Melanie's antics

Mel's coughing developed over the course of a couple of days, and we actually got a call from daycare on Friday.  I picked her up around 2pm, since I was working from home that day because of my doctor's appointment.  Her cough was pretty persistent, and then her eye(s) got really goopy.  She was a sad sack with a runny nose and runny eyes all weekend.  Saturday night/Sunday morning she woke up around 5am with her eyes basically sealed shut; Jeff was cleaning her eyes out while she screamed; luckily she got back to sleep after that.  We did start her on eyedrops mid-day on Saturday, and today (Sunday) she's been much better. 

She's still been eating like a champ - she was wolfing down STEAK for dinner last night! Lucky girl, she got to have dinner with all four of her grandparents!  Her general leakiness didn't stop her from having fun with her guests, and she's still talking about all of the festivities with Grandma & Papa staying the weekend!



Sunday, I enjoyed a pedicure and then Jeff, Mel and I walked to Stone Creek for dinner.  The weekend was gorgeous!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

For the fourth straight year, our family walked to support a cure for breast cancer - another great day!  Melanie & Molly have both done the walk every year of their lives; Molly even did it while Julie was pregnant!  (I was never pregnant with Mel during the event...)

Anyway, we enjoyed a gorgeous day; this year's crowd was Grandma W, Gigi, Julie, Molly, Mel & me.  We were celebrating 5.5 years of Gigi being cancer-free, and walking in hopes that the girls never have to worry about cancer! 

We just did the one-mile family walk, since no one was too confident I could make the 5k!  You can tell Melanie was really into the spirit of things.  I think she was worn out from waiting for Gigi, Julie, and Molly for so long that morning :)

Coughing but happy

According to daycare, Mel is not coughing while there; however, she's been coughing a lot at home, particularly overnight.  This leads to a sleepy Melanie; last night, before we were even planning bedtime, she climbed the stairs announcing it was night-night time.  This followed several announcements of how tired she was, starting with when I picked her up at daycare.  Despite her coughing & sleepiness, though, she is still in a very cheerful mood, being a total cheeseball during breakfast.  She has been on a kick lately of picking out her own clothes to wear to school.  I had her half-dressed this morning before she decided THIS is what she wanted to wear.

Mel's babies

Melanie is very busy when it comes to taking care of her babies.  She has a routine that she can do over and over, involving checking ALL of their diapers (although none of them actually wear diapers), reporting on whether they're dirty, dry, or wet.... sometimes needing a wipe to clean them up - then putting them all down for naps, covering them up with whatever she can find, then putting them all along the wall in "time up" - and then repeating the process all over again.  She plays really well independently this way; she also enjoys an audience.  When they're all down for their nap, if there is a chair availalble, she'll rock in it & watch her charges sleep.  Or, when they're all taken care of, she will collect her purse & some other belongings, and go bye-bye.  Usually when she leaves, she's going to see "MollyJulieMatt."  She likes to give kisses before this journey begins.

Grilling with Daddy

This just made me laugh, so I had to share.  I've told on here before about Melanie's grill she got for her birthday, and that she enjoys grilling with Daddy.  She can grill a hamburger, hotdog, has condiments, etc.  She was grilling with Daddy on Saturday night, and decided (or so I thought) that she really wanted a hotdog bun.  It's one of her major food groups.  So I got her one, but instead of eating it, she decided to "grill" it.  Thought the pictures were cute of her with Daddy, and then I had to capture the real food on the play grill.

In other Melanie/eating news, she amazes us with the things she tries.  Some days she won't eat a piece of bread; and then some days, like today, she'll down 3 sausage links for breakfast, 5 chicken nuggets (and grapes) for lunch, and eat all of Daddy's pork tenderloin for dinner.... She'll never be a vegetarian!

Summertime!

We had a great summer weekend, starting with the zoo, followed up by a visit or two from Gigi & Poppy on Saturday and lots of playing outdoors.  Sunday we did several errands first thing, and then spent most of the day outdoors, including playing with Mel's friend Grace.  We also got to walk to Marsh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; and I got to enjoy hearing our senior pastor's first visit back to the pulpit in almost a year.  All in all, it was a great weekend!

Mel Loves Choo-Choos

Forget animals, Melanie's favorite attraction at the zoo is the train!  If you even mention the zoo to her, she starts talking about the choo-choo.  She also, several times a week, needs to "choo-choo" through the house.  Daddy is required to accompany her on these choo-choo rides.  She points out every time we see a picture of a choo-choo; including the Boilermaker Special :)  At least she knows her trains!
I know she doesn't look super excited by the zoo choo-choo above, but it's the best I could do....