The hard times and the good times

Where the changing table once was is now her dresser. So interesting, eh? :)

Cleo's new room...new toybox and shelves.

Gus and his Spongebob popcicle...it stained his entire face

It's been a trying week. Work is out of control crazy and things are slipping through the cracks and hitting the fan, so it's been stressful. Andy was out of town all week, but thankfully he's back home. Today we figured out that Charlie has been depositing blood from his tooshie (sorry) on the carpet downstairs behind our desk. I have no idea what's up with him, so to the vet we go...again. We just spent a huge amount of money on Ruby recently only to figure out he's just fine. But that's how it is with pets. And that's okay.

But when I get down about work or bloody cats or something like that, I remember that bigger things could be happening. One of Andy's co-workers is going through a terrible time right now as her daughter battles cancer, and another friend's brother was killed in a very tragic accident recently. So, when the stuff hits the fan for us, I say a prayer and give my kids a kiss, b/c life is sweet but sometimes way too short. And it could be so much worse.

We're gearing up for our Michigan vacation, and even though I can't imagine getting done all that I need to for work before we leave, I'm so ready to go. We're driving and we'll stay over in Iowa City at Andy's parents on our way up, so we can break up the drive. We'll be in Ludington for a week, and we're staying in a cabin. I'm excited to have some R&R with the kids and Andy's family. I love it up there, and hopefully the weather up there is pretty nice...in the 70's and maybe 80's. Not as humid.

The kids are changing so much every day. Gus' new favorite things in the world right now would be Dora and Boots (from Dora the Explorer...or as Andy likes to call it: "Dorah the Explorah"). Gus adores anything Dora right now. Loves her show and would watch it 24/7 if we allowed him to...and he's even created little imaginary Dora and Boots friends he keeps in his pockets. They even get to sleep over with him at night. I'm serious...we're dealing w/ our first imaginary friends! It's adorable, really. He picks them up and carries them with him everywhere. When we leave the house, he'll say, "Oh, Mom! I have to get Dora and Boots!" and at night he says "Mom, Dora and Boots can sleep with me!" Pretty funny stuff. As long as he's not doing this when he's 15, it's all good.

Cleo is walking! She takes about 5-10 steps at a time before she goes back to crawling, but she's doing more every day. She loves her new freedom. I call her my little Houdini b/c she likes to break out of any straps we put her in (car seat, high chair, etc...). She loves the challenge of breaking out of any constraints, including clothes. She has figured out how to take off her pants, and I often find her in just a diaper and t-shirt, smiling at me as if to say, "See? I did it! Ha ha hahaha!" She's ornery, this one. I have to keep my eye on her. She says new words like "Momma" (yes!) "Dadda" "Kitty" and "Baby" and sometimes I think she even says "Pretty"--oh, and she pants like a dog when she sees dogs. Gus used to do that, too. So funny. Last wknd we reconfigured Cleo's room. We got rid of her changing table and move stuff around to accomodate shelves and a toy box. It's so nice not to shove toys and stuffed animals in her closet now. Of course she still prefers to play in Gus' room, though. But her room is so cozy that I'm proud we were able to utilize vertical space to our advantage. HGTV, eat your heart out.

Let's see...the GREAT NEWS that came out of this week is that our friends Tom and Marisa had their 2nd bundle of joy, a boy! So now they have Ebina, who is almost 2, and Abel Thomas Hegeman, who was born early Wednesday morning. He is absolutely gorgeous...full head of dark hair (Ebi had the same) and looks like a mini Tom Hegeman! Everyone calls Tom "Old Man Hegs" so we were joking that now there's a junior "Old Man Hegs." Marisa was worried b/c she had to be induced with Ebi b/c she was so overdue, and it looked as if the same was going to happen with Abel. He was over a week overdue when she finally went into labor. She had him in around 2 hours total--the labor was that short! I am so happy it was short for her.

