Possible addiction indicator

You know your family might have an email addiction when your 2 year old is asking for computer time to send an email to her friends.

Here's the email, in case you were wondering what she had to say...

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Octo-BIRD Fest

Wausau has a way of acting like a large metropolitan area once in a while...

Yesterday we went to Octo-BIRD Fest at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. What a fun time we had!

First Katrina picked a pumpkin in a "patch" and then we went into the pumpkin decorating tent. Once she figured out that the glue side went on the pumpkin, we were good to go!

She did a great job, wouldn't you agree?

Next we went for some face-painting, or should I say hand-painting? Katrina made a leap of faith and allowed a total stranger to paint on her hand. When we took her to the Child Evangelism Fellowship booth at the fair this year we left with a screaming little girl. She did not like the idea of anyone (she even knew the people at the CEF booth from church) painting anything on her body. We were impressed that she let a high school student paint a ladybug on her hand.

We of course enjoyed several fun harvest games. The pumpkin catapult was Panchito's favorite!

While we waited in line for another game Katrina took her turn holding up a HUGE rock. She is such a valuable community member.

(Ha, ha. As I am sure you realized, this picture was staged by her creative papa!)

Price is Right, get ready! Katrina Durán, come on down!

What a fun-filled time at Octo-BIRD fest! Thanks Wausau for providing activities like this for families. Now we don't feel like we should move to Chicago, Minneapolis or Madison to provide more "culture" for our little girl (at least not for a few more weeks!).

Apple Orchard 2008

Today we went to the apple orchard with our baby buddies group from church. What a perfect day to go! The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  I think it was at least 75 degrees.

Here Katrina is finding some good ones on the ground. I kept telling her to pick them off the trees, but the ground had so many!

She of course had to take a bite right away, to make sure it was worth the work and the expense.

Then she decided to take a bite of another one. She ended up eating both of them... one bite here, one bite there.

Here Katrina is with her dear friend, Taylor. We went to the orchard with Taylor and her mom last year too. It has become a nice tradition.

Here is the WHOLE tribe. As you can see, some of the kids were not really excited about a group picture! (Click on the picture to enlarge and then look at the three on the far left!) I think there were 17 kids all together. What a great turn-out!

At this particular orchard there were two goats and one sheep. They were definitely a highlight!

"I hope he can get his head back through that fence..."

Even though this little house was cute, it was not a good idea to let 10+ toddlers in there! We did not want to buy any pumpkins! Thankfully, the kids were quite obedient and just "petted" the pumpkins and did not grab them by the "handles."

Hair cut anyone?

When I was growing up my dad cut his own hair. He also cut my brothers hair. I never saw it as a big deal...

Until I married a man who does not have "easy-to-cut" hair. He really wanted me to cut his hair when he found out my dad did his own and my brothers' hair. So, being the good, submissive wife that I am, I gave it a try. I mean, how hard can it be, right?

Well, I decided VERY quickly that either we would stay married or I could cut his hair, but I could not do both. It was EXTREMELY stressful and I did not want to put our great marriage in jeopardy over a stupid haircut.

So, we came up with a great compromise: My dad would cut his hair and we would stay married. We decided to not discuss it EVER again.

I am sure you can guess where this story is going...

The last few days Panchito has been talking about cutting his own hair. Now, all of us who know Panchito and the type of hair he has knows that it is not a good idea. But I was MUCH more willing to let him cut his hair than to offer to cut it myself. Finally, yesterday afternoon he conceded to letting my dad cut his hair. So we went to my parents house and much to my chagrin my dad was not there and would not be available for haircut until at least today.

On the way home I listened to Panchito talk about cutting his own hair and these words slipped out of my mouth, "I will do it. I will do it if you do not say anything during the ENTIRE haircut." He agreed.

We got home, set up the bathroom and I proceeded to cut his hair. Surprise, surprise! It turned out just fine. Turns out I am not half bad at cutting his hair. He really likes it and I think he looks great.

So, if any of you out there have these types of deals with your spouses, consider giving it another try. It was a great opportunity for growth for me and him as we trusted one another in this endeavor once again. And this time, it all turned out just fine.

 

*This is not him yesterday after the haircut. I didn't take a picture. I don't want to jinx our situation! 

I'll Give You One Guess

Guess who painted these toenails...

Katrina likes to have her toenails painted. Usually I paint her nails after she takes a bath but today she noticed that she needed an update on her polish so she asked me to paint her nails. I obliged.

Then, she wanted to paint mine.

Although mine don't look the greatest, it was a great memory maker (in my mind at least!).
 

