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.