Tag Archives: family

Feb3

TODAY is the best day of my life!

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TODAY is the best day of my life!

Well, maybe you’ve heard that the Superbowl is coming to Indy on Sunday?

It’s just a little football game.

But you know what the BIG news was?  THE TODAY SHOW WAS BROADCASTING FROM DOWNTOWN!

Guys.  I love the Today show.  It’s, like, my favorite.

One of the things on my Bucket List was being in “the crowd” on the Today show.  For serious.  (And now that I’ve written it down I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it.)

So last week when they announced they were broadcasting from Indy this week on Friday – Monday, we were SO in.  In fact, this is how in we were: Joey took the morning off to make this happen for me.  He is a rockstar.

THANKS, JOEY!!!

A couple days ago, Angel’s husband Chang also became a rockstar because HE took the day off so she could come with us!

And that’s how it became a party at my house at 6:00 a.m. this morning.

Should I mention that I was so excited last night that I couldn’t sleep until after 1 am?  So when the alarm went off at 5:30, it felt super lame.  But we got up, we got ready, and we got in the car.

We drove down and parked in one of the garages near the convention center.  I am not going to disclose how much we paid for parking because it was a shameful amount of money, but I know from a Very Reliable Source that the cost for that same garage has increased by $20.00 in the last 4 hours.  I think that makes me feel less bad?

Angel brought her carrier and we loaded Analie up.

Analie was fully dressed in an undershirt, leggings and socks underneath her PJs, was also wearing a hoodie and covered in several blankets.  Oh, and a hat.

Poor girl was so tired and confused.

But she was a champ!  She didn’t fuss at all the entire morning; she just looked around sleepily at everything.  YAY ANA!

We ran upstairs and walked the two or three blocks to the broadcast site, and I think half of Indianapolis had beaten us there!  It was packed with screaming people waving their signs.  We didn’t get very close, but that’s OK.  Just being part of the crowd was so fun.

See that big gray post in the right third of the shot?  And that cute little lady in the white jacket?  That’s ANN CURRY, guys.

We heard buzz in the crowds behind us that Al was going to zipline at 7:30, so since our spot wasn’t very good for watching the broadcast, we moved to see if we could see Al go flying above our heads.

Sure enough, we did!  (That’s him in the top right of the photo.)  He totally looked right at me.

We lined up on the street by the end of the zipline and waited with a small crowd for a few minutes while Al did the weather from up in the tower.

Ana did all the beautiful coloring on that sign herself.  (And she got it all over her foot in the process.)

AND THEN AL ROKER WALKED PAST US.  (Also some IMPD officers.)

After that we decided to walk through Superbowl Village and over to Monument Circle and see the big Superbowl letters.

That’s when we realized how cold it was outside.

And by this point, our Miss decided she’d really rather not be in the carrier for awhile.  She wanted to be able to actually see what was going on.  (She’s too short to see much over the carrier.  Poor thing’s going to be a midget.)

Superbowl Village was OK, I guess.  It probably would have been ten times cooler if things were open.  But it was 7:45 am, and most visitors were probably still having their coffee in their hotel bathrobes at that time of day.

IF they were awake at all.

Analie was getting to the point where she was wondering why SHE was awake.  (We did not pose her like this.  It was hilarious.)

We made it to the Superbowl letters just as the sun was coming up!

And you’re wondering what Angel’s sign says?  Uh…”Chang is the Baby Ninja”.  I was really tired last night when I made it and it was the best thing I could come up with at the time.

After Monument Circle we all realized we were starving.  So we hit up a Panera and got bagels and tried to warm up some.

Have you ever seen a more sleepy pair of eyes in the entire world?  (I even put her to bed at 5:30 last night knowing we’d be getting her up an hour early!)  We’re going to have another early night tonight, I think.

I am so glad we were crazy and got up early to do this.  Sure, you’d need a magnifying glass to find us on TV (we found ourselves!), but just being a part of the spirit of everything was so worth it.  It made me feel like I was part of something in my adopted hometown.

Now I need to feed an early lunch to my exhausted baby girl so I can put her down for an early nap.  Then Angus needs a bath.  You don’t want to know why.

And we’re back to  business as usual.

Feb2

Analie has eight teeth. COUNT ‘EM.

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Analie has eight teeth. COUNT ‘EM.

This afternoon the weather was gorgeous, so we went outside to go mudding in the backyard.

I dressed Analie in her most awkward pair of pants, two pairs of socks, and two undershirts, thinking they might get ruined if she got super muddy.