They grow up WAY too fast

Normally on Saturday evenings I set out Katrina's clothing for Sunday morning. Last night it was simply too hectic to set out her clothes. Unfortunately we found out with an x-ray on Friday that
Katrina still has a major blockage in her colon and therefore we had to give her another enema. This time it was just a Fleets (instead of the harsher milk and molasses). Anyway, with all the screaming and crying I didn't find clothes for her for church.

So, this morning I went into her closet to find her something to wear and picked out this dress from last spring. It is kind of like a kimono. She looks great in it.

Well, I had no idea that she liked the dress so much. She saw it hanging on the normal "Sunday morning hook" and said, "Oh! My pink dress. I want to wear that to my wedding!"

She is simply growing up too fast. She is only 2 1/2 and yet she is already thinking about her wedding dress.

If you know me at all you know that I will put this little dress away when she has outgrown it and it will never make it into a garage sale pile. I will present this dress to her with this
picture at her bridal shower.

 

Do I look the same to you?

 

 

Do I look bigger in one of these pictures?

The top picture is me pregnant with Katrina at the half-way point. The second picture is me pregnant now, again at the half-way point.

I feel so much bigger this time around and yet, here I am at the same EXACT stage of pregnancy in the same outfit and I think I look about the same, right? I do remember feeling HUGE at this point with Katrina and when I looked at this picture when I was not pregnant I thought I just looked a bit bloated! This time around I feel HUGE again. I guess you just feel that way about this time of pregnancy.

 

Playing doctor

What 2 1/2 year old doesn't like playing doctor?

Katrina loves it. Tonight while Panchito was at a deacon meeting and I was cleaning around the house Katrina wanted to play doctor. I obliged. First, she was the doctor and I was the patient.

Last week Katrina had to go to the real doctor. She had had two tough nights going to bed and I was attributing that to over-tiredness and under-stimulation (compared to having 8 people in the home and then back to just the three of us). Then, Thursday morning she awoke with a VERY dry diaper and continuously complained that she went "potty" and wanted me to change her. There was never anything in the diaper, no urine, no stool, no nothing. At 11:00 after talking with my sister-in-law and my mom I decided to call the clinic. Our family physician is our dearest friend and I hoped he could squeeze Katrina into his busy appointment schedule. Thankfully he did squeeze her in and to make a long story short, she ended up having an "impacted bowel" (aka obstructed bowel) which pushed her bladder aside and did not allow her to urinate.

We had to therefore administer one of the worst remedies known to man (at least to moms!): molasses and milk enemas. By simply mixing half molasses and half milk in a FLEET enema bottle and then administering that to the child the impacted bowel begins to deflate. It was excruciating. I am sure more for her than for me, but believe me, it was excruciating for me too! To cause that kind of discomfort (that is not the right word but saying pain is too hard!) upon your child is very difficult.

Thankfully after three m&m enemas her colon appears to be shrinking back to its original size and her bowel movements are normalizing (of course she is taking Milk of Magnesia and Miralax in "large" doses to ensure that her stools are loose until the colon is back to normal size).

So, this evening when we played doctor, guess what? She examined my stomach with a stethoscope just like the doctor did with her (he went on to order an x-ray, I didn't need an x-ray tonight) and then diagnosed me. "Mama, you need molasses." I said, "No, please, no." I figured the game was over. I figured wrong!

She followed me into the bathroom and pretended to "administer an m&m enema" in my bottom. It was SUPER funny, even though a bit uncomfortable.

Then she wanted to be the patient and I was the doctor. I thought that she wanted to have the same issue. Wrong again! She had me examine her tummy with the stethoscope and when I said, "I am sorry, you are going to have to have an m&m enema" she said, "No, I have a baby in there."

It is incredible to me how she can engage in "role-reversal" at this age. She has come along with me to two regular ob appointments and although the doctor does not use a stethoscope to find the baby's heartbeat he does use an instrument and he listens carefully. She wanted me to do the same with "her baby."

I love my little Katrina so very much!

 

Happy 92nd Birthday, Grandma!

Tomorrow my grandma turns 92. She is currently living in a nursing home. We had a birthday party for her there today.

 

Katrina has really enjoyed spending time with my grandma, which means so much to me and to Grandma.

 

Here we are with Grandma.

 

Happy birthday to you!

 

Katrina helped Grandma blow out her candle (after she blew out a candle on her own little cupcake... She just turned 2 1/2 and she thinks EVERYDAY is her birthday now. In fact, yesterday she was insistent that we make a birthday cake for her, according to her specifications.)

