The Mettlingers

I'd Rather Be...

2012-01-22T08:00:00.001-08:00

Sledding on ice right now. Wouldn't you?

I'm Still Pregnant

2012-01-18T08:00:00.001-08:00

In case you were wondering.

Someone (you know who you are) has been asking to see a belly photo. So here it is.

Racing

2012-01-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Clearly I'm way behind in my blogging. I'll be sorting through all my Christmas pictures as I get time. Until the next post, I leave you with this picture of Abby and Deke racing. I'll give you two guesses who won...

Christmas in Utah

2012-01-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

In early December Abby and I went to Utah for a week to visit my mom and grandparents. My visit fortunately overlapped with a visit from my sis, so I got to see the whole fam damily! Here are a few pictures.

Drawing pictures with grandma Messy.

Hanging out with Deke.

Loving Olivia.

Just for old-times sake.

I tried to get a picture with grandma and the great grandparents, but alas, nobody was cooperating. Except grandma Messy. Oh well, at least they're all in the picture!

First Snow!

2011-12-04T07:20:00.001-08:00

It finally snowed here! It's all melted now, but it was fun while it lasted.

First you get some snow,

then you taste it,

then you build a snowman.

Full snow gear.

Just a pretty picture.

Abby, Uncut

2011-11-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is long. But if you're really into Abby, like I am, it's worth the watch! What a crazy, silly girl we have.

More Grandma + Park = FUN

2011-11-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Different Grandma, different park, same amount of fun.

Canning Applesauce

2011-11-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

When my mom visited a few weeks ago she generously devoted an entire day to helping Alex and I can applesauce and make apple butter. We put up 26 jars. That's about 1/8 of the amount that our family used to do!

Here's my picture tutorial of how to can applesauce.

First you core the apples. (Yes, Alex is wearing a latex glove)

Then you cook them.

Then you mash them up.

Then you stir it all together. Preferably while naked.

Then you taste it.

Then you put it in jars and cook it.

Then you make apple crisp with the leftovers!

P.S. If you want to borrow a naked Abby for your next batch of applesauce, I'm sure she'd gladly agree to help!

Chicago

2011-10-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier in October we went to Chicago to visit Beth and Dan. Our visit fortuitously overlapped with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Mettler. (ok, so it was planned that way on purpose, but whatever). I snapped a few photos of Grandma and Abby in the park together. Those two sure have fun!

I'm Just Gonna Do It

2011-10-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Back when I was pregnant with Abby I wanted people to know that I was pregnant but found that it didn't often come up organically in conversation.

"Hey, did you see that paper in Science?"
"No, was it about pregnancy? 'Cuz I'm pregnant!"

"Hey, what did you do this weekend?"
"We went to the park. By the way, I'm pregnant!"

"I got lunch at BTB yesterday."
"Did you see any pregnant people? It turns out I'm pregnant!"

I kept thinking, well, people will figure it out on their own eventually. But I didn't really start to show until 4 months. And other people didn't think I started to show until 7 months. So that didn't work so well.

You may wonder why I wanted people to know. Well, first, so they would know why I was running so damn slow. Second, so they would know why I was getting a little "thick." And third, because I couldn't drink my favorite beer, eat unpasteurized cheese, drink unpasteurized apple cider (and yes, that did come up), or eat sushi and I wanted people to feel sorry for me. Oh, and I guess so we could marvel at the miracle of life together, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, in an effort to avoid awkward conversations with any of my friends and family who don't already know, I am resorting to announcing that I am pregnant with Mettlinger Baby #2 on my blog and thus on Facebook. I know, it's impersonal. But trust me, it's better than me trying to awkwardly insert it into an otherwise normal conversation. And to those of you who have already suffered said awkward conversations, I apologize!

I've added a neat floating baby widget to the side of the blog. In case you have trouble converting from days to weeks to due dates etc., I'm 14 weeks along, due mid-April.

I'll end with the cutest story you've ever heard. We told Abby that I had a baby in my belly (fortunately she is familiar with this concept, having seen Tory go through pregnancy with Benji). She leaned over and said "Can I touch it?" I told her she could touch my belly, but not the baby because it was inside me. Then she said "Can I see it?" I explained that she couldn't see it either because it was inside me. At that point, she pointed at my belly button and said "Can I see it through the hole?" She's the best.

Cabin Trip 2011: Final Installment

2011-10-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

This, your last post about the Cabin Trip, is devoted to random pictures taken while exploring the area right around the cabin.

"Whatchoo lookin' at?"

Surveying their domain.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

Flying!

(Mike's hair doesn't flow as prettily as Heather's...)

Sigh. I wish we could go back now.

Cabin Trip 2011: Part 4

2011-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

I know. You're wondering how many parts are there going to be? Well, this one. And one more. And then we'll see.

This part is the one wherein we visit a local beach and build a magnificent sand castle complete with woven rooftops and bridges.

Testing the water.

Playing.

Building.

Photographing.

Finished product.

Cabin Trip 2011: Part 3

2011-10-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Wherein we visit the coolest sand dunes ever.

On the dunes.

(That's the Huggseys in the distance above.)

(That's Benji sleeping in the sling.)

Wyatt running.

Abby running.

Climbing dunes.

Walking dunes.

Rolling down dunes.

Lake MI in the distance.

Sand sculptures.

Regal dogs.

Playing dogs.

Being adorable.

Cabin Trip 2011: Part 2

2011-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Wherein we visit the local pumpkin patch. That also had apples. And an elephant. Yep, an elephant. That you could ride. I don't know what it is about Michigan, but it seems that you can't have an orchard without also having something akin to an amusement park. I guess most kids just aren't that into apple picking? There has to be a bouncy house, a petting farm, and some kind of ride. Needless to say, we skipped the amusement park and went straight to the pumpkins and apples.

Pumpkins!

Apples!

Cabin Trip 2011: Part 1

2011-10-05T10:31:00.001-07:00

Technically I already started posting from the Cabin trip, since the photos of Abby were taken there. But anyway.

In 2009 we went to the Upper Peninsula of MI (7 hours).
In 2010 we went to the tip of the Mitt of MI (5 hours).
This year we went halfway up the west coast of MI (3 hours).

I see a pattern. Regardless, it was still a beautiful place and very relaxing. Sadly, we were missing several of the usual suspects (you know who you are).

The Cabin.

As you can see, it had two levels. The upper level was bigger and our main lounging location. The downstairs apartment was perfect for sleeping babies to get away from yelling toddlers. There was a 3 acre fenced dog run to boot. Yes, 3 acres. When I first let the dogs loose in there I panicked. I couldn't see the end of it--what if it wasn't really fenced? After a good 20 minute walk around I satisfied myself of its soundness. But it was all for naught. The dogs spent the ENTIRE time sitting by the gate.

The Dogs.

The inside of the cabin was perfect. It came complete with HUNDREDS of toddler toys, books, and gadgets. The kids were in heaven. I didn't take many inside pictures because lounging people aren't that photogenic. But, lounging kids are pretty photogenic.

The Kids.

Our Daughter

2011-10-03T11:22:00.001-07:00

She makes me smile and laugh. Life must have been so boring before we had her.

Laughing.

Being silly.

On the Beach

2011-09-28T06:11:00.001-07:00

Napping on the way.

Almost there after getting lost for an hour.

Digging a hole.

Sitting in hole.

Getting tickled.

Dancing.

Chasing butterflies.

Contemplating life.

Collecting water.

Swimming.

Running Down Dunes

2011-09-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

These were taken on the shore of Lake Michigan in Grand Mere State Park (one of only two beaches in Michigan where dogs are allowed!). What fun.

Climbing up.

Brian. Our role model.

Testing the slope.

Abby.

Rowan.

Post-ESA Fun

2011-09-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

After the conference ended we said a sad farewell to Grandma Messy and Rachel and headed back to New Mexico via Las Cruces. After a long day in the car, riddled with pleas from Abby to stop at the gas station so she could squeeze out three drops of pea, we arrived in Las Cruces to the welcome of Paco, the cutest little one-eyed dog in existence, and Dennis' parents, two very welcoming and generous folks. Abby and I were both sick with a nasty cold at that point, so the two of us headed to bed early, but in the morning we enjoyed a full pancake, bacon, and eggs breakfast and a dip in the pool. Then we headed up to Albequerque, where we picked Alex up from the airport after a delicious lunch (and refreshments) at Chama River Brewing Company. That night we ate dinner and relaxed around a backyard fire.

Zoning out.

The fire.

Relaxing.

The next day we headed into the hills for a "little hiking." I put it in quotation marks, because I've become accustomed to flat lands of Michigan and thus, what used to qualify as a "little hiking" is now actually a lung-searing, leg-burning, feat of super-human prowess.

Map of where we went. (Penasco at the top, Truchas peak at bottom)

Elevation profile.

For comparison: the hardest, hilliest route I have run in Ann arbor.

Please note:

A) the beginning elevation in Ann Arbor is 950 ft and the beginning elevation in NM is 9,200 ft
B) the (generously calculated) maximum elevation gain in Ann Arbor is 200 ft and the elevation gain in NM is 2,000 ft.

Suffice it to say that I was out of breath, dizzy, and sweating profusely after about a half mile. It didn't let up over the next 4.5 miles. The lack of oxygen combined with the surroundings, however, were elating!

