Cross your fingers...

that today is the beginning of the end of Payton wearing diapers! Last week Payton saw her little free-standing potty chair (we had been using the little seat on top of the normal toilet) and decided that she wanted it back out. Now, months ago she decided that she wanted to sit on the "big" potty (hence the purchase of the little seat that fits over the toilet) and at times would refuse the little seat and try the balancing act. Didn't work out too good for her! We have been slowly trying to potty train her for a while. When she turned 18 months and moved up with the toddlers at daycare they started to get her on the potty, so we decided to do it at home as well. She was totally inconsistent. But last week after the "little green potty" came out of the linen closet she has been telling us that she needs to use it. And does. Her pull-ups were still getting wet, but she wakes up dry from naps as well as overnight. Yesterday she went 6 times on her potty. One of those times she just walked in there and pulled her pull up and shorts down herself!

So last night I was at our neighbors with some of the ladies from our neighborhood and I got the push to just put her in "big girl underwear" and see what happens. I did buy her some a while back so this morning we brought them out. She is doing so much better that we thought. One accident so far. She is napping now and it was a struggle to get her to put a pull up on. I really didn't want to have to change her bedding! For those of you that don't know me too well, this is a HUGE deal for me. The fact that there is only a thin piece of cotton between her and a disaster is driving me crazy! But hopefully it will be worth it!

Payton update...

Well, our sweetie is FINALLY off the iron supplements!!! I talked with the pediatrician's office today and her iron is normal. If you remember in January her iron was so low that we had to go see a hematologist. We have used her tips and really been serious with her supplements (Payton has been a real champ over the last couple of months). I guess it helped! Although her hemoglobin is still on the low side her doctor feels that we can now switch to an multivitamin with iron and not come back until she is 3! 6 months without a visit to the lab!!! I bought some Flinstones vitamins today (she gets half of one a day) and she chewed it right up. She then asked for more!! It looks like the struggle is over. Lets hope and pray that this is all she needs!

The ONLY thing that stinks is that I just refilled her prescription. So now I have 2 bottles of iron that we don't need. They don't expire for a couple of years... hopefully we won't need them! I truly didn't think that we would be off the iron yet!

My week..

So Brian left on Tuesday for Chicago and got back on Friday. I was SO exhausted by the time he got back. Payton's teachers at daycare were telling me that she was emotional at times crying for Addison and Daddy. She has been like glue to him since he got back. He has been gone for a lot longer than this before, but this is the first time that she seemed so sad about it.

Wednesday night we had a lot of severe thunderstorms in our area. Of course the first warning came just after Payton went to bed and she was up crying "the storm scare me!" So we spent some time in the family room downstairs because you can't hear the storms as much down there. She ended up sleeping with me because she just wouldn't calm down. The storms were pretty much non-stop, so I can't blame her. It was super loud. Some towns reported baseball size hail. So at around 5:45 am on Thursday I heard a pinging noise... so as I rounded the corner into the living room the hail really came down. Payton was screaming, woke up Addison... the sound of the hail was so loud I thought the windows were going break! It was maybe nickel size, but good god it was loud! So our day began early. I was up every couple of hours calming down Payton and checking the weather reports. What a night... I did manage to get the girls to daycare and to work on time though!

Thursday night the girls and I went to our neighbors for dinner. That was great because I was pooped! Addison loved the attention (our neighbor Rod didn't put her down all evening) and Payton didn't want to leave she was having too much fun!

Friday we went to the pediatrician for Addison's 4 month appointment and a recheck for Payton's anemia. Payton had some lab work and she cried this time. The usually phlebotomist wasn't there and Payton usually does so great with her. And the fact that Addison was screaming in her carseat didn't help matters. The gals said as we were leaving and both girls were whimpering "Looks like your mommy has her hands full today!" No joke! I was counting the minutes for Brian to get home!

