Dancing in her Head

This morning, when we pulled into the school parking lot, I turned down the radio and Anni yelled at me. The following conversation ensued:

Anni: Hey! Turn the music back louder!

Me: How do we talk?!

Anni: Please! I want to dance!

So, I turn the music back up for a moment and look into the backseat. Anni's sitting in her car seat, not moving a muscle.

Me: I thought you wanted to dance?

Anni: I am!

Me: You aren't moving.

Anni (smiling a wicked little smile, taps her head) In here!

Me (in disbelief): You're dancing in your head?!

Anni: Yep!

Say Teef!

For her birthday, Anni got a Tinkerbell cell phone. Just a little toy phone, but she likes to pretend it's real. And it makes real enough sounds when you push the buttons. One of the buttons sounds just like the camera button on Gigi's phone, so Anni likes to take our pictures. She'll come running up to you, hold up the camera and yell,

"Say teef!"

Apparently, she's doesn't agree with the adage of "say cheese" so she amended it to "say teef (teeth)". Really, it makes much more sense when you think about it. Genius, I say, genius!

In Daddy We Trust

So, the other night, Anni crawled into bed with me. Dana had woken up earlier, couldn't sleep, so he went down to watch tv on the couch and doze down there. Anni is working on a nasty cold right now, so when she woke up, she was completely out of sorts, uncomfortable and unhappy. I tried to get her settled, but to no avail. I finally asked her what the problem was and she said, "I just want to go see my Daddy!" It was much too late for her to be running around the house, so I told her I'd go get him. That seemed to appease her.

So, I went downstairs to get Dana, after I got Anni settled in the middle of the bed. He came back upstairs with me, Anni took one look at him, gave a big sigh and fell right back asleep.

I don't know if it was the fact that I agreed to go get her daddy or the fact that she knew he would come, but whatever it was, the trust that child has in her dad definitely says something about the relationship those two have now...and hopefully always will.

Evened Out

Checked on Mr. Baby this morning. Looks like he did the growth spurt thing, just like his sisters did. I'm back on track, measurement-wise. BP is still up a bit, but with 2 cranky, little girls with colds and a huge belly to lug around, whose BP wouldn't be up by this point?

Back in 3 weeks for another check. One more 2 week check after that and then it's on to once a week appointments. Almost arrival time!

Thankful

Today in school, Abby and I were sitting in circle time while Ms. Anna described what our projects were for the day. One of the projects was the Thankful Tree. All the kids got a little construction paper leaf and the parents were supposed to write on it whatever our child was thankful for. Ms. Anna explained to the kids that "thankful" meant something we liked and something that made us happy. Imagine my delight, when my eldest turned around and said,

"I'm thankful for you, Mama."

Present Options

My birthday was on Friday. Per usual, Dana was up before me and Abby got up shortly after he did. They were downstairs visiting, waiting for Anni and I to get up. Dana asked Abby what she got me for my birthday. She, of course, hadn't actually gotten me anything, so he asked her what she wanted to get me. She thought about it, really hard (according to her dad) and came up with a brilliant solution. She told Dana that she was all done with her Wish Book (see previous post) and asked if he thought I would like that for a birthday present. And let me tell you, the Wish Book is a precious commodity in our house these days. Dana thought it was a very sweet offer, as did I when I heard the story, but he suggested maybe she and Anni could get mommy something different...like some flowers? Well, she thought that was a great idea and instructed her dad to get some pink and purple flowers...her favorites.

As much as I appreciated the Wish Book idea, the flowers were awfully nice too. And they still smell good!

Inside Baby

Mr. Baby had another check up today. His heart rate looked good and he was kicking up a storm, per usual.

I'm measuring a little big and did at the last check too, so if I'm still measuring ahead of schedule at the next appointment, I'll get sent for another ultrasound. The ultrasound will check my fluid levels (don't I sound like a car junkie?) and make an estimated weight check for the baby.

Blood pressure was up a bit, but still in the safe range.

Other than that, a good check. Back in 2 weeks to check again!

Wish Book

When my mom was little, she used to play Wish Book with a Montgomery Ward (if I remember correctly) catalogue.

Here are the rules to Wish Book:

You go through every single page and you get to pick ONE item on each page that you wish for, usually for Christmas. It doesn't matter if the page has princess toys, power tools or motor boats. One wish per page and you have to pick something.

Nana sent a toy catalogue home with the girls a couple weeks ago and I introduced them to the Wish Book game. They LOVE this game, especially Abigail. And she especially likes to play it with Dana. And, of course, he's a great sport about it when it comes to the Barbie/princess pages.

This morning, I wasn't quite ready to get out of bed yet, and the girls made their way downstairs. A few minutes later I heard them playing Wish Book. Warmed my heart. But I still didn't get out of bed for a few more minutes.

Peter Pan

Nana got a fancy new book at her house. It's a pop-up story of Peter Pan and Anni, especially, LOVES this book. She requests it every single time we go to Nana's house.

For the past few nights, for a reason unknown to me, Anni keeps unzipping her jammies and pulling her feet out of them. When I go up to check on her, she's just got her arms in her jammies and is usually shivering, unless she's still awake. This was a complete mystery to me until last night.

After we got the girls in their jammies, we were sitting on the bed reading books before bed. All of a sudden, Anni jumps off the bed and starts undressing. She gets her feet out of her jammies and announces, "I am Peter Pan!"

Remember the scene in Peter Pan where Wendy has to sew Peter's shadow back onto his feet?

Here's our Peter Pan. I think she's much cuter than the original.

Halloween Part 5

What better way to do some pre-Halloween celebrating than with some Halloween cookies:

Dana did the big Jack-o-lantern in the back

Halloween Part 4

Wednesday night was Abby's turn to show off her Halloween dance skills. She was very excited to do some tapping in her genie costume!

Here's our genie:

And here's the video: Sorry, you'll have to just tip your head again.

Surgery Update

Abby had her follow up renal ultrasound on Wednesday morning. Her urologist requested an ultrasound a month after her surgery, just to make sure everything looks good after the procedure. The ultrasound showed no swelling in or around her kidneys, which was great! Now, she goes back in 3 months for another kidney dye test. If the test shows no more reflux, then Miss Abigail gets to stop taking her medicine!

Fingers crossed!

Halloween Part 3

On Wednesday, Anni and Daddy went to her school in the morning, while Abby and I went to Children's for her follow up renal ultrasound. Anni got to wear her ladybug costume again. Here are some shots from school that day:

Anni and her friend Adam
An attempted group shot

Our little bug

Halloween Part II

Tuesday evening, Anni had her Halloween dance at dance class. We invited all the grandparents, aunts and uncles and some friends down to watch Anni shake her groove thang. There wasn't a whole lot of actual dancing involved, but it was still pretty cute.

Here's our ladybug:

All the dancers

Here's the video from the dance. Sorry it's sideways...I can't figure out how to get it rotated. Just tip your head to watch the cuteness. :)

Halloween Part 1

At Preschool Growth on Tuesday, Abby's class got to wear their costumes. After circle time, we did a mini parade down to the Community Ed offices and showed all the workers the fancy costumes. The kids got to march down the hall, shaking their maracas. For their efforts, the ladies in the office had some fancy Halloween stickers to hand out as treats.

Here are a couple pics of the group:

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is one of Dana's favorite holidays...aside from Pheasant Opener, it's probably the top of the list. He gets excited about carving pumpkins and costumes and all the good stuff that comes with the special day.

This year, Halloween is a little more fun in our house. The girls are old enough to understand about getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating. And they really got into carving pumpkins. Dana carved them each a princess pumpkin, true daddy that he is.

Here's the crew:

Sharing Time is Happy Time

The other day, Dana took Anni to her school while I took Abby for her follow-up ultrasound at Children's. On the way home from school, Dana stopped to get some cheeseburgers so he and Anni could have a picnic for lunch. Dana gave Anni some Cheetos with her cheeseburger and had some of his own with his burger. True to form, Anni ate all her Cheetos before touching her burger and as soon as she finished her Cheetos, she moved on to the ones on her dad's plate.

Dana: Anni, those are Daddy's Cheetos!

Anni: You have to share, Daddy!

Hopes

This past week/weekend, the girls and I got hit with the flu. It was not pretty. Luckily, Dana was home to run interference with the munchkins, so I got a chance to take some extra naps.

At some point, Abby decided to play dress up, so she came upstairs to put on her princess dress. She's pretty self-sufficient when it comes to getting dressed these days, but she can't get the backs of her dresses fastened, so she asked me to help me. I was still in bed, so I told her to come over closer to me to I could fasten her dress. As she turned her back to me, she said:

"I sure hope you don't frow (throw) up on me!"

Conversations

Last night, the girls were eating their dinner and talking quite animatedly about what was in their tummies. Then, they moved on to the contents of other peoples' tummies:

Anni: I got noodles in my tummy.

Abby: Me too!

Anni: Daddy gots Cheetos in him tummy. And Mommy gots a baby.

Abby: Yep!

Long Day's Night

Well, Anni had a first last night. Not a fun first, not a pleasant first, not an unscented first. It was an eventful night for Anni, Dana and I. Little Miss seems to have some sort of bug and this one did some damage to the tummy region. Anni, for the first (second, third and some extra) time - threw up. Like I said, not a pretty first, but a first nonetheless.

She still isn't feeling well. A slight fever. Not eating. Drinking a little bit. And definitely lacking in the energy arena. Hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon. In the meantime, hopefully she'll take a nap...because there's some laundry that really can't wait to get washed.

Mr. Baby

For those of you who don't already know, and I don't think there's many, if any, of you, Baby Schmidt #3 is a boy! We found out a few weeks ago at the ultrasound. Dana is over the moon and Abby still wants a sister. Anni just wants to rock the baby and to be able to touch his head.

Mr. Baby had his monthly check this morning and everything looks good...aside from the numbers on the scale when I'm forced to stand on it. (Shudder) His heart rate was about 140 and he was kicking like a mad man in there. He kicked so hard a couple times, the Doppler literally lost contact with my belly. It was pretty funny. The doctor thought everything looked and sounded good. Back in another month for another check and the diabetes test. After that, we'll be up to appointments every 2 weeks, which means delivery time is drawing near!

Elizabeth Schmidt

A couple weeks ago, a dear friend of mine came to stay with us for a few days. Elizabeth Schmidt, as the girls have dubbed her, was a huge hit with the munchkins. Each morning, they got out of bed and wanted to go downstairs and sit on Elizabeth and watch cartoons. And, despite her general fear of tiny people, Lizard was only too happy to comply with their requests...and went a little crazy with the presents too!

Dancing Queens

Around the time school started this Fall, the girls also started dance classes. Anni has ballet class from 5-5:30 on Tuesday nights and Abby has ballet/tap from 6-6:45 on Wednesday nights. Both girls are really enjoying their classes and I'm happy to report both my girls have the confidence to march right into class, sit in the circle and do what their teachers instruct them to do. Most of the kids in Abby's class can do the same, but most of the 2-year olds are still having a hard time letting go of mom or dad. These parents then have to accompany their kids into the classroom and a lot of the time, have to do the activities with all the 2-year olds. Thankfully, Anni doesn't need her prego mom to come into class and run up and down the floor with her. Phew!

School Days Part 4

Abby's very first day of big girl school! On Fridays, she has preschool at the local elementary school. She knows a couple kids in her class and has the same teacher, Miss Anna, as her other classes, but it's a different location than the other classes and she goes all by herself again. Abby loves to be there. She gets her backpack and her folder, carries everything by herself, puts her backpack in her cubby, hands her folder to Miss Anna, puts on her name tag and goes to sit in the circle. She's gone twice now and gotten great reports both times.

Anni, on the other hand, does not like Abby's preschool...and for the simple reason that she doesn't get to stay there too. When we drop Abby off on Thursdays, Anni tolerates it. On Fridays, she gets very mad at me. The first day, she marched right over to the circle, sat down next to Abby and waved goodbye to me. When I told her we had to leave and it was Abigail's turn to have school, she stuck out her lip and cried these huge tears. Poor thing. She hated to leave her sister. And all the way home, she kept telling me she wanted to go to school "all by myself!" Something tells me she'll be more than ready for preschool when her turn comes.

