A good report!

Last week Wednesday I finally got in to see a neurologist regarding my foot/leg issues and she ordered some more tests.  After being scanned, pricked and shocked I had another appointment today and probably received the best possible news.  It doesn't look like it has anything to do with the discs in my back.  Hooray!  The neuropathy is most likely is due to an injury of some sort around my knee area.  Upon further thought, there's a good chance that it was a result of the three hours of intense squatting I did while pruning and weeding the landscaping the week before this all started.  Although I still have some numbness and weakness, the neurologist could tell I had gained back some strength just over the course of the week between appointments.  So now the plan is to just wait and let it (hopefully!) continue to improve on it's own.  I am also going to see if I can wean myself off the Lyrica pain medication that has been my lifesaver for the last month.  Praise God for good news even if it was a long, hassled journey to get there!

Puzzleland

This is what Emily has done to entertain herself after being put to bed the past week...

You can see the full video tour in the October video player.

17 months old

Lincoln is 17 months old today.  He has no more teeth and no less drool than last month.  Or the month before that.  However, there are few areas he has made progress.  One large motor skill he is practicing is stepping up steps instead of climbing up them.  If they're not too steep he can do pretty well with a handrail or something to hang onto.  He continues to love to climb anything and everything.  He can now push around kitchen chairs to reach higher places.  He also loves carrying the bathroom footstool around.  Here's a series of pictures from this morning:

Lincoln is sort of saying "ba" for ball along with "mum-mum" and "da-da" and sometimes "ah-dah" for all done.  He figured out how to make a cute smacking sound with his lips that is kind of like a kiss without the pucker.  He also loves to "sing" with his motorboat sound.  I think you can only do it if you have enough saliva swishing around, of which he has plenty. ;o)

Lincoln still loves to flip light switches and push buttons--especially the garage door and doorbell.  He has also become obsessed with lids--specifically putting them back on.  This is especially true of the milk jug.  I remember when Emily went through that stage.  He also continues to empty the pots & pans cupboard multiple times a day.  Of course, that begs the question, "Why do you pick it up more than once a day if you know you'll just have to do it again?"  Sometimes you just get tired of picking your way through the kitchen.  In the past I have had a rule about no toys in the kitchen.  But what do you do if the "toys" actually belong in the kitchen?

I also have to note that I think my heart has hardened a bit this month.  That or I'm just getting tired.  Maybe it was because Lincoln was just my "little baby" or I thought I had to protect him from Emily or I just didn't want to listen to the fussing, but I've started to realize how often I pick Lincoln up every time he whimpers or cries.  And it's a lot sometimes.  I know he's definitely a more sensitive child than Emily, but I think I've also been subconsciously overprotecting and indulging him.  So I've stopped giving in as easily or as often and let him fuss a little more.  It will be good for both of us in the long run.

I'll end this post with some amusing pictures and captions...


Lincoln likes to dig this piece of "bling" out of Austin's jewelry box.

This is one tired boy!  He dug his pacifier and blanket out of his crib and plopped himself down one night at 5:45pm while I was trying to get supper started.  I guess someone should have taken a longer nap!

  

Lincoln's classic way of flirtatiously looking up at you with his head down complete with a nice drool drip (not so flirtatious) :op



Des Moines Marathon

No, I did NOT run a marathon.  However, I witnessed my first marathon!  The IMT Des Moines Marathon was this weekend.  My sister and BIL ran the half marathon.  Plus a huge team (over 100 runners) from our church called Iowans for Africa ran to raise money to build a school in Africa in an area that our church has adopted.  It was great to have so many people to cheer for and cheer with!  The weather was absolutely perfect, and I got a great spot along Gray's Lake to see the half-marathoners three times.  Plus I made it to the finish area to see my sister.  Then I helped with the food booth for our church team and watched many of them come in for the marathon.  What an exciting event! 

