A Visit from Meema and Boppa

We had a fabulous weekend! Reason #1-- the weather (all week, actually) has been absolutely gorgeous, although not extremely fall-like. I'm okay with that. We'll have plenty for chilly days and nights in the near future! For now we will enjoy the mid-80s and sun! :) And reason #2-- Grandma and Grandpa Wiers came for a visit! They arrived about 9:30 Friday evening (after Jeremiah was in bed, unfortunately). But wow, was J excited when he woke up on Saturday morning to find Meema and Boppa (as he calls them) at is house-- and with some presents, too!

Saturday morning we all participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS in support of our good friend Mike. The weather could NOT have been any better, and we had a great time enjoying the festivities and walking in support of Mike. Our first stop was the refreshment tent, and a visit to the clown!

J really wanted a balloon, but was a bit hesitant about the clown! He was brave, though, and was rewarded with a green doggie (his choice of color). The balloon lasted about an hour.

Walking on a beautiful sunny day...


Kim and Ruby (Jeremiah's future girfriend...)


Riding in the stroller for almost 3 miles was VERY tiring!



The walk took place at Principal Park (where the Iowa Cubs play). My dad loves that Principal Park is spelled PrinciPAL-- in honor of all school principals everywhere (he thinks). Here's the princiPAL at Principal Park:



After the walk, we stopped at Smokey D's to introduce G & G Wiers to some awesome BBQ. J loves their chicken tenders-- good food that comes on a frisbee!


Then it was back home for Jeremiah's nap (others may have snuck in nap, as well). In the late afternoon we decided to head to a pumpkin patch. We went to Pumpkinville, which was perfect for Jeremiah because it was small and not overwhelming and had animals and pumpkins (his only 2 requirements) and it was perfect for us because it was FREE (not easy to find here in Des Moines!).

Saying hi to the horsey...


By far, Jeremiah's favorite stop was to see the duckies (ducks and geese are all duckies to him, by the way). One particular goose was quite vocal, which Jeremiah thought was pretty funny! After we went and picked out our pumpkins, we had to head back to the duckies to say good-bye-- except they were all hiding in their house! J did his best to try to get them to come out!

They also had a choo-choo train made out of hay that Jeremiah enjoyed climbing on-- he got to ring the bell!


And of course, we got a wagon-full of pumpkins and gourds, too!

J became extremely attached to these two "punkins"-- the bumpy gourd even went in the bathtub with him that night!

Then it was time to go...


We stopped off at Uncle Buck's Fishbowl and Grill for dinner. J enjoyed his fries with "cop cup" (ketchup)!



Then it was time to head home for a bath (with the bumpy gourd) and stories with Meema!


Today we woke up and had Boppa's pancakes for breakfast and then headed off to church. After lunch at Panera, it was time for Meema and Boppa to make the long trek back to Wisconsin. We had to take one last pic on the steps-- J is wearing his brand new Brewer's shirt that Meema bought for him! Go Brewers! We tried to get J to say that, and it came out "Goobers."

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad (Meema and Boppa)! We loved having you visit! :)

And reason #3 it was a great weekend? No school tomorrow-- YAY! It's Columbus Day, in case you weren't aware, and an OPTIONAL professional development day (you get paid extra if you go) for the teachers at my school. I opted to stay home with Jeremiah instead of going to sit through technology seminars all day long. Not sure what we'll do all day, maybe hit the library and play outside. Either way, having Monday off sure makes a weekend extra nice! :)

Paci-holics Anonymous

Oh, the beloved paci. Jeremiah is simply obsessed with it. If you know Jeremiah, have spent any time with him, or even seen a picture of him, you know that the paci is his constant companion.

A few hours old...


Approximately 6 weeks old...


Almost 4 months old (and graduated to the "big boy" paci)...


6 months old (with his other best friend- bankie, and yes, he is still very much a "Linus")...


8 months old...


10 months old (with an upside-down paci, no less-- he's a chronic paci flipper)...


1 year old!


14 months...


17 months...


A few days ago...


As you can see, Jeremiah has had quite an array of paci's in his little life. We always have several-- never want to be without one! At this point in time, we have 4 in our house, and they are all kept in Jeremiah's bed (so, you know, when he wakes up in the middle of the night all he has to do is reach his arm up and fish around for another paci...). However, now he is too smart-- he knows where his paci's are kept and often runs to his crib to switch them (seriously, he might have the blue one in his mouth and then 10 seconds later it's the clear one-- they must taste different?!?!?!). So, we know that this paci thing might be getting out of control, and I promise that he does not ALWAYS have one in his mouth. We don't allow him to have all of his paci's out-- he can have ONE (and he knows this). However, sometimes he tries to sneak out all of them, as shown in THIS VIDEO. We also try to teach him to be polite and say "please" when he wants his paci-- today that lead to a 30 minute crying fit before he calmed down and said "Peeeese!" He is a stubborn little feller! When he wakes up in the morning, we often hear, "Mommy, Daddy, Taci!" Not always in that order.

Anyway, we are well aware that we have some rough days ahead when we try to quit the paci cold-turkey. And honestly, I am not looking forward to it. I'm thinking maybe we'll try going down that road when he turns 2? We'll see....