The woods.

The company.

Mossy trees.

Intrepid explorers.

Flowers.

Jack.

At the top of the trail there was a lovely little pond and a beautiful backdrop for a picnic.

The pond.

While we ate lunch, we noticed someone robbing a campsite across the pond. The someone happened to be four-legged and had a nice set of horns on his head. Olivia managed to sneak up really close and get some even better photos (featured on her blog).

The camp robber.

It was a wonderful day, and ended with more good food and relaxing around the backyard fire.

The next and last day of our stay we drove up the Rio Grande and around to Taos, a little touristy town in nowhere NM. Along the way we crossed over this bridge. Its name escapes me, but it's really high.

The bridge.

The view.

Taking in the view.

For lack of a wittier, better ending, what a wonderful vacation!

ESA Fun

2011-08-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been a really slow blogger these days.

Anyway, after hanging out in Penasco with Dennis for a few days, Olivia, Abby, and I loaded the car and headed off for Texas. I rented a Kia Soul, which was advertised as an "intermediate" sized vehicle. I would argue with that. It was pretty darn small. But as we didn't take any dogs or camping gear with us, it all worked out. We left on Saturday at around noon. The first few hours of driving were gorgeous. Mountains and canyons and rivers and beauty. Then we hit Texas. Boooooorrrriiiiinnng. Abby thought so too. Since I had neglected to add Olivia as a driver when I rented the car, she was left with the task of "keeping Abby entertained." If you have kids, or have ridden with Abby, you know this is no small feat. Even though I was pretty sick of driving, I was secretly happy not to be the one straining my neck to read Slinky Malinky for the hundredth time, or the one playing games with folded toilet paper, or the one to get yelled at--"DON'T LOOK AT ME!"--repeatedly. After a couple hours we decided to let her watch a movie on my ipod touch.

After a good 6 hours in the car, we stayed at a hotel somewhere near Lubbock (a hotel that took about an hour to find and that had the weakest air-conditioning ever). That was the night that I called Alex to say goodnight, only to find that he was in the emergency room in New York (on his way home from a bike race) because he felt like he was having a heart attack. Wonderful. Don't worry, his heart is fine. Turns out he has gastro-esophogeal reflux disorder, or GERD. No biggie, just means he can't drink coffee, shouldn't drink too much beer, eat tomatoes, go biking, wear tight clothing, eat too fast, eat too much, or generally do anything even remotely normal or fun.

The next morning (Sunday) we took off for Austin. It was another long haul, about 6 hours again, but with the reward of not having to drive for another week and awesome air-conditioning. Rachel arrived later the same afternoon and my mom arrived the next day. Mostly we just hung out at the hotel room, went to talks, and went out to eat. It was much too disgusting outside to do much else. The first morning there I decided to walk with Abby to Whole Foods to buy some snacks. It was only 1.2 miles away. What a horrible experience. At 9 in the morning it was already like 100 degrees and was about 80% humidity. I was dripping sweat on my soaked through clothing by the time I arrived. I didn't walk very far after that. Rachel went running the same morning. I don't think she ran again after that. The highlights of our eating experience were Stubbs BBQ, Uncle Billy's Brew and Que, and The Gingerman. The crepe place was good too.

Hanging in the hotel room.

Eating Rachel's plum.

We did manage to do a couple of non-hotel, non-eating things. One day we decided to go to a nearby lake (because the nearby spring was closed for cleaning all day). The lake was surrounded by dead grass, litter, and vultures. Not very enticing. But we were so hot we got in anyway. A lot of good it did. The lake was probably 90 degrees. It felt like bath water. Abby seemed to like it, but the rest of us were pretty disappointed. It wasn't a total waste though, there were hundreds of pretty little dragonflies hanging around, just asking for their picture to be taken.

Drying off. (It didn't take long.)

Taking pictures.

Some pictures.

And of course, we had to go see the famous Congress Bridge bats. There are about 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats that live there and they egress from under the bridge at about 7:30 pm every night.

The Bridge.

The Bats.

The Girls.

Here are a couple of short videos I took. (By the way, the scientists and the general public were distinguishable because the public said things like "EW! They're pooping on us!" while the scientists said things like "Did you know they forage almost 20 miles away?")

Video 1

Video 2

Oh yeah, and I guess Rachel and Olivia and I all gave talks at some point during the week...they were phenomenal, as I'm sure you guessed!

Pre-ESA Fun

2011-08-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

I've recently returned from a conference in Texas--the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America--book-ended by a few nights at Olivia's new digs in Penasco, NM. For the first 9 days it was just me and Abby--Alex didn't join until the final 4 days.

Where to begin. Well, Abby and I flew in to Albuquerque on a Thursday. The trip went very smoothly thanks to my iPod touch and an iTunes rental of Winnie The Pooh. Abby had her own seat for the first time, which although I complained about the extra cost, was so worth it. The saved elbows in the boob and pulled hair were worth about $400. When we landed, I told Abby "We're in Albuquerque!" Her response? "Where is it? Want to eat it!" It took me a moment to figure out that she thought I had been saying "Albu-COOKIE." Poor girl, she was very disappointed.

Olivia and Dennis' house is about 2 hours north of Albuquerque and is located in an amazingly beautiful part of NM. Bald peaks just out the back door, hidden mountain lakes a mere three mile hike away (straight up hill), and cool evenings with stars galore. This is a sunset from town. The bald peaks are behind me. It doesn't do it justice. At all. But I was too busy soaking it all in to take lots of pictures.

Abby quickly discovered that Aunt Olivia is highly entertaining. She had bought Abby some new books, some blocks, some stuffed animals, and two toy cars! And on our second day there she brought out the Bubbles. Man. Those are fun (see also)

Look at Jack in this one!

As an additional surprise, Olivia's had arranged for her cat to have kittens the night we arrived! Incredible!

Olivia's other animals were cute too. What a good dog. (If you don't believe me, look here.)

On our last evening before departing for Texas, the three of us and Dennis went to the Penasco Fiestas. That's right, it's plural because it's so much fun! You're going to have to use your imagination for this one, since I didn't take any pictures. The festivities were centered around, um, the only paved street I am aware of in Penasco. There was about a quarter mile of road lined with tents selling knick-knacks, shoes, cowboy hats, strange lawn pottery, and wonderful, greasy food. While we stuffed our faces with said greasy food we watched as the local men drove up and down the main drag in their low-rider or extremely-lifted vehicles, dangling tattooed arms out the window and blaring "cool" tunes from the radio. Near one end of the main drag was a small vacant lot, about 200 yards square, filled with carnival games and various carnival rides, including....A FERRIS WHEEL! Dennis bought us all tickets for a ride. Abby and I got on the otherwise empty wheel first. We rotated up to the top of the ride where it stopped while Dennis and Olivia boarded below. Abby was grinning while at the same time death gripping my arm. She gave a nervous laugh and then said "All done!" Hmmmmm.... Knowing there were at least 20 more rotations to go, I turned on my inner enthusiasm. Let me tell you, I can force enthusiasm like no other when necessary. "LOOK! LOOK AT THAT TREE! WOW!" "ABBY! CHECK OUT THAT LIGHT! ISN'T IT AMAZING!" You get the idea. Much to my delight, Abby stuck out the whole ride, smiling the entire time. I love that girl. We next tried out a twirly-ride that made all of us except Abby sick to our stomachs. We rounded out our Fiestas experience with Dennis blowing a huge wad of money to impress a girl at the carnival games. No, not Olivia, Abby. Together, he and Olivia won Abby a giant stuffed dog. The good news is that Abby LOVES that thing. She slept with it the entire trip and is still sleeping with it now. She named it Allie.

Thus rounds out the first bookend of my conference travels. Stay tuned for more!

Birthday's are The Best

2011-07-20T06:06:00.001-07:00

You get to share presents.

Play with your best friends.

Eat cupcakes.

Play in the sprinkler.

And just plain have fun.

Happy (early) second birthday to a beautiful girl and a wonderful friend.

Resemblance?

2011-07-14T07:22:00.001-07:00

I'd say so.

Uncle Matt!

2011-07-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

Uncle Matt and Meghan recently paid us a short visit on their way home from Iowa City. I was happy about it, Alex was happy about it, but Abby, she was THRILLED about it. The first night, as we went through our bedtime routine of song-singing, she kept interrupting to ask "Uncle Matt go sleep too?" or to demand "See Uncle Matt now!" Needless to say, she was overjoyed to see the two of them on the futon in the morning.

On Monday night we went out to Zingerman's restaurant to celebrate Barb's birthday. She wanted to buy us dinner. That's right. Barb wasn't with us, but she wanted to buy us dinner on HER birthday. We didn't disappoint. I got the pit-smoked BBQ beef which was locally raised on a farm in Dexter, the boys got the burger sampler--5 mini burgers, each with a different type of cheese--and Meghan got the BBQ pork mac & cheese. All delicious. Abby got the mac & cheese off the kids menu. It put my homemade mac & cheese to shame. While she was eating it, she dropped a morsel or two on the ground. This always upsets her. I reassured her that it was okay, we could leave it on the ground. She thought a moment, and then replied "Ok, dogs will get it." Smart kid.

On Tuesday we all went to the Detroit Zoo. I was the only member of the party to have visited before. It was a hot, sunny day, but well worth the fun.