Until later...take care. Oh, and the new poem is one I wrote when I was a child. I remember being SO PROUD of it. I wrote it on yellow lined paper and my mom posted it on the fridge where it stayed for a very long time. So deep, right?!

Oh, and Gus starts preschool Monday! Woot! So excited for him.

Gus is 3! And other updates

Gus celebrated his 3rd birthday the first weekend of August. We took him to Vinland Valley Nursery where he had a little party. The nursery is technically in Baldwin City, but it's really in the country b/t Lawrence and Baldwin. It's beautiful out there. We had a great time, and for once the weather was pleasant. We're so used to the scorching heat on his birthday. On his actual bday (August 6), I took the day off and we went downtown to the Toy Store to pick out his gift. He picked out a toy Mack truck, and he loves it, needless to say. Between the Mack truck, the matchbox cars and carrying case and all the other fun toys, he's in heaven. Oh, and he's still our healthy boy. In the 75% and 76% for weight and height. He's 39" tall and weighs 34.5 lbs.

Andy and I went on a sales incentive trip to St. Pete, FL, with some of his co-workers last week. It was so nice to get away, and the resort was great. I met some of Andy's co-workers and their spouses, so it was fun to meet new folks. I've posted some photos of the trip. I didn't take too many b/c I didn't want the camera to get wet. We essentially just laid on the beach or by the pool for 3 days straight! It was heaven, but we really missed the kids. My Mom watched them until Sunday and then Annie came for the last night. I think overall they did really well.

Let's see...work is insane right now. I'm trying to keep my wits about me, but it's hard. It'll calm down, but there are so many new things going on, and I've taken on a lot of extra work. We're going on vacation to Michigan the week of Labor Day, so I'm already excited for that. It'll be a long drive, but thankfully we'll stop over in Iowa City so we can break it up. We've rented a cabin in Ludington, so that should be fun. We usually stay at Andy's parents house in Ludington, but with 2 kids, we need a little more space, so we'll see how this cabin works out. Michigan should be a nice break from the hot sizzling weather here. It's usually in the 70's there in September during the day, which is so nice.

Gus talks to people on the phone now and has conversations, vs. just saying one or two words. It's funny. And he's really into things and their mothers b/c of a book we've been reading by Eric Carle (Kangaroos have mothers, too!). He asks where the cats' mothers are. He even gave Funny Face one of his toys the other day and told her it was b/c she didn't have a mother anymore, so she could have one of his toys. Delicious! Gus starts preschool on August 31. I can't believe it! He's in the "Under the Sea" room with his daycare friend, Elizabeth. I don't really know what all the rooms mean, but I know the "Under the Sea" room has fish tanks and whatnot, so he'll be thrilled. He goes for 2.5 hours every M, W and F. We'll go with him on the first day. I think I may get emotional. I mean, it's not like he's in Kindergarten yet, but I feel like it's just around the corner. Crazy.

This isn't my best photo...but it's hilarious how white Cleo is next to me right now.

Cleo is a little spark plug. She's so fast and into everything these days! She's not walking yet, but she pushes her little walker everywhere. She moves all over the place, and tries to break out of her high chair, her car seat and the grocery cart at the store. Gus never did any of this, so we joke that we'll have to carry duct tape with us to keep her in one place. She's usually still pretty mellow, but she's very stubborn, too! I really see so much of us both in her personality. She and Gus are so tight. They wrestle together, snuggle together, play together all the time. It's so fun to see them actually interact for real now. Gus told me the other day Cleo was his best friend. Oh, and Cleo says the following words right now: "Kitty" and "Daddy" and "Meemaw" (that's me) and "Pretty" (that one cracks me up...she already knows she's pretty! ha ha).

That's it for now! Hope you all are having a great summer. It's winding down...can't wait for fall! My favorite season! I'm already excited for Halloween. Yes, I'm dorky like that.

Cleo is 1! Summer is flying by...

Cleo turned 1 on July 22. We had a gathering at our house to celebrate her bday, and Andy's family came in, which was great. Andy's sister, Jenny, and her son, Eli, stayed with us for about 5 days. We loved having them and wish they could've stayed longer. Gus and Eli, needless to say, loved hanging out. They wore each other out every day! We took the kids to the zoo on Cleo's birthday (zoo in Topeka). It's a great zoo, and there's a train park across the street with a carousel. The kids had a blast.

Cleo's 1-year stats are: 29" inches long (45%) and 19 lbs. 12 oz. (27%) for weight. She had a growth spurt in length, which is fun. She went from the 9% in height to the 45%. She has almost caught up with Gus' growth. He was at just over 30" at one year. Their weights are quite different, though! Gus was over 25 lbs. at a year and Cleo is under 20 lbs. All her weight is in her legs...she has some awesome thunder thighs! Love it. She is also getting her top two teeth, and they are almost all the way out. So cute, but it's been painful for her.

Gus starts preschool the first week of September. I cannot believe it! I'm gathering paperwork for it now. I think he's excited. He talks about going to school, so I think he gets it. And he'll be in class with his daycare friend, Elizabeth, so that's great.

I'm excited b/c we bought a new car. We bought a Subaru Forester, and I love it. It's silver, and it's just nice to have a new car. We traded in the 1991 Buick, and I'm still sad about it. I'm happy to have the new car, but the Buick had been in the Dierks family since day one, and it has treated us so well. It was a wonderful car. I hope the new owners treat it well. It's funny how we get so attached to cars.

Andy and I are getting geared up to go to Florida next week. My mom will watch the kids for the majority of the time and then Annie will come for the last night. I hope the kids do well...fingers crossed. I'm just so very, very excited for some R&R on the beach! Yes!!! It's been insanely busy at work for me, at least compared to what I'm used to, so I'm ready for the long weekend.



New blog on lawrence.com coming tomorrow or Thursday...check it out!

4th of July in Colorado

We are back from Crested Butte, CO. We had a great time, and I already miss my little sis, Kerry.

It's a pretty small town (around 5,000 total including Crested Butte proper, Mount Crested Butte and Crested Butte South), but with all the folks there for the 4th activities, it was crowded and very busy. The 4th of July parade was awesome, and there were easily over 15,000-20,000 folks there. Everyone is so "granola" in CB... it was hilarious. And I thought Lawrence was hippy. Kerry knew people wherever we went. That little social butterfly. She seemed very at home. The weather was brilliant. It maybe reached 80 degrees during the day, and it usually rained for a bit off and on during the day and night, but then the sun would come out blazing. You are at such high altitude there that getting a tan was pretty easy! It didn't take much time.

We took a few hikes that were out-of-this-world awesome. We drove to this tiny little place called Gothic, just up the mountain from CB. It was gorgeous and so remote (only accessible 6 months out of the year b/c they don't service the roads during the winter). We shopped in the fun downtown area of Crested Butte, and our condo was in Mount Crested Butte, just about 10 minutes away from downtown, right on the mountain of Crested Butte. Kerry lived just down the road from us on the mountain. She lives with 3 or 4 other people in a condo. She is a nanny for a family who also lives in Mount Crested Butte. She said she either walks or rides her bike everywhere, or takes the bus.

We had fun with the rest of the family. My older sis, Shana, brought her kids and we all had a great time together. My Mom and Dad came, too. Gus had a blast w/ his cousins, Brody, Rory and Molly. The fireworks on the 4th were honestly the best I've ever seen...ever. They were short (about 12 minutes long) but truly amazing! It was the first time in 10 years they had been able to shoot fireworks in CB b/c it hasn't been wet enough in past years. They shot them off the top of the mountain, literally just up the mountain from our condo. We had the best seats on the balcony of our condo. It was so awesome!!! My 10-year old nephew, Brody, told Andy that the vacation was the second best thing that has happened to him (1st best thing was getting their kittens). I loved that.