This One's For Daddy!

Adam has been out of town since Sunday afternoon.... and I am finding that being a single parent is not easy!!!! I really am fortunate that Adam rarely has to travel overnight for work-- only a couple times a year. I prefer that he be here with me and Jeremiah! :) Jeremiah has been missing his Daddy, too. He has been talking about "Daddy 'Sota" (Translation: "Daddy's in Minnesota") since Sunday-- he will be ecstatic when Daddy actually picks him up from daycare tomorrow!

So what have my little man and I been up to with Daddy gone these last few days? Hmmm. Well, Sunday involved skyping with G & G Wiers, Jeremiah falling off the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table (I am quite proud of myself that I did NOT freak out and rush him to the ER). And then at bath time J did some splish-splashing in the toilet. Lovely.

Getting up and out the door with a toddler by 6:30 am isn't all that easy, but we have accomplished it all week (and I haven't been late once! Well, that's not true, but I blame my being 5 minutes late NOT on Jeremiah but on the construction on Hwy 30 right in front of my school and having to drive on horrid gravel roads after a rainy day.... but that's another story). Monday evening was beautiful, so we were able to get a walk in after supper (chicken nuggets for J, mac & cheese for me!). Yesterday we almost made a trip to Urgent Care because Jeremiah was obviously not feeling 100%... CRABBY doesn't adequately describe it, plus he had some pooping issues (TMI? Sorry). I always think it's his ears, so I wanted to get them checked, but the only place to go after 4:30 was Urgent Care, and after finding out that the wait was over an hour, I decided that dinner and EARLY to bed for the little guy would be better than waiting around for a Doctor to tell me his ears look fine. So we left, had pizza for dinner, J took a bath and then was in bed by 6:20 pm..... and he didn't make a peep all night until I had to wake him up at 6:15 this morning! He obviously needed that! So today he has been much more like himself and acting like he feels better. Tonight J was begging to play with a "poon" and a "bul." So, this is what he did with them:


He said, "Momma, steps!"


Fine tuning the art of feeding himself.... with a spatula. Dinner tonight? "Peeda Budda" (PB&J) for Jeremiah, and........ mac & cheese for me! We eat well when Adam's gone! :)

Here's a video for Daddy, too. We can't wait to see you tomorrow, Adam! :)

Summer is Still Here...

We have had a few fall-like days so far here in central Iowa. However, our weather recently has been gorgeous-- cooling down in the evenings and then sunny and warming up to mid 70s or 80 during the day. Perfect. And out of 12 school days so far, only 1 that involved inside recess because of rain! Today, though, was a taste of summer again-- mid 80s or higher (and tomorrow is supposed to be the same!).

We took Jeremiah's pool down last weekend, so today we put out the sprinkler for him to run around in.

Here he is, standing in the corner of the yard, as far away as possible from the sprinkler:

"I don't like that thing."

Once Daddy turned the water pressure down a bit, J did end up having fun with the sprinkler



Yes, those are monster weeds growing up through our steps!

We ended our summer-like day with a trip to Snookie's for ice cream (yes, we have been known to venture all the way to Beaverdale or Johnston for GOOD ice cream)! We allowed J to have his own kiddie cone, and it was about 6:15 pm... he went to bed great and is currently sleeping soundly. I'll post again tomorrow with pictures from our mid-night run to Wal-Mart if it happens! :)


We really enjoy days like today, since we know that soon these warm days will be LOOOONG gone! :(

Labor Day trip to the zoo!

This morning we decided to take advantage of our Blank Park Zoo membership (Thank you, Groupon! It's already paid for itself, and we got to ride the train for free!). Our zoo is quite small, but the perfect size for our toddler-- we can see some "manimals," ride the train, have some lunch, head home for a nap, and not feel like we wasted money! :)

So, our first stop was the Australian Adventures-- it was so cool! They had kangaroos just out in the open, they could hop right across the path in front of us! People are encouraged to stay on the path, and the kangaroos just hop around in the grass, it's crazy!

Kangaroo friend (or is that a Wallaby?). I didn't even have to zoom to get this picture!


Then we went to see about feeding the birds. We can't seem to remember what KIND of birds these were, but they were little and green. And we had seen this exhibit near the entrance, and decided to go back because we knew J would love it. And he did! He and Daddy went inside, while Mommy stayed outside to take pictures (and to avoid getting pecked or pooped on).



At one point, shortly after this pic was taken, a bird came and landed on Jeremiah's arm! I wish I had it on video-- he reacted just like Mommy would have, by yelling and flailing his arm!

Next stop was the train. While we were standing in line, we had a little discussion to recap the bird adventure with Jeremiah.

Then it was time to hop on the train, and while on the train we got to see the lions, tigers, and camels.


Next stop was giraffes and monkeys. J was intrigued by the giraffes eating lunch!


Then after a picnic lunch, we headed home! It was such a nice day-- cool in the shade (hence J's sweatshirt and hood) and warm in the sun. We enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend, and now it's time to gear up for the work week (thankfully only 4 days)!

Typical Jeremiah

HERE IS A VIDEO for your enjoyment. It's just random, showing some of Jeremiah's normal daily activities. Anyone who knows Jeremiah even a little would probably describe him as BUSY. Yes, he is busy, busy, busy all day long. And then he sleeps.

A couple things about this video:

1. You will hear J say, "Hold it." We here him say this phrase ALL THE TIME. Numerous times a day, he wants to "hold it." He wants to hold your drink, your phone, the bag of bread you just got out of the freezer, the roll of wrapping paper you just got out to wrap a gift. Yes. Hold it.

2. Counting. Yes, I will brag that my 18 month old can count. He has gone as high as 13, but he would never dream of doing so while Mommy has the video camera going. So you will hear him say "5, 6, 7." And that will have to do for now. I really think there is nothing cuter than hearing his little voice say, "seben. seben."

3. Chopping. I have a Pampered Chef chopper-- do you all know what that is? J LOVES when mommy needs to do some chopping (it's similar to that slap-chop thing). You will see J imitate mommy "chopping."

4. The nasal aspirator. Yeah, J HATES that thing when it is used for it's actual purpose. But apparently it's a fun toy.

5. Owie. You will notice that J has a scrape on his left cheek-- he had an accident this morning while pushing our empty cooler around on the deck.

6. You will hear him say, "Uh, Boy!" He picked that up from cousin Josie this summer.

7. You will see all of that in a video that is only 2 minutes and 18 seconds long. Like I said before.... BUSY.

Today was a big day at our house for 2 reasons-- Daddy MOWED, and then it was time for the Hawkeyes game! Jeremiah can not contain his excitement when Daddy mows the lawn. He thinks Adam should be out there every day mowing the lawn. He's going to be so sad when he finds out that the mower doesn't move from the garage for 7 months out of the year.

"Mow, Daddy, mow!"

He rarely gets distracted from watching Daddy mow.


When the mowing was finally done, it was game time!

Whirlwind

We just returned from a quick weekend trip to Michigan for my cousin Karen's wedding! My first week of school last week was horrible (to put it mildly), and not because of the kids. If I could have a "do over" of this past week, I would take it in a heartbeat. So, after an seriously crappy week, this weekend in Michigan was exactly what I needed!

We left Iowa right after school on Thursday (yes, I took Friday, the 3rd day of school off. And I loved it, and didn't think once about what chaos was possibly occurring in my classroom) and arrived at Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's house in Grand Haven about 1:30 am (MI time). J was an absolute trooper-- fell asleep about 9 pm, slept until we arrived at the house, and then went back to sleep pretty quickly in bed (okay, so he wouldn't sleep in his pack 'n' play that night, but at 2 am we did not care and put him in our bed-- he slept great, which was good for us all!).

Friday we hung out at Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's house on Lake Michigan-- it was just THE perfect, gorgeous day! Jeremiah played "Goldilocks" out on the deck, trying out all the different chairs:



I think he is ready to retire to Grand Haven, MI.

We were able to enjoy the beautiful day and relaxing atmosphere-- again, exactly what I needed!

Checking out the view of Lake Michigan.



After Jeremiah's nap, we took him down for a little bit of beach time. And it was worth every single step!





Here's a little video of Jeremiah frolicking on the beach (jut imagine "Chariots of Fire" playing in the background) and also trying to get Mindo the dog to give him five.

Saturday morning was Juan and Karen's wedding! I don't think they could have asked for a better day! The wedding was outside in Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat's backyard-- and it was just gorgeous.




Congratulations Juan and Karen-- we are SO happy for you two! :)

The reception was at a restaurant in Holland-- this was Jeremiah's first wedding reception (he did NOT attend the wedding)! He was SO excited!

Actually, he was SO tired. He zonked out 5 minutes from the restaurant, but stayed asleep through the transfer into the stroller and slept about 45 minutes (he woke up in time for his lunch!).

Awake, and ready to eat (with 3 spoons).... kind of.

He did get a little bit bored at times, so he played cars...

... and took time out to smile and wave to his favorite people-- my cousin Bob and his wife Lynda.



Weddings are awesome cause you get to eat CAKE!




That evening, we (us, my parents, Abby and Neil, Diekemas, Brassers) went to Fricano's for pizza! YUM!

Jeremiah agrees.

And after that, we hit Temptations for ice cream!

I'm tired... but give me more ice cream! You will all be happy to know that we gave J enough ice cream to cover his face, but not enough to warrant a 1 am trip to Meijer. Phew.

Jeremiah's favorite person (my cousin Bob), got his motorcycle out to show Jeremiah. J was intrigued! He couldn't take his eyes off that thing-- this is how he looked when the engine was revving:

Since Saturday night, J has been talking ALL about "Bob's cycle" and "Lynda helmet." And every time he sees a motorcycle on the road (which was quite often today), he starts all over again talking about "Bob's cycle" and "Lynda helmet." Obviously this was the highlight of J's weekend! :)

This morning we packed up our stuff and made the long trek back to Iowa (again, J was quite a trooper-- took 2 good naps in the car and watched a few "melmos"). I would have preferred to stay for a few more days, but instead it's back to reality. :(