Looking for red pandas.

"Come on! Hurry up!"

Giraffes.

The best exhibit of all--the "Cat" exhibit.

Otters.

Strolling.

Riding the train.

Around 1:00 in the afternoon we were all getting a little worn out. The heat was kind of oppressive and the animals agreed. Most of them were hiding. The others were sitting on the far side of their habitat, in whatever shade was available. We decided to head to the arctic for some cool air. After walking for a half mile or so in the open sun, with no breeze, through the "arctic tundra," where no animals were to be seen, we came to the best part of the zoo. We were welcomed into an underground tunnel, where the air-conditioning was blasting and we had a perfect view of swimming seals. It was fantastic.

The Arctic.

There were peacocks wandering all around the zoo. They were mostly found around the picnic tables, waiting for scraps of food to fall. This didn't go unnoticed by Abby. While we were eating lunch, Rowan dropped some sandwich. Abby immediately said to me "It's ok. Peacock will get it." I think I see a pattern here.

The sign of a good day. (Notice the cracker trail he's leaving behind.)

Curious?

2011-07-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Are you wondering why on earth the kids were recently playing in straw and gazing at little Nessie monsters? If not, I don't think you were paying much attention...

Heather and I decided to take the kiddos to a Celtic Festival in the nearby town of Saline on Saturday. We drove down after nap time and then took a shuttle from the parking lot to the Festival. It seemed rather empty, but given that it was 90 degrees and full blow sun, I wasn't too surprised*. Our first order of business? We set the kids loose in a playground while Heather went to forage for cold, fizzy beverages.

Sadly, Heather returned with bad news. No cold, fizzy beverages to be found. At that point, Abby looked up at me and said "Mommy, sit in shade." I gladly agreed, as I wiped a few sweat drips out of my eyes. We found a comfortable patch of grass under a tree and Heather brought us each a strawberry smoothie. Pretty good substitute for cold, fizzy beverages.

We were refreshed enough after that to wander over toward the bagpipe music. I officially saw the most bagpipers I have ever seen together. I really didn't think that many people even played the bagpipe. The kids were fascinated.

The bagpipes invigorated us, and the kids spent the next little bit playing on the bales of straw randomly scattered around.

By then it was time for the sheep-dog demonstration. After a quick stop at the porto-potties, which were for some reason extremely attractive to Rowan, we headed over.

On the way over we noticed Piper's Pub! Aha! I knew Celts weren't sober. And it helped explain the people I could have sworn weren't quite walking straight. Clearly it wasn't because they had ridden their horses over. So Piper's Pub was the next stop after the sheepdogs. It was conveniently located next to the Celtic games, where there were giant men tossing logs and bales of straw over tall bars.

While we watched the games, Heather and I chatted with an older gentleman who was shocked that Heather and I 1) knew what an IPA was, 2) knew about Bell's brewery, and 3) LIKED IPAs! He spent the next 20 minutes in friendly conversation, trying to find a beer that we hadn't tried. I hate to say it, but it was a sad effort. Blue Moon? Sam Adams? I mean, granted, he was talking about the home-brew competition winners, but still. Anyhow, by the time Heather and I had finished our beer we were dripping in sweat again and headed toward the river for some shade, which is where we saw Nessie.

When we (I) finally decided we were probably going to keel over from heat stroke, we headed out. 10 feet from the entrance to the festival we hit the jackpot. A pile of ice.

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful outing. Well, that and the air-conditioned shuttle bus.

* Right before we left we discovered that the GIANT tent to the right of the entrance was actually a beer garden, which fully explained the lack of people wandering around the rest of the festival. Not only was it shaded in the tent, but there was music and half-gallon jugs of beer for sale! But by the time we discovered it, we were pretty tired of saying "Rowan, Abby stop that! Come back here! Get down! Don't touch that! Turn around this second!" etc., etc. Next time, next time.

Best Friends

2011-07-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

(That's a little Nessie monster that they're looking at.)

Straw

2011-07-10T06:05:00.001-07:00

Good for climbing on.

Good for sitting in.

Good for jumping off of.

Charlevoix

2011-07-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we took a trip up to Northern Michigan for a bit of camping and running. I took way too many pictures. As usual. I have organized them by category into a couple of slide shows. First is "The Beach." We camped at a State Park (Fisherman's State Park) that is right on the shore of Lake Michigan. We spent as much time as possible down at the beach, not only because it was gorgeous but because it didn't have poison ivy growing on every inch of space. The beach was a little rocky, but we didn't mind. There were fossils on almost every rock there! (That's why we are hunched over in so many pictures and why Heather's pants look like they are about to fall off in one). Plus, the rocks without fossils were the perfect size and shape for skipping.

At the Beach:

The campground itself was fine. Nothing spectacular. But the company, food, and beverage made it wonderful. On Saturday night we discovered that we had been sold wet wood, which did not bode well for our planned dinner of fire-roasted hot dogs and S'mores. But Dave persevered (and I mean really persevered--it wasn't easy) and thankfully we didn't starve to death. Friday morning was pretty rainy. Thankfully, Alex and I brought along our "Camping Condominium." We put the awning up to protect the breakfast cooks as much as possible while the rest of us sat inside, playing with toddlers and drinking our coffee. I have to say, given the challenges, Brian and Heather made some mighty delicious breakfast burritos. Saturday brought gorgeous weather, lending itself well to hanging out at the campsite, soaking up sun, grazing on food, and playing with kids.

In Camp:

Oh, and there was a race on Saturday morning. Rachel ran the half-marathon and Heather and I ran the full. Heather blazed through it and came in 2nd place with a 3:09:49!!! For those of you that don't run, that's fast. I really enjoyed this race. So much more than Boston. And it actually felt pretty easy (I mean, except the last few miles). I was 5th overall and 1st in my age group and managed to eke out a new personal record of 3:21:07. Maybe some day I'll break that 3:20 mark. Rachel also got a new personal record and, as usual, she didn't even look like she was trying. Heather got a plaque for her efforts. I got a pint glass. I guess there IS a benefit to being slow!

The Race:

After the race we spent a lot of time hanging around waiting for awards to be handed out. In that time, Rowan and Abby got to play in a little fountain feature. They were in heaven. It took Rowan all of 2 seconds to get soaking wet, while Abby was a little more conservative at around 5 minutes. The trouble with Abby was that she's used to playing naked. It was REALLY hard to get her to keep her pants on...

The Fountain:

After the awards and a little time at the lake, we all celebrated by heading to Short's Brewing Company in Bellaire. They are the ingenious minds behind beers like Strawberry Shortscake, Key Lime Pie, and the PB&J beer. It was deeeeelicious.

All in all, a great trip with great friends.

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-28T18:58:00.001-07:00

To reward Alex for being such a wonderful father, we loaded up his bike with a hundred pounds of camping gear and made him tote it 26 miles across western Michigan to a secluded campsite. He loved it.

We were accompanied by Abby's second mommy and daddy...

...And her brother-in-practice.

The kids got to watch a family fishing off the dock. They were in awe.

Abby enjoyed having a view from the potty.

Plus they got to look for snails, spiders, and fish.

We had fun.

I can't wait to celebrate next Father's Day.

The Most Fun Ever

2011-06-22T13:29:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Mettler. Seriously.

Whiskers!

Infatuated With Benji

2011-06-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

The pictures speak for themselves.

ACK! Falling behind!!

2011-06-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Man, I've got pictures coming out my ears and I haven't had a chance to post anything!

Let's start with Potty Training. We decided that Abby was ready to ditch her diapers and she has been potty training for about a month now. She's doing really well! We went with the "Naked and $75" method. The idea is that you let your kid run around naked and then after they're trained you pay $75 to have your carpet cleaned. It sounded perfect for us since A) she runs around naked anyway, and B) we have very little carpeting. Man she's growing up fast.

I know its sort of distasteful to post pictures of someone on the pot, but come on, this is adorable!

Just Cute

2011-06-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Threes

2011-06-05T10:50:00.001-07:00

I take a lot of photos of Abby. And I can never pick which ones are best--they're all cute because she's cute! Usually I narrow it down to three. And then post all three. So here are a few "threes."

Everything's More Fun When You're Naked

2011-05-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Riding your bike is more fun.

Sitting in your chair is more fun.

Climbing is more fun.

Riding in your stroller is more fun.

And just chilling out is more fun.

Touch A Truck Day

2011-05-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "Touch a Truck Day" at the Ann Arbor Mall. From the hours of 9-11 children from all over town gathered to "ooh" and "aah" and drool (really, some of them were drooling) over trucks that they had probably only previously seen in miniature or from a "safe" distance. Kids that were patient enough to stand in line for more than 10 minutes had the additional opportunity to SIT IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT!! They had unlimited access to the buttons and dials and levers that abound in all heavy machinery. Among the main attractions were a dump truck, a tractor, a bus, a garbage truck, and a semi-truck. Rowan and Abby were in heaven (Rowan perhaps a bit more so than Abby).

Abby drives the garbage truck.

Patiently waiting in line to sit in the dump truck.

Rowan and Abby in the dump truck.

"Hey, what's that button do?"

It kind of looks like two innocent children are about to be run down by an evil tractor...

Hanging out in the semi.

