M Cubed

Frogs in my bed!

2012-01-29T11:18:00.008-05:00

Mike here. Just wanted to document recent events for posterity.

Lately, Milo has been getting up in the middle night and coming to our room with a reoccurring nightmare. He says there are frogs in his bed. There has been a few times that we have heard him shriek in the middle of the night. Meg was telling me as I was starting my job in NC, Milo had a few of these similar nightmares in Toledo and he was inconsolable. Recently, he has been calmly walking into our room and informing us at 400am that there are frogs in his bed. We usually are able to scare the frogs away and put him back to bed.

It is sorta interesting because he is not inherently afraid of frogs themselves. Meg and Milo recently went to the natural history museum in Raleigh, and they had a reptile and amphibian display which included frogs. Milo apparently touched and handled every one of the animals they had on display. Also, our neighbors in Toledo had some concrete sculptures on their porch that were frogs doing human activities, such as reading a paper or smoking a pipe. Milo would often talk to the sculptures when he passed by them, and would offer them his favorite cars.

The other funny thing is the other day he woke up from a nap and told me there was fish in his bed. I asked which fish were in his bed, and he told me an anglerfish and a pufferfish was in his bed looking at him. I don't know if you have seen pictures of either, but both species are pretty freaky looking to me. I asked him if he was scared, but Milo told me they were friendly anglerfishes and pufferfishes, and they weren't bothering him.

Associations...

2012-01-23T11:29:00.002-05:00

As mentioned in the last entry, Milo's getting pretty good at making connections with random things in his life. This morning he was in fine form...

We're back in the habit of going to the library for new books, and Milo picked a good one, called "Toot, toot, zoom" about a fox named Pierre who drives his little red car over a mountain to find a friend, and in the process picks up a goat, sheep, and bear who all end up being his friends. While I was dealing with my own mountain of dishes this morning, Milo had picked out a little red wooden car and was "toot, toot, zoom!"ing it around the kitchen floor. I turned and asked him what he was doing, and he said "it's the little red car like in "toot, toot, zoom!"

Then he went to his train table for a bit. One of his new favorite items is a suspension bridge, and after catching a little bit of a cartoon about the Golden Gate Bridge the other day, I asked him what his bridge looked like, and we talked about the Golden Gate Bridge on Little Einsteins. Little Einsteins is kinda hoity-toity for a cartoon, if you ask me, using classical music, famous art work, and landmarks from around the world, but after this conversation, I have new respect. I asked Milo if he knew where the Golden Gate Bridge was, and he said, "by Coit Tower." What? What's Coit Tower? "It's by the Golden Gate Bridge." Eh? Over to the computer, and as I'm sure any of you more familiar with San Francisco than me know, Coit Tower is a landmark in San Fran's Telegraph Hill neighborhood. You're right, buddy! Do you know where Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge are? "By the redwood trees." Uh, yeah... Finally, I told him, all those things are in San Francisco. "Yeah! San Frisisco!" My kid's already reminding me of all the things I don't know.

Four generations...

2012-01-17T23:49:00.002-05:00

We named Milo for Mike's dad's side of the family. Mike's grandpa is Milo Khan Schroeder, Mike's dad is Milo Lawrence Schroeder, and because he never liked his name as a kid, Mike's dad (Larry) named Mike, Michael Lawrence Schroeder, affectionately known as M. Lawrence the second by a couple of us McGrail women. Mike and I decided to go with family tradition, and when we asked Larry if this was okay that we name his grandson the name he never liked, and he simply said, "he can have it." We were lucky enough to grab this picture of all 4 generations of Milos and pseudo-Milos this summer...

In case I forget...

2012-01-12T20:36:00.003-05:00

Loving how Milo's vocabulary is expanding all the time. And before I forget any more, wanted to jot down a few recent favorites.

"Hold Mommy and Daddy's hands?" as we're going for a walk. "We're all best friends!"

"Where's Santa?" Thanks to an entirely too generous family, our Christmas went on for well over a week, and now Milo doesn't understand where Santa has gone.

"I see a symbol!" What's the symbol, buddy? "It's a cross, it's a symbol for Jesus!" This one still gets me. We had a chat about crosses at church, now whenever he sees a cross on a steeple, this is our conversation. And now he's added, "What are the people doing in there? They're praying."

"I see those power lines! Just like in Hot Air Henry!" When we were in MN, there are significantly less trees surrounding the roads and you can see telephone lines and powers lines that much more. He was asking what they were, so I was trying in really simple terms to tell him about electricity getting to our houses by this lines, called power lines, and he goes, "oh, like in Hot Air Henry." So matter-of-factly. I forget that it just takes a good book reference and we're all good.

His new idiosyncrasy is plurals. He adds an additional "s" or "es" at the end of things that are already plural. Like "shoeses" or "coacheses" (what trains pull). Quirky.

Our ultrasound pictures of the new baby are on the fridge by the back door, and whenever we go outside he says "there's the baby in mommy's belly."

We've been praying before we go to sleep, and generally I ask who he wants to pray for, he goes through his list, and we pray. What I love about this is usually the front-runners are always the same, Grammie, TomTom, Nana, Booka, and Jake (guess cousin Jake needs a lot of prayer ;), but the others eb and flow more naturally. Maybe the simple mind of a 2yearold, maybe the moving of the spirit, but depending on who we've been talking about or seeing, or for no reason at all. Aunts and uncles and cousins often make the list several times a week, and tonight, without any natural reason I knew, Grandma Sue (my mom's mom) and Grandma Julie and Grandpa Milo (Mike's dad's parents).

EDIT: I forgot another great one the Mike reminded me of. One of Milo's new favorite movies is the new Winnie the Pooh, and while trying to open a couple of particularly well taped Christmas presents, Milo muttered under his breath, "oh stuff 'n' fluff." I love the he picked up on and used in the appropriate context the expletive of Pooh. Cracks me up.

And since I mentioned them above, I should probably post the ultrasound pics, huh? These were taken when I was about 21 weeks along. Mike knows the sex of the baby, but I'm still digging the surprise, so if you somehow find out through the grapevine, just don't tell me :) Everything's looking great, we're all good and healthy. Baby's due May 1st, but if I don't labor spontaneously before then, we'll have a scheduled c-section just to be careful since Milo was a c-section.

One of my favorite holiday memories...

2011-12-19T16:52:00.002-05:00

One of my mentors in life just blogged about giving this time of year, and it's provoked me to share a memory. I don't want to embarrass anyone, so we'll just say that a couple near and dear to me provided this memory for me.

They had heard of several families who going into the holidays were struggling to make ends meet, and decided on their own to do something about it. They purchased supplies for full holiday meals for each of the families, packaged them up, and attached anonymous notes letting them know that these items came from people who knew and cared about them, and simply wished them a merry and blessed Christmas.

They drove to each house, parked a little ways away, left the packages on the doorstep, rang the bell, and ran back to the car. They waited just long enough to make sure someone received the items, then drove away. No one, other than those who were there, ever knew who did this.

I know I love to get a great gift just like the next person. And I do love to give a good gift, but in my pride, partly I think I like to give great gifts because it's gratifying to me to know that on some level, I'm good. I'm a great gift giver. I don't give just to give, I give for that gratitude that follows the giving. It's still selfish giving. I will always look to this memory as the example of truly selfless giving, that doing good when no one's looking.

I don't remember who those families were. I don't remember what I got for Christmas that year. But I'll always remember that example of how to give.

Non-failure...

2011-12-04T21:34:00.004-05:00

To follow up on that last flop in parenthood, thought I'd share a fun time Milo and I, and then Mike joined in too, shared getting ready for the holidays. I had debated whether he was too young to help with the baking of the famous sugar cookies, batch #1, but I figured, why not?

We started one afternoon before naps, I mixed, Milo helped me count how many cups or tablespoons of things that we needed, and then we rolled out the dough. I mostly rolled out, he told me what cookie cutters to use, where to put them on the dough, and then he pushed the cutters through the dough. Overall, it worked quite nicely. I had thought we'd let them cool and then decorate them after naps, but alas, the two-year-old demon reared its ugly head again, so we decorated the next day. That worked out well as it meant Mike was able to help. We frosted and Milo was on sprinkle patrol. Just don't tell anyone from our small group in OH how many times Milo licked his fingers between cookies. I tried to wipe as many times as possible, but that colorful sprinkly goodness was too much for him :)

Overall though, a grand success, hopefully one to be repeated a few more times before Christmas actually arrives. And Blogger is being ridiculous with pictures so I'll see if I can post some later...

Failure...

2011-11-09T19:39:00.002-05:00

Tonight, even most of today, I am a failure as a parent. Not that this hasn't happened before, but Milo now has the ability to respond to my inability in much more harsh ways. I'm not actually sure if it's him or me, but it feels like me. This morning he was up early, so I was up early. I started out slow, we ate breakfast, and I started unpacking and moving things around with fervor. I've found I need to make use of these rare moments in pregnancy when some energy plus lack of nausea gives me a small window of opportunity. Small, lasted about an hour to ninety minutes. At which point, Milo got a little whiney, I got really tired and a little more aware of my rounder self, and we curled up on my bed with the computer tuned in to some favorite cartoons. I actually dozed off, not that that bother Milo, just meant he got to watch more.

Finally dragged myself up again, got us both dressed and decided we'd pack a lunch so we could head to the park when Mike got home a little after noon. Milo's been liking to help me in the kitchen, so I asked if he wanted to come sit on the counter. Yes. Ok. On the counter, I started to pull stuff out, he pitches a fit. OIy. Do you want some cars? No! Do you want to sit on the counter? No! Ok, down to the floor. NO! I WANT TO SIT ON THE COUNTER! I WANT SOME CARS! I try again and again to explain to him that when he says no, that means he does not want what I am asking, that if he does want that, he should say yes, or better, yes please. We're in the midst of this hopeless discussion when Mike comes in. Now it's escalated to Milo crying and yelling, "Mommy hold you Mommy hold you!" Bless his heart, Mike steps in, allowing me to pack lunch. The park was fairly successful, and after a little picnic and a lot of play, we headed back.

Some resistance to nap, but nothing I couldn't handle. He slept for a good 2, 2.5 hours and woke up super crabby. Usually I'd just leave him in bed and let him cry it out, but partly because I knew Mike would be heading to sleep, and partly because I thought a little mom-cuddle time might remedy the situation, I got him up. Bad idea. Cuddling work long enough for Mike to go to bed, then all hell broke loose. Everything I did or didn't do was wrong and resulted in screaming crying. Managed a decent dinner with the help of a Thomas episode, my kid's a couch potato at 2, another failure, we fought over him watching another one, then he didn't want to watch another one and wanted to finger paint. Okay, fine, I pull out some paints I managed not to pack and set him up. That lasts about 90 seconds before he wants me to paint for him. I try helping him paint, but that irritates him more. More tears and screaming. I have him sit on a chair with his blanket for a minute to regain control of his breathing. It's about 6:30pm and I'm praying for bedtime. Screw it. Ready for a bath, buddy? No bath!! Okay, straight to bed? NO, I WANT A BATH! Not this again. Go upstairs, run the bath, he brings some cars to play with, get him in the bath and he freaks out again. Throws his cars out of the tube, then screams that he wants his cars. Not going to give in to that one at the moment. He's crying, I'm trying to rub his back, which he seems to really like recently. Kinda helps. I ask him if his tummy hurts, thought he just ate fine, he says no, not that that means anything to him. I ask him if I can feel his teeth, which he always finds kinda funny, and is a good way for me to check and see if his molars are coming in. NO! Okay, out of the tube, into jammies, I pull some books and tell him to pick some to. He sees one of the ones I picked, usually one he likes, and he freaks out. I bring my pile to the rocking chair and sit, watching him cry, baffled. He finally comes over with a book, I read him about 8 books, stretching time to a little after 7pm, we rock a I try to snuggle, but now he's all energy and wants to tackle Sally who's by his bed. Fine. He does, then I do manage to tuck him in, he freaks out about a blanket he doesn't want, I cover his feet with it, give him a drink of water, say goodnight, and escape.

I can't believe I even say the word escape when it comes to my kid's room. I know that parenting isn't easy, I know I'm not always going to be the best, I know that my kid is 2 and going through all kinds of crazy changes right now, geographically, socially, physically, but how have I completely lost the ability to communicate with my child? How have I already forgotten how to find a way to steer him straight and find the balance between happiness and direction? I'm so tired tonight. And I really want a glass of wine and a pint of Chubby Hubby, neither of which are possible.

We moved.

2011-11-08T21:12:00.006-05:00

Here we are in NC. Kinda crazy, but we're really liking it so far. Mike picked out a great house for us to rent for a while so we can figure out the area, spend some time becoming parents again, you know, all that stuff. Milo seems to be adjusting well. Gotta say, it's great not having to worry too much about how much this will affect him. He still talks about people in Toledo, but I don't think he really gets what's happened. The most significant thing with him was his 15 hour sleep last night. Mike put him down for a nap around 3pm, he woke at about 4:15pm asking for some milk, went back to sleep, I started to worry about him being alive around 6:30/7pm, went to check on him, and he was half off his mattress (were mid-transition out of the crib = mattress on the floor), covered in his stuffed animals. I tried to gently move him back on his bed, he kinda whimpered and asked me to hold him, so we cuddled for a bit, and he passed out again. I even changed his diaper and put jammy pants on him without him waking. He stirred at about 1am, then about 5am, again asking for milk, I'm sure he was starving, and then was up about 6:30am. He was a peach today, great attitude all morning, super cute and funny. One of those mornings when I'm really grateful I don't have to go drop him off at someone else's for the day.

I'm moving a bit slower these days. Morning/anytime sickness is lessening finally, but not gone yet. I still require a nap pretty much every day. I'm anxious for my nesting stage to kick in, so I can really pull this place together, but I'm making progress. And we've got 4 bedrooms, so if anyone's up for a visit, let us know.

Mike seems to be loving this new position too. The team here seems a good fit for him, good for his personality and development plan as a pharmacist. And not gonna lie, I'm not missing the on-call or working weekends!

I am glad we're back together as a family again. A month was kinda tough. Mike and I saw each other one weekend in there when we were looking at places to live, but Milo didn't see his daddy for over a month. Though he is very resilient, his attitude in general, but specifically when I wasn't around or trying to leave him in the very able care of babysitters or nursery staff left much to be desired. He was really clingy, cried when I left which he didn't do much before, and spent some extra time in time-outs. He also had a couple of sad nights with bad dreams, all of which people have told me were indicators of him just knowing that his dad wasn't there. Again, just glad it's over.

Now he's busy saying things like, "Mommy you come with me to North Carolina?" and pretty much perpetually when he's not around, "where's Daddy? sshh, Daddy sleeping?" and one of my new favorites, "that's really wonderful!" He's thrown that one in once or twice in surprisingly appropriate times. This pic is one that my dad/moving truck driver-extraordinaire snapped enroute; we had stopped for lunch, and Milo loved to get up in the "penske truck."

**Mike Edit**

Milo has discovered how to use the itouch recently. He likes playing this puzzle game that involves routing cars and trains through busy intersections. He has beaten Dad's high score already. I was telling Meg I'm not sure whether to be proud or ashamed as a parent... :)

It reminds me of this video I saw recently; a commentary on where future generations may be heading?

Try and tell me I don't have the cutest kid...

2011-10-24T22:42:00.004-04:00

While Mom, Dad, and Heather were on Milo-duty recently so Mike and I could try and find a place to live, my dad snapped these shots with his phone. I'm all about just calling it a day for senior pictures. Seriously, can we really do much better than this? I know, I know, everyone has the cutest kid. And I'll try not to brag him up too much, this will be a moment for me, just let me have it.

On the same trip, on my way back through, we were sitting out on the deck having dinner, and Dad was messing with Milo, both of them sitting across the table from me, tickling him, make him crack up, all the things that are super helpful when trying to get a 2-yr-old to eat. Mike called, and while I was talking to him, all of a sudden, Milo starts repeating with more and more intensity, "What's wrong with Milo. What's wrong with Milo? What's wrong with Milo?!!" He had somehow become wedged between the highchair and table during one of the ticklings, and couldn't quite articulate in his confusion that something was wrong. And yes, we're still working on the third person reference. I think it's kinda funny.

On another front, our little family decided that we didn't have enough going on, and we'd add one more major life-change to our plate: I'm pregnant. Hopefully coming up on the end of the first trimester soon as I'm feeling pretty tired in general and over being nauseous and sick. We're really excited for another little Schroeder to be joining the clan around the end of April!

Kids say the darnest things...

2011-10-07T21:21:00.005-04:00

Funny story that happened a while ago...

We were walking through Macy's looking for some birthday ideas for my (Mike's) mom. At this point, Milo is getting a little squirrelly as it is getting close to nap time. But, he's still being a good kid having fun running through the store between the clothing racks. We wandered into the "intimates" section thinking maybe some nice new PJs might be nice. At this point, Milo goes into the lingerie section of the store where all the bras are hanging from the racks. At first, he thinks they are pillows (afterall, the larger cups are closer to the bottom), and he proceeds to lay his head against them. "Ohh...soft." Then a leopard print one catches his eye and he wanders towards it saying "Uh-huh...that's cute." From there, he is going around grabbing all of the various lacy and printed bras, critiquing them with "that's cute," and "that one is nice."

Mom is very embarrassed at this point, and Dad is very amused. Must have learned how to shop from watching Mom and Grammie.

