The First Week of School

Well, we survived our first week of school. Well, it was the first week for preschool and for university, the second week of school for me at the high school. Todd taught his first set of classes and has really enjoyed it. I have enjoyed working on the lesson plans with him and hearing about how they went (surprisingly I need a little more mental stimulation than what an 8 week old and a 3 year old can provide - plus I love using all of the educational philosophy and methods we've been learning at the high school). This was my second week of work. I only went in a day and a half and I was EXHAUSTED. I came home after my full day on Wednesday and slept for 2.5 hours. I probably could have slept through the night if I weren't a human feeding machine for Julie. Either I'm too much a product of our consumer culture (I need more, more, MORE) or I still like my work too much because I keep coming up with more and more stuff I want to do for our campus ministry. Or maybe it's the whole mental stimulation thing. Of course my work is really fun - right now I am rewatching the first season of Glee for work purposes....

Reese started her school on Monday. She broke down Sunday night on the way home from church crying and saying that she didn't want to go. We said ok and that we'd talk about it in the morning. Of course by then she was ready to go. She LOVES her new 3/4s room at school. She's most excited about getting to play on the big kids' playground so that is almost all I get to hear about her school day (the first day when I picked her up, her teacher told me that they were teaching her how to play on the big kid playground - she wanted to play on the swings but couldn't climb on and her bottom kept falling off and she even tried climbing the rope). It also helps that there are lot of kids from her old class in her new room and that she made a new friend who, according the stories she tells me, she must play with a lot. She's finally playing with kids her own age! Yay!

The best part, however, of Reese being in school is that it wears her out. She has been so tired from having so much fun that she's taken up playing "taking a rest" where she lays in her bed for a while :-). The other night she was so tired that, in the middle of dinner, she asked to go to bed. Even better, on Thursday I went to wake Reese up after a surprisingly long time of silence. I opened her door, looked at her bed and it was empty. I peered around her room unable to find her. I creeped up to her bed for a better look and saw a little head sticking out sideways from between her pillows. Her entire body was sideways half off the bed inside her pillowcase. She must have changed into a pretty dress (a typical activity for when she is supposed to be napping), stepped inside her pillowcase with the pillow still inside as if it were a sleeping bag, and then in the middle of playing standing next to her bed, leaned over the bed and fallen asleep. When Todd asked her about this she told him that she had been hiding.


Reese isn't the only one who has been sleeping well lately. This week Julie started having one good sleep a day for around 5 hours at a time. Unfortunately these started around 9:00 so that I didn't glean the benefits as well as I could have. Then, on Thursday night, she slept from midnight until 6:00am. For those of you who have never had a baby, this is like winning the lottery. It was amazing to sleep for 6 hours straight. On Friday I was so excited that I started making plans for a new schedule and having Julie sleep alone in her room. I was wildly optomistic. Really I was foolishly optomistic. Last night (Friday night) she was up at midnight, 2, 6 and then woke up for the day at 8am. Ugh. I still have hope, though. I know sleep is possible. And trust me, I am determined to get it.

Baby Julie in her pretty outfit

A little smile for the camera

Tired Reese

Reese showing off some of her stickers from Aunt Robin (she likes to wear about 10 at a time)

Oh What Have I Done? and Other Difficult Transitions

Oh what have I done? That really is all I could think as I fought back tears on Thursday afternoon. I would have all-out cried except that I was afraid of upsetting Therese. The day started innocently enough. I told Todd I was going to get Reese's hair cut - something I had been talking about for a long time since I was tired of raking through the knots that clustered in the back of her head. I took a shower and then gave Reese a bath, thoroughly brushing out her hair so that the person cutting it wouldn't traumatize Therese with a pick. We then rushed off. A few minutes and a miscommunication later, there were piles of pretty blond curls on the ground. Reese's beautiful hair was chopped off. Completely chopped off. Ok, not COMPLETELY, she does still have hair, but it looks so different short. I love her little ringlets. Well, I loved them. The woman who cut Reese's hair said, "Her hair was so beautiful that when you said to cut it I thought 'NO!', but I think it turned out really cute." I just screamed in my head, "THEN WHY DID YOU CUT IT?" while silently fighting back tears. Now, with a little distance and a little perspective on the whole thing (and a lot of help from Todd who LOVES the haircut), I do think it looks cute. Plus it is much easier to brush. But I still am mourning the loss of the long curls. I don't know how long it will take me to grieve.