Here are some photos and videos from the trip. The second video is of Kerry by a waterfall. Oh, and I forgot to mention we saw a bear! We were hanging in our condo and my Dad spotted a black bear walking down the mountain. It was pretty awesome. I tried to get a photo, but it didn't turn out.

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday.

Time in a bottle

Time flies...back in the day, almost a year ago. Cleo was just weeks old, and Gus was practicing his little sis kisses.

Soon Cleo will be 1 and Gus will be 3. I just cannot believe it some days. Sometimes I just want to stop time so I can savor these days. They are just growing up, up, up...like the speed of light. I guess that's how it works, right? But some days I just get super reflective about youth and how fast it goes by.

Gus' vocabulary expands daily. Some of my favorite lines right now are:

• "Mom, you're NOT being my friend!" (he uses this frequently if we get mad at him)
  
• "Mom (or Dad), I have to tell you something!" (he pulls this at night when it's time for bed, but he really has nothing to tell us...just delaying going to sleep).
• "Momma, I'm reeeeallly, reeeaaaallly, hungry! I NEED food!" (very dramatic...wonder where he gets that?)
• "I love you this much (spreads his arms out really wide)!"
• "Mom, I love Keeo-o soooo much."
• "Mom, where's Keee-o? I need Keeee-o!"
• "Look! It's going down, down, down!" (this is what he often says after he poops in the potty and then watches the poop go down, down, down the toilet).

Cleo looks like a baby, but acts like an (almost) toddler most days! She wants to walk, and crawls sooo fast, it freaks us out. She's VERY spunky, this one. She is pretty Zen most of the time, but if you make her mad, watch out. She has a little temper and arches her back if she's pissed! I keep telling myself that this is good...she won't be a pushover, right?! :) I don't think she's officially said her first word yet, although it does sound like she says "hi!" to us when we say it to her. So maybe that's her first word?? Not sure yet. She adores Gus and everything he does, so she pretty much follows him around all day and they love playing together (most of the time). Gus is really protective of her and loves having a playmate who isn't just a crying baby anymore. He makes her giggle more than we do these days.

Fast forward to now...bath buddies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've been meeting up with friends at the downtown wading pool every Friday morning. Gus and Cleo both seem to love it. We try to make it to the downtown pool, too, but so far I haven't tried that by myself, so I wait for weekends when Andy can join us.

We're set to drive to Crested Butte, Colorado over July 4th, to visit my sister, Kerry. We've rented a condo with my parents, so it should be really fun. I know the road trip will have its challenges. We've never gone this far with both kids, but thankfully they are both pretty good car kids. And we're going to stop on the way to stay over so we don't have to make the trip all in one day. This trip will be a great test trip for our longer road trip in September to Michigan. But I'm excited to be in Crested Butte over the 4th of July. Kerry said the town has a huge 4th of July parade and fireworks display that draws a huge crowd, so that is something to look forward to. The guy we rented our condo from said we will be able to see the fireworks from our condo balcony...yes! And I think Kerry lives literally down the block from where we are staying, so that's great. We're staying in the mountains, right next to some of the ski lifts. Kerry said our views of the mountains will be amazing. I'm sure I'll take many photos to post here.

I've been keeping up with my weekly celebrity gossip blog. Check it out if you so desire (link over there to the right of my blog). And I've posted a new poem to the right. I thought this poem was beautiful and kinda hopeful.

Summertime makes me a happy lady

This one does not have stranger danger at all...

Anthony and Gus share a moment

Mr. Solomon Thomas in the house

Mom and Cleo

Keenan!!

Oliver and Gus riding on Thomas the Tank Engine

Photos from our summertime, thus far. The birthday bbq was awesome. It was so good to see everyone, and all the kids played and played and played. Gus and Cleo are still catching up on sleep from all the partying this past weekend.

On Sunday Gus and Andy went to Baldwin to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine, and they met up with our friend Blake and his son, Oliver. Gus and Oliver have just become little buddies. They are so cute together, holding hands, hugging, hanging out. An immediate bond, I tell you. Andy said they had a great time.

Sunday night we had our first kickball game with our team from Blue Collar Press (the official name of our team is The All-Beef Blue Collar Kicking Ball Society). Our kickball shirts have cheeseburgers on them. I've already met new people, which is always fun, and although my playing was pretty "meh" Sunday night, I'm excited to improve throughout the summer. Andy and I will have to take turns playing the late games (7pm) b/c of the kids. Andy plays this next Sunday night and I'll play on June 14. We're going to grill some grub at the games and take turns buying beer. You can tell how serious we are about playing if we're eating and drinking while playing. Yeah...gotta love Lawrence kickball.

I guess all good things sometimes come to a screeching halt...Andy and I got very ill Monday early a.m. and it lasted all day. After some serious investigation, we found out about 1/3 of the bbq attendees also got sick, so we assumed it was some kind of food poisoning from something at the party. But then the more we looked into it, the more we thought it could even be a virus that we passed around the party, b/c we know of a few folks who had the same illness who weren't at our house Saturday. Either way, it sucked for many. My stomach still isn't back to normal. I hate that, b/c I love eating so much. I get bummed out when food loses its meaning.

Work is ramping up b/c of all the changes, so I'm a little stressed, but so far it's manageable. We're gearing up to visit Kerry in Crested Butte, CO, over July 4. We finally have our condo rented, and we're going to caravan with my parents. Should be a blast, and I miss Kerry, so it will be really great to see her. We're also searching this summer for a new car, so that's exciting. I think we'll take a day off in July to get one. I'll miss the ol' Buick in ways, but I'm excited to listen to NPR on my morning drive to daycare without hearing screeching static blasting from the broken speakers.

I've been keeping up with my weekly lawrence.com gossip blogging, so check it out, if you so desire. New photos at our Flickr site, too.

More later...

To spit or not to spit...

In this video I try to get Cleo to blow spit bubbles because that's her new trick, but she won't show off her talent. It's hard to keep up with her because she's moving all over the place. I was going to name this blog entry "Keeping Up with Cleo" (a take on "Keeping up with the Kardashians"--one of my guilty pleasure reality tv shows), but decided against it. If I had decided to spell Cleo's name with a "K" it might have worked, but I'm not one for creative spellings of names. It's a bit too wacky for me.

We have an amazing but hectic weekend planned. For my birthday, Andy and I are going out to a new burger place in town called Dempsey's and then out for drinks later tonight. Tomorrow afternoon we're hosting a bbq that should be super fun, and there are going to be so many kids running around. Gus will be in heaven. Sunday we're going with Megan and Blake and their kids to ride Thomas the Train in Baldwin City. I'm also going to hopefully take the kids to the downtown pool Sunday afternoon, but we'll see. Then on Sunday evening Andy and I play in our first kickball game. I am extremely excited for that! So I'll have more photos from the weekend to update later.

p.s. Gus has been waking up here and there from nightmares. It sucks for us (wahhhh!) but more than anything I feel bad for him. He usually wakes up crying and it takes him awhile to calm down. Last night he woke up whining. Andy went into his room and Gus told him, "There are NO dinosaurs in Gus' bed!" We thought he liked dinosaurs, but perhaps they are too scary right now. There's also a certain monster poem in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (his new fave thing in the whole world to read from), and when we page by the monster poem Gus gets nervous and says, "No, not THAT one!" If he only knew how silly my dreams were these days (the other night I had a dream that Gwen Stefani hated me for some reason and wouldn't let our kids play together...I think I've been hitting the celebrity juice way too hard lately). I wish I could trade Gus' scary dino dreams with my silly celebrity dreams!! :)