Having Fun

So, I don't have a lot of new news to update everyone on but I wanted to share this picture as it is so fun. Michaela has just started to actually try and have fun with Danielle or share toys though both infrequently. However I am just happy it is starting :)

Michaela has decided to forgo naps lately and put her foot down. It has been close to a week and she is very irritable; hopefully soon she will decide to stop fighting it as I really feel that she needs a nap. Her favorite saying is "No seep"

Danielle is growing fast and loving solid foods, everytime we eat she GRUNTS until we feed her to and she does not seem to be picky at all unlike Michaela when she was this age. I am hopeful that Danielle will keep up this trend and I will not have a picky toddler again. I took Danielle to the doctor last night to see if she had an ear infection *she did not* and she was a whopping 16 lbs 12 oz up from 16 lbs 1 oz on the 9th of March.

Have a great Sunday everyone and enjoy the spring weather, though here in Madison we have snow...yuck!

Swim Lessons Finishing Up

Michaela is nearing the end of her swim lessons, we have only one more left. So, the other night we took videos again to show her improvement. She is still loving swimming, though she very much dislikes jumping off the edge of the pool.

Anyhow, watch closely as I think you may hear my heart stop as I am videoing one portion...scary! During the referred to moment, I thought I was going to die as it was going so slow, I was ready to scream or jump in and couldn't believe everyone wasn't yelling. In all reality, it was just a few seconds, fast enough that if you weren't watching closely you could even miss it on the video.

Enjoy :)

Weekend Events

So, this past week we were able to kick back and enjoy some family time together. A nice relaxful time after the months/years of stress of not knowing where we will be. So, we had trips to the zoo, walks to go birding and luckily for us the weather was very cooperative. So, I thought I would share a few pics.

Michaela is not always a fan of walking and most often prefers to be carried or to ride in the stroller, but sometimes; like below we bribe her by things like carrying a stick. I think sticks are a universal toy for two-year olds :)

I also wanted to tell the story of yesterday's trip up to Columbia county to see the birds that congregate on flooded fields. We have made the trip north a few times this winter/fall/spring to see thousands of geese, ducks, swans, etc and Malcolm heard that there were a bunch of great-white fronted geese on one of the ponds so off we took. Much of the drive is on back country roads that some have even been closed to due flooding waters and as we were driving on one such road I look up to see that Malcolm is driving through what looks to be dirty, slushy water...if only that were the case. Malcolm's window was down and the smell all of a sudden hit us...liquid manure! We had been driving maybe 15 mph and it had coated the underside of the car and smelled so bad. I was laughing so hard, I think I was crying. Malcolm proceeded to drive back and through one of the flooded roads in attempt to lessen the smell, but it is still there and anytime we get out or in or turn on the vents we are greeted with a fresh smell of manure. I think it is so funny and smile whenever I think of it...maybe one of these days we will get an undercarriage wash :)

Lastly a couple pics from the zoo:

Our Little Fish!

So we have taken Michaela swimming at the Y a few times and she also has been taking swim lessons, though I think we have missed as many as she has attended. Oh well, we will make them up sometime. But anyhow, she is loving swimming and we brought the cameras along to the Y this weekend to catch our little fish in action ;)

Here is a video of her swimming...enjoy!

Michaela also is just learning at swim lessons how to jump into the pool and actually go underwater. I was so nervous, excited and just plain proud to see her accomplish so much in swimming. She was so happy and loves showing off to everyone her new skills.

She loves swimming with both mommy and daddy and she will always say things like "Dada, deedee" or "Momma, deedee" which translates to Daddy take Danielle or Mommy take Danielle so that she can have the appropriate person all to herself. Here you can tell how much fun she is having with Daddy!

Zoo Trips

Michaela's favorite thing to do lately is to go to the zoo to see the giraffes and lions and so we seem to go a few times a week. This past week, Malcolm took some time off during the day and we took the girls to the zoo and Danielle for the first time got up close and personal to the turtles. Anyhow, I thought I would share a couple of the pictures because I thought they were so fun and cute. What a big girl Danielle is getting to be. *I will try to post some more zoo pictures shortly as we have some cute pictures of Michaela as well :) *

Grandma's Quilt

Grandma Cindy's quilt has been getting around lately, so I thought I would show off a couple pics of the quilt that she made for Danielle...it is beautiful! And the girls love it :) Also, the last pic is of Michaela and her quilt when she was close to Danielle's age.

