Bonus Post: Pictures from Gretchen's Baptism

May 5, 2013

Since Gretchen was baptized at the Easter Vigil service, no one really took pictures.  We also didn't hang around after the service to pose for pictures because it was so late.  Emily Harju took a few, though, and sent them to me.  Candle-lit proof that it happened:

January 18-25

Gretchen's words: goose (as in "silly goose"), birds, papi (which used to mean Grandma), Gramma, Yiayia (for the priest's wife at our church), kiss, hug, push, pray down ("pray and get down").

Gretchen talks like a first grade reader.  "Daddy.  See Daddy.  See Daddy's water."  She should write books.  :)  Her sentences are beginning to move past this stage, and the effect is diminishing as she strings words together with less obvious pauses between words.  I've been neglecting to mention this habit, though, and don't want to forget before she stops doing it.

We took Gretchen's pacifier away last week.  More accurately, I cut the tip off her pacifier and she decided she didn't need it anymore.  It was much easier than trying to explain to her that her pacifier was missing.  After a couple of rough nights (only one of which was rough in the middle of the night) and a few more rough naptimes, Gretchen has accepted her pacifier-less state.  She does seem to take longer to fall asleep, but I think that's mostly because we can hear her babbling now.

Bryan's 12th day of Christmas present ended up being a little late.  Fortunately for his wife, Old Calendar Christmas exists, so he just got a 10th day of Old Calendar Christmas gift instead.  I wanted to make him a double-layered hooded robe for his commute (and for working in our still unheated basement), but I had to get the pattern from Justine when we were all in Michigan, and then I got sick, and then I was catching up with other things after being sick...  But it finally got done, and he says that it is wonderfully warm.  :)

Our house is on the market!  Yes, we moved four months ago...  We lived close enough to go fix things up, though, but not close enough to get it done in a timely manner.  And after we got things repainted, we weren't back in Springfield to sign papers for the realtor for another month.  All the papers have been signed now and the keys have been given to the proper people, so it's just a matter of waiting for someone to come buy it.

When we visited the Kleins on Thursday, Steph helped me give Gretchen her first haircut.  And when I say "Steph helped me," I mean that Steph cut Gretchen's hair and I kept Gretchen looking the correct direction most of the time.  :)  All we did was trim off the mullety look that most toddler girls apparently get as their heads and hair grow at different rates.  She took her first haircut much better than Olivia took hers (unfortunately, I can't find the post about Olivia sobbing through her first haircut, or I'd link to it for you).  Found it.

Olivia is still here, too, but apparently she didn't do anything new or exciting this week.  :-P

Pictures:

January 11-18

This week's post actually begins with Saturday, January 3.  You may recall that the Kleins were visiting.  They stayed overnight on Friday and presumably left sometime on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I was not able to see them off because I caught a stomach bug and was busy recuperating on the couch.  :(

By Sunday I was feeling better, so we traveled to Sidney to spend a couple of days there.  Bryan had to work in Springfield on Monday and the girls and I were going to run errands.  Gretchen got sick Sunday night, though, so we canceled our plans.  Bryan was needed back at the office a couple of days later, which led to us extending our stay a bit.  He and Olivia both got sick Tuesday.  :(  We were all feeling most of the way better by the time we went home Wednesday evening.  It would appear that we only went to Sidney to spread our sickness around.

On Sunday there was snow on the ground and the temperature was high enough that we decided to go sledding.  Both girls thought that was fun, although I think we spent more time bundling up than we did actually sledding.  Bryan was pleased with how much they enjoyed the experience, though, so we will be doing that more as they get older.

The end of this week was busy for me since I had an orchestra concert.  Bryan and the girls got to spend a lot of time together every evening and then most of Saturday.  Everything's done now, though, and I have a musical break until March.

Olivia, as you may know, loves to watch Scooby Doo at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  (Lesser known fact: Gretchen also appreciates "Dooby Dooby Doo.")  One of the episodes Olivia watches is about a mummy, which seems pretty normal.  Olivia apparently doesn't know the word "mummy," though, so whenever this episode comes on, she talks about how "it's the one with the scary mommy!"

Gretchen's words are hardly worth noting anymore since she repeats everything she hears and has a specific sound for pretty much anything she wishes to discuss.  Whether or not I can interpret those sounds is a different matter...  She has begun saying pacifier (instead of plug), as well as talking frequently about whether it is "Lolly's turn" or "Kiki's turn."  She also says share, most often in a context similar to "Kiki share Mommy's cookie."  Oh, and she learned "vroom!" from her cousins.  :)

Around the middle of November, I noticed a curious thing about nighttime: Gretchen was no longer waking us up.  She's been night-weaned forever and sleeping through the night relatively well, but most nights she still needed some sort of parental involvement for a few seconds.  Perhaps her pacifier got lost or she needed a drink of water or a new diaper...  Whatever the reason, I was still making a brief nightly trip to her room.  And then suddenly all of that stopped.  I didn't even notice until the third or fourth night in a row.  :-P  The traveling and sickness have upset Gretchen's fabulous sleeping and she's been up again, sometimes multiple times.  Happily, getting back to our normal routine straightened her out.

Pictures:

January 4-11

The title lies.  This is, in fact, a recap of December 21-January 4.  I'll lump this past week in with next week's post.

We spent six days with Bryan's family, visiting from the weekend before Christmas until Christmas Day.  I had two Etsy orders to finish (done in time to go out with Monday's mail!) and two and a half Christmas presents to complete (done by Wednesday, I think, except for the snaps on Justine's...).  They didn't take me much time, but did allow me the occasional break from pre-Christmas craziness.
We went to Mass on Saturday night with the girls and then left them sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's while Bryan and I went to midnight Liturgy in Lima.  Gretchen decided to participate a little extra in Mass (you know, because it's Christmas) and proceeded to read rather loudly from her book during the Gospel.  Then she spent the sermon singing the song "Singing in the Shower" (from my fabulous birthday present) at progressively higher pitches.  Delightful.  She read some more during the Eucharistic prayer and then settled down to listen during the actual hymns.  As we sang "Silent Night," she caught the words "Jesus, Lord" (Jesus, Lord at thy birth...) and began pointing to pictures of Jesus Lord in church.  This was great, until she realized the the large statue of Jesus Lord at the back of church was *gasp* naked!  Then she spent the rest of the service proclaiming, "Jesus nanake!"

Christmas morning was everything Murry could have wished as the girls gazed with wide, excited eyes at the presents awaiting them under the tree.  Gretchen opened a tea set and Olivia opened a set of books with an electronic machine to read them to her (books on tape sure have come a long way), and they were good to go.  We got some presents out of boxes right away and put the rest aside to open at a later date.  They've been discovering these other presents a little at a time over the past few weeks.  Our house has never been so full of anticipatory excitement.  :)

After festivities were done, we began packing the car to head to Michigan.  We made a brief stop at our house to drop off presents and pick up things for the Michigan folk before continuing on our way and hit the chaos just before 7.

Thursday through Tuesday were spent visiting with my family.  The girls ran around with their cousins, re-learning from William how much fun it is to just run around being crazy.  :)  At one point, Joseph was letting William, Olivia, and Gretchen run at him one at a time.  He would catch the runner, lift him high in the air, and then put him down and await the next toddler.  After Joseph (or perhaps his arms) tired of this game, he told the kids to amuse themselves and left the room.  Apparently the three decided to continue the game without an adult, taking turns being the catcher.  What resulted was them running full speed and smacking into each other.  They made it a few rounds before bumped heads ended the game in tears.

My dad, loving the fact that Gretchen calls herself Kiki, set out on a mission to get her to refer to herself as "Opa's Kiki."  This plan worked... mostly.  Gretchen says Opa's Kiki, but we're pretty sure that's her name for dad, not for herself.  :)  One night after the girls were in bed, dad was talking in the living room.  There's a fan on in the bedroom, so sounds are muffled, but apparently Gretchen heard his voice, because she immediately shouted, "OPA KIKI!"  The whole living room erupted in laughter.  Dad told her to go to sleep, to which she replied, "NO!  OPA KIKI!"  She did settle down shortly after that, though.

Bryan worked from my parents' house on Monday and Tuesday, but then we needed to head home.  After dinner on Tuesday, we packed up the car and began the trip back to Lima.  We arrived at the not-unreasonable hour of 9:30, put the girls in bed, unpacked the car into the dining room, and fell into bed.

Wednesday morning was spent beginning to unpack and find homes for new belongings.  That afternoon I had a rehearsal, followed by an evening concert, so I didn't get too much done the rest of the day.  Thursday was a day off for Bryan, so we all hung out and continued the quest to find the floor.  By Friday morning most of the things were at least contained, which was good because the Kleins were coming to visit that afternoon.  Steph and I ditched the men with the kids and headed off to a Messiah party (where a bunch of people get together for a laid-back singing of select parts of Handel's Messiah).  Unbeknownst to Scott (Steph's husband), Bryan had volunteered to babysit all the church kids while their parents attended the festivities.  Scott and Bryan ended up with 9 kids ranging in age from 1 1/2 to 5 and one elderly dachshund.  They were hailed as brave heroes at the party, and it would seem that by all accounts they did splendidly.  :)

December 21-January 4

Just pictures again this week.  I'll get some words to you next week.  :)

Pictures: