the way kids talk

This evening we were watching a bit of the Bear's game (Chicago football team) and Mariah started asking lots of questions and making observations. Sometimes her choices of words amuses me. She was talking about how hard it was to get the ball to different places and sounding very grown-up and matter-of-fact....it went something like this "It is hard to do that with all of those people dashing around..." Indeed. They do kind of dash around the football field. :)

Probably over a year ago she had another funny that still amuses me. A couple of times her feet had fallen asleep and she would describe them as feeling fizzy. Makes sense. But then one time we were driving and her feet must have REALLY been asleep because from the backseat I hear "Mommy.....I think that my feet are speaking a different language.....I can't understand them."

a nifty picture

In his spare time, Mike does a ton of stuff with speakers -- building the boxes for them, designing the crossovers (internal parts) and putting it all together. This is a nifty picture that he took of his most recent project. If you want the whole scoop on this project (and a small glimpse into what he knows) check out this site which is a description of the speakers he is working on now....I hear bits and pieces about his various speaker projects, but it was cool for me to read about all that he knows.

winter pictures

Allison and Rachels favorite large muscle indoor winter activity....on the bench, over the back of the couch, onto the floor, onto the bench, over the back of the couch, .....

Rachel climbing.

Rachel pretending the Wii remote is a telephone.

Allison and Rachel playing in the first snow of the season.

Allison and Rachel playing the piano.

During resting time one day (which is also when I work on my thesis), Mariah spent about a half hour arranging animals and then proceeded to take 21 pictures of them at various angles. This is merely one of them.....

An Allison funny. Today we read a book on the couch and then both got up to get the camera and sat back down to upload the pictures. Allison said "my spot on the couch is warm....That's because I have a hot butt.....Mommy, do you have a hot butt, too?" :-D

Thanksgiving and birthday

It's a good thing that I get pictures from other people, because otherwise there would seldom be pictures posted here:) Enjoy....
Mariah and Allison have been into playing doggie lately complete with leashes and everything. Here they are playing with their cousin Meili.

Playing with Mariah's birthday present, Mexican Train!

Our obsession over vacation....we did 2 one thousand piece puzzles in 2 days at Mike's parents' house. It's amazing how easy the kids' 100 or even 300 piece puzzles seem now!

Celebrating Mariah and Meili's birthdays :)

in denial

I am rather in denial that i have to get up by 6:30 tomorrow morning....it's going to be harsh. But, here's a picture....This is a picture out the wall of 8 windows that face north toward downtown. I love the greenspace! and I like the trains, too (the black tanker cars are behind a bunch of trees). It is amazing how much sound the windows keep out and how much we just get used to the little bit of noise. I like trains regardless, so having 10 go by every day rarely bothers me. I love being able to see so much green of creation in the midst of the city (hey, it's not much, I know, but for the city it's nice unless you can afford the 30th floor and a view of lake Michigan!)

some pictures and a funny

Mariah is off on another learning excursion today. Her class is at the Brookfield Zoo for about 5 hours today. Last week they went to the Shedd Aquarium and also took in a play of Aesop's fables. A couple weeks ago they went to the Museum of Science and Industry to find and learn about simple machines. And somehow or other she got to see a pumpkin dropped from 3 stories up -- fun! Other things that she keeps busy with at school are pictured below.


All of the kids get to ride bicycles in an unfinished space at school. What an excellent way to learn about simple machines!

The class birds Lemon Lime and Bluebell. They also recently got a fish and are hopefully going to get 21 pets that eat their garbage (food scraps)....they have guessed goats, pigs, etc.... :)

One day when we were at school we heard some singing coming from Mariah's classroom...."we're making marmalade, we're making marmalade....."so we had to peak in and sure enough, that's exactly what they were doing. They had been reading about Padington Bear who loves marmalade so they tried it -- here Mariah is adding adding a bit of water to the pot.Finally it's done! I don't think they quite knew what to think about it, but they all tried it.

A few days ago at lunch, Allison and I got talking about mouths and she was wondering how come her and Mariah and Rachel all had tiny mouths. I just said it was because her head was tiny. So I asked her what she thought it would be like to have a big mought (the adult in me figured that maybe she would think it would look funny to have a big mouth in a tiny head) but her more pressing thought was "If I had a big mouth, I would be able to eat a whole chip!" Ahh....the way the brain works...

Grant Park photos....

Election night was interesting here in Chicago. We live about a mile from Grant Park, where the Obama party was, so I walked up there with Mike's dad and snapped a few pictures just to be there for the historic event. We couldn't even get close to the stage area and couldn't even see the crowds of people that were on TV (only the lines of people waiting to get in there), but were around when the electoral count went over the 270 mark (much honking, shouting, cheering, etc.)

It has been interesting to see people's reactions to the results. For some people it is the best thing in the world, for others, it is the worst. And these are all Christian folk. Interesting. In a way it's kind of like denominations, eh? We have to choose sides and we all like to think that we're right (or at least more right than the other person), but if we are right then who is wrong? The other people? Nope, just all of us:) Who are we to think that we know what is right....that is something only God can know (although I know that I like to think that I am right, too:).

I will have to admit that I did not vote in the election, but I think that I am glad that Obama won. For most of my growing up years, in my circles it was just a given that if you were a Christian, you voted republican because of the abortion issue. Growing up like that makes it feel weird to cross the party lines, but I agree with Obama about more things than I agree with McCain. Not that it matters now, but it will be an interesting four years -- I hope one that addresses the host of environmental issues that exist. Time will tell, but I'm sure that the world isn't going to come to an end just because Obama is in office:) me in Grant Park...I was sleepy!

Lines of people with tickets in Grant Park....I think that I even saw a Calvin alum in line!

Lights from the stage -- I couldn't get very close :( because I had no ticket....

drastic measures for sleep

Ok, so a while ago I wrote about how Rachel needed to start sleeping through the night. Well, she had three nights where she did 9 hours, then 11 the next night, then 9 the next. But then, we took a 4 day trip to Minnesota AND she got a cold so she completely forgot about how nice it is to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time. We tolerated it until she was not quite so sniffly, but then she had figured out that if she screamed long enough that we would come rescue her (originally for fear that she was too sick to sleep). This turned into a really piercing scream along with desparate clinging almost every time we put her in bed which was more than we could handle. We made sure that she was well fed, had some ibuprofen in her (on the slight chance that she was teething), had a clean diaper (even sprung for the dispoable) and then we put her in a room with a door, four walls and a ceiling all connected to each other. This may sound rather odd to the many who haven't visited us, but we are renting a loft (which we love!). This means that we live in an old warehouse buildling and the wood rafters and brick walls are exposed (along with electrical conduit and HVAC ducts and sprinkler pipes -- don't worry, it looks just fine -- I'll post pictures one of these days). But, along with the 13+ foot ceilings, come only 8 foot interior walls for the bedrooms and closets. Thus the only enclosed rooms are the bathrooms. Well, the noise from a crying child is rather loud when closing the door to her room doesn't do any good since the wall of her room doesn't meet the ceiling. So, on Tuesday night we pulled out the pack-n-play, and crammed it in one of the bathrooms (the door now opens only about 8 inches) and it is the most wonderful thing ever! She cried for 14 minutes the first night, has actually slept 9 hours in a row now (2 and a half at naps, up from 1 and a half) and she doesn't cry and cling every single time I put her to bed. Ahhhhh. Now we are considering temporarily removing the sink from the bathroom so that the bed can be in there and the door can open a bit farther :) You have no idea how wonderful it is to not have to listen to a screaming child. And she seems so much happier during the day, too! Not only is she well-rested, but she also knows that there are expectations for her and I'm sure that it is easier for her to know that when she goes to bed, she is going to stay there. I cried when I put her in there the first time because it seemed so cold-hearted to shut her in the bathroom :), but she survived just fine and I will be a happier person for it.

She is a smart little cookie and growing up fast -- it's hard to believe that she is 16 months old now! She still doesn't talk at all (who needs to!?!?) but she communicates things just fine. When she wants to sit on your lap to get her socks and shoes on, she toddles into the room, holds them up, walks over to you, and then turns around so that you can pick her up and she can sit on your lap. She does the same sort of thing if she wants you to come play with a toy on the floor -- walk over, turn you around from washing the dishes, show you the toy, make some noises, then sit on the floor with the expectation that you will join her (which of course you do:). She likes going down stairs and if nobody is there to help her, she doesn't go down backwards even though she knows how. She just puts her feet down one step and then slides her butt down, too.

Mariah is still a chatterbox. Today we were working on a homework assignment and we had to go count and count all of the buildings on our block. We first had to decide what our block was, then how to handle townhomes (are they all one building?? or is each unit considered a separate building). After we had started walking, we went by a parking garage with a ramp going down. She exclaimed "that's a ramp,...a simple machine! We're learning about simple machines at school" (today they built a roller coaster at school! and they've started riding their bikes, too, to learn about wheels). So, for the rest of the walk around the blog, she spied all of the simple machines that she could (two more parking ramps, screws holding in plates on the wall, lots of wheels, pulleys on flagpoles or fence gates, etc.). Oh, and we counted buildlings :) I was impressed that I was having a conversation about simple machines with a kindergartener:)

Allison is still having fun at home and we enjoyed a trip to the park today since it was 60 and sunny. She was very exicted this week because we finally got out her "new" clothes (mariah's old winter clothes). She loves having a new selection, but doesn't always match the best (stripes on the shirt with flowers on the pants) but that is the least of my worries:) As of about10 mintues ago, she was still awake even after having been in bed for almost 2 hours! She'll fall asleep the instant Mike and I go to bed, but her ability to keep herself awake is absolutely amazing. Mariah taught her to play chess today. It was amusing.

one more post for the day

Can I just share that I cleaned the bathroom yesterday for the 7th time in 7 weeks! Big progress for this recovering discouraged perfectionist:)


I've had a bit of a rollercoaster week in some ways....emotionally high being in Minnesota for 4 days and seeing lots of friends....then a bit of a low being back home with the kids all day long and dealing with sniffly noses and soaking diapers again. After realizing that I needed an attitude adjustment, though (aka the kids are not out to make me miserable with their messes and questions and climbing onto furniture and dipping things in toilets:) I am feeling a bit better even though Mike is still painting at someone's house (at 10pm). When else do I get to post 3 times on the blog in one day? :) God is good and at least he is the same all the time even when I feel crabby....

Oh, I have to share this note that Mariah dictated to me for the husband of her kindergarten teacher....we've been to their house before and she has met their kids (Clarke, 8th grader, and Olivia, high school) multiple times...her classroom is called the Exploratorium. The section in ( ) she had me cross out and she had me add the part in [ ].


Dear Mr. Doig,
I just think Mrs. Doig is a great kindergarten teacher. It was very fun to play with your family at your house. It seems like it was so much fun to have you visit the Exploratorium for a little bit before you picked up Clarke. I hope you and your family come to visit us someday at our apartment. The Exploratorium seems so fantastic that I kind of thought that it would be a little silly if the whole Exploratorium was part of your family, all eleven kids in your house. If your family comes to our house I'd play with Olivia and Clarke and Mrs. Doig. Clarke put up his train set at Daystar School. Your family seems so fantastic (that I wished I could be part of your family, but my mom would miss me), but I kind of don't want to be your family. [Mrs. Doig wanted to be part of the Potoka family]. I'm already part of my family.

Love,
Mariah


That girl absolutely makes me smile (when I'm not annoyed by her chattering:)....woah be the world when she doesn't have to dictate any more:) And it's going to be so weird when she can read everything!

long overdue pictures from home....

I've posted lots of pictures of Mariah at school, but here are a few from our new place in Chicago....

Mariah pulling the girls around on the pad from the crib (it's like 12 feet long).

Squeaky clean from the tub.....snuggly under a blanket....

First try to capture Rachel's "boss face" as it got coined.....a sort of pout/pucker that appears now and then for no real reason, but it is rather amusing.

Second try for the boss face....

Allison and Rachel discovered a fun place to play....

Oh, the hours of fun to be had in a box....but of course they all needed one.

Rachel's tool for learning to walk.

school pictures and vacation fun

Here are a few pictures of Mariah at school. With a sidewalk chalk drawing.

Playing with cubes.

Mariah's favorite thing at school is Team Time. This is when the whole school gets together on Friday afternoons for various activities in small groups (bingo, uno, war, etc) or in one big group. On this particular day they played Shoe Salad with everyone together -- over 85 students in one room playing this game. Everyone took off a shoe and put it in the middle and then they would take turns trying to match the shoes. Apparently it was very noisy:)

We enjoyed a nice trip back to Minnesota last weekend since Mariah has this whole week off from school. It was so wonderful to back among familiar faces and places. The girls and I are still recovering from the trip and fighting sniffly noses, but Mike is back to work. I observed my 29th birthday yesterday.....I don't feel too old, though:) Rachel chose the day to be full of mischief -- rinsing rags in the toilet (imitating me rinsing diapers, probably:), climbing on the toilet, and once again, being absolutely crabby about diaper changes. She is definitely the most strong-willed and adventerous and mischevious of the three kids.

Yesterday Mariah and Allison enjoyed some time playing together -- something that they don't get to do every day. They were wonderfully creative and played "Boundary Waters" for hours. For anyone who doesn't know, in Northern Minnesota there is a large area with many lakes that is designated the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness -- it is on the border with Canada and you canoe on the lakes and portage (carry canoes and backpacks with gear) on the land to get from lake to lake. Mike took Mariah up there this past summer for 4 days/3 nights so she knows just what goes on. Anyway, the girls pretended all day that the couch cushions were their boats. They would rock on the waves, paddle with their feet (push themselves on the wood floor) and when they came to a carpet they would pick up their boats and put them on their heads and walk to the wood floor on the other side. And occassionally Allison would fall out of her boat and Mariah would rescue her:) They also set up camp under the dining room table with lots of pillows and blankets to lay on. They had great fun and it was neat to watch them play together.

a few funnies

Cracking an egg in class to help remember the letter E (a program called jolly phonics).

