May 24-31

We traveled to Wisconsin last weekend for Kara and Jacob's wedding.  After finding out that it was only a seven to eight hour drive, we decided to leave after lunch on Thursday, hoping to catch naptime.  The trip went remarkably smoothly, although it predictably took us a little longer than Google's estimate.  Luckily, Wisconsin is an hour behind us, so we didn't have to worry about getting up any earlier than usual the next morning.  :)  Our lodging was a Marriott in Madison where we got the employee rate because the manager was a member at the church we contacted looking for a place to stay.  Olivia and Gretchen shared a bed and it went better than anticipated, perhaps because they were too tired to goof around by the time they made it to bed each night.

Friday was spent at Tom and Donna's house helping Justine bake desserts.  Joseph kindly watched the older girls since Bryan was working in the basement.  Just as I was debating putting people down for a nap, reinforcements showed up in the form of the Allen Park crew!  The girls rallied and made it through until the car ride back to the hotel that night.  Bridal shower, rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner all went smoothly and I am now on a quest to recreate the truffle mac and cheese that I ate for dinner.  :)

Saturday was the wedding.  Bryan watched the older girls and I drafted Alison to be Kaitlyn's nanny for the day while I did wedding things.  Bryan and Joseph managed to get all four kids dressed and to church on time without the help of their wives; the Barhorst babies were even given baths first (we're all very impressed).  Gretchen was exhausted from her travels and fell asleep about ten minutes into the ceremony.  This was her second nap of the day since she also fell asleep on the morning drive.  She took a third nap on the way to the reception.  Olivia thought Kara might be a princess and was very excited when she got to put on her Cinderella dress (that we had grabbed at the last minute for no particular reason) to take pictures with the princess.  We said our good-byes and headed back to the hotel...

Sunday was Mass and Liturgy and then more good-byes as we left my immediate family to head to lunch with an old friend.  Kathleen was my roommate at summer camp for three years and happens to live in Madison, so we got together at Ella's Deli on Sunday.  Olivia was impressed by the carousel as we drove in and distracted by all of the moving objects covering the walls and ceiling while we ate.  Kathleen and I have more in common than we used to, if that's possible, and we happily chatted for about two hours.  It's too bad that we live eight hours apart, but we did decide to try harder to keep in touch via email.  :)  After lunch, the Barhorst family loaded back into the van and began the long trek home.  We left at three (WI time) and lost half an hour to Chicago, an hour to dinner, half an hour to Kaitlyn's ill-timed hunger, and an hour to the time change, arriving home at 1:00 Ohio time.  Everyone was tired, though, so we slept in a little on Monday (though I did do a 5k fun run with some church friends -- 30.28) and spent the day recovering.

The rest of the week was fairly typical.  A few highlights:

Gretchen knows her full name: Kitchen Beast Barfhorse

Kaitlyn is in a big girl bed crib.  We took the little white crib to Wisconsin with us so that the Bossards could take it home to Boston.  She's been doing great in her new room and the older girls are good about not bothering her.

Wednesday was Kaitlyn's two month check-up.  She's 11 pounds, 9 ounces, and 23.5 inches long.  Apparently her weight was 42nd percentile when she was born, 55th at her last appointment, and is now 66th percentile.  She's gaining weight faster than other babies her age, I guess.  She's also pretty tall (95th, I think they said), but Olivia's pediatrician told us that genetics kick in at about 9 months (which is when we saw a dramatic decrease in Olivia's height percentile!).  In other words, don't get excited about a future WNBA champion over here.  :-P

Olivia has "daughters."  Usually they're Barbies, sometimes they're babies, and they always require a lot of care.  "Uh-oh, my daughters are crying!  I have to go take care of them."