Cutest truck driver I've ever seen!

The Messinger In Me

2011-05-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Alex would never do this. He would never approve of me doing this. But he wasn't home today, so I did it anyway!

I needed a way to transport two babies to the UPS store, about a half mile away, within an hour's time. I didn't really want to carry one and push the other in the stroller, which is what I have done in the past to get to the park. These kids are getting too heavy for that! But I knew if we all walked it would probably take three hours, if we made it at all. So I channeled my grandpa and my mom's creative spirit and I rigged the Chariot into a double-decker bus. Abby was thrilled with the whole thing and we made it there and back without incident (unless you count a few cheers out the window of passing vehicles)

(Brian and Heather, please note that your child is in the "safe" seat inside the chariot!)

Two Years

2011-05-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

Our friends recently had a little baby boy of their own. When I saw him it brought back memories of Abby as a baby. So I pulled up some old photos of her and I am blown away by how much she has grown and changed in two years. But at the same time, she was already so Abby (for lack of a better word) at two months.

(Photo credit Brian and Heather)

Chicago--Day 3

2011-05-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

On the morning of our last day in Chicago, Abby gave me my mother's day present. She slept until 7 am with only one tantrum at 6 am. I didn't mention it in the previous post, but she had a hard time adjusting to: 1) the time change (7 am in Ann Arbor is only 6 am in Chicago), 2) the fact that I was sleeping in a much more comfortable bed than her only a foot away, and 3) that Beth and Dan don't necessarily want to get up at 5 in the morning on a weekend. On Saturday morning she woke up at 5 am and was screaming at me to get up. I pulled her into bed with me to try to get her back to sleep for at least an hour. She was resistant. Very resistant. She poked me, cried, yelled at me, asked for cereal every 5 minutes, and in general was a pain in the neck. We finally gave in at 6 am and got up. She was very crabby. But after some cereal she laid back down with me and slept for another hour. Hallelujah. Anyway, back to day 3.

She slept until 7 and then got up with Alex while I lazed in bed a bit longer. I arose to the smell of sizzling bacon, courtesy of Dan, and a highly entertained daughter, courtesy of Beth.

After our leisurely breakfast, we packed our things and headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a gorgeously sunny day, and mighty enjoyable.

Here are some random animal shots...some from the zoo and some not.

If I had to pick Abby's favorite part of the zoo though, it would be the stones on the bridge leading to the farmyard. She is such a little climber. She (and about 30 other kids) had so much fun stepping from stone to stone and climbing up them.

She was bummed when we took her away from them.

I got a good shot of the city skyline from that same bridge. Then I played around with it.

Before we packed up the car to head home we grabbed a yummy mother's day lunch at a barbecue restaurant. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries.

I'm so glad we decided to do this! Thanks to Beth and Dan for showing us such a good time!

Chicago--Day 2

2011-05-09T10:49:00.001-07:00

On the second day of our min-vacation, we decided to visit the Shedd Aquarium. It was supposed to be a somewhat rainy day, so we figured it was appropriate to spend the day inside. On the walk to the aquarium I got to see some of the city.

It's huge.

I mean, really huge.

The aquarium did not disappoint. It was really, really cool. I have to admit that my focus was less on the displays themselves and more on Abby. It's so fun to see her reaction to new things. She gets so excited!

I did manage to take a few pictures of the fish...click to see them larger.

The next one is one of Abby's favorites.

(Interestingly, I didn't notice the eel beneath the crab until last night when I looked at this picture for probably the 5th time!)

While we were at the aquarium, we went to the "Dolphin Show." It turned out to be a bit of a letdown. Basically, it was a dolphin training session except that they had a guy standing in front of the audience narrating the training methods. Like that they use a whistle to reward the dolphin so they associate the whistle with positive things like fish and pats. Sure, all that information is cool, the problem is that they never really showed us the result of all this training! They had a couple of jumping sessions, but that's it. Seriously, about 30 seconds of the whole half hour show was dolphins doing tricks. I mean, I guess maybe they don't want to "exploit" the dolphins or emphasize that they can do tricks? But why the heck are they spending all this time training them to do tricks if they're never going to show them to the visitors?? And they should rename the show to "Dolphin Training 101."

Here are the shots that I got during the 30 seconds of fun.

After we were all aquarium-ed out, we headed over to Millennium Park. It's a cool place, evidenced by the many other people that were also there (even though it was sprinkling rain)! The bean thing, whatever it's really called, was pretty cool. Abby was asleep by that point though, so she didn't get to see it.

There was also this really interesting fountain. There were two pillars with water running down them and a sort of reflecting pool between them. What was interesting was that each of them had a face on it. A video of a real face. And every now and then, the face would open it's mouth and water would spout out of it. Interesting. The other face was an old white guy, by the way. Did I mention I thought it was interesting?

All in all, an excellent day, followed up by dinner at an Indian restaurant. The best part is it was BYOB, so we had excellent beverages to boot.

Chicago--Day 1

2011-05-09T08:11:00.001-07:00

Alex and I made a last minute decision to visit Beth and Dan in Chicago this weekend. We left the house on Friday afternoon with plans to arrive by an Abby-appropriate dinner time. The trip started smoothly enough, Alex driving, Abby napping, and me staring out the window. The only thing we forgot was Abby's sippy cup full of water. After about an hour we had to stop for a potty break and gas. I went inside with Abby and perused the water bottle aisle, looking for a suitable sippy cup stand-in. I was on the verge of buying a regular little water bottle with a pop top when I spotted these tiny, half-sized water bottles with pop-tops. It was filled with something called "bug juice." I glanced at the label: "100% vitamin C." Sounds good. I saw it had some sugar, but what kid's drink doesn't? So I bought it. The second I gave it to her, Abby started chugging. She didn't stop until it was 75% gone. Then she gave it to me and said "no more." I thought it strange that she would quit, especially since she then proceeded to snack on raisins and goldfish crackers and still refused the "juice" when offered to her. A half hour later Abby was VERY crabby. Nothing would make her happy. I assumed she hadn't slept long enough, but the real reason became abundantly obviously shortly thereafter, when she started spewing puke all over the car. Seat-belted into the front seat, there wasn't much I could do. I tried to catch what I could with some kleenex (which was woefully inadequate), but mostly just had to watch as it came out, and kept coming out. She was clearly a bit disturbed by the turn of events. I think 'bewildered' probably describes it best. This is the first time she's vomited in her life. I kept calmly telling her it was ok, that she was going to be fine and then I would turn my head away while I gagged on my own stomach contents. We finally found an exit and pulled into a gas station. I cleaned up Abby in the grossest gas station bathroom in existence while Alex attempted to clean her car seat. We did pretty well, if I do say so myself. Abby seemed much happier afterward. After cleaning, Alex and I looked in more detail at the "bug juice" label. 150 calories from sugar in 1 serving. The bottle, which again, was the HALF the size of a regular pop bottle, contained 1.25 servings. Alex tasted what was left and almost vomited himself. Lesson learned. Don't assume that things made for kids are good for kids.

The offending drink.

The rest of the trip was pretty smooth, barring the last 10 miles or so where traffic slowed us to a crawl and both of us had to pee so bad we were contemplating using the "bug juice" bottle to relieve ourselves. But it wasn't big enough.

Traffic.

Alex's feelings at this point in the drive.

A view of the city. And traffic.

That night, after spending some quality time thoroughly cleaning Abby's car seat, we had delicious Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner. Perfect.

Fun Times

2011-05-04T19:03:00.001-07:00

Even though Abby has been sick, we've managed to get some fun in. When it's not raining (which is not very often these days) we take walks to the nearby elementary school after dinner to play:

Here she is "attempting" to run in her new running shoes. Now, I know she isn't really going very fast, and she looks really clumsy, but keep in mind the ground is really lumpy! I swear she's as graceful as a swan ; )

And here Alex is teaching her to eat clovers. Midway through you'll see her make a grand gesture--she's saying "It's everywhere!"

Often there are other kids at the park, which thrills Abby. She is so gregarious. The last time we went there were two older kids playing kickball. She ran right over to them and without a moments hesitation asked for the ball. Then she threw it back to them. They were really nice and sat down with her on the ground to roll the ball back and forth. She was in heaven.

The Longest 5 Weeks in History

2011-05-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

In the last 5 weeks Abby has taken: Tylenol, Amoxicillin, Benadryl, Albuterol, Ibuprofen, and Azithromycin. It's been crazy. And she's still sick. Unbelievable.