School Days Part 3

This was Abby's first day of school all by herself. She wasn't the slightest bit nervous or upset. She walked right into class, got her name tag and sat in the circle with her book. She barely glanced at us when Anni and I kissed her goodbye and told her we'd see her soon. How happy am I that my kids are excited to go to school and are more than happy to go there on their own?


Right before class started

Anni was not at all happy about leaving her sister at school. Luckily, there's a carousel in the mall area, so I could bribe her out of the classroom pretty easily.

School Days Part 2

Anni was very excited for her first day of school! She got to go play with her friend Adam and meet some new kids. She also has the same teacher as Abigail, so she had a familiar face when she walked into the classroom on Wednesday morning. Anni did so well at class! She tried out all the activities and didn't fuss once. I was so proud of her!

Ready for school! She insisted on being Floor Guy!

Both girls dressed and ready to go!

School Days Part 1

This year, the girls are signed up for several classes through our local ECFE. Both girls will take a class Monday mornings starting in the middle of October, but their individual classes started the week of Labor Day. Abby has preschool readiness on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays, I go to class with her and Anni goes to sibling care. On Thursdays, Abby goes all by herself. On Wednesdays, Anni and I go to 1s and 2s together, while Abby goes to sibling care. Then, on Fridays, Abby goes to preschool, all by herself!

Here are the girls on the first day of preschool readiness:

Hotel Sleepover

Dana's been really busy with work for the past month or so, and for some reason, he's had some jobs pretty far out of town. One week, he had to drive out near Redwood Falls for a job and it didn't get finished, so he suggested we pack up the girls for a hotel overnight at the local casino/hotel near the job. He had stayed there the week before and the hotel had a really nice kiddie pool for the girls, so he thought they would really enjoy playing there. Daddy was very right on that thought!

Here's Anni swimming like a dolphin:


Close up

Both girls getting used to the water

Nanni

Abby after her first time down the water slide

Apple Orchards

The girls and I have had play dates at two apple orchards so far this year. The first time, we met our friends Riley and William at an orchard near their new home. Apparently Miss Riley was quite intrigued by the idea of picking raspberries, so we headed out on a Saturday morning to pick some raspberries and some early apples. Zestar apples, if anyone's looking for suggestions, is definitely the way to go for an early Fall apple.

Here are the girls post picking:


Sir William with his picking basket and the horse he never let go

The girls on the hay bales. The tractor wasn't running rides that day, but the kids were more than happy to climb up there and have a seat.

The whole crew

Anni taking a break from the strenuous labor of raspberry picking

Abby really enjoyed picking the raspberries

For our second trip to the orchard, we met our friends Cole, Caleb and Olivia at an orchard in Hastings. At this orchard, they had lots of things for the kids to do besides pick apples. They had a big playground set, an observation tower, wooden trains to drive and a little track for riding bikes. We did more playing at this orchard than picking, but the kids all had a great time!

Riding the bus

Abby and Anni at the top of the observation tower

State Fair 2009

We made it to the Fair again this year and yet again, it was a blast! We've definitely got Fair kids! It took us a while to get there this year, since Dana's been so busy with work, but the wait was definitely worth it, as evidenced below:

The infamous Super Mega Corn Dog...the ultimate in measuring sticks and our personal favorite pictures of the year.

The ride home - both girls were asleep about 3 minutes after we got them buckled in:

This is always one of my favorite scenes - Daddy and his girls

Anny and Anni sharing a Rice Kristie bar

Face paints! Abby picked pink Spiderman and Anni picked purple sparkly.

They sat very still for the face painting

Both girls were all about the rides this year. Luckily for Dana and I, they were big enough to ride a couple of the rides by themselves.


The boat ride:

The bee ride:

Driving the cars:

Disembarking from the twister ride. Mom had to ride this one.

Teacups with Dad:

Carousel was the first ride of the day:

Abby eating her Fudge Puppy:

The infamous Super Mega Corndog...the ultimate in measuring sticks and our personal favorite pictures of the year.