Um, yeah...

2011-09-23T15:56:00.002-04:00

So we're moving. Again. Exactly 16 months after we moved to Toledo, we're now moving to NC. Mike's company offered him a pretty great opportunity, one that he's pretty psyched about, so we took it. That means he starts work on Monday, October 3rd. Yes, that's 10 days from today. Granted, we knew about this a couple of weeks ago, but he only interviewed for the job the last week of August. All that to say, everything's moving really fast, except me. I'm having a little bit of a hard time wrapping my brain around this one.

I'm actually really excited about everything that matters. We're moving to a little town outside Raleigh, which is an awesome area that both Mike and I love. Mike's job will be a grand improvement over his current one, everyone we talk to who knows anyone from there says it's such a great place for families. When we visited for a weekend when Mike interviewed, I found my new favorite farmer's market that's open year-round until 8pm every night. And all the homes we're looking at seem wonderful, and a great match for this new stage in life.

Maybe things are just moving faster than my brain is processing. Maybe I'm having a hard time explaining this to my new-found, dear friends here in Toledo. Maybe I'm more resistant to change than I would choose to admit, even good change. Anyways, I haven't started packing yet. But that's what tomorrow's for, right?

Milo says...

2011-08-03T22:04:00.005-04:00

Some other funny or impressive Milo-isms:

-"Schmutz" I'm personally very proud of this, though I'm thinking I've been mispronouncing the yiddish word "schmutz" all these years. Milo appropriately uses it to identify anything that shouldn't be there, i.e. "Mommy, some schmutz on me" (when there was dirt on his knee), "little schmutz on there" (when there is something on his hands or on whatever he's eating...) Highly useful term, I must say.

-"Daddy body slam!" Perfectly emphasized when Mike was laying on his back during a picnic recently. Soon followed by the appropriate action. Also works when wanting to smash our fluffy Siamese, "Charlie body slam!"

-"It disappeared!" Milo said this as he was covering his dinner with an empty bowl. I know, not earth shattering, but I thought fairly impressive for a 2-year old.

-While waiting in line to board the zoo train, Milo was low to the ground doing a low squat shuffle with his butt a couple inches off the ground and advancing through the line past unsuspecting people. When I asked him to come back, he turned around with a big grin on his face and said, "Milo sneaky!"

Miles of Smiles...

2011-07-13T13:36:00.006-04:00

I used to call you that, when you were tiny and had just learned to smile. You smiled at everyone and everything. Put a camera in your face, and you grinned. And this year you turned 2, and your smile literally went for miles.

It started at Nana and Booka's house in MN, where you graciously shared a celebration and cake with me, and got to spend some quality time with your namesakes. Hanging with Grandpa Milo and Grandma Julie, reading with Grandpa Milo, running in the yard with Booka to set a fish in his pond! Good thing you got to see
him go in because everytime you went to look for him after that he was hiding under a rock. Nana made one of your favorites, just for you, 'ghetti and meatballs! Booka works hard a teaching you all kinds of bad manners, and we all love it! Nana even got you a new Lightning McQueen suitcase with wheels that fell over and slammed onto their kitchen floor; you were scared of it for a while, but now I have to hide it in the closet because you always want to pull it everywhere you go! You also got to splash in Dandy's pool with Nana, and use your new watering can to water Nana's garden. And nothing beats walking to the parks by Nana and Booka's house with the great
slides and swings. Booka's got you hooked on underdogs now. And one of your highpoints of this trip: going to see your first movie! Cars 2, of course. Booka wouldn't wait so your daddy could take you, he loves to steal those firsts ;) Your eyes were the size of saucers the whole time, but you sat so well through the whole thing.

Then we jumped another plane where we continued the birthday celebration in NJ with Grammie and TomTom, Auntie Heather, Auntie Mandy, Jake and Sam, and the whole Furler Clan. On your birthday, we went to a model train exhibit that you didn't want to leave; you climbed on a play wooden train outside, and you oogled all the different
kinds of trains inside, chugging on their miniature tracks. Then we went to the zoo, and on this trip, your favorite thing was actually a couple of goats that kept nimbling your fingers with their lids through a fence. We ended the trip with rides on the carosel and a trackless train and then a picnic of one of your favorite things, McNuggets and fries! The next day, we had your first pool party at Grammie
Sue and Grandpa Al's house, where you cried about getting in the pool before you realized that it was fun to float in that pink floatie with a couple of your cars. Then you got to eat one of your other favorites: pizza! And you snubbed your nose
at the fancy cupcakes that Grammie and I went to 2 different places to find. But all the other kids at your party loves them, Jake, Sam, Louisa, Henry, and Drew. I don't think baby Clara got to try a bite, though Grammie tried to feed her some.
All your new friends already knew you so well and gave you all your new favorite cars and books! And then you got to drive in TomTom's RV most of the way home.
Between the trains, planes, and loads of different automobiles, oh and the bikes, not a bad celebration for a 2-year-old who loves things that go.

Love you, buddy. Happy belated birthday! Looking forward to seeing so many more!

The perfect day...

2011-07-04T23:59:00.009-04:00

Today was one of those unplanned, unscheduled, perfect days. Don't get me wrong, mostly I am a list maker, appointment maker, and schedule keeper, though often late for any and all of the above. But today, we had no plans, we just did what we wanted to do, when we wanted to, and it was great.

Mike worked the obscenely early morning shift and was home by 7:30, and sent me back to bed. Very nice man that he is, realizing I'm next in line to catch the plague that Milo has been surviving, he let me sleep 'til about 10. We then took our time, doing the "what do you want to do?" "I don't know what do you want to do?" dance. We had both looked for fun 4th of Julyish-type things to do, but seems as though most of those happened over the weekend.

So we finally decided to grab some food and go to a park. Milo was on board as long
as there were slides and swings involved. Right as we were walking out the door, Mike got paged in. No worries, we're flexible today. Drop Mike at work, go grap some take-out, go back to get Mike, eat lunch in the car 'cause Milo and I were impatient and hungry. Grab Mike, head to the park. Slide down some slides, relax in the shade. Hey look, there's the ice cream man. Milo's never had an ice cream from a real ice cream truck. Mike holds him up and he points to the one he wants, a perfect "snack sized" option ideal for toddlers with no attention span, even for ice cream. Back to sit in the shade, eat ice cream, then back to the slide and swings.

Gets hot and maybe sunburn-inducing bright. Milo hears a train whistle. Want to see the train? Okay, let's see if we can find it! Sure enough, Daddy's a pretty good train chaser. He finds one that's stopped along the track, and he and Milo get out to take a closer look. Then it starts to move again, and so do we.

Milo falls asleep in the car on the way home, and I join him in nap mode when we get back to our place. Mike's still working overnight, so he too heads to bed shortly. When Milo wakes up from his nap, we meander down to the garage, hop on the bike, and go to water our community garden. Milo hangs out, sits on a towel eating goldfish, then off to help me water the plants, then off to play with his trucks. We take the scenic route home, along the river, check out a momma and some teenage ducklings, feed them a few of the remaining goldfish, go across a cool bridge, and then back home for dinner, bath, and bedtime stories. A great day. Not particularly patriotic, but full of fantastic moments.

Couple cute/funny Milo soundbites...

2011-05-11T20:57:00.000-04:00

"Love you Charlie!" with his face smashed into the cat's side. At least we know he's not allergic.

Mike and I have decided that euphemisms are not always helpful, especially with body parts so we'll just call them what they are. So Milo's sitting on the couch, fully clothed, the other day and he just says, "penis." I reply "Where's your penis, Milo?" He says, "it's hiding."

We're at Red Lobster. After checking out the live lobsters in the tank, a great employee even pulled one out for Milo to see and touch, TomTom passes a lobster tail carcass for Milo to check out. "Cockroach?" he asks. Hee hee, I can't even help myself, I'm laughing out loud. "Cockroach! Wall-e da bug da cockroach!" he yells, grinning from ear to ear (translation: Wall-e's pet bug the cockroach, he's into that Pixar flick now, and he loves that cockroach)

Where do Nana and Booka live?

2011-04-19T14:20:00.001-04:00

Happy 32 Handsome!

2011-04-13T17:56:00.004-04:00

He'd never tell you himself, and he always makes sure the wait staff knows not to sing to him, but on his day, I guess it's my right to announce to the world that my man has survived one more year. I do say survived because I think esp. this past year may have been a little tough on him. I know I have been. And Milo's into his two's already though his birthday isn't until June. And yet here he is, with a great job, taking great care of his family, setting us up well for the future asking all those questions about saving for college for Milo and the like. Mike is an internalizer, and this is a little tough on me his verbal-tirade-inflicting wife, so sometimes we have to dig a little bit, but he's also so talented and so smart. He has seen much and sometimes calls himself cynical, and maybe that's true, but he is also good and generous. He loves to give nice gifts; now that we have a little more cushion, he gives so generously without much thought. And as we start to formulate the priorities in our lives, who we want to be as parents and role models for our kid, I love that he gives so quietly and effortlessly. He is also the best dad. He loves to take Milo out on an adventure. Whether it's a walk down the street to the park, across town to the "good" park for swings, slides, and flying a kite, or over to the Imagination Station, Mike loves to have fun with Milo. He also loves that Milo loves things like fries and pizza and Chipotle. He gets almost as excited as Milo over things like the moon in his room and building things out of his leggos. Happy Birthday, Mike. Love ya.

Manos Garden...

2011-04-08T11:09:00.003-04:00

I've somehow been included in an exciting new adventure. I think sometimes God has a way of answering prayers before you even know how to ask for it. My friend Jackie and I had been looking into getting into a community garden and not having much luck, as most plots were full with waiting lists, far away, or not easy to work with. I happened upon a free garden class at the library downtown here by us, and all of a sudden made a couple of connections. I realized that one of the guys I had been trying to contact about a garden was an expert at the class, and then we started talking, and I'm putting it altogether and he's telling me about a couple of potentials. I gathered his and a few other's information, and left excited and not so scared (Mike's dad justifiably reminds me of my "black" thumb :)

After emailing this guy again, I arbitrarily picked this garden about a mile from me because it was the closest one. He then connected me with the gal in charge of that garden, and after emailing her, she sent back a reply saying they were having a meeting regarding that garden the next day. I scrambled to get my babysitter lined up, everything worked out, so I hesitantly attended this meeting the next afternoon.

I rapidly realized that I was in over my head in terms of experience, and then realized that this was not exactly what I initially thought. I say at a conference table in a house belonging to the botanical gardens surrounded by 4 master gardeners, the seeming main guy, Michael, with the non-profit associated with the botanical garden for a group called Toledo Grows, the gal in charge of this garden, Alison, and it sounded like several other projects, and a couple of other community members who seemed well-versed in gardens, plants, and ...birds? I was a little confused.

Then it starts to come into focus that this garden isn't really established yet, but not only is it going to be a community garden, it's going to be a project that handicapped adults in Toledo will come and work, in addition this woman, Helen who works with these adults, is also in partnership with a birding society at Cornell and they have interest in making this an urban site to watch local fowl. Helen is also in partnership with a corporation that supports this program with the adults and several more so there's various funding options available. Three of the 4 master gardeners are newly graduated from their master gardener's class and excited about taking an active mentoring role in this locations, it's in an interesting location in Toledo highly connected with the arts community, so there's already been a mural painted onsite and this whole group wants to continue this commitment through other art structures or works and in the actual layout of the garden. They have already started in motion the necessary steps to get it on the weekly art walks in the summer. There's another gentleman, Brian, at this table who is a contractor who also works with at-risk kids, kids who have been in juvenile detention and the like, who is on board to build a terraced garden complete with rain collection barrels, all sorts of raised beds, and a rain garden, whatever that is. And then there's Susan, the master gardener who taught the class I took at the library who is also connected in various ways to the local community college and thus has student volunteers available and some funding as well.

All of this stuff that is way over my head is flying back and forth across the table, and I'm watching all this like a tennis match, and then they turn to me. Why am I here? Uh, well, I'd like to try not to kill some tomatoes, maybe some peppers or peas...? Alison graciously steps in and explains that I live in the area and represent the families in the area. Wait a second, represent? I've somehow become a participant in this project that has the power, knowhow, and ability to create this space that will literally change the face of this part of the city. What?

I called my mom, all excited and overwhelmed, and she says that I have to blog about this! And I'm like, yeah, okay, write about how I'm this random, under-qualified, most-likely-to-kill-anything-that-grows stay-at-home mom who's going to try and blend into this group until they realize I'm ruining my corner of their art. But then again... So here's where we're starting, an empty lot with a beautiful mural on one end. And I've even started some tomatoes, peppers and peas from seed. Maybe I can do this. I'll let you know.

Yummy yogurt

2011-04-03T23:02:00.000-04:00

Just cute...

2011-04-03T21:38:00.001-04:00

Some recent cute pics, nothing in particular...

Better late than never...

2011-03-07T20:40:00.010-05:00

I'm behind as usual with this online journal of my family's life. But I am a firm believer in the truth in the title of this post, and so I will continue on. This one actually has dual meaning...

A couple weeks ago, we fully utilized our close proximity of Em and Logan Cotter (Furler) to take advantage of this portal into the Furler family. I've been joking with Em, hoping that she doesn't feel like I use her to see the rest of her family, and I'm hoping that Milo and I have been spending enough time with just Em and Drew to make that real, but nevertheless, we took advantage of them again. First for Sue, now for Sarah, Kyle, and Livy.

Sarah and I are 2 of the middle daughters in this McGurfer conglomerate, so we tended to spend the most time together growing up. Common interests of epic computer games (Kings Quest of course being the favorite) and legos, sealed the deal. Unfortunately as we've grown into adults, we've been far apart geographically and not able to see each other very often, or at all. Crazy enough, or maybe not so crazy as I always seemed to be following her as a kid, we married within weeks of each other, her in July, me in August, and then had our kids within months, Livy born in April, Milo in June. But we haven't seen each other since we've had babies.

Em was a gracious host, and we played together, trying to make friends with each other's kids; I think Livy is still a little wary of this crazy lady, but I'll win her over :) Drew and Livy were on much more similar nap schedules, so it seemed like Milo was often sleeping when they were awake, but we managed some good kid time. The six adults played a game reminiscent of ourchildhood in the Furler household, a great train game called Ticket to Ride, and Sarah smashed all of us. Then, so familiar to me and Sarah, everyone else went to bed, and she and I talked until the wee hours of the morning. Sarah is still the most staunch night owl I know. Most of us in our old age ;), can stay up late, but generally find a happy medium, but Sarah still doesn't seem tohit her stride until about 10 or 11 at night, and is really her best after midnight. It was great though, catching up on each other's lives, laughing and comparing notes as moms.

I've really loved getting to know the Furlers again as adults. I know them because we share history; I know where they come from and where they've been. But it's like starting the next book in the series when we hang out as adults: the characters are all the same, the history is still there, but our characters have continued to grow and change as our families have grown and changed. I will always love Sarah, and she'll always be one of my closest friends, as we add years and kids to our lives. And it's fun to get to know Em as an adult, to catch up on a few thingsI might have missed because I was just a little older, and to see her as a mom and wife, especially as we're both at home with our kids.

Post Note: No idea what's going on with my font and underlining... Maybe it'll just magically be right again on the next post... Hopefully...

Favorite songs...

2011-03-02T22:38:00.005-05:00

I hope you can hear this, totally cute... Starts off with the ABCs, sort of. Then moves on to "the wheels on the bus." Next time you see him, we'll demonstrate in person!

For Gaye...

2011-03-02T19:10:00.002-05:00

About a week ago, I was starting to unload a clean dishwasher when Milo toddled over. My first instinct was to sternly say "no!" There were sharp things, breakable things, just stuff I didn't want him getting into. But in the split second that I hesitated, I heard my friend Gaye's voice in my head, talking about how kids just want to be an active, participating member of their community, however that looks. Gaye is a Montessori teacher and administrator, and though Milo's a little young for some of the programing, this basic lesson struck me.

I took out all the knives and anything else that I was really worried about, and then asked Milo to hand me the spoons and forks out of their basket. He handed me 2 or 3 at a time, and I put them away in the drawer. I grabbed the bigger, heavier ceramic plates out of the bottom, and then told Milo to hand me the smaller ones. After we finished the bottom rack, I pulled out the top rack, put away most of the mugs and glasses pretty fast, and then handed Milo his plastic sippy cups and tops. He has two drawers at the bottom that he has free reign in, one with tupperware, and the other with his cups, etc. in it. I told him to stack his cups and put them in his drawer, and he did!

Great reminder for me that 1) I don't always have to say "no," 2) I can make chores a fun task for both of us, 3) Milo and I make a great team, and best of all 4) he's not always set on making messes :)

Foreshadowing.... Hopefully...

2011-02-19T07:53:00.002-05:00

Caught the boys testing out their musical talents at Nana and Booka's house over Thanksgiving (we're having a hard time getting videos off our camera, so I know, it's a little belated). One thing that I think my parents did a pretty good job with, but Mike's parents did amazing with was instilling a love for music, both listening and creating. I hope that we can gently do the same. I struggle with how best to do this, but as this shows, maybe it's not really up to me anyways... Nana and Booka, thanks for all your support of Mike and his various musical interests!

Grandma Sue Squared...

2011-02-15T23:36:00.004-05:00

Milo got some pretty special lovin' all in one week at the end

of January. Yeah, I'm a little behind in this little online journal, don't you judge me ;) We started out with a quick trip to Columbus to visit Em (Furler) Cotter and sweet Drew. Hee hee, he really is sweet, but I laugh because he just loves to grab Milo's hair in his little mitts. I don't think it actually hurts Milo that much, but I think he's generally surprised when this happens; maybe because hair is such a new development for him ;)

Em's mom, and my 2nd mom growing up, Sue, was also there for a visit for Drew's dedication. Though we've pretty much continually been in touch, I haven't seen Sue in years, for sure since before Milo was born. One of the things I cherish most about our unique relationship with the Furler clan is that it never matters the last time we saw them, it's always the same: comfortable, fun, relaxing, and joyous. Sue is my mom's best friend, Al is my dad's best friend, Em, Sarah, and Laura are some of the best friends we McGrail girls will ever know, and though

we have added to our numbers with husbands and kids, these relationships are still the same, maybe a little different as we fill different roles in our lives, but still as powerful and

meaningful. And Em will be Aunt Em to Milo, and Sue will be Grandma Sue. It's just how it's supposed to be, it's right.

A couple days later, we gathered Grammie Kris and hit the road to Iowa to attend Cousin Sarah's baby shower, got to spend some QT with Nana Steph and Auntie Karen while we were in Ames, and then spent a good couple of days with my

Grandma Sue, Milo's great-grandma. Grandma Sue is another tremendous woman. Her house, though new to our family in the past couple of years, is always like coming home. She has a way of welcoming people into her space

that makes you feel like you've always been there and should always continue to be there. I make myself at home, help myself to coffee and cake for breakfast, and then we giggle that I did so. Though she's my mom's mom, there isn't enough years between all of us to really make that feel relevant; she's funny and kind and sweet and sassy, and she loves my kid. Even when he's a brat at her house, she loves my kid.

To my Grandma Sues: thanks for continuing to be instrumental in my life and my kid's life. Love you so much!

Cute Milo-isms...

2011-02-10T14:34:00.004-05:00

Some funny things that Milo has been saying recently:

"Opeley" (open it)

"Da-un-too" (that one too)

"Read it daddy... pleez! More prayer pleez! More prayer! Pleez! Prayers!" (asking Mike to read "The Lord's Prayer Book" over and over and over and over and over...)

"maggets" (magnets)

"Bump head!" (whenever anything falls or bumps anything, aka Milo stubs toe, trucks fall off the table, etc)

"legs legs legs!" (when he wants to walk up mommy's legs and body and stand on her shoulders)

"hiding" (his answer to whenever anything is not readily noticeable, aka the moon is behind the clouds, kitties are in the other room, etc.)

"loud" (any noise that is not talking or music)

"tunes!" (when he wants us to turn on his mp3 player; no we did not buy him that, but Auntie Mandy knows how to give the best gifts!)

"winnow!" (he wants to look out the window)

"crabby happy" (if he's still cranky in the morning, we asked if he's crabby or happy; if he's still crabby, he stays in bed; this is generally his answer, both equally, but sometimes he just walks around saying this to himself)

"applesauce" (for both the actual substance applesauce, and for a book of opposites)

"Llama drama" (either when he's picking out books to read and wants to read "Llama llama" or when he's having a little bit of a fit. Because he'd never be a drama queen. Oh wait, that's another one, "drama queen")

He's also counting to 10, sometimes 12, sometimes counting nothing in particular. And we've been working on spelling his name. Right after I told Mike that he could follow my prompting of "how do you spell your name? M..." he'd follow with "I...L...O!!" he decided to spell his whole name, just to prove mommy wrong. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch, but I'm sure we'll add more later...

*Post-Note*

I just figured out another one that's been plaguing Mike for days. Had no idea what he meant when he was running around saying "baygofaygo"? Yeah, didn't you catch it? That means motorcycle. Duh.

Kinda crabby...

2011-01-19T19:07:00.002-05:00

We're having a crabby night, but Milo's enthralled with the camera on the computer, so we started playing around a little...

A good night...

2011-01-14T18:30:00.002-05:00

Friday nights are a little weird in the Schroeder household, now that Mike's been working nights, but still kinda great. Not your typical Friday night by most people's standards, but I kinda dig 'em. Tonight, we're waiting for "Header" to get here (Auntie Heather), Mike had a little rest, so he'll be good until at least 7pm ;) And Milo and I have just been having a nice easy day hanging together. If Milo had his way, you would sit and read every book on his shelves to you, then we would build a tunnel out of legos or lincoln logs, then we'd read all the books again. Maybe we'd watch an episode of Mickey Mouse if mom was feeling lazy. He's been in a great mood recently, making it easier for me to be home with him, even when my maternal instincts and unconditional love are not particular potent. Right now, after a great meal where the alien kid asked for a second helping of asparagus, Mike's cracking him up stuffing his stuffed green monkey in his sock-monkey lunch box. It's a good night.

I met someone...

2011-01-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

Yeah, not what you're thinking, but still pretty exciting. It's still awkward moving as an adult and trying to build a new network. Really having to put yourself out there, almost like you are dating, but dating to find friends. Which is both easier and worse all at the same time. With dating, at least if the person is a total dud, you can say something like, yeah this was fun, but it's just not working out, and probably never see them again. With friends, it's this weird, I'm needy but not too needy, I'm interesting but not self-involved, you need to sell yourself and check the other person out, and without being too selective as to close doors, but not ending up with a bunch of people who suck you dry of any social energy. And unlike dating, or at least dating when you're without child, you do want to try to find people of similar interests and commitments, ie parents, but that in and of itself is a challenge because you either meet them and get to know their life story in the 8.2 minutes your kid is willing to put up with you after library time, or you have to very deliberately put yourself in situations where these conversations might happen wherever you as adults choose to be, ie work, church, etc.

I haven't had great luck up to this point, but Milo was in fine form after Mother Goose Time at the library today, so we stayed and hung out for a couple of minutes. I struck up a conversation with another mom who also just moved to the area from out-of-state, who is also a stay-at-home mom, and who also does not seem crazy or annoying. We're heading to the zoo this weekend, so I mentioned where we were going, we exchanged emails and phone #s, and I think she might really be a friend. She even introduced me to another one of the moms at story time, and thus the networking begins.

It's so funny the thoughts that chase through my head in all of this: am I cool enough, am I a good enough friend that someone will be as excited about meeting me as I am about them, will we have enough in common to keep us going but be different enough so as not to be boring? Will our kids get along? Does that matter, or will we make them get along so we can hang out? How soon do I email her so as not to seem too desperate, but interested enough so that the newness of our meeting doesn't rub off? Did me not taking a shower this morning cause her to doubt my overall hygiene and thus ruin our chances to be kindred spirits? I think I'm a little paranoid. And in all reality, and maybe this is a sad statement of who I have become, but I really am so happy and feel so blessed with all the kindred spirits I've met in my many moves and travels, that I almost feel like I don't need any more. That I have a great many great friends, they just don't happen to be in Toledo. But as I'm here longer and Milo gets older, I think it's important to both of us to make connections and be social. And if not just for us, but for what we can offer, how we can help and serve. If nothing else, listening to the President last night reminds me to be involved, to be a part of a community that binds together, not isolates.

Gotta laugh sometimes...

2011-01-06T19:58:00.002-05:00

So 24 hours after talking about how great he is, Milo proceeded to drench me with one of his squirting bath toys tonight. He got himself too, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't on purpose, but on the other hand...

Then in the free-spirit inspiration of the Rohl boys, I let Milo run nakie from his bath to the living room, giggling like a little imp, and he proceeded to pee on the rug. Guess potty training is quite a ways off. Maybe this just fortifies what I said last night, I'm not sure yet ;)

He's the best he's ever been...

2011-01-05T21:46:00.003-05:00

I'm sure every parent says this more than once, but I think I like Milo now more than ever. I will always love him, but recently, he's been whining and crabby and sassy, and I wonder why I'm at home with him and why Mike doesn't understand when I need "mommy time." But these past couple of days, he's been a gem.

He's funny, he laughs, he's creative, he's doing more of what he wants to do and not just what I suggest or make him do. And he initiates and associates. For instance, he'll look down the hall and ask, "daddy sleeping?" Mike's working his 1:30am shifts and goes to bed early in the afternoon or evening; Milo sees our door closed and wants to know where his daddy is. I open the laptop, and he asks "Tom Tom? Grammie go? Header [Heather]? Tom Tom?" because we've been skyping with them as they are missing each other. The other day, we were playing in the living room, and he must have heard something outside our door because he looked up and said "Booka Booka... Nana!" (Larry and Steph were here over Christmas and he was still expecting them to walk thru the door again)

He also wants to smell all flowers. The lego flowers, the flowers in his books, the flowers on the inside of my jacket. I'm not sure when this started, but Mike and I were wondering at this abstract sense. I mean really how do you teach smell? He's grasped the concept of hiding: the

moon hides behind the clouds at night, when he can't find his car, it's hiding. He likes to dance to music, make towers, kiss every one of his stuffed animals, and pets Sally and Charlie (the

cats). He makes friends with everyone, playing peek or saying hi or bye, blowing kisses, yeah, he's a ladies' man... (here he is schmoozin' with Miss Polly)

And I love that I can still make him laugh, whether he wants to or not. I know just where to tickle him and he can't help but crack up. I know how to make Mickey Mouse play peek with him that will always crack a smile. We actually communicate now; he talks to me and I respond or vice versa. He can verbalize what he wants or needs and I can respond, not always the response he desires, but he understands. And he loves to walk, and I really do think he was just so frustrated there for a while when he was still a little uncertain on his newly found feet. Amazing what a few words and some confidence can do.

Maybe I like this time because it's finally just a little easier: he's taking epic naps, goes down nicely at night, is healthy and eating a little better, we're all on a better schedule. Whatever it is, I really like him. I get a big ol' smile on my face when I get to go get him out of his crib. I might just have to go oogle him now...

Christmas traditions...

2010-12-14T23:25:00.005-05:00

Mike's parents are coming to us for Christmas, and we're soooooooooooo excited!! Especially because for the first time in a long time, I'm falling back to one of my original loves: special event coordinating. And what better special event than Christmas with Nana and Booka? I've started my lists, things to do divided into 2 sub-lists ofASAP and "by the time they get here," things to bake, things to make, grocery list, and Mike and I worked on the schedule of events, including menus for each day. I know, I know, I'm a little crazy. But I'm excited, and I don't want to forget anything! Plus, I do really think it cuts down on any potential stress or worry when I know what I've got to do, when I've got to have it done, and my favorite, crossing completed tasks off my list.

In and amongst all this, we've started thinking about our own traditions. Which of the Schroeder's do we want to continue on, which of the McGrail's? What will we do differently? So

far, most of our traditions seem

to be centered on food: Steph's

sausage and egg hotdish (this recipe originated in MN, so it will remain "hotdish" though we are now in the land of "casseroles") is on the docket for Christmas morning. French toast fondue maybe Christmas Eve morning from Shirley Bird via the McGrails. And Mike and I love turkey dinners so much, we're looking to establish round 2.

I'm also a sucker for decorations though I'm a little limited in a 900 square-foot condo, so those traditions might wait. I do love my family's tradition of new PJs to open Christmas Eve, and I don't know where this came from, but we always buried a nut in whatever dessert we ate on Christmas Eve, and whoever got the nut in their serving got to "play Santa" and give out all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning. I don't know why that was so exciting, but I distinctly remember Heather always getting the nut and being really disappointed. Christmas Eve service is also on the schedule. I love the evening service with every great carol, the manger scene, and hopefully

candle lighting. I have a warm spot around my heart right now thinking of all those Christmas Eve's...

What are your favorite traditions? What do you remember loving from your childhood? What makes Christmas Christmas for you? Though I must warn you, if you post something I like, I feel I should reserve the right to steal it for our own... :)

One of my new favorite holiday things...

2010-12-09T20:20:00.002-05:00

These guys are super talented and make me giggle... They're called Straight No Chaser; have you heard of them?

Generations...

2010-12-09T15:19:00.010-05:00

When we were back for about 24 hours in the Cities during Thanksgiving, we were able to see Grandma Julie and Grandpa Milo briefly. From Great Uncle Hooks and Great Auntie Boggy came a set of blocks from the 1920's that we think Grandpa Milo played with when he was a kid. I love that our Milo can have this amazing relationship, even long distance with his namesakes. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that somehow Milo might get special treatment,

but then I see these pictures and see Milo and Julie with cousin Collin, and I know it's all in my head.

Yes, I think Grandpa Milo and Grandpa Larry enjoy and hopefully feel the honor and respect that we intended when we named the munchkin, but I don't think that is any more special that what they feel for Collin, or than what Mike feels for Collin (Collin's middle nameis Michael). All this to say, I am so grateful for the few stolen moments with grandparents and great-grandparents with my kid. I think I feel this significantly more as a parent than I ever felt before. This Thanksgiving there was lots to be thankful for too: we were able to see Great-grandma Weezie, Great-grandma Sue, and Great-grandma Julie and Great-grandpa Milo all in one trip. Sadly missing one dear grandpa and one sweet grandma...

Pock-ee

2010-12-07T08:26:00.002-05:00

A little giggle for you this Tuesday morning. Milo has a couple of pairs of overalls with a little pocket on the front, and we like to stick things in this pocket for him, his cars, crayons, etc. And he looks down, says "pock-ee," and reaches to grab the item. Now this little game has taken and interesting turn. Now he thinks that he always has a pock-ee on his chest and has started shoving things down his shirt. Cars, crayons, blocks, whatever seems like it should fit. Even a small semi truck when we were at Auntie Barb's over Thanksgiving. The other day, which please don't judge me as a mother, we also have two cats that find anything that might be fun to fling around our wood floors, whether they be on the counter, in a dish on the table, well out of reach of our small child, but anyways, longest run-on sentence ever. The other day I found a button in the front of Milo's diaper. Inside his diaper inside his onesie. Oiy. Pock-ee strikes again.

Chatting...

2010-11-17T16:41:00.002-05:00

This is a little older, but I was just going thru some pics from when we were in Atlanta for Sam's baptism, and found this cute video...

Swinging the pendulum to another extreme...

2010-11-16T23:01:00.003-05:00

I've now been a full-time stay-at-home mom for a full month now, sans part-time job. And I'm finding my list of projects that I've been putting off for years a little daunting, so I take baby steps. Or at least they started as baby steps, and now they're at about a gallop. Oh yeah, Milo's starting to walk. I put this in as a side note because I am convinced that he could have been walking a good couple of months ago; he just chose not too. Not that I really mind, the longer he doesn't walk, the longer he doesn't run, and the slower my life remains. I would post a video, but I've lost my camera attachment so the videos remain encased in my camera. Anyways, projects completed: two chairs and a couch covered, pillows recovered, several Christmas gifts made, lots of cooking and baking, some care packages in the works, new pants made for Milo, a flannel board expanded and added to for the munchkin's amusement, Milo's bumper (now dust-ruffle finally complete, almost 2 years later)... The list goes on.

I feel like I've been creatively constipated and now all rushes forth. I actually have a list of all the things I would like to make. I have sticky notes on my computer desktop tracking my Christmas lists, my to-do list, and recipes to try. Please don't read this the wrong way, I'm not really that talented, but I've decided to get back to my roots, if you will, pre-Gap, back to a time when I had no money and no pressure to be dressed "current." Back to "if I can make it, I should" or "I'm not going to buy something that I could make." This is both a blessing and a curse: I have been mildly successful on a few attempts, saving money and gaining personal worth when lacking the affirmation from a paycheck or a boss. But the list never ends, and just because I could make it, doesn't necessarily mean I should make it. Plus I'm now inundated with all of the things that I'm going to make. Some day. I think I'm driving Mike a little crazy. Or a lot.

I'm drowning in my own lists. How is it that I have the most time now than I've ever had before in my life, but there's still never enough time? I think I am my own worst enemy, to use another cliche. No one expects any of these things from me, in fact, I'm pretty sure Mike's not the only one who thinks I'm crazy. I think I've swung too far to the other side. It used to be that I really didn't have any time so I never could do any of these things, bake bread, sew, make a gift, but now that I have more time, I'm allowing it to swallow me.

I think I will make an early resolution: one project at a time. I want to get back into reading more again, I want to try a yoga class, I want to go to bed early and not feel like I have to finish whatever it is I might be working on or thinking about. I've read so many times about taking time for yourself, but I still have a hard time resonating with that. It sounds so selfish, so not helpful, so lazy. But I think I'm realizing that really it might be better for everyone if I just chill out a little. Stop and kick some leaves. I'm pretty sure Mike will appreciate it. I am not the energizer bunny, and I don't really want to be. Ah, now to just convince my brain of all of this.

We've created a monster...

2010-10-27T22:02:00.004-04:00

Though I have no photographic evidence of the following, I am afraid it is true. In a moment of weakness, and in the midst of a nasty head cold, Mike and I put the movie "Cars" on for Milo a couple ofnights ago to assuage a particularly bratty moment before bed. We already knew he liked it because he stared transfixed and made car noises while watching it at Jake's house. And it worked: he settled down, even snuggled in, and sat peacefully next to our lethargic selves for a blessed few minutes before bed that night.

But now the beast has been unleashed. I realized after a few frustrating "conversations" with Milo, that "'ning" means "Lightning" aka the main character in "Cars," and he now demands that it plays most of the time, pleading "'Ning, 'Ning!" while pointing at the TV. In the beginning, not going to lie, I pretended like I didn't know what he was talking about, and truth be told, I didn't, but then even when I figured it out, I still plead ignorance. But my inadequacies in deciphering his vernacular did not bode well with my 1-year-old.

We try to keep him away from the TV, he has plenty of mind stretching toys and books, and

most of the time, he wouldn't care one way or the other if the TV was on or not. But now Pandora's box is open. What is the best balance between nerdy book but potentially socially inept kid, and over stimulated but culturally relevant kid? Eh...

In the meantime, here are some cute, pics, nothing from the past week; unfortunately I have

misplaced my camera case, and with it our attachment which allows us to download pictures from the camera, so deal with these in the meantime...

What do you do when your 1-year-old is manipulating you at 4am? Laugh...

2010-10-24T11:39:00.002-04:00

Ah the stories of parenthood. While spending the night at Grammie and TomTom's recently, Milo and I spent a painful night. I'm fighting an annoying head cold, and he's going thru a waking up in the middle of the night thing that we're all having a tough time kicking. I think we've started a couple of bad habits with good intentions, but as my college roommate Heidi's dear Grandma Norma always used to say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

He had woken up a couple times earlier, but had gone back to sleep on his own, but at about 4am, he started asking for his "bot-too" or bottle. I got up and pointed out that he had his bottle (bottle of water) in his bed, and tried to hand it too him. "No no no," he says, waving it away, "Bot-too!!" I again try and explain to him that he has his bottle. "Pleez mum pleez! Bot-too! Bot-too!" Now he's kinda crying and being overdramatic and I'm getting a little irritated. I mostly like it that he now has enough words to communicate a bit more effectively, but sometimes it also drives me a little crazy. He starts pointing to the dresser where I had left out a bottle with some formula in the bottom and a bottle of water to mix if needed. The kid recognizes that this bottle offers something far better than the bottle of water in his bed, points, and emphasizes "pleez mum pleez mum! Bot-too, BOT-TOO!!" I couldn't help it, I laughed. He's so much smarter than we give him credit for, and though this was falling right back into the habit we were trying to break, I mixed the formula, and chuckling, gave it to him. He grinned, like "finally, she got it!" and said happily, "bot-too!"

I quit...

2010-10-05T11:04:00.002-04:00

So I started a new gmail account when we moved here, mostly because James was making fun of me for not having one so he could message with me during our at-home-parenting moments, and without really thinking about it I chose "meg on the edge." I just felt like this, maybe more than any other time in my life, was going to be a great season of change. I'm on the edge of all kinds of new things, new geography and thus new people, new role in life, new schedule, new perception of our future as a family.

And as I went into this season, almost fully knowing but not really recognizing, I've tried to hold on to things that are easy and comfortable for me, some things, like my friends in MN, my hobbies, etc, all good things. But I found I also tried to hold on part-time to my old job, but not even really my old job, a fraction of my old job in a different store, with completely different people. I put all the right labels on it, I was doing this for my social benefit, to keep me getting out of the house, for adult conversation. But I think when it came right down to it, I was scared to let go of so much of what I was familiar with, so much of what defined me for so long, even though I fought the actual job label, the people I worked with were the people I spent all my time with, the people who took care of my kid, and again, not that any of that was bad, in fact, I consider myself to have been extremely lucky to have landed where I did when I did. That job supplied me and Milo with fantastic health insurance when it was way too expensive to be on Mike's. Again, I met some dear, dear kindred spirits who I will always carry with me as my friends and extended family. And a steady paycheck and benefits while we were paying out for Mike to be in school.

And now I don't need those things. Or at least, I don't need them to be supplied by my employer. I've been working, fighting to work, at one of the stores here, not connecting with any of the leadership on staff, and feeling really under-appreciated, even unwanted, most of the time I was there. I realized that I didn't have to and don't want to be there anymore. And I quit. I have never not worked, since I was 15 years old, I have had some sort of job or other, and I find myself a little lost, but feeling so totally free all at the same time. My last day is Saturday, and I'm already looking forward for that day to be over. That's got to be a good sign. I'm reaching out to a few connections I've made here for my social life, so I'm not desolate there, in fact I feel really good about the handful of people who I think will grow into friends. I'm doing some training next week for some volunteer opportunities, and Milo and I are finding all kinds of things to keep us out of trouble. Mike and I have joined a gym with a daycare so I can get out of the house and even drop Milo off if I need to for some alone time. I think we're covering all my bases.

I still feel like I'm on the edge, facing this slightly scary precipice, not knowing what I will find below, but I feel like I'm finally making the right decisions. I think it was important for me to work here so that now I can feel like I don't have to work here; this has all been part of the journey, but now I let go of almost everything familiar, and Mike, Milo, and I really make a go of this "real" life.

Little ones air show...

2010-10-05T08:41:00.004-04:00

So I signed up for this online mommy's group (thanks James!),and they've had some fun stuff posted for families to do. This past weekend, Milo, Mike and I ventured into Michigan to this air show of all remote control planesand helicopters. If we haven't told you thisrecently, Milo's kinda big into planes, so this was pretty awesome. And it was an eventpurely for little kids, so yeah, the big boys were there flying theplanes, but doing all kinds of fun tricks, and they had all the planes lined up most of the time for people to look at. One guy, as I was trying to get some pictures that Milo might dig on his wall, even pulled his plane back out of his truck for us to oogle and take pictures of.

It was pretty windy and chilly, and it rained a little bit, but it was well worth it! Milo spent most of the time saying, "plane, plane, plane...?" And I'm not sure if he would admit it, but I happen to know that Mike kind of loved it

too. He was kinda bummed that we didn't s

tay long enough to see the double engine plane go up :)

This week the mommy site has a pumpkin patch/corn maze outing. And I think we'll have to check it out!

The Toledo Zoo...

2010-09-26T09:58:00.004-04:00

So Mike's boss got us a family pass to the zoo as a welcome gift, and Milo and I have already been 3 times. I love having the pass because I don't feel bad about going just the two of us, I don't feel bad about only going for a little bit, and I'm loving watching how Milo is actually seeing and recognizing some of the animals :) Plus, it's great for me. The Toledo Zooapparently is quite impressive for the size town. Couple of the animals we saw on this trip...

The polar bears in the water are a little tricky to see, but it's a mama and her cub, born earlier this year. Siku, the cub, is a huge draw to the zoo these days, and we haven't gotten to see her yet because it's always been so busy around her, and she always seems to be back in her little cave area. This time though, we went after everyone

was back in school, and it was a beautiful afternoon, so they were diving and playing and wrestling! And there was hardly anyone there. Perfect, times this those when Iso love being at home so that we can take advantage of that kind of thing.

Same deal with the tiger too, I've never seen them up and around, but this

one was all over his lengthy enclosure,and because there was no one else there,Milo and I just watched him from feet away for quite a while. And yes, Milo knows that tigers "roaar!"

We also took a ride on the carousel, which again, we were all alone! The nice older gentleman

let us pick an animal (gorilla, 'cus Milo has a thing for monkeys and it's a little tricky at this point to try and explain the difference between a monkey and an ape) and then took us for our own private

ride. Milo loved it and said "weeee!" I guess that's a good thing because our host said that many kids his age are scared.

I know this seems like such a silly thing, this whole zoo adventure, but as Milo gets older, I'm

realizing how cool this opportunity to be at home with him really is. We can take our own field trips and outings whenever we want to wherever we want. Makes me want to find some other kids who have to be in daycare, and take them with us. Maybe we will...

Things Milo would like you to know...

2010-09-17T08:27:00.010-04:00

In the attempt to not only keep all you informed, but try to make this a reasonable journal for Milo to look back on in his later days, here's a list of some of the things he deems important to discuss, aka his first words, in no particular order, and probably forgetting a few...

bow-wow (after some discussion with the Gilbertsons, I'm thinking this was his first intentional word)

cat

bot-too (bottle)

la la lo lo (bed/rest time)

cars

truck

choo-choo

down (usually meaning both up and down, sometimes confusing)

plane (often "plane-ay," not sure why, but ask the book club ladies, it's hliarious)

blocks (very carefully articulated, "ba-lah-ks," like if he could articulate the c and the k, he would)

bonk

mo (more)

plees (please)

monk (monkey, green monkey or black mommy and baby gorilla)

tars (stars, recent favorite, and he's surprisingly good at identifying them)

lights (loves, loves, loves lights, any and all, lights that are stars are the best!)

cup

he-llo

mine (grrrr.... where did he even learn this?)

hey

book

ball

bath

duck

bo (boat)

bye

dad (sometimes even "bye-bye dad," he even did this with shockingly good timing as I was saying goodbye to Mike on the phone while in MN)

ma-ma-ma-ma (usually associated with whining, again, grrrr...)

ball

shoes (after Nana bought him his first pair of shoes, sometimes it's "two shoes," though not really sure if that's on purpose...)

nose

ears

eyes (loves to pull your eyelids after saying this, you've been warned)

mou (mouth)

cheeeeese (Mike said he said "cheeese, plees" the other day)

joos (juice)

poops (when asked, do you have poops?)

And he also does a myriad of animal sounds when asked including but not limited to mahw (more closely to a Siamese's guttural meow that a typically sweet meow), moo, bah, nay, twee twee (birds), meh (goat), qua qua qua (duck), raaaar (lion), and maybe others that I'm not thinking of. Then, of course, car and truck noises, beep-beep, bbbrrrrrr (trilling lips together), ah boom (associated with crashing or bumping into something), choo choo, more in a tooting way, not a statement as in identification. He even tried chugga chugga chugga the other day when playing with his trains. Didn't exactly sound like that, but don't worry Grandpa Al, we'll get it right.

**Mike Edit**

Other words:

Whee!

Yay! (usually with clapping hands)

Ba-loo (balloon)

Walk

Rocky-Rocky (when sitting in chair that rocks)

Bath

it-ties (kitties...sometimes he gets the k in there)

dink (drink)

Pow (all done)

Milo, Milo, Milo! (he likes to chant his name)

I've been also trying to teach him that his bathtime walrus says "galomph, galomph." :)

First blood...

2010-09-17T07:55:00.003-04:00

Well, blood has been drawn in this battle to walk. We've had too many bruises for me to admit, mostly because they've most often occurred on his head and I always worry that someone will think the obvious; what can I say, the kid's got a ginourmous head, and he leads with it. The other day, Milo, walking alongside the coffee table, tottered a little off-balance, sat a little too quickly, clipped his chin, and bit his lip. You all would be so proud though, I didn't freak out, I remained calm, we chatted about what happened, he cried, we drank some water, tried some ice, I tried to look at his mouth, which was not happening, so we pulled ourselves together and moved on. Not bad, right?

Off subject, but here's Milo with my MN Book Club gals. They moved the schedule around so that I could be there when I was back for Karen's wedding. So blonde is Lynda, brunette is Kara, red-head is Polly. Then the picture with all our kids, two boys are Conner and Gavin, Polly's guys, and the girl is Alex, Kara's daughter. So cool to get all our kids together!

The Great Road Trip, part 2: From the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports...

2010-09-03T22:46:00.004-04:00

Ah, the adventure continues... Post-Karen's wedding, Mike, Kristi, Jason, Collin, Karen and Bill all dispersed, leaving Larry, Steph, me and Milo to contend with the empty house. Partly to get out of their hair, partly to take advantage of proximity, Milo and I headed north to Duluth, Mike and I's home for almost 4 years while he was in grad school, pre-pharmacy school.

We departed just before nap time Tuesday afternoon, barely made it out of the cities before Milo got a little sassy, and I was in need of some caffeine, so I decided, in the essence of my mom this time, to swing thru the outlets. One iced latte and $30

later, we left with 2 new polos for Dad, 2 new dresses and a pair of sandals for Mom, and a new hoodie for Milo, since in true Minnesota fashion, the temperature had drop about 20 degrees in about 12 hours.

Back on the road, Milo fell asleep, and I started a new book on CD. I called my friend Kristin as we approached the Twin Ports area (Duluth, MN & Superior, WI), and we agreed on a picnic of

subs in a park with slides and swings for Milo. Great to catch up with another one of my "little chickens" from the days with the youth group. We laughed and caught up, eating and pushing Milo on the swings, until he reached his limit about 30 minutes past his bedtime. We dropped Kristin at home, with plans to grab a quick coffee in the morning so I could meet her guy before

they headed down to the cities.

We pulled into Knuths driveway (see early posts re: living in the RV in their backyard :) about

1.5 hours post-Milo-bedtime. He had fallen asleep in the car, but what can I say, he's a champ and turned on all the charm for Mike and Kim Knuth. And they are such gracious hosts; they

make me feel like I am doing them a favor by

inviting myself over to impose on their

beautifully quiet sanctuary! We chatted, caught up on life, watched Milo scoot around and harass Oreo, their little dog, and turned into bed shortly thereafter. Milo and I slept until about 7, missing the departure of our hosts but enjoying a gorgeous morning on their back deck with

a breakfast of Mike's coffee and Kim's muffins made with wild blueberries picked on their

vacation!, and headed to Canal Park where we walked along the canal, drank coffee, and chatted once more with Kristin and met Zach, a very friendly and polite young man who knew well enough to sass me just enough.

Milo, being about negative 2 hours of sleep from the night before, and about an hour late for

his morning nap, was in need of reprieve, and I was looking for an excuse to drive up the shore, so we hit the

scenic highway towards Two Harbors. We didn't make it all the way, but he got a good hour nap in before we grabbed lunch and headed to

west Duluth to see Svobodas. Jen and Eric are one of those rare couples where we wives like each other at least as much as our husbands do, and now, as we add kids to the mix, it's fun to see them play and interact with each other. Zeb and Jayven took Milo under their wings, sharing their trucks with him, playing with him on the swings at the park, digging holes in the sand for him to sit in, they were great. All too soon, Milo and I needed to hit the road once more. We said goodbye to our buddies and hit the road, thinking a short nap could hold the munchkin over...

I was on the way to my friend Amanda's house when I realized I had to stop by and visit the flower ladies. The women at Dunbar Floral were my stand-in family when we lived in Duluth, letting me and Mike in on kids' hockey games, graduation parties, and life in the family business in general. They also taught me almost everything I know when it comes to floral design. And they have not yet met the kid... We walked in the door, and Sandy (sister-in-law) says, "well I'll be darned!" and Sherri (owner) walks up to where the light from the front

door no longer blinds her, and starts to tear up. Sherri's not one to cry, don't get me wrong, she can be a big softy, but I never thought just introducing my son would bring tears. She explains that just that day she had found out that a dear friend had past away suddenly in her sleep at 47 years old, and that Milo and I couldn't have picked a better day to stop by. They oogle Milo, showering him with a new stuff lizard selected from the shelf on the salesfloor and a balloon with Simba on it. That's another amazing thing about these gals: their generosity. They would never hesitate to give anything and everything they could, especially to a flirtatious 1-year old, giddy with lack of sleep.

After many hugs, we departed the flower shop, heading to our old neighborhood, where ironically, Amanda bought a house less than a block away from our old house. And the house is fantastic! Amanda and I are kindred spirits; we have such similar tastes, that I realized as I walked into her house, it felt like walking into the best version on my own home. She picks out things from the same stores that I would pick from and uses them like I would, actually better. After meandering thru her new pad, we packed Milo in the backpack and walked a little ways down the road to a little cafe and laughed and ate and remembered and just loved on each other. She's that kind of friend. All too soon it was once again past Milo's bedtime, and though he was being a real champ, I could tell that the short morning nap and the total obliteration of his afternoon nap was paying a toll. We said goodbye to Amanda and headed back to Knuths.

Kim was waiting for us, and this heavenly aroma oozed out of the house as she had just baked coffee cake for us for the next morning. We packed Milo off to bed, and she and I sat at her

dining room table, organizing her final project as a high school mom. She's responsible for all the sweatshirt orders this one last time as her youngest graduated. She made patient calls trying to explain that you can have either a red or a black sweatshirt, not a red and black sweatshirt, or that really, your son probably doesn't want the girls style of sweatpant because it really is a girl's style of sweatpant ;) and trying to be somewhat helpful, I stamped checks and filled out deposit forms. All too soon, we too went to bed. We shared the delicious coffee cake in the morning, and Kim too loved on my kid. A little before nap time, we packed up and hit the road once more. Milo fell asleep before we hit Martin Road and slept until we got into Minneapolis, poor little guy. Only about 36 hours, but lots of catching up.

Where did we find these friends? These fantastic people who love us and our kid, even when we don't see them for over a year? Who give and give to us, when we feel so undeserving? And how in the world do you thank people like that? How do you thank someone for being good for your soul?

I am my father's daughter...

2010-09-02T22:39:00.002-04:00

I find myself saying this more and more these days, actually both ways; I think I am an excellent conglomeration of both my parents. But I think my dad in my comes out in more extreme ways. Case in point: ridiculous road trips at crazy hours and times. We shall call this "The Great Road Trip, Part 1: Fellowship of the Wedding Rings."

Before we moved to Toledo, Mike's sister Karen (see below) got engaged, set her date, so we started planning the trip. Shortly thereafter I was approached by another gal, friend of a sister-in-law of a friend (did both of their weddings the past two years consecutively, and if you can follow that, you need more help than I do :) who wanted me to do flowers for her wedding this Saturday after Karen's wedding. Being me, and all that that entails, I figured, sure, I'll be in town, why not just extend our trip.

Then we moved, then we traveled all summer, then the countdown began, and I started the process of organizing, listing, and packing for me, my 1-year-old son, and for my flowershop-on-wheels-traveling-across-5-states. I have a miniature 3-subject notebook committed to this trip. The first section for Karen's wedding, the second for Melissa's, the third for what we will need as a family. Oh, and I thought it would be a great idea to plan a little get-together with a bunch of our MN friends to join us for a couple of pints at a couple of pubs downtown the night Mike flew in, so I had him pack all his stuff early too so he could just take the train down and join me.

Okay, so got all my lists organized, started packing, checking things off, finding what I needed out of the boxes of flower supplies, checked my email to realize I had not thought to ask off for that Monday night that Milo and I were supposed to leave. No big deal, I'm not usually scheduled passed 9. But of course this would be the one night that I would be scheduled until 10:30, and not get out of there until almost 11. I had the car all packed, got a great deal on a hotel room west of Chicago to break up the trip for Milo and me. I drove the wagon to work that night, and Mike put Milo to bed, then got him into the car a few hours later, met me at work so I could hit the road from there.

Fortunately, my angelic son fell back asleep before I even hit the highway, I popped in a book-on-CD, and we made tracks. Got to Chi-town by about 2:30am central time, found our fantastic little hotel (ask me about it sometime, I'm sold on this place), checked in, Milo made friends with the front desk guy, made it up to our room where there was supposed to be a crib, there wasn't, but instead I found Lake Minnetonka reincarnate on our floor. I called my new friend at the front desk, he shuffled around for a minute or two, offered to come get my non-existant crib, apologized profusely when I told him it wasn't there, and got me into another room in less than 5 minutes. King-sized bed, so I figured Milo and I could share. Set up a little cove with pillow walls so he couldn't roll out, and we settled in. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, the little guy had been sick, to the doctor a couple of times with inconclusive symptoms, just enough to give him a good fever and make him pretty uncomfortable. So we got about 4 hours of highly disturbed sleep. Got up, grabbed breakfast at a fantastic greasy spoon down the way, and we hit the road again.

Milo fell asleep almost immediately again, and probably slept another 2-3 hours. Great for him, and really, great for me as the driver, but after not getting hardly any sleep the night before, I was highly envious. We drove, and when he woke, we chatted. He knows lots of animal sounds now, and right when he was starting to get cranky, and I didn't really have anything to offer him, out fell "Milo what does you monkey say? (lime-green stuffed monkey from Grammie)" Milo pauses, waiting... "Hi-yah!" Laughter erupts from the backseat. Repeat. Never seemed to get old, who knows why I thought of that, and even more, why he thought that was funny, but it worked. Got us to a rest area, used the facilities, which by the way, how do any of you women use the bathroom and control a non-walking/standing toddler-type? Just something to get you thinking... I found a careful balancing act worked quite effectively. Set out a blanket and we had a picnic under growing dark clouds. Milo scooted around, ate some fruit and yogurt and crackers, pretty good for a sickly kid, and we were off once more.

We did finally arrive at our destination, and I would say the trip here to MN was a great success. And I've only continued to push the envelope of my child's patience in the car through the past week, but that's for another time, and another section of the saga... "The Great Road Trip, part 2: From the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports..."

Karen's wedding...

2010-08-29T22:27:00.004-04:00

Mike's sister Karen got married on Saturday!! It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, gorgeous weather, gorgeous people, and love was in the air!! Not gonna lie, I'm kinda tired, so I'm not writing much here now, but here are some pictures of this much anticipated and amazing event:

Sea life...

2010-08-20T14:01:00.003-04:00

While in Atlanta on our McGrail family vacation, Mandy, Grandpa Tom-Tom, Jake, Finn, Henry, Milo and I all took a jaunt to the aquarium. Holy moley, I've been on some great aquatic adventures, but this one may have taken the cake. Maybe it was all the place had to offer, maybe it was the excitement and awe in the 2-4 year olds, but this was pretty grand! We saw sharks, whale sharks! beluga whales, penguins, otters, bagillions of fish, seahorses, seadragons, crabs, lobsters, you name it, it swam, we saw it! In this shot, Mandy and the boys are on a moving walk way watching the fish and sharks swim above them. You can see one of the whale sharks over Mandy's head...

We even pet stingrays, sharks, shrimp, and horseshoe crabs! Here's Mandy, Jake and Finn petting a stingray! It cost a bit to get us all in, but thanks to Mandy's membership, we made it happen, and it was well worth it!

Complete family pics...

2010-08-17T20:41:00.005-04:00

The first time our entire family has been together in a picture since the Christmas after Finn was born 3 1/2 years ago. Pretty great...

Next step in the profession...

2010-08-05T21:09:00.002-04:00

So Mike's getting paid to take a course at Purdue. And it's basically review of everything that he's learned thus far. Apparently his boss is a pretty good teacher, and Mike's pretty good at learning from training videos because this course has been fairly simple for him. But it means a weeks paid stay at a nice hotel in West Lafayette, IN which is actually a really cute area. Milo and I decided to come and stay, since we don't really have anything pressing on our schedule :) We're right across the street from a beautiful park and bridge over the river and into Lafayette where there are cute shops and coffee shops and cafes and a delicious Italian restaurant. So we're here, reading, working on Milo's baby book, going for walks, swinging at the park, looking at books at Border's across the way, taking naps, just chillin', waiting for Dad to come home... Sounds like our life most of the time, actually...

Life with cats...

2010-07-23T08:25:00.002-04:00

For the most part, our cats seem disinterested in Milo. They are neither pleased nor annoyed by his presence. But as Milo gets a little stronger, a little bigger, and a little more assertive, I wonder how much they will put up with. Fortunately, I think we have the best cats for little kids; in terms of their fight or flight nature, they definitely go for flight. And even when they are cornered, or in this case try to take the "don't move and maybe he'll go away" technique, they are declawed and might nibble, but don't bite. The funny thing about this one is that Charlie just doesn't move; he's got plenty of opportunity to flee, I even encouraged him to do so, but he kept coming back. Glutton for punishment. The other thing that you probably can't see in this video is that Charlie is molting profusely. This is beyond mere shedding: when he finally did get off my lap, there was about as much fur there as was still on his being. I would feel bad for them, but like I said, they kind of encourage it!

Frustrations...

2010-07-22T11:21:00.002-04:00

Milo seems to be on the cusp of walking. Or at least standing unassisted. He pulled himself up in the bathtub last night, little scary; seriously, kid, couldn't think of a safer place to do this for the first time? And today, I'm in our kitchen that overlooks our living room, he's chasing Sally around, and then all of a sudden he's pulled himself up on our wingback chair, which is fantastic and exciting, but also inches from our coffee table with metal protruding legs. Oiy.

He's loving this, but also super cranky as he does new things and finds all kinds of new limitations. It's like learning to drive, but then you realize you have to pay for gas and give people rides; great new freedom and more things to limit you all at the same time. Plus, he's getting a little better with communication, some words, a few signs, but again, same deal here. He can get a few things across, but not everything, and I think he's annoyed with us that we're not reading his mind.

And this brings new frustrations for me too. I want to help him, support him, but I want him to figure stuff out. I want him to stand and walk, though I perfectly happy with him just scooting, much easier to keep track of him, but I don't want to deal with the tears, bruises, and scrapes that come with the falling. Where is that balance of being a supportive mom, without being overbearing and overprotective? I'm sure all you experienced parents out there read this and laugh: oh silly mommy! But don't forget, I'm new at this, and now I'm in a new place too with not many people to talk to, let alone people in similar places in life. Milo and I are making new friends, it just takes some time. So in the meantime, you all will be my sounding board for the time being...

Lazy Sunday... sort of...

2010-07-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

Life as a mom, wife, and housekeeper has started to lose a little of its shiny newness. It's one our first weekends home together, just the 3 of us, and Mike and I are at each other's throats, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think we're transitioning into our new roles, and like any transition, it's not always so smooth. He slept in yesterday, so I slept in today, which bugs me because I really want to go check out a couple of churches, but somehow I couldn't haul myself out from under my sleep cave. That makes me feel guilty, so I pick a fight with Mike while I clean up after him. We need neutral ground, so we decide on brunch and the park. Nice breakfast, beautiful hot afternoon of swinging and a walk in the not-quite-cool shade of the woods. Until I pick another fight. Granted, I think I have valid points, and I think we should be talking more, but somehow I'm nagging and he's defensive. Typical of marriage in general, neither of us is really right or wrong, but we're not seeing eye-to-eye. I'm sure it will pass, but in the meantime, we've retreated to our respective corners. Don't really want any advice, not in the mood for it. In fact, hoping Mike doesn't see this post as another picking of a fight. Sometimes I just need to put my real face on.

It's all fun and games until...

2010-06-30T21:30:00.002-04:00

One year ago today...

2010-06-29T16:55:00.007-04:00

It's Milo's first birthday, and yeah, he's grown a ton, and he's doing all kinds of fun things, but in this moment, for his and my benefit while it's still fairly fresh, I'd like to share with my son what Mike and me went thru and were thinking the day he was born. And why we couldn't be happier to be celebrating his first year with him.

We woke up early. It was Monday, and we had the first appointment. Inspired by Kate's beautiful post-birth pictures, I even did my hair and some make-up. We drove to Abbott Northwestern Hospital, parked in the ramp. We had been instructed to leave our stuff in the car because we'd be

moved around a little bit before we got in our own room. I was scared, and I found out later, Mike was too. He was scared for me and because he worried he wasn't ready to be a dad. I was scared. Scared of being a mom, scared of going in for my first major surgery, scared of everything that was going to follow. We knew that our lives were about to change, but there's nothing like scheduling it. It was nice because there were no surprises, but at the same time, we counted the hours and minutes leading up to it.

I can't explain what it's like being a parent, and no one really could to me either, and I think that's part of what I was scared of too: this, the biggest, most life-changing thing Mike and I

would ever do, but we weren't going to know what it was all about until it was happening. All I knew was that it is the best and hardest thing the people I love and trust have ever done. I

consider myself a spur-of-the-moment type of person, but mostly I'm safe; I don't do things I generally don't already know any of the possible outcomes. I know my consequences, the good and the bad, and I make my choices. Are they always the best decisions, maybe not. This time,

we had made the decision, but we didn't know what was going to happen. And I think because of

that, I was the most scared I've ever been.

We were prepped in a quiet birthing room. We looked around at all of the things we didn't have to worry about. They did one last ultrasound to make sure he hadn't flipped the right way over

the weekend. We also met our "team" here; the anesthesiologist, our nurse anesthetist, our

surgery nurse, and maybe some other people, but not going to lie, can't remember. And with that, they whisked us off to the operating room. Mike waited in the hall while they completely obliterated any sensation in my body. Even before I could swing my legs up onto the table, any

feeling was gone. They tied my arms down straight out from my body and got to work. And I know this all sounds crazy and kinda scary, and it was, but Mike and I were just talking today about how great our little team was. Everyone was so calm and reassuring. My doctor was fantastic, and it really was so good to see a familiar face.

Then, after some strange sensations, Mike and I just holding onto each other with our eyes, me crying the whole time, the team telling Mike to look over the curtain, and we were parents! I remember Dr. Frisch saying he was a boy, and Mike and I made eye contact again, and we instantly thought the same thing: What!?! We had been so sure we were having a girl. What would we name him? Yeah, that was our first thoughts as official parents, what will we call our first-born? My first glance of him was over under the incubator lights, and he was grey. I don't

care what they tell you, it's not normal, and my

heart stopped. But he squawked just once, and instantly started to turn pink. They let me nuzzle the little guy for about 30 seconds, then he

and Mike rolled down to the nursery, they stitched me up, and sent me to recovery.

Over the next day, we threw names around. Yup, our first born was "Baby Schroeder" for the first 24-hours of his life. It finally got to the point where we actually tried 3 different names for an hour at a time to see if they fit. But in the end, he was Milo, and it was right.

Milo Patrick, today you are a year old. You are named after great men, you are lucky to have

fantastic grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins, let alone loads of other people who love you, and you have a couple of first-time parents just trying to do their best. The one thing you will always have plenty of is love; can't guarantee anything else, but you will be surrounded by people who love you. Can't wait to see the boy and man you grow into...

The-Milo-bootie scoot...

2010-06-27T21:38:00.002-04:00

So I think our kid is anti-crawling. He's doing this on his hands and knees, then pulls with his hands, and scoots his butt. Weird but effective, we leave him in one spot, and then he's across the room. I guess it's time to baby-proof :)

What do you think?

2010-06-26T08:38:00.002-04:00

Mike, Milo, and I visited a church not too long ago, and I'm thinking maybe I'm being too critical. So I'm sending this out into the void, thinking you all could give me some perspective with your diverse backgrounds and experiences in the Christian market. Beautiful church, modern, inviting, nice people greeting, nice, easy music. Milo was approaching nap time, but sometimes when he's distracted, i.e. lots of music, people, and even some interesting lights, he does fine. So we kept him with us. He started to talk a little bit, not even fuss, just talk, but kinda loud, so I got up with him and started to leave the sanctuary. As I do so, one of the usher-type people standing near the back of the church emphatically mouths the words "thank you," with a ginormous smile.

So here's my thing: was this woman just finding a way to connect with me by shooing me out with my infant? Are they so concerned with the perfection of the performance that was taking place, that even a few baby babbles might distract from the "perfect" worship that was taking place? Where do babies fit in in God's Kingdom? And maybe I had this church's answer for that too:

As I left the sanctuary, to wander the halls outside, rocking Milo to sleep, every person who walked by tried to point me to the nursery or the mother's room. At this point, I wasn't bothering anyone, at least I didn't think I was, we were quiet, Milo was sweetly asleep in my ams, and here I could at least still hear the service and the pastor's message. Did we not fit in at all because we didn't go to our assigned spot? Am I being contrary because I didn't want to go to the mother's room or the nursery of an unfamiliar church?

I guess I know I'm being a little sensitive, but why do we have to have a spot where people have to go when they meet the specifications? I love that churches try to cover all their bases, but in doing so, are we forcing people into generic labels, not allowing the joy of the generations, of different perspectives and environments? And what happens when people aren't happy with the labels churches give them? I remember right before me and Mike got married, I was still in college, barely, Mike had just graduated, and we were trying to go to the "college and career" group at our church, but it was a majority of underclassmen, and the focus was thus on them, understandably. But when Mike and I tried to fit in elsewhere, the adult group was mostly people at least 15-20 years older than us who did not try very hard to value us because in their mind, we probably belonged in the college and career class, not in theirs.

I guess I'm just questioning the system, throwing this all out to you, whether you care or not, whether you've experienced something like this, or if your church has a better answer. I have to admit, Mike and I just moved from a church that I feel like had an answer, but now we're three states away, and I have the sneaking suspicion, they were a rare find...

Road tripping...

2010-06-24T23:34:00.003-04:00

What do you do to keep an almost-1-year-old busy on an ungodly long roadtrip? Almost anything, but specifically give him the favorite toy from cousin Finn... Mike is convinced that the sheep is trying to get Milo to help him blow up London Bridge, but I don't know; he's just so innocent ;) (when you press the button to "call" the sheep, the phone plays "London Bridges")

Father's Day...

2010-06-24T22:49:00.003-04:00

So a little late, but doesn't really matter in blog-world, right? Mike, Milo, and I returned to our new home after a week vacation with Mike's family in SC on Mike's first Father's Day. We got back early afternoon before Mike's first official overnight shift at the pharmacy, so we decided to keep it chill, walked to our new favorite spot, a little Irish pub a couple blocks away, had an early dinner on the patio, and just enjoyed our nuclear family.

Mike and I have both been pretty distracted recently, but let me take this small moment to give you all a few reasons why Mike is a fantastic dad:

1. Though I don't always appreciate it, he does the best "muppet" voice, and it always cracks a smile for Milo.

2. He sneaks in at night after the kid's asleep to oogle him.

3. He can manage to convince Milo to keep eating until his little belly is taunt.

4. Throwing Milo is a new favorite past-time, and it does freak me out a little, but it's a Dad's right, right?

5. Even though he's working overnights, he lets me take a nap in the morning and hangs out with the kid.

6. He loves to put Milo on his shoulders or back, with our without straps and safety harnesses.

7. He's worried that Milo loves me best.

8. He's not afraid of sh-tastrophes.

9. He tells me when I'm being overprotective or I need to let Milo cry.

10. He wants to take Milo to baseball games before Milo knows what a game or a ball is.

11. Even though he's never been a baby lover in the past, he's a Milo lover, and would and does do anything for him. I guess it is different when he's your own...

Breathing...

2010-06-14T12:26:00.002-04:00

We're on the move again. Sorry to you faithful readers who have been sticking with us thru this hiatus. We've moved to another state, another job (for Mike), another stage in life (Meg, to exclusive mommy-time), and a new and updated blog. Going to try and keep this one going a little more diligently as I have more time, and more things of note to write about. Milo will probably be the star, as he is the most interesting right now :), so hang on, and here's a whirlwind update of who we are to date:

Mike graduated from pharmacy school with all kinds of accolades and top honors. (After his name in the graduation program, they didn't have enough room to list all the symbols to go with all the honors :) After not matching for a clinical pharmacy residency program (don't ask us, we still don't know why, but I will say he was one of a great number of students who did not match; the pharmacy residency programs are looking at the process to alleviate this problem in the very near future), he was actively wooed by several nuclear pharmacy companies before choosing one in Toledo. Mike started the last week in May, and he'll be training for the next few months, studying for his certification, and starting his life as a real-life pharmacist.

Milo is almost a year old, who knows how that happened?! He's refusing to crawl, happy to have us carry him around, but he's rolling, scooting, pulling himself to a sit, and with a couple of hands, standing and toddling around. Currently we're in Myrtle Beach with Mike's family, and Milo is loving the toddler pool. In a little floatie, he walks all over the pool, splashes, flirts with all the ladies, and tries not to fry his little tow-head :) He's doing lots of chatting, a few words, not always on purpose, and some periodic screeches. Overall, he is a great baby, lots of fun, personality growing all the time, and far too easy to a first baby...

I gave not quite 4 weeks notice at my store in Edina, worked on the Saturday that we loaded the moving truck (my mom says that was the best way to save my marriage ;), and we drove to OH the following day. I guess I don't really know how to do anything gradually, just everything all at the same time. And now, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I'll probably keep working at a Gap nearby, mostly for social implications and connections, some adult conversation, but my job will be to take care of my kid, my husband, and my home. I've never not worked, so this will be an interesting transition for me...

We moved into a great little place downtown, a converted warehouse, exposed brick, high, unfinished ceilings, a right down the road from the river, the children's science museum, and the art museum, and a block from the farmer's market. My little slice of heaven until we find a home to buy.

So as the chaos subsides, packing, unpacking, driving, vacation, driving some more, Mike starting to work overnights, setting up our home, moving furniture, moving furniture back, trying one more time, hanging pictures, moving pictures, walking to the market, learning to be a house elf, and everything else I can't think of or know of right now, I'm just breathing...

Grandpa Gary...

2010-04-19T11:14:00.002-04:00

My grandpa is dying. It's funny, I feel like I'm really close and not so close to him all at the same time. We've never lived in close proximity to Grandma and Grandpa, but we've always managed to see them on a fairly regular basis. And in our times spent, Grandpa doesn't mess around. You know where you stand with him at all times. And this is one of the things I respect and love the most about him: his sometimes brutal honesty. My grandpa is a true and sincere man, one of integrity and responsibility, he's a bit old-school in his roles in the family, but this also means we've always been well-cared for and given every opportunity.

He's not a terribly emotional or sensitive guy, but in the last few months, he's softened greatly. I've seen him love my grandma like never before. I've seen him love my son. I've seen him love and appreciate my mom and my aunt. And now I realize, I do know him. I know what he stands for, what is most important to him, what he loves. Really, what else defines a person than what they believe in and who they love?

I am worried about my grandma, so if you are one that prays, please pray for her. She was actually in the hospital as of this morning with a twisted small intestine, and I know that just the stress of being away will not help. I think we'll be working on Grandpa's blog if you'd like more updates: cancerassassin.blogspot.com

Big love and hugs, Grandma and Grandpa.

Makes me smile...

2010-04-15T22:00:00.002-04:00

What is it about naked baby pictures that we love so much?

Gap nerds...

2010-03-03T08:22:00.002-05:00

So we periodically do these photo op things to get staff and people excited about new product and what-not. This spring it's denim-on-denim. I know, bring me back to junior high, right? Though I will say, a lot of it is really cute, love that the G-A-P is going back to its classic roots. And of course the munchkin finds his way into everything we can possibly work a cute kid into, which is basically everything. So here's our gang, sporting lots of denim and chambray!

First real hug...

2010-02-15T19:48:00.003-05:00

Milo really snuggled on purpose today. He's usually pretty calm and cuddly, but today, shortly before he went down for a nap, he held on and snuggled in. I know it's nature, that he knows I'm his mom, that I'm a warm body, and he was getting a little sleepy, but man, there's nothing like your kid holding on to you. It's totally self-gratification, but in and amongst the slightly crabby wining that's been happening with some teeth coming in, I'm very grateful for these softer moments. Thanks kiddo, for loving me just as I am. Not that you really have a choice :)

Here's the munchkin with Auntie Karen at Bucca's on her birthday. Thanks for sharing your day with us, Karen! Milo loves all his aunties, that's for sure!

Daddy play time...

2010-02-12T09:23:00.002-05:00

Here's a typical evening with Mike and Milo..

His new favorite thing...

2010-01-21T22:25:00.003-05:00

So Mom got Milo this MN gophers hat for Christmas, and it's one of those fold-over beanie-type things. His new favorite thing is to pull the hat down over his face and just sit there. He doesn't freak out or anything, just sits there with his hat pulled down over his eyes... Last night, on the way home from an outing, he pulled his hat down and fell asleep... Are we that traumatizing that he already feels the need to block us out? :)

And then he woke up when I opened the door. Peek!

May the jumping commence...

2010-01-20T23:09:00.006-05:00

Busy, busy, busy...

2009-11-10T19:20:00.002-05:00

Sorry avid fans, lacking in the updating of the blog. Crazy times at work as holiday shipments come pouring into the store, literally filling our backroom floor to ceiling. My last wedding of the year was this past weekend as the Hastings on Mike's mom's side of the family married off their youngest. Beautiful ceremony, and I have to say, I think the flowers looked pretty good. Mom was up for a couple of weeks to help with daycare as one of my daycare providers was on vacation, but I barely saw her. I worked, came home, slept, and started again the next day all over again. But Mike and I are both missing her. No one to magically do our dishes while we're gone during the day. No one to make us coffee and share a cup with in the morning. Mom is such an easy visitor, I almost feel guilty. And we found out about a month ago that my grandpa has lung and brain cancer. So I've made a few trips down there over the past couple of weeks to hang out with him and my grandma. They only just moved up from Texas to Iowa, amazing timing, but hard and unfair all at the same time. The first time in my life that we've been this close geographically, and it's difficult to enjoy it. But I think I'm closer to both of my grandparents than I've ever been. Milo survived his 4-month appointment today, and mom was much better prepared with baby tylenol, so everyone's surviving well. I'll leave you with this great picture my friend Kory took of the little nugget. Gap's advertising for this holiday is all about the snowflakes made out of people, you know with everyone's head in the middle and their arms and legs radiating out in a snowflake-like shape? And in one of them, in the middle of the human snowflake is this little baby, the nugget. We've decided that our management should do one of these pictures, and Milo will be our nugget.

Milo's first rugby match...

2009-10-18T15:50:00.005-04:00

My friend Alex plays rugby. This is a mysterious sport to me. It looks and sounds like pain incarnate. Kayla says it's everything boys want to do in sports, and anything goes, no holds barred. Though I think Alex did say one time that biting wasn't allowed. Other than that, anything goes.

Alex plays on the U of M team, and they're really good. They go to nationals every year, and I guess they're a club sport, but they play all the D1 teams. Yesterday, they played in the U's new outdoor stadium; pretty big deal in that they

usually play on some random field with no benches or bleachers for their few fans to watch from. But this match, they invited lots of people, and went to battle against their arch nemesis,

U of Wisconsin, Madison (there's a big rivalry with them in every sport apparently, something with gophers and badgers)

Alex's whole family came, Sarah, his gorgeous girlfriend, and her whole family (who happen to all be great friends with Alex's family) came, and Kayla and Derek and Milo and I went to see and be proud.

As I said, I don't really understand how rugby goes, but Alex seemed to play a pretty important

role. He's #1 (the announcer at the start of the match introduced him as "#1, both in uniform

and in their hearts" or something like that :) You can see him lifting a guy up to try and grab a

toss from the sidelines. He also ends up being in the scrum, or scrim, or scrub, that huge crowd that tries to plow the other team over while getting the ball to their own player.

It was super fun to watch, and I'd love to learn the rules sometime. Milo was a great sport; maybe he'll play rugby some day? I guess that goes back to him earning his nickname "Mack" if he can survive a match with cousin Jake the Tank :) Way to go Alex; you're #1 in our hearts too!

Thirteen weeks...

2009-09-30T11:06:00.003-04:00

Couple of fun random ones...

Daddy thinks it's really funny to prop him up in a sitting position until he tips over. No worries, always on soft pillows or cushions, and always while Mike is watching closely. And apparently Milo thinks it's pretty funny too...

And how long do you think this will last, Sally letting him get this close to her? You can't tell here, but her tail is totally poofed out and the hair on her back is raised, yet she keeps checking

him out, she even sat over his feet as he kicked

her. Maybe she inherently knows that he'll be the bane of her existence in a few short months :)

Like father, like son: watching the Vikings in his PJs. They're actually looking really good, thanks to APeterson, the Favre, and a few other boys.

The first

season in a good many, and I'm glad;

worried that the Vikes were going to break Mike's heart, again.

Mommy meltdown...

2009-09-04T15:45:00.002-04:00

I don't know if I'm hormonal or tired or anxious about going back to work or what, but yesterday was my first official mommy meltdown. I've had a couple of other minor stressful moments or times when I just didn't really feel in control, but yesterday I lost it. I'm sitting on the couch, feeding Milo, seeing the half basket of laundry that I did on Tuesday and still haven't put away, the dirty glass sitting on the table, the beer bottle over on the trunk, the stack of mail that just seems to keep building, then the cat threw up on the carpet right in front of me. And I just started to cry. I'm home all the time, but our apartment is never clean, I'm really only taking care of one infant, but he seems to suck all of my time. I love him dearly and wouldn't trade these days for anything, but I wonder how any mom gets anything really done during the day as he seems to demand most of my time. I'm getting better at the 5-10 minute tasks while he naps or sits in his baby catapult, but he's been a little crabby this week, and I feel like somehow I'm failing him because he's not the happy baby he's been. I'm sure he's fine, and I'm fine, just had a moment.

Mike came home, poured me a glass of wine, and whisked Milo out to Chaska to see Nana Steph. I worked on our bedroom disaster for a little bit, went to see a movie (why do I love seeing movies by myself; am I a hermit at heart?), and then met a couple of friends for happy hour at our new local spot. And today is a new day. Milo and I went to the post office and talked to Auntie Kate. And now he's oogling his baby gym and cooing happily. Maybe we've both turned a corner.

Two month appointment...

2009-09-01T15:03:00.002-04:00

Poor Milo. Went to see the doctor yesterday for his two month appointment, and things started out just fine. Apparently he's in the 50th percentile for his height/length, and the 80th percentile for his weight. I don't think the nurse was able to get a fully accurate measurement of his length, he was just waking up and arching his back and stretching, but needless to say, he's turning into a little portly fellow. Doctor checked his eyes and ears, his back and head, his heart and lungs, and everything looks just great.

Then the nurse came back with three rather large needles. Let the immunizations commence. As the first plunged into his little leg, he paused for a moment, then the pain set in, and Milo let forth a scream like none I've heard from him. He's usually such a mellow little man. And then with the second and third, continued bafflement and resonant yells. Why would his mom let this happen? What is happening? He just seemed beside himself at the injustice of it all. As soon as possible, the nurse handed him over, we cuddled for a few minutes, mom cried in utter helplessness and longing to make it go away, and he calmed down. I got him into his carseat, and we headed out.

For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, he slept, long and hard; woke once, ate, went back to sleep. Then about 4pm, he woke again, moved one of his legs, and let go again. Poor man; mom ignorantly thought the worst was over, hadn't stopped to get any baby tylenol, and now was powerless to stop the aching in his swollen legs. Fortunately, Nana Steph called mid-screaming and offered to stop by with the blessed drugs on her way home from work. I managed to get him to calm by the time she got there. By the time Mike got home from work, I thought we were through the worst, but later in the evening, about an hour after he ate, I tried for a second dose of the tylenol. He took it, let a little dribble out, sat and worked on it for a couple of minutes, then vomited every liquid from his little belly, managing to drench both him and me, but miss everything else. After some more crying, he took a warm bath, and we rocked and rocked and lullabyed, and rocked some more. And today he seems reasonable back to his normal, happy self. Whew. This parenting learning curve is steep and sometimes breaks my heart, but so far we're both surviving unscathed.

The best gifts...

2009-08-28T10:52:00.012-04:00

I love being able to register for gifts, and those lists are essential for getting what we needed for Milo. But on the other hand, some of my very favorite things we've received since Milo's been born have been made just for him.

This gorgeous, plus educational ABCs and counting, quilt was made by the award-winning quilter, pharmacy mentor, and dear friend Marcia Millonig, with help from her sister. The second picture is the patch they made for the

back, complete with one of our first family

pictures. The fabrics are amazing, the back of the quilt is this soft, fuzzy green fabric, and the patch just puts this work of art over the top. It will be one of those pieces I will treasure forever!

This great onsie some of you might recognize; it was on Kate's Etsy site for a little bit before she graciously gifted it to our little guy. It says "trick or treat" on the owl, is made out of an old t-shirt, and will be the perfect size for Halloween this year. Not that Milo will be going out on October 31st, but we might have to go visit a few people ;)

This one is so great, and was one of those things I was completely not expecting, and then this envelope came in the mail from Sarah and Kim Knuth up in Duluth. There was also this great hat that looks like the top of an eggplant and another onsie, a red one with a tie stitched on the front, that I much have put in a different box 'cuz it's bigger. I love this one; Sarah and Kim have very similar tastes as me, and the fabric of the "MS" and the striped onsie are so perfect; I'll probably start putting him in this before it fits him and will keep packing his little body in it even when he starts to be a little stuffed-sausage in it!

Milo will never be cold. I love blankets, all kinds, anything snuggly, and the moms and grandmas know it. The orange quilt is from my mom and my dad picked out the fruit fabric on the back, the blue blanket is from my Grandma Sue, soft and silky and delicious, and the light pink, green, and blue one is from Steph, made of some magical yarn that is both fuzzy and soft and yummy all at the same time.

This adorable little work is drawn by one of Mike's pharmacy friends, Adele. She was Mike's predecessor regent for Kappa Psi, and she and her husband Tom are the easiest people to hang out with. Both of them are great people, lots in common with me and Mike, and we always enjoy them, but again, this was one of those things we just weren't at all expecting, so when it came in the mail, my heart just melted. The girl's got talent :)

And these delicious little bits of sweetness! One of my moms-on-call-when-I-have-no-idea-what-to-do, Kayla, came bearing boxes of goodies! Cheesy potato soup for me and Mike, rice cereal for the next few months for Milo, hand-me-downs from her cutie, Conner, and these little works of art! These beautiful cookies are cookie-pops (on sticks!) and each one has something else about Milo, his length, weight, birthday, and birth time. I can't believe the time and energy she put in, especially as a mom of two!

Milo's first wedding...

2009-08-23T23:28:00.006-04:00

Mike's cousin Lindsey got married this weekend. We did the flowers, and I say we because many hands made far too much work very reasonable. Thanks to Steph and Larry, Karen and Bill, Kristi and Jason, Aunt Carol and Uncle Larry, Aunt Laura and Uncle Craig, and Mike, Lindsey's wedding was quite literally covered in flowers. We put things together that I've never done before, mostly because the flower shop I worked for never even offered them; they're fairly time intensive and not very cost-effective. Larry and Craig say they are going to teach me how to price things appropriately, but really with family, that's next to impossible. What's the good in having a florist in the family if they don't give you a great deal on your wedding flowers?

Milo was terribly handsome. He inherited some great seersucker pants from either one of the Rohl boys or Jake, I don't know from whom exactly. Mike and I found this button-down shirt on a clearance rack at Macy's, and I rummaged up a remnant tie out of the tie-bag days, cut it short, and stitched it up. I'm afraid to say he might have stolen the show, at

least in my eyes, but don't tell Lindsey. He is my first kid though, and I am a little biased, so hopefully she'd understand.

We also got to spend some great family time with the Schroeder gang. Kristi and Jason flew out from VA, and Karen's new beau, Bill, came up from Iowa to take on meeting the entire extended family, bless his heart. We all crashed at Larry and Steph's, filling all beds and floor space. And it was a blast! Lots of bossing nice people around with flower stuff, and plenty of loving by experienced and capable hands for the little man, so mom could neglect him for orchids, hydrangeas, and kermit poms. Good thing I have 3 weeks left of leave to stay at home and stare at him :)

Not much to say...

2009-08-15T12:31:00.007-04:00

Not much to report on these days, so I figure pictures will satiate the blog-fiends :) I think Milo is almost laughing though, not quite, but almost. These are a few of the pictures our friend Ryan Torma took when Milo was about 10 days old. Click here to see the rest of them...

Six weeks old...

2009-08-11T19:38:00.003-04:00

The whole McGrail family, minus one Scott...

2009-08-03T15:24:00.004-04:00

Kate, James, Finn, Henry, Milo, and I roadtripped to Indiana last week to hang with the McGrail crew. Mike, Mandy, and Jake flew in on Friday night to join all of us, Mom, Dad, and Heather. Only missing Mandy's Scott :( We were reminiscing that this is the first time the four of us girls have been all together in two and a half years, pre-Jake, pre-Henry, and obviously pre-Milo. And then Saturday afternoon, Grandma Sue, Grandpa Gary, and Aunt Barb and Marv came over from Iowa. A little crowded, but loads of laughs, love, card-playing, mess-making, food, and most importantly, family.

We decided to commemorate the event and take some family pictures. And I think they came

out pretty good, some definitely frame-worthy. When Kate and James and the boys were here, we all went to a Saints baseball game. And though Kate and I look ridiculously alike, people wondered whether it was Mike and James that were brothers. I don't know, I think all us girls look too much like family for there to be a mistake!