It all started three weeks before our trip to Boston, when she came down with what seemed like a normal cold. The cold lasted a week, and then morphed into a whole different monster. She started oozing thick green goo out her eyes, started coughing, and her nose was oozing like tar on a road in Utah. It was miserable. She finally started to clear up a few days before Boston and seemed better while we were there. We noticed her throat never really went back to normal though--red, swollen, and spotty. When we got back, she had a bout of nasty, runny poop, waking up one morning and from a nap with poop EVERYWHERE. Seriously. EVERYWHERE. At the tail end of THAT delightful three days, Abby had her two year check-up (yes, two months late). I asked our pediatrician to check out her throat and she agreed it didn't look too good. Then she peeked in her ears and saw fluid. So she prescribed some antibiotics. Enter the amoxicillin. Sadly, Rowan (who had gone through the same sickness as Abby in the weeks prior) picked up a different cold while away in Boston. Inevitably, two days after her appointment, Abby was sick again. Like deja vu, it started with a harmless runny nose and dry cough. Five days later (seven days after starting antibiotics), it had morphed into a wet cough, wheezy, shallow breathing, and a fever. That night, she also broke out in hives all over her body. Needless to say, we took her back to the doctor the next morning. Turns out she is allergic to amoxicillin. And she definitely had wheezing (maybe just from the cold, but maybe from the allergy). So she was taken off the amoxicillin, and put on Benadryl and Albuterol. She still had fluid in one ear, but since it would take several days for her to clear out the amoxicillin, she couldn't start a different one. So we were counting on it resolving itself without the need for antibiotics. Feeling sure this was the end, we started easing off on the Benadryl and Albuterol over the weekend. By Monday morning, she wasn't taking any medicine!

THEN.

She started spiking a fever of 103 to 104 degrees Monday afternoon. I have no words to describe how I felt about this. We couldn't get her in Monday, so I took her in today. The doctor looked in her throat and was horrified by what she saw. Then she looked in her ear (the one that previously did NOT have fluid) and was further horrified. The good news is: she ruled out Pneumonia. So. Now she's taking the Azithromycin. And, to top it off, tonight we found a patch of red, flaming hot, hives on her arm. So back on the Benadryl.

When will she be healthy again?

Before the hives got "bad."

To Abby's credit, she is the most, absolutely THE most, resilient little girl in the world. All of the doctors and nurses have been amazed at her cheerful and happy attitude every time she comes in. Honestly, I am too!

Easter Eggs!

2011-04-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Easter, Heather and I hid exotically colored hard-boiled eggs around the front yard and then unleashed the kids to find them. Do you have visions of toddlers squealing in excitement, running around the yard, madly searching for the next egg? So did we.

In reality, it was more like...

"Hey, kids! There's an egg!"

"You don't see it?"

"It's right THERE, a foot from the end of my finger tip!"

"You still don't see it? You're touching it with your toe!"

...etc, etc.

But it was still a lot of fun. Both of them got a basket with a little present--Rowan got a little stuffed Easter Bunny and Abby got a kick ball (I just couldn't in my right mind justify buying her another stuffed animal). Abby quickly picked up that we wanted her to collect the eggs in the basket. So after she had scavenged all the eggs off the ground, she proceeded to steal Rowan's eggs. Rowan didn't mind--he seemed unconvinced that collecting eggs was a cool thing to do (I'm sure being sick had something to do with it). Once Abby had all the eggs, she sorted through them. When she found one with a broken shell (either because Rowan had chucked it down the sidewalk or because she had squeezed it to death) she would exclaim "broken!" and carefully take it and place it back in its original hiding place.

The first egg.

Collecting them in her basket.

"Why am I doing this again?

The ball.

"Are we done yet?"

Maybe next year it will be more like we imagined...

The Rest of the Trip

2011-04-22T10:43:00.001-07:00

I've already told you about the race, which, though the reason for our trip to Boston, was only 3 and a half hours of an entire weekend vacation! So here's the rest of the trip.

We left Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon and drove to Buffalo, where we had booked a room in a luxuriant Motel 6 (yes, I'm exaggerating). We arrive just in time to get a bite to eat at a Dibella's sub shop and get to bed. It was tricky, sleeping in the same room as Abby. She was ready for bed at 8:30, but Alex and I were not. We tried for a while to get her to sleep while we watched TV, but she (as expected) was stubborn. Finally we shut the lights off and told her we were going to bed too. She was unconvinced, and spent about 30 minutes standing in the pack and play calling out "Mama! Mama! Mom! Mama Sus!" When I stopped responding she quieted for a while. Then she started carrying on conversations with me: "Mama, Buffalo!" etc. etc. She eventually went to sleep.

We drove the rest of the way to Boston on Saturday. Aside from heavy traffic in downtown Boston (probably due to the 27,000 people coming to town for the race) the trip went pretty smoothly. We arrived at Chad and Jardayna's around 4:00, just in time to relax a bit before ordering some takeout Thai food for dinner. When Violet woke up from her nap we introduced her to Abby. Abby was so cute with her. She kept gently stroking her face, and gave her several hugs and kisses. (By the way, Violet is a beautiful, happy baby. See photo evidence below.)

On Sunday, I met up with Heather and family in the morning and we headed to downtown Boston to pick up our "race packets," which included our bib numbers. The subway was insanely crowded. Being crowd-a-phobic, Heather and I decided to skip the second subway leg and walked instead. There were so many people everywhere! While I was gone, Alex, Abby, Chad, and Violet went to a park near their house. Somewhat out of the blue, there were a couple of ladies at the park with a donkey that Abby got to pet and feed. She was apparently extremely excited, but sadly, since I wasn't there, the only documentation we have is on Alex's phone. Sunday afternoon we went to another nearby park before dinner. Abby was in heaven--and so was Violet! After dinner at a nearby restaurant, we spent the evening hanging out, ogling babies, reading books to Abby, and chatting.

Saturday morning was, well, race day, and I've already told you how that went. After the race, we went to Boston Common to sit for a while. Then we headed back home, where there were ribs cooking in the oven. I took a hot bath with Abby while Jardayna and Chad worked on dinner--ribs, coleslaw, potatoes, and corn on the cob! Even in their sleep deprived state, Chad and Jardayna (and Violet) are amazing hosts. After dinner I cracked open the "marathon celebration beer" that Alex picked out for me, then headed to bed early.

Tuesday was unfortunately spent entirely on the road. 14 hours! I'm surprised we all kept our sanity (or did we?).

Park photos.
Chateau Laurent photos.
Race day photos.

Boston 2011

2011-04-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

I ran the 2011 Boston Marathon on Monday!

My time was 3:34:11. That amounts to approximately 24 minutes slower than my ideal race time, 12 minutes slower than my last marathon, and 9 minutes slower than the pace of my last 23 mile training run. AND, despite the slow pace, it was possibly the most difficult running I have ever done in my life. (Considering how some of my other runs have gone, that's saying something!)

I could give you a laundry list of excuses. And I will. I was sick for three weeks prior to the race. I got dehydrated, had heart palpitations and cramping muscles (I decided that for THIS race I didn't need my camelback or endurolytes). And I probably should have started the race at a more moderate pace and worked up from there.

But let's be honest, there were 27,000 other people in the race, and I bet they have the same excuses if not better ones.

So, excuses aside, given that things DIDN'T work out as planned, that I WAS in agony and pretty darn miserable for over half the race, an interesting question is WHY ON EARTH DID I KEEP RUNNING? Well....

1) I thought about my baby girl and husband who were EXPECTING me to come to the finish line before 1:30.

2) I thought about Heather, who had also been sick, and who was also somewhere ahead of me. My inspiration!

3) I thought about my dad, and what he would think of me if I dropped out.

3) I heard my mother telling me "Just put one foot in front of the other" as she used to on long hikes when I was small.

4) I thought about my sister who doesn't run, and yet has the highest endurance of anyone I've ever met, and who would NEVER quit.

5) I thought about Rachel and our many discussions about how often the difficulty of running is just mental. I kept telling myself "It's just mental!"

6) I thought of Tory and how much easier running is than labor.

7) I thought of all my friends tracking my progress on line, willing me to finish.

There it is. I wouldn't have finished without all my family and friends. You didn't know I depended on you so much, did you?

I don't want to bore you with details of my agony, but I do feel compelled to share three incidents from the last half of the race.

The first happened around mile 15. I was hurting. I hadn't even hit the hills and I was having trouble keeping an 8:30 pace. I was despairing. 11 miles still to go! I stopped for a big drink of water. A guy on the side said "How is it going?" I replied "It's hard" and continued to stand and drink. Finally, when after a minute I was still standing there drinking, he said "Are you going to finish?" I glared daggers in his direction and indignantly replied "Yes" as I headed out.

The second was in the middle of the Newton hills. I was trudging up a hill and momentarily lost my desire to continue (this happened quite a few times). I stopped and walked. A guy was squatting at the top of the hill and he started yelling at me. And I mean YELLING. "Come on 8841! Don't stop!" He repeated it like 5 times at the top of his lungs! I had to start running again just to get him to shut up! Good move, guy, good move.

The third was about 500 yards from the finish line when Heather came out of nowhere and started running with me. At that time my left quad was up in the rotation of cramping leg muscles. And I was pinching my right side where a rebellious and obscure torso muscle was cramping. Despite it all, I think I actually smiled and felt happy for a moment!

Then I finished and felt like never moving again.

P.S. My overall finishing place is 8,861. That's only 40 spots down from where I started!
P.P.S. I got burned to a crisp in the sun.

What Abby Does When Gramma Visits

2011-04-15T07:13:00.001-07:00

She gets lots of kisses:

She gets pushes on the swing:

She gets to help cook:

She gets to wear her glasses:

She gets LOTS of stories read to her:

Need I tell you that she misses her now that she's gone?

At the Park

2011-04-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Tut-tut, it looks like rain!

2011-04-10T06:38:00.001-07:00

Update

2011-04-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. Rest assured, Abby is still cute (see above). And everyday she surprises me with something new (see below).

