Early Summer?

Melanie was given a huge bag of clothes from her friend Gracie this week.  Look what her favorite find was!  No, it wasn't really warm enough to be running around outside in just a bathing suit, but apparently we were taking advantage of the 15 minutes all week that it wasn't raining! 

A little randomness

Poor Birthday Boy

"Poor Birthday Boy..." He not only had very few pictures recorded from his birthday weekend, he also ended up with a black eye on his birthday.  He had a good day in general - Mommy & he stayed home from daycare for a day of R&R.  He had a bit of a bruise from an undisclosed fall on Sunday. Then, on Monday, after said day of R&R, he got a little wound up from the extra Daddy/Melanie attention....and one of the results was a fall on his birthday wagon.  That, it should be noted, was after the fall off of standing on one of the play table stools - yes, he's ALLLL boy.

Happy First Birthday, Joseph Pierce!

 Joey is ONE!!  He is still in contention for World's Happiest Baby, as long as his ears aren't bothering him.  He is a champion sleeper; 12 hours at night, and, if he's not at school, he can put away a couple of multiple-hour naps.  He's in 12 month clothes, size three diapers (which are getting a little small), has now transitioned from formula to whole milk, and we're working on eliminating the bottle.  He loves bananas, mandarin oranges, cheesy puffs, and most "snacky" foods - we're working on the substance! He sucks his left thumb and has to have his blankie with him at all times.  No substitutions, just the one in the picture.  He babbles a lot, but doesn't have words outside Mama and Dada.  He likes to clap, is learning to wave, and his new trick is the fishy-face.   He loves to climb - out of the tub, into his new firetruck, onto his sister's bed.  He has four teeth (two up, two down).

We are blessed with Joey's smile, laid-back nature, and snuggles.

Happy Easter!

Melanie, Charlie, and Sammie got to hunt for Easter Eggs in the Westons' neighborhood egg hunt on Saturday morning.  Then, on Sunday, Melanie went to Sunday School and then the four of us headed to my parents' house to celebrate with them, Julie/Matt/Molly, Tom & Paula Elam, and two other Frankfort families with young sons (one who is two days younger than Joey!)  Melanie enjoyed Easter baskets from both sets of Grandparents, and now her pastime is putting odd objects (popcorn, toys, etc) into the plastic Easter eggs and presenting them to us.  She was NOT a fan of the bunny character at the egg hunt - but enjoyed seeing the gray Easter bunny hop across our yard Sunday morning.

Fun with Cousins

Playing ring-around-the-rosy with her cousins, or just hanging out, Melanie has a great time having cousins so close in age.  We are thrilled that Charlie & Sammie will soon live as close as Molly does, and the kids will be able to spend more time together!

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Joey's birthday on Saturday, April 23 with all four grandparents, Randy, Cory, all three cousins, and Tom & Paula Elam.  He had a good time at his baseball-themed party; although he apparently wasn't a fan of the cake, which ended up on the floor!

One of Joey's (and everyone else's) favorite gifts was a firetruck from G & G Worzala.  He also got a lot of other great toys, many of which the four older kids would argue over until mean Aunt Angie would take them away.

Joey was sent home from daycare the day before his party with a fever.  He remained pretty warm all weekend, until we finally took him to urgent care on Sunday evening with a suspected ear infection.  It wasn't an infection, but the doctor drained quite a bit of fluid from his ear, and he stayed home from daycare on his birthday, to hopefully recover from all of the gunk he's been fighting.

Grandparent Love

Grandma Worzala came down the weekend before Joey's birthday, so that she could walk in the Susan G. Komen walk with us.  She stayed at our house a few nights before heading to Frankfort to visit with the other grandkids.  While she was with us, she got to stay home with Melanie, who was sent home from daycare with a fever and then had to stay home an extra day.  She played with Melanie until Gigi could come pick both of them up and take them to Frankfort.  I picked Grandma Worzala back up in Frankfort on Thursday, the same day Pappa Worzala came to town; and they stayed through the birthday weekend.  It was great to spend the week with Grandma Worzala!

The first picture above shows the day that Melanie found Grandma Worzala's lipstick in her purse....

Susan G. Komen Walk

We participated in our fifth straight Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk.  While the previous weekend had been warm and sunny, we had our typical chilly weather for the walk.  We did stay dry (it started drizzling at the very end, so we beelined for the car rather than go back to the main area), but it was windy.  It was another great celebration of my mom's win over breast cancer; and Melanie did a great job staying in her stroller!

