Friday, August 14, 2009

1st day of school


I know it's been forever since I've posted anything, but what can I say?? Ellie's first day of Kindergarten seems like a worthy mention :)
Ellie has been so excited to start Kindergarten -- like ever since preschool ended in May. I guess I can't blame her -- she must be bored hanging out with me and Nathan and Lucie all the time. She is a thinker, though... lots of things goin' on in that little head of hers! What will her teacher be like? Will it be very hard? (She had a real issue thinking that school was going to be ALL work and NO fun...) What would she eat for lunch? Who would she eat with? Even with all of her thinking / worrying, she couldn't wait to get out the door on the first day.
Frank went to work late that morning so that he could be around for "the moment" where his little girl entered the big bad school and did her very own thing for the very first time. She appreciated it very much -- after all, it must be a big deal if DADDY is around for it, when he would normally be at work... We all made the walk (it's like 2 blocks from our house) -- us and the rest of the neighborhood -- seriously - felt like we were part of a parade... Got to school and managed to spot Ellie's teacher in the midst of the "first day drop-off chaos" -- she (although she looked a little unsure at the last moment) could almost not be bothered with "good-byes" -- it's like she didn't want to miss anything that was going to happen -- not even to say good-bye. She did great. Mom and dad did OK, too :) We knew she was going to have a great day and a great year - so exciting for her!!
She came home with LOTS of stories -- an almost verbatim account of the whole day, it seemed. She's like that - very shy, kind of quiet, but totally studying everything and committing it to memory. We heard all about the school song (seriously, an elementary school song!), the "beautiful" teacher, the kids at her table, the lunchroom routine, the music room, the gym,. . . she was pooped - cashed out after school for about an hour. But day 2, she was up early and ready to go back for more! She was sad to see Friday come this morning -- "Man, two days this weekend with NO Kindergarten?? What am I going to do??" Ahh, the mindset of a five year old -- where Monday is exciting and Fridays are a big disappointment... can't even recall what that's like!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

4th of July in Omaha


Well, the fourth of July weekend reminds us a lot of last year when we were brand new to ol' Omaha. The difference is last year, we had the Hilts in town - and we played tourists all weekend. This year, it was just us, and we painted the basement :)
Actaully, it was a perfect blend of productivity and play. We kicked off the weekend with "family night" at the pool on Thursday night. The kids love it and it was the perfect night - HOT and sunny. They play tunes and of course, Nathan really loves that. Friday, Frank and Ellie went to see Ice Age 3... Nathan opted to stay home again. The kid is afraid of the movie theater for some reason -- "too much dark" is the reason he's giving lately, but who knows. Don't know how much to force the issue -- I'd think he'd go just for the lemonade and popcron, but no...
Saturday - "the" day... the weather was fairly crummy - cool and drizzly rainy! Frank and Ellie went to the neighborhood bike parade, but they were home within a half hour. (nathan, again, elected to stay home -- could a three year old turn into a raging agoraphobic, and would they blame his parents??) We went out to dinner on Saturday night - apparently, if you want to go to dinner and fight absolutely NO crowds, 5 pm on the 4th of july is the time to go! It was fun, but we were home early and faced the task of keeping everyone awake until dark for fireworks. We enlisted the help of videos... Cars, anyone? We remembered the fanfare of neighborhood fireworks from last year, so we didn't plan to attend an official fireworks show (especially since it was still cold and wet outside.) 10:00 pm - finally dark, and the kids really enjoyed seeing the sky light up -- best view was from Lucie's room, but the kids liked the excuse to run around the house to check out all the views... driveway, deck, Lucie's room, Nathan's room... it was fun, and no - staying up late did not make anyone sleep in later on Sunday morning... :)
Sunday, we spent a fair amount of the day putting the basement back together - we painted off and on all weekend (naps, night time, anytime we could catch a break from those kids!). But, ti took a better part of Sunday to strip all the tape, put the railings back on, switchplate covers, etc. -- such a great feeling to have another room freshly and cleanly painted!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Dykstras visit Omaha