Oh!  I almost forgot about something that was NOT typical!  On Thursday, the girls and I drove up to Toledo to meet Oma, Aunt Jacque, Aunt Justine, William, and Edward at the art museum.  We wanted to see everyone one last time before they dispersed to the four corners of the earth east coast and Toledo is nicely central-ish.  The Toledo Art Museum is remarkably kid-friendly as art museums go, and their current theme is Playtime, so the kids had fun.  We wandered around and then had a picnic outside before going home.  It was definitely worth doing again.

Also on Thursday (I guess this week wasn't typical at all now that I'm writing it all down...), I went to a Mom's Night Out dinner with a newly created group at the local Catholic Church.  I do not have six new bosom friends, but I now recognize five probable introverts and one definite extrovert when we go to church.  Guess which one started the group.  :-P  I'll give you a hint: the other five (and yours truly) went because their husbands told them it would be good for them.

If you're wanting to take The Gretchen Quiz, this is your last chance!  Answers go up on Wednesday.

Pictures:

May 17-24

The week in brief:

Gretchen runs.  I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but she's quite good at it now.  She still can't jump yet, though.  Her current attempt is to roll up onto her tippy toes.

You haven't seen dancing until you've seen Olivia's martial-arts-dance to Be A Man from Mulan.

Kaitlyn now has times where she's awake but not eating.  No one, Kaitlyn included, really knows what to make of these times.

I'm sporting two wonderful wounds on my leg, courtesy of the treadmill.  This is what happens when you make bad decisions (trying to fix a ponytail while running) on a treadmill.

The 5k I was hoping to run didn't happen.  Elesha, Jon, and I showed up, but the rest of the run didn't.  :/  The three of us held a poorly measured Lima Symphony 5k without the Lima Symphony.

Bryan's office is one step closer to complete.  An electrician came on Wednesday to wire the roughed in office for lights, outlets, and heat.

Gretchen doesn't bump her head, she bonks it.

Our quiet time experiment has been ...going.  Gretchen often doesn't nap, which means her bedtime goes more smoothly.  Of course, she's not very good at quiet time yet and she gets cranky due to lack of nap, so I'm often more frazzled by the time everyone is in bed.  :/

On Thursday we left for Wisconsin to attend Kara and Jacob's wedding.  News of that trip next week.

Did you see the Bonus Post this past week?  Head on over and take a quiz about Gretchen's current life...

Pictures and Videos:

Bonus Post: The Gretchen Quiz

A long time ago, I had an Olivia Quiz where people could see how similar their thought process was to that of a 14-month-old.  Now you get a chance to pit your mental faculties against those of a two-year-old.  Prepare yourself.

1.  Besides her hands, which part of Gretchen's body is definitely going to be sticky after a pancake breakfast?
  A. Stomach
  B. Hair
  C. Nose
  D. Eyebrows

2.  What does Gretchen do when she's tired?
  A. Twirl her hair.
  B. Suck on her fingers.
  C. Put her head down on the nearest available surface.
  D. Run around like a crazy lady.

3.  Which song is the current car favorite?
  A. Old MacDonald.
  B. Singing in the Shower.
  C. I've Got a Dream.
  D. Going to the Zoo.

4.  Which of the following has NOT been chosen as a quiet time toy?
  A. A ball.
  B. A baby doll.
  C. A wooden spoon.
  D. A toy car.

5.  All creepy-crawlies are known by which name?
  A. Bees.
  B. Ladybugs.
  C. Ants.
  D. Spiders

6.  Which prayer is most recited during the day?
  A. Our Father
  B. Creed
  C. Hail Mary
  D. Jesus Prayer

7.  Gretchen's favorite footwear is...
  A. Tennis shoes.
  B. Olivia's shoes.
  C. Church shoes.
  D. Boots.

8.  Which two numbers get skipped when counting to ten?
  A. 1
  B. 2
  C. 3
  D. 4
  E. 5
  F. 6
  G. 7
  H. 8
  I. 9
  J. 10

9.  What is Gretchen virtually guaranteed to do during any given car ride?
  A. Kick the seat in front of her.
  B. Fall asleep.
  C. Remove her socks and shoes.
  D. Sing along with the CD.

