it onto the computer and...BLURRY. so, i've changed the focus settings and i hope that takes care of it. it's really too bad, because this picture would have rocked. i'll post the picture tomorrow.

go pack go!

lloyd is a music teacher, and he shops at wal-mart.

grr. ian's doctor's appointment ended up being canceled (and un-canceled, and then canceled again), so that ruined my plans for the day. we were going to do the checkup and then head to target for some random things, and then come home. however, that didn't happen. now, i have this little OCD-esque problem where i have plans and i get really uptight and alittlecrazy when they have to change. but, no worries, we will do target tomorrow after playdate and all will be fine. so, ian's appointment is wednesday of next week now.

we had a reasonably good day, though. it snowed like crazy, enough for me to cancel choir rehearsal for tonight. abby and i had our best day, in terms of our interactions, that we've had in a while. so, that's a good feeling.

open the pod bay doors, hal

hi! we've had a somewhat schizophrenic day here.

8am-10:30am--everything is good.
10:30am-1:00pm--everything is bad.
1:00pm-3:15pm--we are gone on an errand, and then rest time. neutral.
3:15pm-now (6:04pm)--everything is good.

what's up with that? this is why i have a somewhat positive feeling about the day, even though that span of time when things were bad was very bad.

abby tried spaghetti-os today. verdict? she said she liked them, but ate very little. i'm not too brokenhearted...it's not like i'd be feeding them to her very often. however, i am somewhat stumped for things to feed her. her meals consist of:

breakfast: whole-grain pancake or waffle and fruit. sometimes a bowl of cheerios with milk. one time oatmeal, but that was not a good experiment.
lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese sandwich. fruit.
supper: macaroni and cheese, quesadilla, spaghetti, tortellini, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, sloppy joes. fruit or veggie. veggie choices are pretty much corn or maybe salad, but probably not salad.

so, yeah. not a very varied diet there. and with brian's schedule having him working until 6 or 7 or 8, we tend to not eat supper together. if we were all eating together, she'd be eating what we eat, but i wait and eat with brian. sigh. stupid borders. see, i knew i'd find a way to blame them for this!

abby went out on the patio/deck this afternoon to play for a while in the snow, since we are getting much snow tonight and into tomorrow, and after that the temperatures will be lower than abby's age. she had fun until her mitten came off, and then it was all over.

so, on sunday night, abby had a bath and then we were going to cut her fingernails because they were out of control. somehow, though, she's decided that fingernail-cutting is somewhere on a level with chinese water torture, because she would not let it happen. i reasoned with her for almost 45 minutes, and not wanting to give up since we'd have to do the same thing again the next day, i ended up pretty much sitting on her and forcibly doing it. have you ever tried to forcibly cut someone else's fingernails? it's a tricky business. so, we decided to save the toenails for the next day, and when it was time, i had a brainstorm.

me: "after we cut your toenails, we can paint them!"
abby: "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

total success. live and learn. :)

gimme some sugar, baby

hey it's me. the daddy.
I'm currently keeping Abby occupied while Ian hits the buffet. Right now this entails rolling the ball out into the kitchen while Abby plays fetch. She then brings it back and says
"Here's your actual ball, Daddy."

This morning we named the monkey that is part of Abby's backpack she received for Christmas. I threw out a ton of random names. Of course, if said name was already part of her universe there is NO possible way we could name the monkey that. "No, Thomas is a train engine!" "Percy is a train!" The first name that stuck was Herschel. But since Abby can't -or won't- say that right now we decided to keep shopping for a name. So the winner? Shaggy. Shaggy the monkey.

That's it for now. The garden weasel is your friend.

everybody looks like ants!

More Funny Videos

enjoy!

i'm just going to go home and bite my pillow!

abby quote of the day:

brian: "do you want this card with the picture of the dinosaur on it?"
abby: "noo, i don't LIKE dinosaurs! dinosaurs are ex-STINK!"

why, yes they are. :)

...and i'm all out of bubblegum

is bubblegum supposed to be 1 word? i'm just not sure.

much progress is being made on the box front. plus, ian has moved to his own room at night, and tonight will sleep in the crib for the first time, instead of the bassinet. lots of changes! ian will be 2 months on wednesday and has his checkup on thursday, complete with shots.

ian's current likes: bathtime, sucking on his hand, being sung to, being swaddled at night, being un-swaddled in the morning, his baby gym, having his diaper changed.

ian's current dislikes: the bouncy seat, being put down, spitting up, having his face wiped.


abby enjoyed watching the packers spank the seahawks the other day, and we are all just thrilled that dallas lost yesterday. now, we get to keep watching the packers, and everybody gets to go to lambeau next week when it's supposed to be 10 degrees. ha ha ha ha. we'll be sitting here in our nice warm beautiful apartment. :)

pc load letter?!