My parents came out for another visit -- I won't fool myself into thinking they wanted to see me... it was a "grandkid fix" I'm pretty sure! :) They were here for just a few days, and the weather was iffy at best, but it was great for us to have them here. Despite trying to get our whole crew moving in one direction and Lucie's "schedule" -- it's a wonder we did anything at all. We managed to go to the park...twice. We met Frank for lunch one day. My dad offered to watch the kids on two different occasions while my mom and I went out... once to the Quilted Moose (I'm not the authority on fabric stores, but my mom says it's a good one - i'll trust her opinion.) and once to Village Pointe, your typical outdoor shopping mall. Fun. It's been a long time since I've just "browsed" for a couple of hours. And the kids were all too excited to have poppa all to themselves -- he is a very good sport about playing hide and seek, "school bus" and "horsie" and a whole bunch of imaginitive games of make-believe. Frank and I even got out one night to go to dinner, which hasn't happened since Lucie's been born, for sure! I always
think that people must be so bored here when we don't have any major sightseeing plans -- just hanging out with our crazy non-scheduled selves. We appreciate the visitors. As soon as they left, I instantly noticed that all three kids needed and wanted MY attention -- when Grandma and Poppa are here - they want them to read stories, they want to play with them... when they're not here - I guess I'm the best thing going :)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Lucie is 2 months old!

2 months already?? Lucie is a keeper -- we weren't sure, but she started smiling and sleeping through the night just in the nick of time! :)

Memorial Day Weekend 2009




Another quick trip home...but any trip home is a good trip home! Frank was headed that way anyways for the annual trip to the Indy 500, so the rest of us decided to hitch a ride as far as chicago! We left Friday morning around 7 am -- had to make 2 stops as opposed to our usual 1...thanks, lucie! Add in Friday of Memorial Day weekend chicago traffic and the whole trip was about 9 hours (compared to the usual 7 1/2). Overall, Lucie did well on hir first (of many) roadtrips to chicago. We stayed with Frank's parents on Friday night - got to see Emma and Gina (and Oliver, of course). That's the second picture above...the cousins on the Williams side. Fun times.
Saturday morning, Frank and "the guys" left for Indy...they've got this trip down - the whole guys' weekend seems fairly routine for them at this point... but, that's what keeps 'em coming back! The kids and I and Frank's mom went to Emma's for lunch, which was excellent...and something about her place makes Ellie and Nathan run frantically in circles - also excellent. After lunch, the kids and I headed down to Glen Ellyn to see my family. The Hilts came over for dinner on Saturday, lunch on Sunday and we went to their house for dinner on Sunday -- lots of good cousin time (and the kids are all old enough to really "disappear" and play well together -- it's awesome!)
Ellie was very excited to show Lucie around nana's house and grandma's house...cute. It was the perfect way to kick off summer -- and I hope everyone in chicago had as much fun as we did... we'll be back in July for a longer stint (if they'll have us!).
Once Frank returned from the race (sweaty and tired, as usual), we pretty much took off for OMaha first thing Monday morning. the return trip was only one stop again (go, lucie!), and only about 8 hours (including a stop at McDonald's for lunch that included 2 trips to the bathroom for ellie, nathan spilling his milk to the tune of needing an entire new outfit, and lucie having one of the worst poop "blowouts" in williams kid hisotry...also requiring a full outfit change.) SOmehow, with all of that, and a stop for gas -- and I think we actually ate lunch, too -- it was a 45 minute stop. Not too shabby. In the middle of all this chaos, without fail, an elderly couple stops and comments on how "cute" the kids are (the poopy one or the milky one?) and how it reminds them of their family years ago and how...(they always say this)... we should enjoy every minute. (again, the poop or the milk?) :)
Frank brought back souvenirs for the kids... a onesie for Lucie, and a couple of matchbox-like cars for ellie and nathan. I think he stresses out a bit about ellie's souvenir - not the easiest place to shop for a girly-girl. No princess stuff at the brickyard! She was happy with the replica of Danica Patirck's racecar. She was all, "oh, a racecar...COOL! IT's a GIRL driver!?!?"
It was a fun weekend - we'll be back soon. :)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Mother's Day 2009

Here are Ellie and Nathan (Lucie was sleeping - slacker!) were up early and very excited about Mother's Day... what great kids! :) My only request for the day was Grands... yep, cinnamon rolls in a can... yummmm.... my favorite! The kids had never had them, so they were looking forward to trying this new breakfast treat. Ellie got the idea (from Caillou, I think) to do "breakfast in bed" (one of the more overrated concepts around, but..) and she was all jacked up about it. So, around 7:30 (I know! Sleeping in!), up came the troops (Lucie still sleeping at this point...) with the Grands. Delish! And, the kids wanted to eat "in bed" with me - yikes! Frank brought up the card table instead, so they could eat with plated flat on a table and chairs at a table -- always thinking! But, a lot of work for cinnamon rolls in a can :) It was fun.