10.  Most of the sentences out of Gretchen's mouth start with which word?
  A. See.
  B. Hear.
  C. Speak.
  D. Well.

11.  The purpose of pajamas is...
  A. To be worn excitedly for as long as possible.
  B. To be worn grudgingly for bedtime.
  C. To be taken off.
  D. To be put on Kaitlyn.

12.  At vitamin time, Gretchen always thinks she gets which shape?
  A. Ariel with a dress.
  B. Ariel with a tail.
  C. Cinderella.
  D. Jasmine.

13.  The best plate and bowl are...
  A. The turtle plate and the fish bowl.
  B. The zebra plate and the lemons bowl.
  C. The cow plate and the oranges bowl.
  D. The turtle plate and the frog bowl.

14.  What is the thing Gretchen most commonly "needs"?
  A. A new diaper.
  B. A drink.
  C. Mommy or Daddy
  D. A kiss.

15.  Which is Gretchen's favorite snack?
  A. Popcorn.
  B. Chips.
  C. Crackers.
  D. Raisins.

May 10-17

I saw Kaitlyn's first smile last week!  She had three or four really good ones on Saturday.  You can see from the pictures below that I was trying to catch one, but failing miserably.  She's still not predictable enough or smiling for long enough to share them with anyone that isn't looking when it happens.

In other Kaitlyn news, she's semi-mobile, but completely unaware.  She definitely does not stay in one spot, but she appears to have no idea that she's wiggling around.  She's also been examining her hands a lot and trying desperately to catch her thumb.  Whenever I come to pick her up after she's been crying, she makes sure to yell especially loudly in my face for a few more seconds, just to make sure I know that she's mad.

Gretchen goes to bed best after little to no nap.  Gretchen alone in her room with the door closed in the afternoon always falls asleep.  We're trying something new here to deal with this conundrum.  On Thursday, Gretchen did quiet time on a couch.  She's less likely to fall asleep that way, but staying on the couch for a prolonged period of time is a foreign concept.  So far I've been just staying close enough to the couch to discourage her when she tries to leave.  Not much of a quiet time for me, but I'm hoping it's a temporary thing since the only time I interact with her is when I tell her to get back on the couch.

My garden beds have dirt!  Our friend Josh took his pickup truck to the local dirt and mulch place to pick up 1.5 cubic yards of soil for me.  Then he unloaded it into my two garden beds and put the excess over by my raspberries so that I can dig up the grass and spread better dirt around.  I'm hoping to get a few plants in the beds early next week.  :)

We're traveling beginning Thursday, so next week's post will likely be late.  To tide you over, though, I have another bonus post!  This one is interactive, so be sure to check in and test your Gretchen knowledge!

Pictures and Videos:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 3

Olivia: I don't like pickles.
Bryan: That's celery.
Olivia: I don't like celery-pickles.
Bryan: Try it anyway.
Olivia (putting the celery in her mouth and making a face): But I don't like pickles.

Albie (Bryan's former roommate), upon hearing the news of Kaitlyn's birth: I know before you started having kids you were hoping for a football team, but it looks like you're going to have to gun for a cheerleading squad.

Olivia, in a menacing voice while playing with her dolls: Looks like you taked a wrong turn, princess.

Gretchen: *takes Bryan's slippers, opens the back door, throws slippers out into the rain, and closes door*
Gretchen: Uh-oh, daddy's slippers!
Bryan: Daddy's slippers?
Gretchen: Daddy's slippers wet!
Bryan: Well why did you throw them out in the rain?
Gretchen: Uh-oh, slippers wet!

Bryan: Olivia, stop whining.
Olivia (still whining): It's what I do.

Olivia: You used to have a baby in your tummy but then she comed out.  Now you have a drink in your tummy.

Olivia, with exasperation on a particularly gassy day: Ugh!  'Scuse me!  Why's my butt do that?

