Woznation

The theme of November was ‘No’-vember.  (Catchy huh?)  After Sept and Oct, I needed to slow down. We did a whole lot of nothing.  Well, thats not true, we did things – but things around here.  We closed down the garden, we went to the aquarium, phil and I met for lunch one friday, we went to a Ravens game for ‘date night’. We went to a happy hour with friends and kids.  I scheduled a few doctors appointments, including one for Barney.  We signed Wil up for a saturday class (we took a break after swimming since we were so busy in the fall).  He started gymnastics at a local place around the corner from us and he LOVES it.  We spent Thanksgiving sitting around home without any visitors, getting caught up on work, and taking it easy.  It was amazing.  There were just a million little things that had been pushed to the bottom of the to-do list while we were traveling this fall, and it was nice to re-group.  Over Thanksgiving break, we did a few things with the kids around the city — We went to the festival of the trees, the zoo and the park a lot.  Even though its a little boring – I think these weeks are my favorite: no expectations, no traveling, no big plans — and in control of the day (Crazy – I like weeks where I feel in control!)  November was good.

Here are some random thoughts:

TDL.  Trash. Dishes. Laundry.  When we lived on the jersey shore and there was a popular show of the same name, they used to say ‘GTL’ for Gym. Tan. Laundry. I have adopted ‘TDL’ for all I wish to accomplish during the day.  If I can keep up on those 3 things, it was an ok day.  Of course I would prefer to fit in a work-out, and get some work done,  and make a decent dinner — but as long as TDL are done, then we are doing ok.  The rest can can wait until tomorrow or be delivered.

Wil has been doing so much better at school lately.  Im so so thankful for our preschool experience this year.  His language is coming along, and we are all really working on listening to him and repeating back his words so he learns the right pronunciation and is able to communicate better.  Now hes learning to talk things out, rather than have any physical outbursts when playing with his friends.  We say ‘Use your words’ a lot in this household!  He really loves preschool – he comes home with so many crafts and projects. Currently he’s really into coloring.  He really focuses on coloring every single part of an object on his sheet.  He cant color in the lines though, so its just a huge blob of color completely covering like half the page until he gets every part.  See exhibit A below. I try to keep some crafts to put on the fridge, but of course, I cant keep everything and end up throwing a lot away.  One day he ‘caught me’ – and spotted his picture in the trash.  But luckily he thought Evie did it. (She throws everything away) and I totally went along with it!  “Evie threw your flag picture away?!!? Oh Nooo” — Thanks for taking the fall, sister. The only thing super annoying about Wil right now is the constant repeating/asking for things – ‘can i have a cracker’,  ‘i want crackers’,  ‘mommy – cracker please’, ‘i want a cracker now, mommy’, ‘mommy – can i have a cracker now please’, ‘cracker please’,  ‘mommy i want a cracker’.  After every request I will say ‘we arent home yet’, ‘we’re in the car, wil’, ‘i dont have any crackers’, ‘we can have crackers when we get home’……ARGH.  3- year olds.

Evie has tons of words.  And is really good at repeating you.  She knows ‘mommy’, ‘daddy’, ‘wil’ (which sounds like ‘whoa’), ‘cracker’, ‘quack, quack (duck)’, ‘cheese’, ‘ninny’ (pacifier), ‘cheerio’, ‘blueberry’, and ‘Batman’ all on her own. I’m sure there are more – but thats off the top of my head.  Oh – and her favorite word: ‘No’. This last month we really turned her world upside down — We have taken the pacifiers away during the day and dropped the morning nap. But she took it all like a champ! Shes still sooo dramatic and so hard to keep happy at times,though.  When she goes to sleep  – she has to have 3 pacifiers.  One in the mouth and one in each hand.  Or else its really difficult.  I mean, I get it –  she loses them in the night and she wants back-ups.  Its infuriating to always find 3, but gosh darn it, I respect her decision.  It hard to be her parent, but everything she throws a fit about, I totally get. Evie — I like you, but you’re crazy. Cant wait til the teenage years!

Here are a few pictures of our adventures in November:

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We were almost successful this year.  Wil was actually ready and excited for Halloween!  We tried on costumes a few days before, and Wil even wore his to the halloween party at school!  A big improvement from the last few years.