After breakfast, we headed to the zoo -- it was a gorgeous day, and plenty of other moms were celebrating their day at the zoo, too. The new "skyfari" was open, and Frank and Ellie took the ride. Basically, a chair lift that "flies" about 30 or 40 feet off the ground, and goes over several exhibits, like the giraffes, rhinos, elephants. I would have been too scared - so would Nathan - and Lucie can't quite jump on or off a moving chair lift, so the three of us headed to the monkey house instead. The skyfari got great reviews from Ellie (and pretty good reviews from Frank). Some day, I'll try it, too.

On the way home from the zoo, we drove through Arby's (it was a real "mom's choice of un-nutritious foods kind of day!). We spent the rest of the day kind of hanging out and enjoying the day. It was weird to not be home to see OUR moms, but it was a nice kind of quiet day here, too. And it was a day that was relatively bicker-free between ellie and nathan, so perhaps that was the greatest gift I could have asked for. :)

Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lucie's first month

I realize that I haven't posted in a while... I guess we've had a few things changing around here.
Here are the highlights of the last month:

Easter: Frank's parents and his sister Emma came out to Omaha for Easter (and to meet Lucie, of course). It was very fun! 2 weeks after Lucie was born, and I was feeling much better. We did the neighborhood Easter egg hunt and did a brunch on Sunday. We even squeezed in a trip to the zoo and yet, it seemed like we had plenty of time to just "hang out," too. It was great to have visitors again - what a fun weekend!

Back to the Routine: Not much of an event, but April 15th, I got back to our routine here officially. Ventured outside of the house with ALL three kids (OK, it was just to preschool, the dry-cleaners and target, but still!). It was fine - Lucie screamed (that infant "i'm starving" blood curdling cry) the entire trip through Target. Why do strangers feel the need to stop you and say dumb stuff like, "somebody doesn't sound happy." Really, captain obvious?? Oh well, it was good to get out and not as bad as I would have thought to keep track of all three at once. :)

"The week of the young child": Yes, a whole week devoted to the "young child" -- it was tons of fun for Ellie, that's for sure! A preschool field trip to go see Disney's "Nature Earth" on earth day, a preschool picnic for the whole family on Friday. And the biggest thrill for her that week (nothing to do with the "young child") -- Kindergarten Round-up. She couldn't be more excited to be in Kindergarten (and I really couldn't be more excited either!) :) Full-day Kindergarten in Nebraska -- Omaha does a FEW things right! She had a blast - met all the K teachers, saw the classrooms - she loved it. (phew!)

Lucie: has it been a month already?? She's a keeper, of course. She is starting to really try to look at us and she is starting to have longer "awake" periods during the days (which has eased up the night time wakings a little bit). She's pretty consistently doing a good 4-6 hour stretch every night - who can complain about that? We think she is trying hard to smile at us, too... but not quite yet! Ellie continues to be very "into" her and Nathan is definitely coming around - asks to hold her and give her bottles and even offers to "check on Wucie" -- it's cute -- they'll all be buddies someday (I have to remind myself of that as Ellie and Nathan are in a serious sibling - bickering stage right now - ugh!)

More soon - I'll try not to go weeks between posts anymore! :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Lucie's Arrival


After 9 months of worrying about the fact that we really had no plan for the arrival of this baby (and yes, just worrying about it... not actually MAKING a plan...), everything worked out just perfectly! My parents arrived in OMaha on Saturday (3/28) and Frank and I went out for a last "date night" - very fun. Dinner and a movie is never as exciting as when you know that it probably won't happen again for a while! :) On Sunday, Frank and my dad played golf - beautiful weather for the end of March. And Sunday night, we all turned in early to try to be ready for the "big day."


Frank and I spent some time on Sunday night ironing out the names for the baby (oh yeah, still didn't have "sure" names as of 10 pm on Sunday night...thrid kid!). The alarm went off at 4:30 am and I did my best to get showered and ready as if I never would get a chance to shower again! Off to the hospital - checked in at 5:30 am - did all the paperwork (how binding ARE all of those waivers??), did the IV thing (they shouldn't let nursing students "practice" on nervous pregnant ladies!), the monitor thing, and before we knew it, it was time to head to the O.R. ...

Everything went well (well, after the spinal finally took - I was really worried for a minute there that they were going to start cutting before I was numb... I was practicing my story for when I would be interviewed on 60 minutes or something... I had lots of time to think - took almost 40 minutes for me to be numb enough to slice me open... Oh well -- all's well that ends well. :)


There was the big moment "It's a girl!" (totally knew it the whole time!) -- when I saw Lucie for the first time, it was total deja vu from when ellie was born -- clones! Then all the chatter starts (between Frank and the staff, mostly) -- "oh, she's so cute" "what's her name?" "she's really big" Everybody's yucking it up as I get put back together - good times.


The kids (ellie and nathan) were waiting with my parents in the waiting room by this point and Ellie for sure was excited that she got a baby SISTER (Nathan took a while to warm up, but he's coming around slowly but surely!) Today, he even asked, "where's Lucie?" That's a big step for him! :)
It was HUGE to have my parents here - Frank even worked a couple of half days while they were here, everyone could make daily visits to the hospital and the kids could still have their down time at home and naps, etc. It was such a load off our minds - and ellie and nathan were thrilled to have grandma and poppa here with them - what a treat for all of us. (Except maybe grandma and poppa!) :)
Meredith and her family arrived on Thursday (4/2), the day I came home from the hospital. It was great to have more company - the kids were thrilled to have the cousins around to play with and the adults were all very understanding about our lack of "hosting" skills that week :) (Not that the karaoke-on-demand isn't fun enough, but...)
It was sad to say goodbye to everyone when they left - can't wait to make a trip back home soon!

Lucie Anne


The last two weeks fall into the "lost" category - always seems to happen when a new baby is born...where do the days (and nights) go? Here she is.

Lucie Anne Williams

March 30, 2009 8:09 am

8 pounds, 13 ounces 20.5 inches


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ellie's 5th Birthday Extravaganza!

Ellie's birthday FINALLY arrived... she thought she would never turn five! My parents came all the way out to Omaha to help her celebrate, which was very fun for all of us. We had a great time - and we hope they did, too (especially since they are making a return trip in less than two weeks to help us out...AGAIN... when this new baby arrives). :)

On Saturday, we went to the zoo. It was a nice day, compared to what we have seen recently - temps in the 50s... not too crowded at the zoo, and we managed to see a lot of the "hot spots" - the aquarium, the butterfly garden, the desert dome - Ellie's choice, of course, for her "birthday" and it was a fun morning. While the kids were napping in the afternoon, my parents and I headed to the Nebraska Furniture Mart - I don't think my dad was too cracked up about it at first, but once he saw it... he was converted, for sure! (I don't think my parents shop at many "cheap furniture" stores at home... he couldn't believe some of the prices) They found a table and chairs for their new condo downtown, for a very reasonable price! :)

Saturday night - Ellie's birthday continues -- we went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner (again, ellie's choice). It's fine - she really gets a kick out of it for some reason - she thinks it's "fancy" because the forks only have three prongs - I guess, when you're five, that's worth something, but...
We came home, did the presents and cake and ice cream thing. (Always a little much to be eating a big dessert right after filling up on a restaurant dinner, but somehow, we all managed to get the cake and ice cream down!) I think Ellie was pleased to have such an "Ellie day" and to have grandma and papa here was even better!

On Sunday morning, before my parents left, we went outto breakfast and then jetted over to the hospital to show them around (well, this was mostly for ellie and nathan...) The hospital is pretty small in comparison to those in CHicago, but we thought the kids might like to catch a glimpse of it before the "big day." We saw all of the highlights - the piano in the lobby that plays itself (nathan was mesmerized!), the waiting room outside the maternity ward (which has a vending machine - too exciting!). Hopefully with a planned c-section, no one will have to be waiting long enough to need snacks, but you never know... soon enough - can't wait!

