Just some random pictures

We went to a wedding a week ago and Megan was starting to get squirmy so I handed her a pack of mints that were on the table. She played with them for about 2 minutes then of course they went in her mouth. Dumb mom moment...they were in a mesh beg. So needless to say she LOVED the mints. I took them away from her once they started to ooze. Luckily she can be distracted easily and didn't mind.

She also looked very cute in the dress from my cousin Allison. Allison gave us the dress before Megan was born, hoping that we would have a girl. She said it was too cute to pass up. I have to admit, Megan looked very cute in it.
Here Megan is with her new favorite toys she received as birthday gifts. She likes being pushed on the lady bug (still too little to do it herself) and she likes carrying the drum around. She figured out that she could play with both toys at the same time if she put the drum ON the ladybug. At first she tried to put the drum by the handle then sit behind the drum, but that didn't work. So then she would hold the drum on the lady bug with one hand and the other hand pushed the ladybug by the handle. I couldn't get a clear picture, but it was cute watching her figure things out.
Getting ready for Adrian College Hockey season! Megan (or Grandma) couldn't resist putting the hockey jersey on. It is a 2T so just a little big, but Megan doesn't seem to mind at all. And no, I didn't plan the yellow pants and socks, it just happened. The hockey jersey is now hanging in her room and she reaches for it every day. So I'm sure this will be the first of many pictures in this jersey, so I will apologize now.
So I bet all of you are wondering what size Megan is wearing now. Well, since Megan is now walking around in shoes her pants looked a little short, so we have moved up into size 6-9 month pants. She needed another pair of jeans so I actually went and bought some for her (I rarely buy clothes because of hand me downs) These jeans are 6-9 months and they don't stay on her butt. I tried them on OVER her one piece short outfit and knew they would be big, but seriously come on. So hopefully with a shirt on she won't totally walk out of them. We'll see.

A Perfect Trip to the Zoo

Mark took the day off of work so we could take Megan to the Toledo Zoo. We picked Wednesday because the weather was perfect for walking around outside and it just happened to be our anniversary. Driving into the parking lot we saw 4 school buses. Now for any of you that have been to the Toledo Zoo having only 4 school buses in the parking lot is unheard of! I knew it was going to be a great day at the zoo. We took the small stroller and a back pack and were off.

Our first spot was to see the polar bears. Megan was able to walk right up to the glass and stand there as long as she wanted to watch the seals then the polar bears. As you can see from the picture above, when Megan stood on the ground she was looking at the legs of the polar bear. I lifted her up to see his head and she loved it. She had fun starring eye to eye with him. I think I upset the 3 other parents that were next to us though. Their kids wanted to be lifted up too, but none of them were as little as Megan, opps.

In the next window another polar bear was just relaxing. I took Megan's "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?" book with us to show Megan what the real animals look like from her favorite book. Since no one was waiting to get close to this guy, I pulled out the book and showed Megan the cartoon polar bear then the real polar bear. I was able to do this with about 5 of the animals and Megan paid attention to which animal I was pointing at. I don't think she understood but who knows.
Megan was able to walk around a lot because we didn't have to worry about being in anyone's way. It was great! She loved it because she loves to explore and I loved it because it was something new for her. So everyone make a note, the best time to go to a zoo is in the beginning of a school year before field trips start!
The classic turtle statues! After looking at the reptiles we had to take a picture on the turtles. They were right next to the petting zoo...that was closed :( I had no idea the petting zoo was closed, so I was bummed because Megan would have loved the goats. But since we were able to spend a ton of time every where else it was ok. Next time.
This elephant has been here forever. I wonder how many generations of kids have posed on him? We spent the longest time watching the mama elephant and her not so tiny baby. The mama was very active and Megan loved watching her walk around. Plus there were lots of ducks playing in the water in front of us so she had a ton of stuff to look at. So I don't know if Megan was hugging this elephant because she likes elephants or if she was hanging on for dear life. Either way, cute picture!

This was a perfect trip to the zoo. I'm so happy that Mark to the day off to join us. Megan might not remember this specific trip to the zoo, but I know Mark and I will because it was just perfect! (Have I said that before?)

Another Happy Anniversary

Today Mark and I are celebrating our third wedding anniversary. Mark is taking the day off of work and we are going to enjoy the beautiful weather with a trip to the Toledo Zoo with Megan. Then we have ticket to the Adrian Symphony Opera on Sunday. It will be great to spend time as a family knowing that it was 3 years ago that we started our adventure.