Gretchen: Ready breakfast.
Me: This will be lunch.
Gretchen: Oh.  Ready breakfast lunch.
Me: Just lunch.
Gretchen: Ready dinner.
Me: Lunch.
Gretchen: No, ready breakfast.

Bryan, when Gretchen started getting into things: Is the movie over already?
Me: No, but I opened the door and she followed me in here.
Bryan: Hmm.  She's like a moth.

Olivia: Mommy, I stepped on one of the ants so it couldn't move anymore.  But there are some more coming up, but I am not going to step on them today.  I will step on them tomorrow.
*Note: Use of the word "ants" may not be accurate.  I don't know what kind of bug (or worm) she actually squished.*

Gretchen: Want more chips.
Me: Can you ask nicely?
Gretchen: Please have more.
Bryan gives Gretchen a chip.
Gretchen: *bursts into tears* No, want more that!
Bryan: More dinner?  Here, more chalupas.
Gretchen sobs uncontrollably.
Bryan: Do you want your chalupas?
Gretchen, still crying: Yes.
Bryan: Do you want them on a chip?
Gretchen, continuing to cry: No.  No want chips.  Want dinner.
Bryan removes the chip from Gretchen's plate and eats it.
Gretchen calms down, picks up her fork, and looks at her plate.
Gretchen: Need chips.

May 3-10

Happy Mothers' Day!

We've been talking with Olivia lately about how sometimes people have to do things they don't want to do.  She seems to be fully embracing this philosophy.  For example, on our walk one day, we passed several people who said hello to us.  Olivia proceeded to inform me that she is "shy about big people" and I told her that she could say hello anyway.  The next time we passed someone, she called out, "Hello!  Hello?  Hello... big man.  Hi."  The normal sized man did not seem to hear her, so her first experiment with unnecessary social interaction fell rather flat.  Oh well.  The same philosophy has been working at dinner, though, where she often says, "I do not like this, but I'm going to eat it anyway."  I'll take it.

Kaitlyn has begun experimenting with her vocal cords and it's fun to hear her trying out sounds that aren't cries or grunts.  Olivia especially likes the way Kaitlyn "talks" and will lie down next to her and make cooing noises in an attempt to elicit conversation.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes Kaitlyn just looks at her like she's a bit nuts.

The whole family (or, in Olivia-speak, "famiwy" -- not sure why she can't say that particular L since she says things like "Lolly" just fine) has been in Sidney since Wednesday night.  Bryan had to work in Springfield on Thursday and he and I are going to a dinner theater south of Sidney tonight, so we decided to visit Grandma and Grandpa ("and Uncle Bread!" says Gretchen) for a bit.  The girls had fun playing with their other toys and enjoying the nice weather in the sandbox and on the trampoline.  On Thursday we decided to go for a walk to find a mailbox.  This was accomplished with the help of my wrap for Kaitlyn and a wagon for the older girls.  I got quite a workout pulling the wagon up the very large hill that separates Steve and Murry's cul-de-sac from the rest of Sidney.  Halfway up the hill, Olivia thought maybe she needed to stop and rest.  I laughed and told her that SHE wasn't the one hauling 70 pounds up a hill backwards (80, if you count Kaitlyn strapped to my chest).

And speaking of workouts, I've started running again.  Not very far or very fast yet, partly because I remember the slow start necessary the last time I started running after having a baby, and partly because Kaitlyn keeps waking up partway through my run.  I'm hoping to progress a bit more quickly soon, though, and have my eye set on a 5k this coming Saturday.  We shall see.

Look for another bonus post this Wednesday.  Actually, if I stay on top of things then my faithful readers will be positively spoiled with bonus posts in the coming weeks.  Justine and Jacque, if we work together then we could get a post up every day but Saturday one week.  :-P

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Cousin Line-Ups

I think the last one is my favorite.