Friend Night

I had a fun night out with girlfriends when Amy was in town.  We went to the Tap Room, and had lots of laughs while catching up.  I thought it worth the mention on the blog since it is so rare we get to see Amy!  Thanks for coming, Big Z!!

WARM WEATHER!!

Joey is now a champ at the park...whether it's freaking out on the swing, eating the dirt, or petting the dogs (with Mommy's help) - he's loving it.  4/13 was his first day to go outside at school; and he stayed out of the dirt and trouble there.  When we went to the park earlier this week, he met a dog that he really wanted to check out.  He got closer to it, and then totally freaked out - head against my legs, which I LOVE, since he has just started "cuddling" with me again.  Then, I held him, and he let me pet him and smiled big - he loved being close to the dog.  He has never been around dogs since his sister is such a freak show around them that we avoid them at all costs.  He loved the swing when he was just hanging...then when it started to swing, he literally started shaking.  And screaming.  I remember Melanie taking a while to warm up to this as well.  We had to leave the park one day, because Melanie was being a bit too brave, and I couldn't keep up with both of them by myself.  The trip home was spent with Melanie pedaling her tricycle, thumb in one mouth, crying for Daddy.

Melanie has gained so much confidence on the playground, due in large part to her trip to Natalie & Abby's house.  At one point, Rick looked out and saw Mel hanging from the monkey bars, and ran out to catch her, since she was "stuck" with nowhere to go.  She would go up and turn on & off the bouncy house, and, at one point when I told her she couldn't hang upside down, she cried "but, MOMMY, the BIGGER KIDS ARE DOING IT!!!"  (yes, she said this in all caps.)

Every night when we come home, it's like herding cats to get the kids inside.  Mel wants to be on her bike, Joey wants to be out and about.  Of course, we want to be outside too; but a quick trip inside is usually necessary to change out of work clothes, drop off all the school "stuff," etc.

We love spring!!

Weekend

We had a great weekend.  Friday night, the Hotbox Pizza opened up right by our house, so that was my excitement for the evening!  Jeff and Melanie had a date on Saturday to go to downtown Carmel for a hotdog lunch, so Joey and I headed to Lebanon to visit Grandma Huckleberry.  Saturday night was watching Butler make it back to the final game in the NCAA Championship. 

I had been bribing Melanie all week with a trip to the zoo.  She was working to "earn" this trip through eating dinner by herself each night (at the table with us, but sitting on her own, not on my lap) and sleeping through the night.  She understood the whole family was relying on her good behavior because we all wanted to go to the zoo.  Based on the weather Sunday morning, we talked her into going to the Children's Museum instead.  However, by the time both the kids got up from their post-church naps, the weather was incredible, and we headed to the zoo.  Molly and Julie went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, and the tiger exhibit was closed.  While at Target last week, we saw a book with a tiger on the cover.  Melanie said "Mommy, LISTEN to me.  Molly went to the zoo last week and there were NO TIGERS."  Haha.  So, alas, when we went, the tigers were also closed.  However, there are two viewing points to the lions.  So, on one side, we looked at lions.  On the other side, we looked at tigers.  Crisis averted. 

Joey is now out of his pumpkin seat and into his "regular" carseat (still rear facing, unfortunately).  He is loving his new independence, and the fact he is carried on his own rather than in the pumpkin seat. 

Melanie loves puzzles.  So, I realized that what better practical puzzle than learning to hang up her own clothes??  She loves the task, and was very proud of herself; she wouldn't even let me show her "how" to do it - she wanted to jump in, hands-on.  Smart move, mom - next task, cleaning toilets! 

4 pink eyes, 2 ear infections

On Friday, 4/1, Jeff was concerned about both the kids' runny eyes.  I tried to convince him it was just a cold for both of them.  However, Melanie's history of pink eye and Joey's ear infections led to Jeff's concern of letting it go over the weekend.  I wished him well and told him he was welcome to take them to the doctor (I made the appointment/s for him).  Well, at least one of us has parental instincts.  Between the two of them they had four pink eyes and two ear infections (Joey's two ears).

Mel, as always, was infatuated with the idea of the doctor, so used the rest of the evening to practice giving us eyedrops. 

Both of them are fine - except for unrelenting coughs and runny noses - but they are "acting" fine.