But I needn’t have worried about her clothes.  She’s not into getting dirty, although I tried really hard to show her how to dig in the mud.

She does love Angus, though, so he tempted her to at least crawl a tiny bit off the blanket twice.  And then he got too far away so she went right back to where it was dry.

But how sweet is that smile?

My little girl is getting so big.  I love this stage; the curious wonder of a stick or rock she dislodged from the grass, the  fascination she has with picking furry bits of moss off the ground and handing them to me proudly.

Oh…baby girl…can we freeze time?

Jan23

One Perk About Having A Late Crawling Baby

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One Perk About Having A Late Crawling Baby

Analie is, like, the least advanced baby when it comes to movement.  She’s all, Yeah, I know about that cool toy you have over there, but WHATEVS MOM, I’M COOL WITH THIS PIECE OF LINT I DUG OUT OF THE CARPET.

Short version, it has been difficult to entice her to crawl.

Finally, finally, FINALLY, the Wednesday before Christmas, girlfriend started crawling.  (And it’s good that she did, too, because I’m pretty sure our pediatrician was about two weeks away from firing me as a mother.)  Ana’s crawling progress has been slow but steady, but over the last week she’s really gotten if figured out.  More often than not I’ll turn around to make sure she’s still in the same room as me and catch the wobbly backside of my child as she haphazardly scootches herself along the wood floor.

It’s so hilarious.

Last week, Analie discovered Angus’s food bowl.

Several times on Wednesday I told her no and distracted her with one of my mixing bowls.  (Because she loves to alternately stir and whack Angus with the spatula.  Surprisingly he thinks this game is fun too.)

The next day as I was loading the dishwasher and she and Angus were playing on the kitchen floor, she suddenly took off for his food bowl.

I busted out my first Mama Voice and said, “Analie.  NO.”

She was leaning forward with her tiny little hand was outstretched to the food, but when she heard my voice, she JUMPED. (Then I freaked out that I’d been too firm with her.  (Did I yell???!  I need a hidden camera!))

Analie sat up and stared at the food bowl.  She didn’t move.

I continued to freak out in my mind that maybe what I had thought was my firm voice had really been a yell.  (One of my parenting goals is to be just like my mama and speak firmly but with no yelling!  EVER!)  I wished I wasn’t looking at the back of her head, because I wanted to see those little wheels turning; one thing I love about this stage is that Analie can’t keep her emotions off her face.

It seemed like forever, but was probably only about two seconds, before Analie turned around and happily crawled back to the mixing bowl and picked back up where she had left off.

Victory?

The very next day, we repeated the same situation, right down to the mixing bowl and spatula toy on the floor. But this time when I told her no, I used only a fraction of the firmness I had used the day before.  And you know what?  She immediately turned around!  AND SHE HAS IGNORED HIS FOOD BOWL EVER SINCE!

I am totally expecting her to sneak over there again. But for our first NO! crawling boundary, I am so proud of Analie.

And I’m also glad that she waited so long to start crawling.  Because I’m not worn out by saying no yet.  (That’ll probably hit next week, right mamas?)

 

 

Jan12

The Paint Can.

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The Paint Can.

First of all, I realize that I sound like The Most Unobservant Mother Ever.  I probably am.

Second of all, there is no photographic record for what I am about to tell you.   You’ll just have to take my word for it.  Because WHY WOULD I MAKE THIS UP!?

A week ago, Joey brought in a paint can from the garage to warm up so he could paint the inside of a door that he was working on.  Short version: the paint was all weird from being in the garage for so long, so we were going to have to throw it out.  He stuck the drop cloth and a couple of paint cans in the corner of the kitchen, and that was the end of the project.

Fast forward to today.  I was cleaning the kitchen counters while Analie and Angus alternately stirred and tried to climb inside my largest mixing bowls.  They’ve been playing on the kitchen floor all week and haven’t even noticed the drop cloth and cans in the corner, so I’d wipewipewipe the counter, glance back to make sure they weren’t biting each other, and then wipewipewipe the counter again.

Suddenly, I had to go to the bathroom.  (I KNOW, SORRY.  But it’s what happened next.  I’m sure you have to go to the bathroom sometimes too.)  I looked at my children, happily shoving each other as they scuffled over which one of them was going to use the spatula, and I ran out of the room.

I was gone for less than a minute.  Probably more like 30 seconds.  (Because really, who washes their hands in the bathroom when you left your kids playing on the kitchen floor by themselves?  My kitchen has a sink, and I know how to use it.)  When I returned, they were not where I left them.

NO.

THEY WERE NOT.

Suddenly, one of them had spotted the paint cans and drop cloths in the corner, so they had both crawled over and started exploring.

GUYS.  I have been staring at those stupid paint cans all week and somehow I neglected to notice that one of them didn’t even have a lid on it.

You want to know how fast they realized that?  Like 0.0001 seconds after starting to crawl over there.  And you want to know what else?  Not only did that stupid paint can not have a lid on it, but there was a stir stick in it!  STICKING UP IN THE AIR LIKE THE SEARS TOWER.  (Wait, do they even call it the Sears Tower anymore?  Whatevs.)  But you surely get my point, which was that the stick was super obvious to anyone who has eyeballs.  And it’s always a pretty good indicator that there’s no lid on a paint can if there’s a stir stick in it.

So we’ve established that I’m blind.

Back to the story.

I walk into the kitchen and there’s Analie, holding the end of a gloopy, paint-soaked, stir stick, and she’s happily sweeping it in broad swaths on the wood floor.  The grin on her face is worth a million bucks, and I can see the pure amazement that WOAH!  There’s white stuff every place I move this stick!

Where’s Angus?  Oh, he’s eating the wet paint she smears on the floor, so his face and whiskers are bright white.

What did I do?  I started screaming “WHAAAAAAT?!?!” and jumped around the kitchen floor throwing random things away.  I’m not even sure what all went into the trash can (hopefully it wasn’t anything important), but I know the paint stick was the first thing to go.

The paint on the floor was thick and oozing into the cracks between the wood on the floor, so I unrolled a bunch of paper towels and alternately tried to wipe the floor, my child’s hands, and keep Angus from eating more paint.

And did I mention that somewhere in the chaos I stepped in the paint?  I wish I had realized it when it happened, because the next thing I knew there were Jenna footprints all over the kitchen floor.

I could keep going, but I think you get the drift.  All told, it took about 20 minutes and Joey’s travel toothbrush to clean up.  Angus has since stolen that toothbrush and carried it off to who knows where.

I just hope the paint on it has dried by now.

(I feel like the takeaway in all this is that I just need to stop having to go to the bathroom.  Ever.  Because LOOK WHAT HAPPENS.)

And that is the story of how I inked my place in the record books as The Most Unobservant Mother Ever.

Jan3

Early Learning Activities: Week 1 (Look At Me!)

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Early Learning Activities: Week 1 (Look At Me!)

One of my parenting goals for the year is to be more intentional about structuring Ana’s playtime and reading more books.  I’m going to be starting an activity binder with themed activities based on seasons and ages, but I’m still thinking through how I want to lay it out. Once I get it all beautiful in my mind, I’ll go to Target and buy the tabs.  (GUYS. I just have to disclose that in my imagination this binder is tab-tastic and has at least two different sizes so I can denote sub-tabs.  I’m actually hoping for 3 sizes so I can go into sub-sub-tabs.  Is that overkill?!?!)

Anyway.  This week we’re working on colors and self-identification.

Our project was to take a big piece of paper, trace Ana, then color in her eyes, nose, mouth and hair (pausing after each to point out where it was on the picture, then on her face and mine), and clothes.  Using the main color in her outfit, I was to let color on her “clothes” and repeat the color over and over again.  Then I showed her two colors and see if she could pick that color.

Ready to make a “Look At Me!” picture with your kiddo??

Me too.

LET’S GO.

First, I assembled my supplies.  It’s all stuff you have around your house.  (Apologies in advance for these horrific photos.  Ana goes bonkers for cameras so it has to be point and shoot all the way for these kind of activities.)

I cut a Trader Joe’s sack to make a long piece of paper, and got crayons based on what I was going to dress Analie in (all purple to make it easier for her to identify the color) and a pen for tracing.

Then I realized that it’s not a good idea to trace a squirming child on carpet.  So we moved to the hardwood.

Step 1: Lay out of focus child on paper.

Step 2: Trace your child and then show the drawing (if you can call it that) to your child.

Step 3: Draw eyes, nose, mouth, hair and feet.  (I was not able to photograph this because Ana was like WHAT IS THAT AWESOME THING IN YOUR HAND MOM!?!?!?!?! and kept lunging.)

Step 4: Let your kid color their clothing. Preferably they color the clothing which is on the paper, not the clothing which is on their person.  But whatevs if they color themselves a little bit, right?  Because it will wash out.

Step 5: Allow your child to explore the crayon.  (Ana quickly determined that crayons are not tasty, but they are still fun to put in our mouths.  This use of crayons was discouraged. So was drawing on the wood floor.  Hi, Joey!)

Step 6: Admire your child’s coloring and praise them for doing a good job.  Don’t worry about coloring inside the lines, that will come later.

Step 7: Work on coloring a little bit more every day this week, emphasizing the same color (in our case, PURPLE.)  Continue to point out the facial features on the picture and on your child, encouraging them to identify their nose, mouth, eyes, etc.

Step 8: At the end of the week, allow your child to watch you cut the picture out of the bag.  Then post it on the wall in her room, or on the fridge. (Except I have OCD about things on my fridge.  I hate it.  I may make an exception for my child, though…maybe…)

YAY FOR US!  First week of intentional learning activity is in the bag.  (In this case, quite literally, it’s ON the bag…)

Dec22

The Annual Woestman Christmas Card!

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The Annual Woestman Christmas Card!

One of my favorite things to start thinking about at the beginning of the Christmas season every year is what we’ll do for our Christmas card.  The first few years of our marriage our cards were pretty bland (and last year’s was Analie’s birth announcement), but I’m getting more and more interested in making unique cards that express (some of) our personality.

This year, we had tons of fun with our card.

And I would have loved to be able to mail it to all of you.  But as it is, our Christmas card list has 100 names on it and postage was getting super expensive.

SO, please enjoy our Christmas card in blog version.  (Incidentally you will not find the phrase “Merry Christmas” anywhere on it, because we were getting so down to the wire that we weren’t sure it would be going out before Christmas.  Hehehe.)

We love you!  Even you blogosphere friends I have never met and/or don’t know are creeping on my blog.

Merry Christmas!

(This was a 5×7 front and back flat card in real life.  But the internet version can be whatever the heck you want it to be.  POSTMODERN!)

Dec19

ME TOO, GUYS!

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ME TOO, GUYS!

I was laying on the floor playing with Analie who was pulling stuff out of her junk mail bag (yes, my child plays with junk mail and she loves it) when Joey leaned over and gave me a kiss.

I’M SORRY.  IT HAPPENS.  I HAD TO PUT IT IN THE STORY OR IT WOULDN’T MAKE SENSE.

Anyway, when Analie saw what was going on and she immediately leaned forward and smashed her face right in between ours. Then she giggled like she’d gotten in on something really awesome.

I haven’t been able to stop laughing since.

Dec16

His name is MUD

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His name is MUD

Tuesday, I thought for sure we had gotten an Exceptionally Smart Dog.

But by Wednesday, I was convinced he was as dumb as a box of rocks.

He had regressed in his housebreaking.

Severely.

It’s mostly our fault, though, because he had been doing SO well that we kind of forgot for a moment that he wasn’t Henry (aside from the fact that he’s black as coal – inside and out) and weren’t paying as close of attention to him as we should be.

This is how we went from a two accidents in four days house to a four accidents in three hours on Wednesday morning, with two more later in the evening as a bonus.

No, Internet, Angus is a five pound dog.  It is beyond my comprehension how he has room in his colon for that much business.

In any case, we did what we should have done in the first place.

He only gets food and water three times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and then we take up his dishes.  (Unfortunately he discovered that he can drink from the Christmas tree so I have to watch him super carefully.)  And he’s now on a leash at all times when he’s not in his crate, because for some reason the leash is tons easier to spot on the floor than he is.

These measures have been effective.

Since instituting them, Angus has had only two accidents!  WIN.

But you know what really irks me?

Today at Target they were selling Black Angus for $9.50 a pound.  I feel like I got ripped off last Friday because we totally paid $75.00/lb.

Nov15

Swing, swing, swing

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Swing, swing, swing

 

Yesterday was gray and gloomy and warm and weird all at the same time.  It was the craziest weather and I was loving it.  (The only thing that could have made it better was if we had gotten some more of that crazy thunder action that mostly hit southeast of us.)

Today it’s just gray and damp and kinda chilly.

And it’s laundry day.

(Which reminds me that I really need to start that load of towels.)

So instead of doing laundry, we went outside to swing.

Swinging is fun.  Even when it’s cold and the swing has to be wiped off three times because it’s covered in soggy leaves and puddles of water.

Analie loves lounging in her swing; she doesn’t even care if she’s being pushed.  She likes to bounce in it, and she also likes to sit back and watch the cars drive past.

An ambulance WITH ITS SIREN even went by.  I was pretty sure her eyes were going to bug out of her skull.

 

 

It’s fun to holler…

It’s fun to squeal…And it’s fun to be the Fun Police.  ARE YOU HAVING FUN YET?  Get to work having fun NOW!