Michigan...again

Brian,  Maggie and I made another urgent trip to Michigan this past week.

Grandma Rice had passed away on Tuesday, March 20th at the age of 91.  She passed away at her house, in the comfort of her own bed.  My mom and Tiff had just been up there to see Grandma and spend some time with her.  I was unable to go with them due to my work, school, and family obligations.

All of my aunts and uncles were there, minus a couple of my cousins from California.  It was a nice celebration of Grandmas life.  It's amazing when you read the obituary, how much of an impact our loved ones have made in this world.  She's leaving behind quite a legacy, especially in her hometown of Milford, Michigan.

We left Colin back in KC (again), figuring a funeral was no place for a 2 year old.  Brian's parents watched him for 4 days, and are utterly exhausted now!  He has so much fun with them, going to parks, helping Grandad in the yard, eating special Grammie food!  We missed him so much, especially Maggie, since he's pretty  much her favorite person ever!

We packed up on Thursday for our 12 hour drive, went to the visitation on Friday, the funeral on Saturday, then our long drive home on Sunday.  Maggie was a trooper throughout it all, sleeping in various locations (neighbor's houses, churches, car seats, etc) and hardly making a peep!  She has all of my family tricked into thinking she's the best baby ever.  

Brian, Maggie and I stayed at Grandma's neighbor, Phyllis' house.  Anyone that will welcome a 10 month old into their house, no questions asked, is a saint!  Phyllis let us take over her home for 4 days and we can't thank her enough.

The 2nd night, Maggie found the liquor cabinet.  I figure it's because Phyllis said to make ourselves at home. We thought it was pretty funny.

Maggie couldn't decide between the vodka or the coffee-flavored liquor.

Whoops!  Caught red-handed!!

Chad and Brian, wearing some of Grandpa's old Stetson hats.  We thought they looked pretty good, considering they both have fairly large heads...

Maggie sporting the Stetson...

Grandma's dog, CJ, wondering what happened to Grandma.  Don't worry though, Tiff and Chad brought her home with them, with the intention of Mom taking her when she gets moved into her new place.  Shouldn't be too long until CJ can get settled into her new home.

Maggie playing with my Aunt Linda from California.

Mom and her 2 brothers, Uncle Kurt and Uncle Ken.

Tiff feeding Maggie (in her car seat) because we didn't bring her high chair.  Ooops!

A group of pretty ladies!  Maggie, Rosie (a nurse in Milford that helped take care of Grandpa and Grandma Rice that is just like family to us) and Mom.

The whole gang in front of Grandma's house (with Brian taking the picture).

The whole gang in front of Grandma's house (with Phyllis taking the picture).

We will be back in Michigan in June to help figure out what to do with the rest of Grandma and Grandpa's belongings.  Until then...

no more trips to Michigan, please :)

Maggie's Ear Tubes

Sorry this is a bit delayed...but I have a good reason.

I will get to that in another post...

Maggie got her ear tubes in on March 21.  It was at the same place Colin had his done.

We had to be there at 6:30 am and were home by 8 am.  Talk about a well-oiled machine!

Maggie had fun in the waiting room, playing with her patient identification band on her ankle and the teddy bear the surgery center gave to her.

Maggie and Daddy, just before they took her in for surgery.

Maggie and Mommy 

(can you tell we're both sooo tired?!)

They took her back around 7:20.  Once again, I don't even think we had time to get coffee in the waiting room before they had come to get us telling us the surgery was done.

They were concerned about her left ear (the one that kept have ear infections), afraid that maybe there was more than just fluid behind her ear drum.  Good news, there was just some icky, yucky fluid in there (about the consistency of rubber cement, says the doc).  It had likely been in there for quite a few months.

So, now that the fluid is out of there, we're hoping her hearing with be restored and she won't have any issue with more ear infections.

Maggie right after surgery.  She hadn't woken up yet from the anesthesia.

She was pretty grouchy when she woke up, but I was able to feed her and that improved her mood some.  We took her home, played for just a few minutes, then put her down for a much-needed 2.5 hour nap.  She woke up a new girl, in a great mood and ready to eat & play.

And here's just a cute picture of Colin.  He seems so grown up in this picture.  

I guess that's going to happen eventually!

Thanks for all of your prayers.  Maggie is doing great following her surgery!

10 Month March Madness

 It has been sooo beautiful outside lately.

We have gone outside to play almost every night.  Colin loves taking Buzz outside to play with and Maggie just usually chills out in her stroller or in the swing.  She's such an easy going kid.

Maggie turned 10 months old yesterday.  

Time sure is flying by.  I had better get planning a birthday party soon.

Sure, I'll add that to my ever-growing list of things to get done.  But somehow, everything manages to be okay.  The birthday party planning will probably push it's way ahead of other things - well, mainly because it will be fun!

Mags had her appointment with the Ear, Nose, Throat specialist earlier this week.

At the appointment, she failed all of her hearing tests on her left ear.  They did it 3 different ways, and each way, FAIL!  So, this was a huge concern for the doctor (who also happened to be Colin's ENT doctor).  The doc mentioned that it was very unlikely that Maggie had 5 ear infections, all on her left ear, as ear infections tend to be random when it comes to what side they affect.  So, he thought what actually has happened is that Maggie has never gotten rid of the fluid in her ears from her very first ear infection that was back in November.  He checked the fluid in her ears, and he said it was a very strange consistency and was opaque in color.  It's not good to have fluid in the ears for that long, due to infections as well as hearing problems.  So, we are scheduled for bilateral tubes (both ears) on Wednesday.  

We know the surgery is a snap, since we did it with Colin just 1.5 years ago, but it still makes me nervous having her under anesthesia.
We'll let you know how it goes!

Mags hanging out in the swing

 In her high chair before dinner one night.

I love these pictures, cause she's captive in her chair and I can usually get her attention.

 Aughhhhhhh!

Such a big girl, playing with her activity table.  Look at those chunky thighs!

Colin is such a great big brother.  He lets Mags play with Buzz quite a bit.  She thinks its really cool when Buzz makes all those noises, plus, she can push the buttons, too!

Sweetheart!

 There is one particular saying that Buzz does that Maggie just loves.  Whenever she hears it, she just opens her mouth, makes this noise (kindof like "and the crowd goes wild....aahhhhhhh") and puts her hands in the air like she's flying around.  Its so funny.  She can literally be 3 rooms away from Buzz, but when she hears it, she will make that noise and put her arms up.  

We think she might end up a tom boy...

You've Got A Friend In Me

Buzz Lightyear...to the rescue!

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a $5 Buzz Lightyear on Craigslist (one that normally retails for $40 at Target)!  We are all about used toys in our house.  

Well, Colin has been VERY into Toy Story lately, and we were hoping that Buzz might just be the motivation for Colin to start using the big boy potty.

We have tried lots of things so far...M&M's, suckers, stickers, tons and tons of praise, ice cream at McDonalds, trips to Chuck E Cheese, etc.  He says he wants all those things, but yet, doesn't want them enough to try to go potty.

We showed him Buzz yesterday...within minutes he had gone potty on the big boy potty.  We were so proud of him, he was more interested in playing with Buzz.  

It has wings that pop out so he can fly, a laser that "shoots" and a ton of sayings.  There is one particular saying (To Infinity...And Beyond!) that plays some really cool music and that's when Buzz has to fly around our house.  In order to keep playing with Buzz, Colin has to keep using the big boy potty.  

So far, so good!

Colin with is buddy Buzz.

He was so excited to get a picture taken with him.  He NEVER stands still for pictures with us, but was MORE than happy to for a picture with Buzz.  

We won't take that personally...

Figuring out all the cool gadgets

Maggie trying to stay out of the way...

Buzz is a crazy flyer!

Maggie was more interested in Mr. Potato Head (Buzz's friend).  She has his mustache!

To Infinity...And Beyond!!!

Buzz sometimes needs to use the potty, too.

Good job, Buzz!!  Colin was so proud of him!!

What's a guy gotta do to get a little privacy around this place?!

We aren't sure if this is going to last, but it's nice to see him interested in being a big boy for a little while.  We know he needs to be ready, but we're just trying to help motivate, right?!

Thanks for your help, Buzz!!

Off & Running

 Whew...what a busy week!

Something super important happened on Wednesday,

we officially put our house on the market again.

We priced it VERY reasonably, and WAY under what we paid for it originally, so this time, it had better go, and it had better go quick!

Please keep us in your prayers as we are ready to start a new chapter of our lives in a 

more spacious home.

I know it looks a little drab from the winter, but hopefully things will green up soon.

Don't worry, we had some outdoor pictures from a few years ago to show potential buyers, so that way they can see our house looking full of life.

 Well our little Maggie Mae is making leaps and bounds in terms of her motor abilities.

She loves playing with some of Colin's old toys.

 She is also officially a crawler now (please disregard the dirty jammies and random clothes/diapers on the ground, Brian was at work and I was single-momming it!)

 What a determined little girl.  

Not once did she get frustrated while learning to crawl.  You could almost see the little wheels turning in her mind trying to figure out how to do it. For almost a week now she has been lunging forward, but now she has figured out how to crawl!  Yeah Maggie!

 But, now we can no longer leave her unattended on the beds, and Colin has quickly learned that all toys are fair game now (including any sort of race tracks he has spent many minutes building, that are torn apart in no time at all!).

 Maggie officially has both of her top front teeth now.

And, she's still on her antibiotics for a couple more days, which is something I am very much looking forward to being done with.

Please excuse me in this picture, but I thought Maggie was just a doll.  She was laughing really hard at Brian, making some weird noise.  She was imitating him, thinking she was pretty cool.

 This clock is a new lifesaver at our house.  

The past week or so, Colin has been getting up REALLY early in the mornings, like around 4 or so.  He thinks it's time to get up and party hard!

So, luckily, we had this clock in our closet that had been purchased a while back ago upon recommendation by another mom friend of mine.

The clock has a nightlight function, that can be set to change colors whenever the parent would like.  So, we have it set to be orange when its nighttime, and will turn green when he is able to get up.

He is so proud of himself when he stays in his bed until it turns green...

he runs out of his room yelling "mommy, daddy, my clock is green!"

It's precious.

What a big boy!

We have also started using it for nap time as well, but since he only naps over here on the weekends, that has been hit-and-miss.  I'm sure he will get it before too long!

 And, a final picture of Colin.

Here he is watching his favorite thing of the moment...
TOY STORY!

He asks for it all the time, and we have all 3 of the Toy Story movies at our house (although we only allow him to watch 1 and 2, because 3 gets pretty scary, especially at the end!)

He really likes Buzz Lightyear, and I am hoping we can use this to our advantage, as he has some Buzz and Woody "big boy" underwear that maybe he will want to wear.

Love you all!

I had better get back to my schoolwork.  I am currently working on a Stats exam that my professor recommended we anticipate about 5-6 hours of time to complete.

Great, doesn't he know I have better things to do! 

:)