This weekend was completely dedicated to time as a family. Marie spent most of her time attached to Dad. After sleeping in until 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, Marie decided it was time to wake up and get the weekend started. We played at home with her new Christmas toys, spent time at the library, and went out for lunch. On Sunday, after much needed naps, we decided to play outside in the snow. Marie didn't seem as thrilled with the sledding, but she liked walking through the snow by following in Daddy's footsteps and keeping track of Charlie.
Andy has been staying with my mom in Sheldon while on a Family Medicine rotation in Sibley since Christmas. Once again Charlie went with Andy and the girls stayed in Des Moines.
The winter weather was a little tricky during this rotation, Marie had a few sick days, but all in all I think we made it through just fine.
The first time Andy was gone for a rotation, Marie noticed they were not home, but she didn't talk about them much. This rotation seemed much harder for her to understand. Every day we would get home from school and she would open the door and yell "Charlie, where are you?" Then she would look at me and say "why?" Heartbreaking...she often thought he was outside but I just wasn't letting him in.
Then, she would ask for Daddy. It did help having her talk on the phone with him, but definitely not the same as wrestling with him at home. Towards the end of this month she started saying over and over "bye bye Daddy Charlie." I guess that was her way of reminding herself that they were not home.
Although Charlie doesn't really do much at home besides cuddle and go for walks, his presence is worth a lot. I never noticed how big our tiny house can feel when there isn't a 100 lb. dog laying next to you on the couch.
Marie is very fortunate to have a dad who is dedicated to his education, but also dedicated to being a present and involved father. I am so blessed to have Andy. He takes his role as a father and husband very seriously and this month was a big reminder to me of how blessed we are as a family.
On Friday afternoon Marie and I made a trip over to Omaha together to visit her newest friend, Hudson Andrew Dickes. Hudson was born on January 10, 2011 to our good friends Eddie and Jess. We have been waiting to meet him since Memorial Day weekend when we found out Jess was pregnant.
Marie was very interested in Hudson and spent a lot of her time labeling his nose, paci, eyes, hair, socks, etc. She wasn't so sure about Mommy holding Hudson, but as long as she was near us it was ok.
We didn't stay long because we were going to be driving up to Sheldon that same night to visit Grandma. But before we left, Marie did get to play a little one-on-one with Eddie in the basement.
We had so much fun meeting Hudson and look forward to playing with him more in the future.
One of Marie's Christmas presents this year was a doctor's bag full of play medical tools. Marie is very familiar with these items as she has had her ears looked into one too many times and Andy listens to her chest to check for wheezing if we are in an asthma flare-up.
She hasn't had much interest in the kit yet, but last night she discovered it in her bedroom. Before I knew it we had a full-on physical examination happening in the living room. Not only did the baby need her lungs and heart listened to, but also her head, foot, arms, and face.
Next Marie checked the baby' blood pressure. I wish I would have gotten video, because there was so much commentary happening. I think Marie was working on building rapport with her patient...Then it was Marie's turn for an examination. She had the baby listen to her heart and leg too.
Sidebar - what it is about a laundry basket? Marie loves this thing...
It is 2011 and we are once again back into the groove.
Marie is back to her wrestling her friends at school, Andy is stitching up foreheads and delivering babies, Kelly is fixing those speech sounds, and Charlie is probably napping and wishing he were hunting.
It's amazing how quickly we can fall out of our structured schedule with a small break from reality. Over our Christmas break we were a little lax about Marie's napping and bedtimes...we are paying for it now. Let's just say that you never really know how important sleep is until you hear "mommy?" at 4 a.m 2 days in a row.
With 2011 here, it is only natural for us to look back at how much our lives have changed. Andy has started his 3rd year of medical school which means a different rotation site every month. This has been a big change as were used to our schedule with him in Des Moines all the time the previous 2 years. His 3rd year has definitely been a learning experience. For example, I just got off the phone with him and he was talking about how he had been the one to catch the baby in a delivery! That is definitely more exciting than reading about it in a text book.
Obviously our biggest change is Marie. She is officially a toddler and is taking that role very seriously. If we had to pick one word to describe her, I think it would be independent. Marie has always been independent.
A perfect example is this photo:She was determined to eat that spaghetti with that fork all by herself.
It's amazing to us how she is understanding body language and facial expressions too. Over Christmas she was playing with her cousins and they were acting like Marie was the baby. So, they put her in a wagon and pulled her around the house. Can you tell what Marie thought about this idea?Her newest milestones include balancing, talking, and singing.
She loves to try to stand and balance on random objects around the house...I am thinking she will be a gymnast someday.
Her speech is expanding every day. She is putting 2-3 words together now along with her lovely conversational babble. Over Christmas she was looking at a snow globe and she said "I see boy."
Saying goodbye to someone includes, "bye, see ya." She says all her friends names at school and she loves to label the family members when we look at pictures together. For some reason Grandma always comes out with a different name...And she is great at saying "thank you."
She is now enjoying singing in the car with me. As we drive to and from school I sing and she joins in if the song is just right.
Another new thing is how she reads books. She doesn't always want us to read to her. She likes it if we sit next to each other and we both read our own books. Here is a recent video of her reading to herself and her stuffed sheep, Baa.
We welcome 2011 and can't wait to see what Marie comes up with next.sitting in her new doll stroller and saying 'cheese'
On Friday night we drove to Cedar Falls to be with Aunt Liz as she graduated from Cedar Falls. Next step, graduate school in speech pathology. Marie didn't sit much for the ceremony. She ran around with all the other babies until she fell asleep on Grandpa...I don't think Papa minded too much.While we were there, Marie enjoyed running around Liz's communication disorders department and mingling with the professors. We got to see Don & Jean, Nate, Andrew, Liz, and Grandpa & Grandma. Side Note: Marie is saying 'papa' for Grandpa and 'genka' for Grandma...
We made it back to Des Moines on Saturday evening. We needed to get Marie to bed because Sunday morning was going to be our own little Christmas morning before we leave for our extended family Christmas gatherings.
Marie woke up at 5:45 ready to roll. She opened one present, "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?", and decided she had no interest in the others. Apparently she felt she had all she needed. So Dad & Mom opened the rest. Marie did like her presents when she found out what they were, especially the doll clothes and food for her kitchen.Side note: After we opened presents, it was time for Marie's medicine. We mentioned it to her and before we knew it, she was giving her baby the medicine. At one point the baby tried to get up and Marie said "No, medicine."Sunday afternoon was set aside for napping and then on to Santa! Marie woke up from her nap a little groggy until I said "Do you want to go see Santa?" Then she was ready to roll.
Santa was very busy, but we found things to do in the store. She loves looking at all the animals and the big fish aquarium, too. Pretty soon, it was time. Marie could hardly wait. She kept trying to break loose and run to Santa. She watched intently as the other kids took their turn on his lap sharing their list. Ok, our turn. Marie walked up to him, said "ho ho ho," got on his lap, and.... cried, cried, cried! I stepped back, assuring her that it was ok, and said in my high pitched mommy voice, "you're ok, this is Santa!"She began to calm down, gave a fake smile for the camera, and stared at his face.All in all, it wasn't too bad. Hopefully not too traumatic. Not exactly how we thought it would go. At least we have a fun story to share with her and she has an awkward picture to share with her kids someday.