The week and a half since we visited Cincinnati have flown by in a series of difficult transitions for us all (including the fateful haircut). Julie broke out in a terrible case of infant acne while we were in Cincinnati so that her face was covered in bumps and was rosy red. The books say it doesn't bother babies, but one look at her and you'd feel sorry for her. Everyone kept asking about it - what it's from, how long it would last. I am happy to say that one day back home and she was acne-free. Maybe she's allergic to Cincinnati. I think many people are. Since our return, Julie has been struggling to keep her nights and days straight. She has gone 5 hours between feedings a few times, but unfortunately these stints haven't been during the overnight hours. She has made up for this confusion, however, by spending a lot more time awake. She's learned to smile and loves to "talk" now. It's so sweet. She has such a little voice. She loves to carry on conversations of "Ooooohs" and gurgles with people. She has also started batting at her animals in her bouncy chair and the toys in her playgym. You can almost see her thinking as she tries to figure out how to get the animals to move. She's getting so big already!

Our return from Cincinnati has also resulted in Therese desiring a lot more attention. She had so much fun with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that she now wants to have us as playmates all the time. Don't get me wrong - she loves her little sister and is constantly giving her her little cow toy (which Reese insists is Julie's favorite - she also says that when you push its stomach it doesn't say "moo," it says, "Ooooow"), she just doesn't want her to get so much attention. Luckily Therese starts school tomorrow morning. We went to her open house on Friday night to see her new classroom - she's moved from the 2s to the 3/4s - and to meet her new teachers. Reese seemed to love it - there are much better train tracks in this room - but I felt overwhelmed. I can't believe she is big enough to be in this room with computers and desk chairs and art cubbies. She's going to be playing in the "big kid" playground with the big slide and swings. I hope the older kids don't run right over her. Like with her hair (which Therese has hardly noticed), she's transitioning just fine while I'm the one struggling. Tomorrow is her first day of school. I'll have to let you know how it goes.


Reese's also been "cooking" up a storm for us in her kitchen. She recently started adding cookies to everything - like pizza - and has added frappe's to her list of drinks offered. She cracks us up. Last weekend we had dinner at one of our friend's houses with a large group of people. As we packed up to leave, everyone circled around us to say good-bye. There was a lull in conversation and Reese looked up from putting on her shoe and said loudly, "Last night (meaning some time in the past), at my school, there was a guy there and he had three eyes and he couldn't talk." Stunned silence followed by a few puzzled chuckles. Unsure, I asked, "Is he one of your friends?" She replied, "No." I immediately started thinking, "Why not? You aren't excluding someone because they are different, are you?" Then I remembered that this person was said to have three eyes. Someone finally smiled and asked, "Is he blue?" to which she responded, "No," in a tone that in a teenager would have translated, "Are you stupid?" She then continued (in the same tone), "He's greeeen." She was talking about a toy.

As for Todd and I, I started work last Monday and Todd starts teaching this Tuesday. More transitions. It's sad, but I'm really looking forward to having a schedule again (aided by the fact that Therese will be in school every morning). I've been craving some sense of normalcy. And adult conversation. I'll keep you posted on how this all goes!

Julie with her acne

She loves her playgym

Reese playing with her "sprink-a-ler toy"

Reese and her beautiful curls before the haircut

Reese after the haircut

A Second Birthday Party and Other Fun

The birthday boy - isn't he cute?

While Saturday was certainly great, we did have a lot of fun on the other days of our visit to Cincinnati. Friday we went to my dad's and ate an amazing dinner of grilled shrimp and steak. My dad not only got to use his new grill for the first time, but also got to water each and every flower and plant in his spacious yard with Therese. He patiently walked with her from one flower to the faucet (to refill her watering can) to the next flower and back to the faucet. She had a blast.

On Sunday we celebrated the girls' cousin Joey's second birthday. Therese loved playing with all of his toys :-). Julie slept a lot of the time in her carseat which we placed out of the way in the living room. For the first hour or so of the party Joey was still napping and we'd find groups of women (ok, and sometimes men) hovering around the carseat, chatting and sneaking peaks at Julie. There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby :-). Poor Joey was a little thrown off by waking up to a house full of people, but the cousins entertained him outside and he perked up. I think he enjoyed himself. We certainly enjoyed ourselves between the bourbon slushies, fried chicken, and arms waiting to hold Julie.

On Monday my dad took us and Kristin and Joey to the Children's Museum which was AMAZING. Reese and Todd could have happily set up a tent and lived there for the next year (Reese playing with the various toys and Todd explaining to her the science behind each item). When we first walked in, there was a climbing area to the right with a big slide and a netted-in room with little balls everywhere to the right. Reese could have spent all day putting balls into a tube that came down from near the ceiling that had a vaccuum (like at the bank) that sent the balls up and over to a big holding pen that would fill up and dump balls on top of children waiting below. Well, she tried to spend most of the day there anyhow. We also explored a large water table section that had a real working dam and lock (I think this was Todd's favorite feature), the climbing area, and a special section for children under the age of 4. This part is gated and protected by a museum worker so that the kids can run around while their parents stay in one spot. Therese really like the large sandbox in this section. There was also pretend fishing, a small slide, pretend food, and all sorts of great things for the little ones to play with. We were so impressed by the whole thing. We eventually left the museum to grab a bite to eat at Dewey's before giving Therese her nap. As I put her down for her nap she asked if we could go back to the museum when she woke up. I told her that we were all done with the museum and she said shook her head enthusiastically and said, "Yeah, but maybe we'll go back tomorrow." Now her little eyes light up everytime she hears the word museum on the radio. Hopefully this feeling lasts well into her adulthood.

Tuesday was our last full day in Cincinnati. We visited my grandma one last time, I ate lunch and shopped with my mom, and then Reese went swimming one last time at Aunt Robin's before everyone came to my mom's for a final pizza party. On Wednesday we met Todd's parents on our way out of town for lunch and visited his eye doctors' in Indianapolis making the ride home seem very long. As always, we were sad to leave our families but happy to get home to our own house. It's hard to imagine that we might be living too far away to drive to Cincy by this time next year. But who knows, we might be living even closer. We'll just have to wait and see.

Kylie holding Julie

Reese and Abbey

The girl cousins - Therese, Abbey, Kyle, Zoe and Julie (who is being camera shy)

Reese at the sandbox in the museum. She didn't want to be bothered for a picture.

Playing at the museum

Fun at the water table (aren't the smocks cute?)

Joey liked the water, too

The Best Day of Her Life

Can you feel her excitement?

We had a great trip to see our families last week. We had a lot of fun introducing Julie to her aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandmother, eating lots of grilled food, and having help caring for the girls. But our level of enjoyment truly pales in comparison to the bliss Reese experienced. She LOVED every minute of it. She got to water flowers, feed ducks, play with sidewalk chalk, and blow bubbles. These were all great fun, but they couldn't compare to Saturday. I truly believe that Saturday was the best day of Reese's life. Thus far. Therese had been telling us over and over again how much she wanted to go fishing with her cousins. I have no idea where the idea of fishing came from. I was trying to imagine our active little girl handling a fishing pole with a line ending in a hook swinging ominously back and forth. After a bit of discussion we figured out that when she said she wanted to go fishing, she meant she wanted to go swimming. Thank goodness - swimming doesn't involve any sharp objects! I'm glad we figured this out. Can you imagine if, after days of anticipation at the thought of playing in a nice cold swimming pool, we dragged her to a lake and handed her a stick to hold in place by the water? Anyhow, once we had accurately translated Reese's wishes, we told her that she could go swimming (yay!) with her cousins at Aunt Robin's (who she can't get enough of) on Saturday after her nap. She was soooo excited. I didn't know what she'd think once she actually got to my sister's house. She is scared of getting water in her eyes to the point that she won't let us turn up her "sprinkler toy" above a foot high. However, after just a few minutes and a few trials with different flotation devices, she was having the time of her life. Her cousins CJ and Abbey also set up a slip-n-slide right beside the pool. Reese had a blast running from the pool to the slip-n-slide and back to the pool again (after she chastised CJ for not putting the slip-n-slide on the hill so that she could slide better - she's so light that her cousins had to drag her down the slip-n-slide before they moved it). She loved floating in the deep end, being dragged in an inner tube around the pool, snacking on chips, and watching her cousins (and her daddy) jump off of the diving board. It was a great time for everyone. And EVERYONE on my mom's side was there - my brother and sister and their families along with my mom and stepdad. It was a big crowd. Once swimming was done, we ate burgers, brats, and cheesy mets and (adding to Reese's big day) cupcakes. Julie had a great time, too. She slept a lot and was held by all of her relatives including her Uncle Chip who snuck away with her to keep her calm during the final hour of the night. It was such a great day. We had such a great time seeing Reese have the time of her life.

CJ setting up the slip-n-slide NOT on a hill

Reese slipping and sliding

It was so much fun that even Uncle Chip had to join in

Reese floating around with cousins Kylie and Zoe

The boys enjoying a game of pool basketball

Reese hanging out in the deep end with Mamie, Papa, Abbey, and Zoe

Julie out like a light in Aunt Robin's arms

Three Year Old Theology II

My grandfather (Reese's only living great-grandfather) passed away the day before Julie's birth. He had been sick for awhile and had therefore been in our nightly prayers. Therese continued to pray for "Great-Grandpa who is sick" for a long time and we chose never to correct her or to explain to her that he passed away. On Friday we visited my grandmother. That night Reese was talking about this visit with her great-grandmother and asked where great-grandpa was. Todd told her that he went to heaven to be with God. Reese responded, "Yeah, Jesus is helping him to not die anymore."

Reese coloring at Great-Grandma's

Reese, Julie, myself, and Great-Grandma

An Auf Wiedersehen Anniversary

Saying good-bye to the big bear in Radolfzell our last night in Germany

Sunday marked a significant anniversary for us. It was a year ago yesterday that we said "Auf Wiedersehen" to Germany after two adventurous months in the country. In many ways it is difficult to believe that was only a year ago. Julie didn't even exist yet! We quizzed Reese on her German this weekend and she just responded to all of our questions with"Huh?" I asked her if she remembers Germany and she just said something about riding in an airplane. I don't know if she even remembers that or if she just remembers me talking about her riding in an airplane for Germany. It's sad. I wish she were old enough to have remembered our great trip. It really was the best summer I've ever had. Every day is an adventure when you live in one room that you don't want to spend any time in and you don't speak the same language as everyone around you! It was a truly remarkable experience getting to know people from all over the world, exploring new cities, and spending all of my time with our little family. I hope we get to travel again some day.

Speaking of anniversaries, Todd and I recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. I know, you're thinking I look to young to have been married for 6 years. Ok, maybe you weren't thinking that but I'll pretend you were. I can't believe we've been Hoosiers for 6 years. Yikes. I will refrain from making further comments about Indiana at this time... Anyhow, marriage has been a great adventure thus far and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us and to share it with my little family. I know things can and will change. For instance, take the difference between this anniversary and our last. For our fifth anniversary, Todd, Reese and I ate dinner in the Englischer Garten in Munich. For our sixth anniversary we ate at our kitchen table. Last year we had authentic German cuisine (bratwursts and pretzels) whereas this year we ate Applebees carside-to-go. Last year we had a few pints of Hoffbrau Haus beer between the two of us, this year we got wine but were too tired to drink it. All kidding aside, it was another lovely anniversary this year for where we happen to be in life right now - not in Germany and with a (then) 2 1/2 week old daughter. The highlights of the day were lillies from Todd and his watching Julie so that I could be asleep by 9:30pm. Our anniversary might not have been the most glamorous, but it was really good.

This past weekend not only marked a year since we left Germany, but it also marked our first night of being tag-teamed by the girls. Saturday night Reese came down with a really bad cold or virus that had her waking up every 40 minutes or so crying because she sneezed all over or felt stuffy. This happened to be the same night that Julie decided it would be fun to play from 12:30 until 5:00am. I didn't think it was very fun. Of course this led to her mixing up her days and nights for the first time since she was born. We've been expending great effort ever since to keep her more awake during the day and I think we're starting to get back to "normal" - she even slept for a 3.5 hour chunk last night! Reese is also feeling better now, but it's been quite a challenge trying to teach her about containing her germs. I've been telling her that she needs to get lots of sleep so that her sick germs go away and this has actually worked. She's been going to bed much better for me. I wonder how long I can use this line for...

Today was a big day for Therese even though she failed to grasp it. It was her last day at school for the year. When she starts back up in a few weeks it will be in a new classroom with new teachers and a new group of students. She's had these teachers for almost a year now and they've been great. I'm sad about it even if she isn't. When we left the school today her teachers asked Reese if they could have a hug. She just looked at them and said, "No." At least they're used to working with 2 and 3 year olds so their feelings weren't hurt. We did promise to stop by and say hi next year. In general Therese's mind has been preoccupied with the task of caring for her baby (she's moved on to swaddling Baby and lifting up her shirt to "feed" her) and with our upcoming trip to Mamie and Papa's. Last night she demanded that I call Mamie "right now" to tell her we are coming to her house on Thursday. Today she told me that she is going to swim in circles with her cousins. I have no idea where that came from. Anyhow, she is very excited to see all of our family as are Todd and I. We leave tomorrow so I have lots of laundry and packing to do. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures to share on the next post!

Our family in Munich for our 5th anniverary