Dad & Dani Visit from NJ!

A couple of weeks ago, my dad and half-sister Daniella came to visit us from NJ. My dad hadn't seen Taryn since her 1st birthday party 5 months ago and Dani hadn't seen her since Christmas. So, needless to say, they were amazed by how much she had changed and grown!

We spent a lot of time just chilling around the house and relaxing. Taryn was super shy with her guests at first, but as usual, that only lasts about 15 minutes. She warmed up to Dani first since Dani was a younger girl and had a super sweet cell phone. Yeah, that's what it takes to get T's attention. Soon, she was showing off and immitating and doing all her tricks.

Always have to get a pic of T with my mom & dad. We don't get them together all that often!

Taryn and her Great-Grandma Shirley. I absolutely love this pic!!

Halloween 2010 in Pics

The whole family dressed up for our Halloween/Ryan's 1st Birthday Party!

Other good family costumes.

Grandparents!!

Lee and my pumpkin creations!!

Taryn loves her decorated pumpkin!!

I Love Fall!

Last weekend, Taryn, my mom and I went to a pumpkin patch out in the county. I'm not sure how it worked out, but somehow Lee finnagled his way out of the pumpkin patch and ended up tailgating for the Purdue game instead. That was some fancy footwork.
I was excited to go to the pumpkin patch. I have never gotten a pumpkin from anywhere other than a grocery store or one of those random stands that pop up around Halloween. Halloween is a holiday that I absolutely love, and somehow a love for pumpkins has grown from that! I had also heard that this place had a petting zoo, a kiddie maze made of hay, a playground, etc, so I figured Taryn might have a blast as well.

I figured wrong. Taryn is apparently NOT cut out for farm living. She was scared of all the animals in the petting zoo. I mean, I can see being scared of the llama, but there were puppies in there for goodness sakes! While we were out in the field finding our pumpkins, she got quite cranky with a weed that apparently got up in her grill. She was also preoccupied with the dirt she got on her hand. When we got her a hotdog, she was none to happy that we were going to sit in the grass to eat it and kept trying to back over to my mom to use her as a couch.

However, she DID humor us with this one pic. Priceless. And, I have to admit she did seem to enjoy the tractor ride out to the field to pick the pumpkins. I didn't do a whole lot better in the pumpkin patch, ending up with burrs all over my jacket. Those things hurt to pull off!

Even though it wasn't quite the success I had hoped, it was a beautiful day to get outside and it was fun spending time with my mom and my daughter. Hopefully next year she'll be prime pumpkin picking age! Now... onto carving our pumpkins... To be continued.

Which one doesn't belong?

Can you spot the non-Old-Navy-Mannequin in this picture??? It is tough since she's fashionably dressed in skinny jeans and a layered look top...

Will the non-mannequin please step forward?

Good Weekend

This weekend was a good weekend. It was our one weekend of the month that didn't have anything written in on the calendar. On Friday we had a relaxing (and early) night at home. Saturday Taryn and I spent the day with Grandma and Great-Grandma finishing up her Halloween outfit (sneak preview below) and eating at Spagheddi's.
Saturday night we went over to a friend's house for a fish fry. They love to have people over and cook out which is SO nice because we can bring Taryn and when it is her bedtime just put her to sleep in her pack n play and keep hanging out.

Sunday (today) we went up to Lee's parents' house on the lake. We took advantage of this crazy Indian Summer and took one last pontoon ride of the year. I can't believe it was freaking 90 degrees out today!! I even got all my homework graded on the way up! Awesome!

I hope that my rejuvenated feeling can last me through the next 4 busy weekends...

16 Month Check-up

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On Thursday we took Taryn in to the doctor for her 15 month check-up. Um, yeah, but she's actually 16.5 months old. Whoops. I had a few reasons for the delay... August, when she was supposed to go entailed me starting a new job/career, Lee's job starting back up and Taryn going to a new daycare. My other excuse is that for some reason I thought she didn't go back until 18 months. OH, and the fact that I'm a bad mom. Which is what I was afraid the doctor would think. He was super nice about it though.
Taryn weighed 26lbs4oz and was 32.25 in tall. She is quickly closing in on the 3ft mark, which is mind boggling. She is still around the 90th percentile for height and weight and her head is still off the charts... Just what every mom wants to give birth to. A baby with an unusually large head. Thanks Klemme genes.

Taryn's vocabulary is still expanding with every passing day. Her longest phrase now is "Where'd it go?" She surprises us with a new word everyday though. Her opinions are also growing quickly. She knows what she wants and she will get it. Top on her list of wants is to go outside and to eat fruit snacks. And if we don't comply, we get this pouty face.

Taryn hasn't been reading her books as much lately. She is far too busy outside. She still really likes her Purdue book though. Her favorite page is the one that has the school song written out. This is because when we get to the page we sing the school song. She claps along with us and knows the precise time to put her fist up and do the Boiler UP fist pump. Taryn has started to use a pacifier. They used to be poison when she was young, but all of the sudden she found one that her cousin left at our house and has been figuring it out. In the morning, though, she knows to hand the paci to me and say "bye bye" to it as I put it in the cabinet. She tries to dress herself, but she's not really able to yet. So, she settles for helping me put her socks and shoes on.

Taryn loves to dance. As soon as a song comes on, she starts dancing. She also dances to our cell phone rings. One of her favorite times to dance is in front of the mirror before she gets in the bath... Yeah, dancing with her clothes off, that is not a habit that we want her to form... She also fake snaps her fingers as she is dancing. She's really got the moves. She also likes to run now and stomp. She thinks she is quite speedy. She is extremely affectionate and loves giving hugs and kisses, blowing kisses, patting and rubbing my back. Whenever she visits her great-grandma's house, it always takes a good 10 minutes for her to leave because she has to give her about a million kisses and waves.