We went for a walk around the block after dinner tonight to get a little fresh air. We were looking at the lichen on the trees and watching some crows fly over head. Then I spotted a Robin, poking around in the yard next to us. I pointed him out to Abby and told her it was a Robin. She stared at it for a long minute and finally said "Christopher Robin!" She's constantly making connections that don't even occur to me.

On the same walk we saw a green subaru outback drive by and Abby pointed at it and said "Heather's car!" Wow. My child knows her car makes and models better than I do!

When we got back, we were sitting at my computer using AlphaBaby (an awesome little Application for Macs if you have a kid that just can't wait to get her hands on the computer). She was typing letters and for each one I was trying to recite from Dr. Seuss' ABC's. For example, when she typed A I would say "Auntie Annie's Alligator." She typed in B and I said "Barber, Baby, Bubbles, aaaaaannnnnndddd ..." I was trying to remember the last B-word, but before I had a chance to think of anything Abby pipes up with "Bumblebee!" What a smartie-pants.

Also, for the record, the last four nights in a row at 8 or 8:15 she has out of the blue said to us "Abby go bed." Whaaaa??? Maybe she's my daughter after all. According to my mom I used to ask to go to bed when I was little too.

Red bellied woodpecker

2011-03-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Heather and I saw one of these the other day. It's a common bird here in Michigan, but it's the first time I've seen one. It has the coolest call:

And no, sadly I did not take the picture you see below.

Rambo Gets a Hug

2011-03-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

1) Hunting.

2) Initiating contact.

3) Adjusting for full body contact.

4) Enjoying.

The Tent

2011-03-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Why Grandma's are Great

2011-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

A Mom or Dad might get sick of hearing you say "read book" but not a Grandma.
A Mom or Dad might tell you to "tone it down" but not a Grandma.
A Mom or Dad might wait until you go to bed to get out the ice cream but not a Grandma.
A Mom or Dad might tell you "you can help next time" but not a Grandma.
A Mom or Dad might tell you not to pick your nose but not a Grandma!

Abby is lucky to have such wonderful Grandma's. (And her Mom and Dad are too!)

Abby Goes Sledding

2011-02-22T18:08:00.001-08:00

We finally took Abby sledding this winter. We took her "sledding" last year, but she wasn't too thrilled about it. It probably didn't help that I dumped her off the sled into some deep, cold snow. But anyway, she seems to have recovered or forgotten, because she enjoyed it more this year.

The snow was less than spectacular--it was not fresh, and had been through a warm day, so had the consistency of cement. But hey, I'd rather she go too slow than too fast at this point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAx3dD0zl4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KizvhJZy7tE

Two of My Favorite People

2011-02-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Swinging

2011-02-20T05:52:00.001-08:00

Abby is a big fan of swinging. Always has been.

This last time we went swinging she discovered that if you swing while looking up at the sky, and then bring your head suddenly back to a normal position, you get dizzy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05KmEDg3oKg

Snow Queen

2011-02-18T07:37:00.001-08:00

Just some artsy and cute winter pictures of Abby.

A Post From Alex

2011-02-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

Alex occasionally (very occasionally) takes a picture or two. When he gets a good one, he shows me, and then I put it on facebook or our blog and take credit for it. But these ones are so good that I just can't bring myself to steal the credit.

P.S. I'll still take credit for sharing them though :)

To Make You Smile

2011-02-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Me and My Little Girl

2011-02-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

That's right, she's no longer a baby.

Learning to Lick the Beaters

2011-02-02T08:50:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHKCMkqidD0

Rowan and The Challenge of Eating

2011-01-31T07:57:00.000-08:00

Rowan is somewhat ambivalent when it comes to food. This is in stark contrast to Abby and Rambo, who are both completely obsessed with food. As a result, it can be quite challenging for Rowan to eat in the Mettlinger house. If he isn't in the mood to eat his sandwich at lunchtime, when Abby is distracted by the food piled in front of her and Rambo is distracted by the food crumbs piling up beneath her, and gets a hankering for something foody a few hours later, this is what he has to deal with:

But don't feel too bad for him. I think he kind of enjoys the attention.

Intrepid Explorer

2011-01-31T07:52:00.001-08:00

With Peanut Butter Sandwich.

Expressions

2011-01-29T06:52:00.001-08:00

And finally, the blowfish.

I'm Running Out Of Synonyms For Cute

2011-01-29T05:40:00.000-08:00

For Olivia

2011-01-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX1Jfm4dqV8

Abby Stories

2011-01-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

Some cute things Abby has started doing recently:

1. She has caught on to the fact that when I am thinking, trying to come up with something, I say "Ummm." She really likes the way it sounds. Now whenever I ask her a question she prefaces her answer with a big, long "Um."

2. I've been anxiously awaiting the day that I can ask Abby what she did today and get an answer besides "today!" I think that time has come. Here are some answers that I have gotten recently. To get the full effect, imagine her nodding emphatically while she answers, and a confirmatory grunt at the end.

"Bi an Hea-er house"
"Nap"
"Lunch" (usually followed by a list of sometimes accurate lunch items)
"Read books"

But my favorite answer came yesterday, in a very quiet whispering voice that I had to lean close to hear:

"Shhhhhh, whisper. Rowan seeping"

3. Since our Subaru died (RIP), I have been bussing Abby to Brian and Heather's house. I don't particularly enjoy spending over an hour on three different buses in order to get myself to school, but the inconvenience is outweighed by how VERY excited Abby is to ride the bus. Once I mention bus in the morning, it's all over. She starts frantically getting all her winter clothes on, excitedly repeating "Catch bus!" I've learned to wait until it's almost time to go to mention the word bus.

The first time Abby rode the bus, she was surprised by the sound of the recorded announcement to "Please remember to take all your belongings with you when exiting the bus." She looked all around and didn't see anyone talking. Finally she pointed in the air and started nodding saying "Rachel!" Apparently she caught on that Rachel is moonlighting as a bus announcer.

Ponytails!

2011-01-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

Abby's hair is long enough now that I can get half of it into a pony tail. Here's the adorableness when I do the bottom half.

Here's the adorableness when I do the top half.

Can't wait 'til the two come together!

Counting

2011-01-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

She goes all the way to ten, but I didn't get that on this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEsNDUam3eU

Abby Gets A Massage

2011-01-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11iOIpYqMKI

Cutest Pirate I've Ever Seen

2011-01-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

Twins Family

2011-01-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

But wait! There's another one!

Sweet Pea and Sprout

2011-01-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

Tricksey

2010-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

These days Abby is acquiring new skills faster than I can say "boo." For example, she's starting to string together sentences like "Daddy, read book to me." Somewhat less charming, she's also beginning to understand the fine art of deception.

As many of you know, Alex, Abby and I spent Christmas and the week prior at the Mettler's home in Minnesota. If you've never had the honor of doing the same, let me explain something. Around the holidays the Mettler house is overflowing with sweets. There are tins and tupperware and bowls full of chocolates and cookies and cakes ALL THE TIME. This leads to a lot of sugar consumption. I of course allow myself to ingest all the sugar I could possibly desire, but I try to limit Abby's consumption. (Yes, this is hypocritical. I don't care.) As you might imagine, keeping Abby from eating sugar all the time when I myself am is a difficult task. It is incredibly hard to deny her, especially when she says in a tiny little voice "Peeeas?" To avoid the responsibility of denying her, I have taken to sneaking treats when she's not looking and either going to another room or turning my back. Sadly, it seems she has caught on to my tactics. Not only is it getting harder and harder to hide from her, but I think I've taught her to be sneaky....

With that background, let me take you back to Christmas Eve at about 8 pm.

The family has just finished dinner and retired to the living room for a round of present opening. Abby is wandering around, playing with various toys when she suddenly spots a bowl full of M&M's on the coffee table. Before making a move, she looks around to assess the situation. She is disappointed to find Mommy sitting right next to the target, looking directly at her. She tests the waters. "Cookie?" But Mommy is shaking her head before she even finishes asking. "No cookie." She stares at the bowl. They look so scrumptiously delicious. Little red and green nuggets of delight. She tries again. "Cookie? Peeeas?" But Mommy is stalwart. "No cookie. It's too close to bedtime." She stands, twiddling her hands in front of her, thinking. Then she says "Cookie, Gamma" and points to grandma, who is sitting just a few feet away. Mommy pauses. "You want to give a cookie to grandma?" Abby nods, points and repeats more excitedly "Cookie, Gamma." Mommy says "Okay, you can give a cookie to Grandma." She carefully picks an M&M out of the bowl and with arm extended begins to turn and walk toward grandma. The second her back is to Mommy, she pops it into her mouth.

What a sneaky little monster.

Water

2010-12-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

One morning in Minnesota we took a trip to St. Paul's Children's museum. It was amazingly cool for Abby. So many things to do and so many fellow children to gawk at! Here she is at her favorite two exhibits: 1) the bubble station and 2) for lack of a better description, the water park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pckgSYrFx1k

P.S. Translation of Abby speak in the middle of the next movie: "Another ball"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTG5CMfTSGM

Christmas Cookies

2010-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon Abby got to help Barb and Beth make Christmas cookies. Well, it was actually the other way around, but don't tell Abby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD-sABbh5gA

Sawing Logs

2010-12-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted videos. So be prepared!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZFle1UTbZg

The Little Tree

2010-12-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Time to dig out the little Christmas tree, adorn it with tiny little ornaments, and sit cozied up on the couch with cookies and milk to appreciate its tiny warmth.