On Monday, Ellie's actual birthday, she brought shamrock cookies to school for her treat (they have really been hyping up the St. Patty's Day over there...). She came home in a birthday crown - tickled to have been the "birthday girl" at school. For dinner, we went to the Amazing Pizza Machine (a glorified chuck-e-cheese -- again, it was a 5 year old's choice). Not a bad time to go, actually. Monday night - no crowds. Easy to get everyone to be ready to leave - more cake and presents waiting at home. Nathan was starting to get a little suspicious as to why Ellie was getting so many separate birthday celebrations, but he was pretty good about it. After all, he did get to ride the go-karts with daddy (oh, wait, that was more of a treat for daddy!). Nathan had the birthday spirit - as we are pulling out the other half of the cake left over from Saturday, Nathan demanded another party hat before he would eat it -- the kid is all in for birthday fun!

Feeling a little guilty that Ellie didn't get a "friend party," but two celebrations so far, and when the Hilts come in April, we're going to do another "party" with the cousins. She should be alright :)

More soon - hopefully before this baby comes!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Coco Key Adventure


We finally went... For Christmas, Frank's secretary got us passes to Coco Key - the indoor water park. It's a national chain, but we never went to the one in Chicago. It's one of the big attractions here in Omaha. Ellie was super excited to go - Nathan was interested in "swimming" but I don't think he really knew what he was getting into. We decided to make a mini stay-cation out of it. We picked Frank up after work on Friday and headed to the Holiday Inn (Coco Key is attached to the Holiday Inn) - took us about 5 minutes after getting to our room before we were all suited up and ready to get wet! (Well, most of us...no matter how temperature controlled, I have a hard time getting into "swimming mode" when it's 5 degrees and snowing outside...) But, we did it -- plenty for the little kids to do - lots of little slides, basketball hoops in pools, fountains, spraying things... ahhh, yes... classic water park stuff. We had everyone pretty well tuckered out by 8 or 8:30 and (since it was "vacation") we topped off the evening with ice cream and once we got back up to the room - everyone was asleep within minutes! Excellent.
The water park doesn't open until 10:00 am, so the next morning (when everyone was awake by 6:00), we killed some time wandering around, ate at the hotel breakfast buffet (kids eat free...they've probably changed that policy after Nathan consumed his body weight in Frosted Flakes!), took Flat Stanley around for some photos and even swam at the regular hotel pool (oh yeah, more swimming...not at the water park, but the regular pool opened at 8:00). Even though we had to check out of our room by 11:00, we were allowed to stay and play until 3:00 -- we almost made it - we ended up leaving around 2:00 - which was plenty for all of us. Even Ellie, who would never have admitted it, was exhausted and didn't put up too much of a fight to leave. You know, besides all of the people staring at me (and my ginormous belly), it really wasn't that bad... and the kids DID have a blast (and that's really who it's for, right?). We will probably go back, but not soon - it's more like a "once a year" type of a treat...
Besides that, Frank has been busy busy busy around the house. He painted our room, and our bathroom, the downstairs bathroom. he put up new light fixtures in the dining room, living room and a new fan in our room. This dump is starting to look more like "us." By the time we get it the way we want it... it'll be time to come back! We have this "list" of things we want to accomplish before this baby comes, and slowly but surely, we're (well, Frank mostly) is chipping away at it. Of course, the things we still have to do are things like "think of baby names" and "pack a bag for the hospital"... yeah, important things... but at least we have a new light in the dining room! :)
Hope everyone has a great week -
Happy March!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Valentine's Day Weekend

Friday, Feb. 13th:
In true Omaha fashion, Ellie's preschool Valentine's Day party was cancelled due to snow. I felt bad for her, mostly becuase (being from Chicago), it had never even occurred to me to check for school closings. I knew it was supposed to snow that day, but as of 8:30 am -- not a single flake had fallen. (Preschool starts at 9:00... I thought we were "safe.") Actually, it's pretty lucky that I turned on the TV before we left -- that's when I noticed all the school closings on the crawl at the bottom of the screen -- oops! So, the second holiday party cancelled due to snow... Ellie handled it alright - I convinced her that they would "do" the party on Monday (I hoped they would, anyways.) We went to the grocery store, where all of Omaha was (apparently) stocking up before the "big storm." Total chaos. By 10:00, we were back home, ELlie and Nathan switched back to their pajamas and we were in for the day -- big pot of chili for dinner - kind of nice, actually.





Saturday, Feb. 14th: Valentine's Day


Not a big holiday for us, really -- usually just a bag of candy hearts and a couple of cards. But, this year, Frank sent flowers on Friday and the card read: "How about dinner tomorrow night?" OK, I'm thinking our usual romantic "order a pizza after the kids are asleep...." Sounded good to me - but NO, he had arranged a babysitter to come over and we...wait for it...went OUT - dinner AND a movie (and we even stopped b the hospital in between to get a quick tour of the maternity floor -- like most other things in OMaha, it was nice -- small, but nice and new-ish). It was a fun night - always takes us about 20 minites to adjust to the fact that we can finish a sentence without being interrupted by one of "them." It was very fun!





Sunday, Feb. 15th: Oliver's baptism


Frank took the trip alone - we wish we could have all been there, but for us all to fly would have been pretty pricey (especially since we waited too long to finalize plans!) and it would have been hard to drive it without Frank taking a vacation day (he's a little protective of using them so early in the year...especially with baby coming up soon.) He said it was a nice day - he took lots of pictures and it looks like the event was a "success." :)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Hilts Visit Omaha and Nathan Turns Three

Getting spoiled -- another fun weekend with visitors to Omaha! We love it! This weekend, the Hilts made the journey west. They arrived around 1:30 on Friday afternoon and Ellie and Nathan could barely contain their excitement. The cousins were in the door just long enough to take off their shoes and then the whole foursome disappeared up the stairs together to go play - a beautiful thing! They actually did a great job "playing nice" all weekend - there was a lot of hanging out time (I'm sure they were glad to have driven all that way to just "hang out") :)

Saturday was Nathan's birthday (the big 3!) and we spent the morning at the Children's museum downtown. Very fun. There was a new traveling exhibit opening on Saturday and they had a special "member preview" an hour before the museum opened to the general public. That was nice - to be in there for almost an hour with no crowds. We were able to see everything in the museum and still be out the door by 11:15 or so -- plenty of time to stop for lunch on the way home - and attempt to get everyone down for "quiet time." (Or not so quiet time with all three girls in one room - oh well...) We ended up doing Nathan's presents late afternoon, so we could fit in an early dinner and still have time for cake and ice cream and of course an after dinner "video night" for the kids :) We (the adults) entertained ourselves into the "wii" hours of the night playing just about every wii and wii fit game that we have. I must admit, I was pretty much humiliated in everything except darts and "dancing with the stars", I clearly dominated those! :)

It was a fun weekend -- weird to think that we probably won't have any visitors until "baby-time" (which is 8 weeks from tomorrow, but who's counting??). Lot's to do before then, so hopefully these weeks will go by quickly!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Roderick's Visit Omaha

Frank's sister Gina and her husband Kip... and of course, Oliver came out to Omaha this weekend. We had a great time - we hope they did, too! Ellie was beyond excited to have "baby Oliver" here for the weekend and Gina and Kip are very gracious to let her "help" whenever she could. Other than constantly reminding her to stop "jumping around" near his head (she was THAT excited!), she did pretty well as the designated helper. We can only hope that she is that excited / helpful when the new baby lands here for good!
It was a cold weather weekend here this weekend, but we didn't let that stop us. We went to the Children's Museum - the new exhibit is all about "presidents" -- it was a little old for our kids, but there were a few fun things for them. Ellie and Nathan both did the "make a campaign ad of yourself" running for president. There was like a web-cam thing that took their picture and put their face on a grown up body and made a commercial... Ellie wanted to be a man, and the picture of her face on the man's body looked exactly like Frank - it was eerie (and hilarious). We also braved the zoo -- not the best day to be tromping around outside (high of 15 degrees), but we didn't stay long. We hit the big (indoor) exhibits that were near the entrance -- the aquarium, the butterfly garden, the "jungle" house,... When all was said and done, I think we'll have to go back on another cold and snowy day -- we literally had the place to ourselves. The kids had the run of the place - we probably saw as much of the zoo in the one hour today as we usually see in twice that amount of time. Very cool (or cold, I guess...)
It was very fun to have them here -- always sad to see visitors leave :(
It helps to know that we have the Hilts coming next weekend -- full report to follow!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Potty training...mission (more or less) accomplished!