Here's a picture of my sister and BIL at the finish with the sign Emily & I made.  We forgot our first one at home, so we had to make another one last night.  That was probably okay, though, because after I wrote the words on the first one and told Emily she could decorate it however she wanted the first thing she did was draw a house and a stop sign that said "ZTOP".  Not exactly what I had in mind for a race poster, but oh well!  This one had a picture of Emily with her name signed in curlicues. :o)

Here's a couple pictures of the lake they ran around where I camped out.

 
Where were the kids you may ask?  They were having fun with Grandpa & Grandma Lorenzen! They got to play at church, visit the toy aisles of Wal-mart and eat McDonald's for lunch.  The kids & I actually drove down Saturday morning.  We had fun taking a very long walk around the Waukee stadium during State Marching Band contest and playing at a nearby park. 

Lincoln LOVES slides and can go down by himself backwards on his belly. 

Emily loves climbing on everything and had fun drawing people in the sand. 

Super job runners, and thanks to Grandpa & Grandma Lorenzen for a fun weekend!

Ice cream shop

I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of a new coffee & ice cream shop located on Bremer Avenue just 3 blocks from our house.  The Dairy Queen in Waverly is seasonal and closed for the winter this past weekend.  There is really no other ice cream or even coffee shop/hang out place in Waverly, which is incredibly surprising considering it is a college town.  With "duos" located across from the main entrance to Wartburg and just up the street from us, I think it will do well. ;o) 

The kids & I took a walk to check it out after preschool today.  It's a lucky thing we got there when we did, because soon after we got in line it grew all the way to the door.  The prices are very reasonable, and they have some really fun ice cream flavors.  Emily & I each got a cone.  I had packed a separate snack for Lincoln, but when I got to the bottom of my Snickers Swirl cone, I let him try it.  He made the most awful faces at first, but then stuck it right in.  He also happily ate the rest of Emily's strawberry cone with a spoon.  Maybe there is hope of having ice cream buddies!

Impromptu nature walk

I packed up the kids and headed to the library for story time this morning.  However, when we arrived I discovered (and remembered) that the library was closed today so all the workers could attend a conference.  It was a beautiful morning, so we decided to explore the butterfly garden again.  There were a surprising number of flowers still blooming.  There were also lots of cool seed pods and other things to touch and feel.  Lincoln was determined to walk through the little artificial stream gurgling out from one corner.  I don't think he realizes that he can't walk on water or the consequences if he tries.  ;o)

After a good half hour at the butterfly garden we still had some time before lunch, so I decided to continue our impromptu nature walk and drove out to another nature area I discovered this summer while driving around with sleeping kids in the van.  Babcock Woods is an 80-acre nature area technically within the city limits of Waverly, but way out of the way on a winding road past the soccer complex.  It was donated by a long-time family (Babcock's) from Waverly and is now under the care and jurisdiction of the Bremer County Conservation Board.  The woods are home to 150-year-old red oak trees and part of the pasture area has been reconstructed into a wildflower prairie.  It is used as an outdoor educational site for local schools and there are mowed walking paths and trails throughout. 

We only walked a little ways into the wooded area, but I remembered to grab my camera.  I would have loved to stroll farther along under all the beautifully colored trees.  The kids enjoyed exploring and discovering new shapes and textures.  Emily was especially proud of her "feathers" (i.e. cattail grass).  We decided next time we'll have to remember to bring a picnic lunch for the picnic table by the entrance!

Enjoying fall

I have really been enjoying this fall season.  The weather has been perfect, the leaves are absolutely gorgeous and it's fun to be outside with the kids.  I think this is especially true since we pretty much skipped fall last year after a hot September, a rainy October and a cold November.  Plus, I was still trying to settle into a new house, caring for an infant who wasn't sleeping through the night and fighting daily battles of the will with a toddler who wasn't potty-trained yet.  Yes, it has been a beautiful fall!  Here's some more of what we've been doing outside over the past week...


Emily loves riding her bike in circles around the driveway.  She really likes hearing the crunching leaves and gets mad if I try to blow them off the driveway with the leaf-blower.

Lincoln loves the Cozy Coupe.  He can go both forwards and backwards now.

Lincoln also loves crunching the leaves with his lawnmower.

It's fun to look at and feel the flowers that are still going strong.

This pot hasn't looked this good all year!

We started raking leaves.  With two ash trees, seven large maples and a locust tree on our property there are LOTS of leaves.

Emily has enjoyed playing in the big pile--even in a skirt.  Her poor legs were all scratched up at night.  I warned her!

Lincoln prefers to "rake" rather than play in the big pile. 
We cleared half of the side yard and ended up with a pile taller and wider than Emily. 

Even though the mum plant is not currently blooming, our back entrance says "Fall".

You know you're a mom when...

So you've all read a version of "You know you're ____ when...".  Well, here's my version based on my current stage of life:

You know you're a mom when...

• you look forward to the day when you can go to the bathroom without someone barging in or banging on the door.

• you have to limit the number of times chicken nuggets and french fries is served (mine is once/week).

• a successful meal is when at least one kid eats what you've prepared.

• a large portion of your DVR is taken up by PBS Kids shows.

• you wonder why your purse is so stinkin' heavy, and when you start digging you discover multiple boxes of raisins and packages of fruit snacks, several smashed granola bars, a stuffed Happy Meal toy, a shaker toy, a container of animal crackers, a complete diaper changing set and a half-full sippy cup of water.

• your laundry pile seems to grow bigger every time.

• you have to set the oven timer to remind yourself to go pick up your child from preschool (or anywhere else).

• your wake-up call is often a face inches from yours declaring, "Mommy, I think you need to get up and get me some bres-theck!"

• the most common topic of conversation is what letter a word starts with or what a word means or who is going to be the line leader.

• the standard policy of your household is to wash pots & pans both before and after use because the cupboards get emptied multiple times a day and you never know what they've been through. (See Exhibits A & B below)

• 75% of your dishwasher's contents are some form of colored plastic.
 
• no matter how cranky or difficult they were during the day, you don't want to move a sleeping child from your lap to their bed because you just want to bask in the beautiful "mommy moment". :o)

I would love to hear your additions to my list in the comments section!



Exhibit A

 

Exhibit B

Rolling Meadow Park - Waverly, IA

While Austin finished up the deck on Saturday I took the kids to what I believe is the last playground park in Waverly we had left to visit this summer.  Rolling Meadow Park is in the middle of a new development south of the High School and is meant to be a neighborhood park.  It is a bit tricky to find/access because the sign and single sidewalk entrance is just between two houses, and if you blink you'll miss it.  The park is 2.3 acres consisting of a basketball court, large grassy area and new playground behind all the houses.  Unfortunately, the playground is a long way from the "entrance".  The play equipment is also designed for ages 5-12, so it wasn't the greatest fit for us.  It was also hot, and just as Lincoln figured out the bouncy bridge, Emily declared that she needed to go potty (my fault for not making her go before we left).  So it was a very brief visit.  It's a nice park, but unless we have friends living in the neighborhood, we probably won't be frequenting it much in the future.

Staining the deck

With the warm weather this weekend and no guarantee of nice weather for much longer, we tackled the big project of staining the deck this weekend.  The two-tier deck and pergola was built by the previous owner.  Although it was still in great shape, I don't think it had ever been stained, and I don't know the last time it had been sealed.  Austin power-washed it last weekend while the kids & I were gone.  I had picked out a stain product early in the week with full intentions of at least getting started on the pergola while Emily was at preschool and Lincoln was napping.  However, when I opened the can I immediately decided I hated the color.  So I had to return it and get something else from another store.  Austin & I tag-teamed on Saturday to get the job done.  We were both a little concerned about how dark it was going on, but after it dried it looked much better.  I think the final result is beautiful!  Here are some pictures:

After power-washing

 During

After