I love our tree--it has so much history tucked away in its fake pine needles. Every time I unfold it, I think of its first Christmas, so many years ago, when Olivia was off at University and I was still at home. I remember mom and I painstakingly painting little ornaments and stringing beads to tuck away in boxes for Olivia to open, one by one, as Christmas slowly approached. Then I remember getting the Christmas tree in the mail after Alex and I moved to Ann Arbor, accompanied by a whole new set of boxes of ornaments, carefully crafted by Olivia and mom.

I love this tree because it makes me think of my family.

P.S. I also love this tree because I can tuck it away where Abby and Rowan can't reach it!

Trumpeter

2010-12-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Abby's trumpet lessons continue. She finally successfully "buzzed" into the mouthpiece instead of just breathing into it. And she's very studiously learning different fingerings.

Ia and De-issss!!

2010-12-03T16:10:00.001-08:00

Abby fell in love with (Oliv)Ia and De(nn)is over Thanksgiving. Well, she was in love with De-is. She thought Ia was alright anyway, because De-is liked to hang out with her.

My Baby Is A Genius

2010-11-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

See? She's reading AND playing piano at the SAME TIME.

Coloring

2010-11-23T20:06:00.001-08:00

Gamma and Gampa

2010-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas Came Early

2010-11-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

My families bought me an early Christmas present. Can you guess what it is? Here's a hint.

The Latest Scoop

2010-11-10T09:10:00.001-08:00

What kinds of things has Abby been up to lately? Well, I'll tell you.

She's really into "helping." Any time we cook or wash dishes I hear the telltale sound of a chair scraping across the floor and a little voice saying "hobe, hobe." She will also now ask for help when she's eating and it gets particularly difficult (like when there's only tiny bits of oatmeal left in the bowl and she can't quite get them onto her spoon).

The other thing is that she's really into keys. She knows what they do and the power that they represent. This was clearly demonstrated to me a few days ago while I was in the bathroom. Not moments after closing the door behind me, Abby was on the other side jiggling the doorknob and frustratedly proclaiming "Mama! Mama!" I called out "Just a minute!" and waited for the typical response: "MAMA! MAMA!" Instead, it got silent. I could almost hear the cogs turning in her little head. A second or two later I heard her shuffle off. I was fairly surprised by her apparent willingness to give up right away--that never happens--but didn't question it too much. It's a rare moment when I get to sit by myself at home (sure, I was on the toilet, but you can't be picky when you're a mom). Then a minute or so later I was snapped out of my peaceful repose by the sound of jangling keys being forcefully scraped against the doorknob. There was no verbal communication aside from some occasional grunts. Abby had decided that if I wasn't going to come out on my own she would come in and get me herself.

(As a side note, she insists on being the one to unlock the car every time we go anywhere. This morning I helped her use the key to start the car--probably the dumbest thing I've done this week. She's going to cry every time I don't let her start the car now.)

What else? Oh, yeah. She's started imitating EVERYTHING that I say. Even things that I say, for example, when I knock a plant off the counter and spill soil all over the kitchen floor. Get my drift? I'm going to have to re-familiarize myself with the word "shoot."

The other thing is that she's finally REALLY into stories. She used to like books, but just for the excitement of turning the pages or ripping them out. She didn't really care what the book was about. Now, every evening, she brings me book after book and sits enthralled as I read it to her. Then she asks me to do it "gan" and "gan" and "gan" ... I can't wait 'til she can read.

She's talking a lot better these days, actually using two different syllables in the same word. But so far she hasn't been able to put two words together. She'll repeat one word a hundred times (like "Hobe") and then a few minutes later repeat the second, related word a hundred times (like "DaDa"), but she won't repeat the two in quick succession (like "Hobe Dada"). With one exception. She says "Go! Go! GO! Daaaaay!" (translation: "Go! Go! GO! Daaaaave!") She learned this phrase while watching Rachel, Dave, and Alex at the last bike race. No, she never cheers on Rachel or Dad, just Dave.

So there's your update!

Bath Time in B&W

2010-11-10T09:06:00.001-08:00

I should be grading papers. Instead I'm looking at cute pictures of my daughter. Amazing how often she helps me procrastinate.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

Alex is Awesome

2010-10-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

These photos are but a tiny bit of the overwhelming evidence that it is true.

Abby's First Pumpkin!

2010-10-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Alex bought Abby a pumpkin to carve this evening. Well, she didn't do much of the carving, she mostly just supervised. She was a bit more squeamish than I expected about the guts. It took a lot of convincing to get her to stick her hand inside the pumpkin. And once she got it in there she came back out with no more than a single little seed. She enjoyed stirring the guts that Alex and I removed though.

My Favorite Season

2010-10-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

Fall. I missed the peak colors, but finally got out with my camera this morning. Michigan may not have mountains, but the fall colors here are, well, incredible.

P.S. I put these photos on facebook too.

More From MN

2010-10-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Third Time's A Charm

2010-10-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Warning! This post contains gratuitous details about running! If you don't like runner talk, let me offer this as substitute entertainment.

Let me back up. This story begins almost 4 years ago during the departmental Christmas party. It was then that I discovered that Heather liked to run. We were comparing notes on our half marathon performances and were both talking about how we kind of wanted to try running a marathon. The seed was planted. We subsequently talked Rachel into participating and the three of us signed up for the 2007 Detroit Free Press marathon. We started training together the spring of 2007 and then our jobs and research led us in different directions. I went to China, Rachel went to the Biostation, and Heather went to California. We all *tried* to train, with varying degrees of success. I, for example, had only run twice, both times less than 3 miles. When we re-united in August, we had 2 months to finish training, which amounts to 6 weeks of training and 2 weeks of tapering.

When Detroit rolled around, I have to admit I was feeling pretty confident. Up to that point, I had never met a race I couldn't run, training or no. Of course, I hadn't raced much. But anyway, I headed out with thoughts of Boston prancing through my head. Around mile 8 I started to question my pace. I ate a Gu. Then the race course led us through the most awful, horrible, terrible race obstacle I have ever had the misfortune to meet. The tunnel. It's a mile long. There is no fresh air. It is stifling, and hot. Did I mention it was hot? I started sweating so much in there that I was dripping and soaking wet when I came out the other end. It only went downhill from there. My pace was flagging and I was struggling to keep a finish time of 3:40 in my sights. I think I had another Gu somewhere in there. (By the way, Heather had jumped ahead of me at mile 8 and was comfortably on her way to qualifying. Rachel was somewhere behind me, apparently suffering just as much as I was.) Around mile 17 I had to stop at the porto-potty and BOOM. Calves were solid as rock. I tried to limp along after that, but they just kept freezing up, not to mention I was really tired. I walked and limped to the finish line. 4:30:12. Disaster.

Confidence shattered, I decided to rebound and run another one in spring 2008. I was hoping to build on the my Detroit base (shaky as it was). Alex, ever supportive, signed up for the Cleveland marathon with me, scheduled for mid-May 2008. Training went well--I was able to run with Heather who was training for Boston on the heels of her Detroit qualifier. Then, a few weeks before the race, I got a terrible pain in my shin. So bad I could barely walk. I certainly couldn't run. Stress fracture. So much for Cleveland. At least I still got the shirt and hat.

Then I got pregnant. Flash forward to spring 2010.

Feeling confident about running again (having run two good half marathons the previous year), I decided to try again. I signed up for the North Country trail run and the Grand Rapids marathon. North Country counts as try #2 if you don't count Cleveland (which I don't because I didn't even start the race). You may recall, North Country didn't go great either, thanks to cramping, due in part to warm humid weather and probably due in part to a bad race strategy. 4:10:10. Sigh.

Between North Country and Grand Rapids, I bought a hydration pack (thanks mom and Liv!) and started thinking seriously about how I should run the Grand Rapids race. My thoughts went like this: "Start slow and speed up later? But what if I don't feel great later? Then I missed a big opportunity to pick up time early! But if I push it early, I might be more likely to cramp!" What to do? Although other (shorter) race performances and my training suggested a 7:23 to 7:45 pace, I had never even come close to that in the other two races. Was it too fast? I decided to just do what felt right in the moment--not too hard, not too slow. Easy, right?

Long story long, I ran Grand Rapids on Sunday and it went pretty well. I didn't cramp. I drained all 70 ounces of my hydration pack in 21 miles. I ate 6 Gu (I think) and I took several Endurolytes (electrolyte replacement pills), the last two without water. Ick. My Garmin watch tells me I ran the first 12 miles at a 7:28 pace. Then I slowed to a 7:43 for the next 6. Then at mile 18 I started the "death march" and couldn't seem to go faster than an 8:03. But I ran the whole thing and I qualified for Boston. 3:22:05.

Here's a photo of me with half my support crew at the finish line. More photos can be found on facebook.

Now that, after 3 years, I have finally RUN a marathon, I can start thinking about how to tweak my training for Boston so that I don't have to slow down to an 8:03 pace for the last 8 miles!

Oh, and most importantly, I am now officially the fastest woman Alex has ever dated.