We told them to stand by the door and smile:

Lining everyone up on the blanket so that Kaitlyn could participate:

The blanket pictures:

Now against the wall:

Edward kept leaving:

And Kaitlyn spit on me, prompting everyone to turn and see what was going on:

April 26-May 3

Gretchen had a birthday last Friday that I completely neglected to mention.  She's now two years old and as opinionated as ever.  She copies Olivia some of the time, comes up with "great ideas" that Olivia copies the rest of the time, and wants to do everything herself.  "Gretchen do it" and "I do it self" are common phrases around here (and not ones that I remember hearing from Olivia).

Kaitlyn's baptism was on Sunday and I will have a bonus post with pictures as soon as I get pictures (Jacob?).  We had it at the Orthodox church here in Lima and my whole family -- including Grandma and Grandpa A -- was in attendance.  Bryan's parents made it as well and then we invited the whole church over to our house for lunch afterwards.  Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and the kids stayed until Sunday afternoon before heading back to Michigan.  Justine and Joseph and their boys stayed overnight until Monday morning, and Jacque hung out with me all day Monday before flying home that evening.  :)

Two little boys from church got caught stripping down in the backyard after lunch.  When questioned as to their motives, they said they were playing baptism.  Why were they taking off their clothes?  "Kaitlyn didn't wear any clothes when she was baptized."  ...  At least we know they were paying attention.  Their mothers tell me that they've also been performing baptisms on their dolls (now named Kaitlyn Elaine) all week.  :)

After about three quarters of the people were gone on Sunday, a small stray dog showed up near our house.  He was immediately named Fake Kevin because he looked just like Keshia's dog, Kevin.  Bryan put him inside the gate and told me we had to keep him overnight so that I could take him to the pound in the morning.  I was displeased, especially when the dog ended up in the garage overnight.  Also when I had to put him in my car the next morning.  Fake Kevin was well-behaved, though, and we made it to the dog warden without incident.  He's up for adoption now, if anyone is interested in a five pound dog.

Funny aside: The Dog Warden (or a representative thereof) showed up on my front porch on Friday.  I panicked a little, thinking they brought the dog back to me even though that's not how things are done.  As it turned out, the previous owners of our house had a history of dog tag delinquency and he was just checking up on them.  What great timing, though.

Tuesday we had check-ups and everyone is fine.  Gretchen is 27.5 pounds and 3 feet tall.  I question the height measurement a bit, though, since they still do them lying down at age 2.  Also, Eli is the same age and was only measured at 34 inches at his appointment, but we had them back to back and there's hardly any difference between them.  Kaitlyn is 9 pounds, 9 ounces and 21.75 inches long.  It amazes me that she's a month old and there are babies that are born bigger than she is right now.  Olivia's measurements have to wait until her 4 year old check-up in August.

Raspberries and rhubarb are in the ground!  Mom brought me six raspberry transplants (actually, there are more than six plants, but they came in six pots...) to go with the one I bought from Lowe's and I planted them in the awkward chunk of space to one side of our driveway.  We have a section of land between our driveway and our neighbor's property that ranges from one foot wide to about six feet wide depending on how our driveway is curving at each point.  This space is now home to raspberries and will eventually be the most delicious land we own.  :)  I also planted two rhubarb plants among the perennial shrubs along the side of our house.  As the rhubarb gets bigger, we'll take out the shrubs we don't like.  Actually, I'm hoping to replace said shrubs with ones that produce fruit.  We're thinking blueberries.  :)

My garden is also on its way to being a reality.  Jacque helped me pick up 20 cinder blocks from Lowe's and then Lowe's employees took pity on my three-children-and-two-carts self and got me another 20 blocks later in the week (they even loaded them into the car for me).  I now have two 4x8 garden beds in the front yard.  They don't have soil yet because I'm planning to buy that by the cubic yard and need to wait for my friend with a pickup truck to be available.  In the meantime, I'm planning what to plant and dreaming of the day when Bryan agrees to some fruit and nut trees as well.  :)  He did score a victory on the chickens and goats issue because the township has told me I can't have livestock on less than an acre...

Bonus post on Wednesday with photos of the cousin line-up!

Pictures: