The Past Few Weeks, In Pictures

The past few weeks have been emotionally draining for Lance and me and I haven't really had a desire to write about all of the details of Mary's cancer. The kids, however, are blissfully unaware. They miss their daddy who has been gone for almost 2 weeks now (first on business to Atlanta, then to Canton to take care of his parents), but we have tried to stay busy. So, I'm taking a break from writing and am just going to post pictures. In the photo montage are pics of Nathan's 1st birthday, the GR Children's Museum, the Kalamazoo Museum and fun around the house.

Much better!

Here at the Pellow home, we are all feeling so much better. Rowan seems to be giving up on the random, extremely long temper tantrums at bedtime (knock on wood), Tate is back to being the healthy, happy boy we're used to and I got out by myself for a few hours at book club. Though Lance is out of town, we've had three playdates and the kids have been sufficiently busy. Today we make the trek to Grandma Jackie's for a little family time and the great children's museum here.

Rowan continues her obsession with books and would probably sit and be read to all day if anyone had the time and patience for that. If only she enjoyed novels, I think I could curl up with her in bed and read aloud to her all day. When I was nursing Tate the other day, Rowan brought a book up to me, pointed to the word "cat" and said the phonetic sounds for cat "kah, a, t...kah, a, t...CAT!! Mommy, that word says cat!" Was it a fluke? Maybe, but then later in the day, she found another book that I'm relatively certain I haven't read to her since we lived in Charlotte. The title of the book is "Pets". She looked at it and said "pah-eh-t-s. pah-eh-t-s. PETS!" She's been sounding out words randomly for months, but has never blended the sounds into words. I'm thinking if I could teach her to read, she could quite possibly keep herself entertained for hours!!

Tate is now moving very quickly and falling quite a bit less. He gets excited about everything and makes the cutest squeal when he's happy. He loves to play with balls (that can be read two ways as that's where his hand immediately shoots as soon as the diaper comes off) and is very into the "I'm going to drop this over and over to see how many times you'll pick it up" game. He is also eschewing all baby food and much other food in general. My only sure-things are Kashi cereal bars and vanilla yogurt. Any ideas?

Not such happy news is that Grandma Mary does have cancer. She goes in for surgery tomorrow, which will likely be followed by radiation, chemotherapy or both. Chest scans look good, so all signs say that it's contained to the uterus and cervix. Monica is there now and I am guessing one or all of us will be there next week to help out post-op.

In the meantime, I will be taking lots of baths and doing lots of reading as a high of 7 just doesn't beckon me to the outdoors.

Broken Resolutions

I suppose there is a reason I don't usually make New Year's resolutions. I break them. Almost immediately upon making them. Does it help if I say I have an excuse? No, I haven't been leadng a busy, very fulfilling social life or accomplishing all kinds of tasks. But, I have taken both children to the doctor as well as going myself this week. I have taken Tate's temperature countless times. I have stayed up all night with a very hot, crying baby. And I have allowed Rowan more TV than she's had in a long, long time. (In my defense, though, it was probably still less than many of her 2-year-old counterparts).

On Monday, I got to make the ever-pleasant trek to the doctor to have an abscess drained. Oh, MRSA, please, please go away and never come back. Also on Monday, Tate had a very high fever which his doctor told me to watch for the day. Monday night, Lance discovered a suspicious bump on Rowan and, in light of my new MRSA outbreak, we decided Tuesday would be a great day to take both of the kids to their doctor. Cancel playdate with Susan and the girls, take kids to the doctor, hold a crying baby rest of day.

But, now that it's Saturday, Tate's fever has gone down, though he has a rash everywhere (roseola, we're told), Rowan's bump is gone (thank God) and we're all ready to get out, we are in the midst of yet another winter storm. So, I'm going to take Rowan outside for the 10 minutes I would imagine she'll last before begging for hot chocolate. And, for yet another day, I will hang out at home.

Hoping for a much, much better week next week!

Year in Review

To sum it all up, 2008 was a year of change--and I'm not just talking about the Presidential race. We, in the Pellow household, had a baby and moved twice in just the first half of the year. Thankfully the second half was a bit more relaxing. Here is a month-by-month account of the major events in our lives:

January--We officially moved to Holland. Lance started his job at Hope. Our sweet nephew, Nathan, was born. Rowan moved into a "big girl" bed and learned her ABCs (singing them, recongnizing them and knowing which letters make each sound)

Febuary--TATE WAS BORN!!! Rowan learned to spell her name. Lance and I celebrated our 10th Valentine's Day together

March--A very snowy Easter, Tate's first smile, an accepted offer on our house in Charlotte

April--Rowan turned 2! A family trip to Charlotte to see friends and officially move out of our first home

May--lots of house hunting and my first Mother's Day with two children

June--Lance turns 31, we moved into our new house in Byron Center, Rowan's poop escapades that will haunt me the rest of the year begin

July--Tate rolled over, Lance and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a trip to Chicago

August--Tate's first teeth, a much-needed break at the annual Girls' Weekend

September--Tate starts crawling, making life a bit more interesting.

October--I turn 31, the Livingston clan moves to Chicago

November--a few unseasonably warm days made for our last trip to the beach, Tate's first steps, a family trip to Chicago, Thanksgiving at my mom's

December--Tate officially walking, Rowan's first Christmas program, Christmas at my mom's, then at the Pellow's

Now that 2008 is over and 2009 is here, I have made a few resolutions. I'm not really big into resolutions, but there are a few things I really need to do. One is to read the Bible in a year. Since I'm a voracious reader, anyway, I thought it ridiculous, and even a little embarrassing that I haven't read the whole Bible. My other one will be a bit harder to keep up. That is to do a better job documenting my kids' lives. Somehow Christmas came and went and I took around 10 pictures. And no video. This means I missed out on Rowan singing "Rudu the red-nosed reindeer" with her handprint reindeer named Rudu and Olive. I also missed her singing to the Christmas tree and the ornaments. I missed Tate trying to rip open presents and Rowan "helping" every single person open their presents, I missed Tate and Nathan following each other around. Really, I always say I need to get better about this, so my New Year's resolution is to try. Hopefully this will mean I will blog more and maybe even write in my children's baby books!

Snowed In

With feet of snow falling from the sky and no snow plows in sight, we've essentially been snowed-in all weekend. Lance and I were able to get out to his work Christmas party on Friday night (though we both had to literally dig our cars out of snow drifts with shovels), but we've been hanging out at home the rest of the weekend. It has, surprisingly, not been too terrible, though I think I'm using up all of our fun indoor activities in one weekend. Baking cookies, stringing cereal onto necklaces, making reindeer out of hand and footprints, pretending to hibernate in our "bear cave", long bubble baths in the middle of the day. We ventured out into the snow just once and I had to pull Rowan on a sled as the snow is up to her waist.

Rowan has been surprisingly well-behaved (well, for the most part) and Tate is now officially walking. He had been taking 10-12 steps or so, but is now using walking as his primary mode of transport and can walk a good 30 or more steps. Hopefully this will mean less bruises--though he did just have a bleeding lip and swollen ear, so I'm not counting on it. It's rather humorous to see such a little guy walking all over the place. Unfortunately he's also getting good on the stairs, so I will need to break out the lovely baby gates.

This awful snow has been a catalyst to our vacation planning. We are thinking Key Largo in February and have also decided to invite my mom and Michelle to come along, hoping for at least one day and one night out. I'm excited already and we haven't even booked anything yet! One unexpected bonus to this weather is that Hope College is closed tomorrow which means Lance will be home with us all day. Maybe a plow will come through and we can all go do something fun--sledding if that windchill gets a bit higher or maybe a trip to Play World, where I imagine I will be spending quite a few mornings this winter along with the trampoline center and the dreaded mall play area that both children love.

Tag...I'm It.

I have been tagged by Stephanie (dailydoublesteins.blogspot.com) in a game of blog tag. So, I now have to list 6 random things about myself and tag six other bloggers. Both of these things will be a bit difficult because my only blog readers know me pretty well and I don't know many other bloggers. I'll list my 6 things and choose the other bloggers later.

1. I eat ice cream almost every day. It's sweet. It's smooth. It's creamy. It's delicious. Sometimes in the winter, it is replaced by hot chocolate. But I occasionally put a scoop of ice cream in the hot chocolate. My favorite kind is Homemade brand Chocolate Chip ice cream. The last time I bought it, I ate the entire HALF-GALLON in a 24-hour period. I can no longer buy this kind of ice cream.

2. No blue foods, please. I'm not sure where this "blue raspberry" idea came from, but I have never seen a blue raspberry--especially not that neon blue. There is nothing at all natural about that color. No blue popsicles, slushies or kool-aid for me. Yes, the other colors are just as full of artificial dyes, but I just can't handle the blue. Other foods I don't like: mustard, Snickers, strawberry-flavored anything (but I love real strawberries), curry, Skittles.

