A summer visit

We spent a few vacation days at Grandma & Grandpa B's house. They have a very rare tree in their backyard in which Winnie the Pooh & friends have built a wee house at the base of the trunk. The first thing we do at each visit is check Pooh's tree for messages and special treasures.

After Ivy checked in on Winnie the Pooh she picked apples with her grandma and daddy:

Grandma made delicious apple pie and homemade applesauce moments after we picked these apples! We could still taste the late-summer sun.

Ivy's Aunt Kersten, Uncle Jim and cousin-friends, Finnian & Adalia, joined us for a scrumptious summertime dinner. And so did my very own cousin-friend, Jo. All the girl cousins had a great time together and Finnian entertained everyone with his hilarious pickle jokes.

The next day Ivy and Grandpa made some beautiful music together. Ivy loves to sit on my lap and practice her own style of picking and strumming while I play chords on my guitar, so she needed to show Grandpa all her new skills. She rocks our world.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday, Dear Cousins!

Ivy sends happy birthday greetings to her cousins, both of whom celebrate their birthdays today! She looks forward to many years of matching outfits and shared adventures. We love you, Mr. Six and Miss Four!!

First we walk. . .

. . . then we boogie

K-Daddy was out of town for an entire 30 hours last weekend. I was a little concerned about my first solo-parenting gig, but I didn't have to worry for long because my sister, niece and nephew spent the night with Ivy and me. We all had a blast and we ended the sister/cousin sleepover on a high note at a kids' disco at the Great Dane brew pub.

We started dancing at 11 am and didn't stop until nearly 2 pm! The event called for our most awesome 80s outfits, as evidenced by my totally new waver nephew:

My niece is a total rocker and said, "I knew that the disco was going to be fun, but I didn't know it was going to be SUPER FUN!"

And Ivy boogied herself right to sleep:

Here's a gnarly music video that we made of the dancing cousins. My nephew has a bass player's stance & attitude and the next time anyone needs a pick-me-up all one has to do is watch my niece's joyful dancing. Ivy loved bopping to the music and eating as many complimentary cheddar bunnies as she was able to charm from the brew pub staff.

Ivy and her peeps

The Easter Bunny wasn't the only creature who celebrated spring by jumping about and leaving chocolate in his wake this weekend:

Ivy had a great time with her cousins at Grandma & Grandpa B's house. Our holiday weekend began with a road trip with our silly baby who is happy to finally be in a forward-facing car seat:

Peek-a-boo is an awesome game.

Grandma surprised everyone with matching dresses for the girl cousins and a corresponding vest for Mr. Kindergarten. They were the sharpest dressed kids in Western WI and we snapped about 5000 photos of them in their matching attire.

Ivy loved finding eggs and put every one right into her mouth:

Ivy is so lucky to have patient cousins who never seem to mind when she invades their personal space:

Our day was filled with chocolate, polka-dots and basket-loads of happiness. Thanks to my mom and dad for creating another memorable holiday for all of us!

Hurray - it's Saturday!

The weekend is here and this is how I intend to spend every second of Ivy's wakeful time:

holding her close and kissing her every time she turns her face my way.

The week went very well and I only experienced one morning of exhaustion.  Getting up at 5:15 isn't as dreadful as I feared and my days are now much longer and richer.  

This weekend will be a fun one.  My cousins are in town and I'm looking forward to introducing Ivy to these people who mean so much to me.  Kevin is going to take Ivy swimming in the wading pool at their hotel while my cousins and I drink a few glasses of Riesling and stay away from barbed wire fences.

Sweet professions

When I grow up I want to be a:






First I'll hone my skills by playing pat-a-cake over & over with my Aunt Kersten:


Then my cousin and I will buy matching outfits and we'll devour cookbooks until we find the world's most perfect cupcake recipes:



But, until then, I'm going to spend lots of time hanging out in river town bakeries with my Grandma



and Grandpa.






(And I'll observe how an expert baker makes the magic happen by spending lots of time crawling around with my cousins on our grandma's spotless kitchen floor.)





And, speaking of professions and what we want to be when we grow up, I returned to work today after a 12-week family leave. The last few weeks have been difficult for me. I was quite sick in mid-February (which accounts for the lack of brilliant posts this month) and last week I grew sad every time I thought of all the special moments I would miss throughout the day when my family leave came to an end. But today was truly wonderful and the most difficult part of the day was walking out the door at 7:00 this morning. I've missed my friends at work, all of whom have been fiercely supportive of us over the past 9 months, and today they welcomed me back to the office with a lovely surprise breakfast of homemade quiches, muffins, sweet breads and fruit. I accomplished so much today and this long break has allowed me to step back and view my routines in a new light and change those that are ineffective or no longer working for me. I've returned to the office with a renewed sense of purpose and vigor and I'm looking forward to working on some special projects in the weeks ahead. Heartfelt thanks to all my working mom friends and to my loving mom & sister for letting me cry on their shoulders and for sharing their strength and wisdom.


Kevin is now on family leave for the next several weeks and knowing that the Loves of my life are spending their days together makes my heart swell. I returned home shortly before Ivy woke up from her afternoon nap and Kevin and I sat down with cups of tea and talked about our days before Ivy awoke - being home when she woke up and getting her out of her crib this afternoon was glorious. She smiled at and reached for me and I held her in my arms and inhaled her sweet baby sleepiness. I know that I'll be exhausted from time to time and I know that there will be days when I feel like I'm an unwilling participant in a juggling act, but I needed today to show me that I will be able to balance both parts of my life.

Preschool photographer

Ivy's 3-year-old cousin took this photo and I absolutely love it.  Ivy's grandpa and 5-year-old cousin look so happy and this photo is one of my favorite family shots.

Cousins

When I was young I loved spending time with my cousins (and I still love spending time with them). We spent long afternoons playing and creating imaginary worlds on the shores of the Waumandee Creek. I envied my courageous little sister who fearlessly and effortlessly crossed the creek by scampering across a low branch of a large oak tree that spanned the creek. (I hope that I don't get her in trouble with Mom by revealing this information!) I was a timid child and always took the safer, and much longer, route of crossing the creek, which involved climbing over a barbed wire fence and walking down a cow path that eventually led to a rickety metal bridge. I still have a scar on my left palm from a harrowing incident in 1980 when I got caught on the fence. I'm fairly sure that I was hanging from that fence, attached to it by my left boot heel and a flap of skin on my hand, for 15 minutes while my cousins Jo and Janet furiously worked to free me from the cruel barbs of the fence. They were pretty good sports and didn't laugh about my mishap until I was back on solid ground.

Ivy's cousins are helping all of us get ready for her homecoming. They're looking forward to teaching her so many things and I know that they will never teach her risky behaviors. They're already sharing their crib with Ivy and it makes me incredibly happy seeing it set up in our house. We're also so lucky to have a niece who has impeccable taste in clothes because we're borrowing so many of her lovely little baby clothes from her! Here she is describing an especially important item of clothing: