Vacation

Madison and I took the much anticipated trip to Kansas City via an airplane.  Jeremy helped us on Saturday morning get ourselves through the ticket counter and to the security checkpoint and then we were on our own at 6:45am.  It is a lot of getting dressed and undressed with all the shoes and bags you have to take on and off through security.  Madison did a great job.  It is nice you can take milk and food with you for an infant.  (Food is for everyone – milk for the infants.)  We sat next to a nice band teacher from Kansas.  He was headed back with his soon-to-be fiancé – also a band teacher, but here in Ohio.  He was not irritated by Madison in the least and kept up decent conversation.  Madison didn’t cry once the whole flight.  She drank her milk on take-off and was sucking her thumb while sleeping on landing.  Saturday was a big day – flight, meeting Kristin’s family, getting to see the resident cat (Ruby) and dog (Max), Mark’s and John’s coming for dinner.  Abby (John’s youngest daughter) followed Madison around all night – even feeding her dinner!  Here they are in the kitchen and Madison hanging out with Matthew on Sunday morning.  He left on Monday early morning for business, so it was a shorter visit with him. 

                   

Although she was in good spirits, she was exhausted by bedtime.  All seemed well, until about 11:30 when I heard her crying.  When I went in, I discovered she had thrown up.  She has never done this, so it was a new experience for both of us.  I got Kris to help change the sheets, and put her back down.  She threw up again about 30 minutes later, and we went through the whole routine again. The rest of the night was fine.  She woke up a little more clingy and not quite herself.  On Monday, she woke up with a low-grade temp, so we took her to urgent care to make sure there wasn’t an ear infection or strep throat or anything else that would need antibiotics started before our flight on Tuesday.  It was just some kind of virus.  By Monday night she was doing a little better.  On Tuesday, she was walking again, although she wasn’t too interested in others cuddling her – just mommy.  Although I long for her cuddles, sometimes a break is nice too :)  Here are some cute (and a little pathetic) pictures of the little sick-y.

             

Since she was sick and the weather was gloomy and cold the whole time, Kristin and I just hung out, talked, watched movies, and ate most of the time.  It was relaxing – maybe a little boring for my always-on-the-go cousin.  Madison battled sickness, but more exciting to watch, battled her fear of the unknown with her curiosity of the dog.  She clung tight on Saturday whenever Max was around.  Ruby (the cat) was a bit scary, but not as much as Max.  Max was actually very calm and didn’t get very close to her much.  By the end, she was walking by him – if she was holding my hand – and she would reach her hand out to touch him from her highchair.  She was even calling his name!  Max and Madison…

                    

                      

                              

On Tuesday before her afternoon nap, we decided to go to a park to see geese, ducks, and take a short walk.  It was good to get out of the house for all of us.  This is Kristin and Madison checking things out:

                      

                           

And finally, the flight home.  Our flight took off at 6:30pm.  The man next to us moved up to an empty group of seats at an exit row.  That was very nice.  Madison and I could spread out her things – sippy cup, snacks, blanky, etc.  There was a lady a row behind on the other side of the aisle that “played” with Madison for almost the entire trip – funny faces, waving, peek-a-boo, etc.  It was fantastic.  Madison said hi to her and everyone else in our vicinity.  She received many compliments for her behavior as people were exiting the plane.  Here she is sitting in our seat.

                     

We met Jeremy (after a few attempts at finding the correct exit by me) outside.  Madison started smiling and said hi dada when she saw him.  It was a late night.  She went to bed right away.  I followed shortly after.  Today, we are both catching up.  Jeremy held down the fort here – installed a new closet system, put in a new stereo in his car, hooked up this little digital box to our TV, and other things.  I haven’t had a chance to hear the full scoop on how he enjoyed his time.  All in all it was a great experience.  All my worrying (as usual) was for naught.  She was a fantastic traveler – we may need to go somewhere else!  Until later…. 

Slacker

I will admit it: I have been a blogging slacker. It is not because Madison is not getting so much cuter every day or because she is not getting smarter because she is. I have just been zapped by the time evening comes. We are still doing the OGT testing (for all the absent/skipping students last week), and although we take it in shorter shifts, it disrupts my day. I also wanted to get our taxes done before it was April 15 or later, and before the price for TurboTax went up on the 25th - TODAY. I finished them last night; we get a small federal refund, had to pay a little to the state. Never had to pay before, so I'm hoping that won't happen again. I have also been a little obsessed with this trip Madison and I are taking. I am usually such a control freak and feel like I have less control than I would like because we have never flown before. Jeremy will be holding down the fort. So, that's why I have been a slacker. I really have nothing new to tell you. It is 6:24am and my brain isn't really wanting to formulate cute stories - I am just trying to live through this final day of the week :) (It is really not that bad, but sometimes it is fun to exaggerate!) So, I am sure I won't blog for awhile, but when I do... be ready! Have a great weekend!

Catch up

This weekend was girls’ weekend.  My mom and dad came up on Thursday night to hang out and take care of Madison on Friday.  Thursday night, Madison drank some milk with Grandpa and spaced out with Grandma.

          

Friday afternoon, Jeremy left with Madison and my dad to clear the house of boys.  After school, mom and I hung out for a few hours before meeting up with my sisters-in-law at Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant – delicious!  It was fun to hang out – just the ladies… no boys and no kids!  We stayed up late with a movie and talking.  On Saturday we slept in, then headed to get massages!!!!  Ahhh…..  After spoiling ourselves, we went shopping, to California Pizza Kitchen, and Graeter’s.  After gorging ourselves, we took a short walk in the beautiful day.  Then, we worked on planning an upcoming family event.  Around 7:30pm, everyone headed home and I had a QUIET, no responsibility house to myself – awesome!  Sunday, I listened to my brother’s sermon from about a month ago while I waited for Jeremy, Madison, and the Grandparent Yohs.  It was good to see my family again.  We ate out at O’Charley’s and entertained many Sunday diners as Madison paraded up and down the aisles.  Sunday afternoon we were back to our little Yoh clan and life as normal.  So begins the week….

Madison is easily entertained.  Here are a few of her antics the past few days – mesh laundry bag: so fun to walk around with!

            

              

Putting letters in Daddy’s mouth had her giggling!

    

Today Tara and I finally met up to go walking again.  It was a nice to catch up again.  Little Grace was very excited to see Madison – so much so that she bit Madison’s thumb!  I thought she was just going to lick it – that’s what she did when she gave her a kiss, licked her face.  BUT, she chomped down on it and surprised us all.  Little ladies don’t always know what they are doing.  Although Madison was crying, Tara and I were laughing about what a “bully” Grace was.  :)  I am sure Madison will have her day.  Well, that’s it.  Have a great week everyone.  Enjoy the view from our back door as you go about the evening….

            

Overwhelmed

Since last Friday I have just felt overwhelmed – with stuff going on at work, with family duties, with social obligations, with online school, with sick child, and I didn’t even fit exercise in, save for Thursday volleyball which has left me sore for three days!  The good news: the school stuff is over (I think), sick child is on the mend, online course work is done, and socially, next week is more relaxed (til the weekend when my sisters-in-law and my mom come to party).  So, here it is…

I can’t talk about the school stuff… some things are best left confidential. 

Family duties include cooking, cleaning, and playing.  It is not really so bad – Jeremy helps with clean up, cleaning, and playing, which is fantastic! 

Social stuff: friends came over to talk cloth diapers on Sunday… their little girls played well with Madison; potluck night at small group … always good food and fun times; Mike, Anja, and Sasha came over for dinner on Friday… Madison was very excited about the baby! 

Sick child: Madison had her first cold and first ear infection this week…. she is on antibiotics right now.  We took a little rain walk on Saturday…this is inside with her rainhat.  She even said “cheese” for the second picture!

       

Online classes: done, done, done as of Saturday afternoon!!! 

Thursday night volleyball… fun, competitive, and a great workout.  I am on a break til spring league starts up on Monday nights. 

And learning to find her belly button…..