Catchin' Up

Wow.

What a great summer. I had so much fun with my girlies this summer, I just didn't want to let it go. We had a wonderful vacation in Traverse City with my parents, my brother and sis-in-law and the four of us - I have say that due to the obvious 3 week denial around my home & office that we were back to reality, it may have been the best vacation we've ever been on!

That's right for the entire month of August, I think I was in denial about being back to reality. After all - it was still sunny out. We had fairly unlimited access to a pool at friend's homes and we made use of it. Grace is a FISH. She just loves to swim. We took her to a pool at the home of some church friends and she almost swam herself sick. 2 & 1/2 hours of swimming underwater on a 3 year old leads to one tired girl. What a great activity! I am proud to say both my girls are not afraid of the water and adore swimtime. I am so going to miss swimming this winter. Hopefully we'll get plenty of snow exercise this winter.

Another reason for the lack of blogging these past 8 weeks or so is my head. Add a fairly consistent headache to the denial & lament of vacation passing and you've got a very blah feeling woman. My sinuses were completely blocked and it was getting worse the month of August. The doc said my head was completely filled with polyps and waiting for September 10th to have them removed was not easy. At work (when I have the chance to do most of my blogging!) is the worst place for my sinus pressure. Something about my office or the building at Glen Oaks just set me off everytime I went in there, consequently, not much was done by way of blogging or work really - because I just felt lousy. Totally, completely lousy.

Had surgery on September 10th to remove them and the doctor did a wonderful job! No swelling at all - except for my glassy eyes from the Vicodin and anesthesia, you'd never have known I had surgery. Except now I can talk and breathe properly. Hooray! Seems to be all healed up now, except I still get a fairly dull headache when I get tired and am still blowing random chunks of crud out. But that's to be expected.

The girls have shot up so much this past summer I don't even know where to start to catch up. Annie is jibber-jabbering constantly and incorporating more words than ever, she walks like a trooper and is developing such a strong, funny, determined little personality. I am really enjoying her these days. So cute and funny. And she has more hair! It's getting thicker and curlier almost by the hour it seems! Hooray. I have a blond and a brunette.

As for Grace, well - she has fallen in love with swimming - underwater, eyes open, no goggles. Constantly pushes herself. She has conquered the playground, except for the monkey bars, but loves to climb, swing, slide down the pole, rock climb - you name it - she's all over it. I think my friend Rach called her "indestructable" one day on the playground, and that word has stuck with me. She falls & runs into things constantly, but hops up and brushes herself off. She really does not like to let pain get her down. I've never seen anything like it. "Jesus will heal me" is something I heard a lot this summer. And He always does.
I don't know who taught her, but she can spell her name, and write it now - she's shown lots of letter and number recognition, and lately we've been working on what rhyming words are. She has it mixed up right now - using the beginning sound of the word to indicate rhyming. i.e. The other day she told me that POPsicle and POPcorn rhymed. Not so much, lovey :)

So, a tearful goodbye to my summer, although currently it's almost 80 degrees outside and a hearty hello to fall. Hoping for some grand times and a lot more memories!

Just Random Pics

I didn't do very well with my camera this summer. Boo on me: Here are some shots I did get. When Grace is wearing the braids is when we took her bowling for the first time this summer. What a trip. She got 3 strikes - 2 without the ball even hitting the bumper! ha ha! Of course, she did hurl herself down the gulley a few times and I recall a time when her ball went in the other lane, but whatever...

Annie slept through bowling :) When she woke up, she was pretty content to clap and cheer her sis on.

3 months. Wow.

Geez! A 3 month hiatus. Back to blogging tomorrow! Lots to catch up on. Here's a few pics of the girls I took back in July, I think. They have changed even since then!

Couponer in Training

Check out my post here about Grace and coupons. Too funny! That girl cracks me up, I tell you what.

My Two Daddi-os

Well, not my two Daddi-os, but the two Dad's in my life. I am overdue on a Happy Father's Day post - it's just darned near impossible to get to the computer over the weekend, so this is a belated catch-up post.

I didn't hear about a radio contest like the "My Mom's the Bomb" for Father's Day, so I thought I'd do my own little version and tell you why - "My Dad is Rad." And then I'll write why "My Kids' Dad is Rad"

My Dad is Rad...

My dad is a rad dad. He's not only rad, he's intelligent, he's wise, he's quick-witted, he's hysterically funny, he's lovable, he's loving, he was smart to marry my mother, he was a great father to me when I was growing up and I am enjoying him even more as an adult, myself. He is a great granpda to my daughters.

My dad has a rad sense of humor. I can say that because I have the exact same one!

Dad always made me feel valued and loved as a kid, as a teenager, as a college student, and now as an adult. I believe that a woman's confidence and self-esteem begin with her father and growing up, Dad made me feel beautiful and special.

He took care of me when we were first battling the early stages of asthma - he used to make me laugh in my horribly long doctor appointments and we always had some joke on the doctor that made things seem a little bit better in that wretched hospital.

Many people tell me now, that I have a lot of the same traits as my father. I have my mother's eyes, but my dad's sense of humor...(and his hair!) I am proud when people tell me this, because I love my Dad. He's not only rad, he freaking rocks!

Why Grace & Annemarie's Dad is Rad

When I first started dating Clint, the first thing that people would tell me about him was that he's going to make an awesome father. They observed him with our niece, Madison, and were impressed by his love for her and the way that he handled himself with her.

Well, turns out - they were RIGHT. Clint is an awesomely rad dad. He loves his little girls more than they'll ever know. He will always stand up for them. He is kind, he loves to brush their hair, he loves to wrestle with Grace and snuggle with Annie, he tells them how beautiful they are and how much he loves them every single day.

Clint is very good with keeping his cool around the girls, because - let's face it - they are 1 & 3 and a bit on the demanding side. He helps me around the house, to care for them. He works hard to provide for their needs. He doesn't ever, EVER want to spend one minute apart, if it could be spent together. He is devoted to making memories with his children and enjoys establishing traditions during Christmas, summer, the WaterFestival, etc...

When I ask Grace who she is going to marry, she always answers "Daddy" and I know without a doubt that she loves him just as much as he loves her and someday, when Annie can talk - she'll answer the exact same way.

Happy Belated Father's Day to my two wonderful Daddi-os!

GEEZ! Where have I been?

Right so - last blog post about the kiddos was almost 3 weeks ago?? Bad Amy. I also have a Happy Father's Day post that I need to get written up, eh? Believe me, they're all in my head - just have to get them out.

Update on the kiddos:

Growing a ton. I took Annie to the ENT with me (oh, yeah, I have to have surgery in September - blech...) and had him check her out. We had some suspicions of fluid behind the ears and possibly enlarged adenoids - ANYTHING to tell us why she was waking up and puking that stretch during the spring there and good news! He gave her a clean bill. She's completely clear in her E, N & T. But he did tell me that she's cutting about 4 different teeth - 3 of them being the back teeth. I gotta tell ya, I just don't think she handles pain well and that's why she's waking up. Seems like she's been teething forever, but these suckers are taking their own sweet time, so yeah - she's been teething for about 7 months now! And waking up at night in the process. Case closed.

Annie is also going through a VERY HUGE "I want my MOMMY" and "ONLY MY MOMMY" phase. It's quite exhausting, but very flattering at the same time.

Grace is officially a kid. No longer my toddler baby. She's using words like "enjoy", "relax", "Mom, you're driving me NUTS!", "Annie's makin' me CRAZY!" Seriously - she talks so well, I forget that she's only 3 1/2. It does come screaming back to me whenever she has a potty accident, though. I am proud to say that, when I took her to a park in Lawton on of our playdates with the Hunts, that she befriended a 4 year old girl (Anna) and Anna's mom commented to me on how sweet and polite Grace was. (Wha-a-a-t?) She was SHOCKED when she asked Grace how old she was and Grace told her, "I'm 3!" She said she talks amazingly well for a three year old. Well, phew! Grace knows how to be socially acceptable. (On the playground at least)

We've had a good summer so far. We've been on a couple playdates, made a few new friends, been to the park umpteen times. Last Friday we went to the Water Festival Parade and Grace reigned in a ton of candy, while Annie sat fairly contentedly on my lap, although she did not care for anyone dressed up as a clown or animal, or the sirens either. They all scared her. We went to the pancake breakfast at the FireStation the next morning (that was a first for me!), the old car show, the flea market/vendor area and the KidZone. It was quite a morning! And it was a lot of fun to start traditions of normal "family-type" things. We are no longer just trying to keep Grace out of stuff, she can control herself (for the most part) and obey and enjoy activities, which in turn allows us to enjoy ourselves, and Annie was content to stay in the stroller and watch everything go by. Ahhhh....we are looking forward to vacation!

Here's a couple of pics I managed to get of the girls. My camera has been acting funny lately, so I've not gotten a lot lately, but these were taken on my mom & dad's porch a couple Sundays back. Could they be any cuter?

Grace & Emmy Jo

Recently Grace "re-found" a toy she had been given a year ago for Christmas. It's this cute little doll puppet that Clint named Emmy Jo. Over the weekend, Grace asked me almost NON STOP if I could make Emmy Jo talk, so they could have a "chat." I'd put the puppet on, change my voice and talk to Grace about anything and everything - generally trying to throw in a few brainwashing thoughts like "We should NEVER bite our friends" and "Vegetables make you grow STRONG and HEALTHY!", etc...

Grace would asked me to get Emmy Jo a snack. "What do you think Emmy Jo would like to eat?" I'd ask. "Emmy Jo would like sweeties" she replied without even a second thought.

Huh. Funny - Grace loves sweeties.

A few times, Grace would put Emmy Jo on and would make her talk, she changed her voice to a weird-o high pitched Gracie voice and would have Emmy Jo say "Hi Amy!"

Wha-a-at? I looked at Emmy Jo, then I looked at Grace, eyebrow cocked.

"You know, like my friend Robby calls you Amy," Grace explained.

Oh. I see. That girl does not miss a beat, I tell ya.

So we were riding in the truck last Saturday, Emmy Jo in tow and I hear Grace's puppet voice and then Clint looks over at me and says -

"It really creeps me out when Emmy Jo calls me Clint."

I cracked up. I love my little Gracie girl and her mind. She's so fun to observe and figure out.