Grandma, I love you dearly. You have made such a HUGE investment in my life over the years and I appreciate it. I remember very fondly all of our sleep-overs, the outfits you made me season after season, the lunches out, the shopping trips... I hope that Katrina has the kind of relationship with at least one of her grandmas like I have with you.

That which you sew, that you will also reap...

This spring we planted an apple tree in our yard.

Katrina was very interested in helping maintain the apple tree by watering it and making sure there were no weeds growing up around the trunk.

We heard that the first year you have an apple tree you should pluck off the buds so that they do not "sap" the tree of all of its energy. We thought it sounded somewhat true so we plucked all of the buds. We left one lonely bud hoping it would grow into an apple and we could teach Katrina her first lesson about sewing and reaping.

For many weeks now Katrina has wondered when we can pick the apple. We continually told her that we would wait until the whole apple was red.

On Friday afternoon we picked the apple.

Katrina took a bite right away. It was a great lesson in sewing and reaping and patience as well.

* The apple was SUPER bitter (I guess that is what kind of apple it was!) and none of us really enjoyed it.

Maybe we should have plucked all the buds!Next year we will make the apples into a pie or something sweet before taking a taste!

We have a Puggle

Katrina is officially a Puggle.

A Puggle is the entry-level clubber in the AWANA program. She has been so excited to become a Puggle for quite some time. Last year I was involved in a women's Bible study on Wednesday nights and Katrina went to the nursery. This year while I am in the Bible study she will participate in Puggles.

After her first AWANA meeting Papa took her out for ice cream at Briq's. What a treat.

We cannot believe our daughter is old enough to participate in an organized program like AWANA. It is simply amazing the blessing that she is in our lives. We love you mas que nunca, Katrina!

Instilling a Healthy Work Ethic

I have been thinking about work ethics a lot these days. My husband enjoys a sense of accomplishment and therefore has to-do lists for every opportunity he has free time. I am EXTREMELY appreciative of this work ethic. In my family growing up I don't remember being "forced" to work but I know that we were busy often helping to complete tasks around the house. I have two brothers and all three of us have been complimented on our great work ethic many many times over the years. At times I have thought about what my parents did to instill such a hearty work ethic within the three of us.

Yesterday I had two epiphanies... One way to instill a healthy work ethic in Katrina and our other children some day is to show her that "work" is fun. Yesterday Panchito wanted to wash the cars on the inside and out. I intended that Katrina would help he and I, but she had another idea. She wanted to wash her car! As she washed it we talked to her about how good it feels to make things clean and do jobs around the house inside and out. She had a great time and accomplished something in the process.

She was having so much fun that she decided to help Papa with his car once hers was done. She is such a hard little worker.

The other thought I had along these lines occurred while I was vacuuming out the inside of Panchito's car. Now, if you know me or my family we are big on puns (plays on words) hidden meanings within sayings, etc. I was using the Shop-Vac to clean the backseat of the Neon when I thought, "If you are idle, you might become an idol to yourself." It sounds corny, and it is, but I think there is some truth to it. If you sit around all the time not getting anything done, you are making yourself an idol and if you are not making yourself an idol you are making something else an idol (ie. you spend all your time watching TV, surfing the internet, etc.).

The one caveat I must insert here is that working in and of itself can easily become an idol. I have let that happen in my own life. I am a neat freak (freak is not an exaggeration, unfortunately), if I have not mentioned that before, and I have had to let the Lord break me in this area over the years. I have a VERY hard time going to bed if there are dishes in the sink (or near the sink), laundry to be folded, a crumby counter that should be wiped... This is probably the best indication of how "sick" I can get. Last Christmas I didn't go to bed until all our Christmas gifts, the new ones, were put in their proper location. I even have a hard time believing I did that!

Anyway, I want to instill a healthy work ethic in Katrina and our other children. I think I have hit on two keys. Anyone else have any ideas?

Something that has been really fun

Recently while reading another blog I saw that some kids went to a museum and were responsible to "paint" the deck with water. I thought it was a terrific idea and since then have "let" Katrina do it at least once a day, if she would like.

Yesterday, one of the hottest days of the year in our town, she wanted to paint the deck wearing her "lion coat." I picked up that coat last winter on clearance and it has been hanging in her closet. At first she was a bit scared of the coat, but more recently she has wanted to wear it on random occasions. I wanted to get her dressed in the morning and she was VERY insistent on wearing her "lion coat" to paint the deck.

A VERY wise woman once told me, "Kristina, as a mom be sure to pick your battles." This saying came to mind as I got the "lion coat" off the hanger and put it on Katrina yesterday. This was simply not a battle I wanted to pick.