A few of my favorite things...

2009-07-14T21:55:00.007-04:00

The sounds he makes when he sleeps...

The way he holds my hand, even though I know it's a reflex...

Little Feet...

The way he focuses when he can, especially on this cute lion from Auntie Kristi

Snuggling after snacking...

As promised...

2009-07-09T23:46:00.004-04:00

Hello faithful followers. Figure we should get a few more pictures up before someone harasses me, ahem Kayla :) Not going to write a whole lot right now though. Our desktop computer is in the process of potentially crashing, and Mike's been taking the laptop to school, so now it's late at night, and this new mom is looking forward to some sleep.

Smiling at dad...

No worries my Leche League-loving friends, that's mom's best; just let's dad get in on the process

And that might be all you get, google's giving me an error message and I don't have the patience to wait it out. We had our first check ups post-hospital, and everyone's looking good. Apparently Milo's only down a couple of ounces off his birth weight, which is great. They typically want to see him back up to his birth weight at 14 days, so for him to be almost there at 10 days is perfectly healthy. And everything else looks good, says the doctor, color, ears, eyes, reflexes, strength, belly button, all those important things :) Thanks for the many calls and check-ups, and all you who stopped in to say hello, bring meals, and oogle the little man. We are a well-loved family. Hey, Mike and I are officially a family now, not just a couple!

Pretty stinkin' cute

2009-07-01T19:05:00.006-04:00

Meg and Milo are snuggling in bed right now; both are recovering after a really crazy night last night. Milo was especially fussy, probably because we weren't feeding him enough to his liking. He has lost some weight (8%), but he has stabilized. We have started supplementing his feeds with formula, which helps reduces the fussiness and prolongs the sleepiness, both really good things. Also, we have started feeding him nakers, per the recommendation of the pediatrician. The problem of not eating enough was compounded by the fact he was falling asleep during feedings. Then, when we put him back in his bassinet, he begins to fuss again! Now he looks pretty pathetic shivering while eating, but at least he is staying awake enough to eat.

Also, on the bilirubin front for all the health-field people types...his serum bilirubin is low, despite his yellow skin. This is a good thing.

Sounds like both Meg and Milo will have many visitors tonight, as well as swirling rumors of McGrails en route. He met G'ma and G'pa Schroeder as well as Auntie Karen on Monday, as well as Great-Uncle Hans and Aunt Kersten yesterday. G'ma Schroeder was so excited, she came for an encore visit on Tuesday. Meg and Milo will probably be discharged tomorrow. Stay tuned.

And the name is...

2009-06-30T20:33:00.004-04:00

Milo Patrick Schroeder! You can call him Miles or Milo...maybe Mack if he can beat up Jake later. (Highly unlikely...Jake is built like a tank). Can't wait to see the inter-cousins grudge matches - Battle of the Blondies! If you have any other creative names for the rumbles or wrestling matches when the cousins get together, leave them in the comment box!

Meg and Milo are doing well. Milo is still figuring out the breast feeding thing...he gets sleepy when attempting to eat. Also, his bilirubin is a little high (and he is a little yellow..."tan" Meg says), but nothing to fret about yet. Meg is a little sore still, but walking around nicely. Thanks for all the e-love and support.

Untitled #1

2009-06-29T17:08:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone anxiously waiting baby pics! It's Mike, posting on behalf of Meg. We had a baby boy at 7:52am this morning. He is 7 lbs, 8 oz, and 21" long. He has blond hair and Meg's complexion. The pediatrician had the best quote: "He is definitely Caucasian."

We will post additional pics when they become available. In the meantime, let us know if you have an opinion on a name!

1. Milo Patrick

2. Emmett Jay (Jayce?) or Emmett Michael

3. Colby Ellis

What do you think?

8 hours post C-section

Hello World!

Just born!

New life...

2009-06-28T10:05:00.002-04:00

So we're going to have a baby! Tomorrow! AHHHH!!! and YEAHHHH!!!! We found out about a week ago that the baby is breeched, head up, occasionally ramming me in the ribs, blessed soul. They tried to flip the baby, to no avail, so we're scheduled for a c-section first thing tomorrow morning. Nothing like planning your kid's birthday. Kinda weird, but kinda neat too. Mike and I have really been able to spend some great time just the two of us, and there's nothing like leaving work as neatly as you can, at least as much as possible within reason, and with no surprises. Been doing a lot of praying the past few days especially, maybe it's hormones, maybe it's the thought of being a mom so soon, even with nine months to prepare, maybe it's eminent major surgery, maybe it's the utter fear and excitement of meeting my child face-to-face after so many months belly-to-belly. Maybe it's putting all that together with a for-sure date and time; there's something oddly soothing about not knowing, and now that we know, it's all that much more serious, that much more intense, that much more, well, eminent. And not necessarily in a looming way, though in my weak moments of doubt, looming is probably not a bad word, but solid, for sure. This is really happening. Mike and I are really going to do this, we're really going to be parents. And I'm thrilled, and freaked out, and so excited, and a little panicky, and over-prepared, and under-prepared. But on this beautiful summer morning, the day before our son or daughter is born, I'm also so content. Our baby is healthy, we have a great doctor, I have the best husband on the planet, who's put up with everything I thrown at him in pregnancy, and in about an hour, we'll go, the three of us together and spend some time lovin' on the One who made all of us to be together. Thanks for your prayers, your love, and your support, what's been given, and what will be given in the next few days. Can't wait to show off our kid!

Showered on by Gap friends...

2009-05-19T12:15:00.009-04:00

Shower #1 was a fantastic success, regardless of my anxieties beforehand. Not that I really had any doubts. I didn't actually take any pictures with my camera, but I know a couple of gals have posted them on Facebook, so I'll go on for the first time in about 4 months and try and connect the dots so you can see them.

One of my favorite things about this shower, aside from the great people, and they really are great people. I know I gripe about a few of them, but some of them, I think I'll be friends with for life. And those ones, well, even Mike had a good time with them, which considering the fact that they're my people and he doesn't see them much, I consider that a great compliment to them. Anyways, so one of my other favorite things, this was an especially mixed group, co-ed, young people, moms, college students, working-types, etc. and the gals organizing this shindig decided that shower games might not be the best. One of them, my girl Polly, had been to another shower last year where they had everybody decorate a onsie for the new baby. And here are some of my favorites.

I guess a couple of these might need explaination. The "cute as a bug" one is from Marcia, who loves lady bugs. When I was in Hawaii with Mom, I found her these great little lady bug tumble glasses, and with Marcia, you just buy her those things because you always know that she'll just love them.

These two are front and back. My dear, sweet husband, from the very beginning of our little adventure of growing into parents, has insisted on calling my ever-growing belly "Cleatus the Fetus." I have this ridiculous paranoia that somehow this will follow our poor child far beyond his/her time of being an actually fetus, so I tried really hard to squelch this habit. But of course, my peeps at the Gap caught wind of this, and especially Polly likes to harass me with this. So her's is the one that says "Cleatus" which apparently means "illustrious" at which point she felt the need to justify this with "see mom, it's not so bad." Grrrrr....

And my guy Kory (who's 6'7" and also got us a onsie with a giraffe on it that says "vertically chanllenged" :) who shares a love and devotion to great or not-so-good '80's movies and music, painted the one that says "no one puts baby in a corner."

And though he's still designing his personal masterpiece, also of great note, my buddy Eric got us a onsie that has Bob Marley on it and says "B is for Bob." Totally perfect coming from Eric, and I must say, Mike and I both love it too. What can I say, our kid's going to be the coolest kid on the block.

A different take on a window box...

2009-05-19T12:08:00.003-04:00

I stole an idea from a long-past TLC show, maybe "While You Were Out" or perhaps "Trading Spaces," and in our third floor apartment where bringing the outside in, especially in MN, it works quite well, if I do say so myself. Yes, those are test tubes, also especially appropriate for our househole, the bracket-thing is some kind of tool-holder from Menards or Home Depot, and I have them perched under a mirrored window frame that I think I inherited from Aunt Barb. And roses from the Flower Guys (Jim and Harold) at the Farmer's Market. Why is it that such little things make me so happy?

Showers...

2009-05-15T11:01:00.002-04:00

Don't know about you all, but I find it very difficult to be the center of attention and completely out of control, all at the same time. I have two baby showers rapidly approaching, and I scoff at the term "baby shower." I know we're getting all the stuff for the baby, and I don't know how we'd afford or be able to pull everything together without these blessed events, but I'm the one who has to survive them! And this is all me, by the way; I have confidence in all parties involved in organizing these that they will be great events, just my own psychosis, is that the right word? I love to host parties or showers or dinners, but man, remove that control and make me have a roomful of people sit and stare at me, and I break out into a sweat just thinking about it.

My hubby...

2009-04-27T20:55:00.004-04:00

Taking a break from baby talk for a minute, 'cause pretty soon, that's probably all you'll be hearing about. This little snippet is a call out to my guy. I think I wrote something during his 1st or 2nd year about all the awards and stuff he had been winning, and though he's still doing that, I've had the opportunity to see him in action on his turf a little more in the past couple of weeks, and that's what I've been the most proud of. Sure he looks good on paper, and he now has a number of plaques on the wall above his desk, but the people around him, that spend the most time with him, they're saying some pretty great things about him.

I was able to go with Mike to a pretty big conference in San Antonio a few weeks ago, a national conference for professional and student pharmacists, and throughout the long weekend I was able to watch as students and faculty alike called out to Mike. We hung out with a few people that weekend, went mostly everywhere in a small herd, but it was to Mike, not the other students we were with, that so many people related and felt comfortable enough with to single out. I saw that 1st thru 4th years knew and respected him, from both the Duluth and the Twin Cities campuses.

Then, the day after we got back from Texas, I went along to the last formal meeting of his professional fraternity. This was a dinner meeting, an awards ceremony, and an overall recognition of the chapter as a whole, and Mike's last official meeting as regent, basically president of the chapter. We ate, Mike's mentor spoke, they gave out some "paper plate" awards to the graduating 4th years, and then awarded him "Brother of the Year" as voted on by the whole chapter. He tries to make this sound like it's just because he took on the responsibility of regent, but last year the regent was not given this honor. Then Mike stood up and talked about the success of the chapter as a whole, and then each individual on his executive board, and as only he can, he was sincere and awkward and sweet all at the same time, hugging all of them in turn. He even choked up a little at one point. His VP then stood and talked about Mike, and I teared up. What can I say, I'm proud, pregnant, hormonal, and overly-emotive. I was perched behind one of the faculty involved with the group, who I don't think knew I was there, and heard him say that "Yeah, Mike, he's a big man on campus." I kind of laughed, he turned and saw me, and with a smile he said, "no really, he's a big man on campus." As the official meeting broke up and people socialized and dispersed, I can't count how many people came up to me to tell how much they liked and respected my husband.

I think we always know how great our people are, but what is it about hearing such fine things out of the mouths of others that so impacts me? Thanks for making it so easy to be so proud of you, Mike. And happy late 30th, old man :) Big love!

Some old stuff...

2009-03-24T19:59:00.004-04:00

Now that I'm trying to be back on the ol' blogging circuits again, thought I should catch up on some cool stuff. Here are the first pictures of the little bean. These are from our 12 week ultrasound, so back in December. We sort of had no idea when we got pregnant, so they had us go in early just so we could figure out how far along I was. It was a fairly traumatizing experience, doesn't help when one's hormones rage unchecked at any given moment, but I survived, baby survived, and Mike went to work that night so he wouldn't have to deal with me. Poor Mom, I called her on the way home and just cried. Duh, don't freak Mom out when really not that big of deal, just crazy mind and mood-altering chemicals raging thru bloodstream :) So I stopped for McDonald's on the way home, scarfed fries, nuggets, and a chocolate shake, and felt much better. We've had a couple of ultrasounds since this one, but the pictures are on the other computer. Plus there's a cute story involving a certain brother-in-law that will have to wait for another entry on another day...

News...

2009-01-29T20:10:00.001-05:00

So I think I've told most of you this in person, and if I haven't, please don't take it personally! Mike and I are expecting our first little human! I'm about 24 weeks along, definitely sporting a belly, in fact at work, I've just succumbed to "embracing the belly," ie. being okay with not wearing tent-like shirts to try and minimize enormity of how I feel.

Mike's been really fun with all this; for a long time I was worried that he would always be okay with being the two of us, and I've felt like I've been ready to think about kids for a while. He's always said that he wanted to be surprised when we started having kids, and I think he was! When I first found out, I was in the midst of working a bunch of overnights at work, meaning I was working 9pm-6am or 6pm-3am, and he was in typical student mode, mostly days and into the evenings, so we literally didn't see each other for days on end. The day I found out, he happened to wake up in the wee hours of the morning when I climbed into bed. I asked him if he was awake, and he said sort of. I said if I wasn't going to see him for the next three days I had something to tell him, and I told him I was pregnant. He asked how sure I was, I said pretty sure, and then he went back to sleep. I was a little worried that he would think it was a dream the next day or not even remember, but he called me in the afternoon before I went to work, and he proceeded to list off all the vitamins and supplements that he had gotten that I should be taking for me and for baby :)

I'm due June 30th, and I feel so lucky to be literally surrounded by knowledgeable and wise people who know what they're talking about when it comes to kids. I'm reading my books and worrying that I'm not worrying enough, but mostly I feel supported, not prepared by any stretch of the imagination, but in that inevitable time when Mike and I won't know what to do, that we have countless people to call on for help and support. And in that, I feel ready to have a baby, not in my abilities or how well I can prep, but in the village of people that have chosen to love and support both Mike and me.

Vote for...

2008-10-09T20:58:00.002-04:00

This is a call out to all my creative, word-wise, world-wise, lyrical, poetic, realistic, honest people. Gap's doing this thing to get people hyped up about voting, I think it's pretty cool, so before anyone goes off on a tirade about marketing and whatever, please save it; you can talk to me about it another time. And if you want more info, go to www.gap.com/votefor, but I digress. So Gap's making these shirts and some pins, and doing this whole thing to get the word out to remember to vote this year. The nice plain, white t's (hey, that sounds like a band name, oh wait...) just say "Vote for__________." on them, and we as employees all get one to design with whatever we want on it, work appropriate of course, so leave your Polly, I mean potty mouth at home, but I'm having a problem coming up with the best idea, and I'm relying on all of you, my people, who know me, who know what I stand for, to help me think of something appropriate to put on my shirt by this Sunday night, when a bunch of us are getting together to decorate them. So send me your thoughts, quotes, lyrics, ideas, designs, symbols, whatever you think I should put on my shirt. Oh, yeah, and I do have to wear this at work, so don't embarrass me ;)

Like peeing your pants...

2008-10-07T21:17:00.003-04:00

My friend Kory bestowed upon me a fantastic description of friendship the other day. He said that "friendship is like peeing your pants: everyone can see it, but only you can feel its true warmth." Just a little snippet of truth for you today, enjoy. Someday, if you're at my house, I'll show you the little caricature that he drew to go with this little bit of wisdom.

My list...

2008-09-23T11:51:00.004-04:00

My friend Amy just posted a list of, shoot, I think it was 6, random facts about herself, and I really enjoyed recognizing and learning those things in her. So here's my list:

1. My number one paranoia is my scent; I buy prescription-strength deodorant, I wear body spray or perfume everyday, and I almost always have gum or mints with me.

2. I really don't like pecans or walnuts; I like pretty much every other kind of nuts, but these two can quickly ruin a perfectly good cookie, brownie, or chocolate for me. I don't know, I'd like to say it's just a texture thing, but I really don't like the taste either.

3. That being said, I learned as a kid from my very tactful and helpful-in-all-social-situations parents, to always eat what was put in front of you. And especially after spending time in a third-world country, I will always gratefully eat anything in front of me. Though I've started to learn to be honest with my dear husband who loves to experiment in the kitchen, I am unable to tell pretty much anyone else if I do not like what I am eating, please don't use this information against me...

4. Unlike my dear friend Amy, my favorite days are rainy, (ironic because I really don't like to be wet) giving me the excuse to stay inside, curl up with a cup of anything hot, and read a book or watch a movie; I find these days few and far between because of #5...

5. I recently learned about one of my sisters and have identified in myself that my main motivating factor/emotion in most situations is guilt. I don't like to clean or organize, but I feel guilty when Mike comes home to a messy home, thus I skip my rainy, snuggle day. I hate, yes, hate working out, but I feel guilty about what I eat and not using my perfectly good, healthy body, so I will go for a run-walk today; sorry, my gorgeous health coach, the real reason.

6. I sometimes envy my cats. I mean really, how great would it be to sleep 18 hours a day, have food and water miraculously appear, lay in the sun and bask with no obligations? Maybe play with a loofa every now and again... (Sally's favorite toy, I know, she's quirky.)

Not for the faint of heart...