Well, after a solid week of constant reminders and even more constant rewards, we are far less frightened to be away from "the potty" for any length of time. We ran errands as usual last weekend. Sometimes, we even let him decide if he "has to go" or not...risky, but... This may be the first thing that's been easier to accomplish with Nathan than with Ellie, and I think the reason lies primarily in the fact that we were just plain less spastic and stressed about the whole thing. We were on Ellie's case constantly! With Nathan, we're just sort of like - what's the worst that could happen? Pack some extra clothes and we'll see how it goes. We've still got him in pull-ups at night (necessarily!), so that will be the part of this puzzle that doesn't go as quickly as with Ellie, but every kid is different, right?

Enough about that - we spent yesterday and today celebrating "black history" here :) Ellie came home from preschool yesterday (MLK Jr. day) with a whole host of questions about Martin "Luber" King -- about the only thing she picked up from school was that he was shot and that he wanted boys and girls with white skin and boys and girls with brown skin to go to the same stores. (It's a start...) We spent a lot of time trying to explain the civil rights movement to a four year old. She also knew bits and pieces of the Rosa Parks story, so we got that all cleared up, too. Transition to today (1/20), when "barackO" (as she calls him) was inaugurated. She was mildly interested in the coverage (probably because the TV was on more than usual today!) and "got it" that he was our "first president with brown skin." After watching a montage of previous presidents taking the oath of office, she asked, "why are all presidents mans? Why arent' there any lady presidents?" Atta girl. She also hopes to live in "a white house" someday... Frank said that the only way this could happen was if he was the president -- she chanted all the way through dinner "Frank Williams -- president of the whole world!" When Frank said that that would likely never happen... and maybe mommy should be president -- Ellie started cracking up and decided that no, that would not be likely either, you know, with my "big belly" and everything! We all decided that Ellie would be the most likely candidate from our family to ever become president and then we could all come and live in the white house with her :) (During this whole discussion, Nathan was eating as much pasta as possible without interruption!)

Otherwise, we are gearing up for our weekend with Gina, Kip and Oliver. Ellie has been very interested in pulling out the high chair, bottles, and all the gear -- I can only hope she has half of the enthusiasm for her soon-to-arrive sibling as she does for her cousin! We can't wait to have visitors in Omaha -- we'll post pictures on Sunday! Have a great week!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Potty Training... sigh...

OK, so "after the holidays" is here at last and we no longer have any excuses to put things off! We are not much for New Year's Resolutions around here, but we did make a list of things that we've been meaning to get done for a long time... at the top of the list was potty training Nathan... quick! Before this baby is born... This is one of my least favortie parenting tasks for sure!

So, we went cold turkey, like we did with Ellie -- no more diapers, no more pull-ups -- we started on Saturday (I just can't imagine doing those first couple of days without Frank around...). And we had all the rewards in place - the jellybeans, the stickers, the "potty presents" from the dollar store. No more fooling around on our parts - On Saturday, it was just as we expected - about 12 "accidents" throughout the day. We could barely keep up with the laundry! SUnday was a little better -- down to maybe 4 or 5 accidents. Still not really convinced that he was "getting it" but less laundry anyways. Monday was better still - only three accidents and all before noon. And Tuesday (today) - we have turned the corner, officially, I think. Now that he gets how to "let it out" and how to "keep it in" (too much information??), he gets a kick out of going potty "standing up like daddy" -- it's a hoot and he cracks up the whole time! He even has so much FUN going potty today, that he has even refused the jellybeans and the potty presents (which is good... there's only one of those left!). So, (knock on wood), NO accidents so far today - much less stressful day (and much less laundry...)

So, we'll see if we can keep the good momentum going - next phase, staying dry overnight... we're on a roll so far, so we'll see how it goes.

Have a great week - stay warm!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Home for the Holidays

Our first holiday season out of state... hmmm... it was different for sure! We celebrated Christmas on three diferent days instead of one. Here's how it went down:

December 25th -- Just the four of us in Omaha.