And yes, we had 4 flower girls :)

Asking for Your Parenting Tips/Hints

Hello everyone, I need some help from all of you. Our friends Kyrah and Larry are having their first baby in January. They live in Atlanta far away from both sets of soon-to-be grandparents. I thought it would be a creative shower gift to put together a book of baby tips and hints. The kind of thing that you kind of figure out on your own or read in a book that actually work. My favorite tip is...Dawn dish washing liquid is the best at getting stains (food/dirt/baby poop) out of clothes (it works for new stains or stains that have been on a shirt for a while). Another is to make sure you always have diaper and wipes in the car just in case you forget the diaper bag or it is empty.

Any tips/hints you have, can you please leave a comment so they can be included in the book. And if you have never left a comment before, now is a good time to start. It's not hard, click on "comment" and fill in the blanks. And if you think it is a tip/hint that every mom knows, leave the comment anyways because how are parents supposed to know things if no one shares the good tips/hints. Thanks everyone for what I hope will be a flood of tips! (hint hint)

I should also add that I will be working on the book for awhile so feel free to keep leaving tips as you think of them!

Toddler Labor Laws???

This morning before any of the toys came out of the toy box I knew I had to vacuum and sweep or else it wouldn't have happened. Mark was out picking up our Sunday breakfast, Tim Hortons, giving us just enough time to quickly clean the first floor. I had to move the big leather chair to sweep up some of the dog food Megan chucked under it and when Baron saw the food I had to get the dust pan out right away. Baron was occupied with the dust pan and Megan became fascinated with the small broom. At first she wanted to put Baron's dog food ON the broom. But then when I asked if she wanted to help me in the kitchen, she put the food down and marched into the kitchen.
She knew what to do even though she is still a little too tiny to help. It just amazes me that at slightly old then a year she can follow directions and mimic what she sees Mark and I doing. (plus it reassures me that I must be cleaning enough if she knows how to sweep) She is just so funny.

***On different topic, Megan is really starting to copy words/sounds that Mark and I make. We can ask her to say "thank you" or "good bye" and she will repeat it. To the untrained ear it sounds like babble, but she gets the sound right so it's a start to actual words. So far her favorite thing to say is "dog, dog, dog, dog" Go figure!

You CAN pick your friend's nose!

So we all know by now that Megan and Baron are good buddies. It seems like as the days go by, Megan is playing with Baron more and more. The other day Mark had just got home from work and Megan and I were coming in from playing outside so baron was extra excited when all of us came inside together. Baron being the weird dog that he is, grabbed a pillow and started doing his hyperactive shaky butt thing. Once he plopped down Megan went to pet Baron. She was petting his head, but then I guess she got curious about his nose. At first she grabbed his nose and squeezed that wasn't enough. It was only a matter of seconds and she had her finger UP his nose! As you can see it was in his nose long enough for me to get a picture. Yeah, our dog would rather have a finger up his nose then lose his pillow! Weird. (and yes after this exploration, I did wash her hands!)

I love my grapes!

One good thing, maybe the only good thing about our house not selling is that I got to enjoy my grapes. I planted two Concord grape plants 3 years ago in our backyard just because I love to eat Concord grapes. After the "excitement" of putting our house up for sell died down, I started to get a little bummed about my grapes. I planted the grapes knowing it would be at least 3 years before I would actually be able to eat the grapes. I'm not really a gardener, so I don't know why, but that's how they grow. So after weaving beautiful grape vines around the trellis for 2 summers, I finally had edible grapes this year.
This trellis is right outside our back door and helps block the air conditioner unit and the bathroom window. My 2 little grape plants grew up to be so big (I'm a proud mama) Of course I wish our house was sold, but until then it was nice to enjoy some yummy Concord grapes. So cross your fingers that next summer I will be able to start the whole process over again at a new house. It will be worth another 3 year wait for grapes!

She's quick!

Megan was playing by herself so I took the opportunity to put Megan's clothes in the dryer. Making sure to shut the basement door behind me because Megan loves going down in the basement I went downstairs for a second. Approximately, 1 1/2 minutes later I came back upstairs to find this...Megan helping herself to some Golden Grahams.
Everyday when Megan wakes up we go downstairs, snuggle until we are both a little more awake, then she walks over to her favorite place in the house (besides the bathtub) We have one cabinet in our kitchen that is a lazy Susan and Megan loves to play in it. She pushes it open, spins it around stopping it right next to the row of cereal boxes. After all of the cereal boxes are out of the cabinet she then proceeds to take all of the other stuff out and not only out of the cabinet but also out of the boxes. Oatmeal packets are especially fun to take out of the box! This whole process is repeated MULTIPLE times everyday!

All of the items are safe for her to play with, so I just let her have fun. We have only had to relocate a couple things, the pop tarts because she breaks them and the loaf of bread because she would always sit on it. So be warned that if you ever walk into our house and think that it is a mess, blame Megan! The good thing is that it take about 2 minutes to clean up and Megan loves to play in the kitchen so until she can really help me cook, she can play all she wants in the unlocked cabinets!

When you play like a Rockstar...

...you sleep like a Rockstar! A Rockstar who snuggles with a cloth diaper!
Last weekend we were making the rounds to visit all of Megan's grandparents. Grandma Berthold was recovering from the second mastectomy, Papa Schutte was recovering from knee replacement (just about to go in to fix the other knee) and Grandma Schutte was just feeling blah. We were visiting Grandma and Papa when Megan really needed to take a nap. She wriggled so much while I was trying to get her to take a nap (it takes a lot to get her to sleep when other people are around) Once I put her on the floor to sleep this is how her hair end up. A Rockstar Mohawk! She has had Mohawk before (what baby hasn't!?!) But this was the first one that she did on her own. She did get a drum for her birthday, so maybe she is a Rockstar!?!

LOTS of Chicago Pictures!

The Tribune Building

The van was packed with just enough room for each person to sit, Megan was ready for a nap and we started our trip to Chicago! Mark, myself, Megan, Tracie (Mark's sister) and Caila (our niece) were ready to play tourist. The drive went by quick, if you forget about trying to park at the hotel, but we had arrived.

After being in a car most of the day we needed to stretch so we took a walk to the Tribune Building. I never knew before this trip that all along the outside of the building there are pieces of other famous buildings. We walk all the way around and "visited" lots of places. Caila was able to "visit" a lot on places because Uncle Mark helped her reach the high pieces.

Navy Pier

Megan freaked out once she saw the fountain in the hotel lobby (Yes, she touched the water every time) So when she saw this fountain and all of the kids around it, she couldn't get to it fast enough!


Mark braving the water that shoots up so Megan could touch the water. If there weren't so many kids running around carelessly we might have let Megan really play. But the big kids would have crushed her, so should could only touch the water.

Apparently when Megan got her new stroller she thought she should push it too. Megan wanted to push her stroller a lot in Chicago! As long as we were in an open area we let her, and she loved it.

Shedd's Aquarium
Looking at all of the different fish! Megan liked the aquarium as long as she was in an area that wasn't too dark.

You can't tell in this picture but this guys claw was as big as my arm! No joke!

The bodies on these Spider Crabs were as big as my head, if not bigger. Creepy and cool at the same time!

At the Hotel

We all know that Megan loves looking out windows, but she it the jackpot in our hotel room. This window was about 8 feet wide and the ledge was wide enough to sit up there, so we spent lots of time watch things outside.

To Caila: Always remember to watch out for flying port-a-potties!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites because the kids could sleep in one room and the adults could stay up and hang out and go to bed later. Megan of course had to follow Caila wherever she went. Even when Caila was in the bathroom Megan had to try and look under the door. It was very cute to see the two of them together.

Gino's East

Now I know that everyone has opinions as to which type of pizza is the best. But for us, no trip to Chicago would be complete without eating Chicago style pizza at Gino's East. Caila thought the pizza was weird and Megan loved her pasta but both of them loved being graffiti artists and writing on the walls!

Cool Chicago Art

In Millennium Park you can find a ton of different art pieces. This huge mirrored jelly bean thing was by far the most popular. That's us in the reflection.

The "bean" from another angle.

Caila standing under the "bean"

The coolest part was the very center of the inside. Tracie was smart and thought if we turned the flash on we could count how many times we were reflected around the center of the "bean" I think I count 7 times. Needless to say, you got kind of dizzy if you looked at it too long.

Navy Pier at Night

Twice a week you can watch free fireworks at Navy Pier. On our last night we went down to watch them (the first night we could see half of them from our hotel room) Below is the grand finale on video. They were great fireworks to watch. Too bad Mark was back at the hotel with Megan. The fireworks were way past her bedtime. The next day we packed up the van and drove back to Adrian. Chicago was fun I'm glad we went.

Baby in a Basket!

Ok so I finally had time to make a new post but I can't find the camera cord to put the pictures on the computer. We had a great time in Chicago and we took great pictures, so until I can find the camera cord I'll save the Chicago stories until I have the pictures to go with them.

In the mean time, you are looking at Megan's newest obsession! Whenever she sees a laundry basket, she has to go for a ride in it! She loves being carried from the basement all the way up to our bedroom (it's a workout). She grins and giggles the whole time. Now she is getting to the point where she wants to stand up as she is on her "ride". Actually, she likes to stand up on anything she can! So our little daredevil is always coming up with ways to keep us on our toes!