2008-09-07T23:47:00.002-04:00

So this story is a little gross, but really quite amusing so I can't help myself. Let me tell you a little bedtime story about our beloved cat, Hoover, er Roomba, er Charlie. Now I wasn't actually there to witness this, this is second hand thru Mike, though I have witnessed similar occurrences. This afternoon, after getting off work, Mike snuggled in for a nap. He started to hear the oh-so-familiar wretches of our cat chucking up a furball. I don't know what it is about our cats and vomiting, but they are boarder-line bulemic, I swear. They especially enjoy using this endearing characteristic as retaliation when we leave them for a few days; usually the puke-to-days-gone ratio is quite close to, if not higher than, 1. So Charlie is chucking, he vomits; Mike decides it's not worth getting out of bed, that he'll clean it up when he wakes from his nap. He then witnesses Charlie reingest his pile of puke, and sort of pull a nearby washcloth from a pile of laundry to cover his remnant indiscretion. I think he did this in manner of covering bowel movements with kitty litter in the box, but regardless, he did an excellent job masking his little regurgitation incident. Mike chuckled, and snoozed off. Later, Charlie also "clean up" a Sally indiscretion... Ew, but very handy in that we use lots less spot-shot.

Meg's Flowers in action...

2008-08-01T15:13:00.005-04:00

So I'm pretty excited because my official debut as a professional florist on my own, I'd like to say, was a great success! One of the gals Mike goes to school with got married a couple of weeks ago and asked me to do her flowers; it was kinda cute actually, another girl in the class was getting married around the same time, and Alison, this bride, was like "I claim Meg!" Made me feel pretty good. She's just really great like that though, knows how to make you feel like you're the best person ever!

So Alison and Josh are high-school sweethearts, and the four of us have hung out together on a couple of different occasions, and we really like them as a couple, so this wedding was already going to be a lot of fun. Add to it, that the bridesmaids dresses may be the prettiest I've seen, and oh yeah, by the way, made by the mothers of the bride and groom! The cutest flower girl ever, plus Alison's got pretty good taste, so it was easy working with her. That all equals easy success as the flower lady, and just an enjoyable experience all around for me. The ceremony and reception were beautiful and loads of fun, and I might even have my first wedding booked for next summer!

The wedding was Saturday evening, so Mike helped me pick up the flowers Friday morning, he went to work that afternoon, and I just sat and played with flowers all day! I loved it because I just really took my time, enjoyed the process, and just had a great time doing it. Friends Alex and Sarah came to stay that night, so after a small break for pizza and Wii, Sarah helped me wrap hundreds of hyacinth to add into the bouquets and vase arrangements. Let me know what you think; any areas for improvement? Any blooms out of place?

Is this genetic too...?

2008-07-26T20:07:00.004-04:00

I've got a little time, so we're going to try and upload a video. Can anybody guess who's kid this is? All I can say is like mother, like son! We have a video of Mandy doing almost this exact same move to one of Grandma and Grandpa's cats when she was little!!

These are for you, Mommy Mandy!

2008-07-25T19:07:00.007-04:00

So we hear that movie clips, though appreciated, are tough to download on Afgahni internet, so Jake would like to say hi in a few still life's! We love you and Jakey Cakey is missing you, but he is overwhelmed with Auntie's! I've always been reserved on speaking for kids through pictures, but I think just this once, it'll fly...Seriously, green beans...? How about some of those mangoes you've been working on, or at least that beef, potatoes, and carrots pureed in a jar?
Lookit what I learned how to do! Flip my tongue! Isn't that genetic, paternal or maternal side? Yeah, I think I'll be a doctor some day too... I'm a smart one!Dad hasn't exactly mastered the art of thwarting my attempts at swatting my spoon, but that just makes it more fun! And my wardrobe changes with each meal: one night it's green beans, another night I wear pureed chicken, another night it's mixed berry yogurt! tasty and fashionable!
Leanin' in for a kiss, Momma! Miss you, so proud of you! Come home soon and safe!

My eldest sister...

2008-07-13T22:24:00.012-04:00

Mandy, my oldest sister, has been deployed. She has warned us not to be too specific about where and how and when she goes, she's probably overly cautious, but I don't see anything wrong with that. A few weeks ago, she was in Texas, at Fort Hood, waiting with her battalion to go overseas. I decided to use a few days of my PTO and go and spend some time with her and Mom, attempting to distract her from the fact that she was away from Jake and Scott while still in the country.

One night, Mom and I "helped" her pack loads of interesting, mysterious, camouflaged parafenelia including a flack vest that weighed approximately 2.7 tons; amazing that Mandy, who probably weighs 115 lbs soaking wet, will wear something like that pretty much wherever she goes. But again, we're grateful for the precautions. A couple other fun little whatnots found in and amongst the canteens, gerbers, etc. were a couple of switchblades provided by Scott and Scott's Uncle Mike, one about 5 inches long, the other a little smaller. Obviously, these two men know how and what to arm her with whereas we inexperienced people trust that the army will fully outfit her. When we asked why they each gave her one, why she would need two such weapons, she merely stated without hesitation, "one for my belt, and one for my boot." Very strange, this world I just stumbled blindly into. Very foreign to the microcosm I live in. Amid all these preparations, we were able to laugh, donning "tattoos" and alter egos, which I think at least allowed Mandy to release some need seratonin.

Later that weekend, we visited Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary's little piece of paradise that Grandpa Gary affectionately calls "Lonesome Dove." It really is beautiful, regardless of what all of you think of the fried, desolate desert you think of as Texas. And Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary really know how to tap into the local beauty, the flowers and succulents that thrive there. We ate and talked, then ate again, did some dishes, ate again, played with some cute dogs. We laughed that basically when we finished eating, we immediately started preparations for the next meal. On Saturday, the day before Father's Day, Grandma Sue had promised to take balloons to the local nursing home to dress things up a bit in honor of the holiday. With two cars, Mom, Mandy, Grandma Sue and I headed to Walmart to have our balloons filled with helium and tied with ribbon, and they we would be off to deliver them to the nursing home. Grandma had bought just enough balloons, about 30, I think, for the 28 gentlemen in the home; we shopped around a bit, killing time while they filled them, then we started outside, to load them into our two cars. Before we even got to the car, at least two popped as soon as we got out of the air conditioned store and into the 90+ heat of the day. Yeah, the best laid plans. At one point, I've gotten into Grandma Sue's back seat in order to pull the dozen or so balloons in behind me; now I'm smoothered into a corner, the car is running and AC is blowing, but all I can see or feel is balloons, and my heart starts beating a little faster each second as I fully expect several of them to pop, giving me multiple heart attacks as I wait for Mandy and Grandma Sue to reappear out of Walmart where they have reentered in the hopes of getting a few extra balloons for the ones that have/will pop before we get them to the nursing home. I'm not really clausterphobic, but if I ever felt like the world was closing in on me, it was then. I ended up calling Mom on the cell phone in the next car over, slightly frantic and the soon-to-be-popping balloons now seemed to be sucking all the oxygen out of the car. Grandma Sue soon reappeared, and we started off with the first load. All ended well. The balloons were delivered, I lived to see another balloon-free day, and hopefully the residents were pleased with their Father's Day decorations.

Monday, we attended a deployment ceremony. From what I gathered, something more symbolic of maybe what it used to be. A high-ranking someone "inspects" the brigade, the colors of the various battalions are displayed and then wrapped, only to be unwrapped in Afghanistan. Canons are fired, people salute and are saluted. A couple of speeches are made.

We escape the base early in the day, and Mandy, using us as her excuse, leaves with us, and we drive just a little ways south to a little village-town called Saledo. I like Saledo; it's quaint and cute. There's a tea house that we don't quite make it to, several cute antique shops and what-not boutiques. In one fun little "mall," Mandy finds this great little purple, fuzzy puppet guy with three eyes and a long, curled nose, who we start calling Staney the Afghani; he will be Mandy's attention-getter for Jake when she skypes from Afghanistan.

I feel like I'm writing about all this trying to do the same thing I was doing while I was in Texas, trying to distract from the fact that my sister is far away. But there are only so many funny pictures to be taken, only so many silly stories to be told, only so many times you can sacrifice the color of your hair, so many times you can super-glue totally ridiculous tips on your fingernails, in the attempt to laugh or smile about something that you really want to cry about. I love my sister, all my sisters, and I want them home with me, on my commune, with their husbands and sons and cats. Instead, I am the only one of the four of us on the continental United States until Heather returns from Korea...

Back again...

2008-06-28T20:12:00.014-04:00

Alright, so it's been awhile, and nothing like leaving my faithful readers hanging mid-international trip... Sorry about that. Mike's finished his 2nd year of pharmacy school, and we just found out yesterday that he just racked in another semester's worth of scholarships and grants. The kid's a genius, what can I say, let alone the fact that he's the leader of half of the student organizations on campus. My little flower business is practically booming; I've already got at least one wedding booked a month for the next four months. We've been taking advantage of some flexibility in schedules to do some traveling, and both Mike and I's work has been picking up a little over the summer.

I liked the way I started talking about our jaunt to Korea, but it'd take me forever to tell you all about everything with that kind of detail, and we literally filled as many minutes as we could while we were there, so aside from that first entry, we didn't spend much time on the computer. So instead, I think I'll finish telling you about our trip by telling you about the people we met. Some of these great individuals might sound familiar if you check Heather's blog at all, other's Heather didn't even meet...

First, there's Choy and and his mom, Shinbanook. Shinbanook is married to the pharmacist who lives/works just down the street from Heather. They've sort of adopted Heather, they've set up a sort of language exchange for Heather to learn Korean from them, and Choy to practice his English with Heather. When they heard that Mike and I were coming, they offered to take all of us "driving." Heather didn't exactly know what that meant, but she agreed and scheduled for Friday night, the first night we were there after we arrived on Thursday night. As it turns out, "driving" meant they drove us thru all the beautiful parts of Busan, Gwanilee, a gorgeous beach with a beautiful lit bridge that spanned the bay; at night it was lit beautifully. Having a car in Korea seems to be a luxury, so to be able to drive where we wanted was amazing, and in the end, they took us out for traditional Korean barbeque where they cooked all the food right in front of us. None of it was familiar to us, so Mike kept asking Choy whether certain combinations were appropriate, and Choy, very politely, would state that this would be "a new taste," meaning, no, normal people don't combine such things, but Mike could if he wanted to.

Shinbanook ended up offering to take Mike and I out again on Monday afternoon while Heather was at school. She fit us into her busy schedule for a few hours, this time taking us to another beach, then up the shore, north to an amazing beautiful traditional Korean house, which thru her friend Wee from college who she brought with her to translate for us, she told us was a traditional house of a very wealthy person. They had made this gorgeous house and surrounding gardens into an amazing restaurant where they just kept bringing food; Shinbanook even ordered Mike his own fish, worrying that he wasn't getting enough to eat! After lunch, they drove us to the APEC House, a circular building Busan built for an international conference held there in 2006 for many world leaders, including President George W. Bush. We also found out that good ol' George W. stayed at the hotel we ended up staying at for Heather and my birthday's Saturday night.

Choy ended up being a very gracious host, meeting us and going out with us, he even took us to a Korean baseball game with his friend Phil. This event might be one of the best expereinces I've ever had! Koreans know how to do baseball games; they sing and chat for each player, they fill the benches, make pom-poms out of newspapers, they cheer and grieve with each success and failure in the game. Makes American baseball seem downright boring!

Then there was Sun Sung Duck. Sun Sung Duck is the fish lady who runs a stand on Market Street selling, obviously, fish. She was the first to take Heather in, she was the first to adopt Heather as her own. And every time we passed her on the street, she smiled, waved us to her, gave us food, just welcomed us in as well. She was the epitome of the warm welcoming spirit of the Koreans in a world not always so trusting or accepting of people.

We spent several evenings with Jenny, Hannah, Tae-hun, Tyler Kim, Young Hee, and quite a few others. I love that nights out with good friends are fantastic wherever you are! And I will always count all of these people as good friends!

One day, in typical Meg-fashion I'm afraid, I went looking to buy flowers. One shop I stopped in, a cute Korean man helped me. I knew how to say "how much," "please," and "thank you." He proceeded to help me pick out my flowers with much grace, then asked me "birthday?" at which I responded no, then he asked "present?" and I said yes with a huge grin. He then proceeded to wrap my bouquet of roses and lilies which would have cost me at least 3 times as much in the US in a great deal of pink tulle and ribbon, making this huge presentation bouquet worthy of any Ms. America pageant! I didn't have the heart nor the knowledge to try and tell him that I was going to take his gorgeous work of art apart to put in a vase. I fanned out my Korean bills, he took his payment, and I thanked him profusely. And decided to bring this bouquet back to Heather's apartment before hitting the next shop.

At the next shop, I encountered a young woman, maybe about my age, holding a small baby, maybe about 3 months old. I feebly attempted my pointing and mispronunciations, at which point she put her baby down on a sort of changing table behind the counter. She started to gather and arrange my flowers, and her baby started to cry. I tried to indicate that she could tend to her daughter; she put my flowers down, went to her daughter, picked her up and placed her in my arms! This sweet girl calmed instantly and went quickly to sleep in my arms while her mom proceeded to gather my flowers. Again, in the end, I held out some money, she took what she needed, I reluctantly returned her daughter to her, and I left with flowers in hand.

All in all, the people we met and saw in Korea made the trip; seeing Heather in her element was priceless, seeing how everyone around her seemed to enjoy her adventurous spirit, her sweet smile, her generous heart, and her easy laugh. Choy shared with us that Heather is a bit of a local celebrity; many of the foreign teachers don't "waste" time getting to know the Koreans, their neighborhood, their language. Heather went there to do just that, and you can tell that they love her for that. And everyone that we encountered, whether people Heather knew, strangers on the street, everyone seemed genuinely interested and accepting and almost excited that we were there. Not that we're anything that special, but maybe Americans don't get to Busan that often, and when they do, they don't get to the areas we went to with the people we went with. All in all, this was one of the most memorable, enjoyable, amazing trips Mike and I have ever been on. And if you ever want the full story with all the bajillions of pictures, come find me; I'd love to show you!

Day 1-Korean Adventure...

2008-05-22T22:46:00.002-04:00

I'm keeping a pretty good journal while we're here. Though I'm not a diligent journaler in real life, more sporadic at best, when we travel, I'm pretty detailed; learned this when I was in Russia and had to do it as part of my class requirement, but realize now how valuable that is to me now 7 years down the road. So here's my entry from this morning...

"Arrived Busan, S. Korea last night after about 12 hour flight from MSP to Tokyo, Japan, and about 3 hour flight from Tokyo to Busan; it's about 5pm MN time, so needless to say, we're a little messed up. Heather met us at the airport, and after getting thru immigration and customs surprisingly fast, changed some $$ (about 1010 Korean won to $1 USD) and ran to hug my sweet crying sister. After a crazy taxi ride to her apartment, driving fast, no usage of turn signals whatsoever, we arrived at her perfect little two room apartment. (Here I drew a little map of her apartment in the journal...) Tiny but great!! Mike conked out pretty fast (he didn't get much sleep on either flight, but Heather and I went for a little walk. "Market Street" is almost literally outside her door, with shops, lots of "walk up" food vendors, a pharmacy, the King Market where she gets groceries, fruit and vegetable stands, several restaurants and bars, and probably lots of other things that I just couldn't process on such little sleep and on sensory overload. Everything is different here. The noises, the voices, the smells, tastes, faces, everything. We walked into the King Market last night, and I recognized the slightly sour smell that we Americans associate with uncleanliness, but is most likely the absence of DO and overusage of bleach, esp. in this warmer time of the year. I remember this from Belize and Russia. Heather's apartment, on the other hand, clean as a whistle. Funny, she's been warning us of mold and bugs for months, but I think we have more of both in our apartment. We walked, looked, greeted several people who seem to know Heather; I felt a little bit like I was with a celebrity. Maybe it's our strange faces, so obviously alien, but people greeted us everywhere, from the stores and shops, walking along the street. I've had Heather phonetically write a few things in Korean that I will struggle thru. We walked back with a few groceries, sat and split a beer, and just talked for another hour. It's funny, all of a sudden, I wasn't that sleepy. My body was tired, but I was awake. Probably the adrenaline and excitement of being here and seeing Heather. We talked about family and boys and what we would cram into the next few precious days. After midnight, we decided we should try and get some sleep, so Heather rolled out her yoga mat, bless her heart, and I crawled in next to the softly snoring Mike. Wow, we're here..."

Holy travels, Batman!

2008-05-21T09:12:00.002-04:00

Alright, so the McGrails are at it again. I hope this doesn't come off prideful or anything, but my family is fortunate to be able to travel, a lot. I guess it's kind of a necessity when one's family lives all over the world. It's funny, I was talking with a friend the other day, and she was saying how her family is literally in the four corners of the US, she was exaggerating a little, but anyways... Her family is in California, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Georgia I think. I kind of laughed in my head, yeah sister, you got nothin'. Try South Korea, Hawaii, Oregon, Minnesota, and Indiana. I cringe to myself whenever I think about how Mike and I went from being the third closest geographically to my parents in Indy to the closest, and we're an eleven hour drive. Ew.

Anyways, my family is traveling a little this week. Just got a postcard from Mandy and Scott while they were in Palau. Talked to Kate and Mom, the Rohls are invading Mom and Dad right around Finn's 2nd Birthday, much to Granma and Grumpa Tom Tom's delight, soon to be joined by the Sioux City McGrails, the Des Moines McGrails, the Des Moines Versteeghs, and the Ohio Cotters (Furlers). Oh yeah, and Mike and I are leaving for South Korea today, and I think we'll kidnap Heather and jaunt over to Japan for the weekend...

Yup, crazy traveling people. AmyJ, guess you're right, we are pretty transient. In the best sort of way! Someday we should just suck it up and get a jet... Anybody want in?