3. I have no idea what I want to be when I "grow up". Though I hope to go back into the workforce someday, I don't know what I want to do. Most likely, I will slowly work on my Master's and go back to teaching someday. But, when I think about what I would have the most fun doing, I have all kinds of ideas. Part of me thinks it would be fun to be a lawyer, but I think I'd actually like law school more than the being a lawyer part. Part of me thinks I would love to be a radio DJ. How fun would it be to talk to random callers about funny stories all day, play good music and give away prizes? I think I'd love it. I'd be fine with going back to school to get a broadcasting degree. I wouldn't be fine with getting stuck with doing a terrible internship or a middle-of-the-night show. Part of me wants to join the Peace Corps and work all over the world--no mortgage, no car, etc. But, I don't think that's practical to do with young children who or with a husband who doesn't really share that dream. Any ideas of what I should do?

4. I'm always coming up with ideas that I later wish I would have patented. I used to write them down on a pad of paper kept in my glove box. Here are some things I invented way before they actually came out: Vitamin-enhanced juice drinks (I would certainly have done well on this one), premeasured laundry detergent in a capsule (perfect for dorm/laundromat situations), chocolate Cool Whip (I don't think this one did so well). Here are my current ideas: a "party pack" of soda that has 3 Sprites, 3 Diet Sprites, 3 Cokes and 3 Diet Cokes, because it's just too hard to know what to get when several people are coming over; a molded spoon that has a grip on it--sort-of like a pencil grip--with a space for the thumb and fingers so toddlers can learn to hold a spoon correctly. My 2-year-old is still clueless on how to do this. I'm always thinking of things but then I forget about them until I see them marketed years later.

5. Lance and I once tried to adopt a pet pig. We went to a pet fashion show at a club in Charlotte and there was a cute little pig there up for adoption. We were going to name him Vladimir. But, we were living in an apartment at the time and they did not allow exotic animals. It's probably a good thing because we're both fans of bacon.

6. My first car was a gray Ford Tempo named Legs. Legs was the best. I got her when I turned 16 and loved her much. Upon college graduation, I upgraded to a Dodge Intrepid and took Legs to my mom's who sold her for me. I told my mom she had to tell the new owner that the car is named Legs and, in order to buy the car, they would need to keep her name. The great part is my mom actually did it. She told the girl who bought the car that she needed to keep the car's name. I'd like to believe that Legs is still around, being driven around by a college kid, racking up parking tickets.

Catching Up

Poor, poor little blog. So unloved. So neglected. We have somehow gone through Thanksgiving, Tate's 9-month stats and Lance's ongoing case of salmonella, and not even one little post.

First things first. Thanksgiving at my mom's included lots of food (including my three pies), a few games and Lance's early morning shopping trip on Black Friday coming home with a 42" flat-screen TV which is now (horrors!) sitting on our MANTLE! In Charlotte, I would not even allow a television in our living room, but the layout of this house makes it kind of necessary for it to be in the living room. And getting rid of that terribly large entertainment armoire opened up a lot of space. Random bonus: I can do dishes and watch TV at the same time.

Tate is now 9-months old and, though I still won't call it walking, does take about 10 steps or so unaided. Unfortunately he still hasn't found his balance and this attempt at walking has resulted in his falling and hitting his head on things like: the edge of the open dishwasher, Rowan's bed frame and the corner of the coffee table. Poor little guy has several large bruises on his head. He loves to clap his hands and will occasionally blow kisses. He weighs 20 pounds and is 28.5 inches tall. Though he seems enormous to me, he is exactly the 50th percentile for both weight and height. 90th for head, of course.

Rowan's current obsession is being a baby. She can do nothing by herself because she is a baby. She needs to be held because she is a baby. Ah, the joy. If only she would take 2 naps a day like her baby brother! Rowan also finished this session of gymnastics and showed off her favorite move (the tuck jump) for her class, earning a medal she loves to wear.

On to Lance. Note to readers: Not that you would, but NEVER EVER eat at Big Boy. If you are forced to go, don't order the french toast. Lance has learned his lesson. While away on a business trip, Lance was served raw french toast. After eating one bite, he decided he was done with his meal. Evidentally, however, his meal was not done with him. And here he is with salmonella. He's on day #6 and doesn't seem to be showing great signs of improvement. I have never seen him this sick. Which means I have gotten to take care of 2 kids and a sick husband, have missed both of my book club meetings and had to cancel a scheduled-well-in-advance and much-needed haircut with Amanda. I need a drink and a night out.