The day started out much like any other Christmas (besides the fact that we had to really be sure the kids were asleep before we snuck all the loot out of the attic -- right past their rooms -- and downstairs to the tree. We've never had such a treacherous "santa route" before, but it worked out OK. We ran them around pretty good on the 24th, so they were asleep pretty quickly. Ellie woke up at 6:00 am on the nose (we sort of have a rule... no getting up 'till the "sixes" on weekends / days off...) And like a good little rule follower, she told us she was awake for a while in her room ("It took forever for the 5 to change to a 6"), but she waited. And at 6:00 am, she came in shouting, "It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's finally here, ...." Cute. Nathan didn't wake up until almost 7:30... it was agony for her. (And we kind of woke him up - seriously! What kind of kid has to be woken up on Christmas morning?!?!?) We got downstairs, did the present thing -- gifts were well received, I think. Frank purchased a doughnut-maker for the family - and of course, it's the first thing we opened to try out. When we lived in Chicago, it was a quick present-opening and then off to shower and get ready to go to Cary and Glen Ellyn. But, this year, we had the day to ourselves -- nothing to do but lounge around, play with our new stuff, and eat doughnuts of course :) It was a relaxing day -- Ellie was all about staying in her jammies all day (Nathan is still a man of routine... about 11:00 am, he started requesting "pants and a shirt.... get dressed?" We were amazed at how tired we were after a day of lounging, but it was fun to spend the day lounging together!

December 26th: Clean-up and Pack-Up

Frank had to work on the 26th, so the kids and I spent the day cleaning up Christmas, opening up more toys (i.e. fighting with all of those plastic ties!) and taking down the tree. I know, kind of hasty, but we were heading out of town for a week and I didn't want it to be up all week drying out and then having to deal with it when we came back. Lucky for us, it was near 60 degrees that day and Frank was even able to tear down the outside lights before we left, too! Another good "home day."

December 27th: The journey to Cary

This day would have been a lot easier without the ice storms through Iowa. It was a tricky drive...and long. A trip that normally takes us 7 1/2 hours took a good 9 hours. But, it wasn't the extra time that was the killer, but the weather! Rain, ice, "wintry mix", potholes, traffic (in chicago, of course!). It was a long day in the car, but once we got to Cary Christmas, it was all worth it. Unfortunately, the Williams clan had been hit with some kind of nasty stomach bug. It started with Gina, and had been passed on to Richard and Rich. Rich wasn't even able to make it out to "Christmas" -- we entered the infirmary trying to avoid the inevitable. While we were at the WIlliams', Frank also caught the bug, but the rest of us were clear! We had a great visit... Frank and Nana took the kids ice skating (which Ellie LOVED!), we went to the movies (which both kids loved) and we got to go visit Emma at her new place again. It also shouldn't go unmentioned that we were able to hit a few of our favorite "not in Omaha" restaurants: Portillo's and Potbelly...yum! A fun first half to the week!

December 31st: Transition to Glen Ellyn

We headed south to GLen ELlyn on Wednesday -- we usually celebrate New Year's Eve with my sister and her family - always a good time. Until this year, when Ellie came up to us with that "look" in her eyes around 8:00 pm. "What's the matter Ellie?" The gag, then the full blown "spit out" (as she calls it) Puke everywhere! Well, now Ellie has the bug - ick! She had a rough night (all night), which means we all had a rough night, but she woke up on the 1st ready to go and no further "incidents." We had spent the night at my sister's house. So, we all headed back to my parents house to do the "dykstra christmas." Another fun scene -- 4 grandkids and wrapping paper everywhere! We were grateful again that our families would postpone their Christmases until we got to their part of town -- we sure would have hated to miss it :) The rest of the week was fun -- lots of cousin time, another trip to the "choo choo train restaurant" (see the Thanksgiving post for the details on that one!), and plenty of time to hang out with Grandma and Poppa and all of their new stuff. We even managed to squeeze in a pseudo-birthday celebration for my dad, whose birthday is on the 6th of January... and we ordered pizza -- good ol' non-omaha pizza. I think that was a treat for us, not my dad, but...

We left chicago on Sunday, January 4th. What a difference a week makes! We made it back to Omaha in the standard 7 1/2 hours. Plenty of sunshine and not a lot of traffic -- a much more pleasant drive! We have been getting back to our "routine" - Ellie is back to preschool and we finished putting away Christmas, officially. Now, we are on to the list of things that we have been putting off, you know, until "after the holidays." And, as always, it's a big list. This year, it seems to be more baby-related than anything (think of a name, for starters!) :)

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope 2009 is good to you all!