We had a couple different options for evie – she wasnt totally jazzed by the Cinderella dress – but liked Wil’s hat:

The day before halloween, we carved our pumpkin – Wil was really into it this year, but still didnt want to touch the slime on the inside.

Evie didnt love it as much:

Unfortunately later than night, Wil was not doing so hot.  We tried to cheer him up with pumpkin cake and candles but we ended up having to take him to the doctors early Friday morning.  Diagnosis: Croup. Prescribed: a healthy dose of steroids.  The doctor said was that he needs to stay home for Halloween.  Big time bummer.

So what did we do?  Dressed him up and took him out.  Haha.  But just to one house.  We originally had plans to go to a neighborhood party, and then over to a friends house after that, but instead we just went to one house around the corner.  I swear he didnt touch anyone  – but I couldnt NOT take him trick-or-treating after all the hype this year.  He loved his few pieces of candy and also loved opening the door when others came to our house trick or treating.  Overall, I’m just glad Wil was excited about all the festivities.  It gives me hope for future years.

We ended up going with the chicken costume for Evie – which she some-what tolerated.  She loved climbing up stairs and knocking on doors, but didnt quite get why she had to do this.  Even after we let her try a piece of candy  – she wasnt totally into it.  But maybe in a few years!

Within a few days Wil gave the croup to Evie and finally by mid-november we were all healthy again…..except, as I type, Evie is upstairs hacking away.  Patient zero.  Give us another month and we might all be healthy again.

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We made it back to Bloomington for the first time since Christmas!  Honestly, I think we were just traumatized from all our traveling last year when Evie was still a baby – meaning tons of diapers, lots of stops for breastfeeding, usually a spit-up session or two – and lots of crying.  We refused to travel long distances with the kids for quite a bit.  For the majority of my travels this year, Phil has stayed at home instead of us all going together.  But this was an event that was finally worth it.  Celia’s wedding! And honestly, Wil and Evie were awesome – which gives me hope for future trips.  We drove overnight Wednesday and arrived early Thursday.  Both kids slept the whole way and we only made 2 stops for gas.  It was as easy as it could be.  Once we got to Bloomington, we had a mix of relaxing, appointments, work, and fun.  The kids had mostly fun.  They spent the first few nights at Mimi and Pop-Pops where they had crummy weather but made-do indoors:

And luckily the weather warmed up for some time outdoors with Busia and Dziadzie:

Phil, barney and I all got our favorite things as well:

There were lots of wedding festivities! We helped get aisle decorations ready Thursday night, went shopping Friday followed by the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, followed by fun at Nick’s:

Then came the main event!  Obviously I did not have my camera on me most of the day, but I was able to steal a few pics from Phil and the photographer.  We cleaned up well:

Sarah did all the flowers!  Which were amazing, as were all the other details:

Everything was picture perfect – I think my favorite part of the ceremony was the soloist.  They had a soprano from IU sing Mozart’s Alleluia which was like a little mini concert just for us (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozih9O4rhUY). It was amazing!

Obviously – we got down to business after that:

AAaaaaand finished the night:

It took a while to recover from that one.  What an amazing weekend. Congrats to Cel and Dave!

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Wow. October.  Looking back on this month, I think we had like 2 days where we didnt have something going on.  We went to DC one day to meet up with Phil and Maggie who were visiting the east coast, then we were in Indiana for 5-6 days for Celia’s wedding, then we went out to Sharp’s farm for Wil’s class field trip, followed by Weber’s farm for our own family field trip, then Phil and I got away for a weekend on our own!  Phil had a few work trips during October, too — one 4-day trip to New Mexico at the very end of October, but we were all back together by Halloween.

First up was DC to see Phil and Maggie – We were able to meet up at a park nearby Phil’s friend’s house, which was a perfect place for the kids to run off some steam and for the adults to catch up.  Then we hit-up a mexican place in Alexandria which was delish.  We hadnt seen each other since Christmas – so it was just nice to have some face time.

Only a few pictures of us all together:

Wil did not want to be photographed, but Phil and Mags brought dinosaur presents which Wil was obsessed with for a good week and still talks about anytime I bring up Uncle Phil and Aunt Maggie:

Wil had a great time (as did Evie – just not as many pictures) and passed out hard with his dinosaurs on the way home:

The next week we drove to Indiana which will get its own post.  But when we got back, Wil had his first field trip at school!  They requested extra chaperones, which I totally get with ten 3-year olds on a bus for 45 minutes each way.  The fact that they can get those kids to do anything is beyond me.  Its like herding cats.  Two of the other moms in Wil’s class and I got together and organized childcare for Evie and other younger siblings, so we were all able to chaperone together.  It was really fun!  They took the kids out to Sharp’s Farm where we pet animals, picked pop corn, rode on a tractor, and played in the pumpkin patch. Wil liked the bus ride most of all, go figure.

Then we went on our own family field trip out to Weber’s farm —  Wil liked it so much the last 2 years, we had to go again. (Evidence Here and here  ). Evie loved the slide and Wil spent forever in the hay maze.  They both tolerated the mini-tractor pull for a bit – but I was definitely the mom sprinting across the field when Evie started to stand up half way through.

I swear Evie had a good time.

The last weekend of October something magical happened – Phil and I went away for 48 hours together!!  We drove to Buffalo, NY where, along the way, we listened to podcasts, reclined out seats, and talked about our week.  When we got there, we met up with other adults and then we slept in the next morning. When we got up –  I got a massage,  Phil went swimming, we had a nice lunch together at a restaurant and then we went to a freaking awesome wedding. (I’m sure some childless people are reading this and thinking these all sound like normal events, but this is the first time we have done normal adult things in like a year! So all these things were truly magical.) It was amazing to be in control of our own time for a few days – and totally recharged our batteries.  Only a few pics:

While we were away, we flew in Busia to watch the kids! I dont know who had a better time, Char or Wil and Evie.  We are so appreciative of her efforts – we know its not easy!

It was a good time had by all.

In our spare time around Baltimore during October we cheered on the Os until they lost in the American League Championships – we even had game 6 tickets – but they got swept in 4 by the Royals.  We hung out outside as much as we could while it was still warm.  And, of course, also nursed some sick kids.  More on that in the Halloween post.

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I was finally able to sit down and organize all the pictures from the Wozniak family vacation!  I will never be able to explain how excited Wil was to be ‘on the beach’.  As soon as we got close and could see the ocean – he just lit up saying ‘I see the beach! I see the beach!’.  And then once we got to the house and he realized he could see the beach from the house — he wanted to be there all the time.  He would start every morning with ‘I’m going to go to my beach now’.  And he was serious.  Someone was out there with him by 8am every morning.  He loooooooved it.  Evie was less thrilled with the beach, but had a few happy moments.  She loved to explore the house and go in and out of doors, especially the front deck. She and Wil loved to make a cave out of the dining room table and use flashlights in the dark.  Both kids loved the boardwalk and all the arcade games.  Wilek’s favorite toys these days are his toy airplanes he got with his 100 down-a-clown tickets playing with Auntie Em.  Wil had his first putt-putt experience with a putter and ball Dziadzia bought him.  Phil and all the boys went on a fancy golfing trip.   Sam, Nick and Mark went on a fishing trip and Sam fried us up some fresh fish.  Phil and I got to play a game of putt-putt together.  Trainer Em designed a crossfit workout-of-the-day for us and I made it out on a few runs.  Uncle Nick dominated at ‘Shots and Ladders’ (with fireball).  I, of course, worked during naptimes.  And there was all the ice cream you could eat.

Though I do say the word ‘vacation’ with a grain of salt.  The word ‘vacation’ doesnt seem to have the same ring to it as it use to. The house wasnt quite baby-proofed and we definitely watched the kids more than we relaxed.  My mom corrected me and said – with kids, its not a vacation — you took a ‘trip’.  It was a wonderful week with the Wozniaks and we had a blast.  But I could use a vacation!

So I really tried to edit down the number of pictures I wanted to keep,  but I only made it down to 104. Then added 10 more.

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At the end of August, Liz went back to school on Tuesday/Thursdays – so that meant that I was back to strictly M/W/F in the office.  I was really spoiled this summer, so its been an adjustment.  I’m back to working evenings and weekends — and there hasnt been much time to run errands, work-out or do too many ‘extra’ things. We’re kind of running on fumes these days — but somehow we just keep going.  I cant wait for the day where I can try a new recipe,  do a little shopping for myself, or sleep-in without the whole week being planned around a simple event.  Until then…we just keep going.

Wil is really getting into a groove at preschool — I have a great relationship with his teacher and shes really on his side with helping him cope better in social situations.  I love my Tuesday/Thursday mornings alone with Evie.  We try to make it to the park or just go on a walk around the neighborhood.  Its nice to spoil her a little bit, but I also miss my time with Wil.  Wil is totally in a “What’s that?” stage.  Mostly with sounds.  Anytime he hears anything that hes not sure of….”Whats that?” and we have to go explore.  He grew nearly 2 inches this summer,  but hes still a stick.  Most 3T pants fall off his butt, but the 2Ts are 3 inches too short.  There are only a few specific brands of pants he can wear.  However – good for us- he prefers to be pant-less.  Its just those pesky times that we are out in public that I have to worry about.  We currently have a set of like 10 toys that Wil cant live without. There is a plastic tiger (named Micheal Jordan), a little red car, a nerf gun, a blue shovel, a full-size measuring tape, a set of plastic airplanes, and a few others.  He rotates week to week what is his ‘favorite’, but whatever it is — he cant live without it.  He has to take it to school (in his back pack), sleeps with it at nap time, takes it into the bath, and bed at night.  Its only one at a time, but its always something.

Evie is non-stop action these days.  She loves to dance.  She seriously cant NOT dance when there is music playing.  Sometimes shes just totally straight-faced and there will be music on in the background and she just starts bouncing back and forth.  I dont think she even realizes shes doing it.  She just continues doing whatever shes doing, no facial expression, just bouncing when there is music.  Its kind of hilarious. She also loves to climb things: stairs, slides, coffee tables.  Wil use to ‘help’ her with these things.  One morning, I was getting ready upstairs, and I usually leave the kids downstairs, when all of a sudden – I heard their voices in my room! Wil had opened the gate and ‘helped’ Evie climb up the entire wooden floating staircase to come see me.  oh my god.  We had to have a little talk about ‘helping’ Evie  and that she was too small to do those things.  Now, when she climbs on the coffee table or starts standing on chairs, he’s my little alert.  ‘NO NO NO EVIE!’.  Speaking of ‘No No No’ — its Evies new favorite saying.  This girl will look you in the eye, drop an entire cup of crackers on the floor and then shake her finger saying ‘NO NO NO!’.  Yeah Eves.  No good.

The main event for September was the Wozniak family trip to Ocean City – which will be the next post.  But in Baltimore, we made it to Ukrainian festival, the top of the pagoda, got through a week of sickness, went to a birthday party, and just generally hung out at home keeping our heads above water.

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I’ve been a little undecided on where this blog is going to go.  I’m getting to the point where I wish I could say more for my own purposes and future recollections.  I want to think of this blog as a diary to look back and remember these years with a little more detail.  But then I’m super reserved because its public and now that the kids are getting older I definitely want to keep some of their information, follies, and upbringings more private.  But I also use this space as a general picture blog to share with family/friends who are far away.  Hmmm.  Maybe I’ll have to join one of those crazy face-twistter-spaces so I can still share pictures but then make Woznation my private diary space for Phil and I to reflect and then can share pages/thoughts privately as the kids get older. We will explore some options.  Until then, I have a few more picture posts to share!  Stay tuned.

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Mimi and Pop-Pop came to visit!  We really owed them a visit, but were too stressed about all our other travels to schedule another trip – so they were nice enough to come to us! (Even though they have traveled all over the world this summer!!) Thanks Mom and Dad!!  We hadnt seen each other since the Naples trip in March, so the kids were totally different people to them!  Evie is up and walking, and Wil’s communication is on a whole new level.  I was so glad my parents had a chance to see them at this stage.   It was a quick Thursday-Sunday trip, but we made the most of it by heading to the park, to an Orioles game and Fort McHenry!

Here we are hanging out at home, Mimi brought pirate dress-up:

Here we are at the Os game – we stretched the kids nap times and actually went to a night game!  We made it until about the 7th inning before heading home:

We spent some time on Wil’s bike, at the park and the garden.  Pop-Pop introduced him to ‘ticklers’ and he quickly abandoned the bike to pick weeds and tickle Pop-Pop instead.

Then we locked the kids in the dungeon at Fort McHenry  — these are the only 2 photos of that day, haha, we skipped Evie’s nap and she let us know about it.  We were in and out of this place in like 30 minutes:

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Wil started preschool!! He is enrolled in half-days on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday — we are easing into it,  But its nice to have him in a structured environment again.  I think its important for Wil to be amongst other kids and not always be at the top of the pecking order.  That being said, it has been a rough adjustment.  I thought it would be easier given his time at daycare, but I guess he has forgotten those days.  Wil is being a bit of a bully and having a hard time following directions. They get a ‘green’, ‘yellow’, or ‘red’ report card each day.  Wil has had a mix – including some ‘red’ days where there have been incidences of him being a little tough with other kids.

Luckily, they hired an extra aid to help with the 10-kid class, and it seems they are keeping a closer eye on him to nip any arguments in the bud and help Wil figure out this whole ‘sharing’ and ‘listening’ thing.  This past week he had all ‘green’ days!  Woo! Keep it up Wil!

Here is our ‘cubby conference’ day:

At home with his backpack:

In front of School:

Running into school!!  He loves it, Runs every day!

You need to get buzzed in around these parts:

This is a preschool that is part of the K-5th grade elementary school down in Canton, so he is getting used to bells, and big kids, and walking to different rooms for different classes.  I think it’s a great intro into the school setting.  It totally reminds me of St. Charles.  Here he is waiting for our cubby conference.  Every new preschooler had a set time to meet with the teacher and check out the classroom before the first official day.

Followed by his first day:

Cubby:

Dismissal:

He has music class on Tuesdays, Spanish on Wednesdays and Gym class on Thursdays, in addition to his normal class time with his teacher where they are working on counting and their ABCs.  Two of my other friends have little boys enrolled in the same class, so he had 2 buddies that he knew going in and we are already meeting and hanging out with new friends! I’m really happy that we started pre-school this year instead of waiting another whole year.  He really loves going every morning and I’m glad he’s figuring out how to behave in a classroom setting.  I think hes going to have a GREAT year!

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In Mid-August, I spent 5 glorious days in Ontario for Celia’s Bachelorette!  Sarah, Celia and I all met in Detroit and drove over into Canada.  We almost didnt make it due to a passport fiasco, but we made it across legally and were in Toronto by 2am.  We woke up and headed north to Celia’s cottage in Parry Sound.  We stayed up on the Georgian Bay for 2 nights.  When we got there it was like 50 degrees and Carol had made a fire for us!  We stayed up late drinking wine, playing games, and talking.  Then spent the next day on the water with Cara’s family.  We saw a bird, called a Loon, that all the canadians were REALLY excited about.  But, to me, it was just a glamorized duck.  I seriously felt a Lil’ Sebastian thing going on.  ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/222876 )

Then we went back to Cara’s family’s house for an amazing meal and more wine.   We drove back to Toronto on Saturday for one last night in the city. We went to a nice fancy dinner and then out on the town.  The next morning was not fun.  But overall it was an amazing 5 days with friends (and no kids).

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While I was in Ontario, Phil was holding down the fort.  Liz was nice enough to switch her days and work Wed, Thurs, Fri so Phil could make it into work on all 3 days.  But he did mornings, evenings, bedtimes and the entire weekend by himself.  He was a rockstar – check out the pictures.  He was out every night with them  – took them down to the harbor, down to Canton, the garden, multiple playgrounds, new toys – THE WORKS.  I am never that energized when I am alone with them!  He is amazing!

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Wow – August was a whirlwind!!  Nearly every weekend was busy.  Both Phil and I had evenings out — He had a work event at Fort McHenry followed by dinner and an Os game.  I had my monthly Mom’s night out — we went on a haunted tour of Fell’s point! Then I had a 5-day trip to Ontario for Celia’s bachelorette (The longest I have left Evie!!).  During the weeks we also made it to one last concert in the park, a school open house, a friends birthday party, and a few appointments.  Wil  started preschool on the 27th and then my parents came to visit over Labor Day!!  Phew!!  We just powered through and caught as much downtime as we could!  We had a few leisurely evenings at the park and checked out a new park on the harbor with a tree tunnel!!  We knew Wil would love that one.  And Liz took the kids to the Sondheim fountain one day which was a huge hit!  We are definitely seeing the end of summer around here, and I’m glad August was filled with fun activities, but we are ready to settle back into a routine!

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