I'll end with a few statistics (i.e. runner's crack):

Since the 3rd of May I have run ~934 miles in training.
At ~8 minute miles, that's 5 days spent running.
I was 2nd in my age group.
I was 19th out of 661 females (top 3%).
I was 190th out of 1,654 people (top 12%).
If I ran a 3:22:05 in the 2010 Boston Marathon I would finish in the top 7% for females (644th place) and the top 23% overall (5,011th place).
The average finishing time for women was 4:23:22.
The average finishing time for men was 3:55:01.
Heather ran Portland marathon 8 minutes and 51 seconds faster than me.

My Second Grandma

2010-10-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

5 years ago and some change, I married Alex. It was a wonderful occasion, wherein I ceremoniously secured myself a life partner, someone to share all my triumphs and all my failures with, someone to cuddle with and someone to fight with.

But beyond that, I secured myself a second family. I knew what I was getting with Alex--we had spent 3 years learning every little detail about each other--but at the time I didn't know for sure what I was getting with his family. I knew they were loud (and I say that in the most loving way possible), and I knew they were smart. And I knew they were tightly knit. I know now that I got damn lucky--the Mettlers are the best second family anyone could ever hope for.

Sadly, a little over two weeks ago Grandma Herbst passed away from complications following heart surgery. Of all the Mettlers, I am certainly the least qualified to be writing about Grandma. I only knew her for a little over 6 years, and in those years I only got to spend a few holidays here and there with her. What I do know about her is that she was an awesome Grandma. And she loved her grandkids to death. She was kind and always, always interested to hear about our lives. I will miss her presence.

Alex and I traveled back to Minnesota for her funeral two weekends ago. The trip was well worth the 2 twelve hour stints in the car. The whole family was there and it was a beautiful service. Barb orchestrated the construction of some photo displays. I wish I had had the presence of mind to scan some of the older ones. My, but that lady looked like a suave and sassy young girl! I took a few pictures of Abby while we were there. It's nice to think that there's some of Grandma Herbst living on in her.

This Little Piggy

2010-10-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

My Awesome Sis

2010-10-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my dear sister's birthday. I spent all day trying to come up with some creative way to pay my respects to her on the blog besides just waxing eloquent about all her wonderful qualities and incredible accomplishments. I failed.

But I had an idea this morning--I thought I would take a photo of her and make it into a photo mosaic using smaller pictures of things that represent Olivia. Brilliant, right?

Well, there were problems. I decided to start with a test image and see how it went. I entered the search terms "dogs, bees, flower, skiing" using Google as the image source. The software I use kept telling me there were 0 images that matched any those search terms. Ha. I doubt it. After fighting with that for about an hour, I gave up and tried using Flickr as the image source with the same search terms. Lo and behold, it worked! And worked. And worked. And worked....about 5 hours later I have a mosaic of Olivia from images that have dogs, bees, flowers, and skiing.

Now, ideally I would go back and do another one with a more well-rounded representation of my beautifully complex sister. But because I want to post this before she turns another year older, I'm going to cheat. Instead I'll give you a list of the images that I would have liked to use and then let you look at the image with just dogs, bees, flowers, and skiing.

Olivia's images:

1. (Dogs, bees, flowers, and skiing)
2. Mountains
3. Jeeps
4. Tiny dirt trails
5. Cameras
6. Gourmet food
7. Taco Bell
8. Sunshine
9. Rivers
10. Canyons
11. Books
12. Hammocks
13. Bug net
14. Classroom
15. Coffee
16. Deserts
17. Tents
18. Travel Guides
19. Dennis
20. Birds

Happy birthday a day late to my wonderful and amazing sister!

P.S. Something interesting you may notice if you look closely at the mosaic above (although I don't think the resolution is good enough): there are random images of people's faces in there. Why were they included? My only guess is that they are ex-boyfriends that their ex-girlfriends tagged as "dogs" on Flickr. Also, there are pictures of cats. I guess some people don't know the difference between a dog and a cat? And apparently there are very few bee pictures on Flickr. We should work on that.

Quick Story...

2010-09-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

...before I forget.

The other day Alex and Abby and I were driving downtown for some reason. We were cruising along Huron in the right lane and were approaching stalled traffic in the left lane (waiting for someone to turn left). Some bozo from the left lane decided to cut around the stalled traffic and jumped right in front of us from nearly a standstill. Alex slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn. Both of us were up in the front mumbling about idiots when we heard a little diminutive voice in the back seat say "Beep beep!"

Cabin-palooza

2010-09-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

We and our dear Ann Arbor friends are trying to start a tradition whereby we all gather together in the fall months, coalescing at a cabin somewhere in the Norther-woods of Michigan. We have successfully executed this tradition for two years now. I have my doubts about whether Alex, Abby, and I will be invited in the future. But I'll save that story for the end.

If you recall, last year we went to the fabled Upper Peninsula, where we had heard the trees were brighter, the lakes deeper, and the hills hillier. It was quite beautiful, but it was a hell of a drive--over 7 hours. For a two day weekend trip in the middle of a busy semester, we all decided that was a little much. So this time we reserved a cabin near Cross Village at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula.

As a side note, our cabin choice is mostly constrained by whether or not the owners allow dogs. All of us have dogs. And since all of us want to go to the cabin, that means no dog-sitters left in Ann Arbor. Usually the owners end up saying "Ok, you can have one or two small-to-medium sized dogs." In turn, we usually don't tell them that in fact we have 10 small-to-Ella sized dogs.

Anyhow, we headed up on a Thursday night. We all arrived in staggered succession, stopping to grab a beer from the fridge on our way in to the living room of the cabin, where there was a roaring fire. The cabin itself was really great. It had three true bedrooms (with doors), one with two double beds and one twin bed, and two with a queen bed apiece. Then there was one open loft area with two twin beds.

The plan was for Alex, Abby and I to share the room with Brian, Heather, and Rowan. We figured that since we had camped next to each other without any problems with the babies waking each other up that it would certainly work in a bedroom. And, really, it did, but it was much more stressful for everyone than expected. It's one thing if your baby wakes you up, but it's a whole different guilt level if she wakes up another baby. So I slept on pins and needles, jumping out of bed at the slightest cough from Abby, ready to soothe her back to sleep without crying (please, oh, please!). Like I said, for the most part, it worked fine--I'm sure I was over-sensitive to the possibility of Abby waking Rowan up.

The cabin we chose was located about 200 yards from the shoreline of Lake Michigan. It was fantastic. The weather on Friday was windy, and oscillated between gray and rainy, and sunny but stormy. I couldn't believe how much the lake resembled the ocean on that day. The dogs had a blast running around free on the sand. Abby built a few sandcastles and dabbled in the water a little bit. That afternoon we drove to Harbor Springs through the famous Tunnel of Trees. I have to admit I fell asleep on the drive, so don't have much to say about the Tunnel. But I did run through half of it later in the weekend and that half was really pretty.

Saturday was also stormy, but a bit sunnier. We ate, napped, and relaxed some more. Later in the afternoon we took a trip to Wilderness State Park, about 10 miles north of our cabin on Sturgeon Bay. There we hooked up with the North Country Trail. You may recall that Heather and I ran our trail marathon on part of the North Country Trail, but a bit further south.

Sunday was the best weather of the weekend. Beautiful blue, clear fall skies and 65 degree temperatures. Heather and I celebrated the weather by running 22 miles. It was so much fun to run through different country, and at one point I even felt like we were in the mountains! That afternoon, while Abby napped, I sat on the beach with the dogs and a beer, soaking in the sun. It was fantastic.

This leads us to Sunday night. It started off well enough. Abby went to sleep at 8:30 as usual. Rowan joined her around 10, and I joined them all around 11:30. Alex had decided he didn't want the stress of sleeping next to me, since I was continually waking up and telling him to stop moving, so had settled on the couch downstairs with all the dogs and Mike (who didn't want to disturb Tory with his heavy snoring). At about midnight, Abby started coughing. She would cry a little bit after every cough. After a half hour of this, she stood up and started getting serious. So I grabbed her and put her in bed with me. She couldn't settle down. Coughing and just restless. After a half hour of that, I decided Tylenol was in order. I went downstairs and we doped her up. Back to bed then. But she was even more awake from the trip downstairs, and was crying when I tried to lay her down. I heard Rowan stir now and then and started to worry. So I moved downstairs with her, right next to Mandy and Bobby's room, in the middle of Mikes room. She was now worked up pretty good, screaming and screaming. Trying to get up and then screaming some more. Clearly we were keeping people awake. But what could I do? So, finally at 2:40, I collected my blankets and Abby and I moved to the van. Van seats suck to sleep in. And it is cold at night these days. But Abby slept on and off, and at least she didn't wake anyone up (I was awake the whole time, how could she wake me up?). We went back in to the cabin at 7:30 to find Rowan up and about. Heather gave me a surprised look and said "I brought Rowan down because I didn't want to wake Abby up!"

And that's why we might not get invited back next year.

Did I mention the sunsets were beautiful?

Curly or Straight?

2010-09-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

We've been wondering for some time now whether Abby's hair is curly or straight. It's really straight on top, but more often than not the back curls. Is it because of her funny mullet? Does it rest just right on her collar so that it curls? Or does she have daddy's hair? I guess we won't know for sure until she grows some more of it.

Evening at the Park

2010-09-15T18:39:00.000-07:00