Taryn really likes her new daycare and she gets good report cards from them everyday. The comments always say some combination of "happy", "playful", "independent" or "chatty". She loves to talk and she is really LOUD. (That is another thing she got from the Klemme side.) She doesn't care if she is saying real words or not, she fully expects you to understand her. She will point around at what she is talking about and look really seriously at you. Then she looks slightly annoyed like "I'm dealing with idiots here". Taryn is still very proud of her belly and loves to pull up her shirt and pat it. She also knows where her teeth are and her tongue. She immitates everything. The other day she took her sunglasses and pulled her shirt out to wash off the sunglasses. In the bath she always puts her leg up on the edge of the tub. I always thought she was trying to climb out, but then I realized she was immitating me shaving my legs. She is starting to become interested in drawing, but she cannot be trusted with the writing utensils. I let her use a pencil today, thinking that at least a pencil doesn't really get on clothing. Well, what I didn't think about was that it WOULD get on our walls... And our kitchen cabinets. Live and learn.

That is really the theme with having your first child. Every week brings something new and it is such an amazing journey.

Sweet Home Chicago

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Last weekend Lee, T and I made the trek back up to Chicago to visit with the Reuter family. I am amazed at how much that city has changed since I left 3 years ago. I guess a lot has changed in our two families as well. We went from two couples of newlyweds to new parents to now, the proud parents of (gulp) toddlers. The last time that the girls met neither was even able to crawl, so this was really the first time they were going to get to PLAY!

When we got there Sam was taking a nap. Taryn was amazed at all the toys lying around. I think she was thinking Michelle and Andy were awfully nice to stock their apartment for her visit. She was pleasantly surprised when Sam woke up. Sam was a little drowsy still. Meanwhile, Taryn tried to break the ice by offering Sam some crackers.
Sam let Taryn try on her new cowboy boots. Taryn couldn't walk in them though. She looked like the tin man.

We took the girls over to the park nearby with some brewski's in the cooler. The park was awesome and I was so impressed with how many kids their age were there. Down here it seems most the kids at the parks are quite a bit older than T and Sam. While I think some of the parents might have questioned our not-so-well-disguised beer cans, I did hear one mom say "Now that's my kind of play group." Awesome!

Andy tested the durability of some of the playground equipment. It survived. On the way back, we nearly got arrested for having open containers... Ok, not really. A cop just looked at us for a long time. I think he was trying to decide whether they were in fact open containers or not. In the long run, I think he figured 5 adults with 2 strollers probably wasn't that much of a threat.

Sam gave Taryn quite a few hugs... Which turned into more of a tackle. Which usually ended up with Taryn falling on Sam. The hug part was adorable though.

Taryn and Sam spent a good 10 minutes comparing bellies. They're both awfully adorable and round.

Sam was a wonderful hostess, as were her parents. It is always nice visiting a house that is already stocked with all the baby necessities!!

Sam even shared her books and her rocking chair with Taryn. And lots of laughs.

They even shared... Whatever this is that they are doing here. It involved wearing random pairs of shoes and hats... And blankets. Goofy little girls!

Thank you to the Reuter's for being such hospitable guests! And thanks to Fubar for drinking with us at the playground!! I'm still cracking up at his phone call with Kari, "I'm here tailgating at the park..."

We had a great time and hope we all can hang out very soon!

Isn't it ironic?

Is there anything funnier than a chubby toddler in skinny jeans?? I seriously laughed for like 5 minutes when I put them on her. Then Lee laughed. Then when my mom saw her SHE laughed. It was a comical sight.
I saw some pants just like them in my size at Target... Somehow I think people would laugh at me wearing them almost as much as we laughed at Taryn.

Rambler Homecoming

This week was Attica's homecoming. I'm not sure who the genius was that scheduled homecoming for a short week, but I'd really like to punch that person in the face. We had so many events crammed into the week, eek. It was busy. Tonight, though, our fam decked out in red and headed over to the football game against the Rockville Rox. (Yes, that is seriously their mascot.)
Taryn was ready to cheer on the Ramblers! Actually, she doesn't even know there is a football game going on. She just thinks that there are a bunch of people to smile at and entertain her. This is her little Attica shirt that the other cheer coach made for her. It was a big hit at the game.

I wish I had gotten a better pic of this. This week, instead of making floats like the old days, each class decorated a shopping cart. Then we did a food drive along with it. This was what I assume was the winning cart. They turned it into a large outhouse and had a "player" sitting on the toilet and it said "Flush the Rox". It was awesome.

We stayed until almost the end of the third quarter. When we left, Rockville had unfortunately just taken a 1-point lead. I'm hoping that Attica comes back to win. But, unfortunately, we couldn't stay to see as we had one tuckered out little fan!

Tomorrow, we get to cheer on another team... BOILER UP! And then Sunday... GO COLTS! Wow, I am so pumped that football is back!

This Sums Up Our Week

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Taryn has had an asthma flare-up over the last two weeks. When this happens, we take her to the allergist and each time he puts her on prednisone. Prednisone does good things for her lungs, but not such good things for the rest of our lives. Prednisone causes Taryn to NOT SLEEP. It also makes her a TOTAL BLUBBERING MESS. Here is our week in pics.

Pacifier, my only friend.

Oh, and Darby is nice too.

Woman, can't you see I am in misery? Put that #*$&% camera down.

I miss this. It's a fake smile, but a smile nonetheless!