Swimming

Yesterday was quite a day for Michaela. We went to open swim at the YMCA. Michaela was quite the little fish. She wore a life jacket for the first time. After tepidly trying and testing her new freedom she ended up being a prime example of the Peltzman effect. Simply put, because she had extra safety in the pool she soon became more risk taking. She stretched for the balls away from either Christine or my hands. After spending a bit of time and playing with the balls and basket, Michaela found a noodle and liked having one under her arms in addition to the life jacket. This gave her a bit of extra buoyancy and soon she allowed us to let her kick on her own. She loved kicking towards Chris or myself, the entire time floating on her own within an arms length of us. She enjoyed showing off for the lifeguard and everyone else that would look her way. It was very nice seeing Michaela try something new and enjoy herself.

Job Search Complete

Christine and I are very happy that my job search has come to an end and we are excited about the future. I accepted an offer at University of Wisconsin Marshfield/Wood County. The job will officially start August 31st, but I suspect that I will start on teaching preparations earlier and that we will be moving to Marshfield at the end of the summer. In the time being I need to get my butt in gear and finish my dissertation.

Most importantly we feel it is a great opportunity for what is important to our family. Hope everyone will come visit.

6 Month Update for Danielle

So, this is a long time in the coming, but I am finally getting around to getting Danielle's 6 month pictures edited. We were home in Minnesota on the 22nd and a took a couple pictures to commemorate the day. I am so jealous of all of you who are able to take the same pictures posed each month, it just seems like too much thought required, but what an awesome way to truly see the difference. Instead, unfortunately you are stuck with my hodge-podge of pictures.




Anyhow, Danielle has been eating some rice cereal for awhile now and is sitting up completely by herself only tipping over rarely. She can roll over both ways, but still prefers to rollover from her back to tummy. She is great at tummytime and can play that way for a long time but still is showing no inclinations of pulling her legs up or belly off the ground to start the next phase of crawling. But that is okay with me, she can stay put for now. Soon enough there will be many a fight when Danielle crawls over to Michaela to play with her/her toys and Michaela will undoubtedly push her, hit her, etc and Danielle will cry...hmmmm I'd better stop thinking of that...

What a joy my girls have been, though it is difficult with everyone sick. Both girls seem to have a shorter fuse for getting angry or frustrated and are much more exhausted than usual. However, I can understand as I am sick as well so I have more sympathy and patience for their crying. Michaela's favorite thing right now is giraffes, she love to play with her toy giraffes as well as going to the zoo. We actually sit in the giraffe house for probably 20 minutes when we see them. Danielle I think enjoys waking up at 7 just so she can get an hour of alone time with us without Michaela.

I will try and keep everyone posted on the girls and will give you all Danielle's health info when we have her 6 month Dr's appt in a few days.

White-winged Crossbills

After unsuccessfully trying to photograph White-winged Crossbills multiple times this winter we finally were in the right spot at the right time. The resident flock at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum was very patient, allowed us to take many pictures, and did not fly away as soon as we got near. With everyone sick I went out first at nap time and found them, then I came home and sent Christine out with the camera while the girls slept so that she was able to see and photograph them also.

Juvenile Male

Female

Male

Doctor's Visit

After a rough night we caved in and went to the Doctor today. The nurse we called this weekend said there was no reason to come in unless a temperature persisted beyond Tylenol doses. However, Christine and I both felt like crap last night and Danielle spent most of the night crying between coughs so we went in.

The prognosis? Danielle has an ear infection and will be on Moxo. Christine has a very bad ear infection and will be taking Moxo as well as ear drops. Michaela has an ear infection and pink eye, so she gets Moxo and eye drops. I am fine, liquid in my ear but all is clear. We will see how well the girls (all 3) take the medication, but at least it is nice knowing the diagnosis and the likely resolution at the end of a week. Hopefully the coughs will not persist either and we might get back to sleep.

A new start with a new month?

Does anyone else ever feel like you need to get out of a funk and get back to your normal life? I have in a funk for way too long, thinking about jobs and nothing else is depressing. I did have two campus interviews last week at UW Wood County and UW Marathon County, both small colleges in central Wisconsin affiliated with the University of Wisconsin Colleges system. I enjoyed each campus faculty and hope that the job search will come to an end soon, allowing me to work on my dissertation full time once again.

We went swimming last night at the YMCA. Michaela enjoyed hanging on to as many noodles as possible. When they were not around the balls caught her eye and were the objects of desire. Danielle did well in the water with no fussing.

Everyone is sick in the apartment now. Michaela and Danielle started to get sick on Tuesday, with runny noses, nasty coughs, and overall aches. They both seem to be a bit better as they are able to sleep a while at night without crying anymore. Christine and I have it now, so plenty of bad smells and aches in the apartment currently.

Based on last month, I hope this month brings; warmer weather and a few birds, health kids that sleep through the night, and a job offer with my peace of mind.