Author: Melissa

On Saturday we celebrated my wonderful sister-in-law’s pregnancy in Michigan and she sat comfortably at her home in North Carolina.  To add to this tech savvy shower, we also piped in family from northern Michigan who couldn’t make it down.  How cool is that?  To say that the family is excited to meet baby Vivian would be an understatement and we certainly weren’t going to let the distance deter us from throwing a baby shower!

Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning, shopping, and cooking (thanks to my sister Em who helped with the cooking!).  Pinterest lent quite a few adorable ideas- for example the ritz crackers with ice cream, the pink cookies, and chicken salad sandwiches.   Dara and Denise came down early on Saturday with a bunch more food and helped get everything ready.   Everyone had a great time and the kids ran wild outside.  We didn’t end up doing a game, but that ended up working out fine, since we were conferencing three different households and at times the audio wasn’t the best.

Before the shower we sent down gifts and had Theresa open them for us to watch.  Then we had the kids at our shower open up the gifts and show Theresa on the Skype.  It was also neat that Theresa could take the laptop around and give us all a tour of the nursery and baby gear set up and ready to go.

Overall, I think it was a great success and best of all, a way where we could all see and interact with one another over such a great distance, sharing the excitement of getting ready for the baby!

This weekend flew right by in an instant!

On Saturday my dear friend Heather came over with her two children.  They drove over from Kalamazoo and we had such fun catching up and watching the kids play.  Alright, mostly we sat and talked and the kids seemed to entertain themselves, lol.  We did take the to the park, but other than that they just ran wild around the house and in the backyard and continued digging holes.  After they left Ajax and Noomi were so tired and Dave and I put them to bed by 7 pm.

On Sunday, we did yard work and Noomi went to play with a neighbor friend for a bit.  We rushed to get the work done as a storm started to roll in.  The storm, however, held off and it only ended up raining and thundering a bit.  We then bummed around the house – we did laundry, cleaned, and other generic Sunday tasks around the house.  I made an awesome dinner of Bean and Bacon soup, along with Olive Garden style bread sticks.  It was a wonderful meal.

Here Noomi was wearing her tiara while helping me make bread sticks for dinner.

Today when Dave got home with Ajax I asked how he did during T ball and Dave reported that he did very well, but was tired.  He said that after the game, a little girl named Paige on his team began chanting that Ajax was her boyfriend.  She then grabbed Ajax around the neck and gave him a kiss, all while he struggled to get away, declaring that he was not her girlfriend.  I asked Ajax about the incident, but he refused to acknowledge it and ignored the question.  Isn’t he too young for this?

What an odd weekend.  On Saturday, it was 85 hot and humid and rainy.  Even in the rain the kids and I got our garden in, as Dave was under the weather.   The kids were quite helpful and excited to get the garden in.  We planted tomatoes, green peppers, and green beans.  We also have cucumbers and snap peas started in the house, which we plan on transplanting soon. The kids then zipped around the neighborhood a bit on their bikes, with me jogging to keep up with Noomi.  At that point the rain forced us back into the house.  I took Ajax up to the store where he purchased a new Lego set.  It cost $30 and he’s been saving up for it for months.   He was very proud to pay for it himself.    It was a truck and trailer with a boat that floats.

On Sunday, the weather fell to the 40s and it’s been raining nonstop.  It’s a gross day, so we’ve hung indoors and done pretty much nothing. When Noomi woke up from her nap Dave and Ajax were downstairs playing Minecraft and Noomi immediately declared that she too wants to play Minecraft, so the three of them have been downstairs for a while and I’ve been enjoying my quiet time watching 30 Rock reruns.

On the potty front – we’re still having highs and lows with the training.  Noomi still does not understand that – I gotta go feeling, but we’re still working on it.

Well today Noomi did not have one accident.  She woke up dry and went all day using the potty!  We were so proud and Noomi was pretty excited.  During dinner she turned to me and said,  my tummy hurts.  I immediately swooped her up and raced her to the bathroom to poo.  Noomi, I said, that’s the poop feeling, lol.  We’ve been trying to get her to connect the feeling with using the toilet.   Exciting times right here people.

This morning Noomi insisted on bringing her giant bear with her in the car, as well as Ajax’s duck.  It was so big it covered the car seat.

Our Memorial Day was very quiet and spent at home.  For some reason both kids were simply exhausted, so we skipped the parade, made Belgian waffles and played at home.  It rained on and off, so we were only able to spend a little time outside.  I cleaned the lawn mower, which meant pulling out the hose and the kids took this as an opportunity to make mud pies in the backyard.  Goodness those kids love their dirt hole.   Noomi insisted on wearing her helmet the entire time they were playing outside, safety first.

Noomi continued doing well with the potty training and even woke up dry on Tuesday morning.  We decided to continue with the training and sent her to school in her underwear.  I only checked in on her once today and the teacher said she was doing great – asking to use the potty and only had one accident.  When we got home, however, she had two accident – one major accident that involved a bleach clean up and a large load of laundry.   Seriously, I thought girls were supposed to be easier to potty train?  Ajax was incredibly easy to potty train, but now I wonder if I just don’t remember it correctly.

At school today Ajax lost his front tooth!   This is tooth number 3 that he’s lost.  He was so excited and said maybe the tooth fairy will leave me $1 or maybe $8!  Dave immediately quashed that saying, no the tooth fairy will not leave you $8.  I concur.

On Saturday, although we mainly stuck around the house everyone was still pretty tired from the zoo.  We did manage to get some chores done around the house.  I got out the weed wacker and hacked down all the high grass around the house, which I actually found to be pretty fun.  Noomi and I also used egg carton containers to start some seedlings.  I realize we should have started these in early May, but we didn’t.  Usually we just throw them in the ground and what happens, happens.  But this year we decided to go ahead and try our hand at starting them indoors, if only for a week or two.  We’re still getting night-time frosts, so we aren’t ready to put things in the ground anyhow.

Ajax and Noomi also rode bikes around the neighborhood, and then Ajax went over to a friends house to play for a bit.   Grandpa Gordy ended up coming over and we all went out to eat at Tavern 109 in town.  After dinner we walked along the river and then let the kids play on the playground.  There were some kids from Ajax’s class at the park and the kids ran nonstop for over an hour.

You would think that after being so busy they would sleep in on Sunday.  Not so, not so.  Both kids were up just after 6 am on Sunday.  Now I would like to point out that on school days I have to drag the kids out of bed and if they roll out of bed by 6:30 am, it’s a good day.   As we speak both kids (and Dave) are napping.  Ajax doesn’t normally nap anymore, but he was hysterically tired and we have a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so it was naps all the way around the Indish household.

In my quiet house I’m preparing the menu for my sister-in-laws baby shower and getting all my lists organized.  I do love a good list.    Oh, Ms. Noomi is also potty training (again).  She has been asking to wear underwear this past week and I have actually been putting it off.  This weekend, however, I didn’t really have a good excuse so when she asked to wear underwear again on Friday afternoon, we said ok!  She’s done ok, with only a few accidents, and hasn’t fought us too much about sitting on the potty.  I’m still not convenience she understands the “I need to pee” feeling, but she’s certainly doing better this time around.

Today Noomi and I chaperoned Ajax’s class trip to Potter Park Zoo!  We were up early and had an excellent breakfast of baked oatmeal with raspberries.  We then sent Ajax off to school on the bus and then Noomi and headed over to the zoo.  We got there a little early so I let Noomi play on the playscape till all the kiddos arrived.

We were paired with another little boy, Dylan, and his grandmother who was with him that day.  The kids ran nonstop from exhibit to exhibit.  They loved the lions and tigers and otters.  Yes, the otters were quite entertaining and playful.  Everyone was very well behaved, but it still felt like we were herding cats, lol.

After our tour of the zoo I checked Ajax out, but we ended up wandering over to the playground again where the kids played with some other kids from his class.  Today must have been the day that all the schools in the county were visiting the zoo because there were hoards of kids and buses and teachers with whistles.   After an hour of playing I rounded up the kids and we went grocery shopping before heading home.  Overall, an excellent day.

I didn’t take many pictures as the kids kept me too busy!

What a busy and fun filled weekend!

On Saturday morning I met my met my mom in Stockbridge so that Ajax could go stay the night on the farm, while Dave and Noomi set off to pick up a toy box for her bedroom that I found on Craigslist.  When we got home Noomi and I reorganized/played in her room.  She was very excited about the new toy box and loved that it fit almost all of her closet toys.  After lunch and a nap we headed out side and did some yard work.  The neighbors lent us their rototiller and Dave prepped the garden beds.  We really need to get moving on our garden.  Noomi worked (not so hard) on raking the yard, but then got so hot that we pulled out the water table for her while we continued working.  When we went inside I painted Noomi’s nails with pink sparkly polish that I bought for her.  And then we topped out the night with a movie and pizza in the living room.

My mom reported that Ajax had a ton of fun on the farm and helped her clean out the horse stalls and plant flowers.

On Sunday, I again met my mom to pick up Ajax, who also reported that he had a great day at grandma and grandpa’s house and even earned $2 for his work.  When we got home we finished working outside, the kids went for several bike rides, and then after dinner my sister stopped by to say hi and give the kids their gifts from her trip to Mexico.  As both kids were beat they were in bed a little after 7 pm.  Ajax fell asleep immediately, but Noomi took a little longer to settle down.  Overall, a pretty enjoyable weekend.

 

Today I busted out of the office around noon, swung by East Lansing and picked up Noomi and then we headed to Ajax’s school to watch his first on stage performance!  Now the only thing we were told was that the performance started at 2:15 pm.  Ajax was unable to really explain what it was, but when I told him that Noomi and I would be there to see him, he got very excited.   Noomi was wonderful throughout the creative movement/expressionist piece.  It was the story of their life and development and really (now that I think about it) – it was tied into the various themes the class had been exploring over the past few months.  For example, their families, where they come from, timelines of their lives, etc.  Ajax was so cute on stage and Noomi kept saying there’s my sister!  We’re working on pronouns.

After his performance we headed home and did an early dinner with Papa who was over to see Ajax’s first T ball game.  The game started at 6 pm and we were all there to cheer him on.  I can’t believe how much better Ajax did this year.  He wasn’t good by any means, but he hit the ball and ran the bases, and a few times made a few reaches toward catching the ball.  He also did better at paying attention to the coaches and the game.  Overall, nothing is cuter than watching a bunch of 5-6 year olds playing sports.  Half way through I took Noomi to play on the playground so she could get some of her energy out.  She did wonderful playing on the bigger playscape, but got scared and refused to go down the twisty slide and I had to go up and carry her down.