On to fun stuff. Addison weighed in at 14 pounds 14 ounces!!! And she is just under 26 inches long. That is a pound heavier and 2 inches taller then Payton at this point. Guess mumma's milk is doing the trick:) It is funny because she isn't a chubby baby, she is long though! She is really into sucking on anything right now. She discovered that her fingers are really fun to chew. She will grab at her gym and toys and can pull herself up on her side. No rolling yet though. She hates tummy time, but we are trying to be good to get her on her belly every day. She is rubbing a bald spot on the back of her head. Her doctor told me that they actually love that because it tells her that we are putting her to sleep on her back. Which we are. Although the little stinker STILL loves to be swaddled. She still fits into our recieving blankets so that is nice. I hate to swaddle her when it has been so hot, but the AC makes up for it I guess.

Last night we had a party for one of my friends at work that just moved on to a new job. They actually are looking to move out of town, but haven't even put their house on the market yet. They are thinking it will be 6 months to a year for their house to sell, which is realistic in our town. There is a lot of real estate here in their price range. So we are secretly happy about that. Our house/ yard was a zoo last night! We had 13 adults and 12 children running around. The house behind us just sold and our new neighbors literally moved in yesterday. They were probably hoping that this isn't a common thing for us! We did have a nice evening though. It was a good reason to have a party!

Chicago

I had to go to Chicago for work this week. 2 1/2 days of a workshop on converting legacy NextNet part numbers and order system to the Motorola system. My role is very small in all of this and I tried to get out of it, but I still ended up coming. Instead of flying, I drove down with two other guys. It only took about 5 1/2 hours which isn't too bad. Flying takes about 4 1/2 hours (total including getting to the airport and waiting for the flight) when everything goes right....which it rarely does. One of the guys I drove down with has a connection to the White Sox front office. He was able to get us tickets to a game for no cost. Originally he thought they would be behind home plate and pretty good, but he later found out they were much better. Follow this link to the Jim Beam Club where we were sitting. Once in a lifetime type seats! The Bears' number one draft pick, tight end Greg Olsen was in the same section. He's a BIG guy! The tickets made this trip worth while. Otherwise, pretty much a waste of time.

Yikes...

Okay, so as I have said before the biggest change with the weather moving from MA to MN has been the wind. In the winter is just gets so cold and with that strong wind around here it can be unbearable. In the summer the thunder storms are just incredible.

Last week we had a wind advisory (we had sustained 40 mph winds) and we were out to dinner with friends right after work. We were talking during dinner, our friends had a huge branch break off a tree in their yard, about how we hoped that the grill cover stayed on our grill that day. We have started to really secure it down because it always was blowing off. When we got home Brian said that when he didn't notice the grill cover as we came into our neighborhood. "I didn't see the grill either". Well low and behold our grill actually blew off our deck! One of our neighbors noticed it before we got home and just uprighted it and made sure we didn't have a gas leak. As many of you know we have a pretty nice grill and the thing is huge. We had to order a couple of spare parts, and fortunetly only the lid was really damaged! Unbelievable! We should have taken a photo of the carnage!

Then last night Brian was outside chatting with the neighbors and they mentioned that they had just heard we were under a tornado warning. WHAT?!! There was a funnel cloud seen about 15 miles from us. Next thing you know the sirens are sounding. Which basically means that a tornado is imminent and that you need to seek shelter. Brian and I have this plan that I will grab the little girl and he will grab the big girl if we need to get them fast. So down the basement we went to wait it out. Of course they were both in bed at the time, and they actually did very well. Payton didn't even wake up. She just slept in our guest bedroom until the storm passed. No damage, just a couple of things blew into the yard and it actually didn't even get too windy. The rain was incredible. Our rain gauge said that we got over 2 inches, and the storm blew through within a half an hour. As most of my closest friends/family know I HATE storms, but I think we did pretty well with our first experience with the warning and sirens. I am sure we will get plenty of practice!

My 7

1. On occasion I will have very vivid dreams...usually about looking for something. I might grab a flashlight and start looking through drawers or something. I've even moved the nightstand a time or two. I'll eventually get my wits about me and stand there for a second or two and realize I should be sleeping and go back to bed. Thanks, dad!


2. My button-down-the-front shirts have to be hung with the back of the shirt to the right and the top button buttoned...the collar gets all screwy if it isn't!


3. I have a bird made out of construction paper I made in 2nd grade still hanging in my bedroom at my parent's house. It's been hanging there in the same spot for almost 25 years with the same piece of tape!


4. I have 4 computers in the house (one isn't hooked up). When I bring my laptop home from work that makes 5 (geek).


5. I don't mind emptying the dishwasher or vacuuming.


6. I had back surgery at the ripe old age of 26. It was a laminotomy of one of the lower vertebrae...that's where part of the bone and disk are removed to relieve a herniated disk. The relief was immediate! Anyway, the surgery was a week before we were to fly to Negaunee for Christmas. While on the plane, I had to stand up for awhile to stretch my back a bit. There was a little old lady, must have been in her late 70s, that was also standing for awhile. We chatted a bit and I found out she had recently had very similar surgery. Not a good sign that you have to have surgery in your 20s that old people in their 70s need. The good news is that I have had no problems since!
7. Minnesota is a dangerous State for my bones. I lived 357 months in other states and never broken a bone. I have lived in Minnesota for a total of 29 months and have broken two bones (my collar bone in 1996 while doing a co-op in Rochester and my pinkie toe this past November).

7 things about me...

Okay, I have been tagged by Sonja AND Lisa to tell 7 random things about me...

1. I am a total neat freak. Everyone told me that would change when I had kids, but sorry to say it is just as clean as ever around here. Certain friends of ours used to move things in our house/apartments just to see how long it took me to move them back!

2. I am obsessed with reality TV. I haven't missed a season of Survivor since half way through season one! My favorites to date are Survivor, Amazing race, Deadliest Catch and Dancing With the Stars (this one is new!).

3. I love my life. I am always telling Brian "Have I told you lately that I love..." work, our home, our town, our kids, our marriage.... I am a pretty happy lady!

4. My middle name is Marie (of course). When we were trying to come up with a middle name for Payton I wanted Marie until we realized then her initials would be PMS. We picked Lindsey instead.

5. I love my job. I give chemo at a local clinic. I actually enjoy going to work. Oncology patients are the more grateful and humble patients I have ever come across. It can be extremely disheartening when we lose a patient, but everything else totally makes up for those sad times we have.

6. I have been a bridesmaid 8 times... 3 times the old maid:)

7. I hate feet. Brian can vouch for this one... unless it is my girls cute little feet, keep them the H*&$ away from me!

I am tagging Sarah, Allison, and Kelly!

Fun, fun, fun

Here are a couple of photos from Addison's baptism. My sister Val and her husband Nick are her godparents.

Over the weekend Payton had a playdate with her little friend Ava from daycare. The two of them were literally tearing through the house just screaming at the top of their lungs. They are so cute. It was such a classic little girl moment! Payton cried when they left. We are meeting again on Thursday for dinner then to a free concert in our "Central Park". Payton is going to be thrilled! Payton also went to the dentist for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She did so great! Our dentist was even impressed. She sat on my lap and watched "finding nemo" (the dentist as a screen you can pull down right in front of you and we could pick whatever for her to watch) and she had her teeth counted, and she even let the dentist polish them. I was so proud!!! We are still working on trying to get her to spit though!! She just doesn't get that yet!

Addison is doing great. She is smiling all the time, and she is such a great little sleeper. I think that the bottle feeding at daycare is getting her frustrated with me on my days off. But we are working through it! I am committed to lasting 6 months as least! She still prefers to be swaddled to sleep, but she breaks loose and wakes up with her blanket around her head. NOT a good thing. Sorry little girl, you are getting to big to swaddle!

I hit up our neighbor (who I happen to work with) to babysit for us next week. Today is actually our anniversary (8 years), but we will celebrate next week. I got going too late on that one! Better late than never right?!