so, abby has an imaginary friend. she is the girl from an expired toys r us coupon. per abby, her name is sarah paula (possibly sarahpaula), she's 5 years old, and wears a headband. i'm thrilled that she finally has an imaginary friend, as i spent many hours playing with mine as a child.

go pack go! current score: tied up at 14.

we're on a mission from god

i think i'm going to start a new game. the titles of blog posts from now on will be movie quotes, and you can play a fun game where you try to guess what movie it's from. you can share your answers via the comments or email, or you can just play the game for yourself. let's just see if i remember to keep doing this.

so, ian. have i mentioned how awesome he is? he's doing great developmentally (can hold his head up like a CHAMP), and is just a general ray of sunshine. he's got the best smile ever, too. eating? great. burping? also great. pooping? championship-level. sleeping? eh. he does relatively well at night, and we can usually depend on a 5 hour stretch at first, and then 2-3 hours after that. during the day is another story, though. his record for longest during-the-day sleep is 2 hours while sleeping being held, and about a half-hour otherwise. i mean, who can blame him? it must be much nicer sleeping being cuddled and snuggled. but, it's getting to be a problem for me getting things done. he goes in to the doctor next thursday for his 2-month checkup and shots (sniff). 2 months! can you believe it?! i sure can't.

abby is still having some issues. i think 90% of the problems stem from the fact that she's 3, and that we never really went through the "terrible 2's", but it's still difficult to deal with.

kim has started a new wine blog, to which i will be an occasional contributor, so check it out, yo.

the metaphorical tunnel

recent quotes from abigail:

"mommy, feel how good my raisins are!"
(followed by sentence #800 that i never thought i'd say, "abby, i'm not going to feel your raisins.")

"i don't have any tickle spots at nighttime!"

"mmm, chocolate is good for me!"

shining her flashlight around, "i hear a sound!"

looking at pictures of the state fair, "look at me looking at that perfect bunny!"



notice how most of these quotes have exclamation points. that's pretty much how she talks, all in exclamation points.

we're meeting some new friends tomorrow, so hooray for being social!

best pics of 2007

happy belated new year!

we are settling into our new apartment very nicely. we still love it, and we love living in the boonies. it's so quiet! and dark at night! brian especially loves the dark part. we are still tackling the piles of boxes, but progress is definitely being made. the kitchen is set, and my next project is the bathrooms. the bathrooms here have next to no storage in them, so we're having to figure out what to do about that.

better late than never, a recap of 2007:

january: we sell our house in sun prairie, and move to the ghetto. this makes me very depressed. abby also gets her first haircut! this makes me happy, because she's so cute. :)

february: my annual trip to st. louis for oscar weekend. i am pregnant for this trip, but don't know it yet. sushi, wine, and pomegranate martinis are consumed. abby colors lots of hearts.

march: on march 6, we find out that ian is on his way. the great potty-training project begins. i lose all my appetite and begin the almost-15-pound first-trimester weight loss.

april: nothing really happened. i lost more weight and had more food aversions.

may: i turn 29. we go to bratfest, which prompts abby to whine for a while, "i don't LIKE brats!" apparently she doesn't, anymore. brian and i eat lots of brats. mmmmm, sauerkraut and spicy mustard. abby also goes to her first parade, the monona memorial day parade. she approves.

june: cows on the concourse. abby gets to pet cows in the rain. i almost pass out. we also go to bay beach with the rogers clan. abby LOVES bay beach. we also have the big ultrasound where we find out that we're having a boy.

july: the annual trip to fremont. abby swims a LOT, and spends a lot of time running around. she also eats a LOT. we go on a hayride, too. brian and i celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

august: we drive to minneapolis for erin and ed's wedding. or as abby calls it, "erin's party!" abby enjoys dressing up and dancing. it is HOT there. we also go to the wisconsin state fair. it's hot there too, and i almost pass out again. abby enjoys looking at all the animals and eating her first cream puff. she still talks about the cream puff.

september: we go to the edgerton steam engine show with grandma and grandpa schultz, and great-aunt mary and great-uncle john. abby is now initiated into the ways of the schultz family. again, hot. we get to ride a train, too. brian turns 38.

october: abby's first real halloween, complete with trick-or-treating and costume. she is little bo-peep, and wears her costume to my doctor's appointment on halloween. everyone at the doctor's office loves her. i reach 36 weeks and immediately start getting frustrated that he's not born yet. the next month will go very slowly for everyone.

november: ian dale arrives! less than a week later we travel to appleton/menasha for thanksgiving.

december: adjustment on all ends to new baby and a new apartment. brian and i celebrate the 8th anniversary of our first meeting on new year's eve. goodbye 2007!