Mariah reflected in Cloud Gate (aka the bean) at Millenium Park

Life never gets dull when you have kids. They can frustrate you and make you angry but they can also make you laugh and be in awe of all that they are learning and doing and what amazing little creatures they are. Here are a few of my favorites from the last week or so.

Rachel -- now 15 months. She is getting opinionated! She knows what she wants and she is not quiet about it! The only words that she really says are mumumum and dadadada and bah (for boo) but other than that she communicates with pointing and exclamations. She doesn't like to hear 'no' and she'll pull a big pouty face and tears sometimes. Othertimes (when her sisters say no) she will attempt to bite them, but that doesn't work so well because they are bigger. It happened once that Allison pushed Rachel away from something, Rachel fell down, got up, was crabby about it, tried to hit Allison, but couldn't, walked over to Mariah and took a swipe at her, then walked to the toy cupboard and pulled out the toy hammer:) I don't think that she quite knew what she was doing with the hammer because she didn't go hit anything, but it was just a funny toy to grab. The days are pretty peaceful for the most part, but Rachel definitely tries to exercise her indepedence at times. Rachel loves to help unload the dishwasher. A few months ago it was grab all the silverware and throw it on the floor. Then, it thankfully progressed to handing the silverware to me so that I could put it in the drawer. A few days ago, though, she decided that she was not going to hand it to me, but instead she totters over to the drawer, holds onto the edge because she can't even see into it, and chucks with silverware in. I was impressed. I'll take it. Her other feat for the week is climbing onto the girl's 2 foot tall table. She loves to watch the trains go by and she recognizes the sound right away, but the windows are all about 4 feet off the floor. Usually I pick her up and let her look outside, but a few days ago she discovered that she can climb up onto the table and look by herself now. Now if only she would learn to climb down.... And last but not least, the ladder feat. In our new place, we turned the master bedroom into the girl's playroom and Mike built a 4ft tall platform in the walk-in closet of the bedroom to put our queen bed on (and there's still room for a desk!) We have a 4 foot stepladder that lives in the room so that we can climb into bed. Allison usually naps up there and so she was in bed and Rachel was just playing in the playroom. Well, it got pretty quiet so I just walked over to see what was going on and where is Rachel?? She had climbed up the ladder all by herself and was on the bed! I was astounded, but very thandful, too, that she hadn't fallen! Needless to say, we'll keep the door closed from now on!

As I've said before, I've been enjoying having only two girls at home. I feel like I get to know the younger two a bit better which helps me to love them more. As the author of The Shack noted, our ability to love somebody increases with knowledge of them (applicable to both God and people) and I have found this to be so true. I just marvel at what the girls know and what they can do. Allison loves to do puzzles -- she can do 100 piece puzzles by herself (I usually sort the pieces, but she can put them all in) and once she even did a 300 piece one after I sorted the pieces -- it took her over and hour, but I was impressed that she stuck with it! Her speech is very fun, too. See if you can figure these out: She likes to play "oh-no" (she doesn't care about winning, she just wants to have to draw cards when she can't match the color or number), "chest" (she knows that the pieces get moved around and that you can be in check, but she likes to have the pieces talk to each other:), she once liked to eat "cuzinni", but doesn't anymore, and she likes to have her hair in "tonypails" sometimes. She has lots of good questions, but this one was really good. They have this spinning toy (called a sit and spin, maybe?). It is a plastic disk about 18" wide with a handle in the middle that you pull yourself around to make the disk spin. The other day she asked -- "can you spin on the spinning toy on a merry go round?". Good question.

Mariah continues to enjoy school. Since I posted last she has gone to the Chicago cultural center and the Art institute on learning excursions! They have maybe a week off and then they get to ride the El train (the subway trains that are sometimes underground and sometimes on Elevated tracks above streets) and a city bus! Sounds like fun to me! Yesterday her class baked cookies because there was a parent event about school curriculum so they made refreshments for us (and even special gluten free ones for me!) She's been learning lots about letters and sounds and reading and on Wednesday she sounded out an unfamiliar word. We were driving and of all things, she found some graffiti to read:) It said something like Ramos Lives and she said "does that say liv?" I said yep! How did you figure that out? She said , "well, it looks like antie liz's name only with a v so that's how I knew what it said." Good strategies:) It is going to be really weird when she is fluent at reading and spelling! It will open up whole new worlds to her.

As for Mike and I, we are doing well for the most part. Sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one and a half steps back, especially when somebody in the house is sick. I unpacked the last box of dishes yesterday (hooray!) , but have a few boxes of toys and things left. My mom is coming to visit this weekend which will be very exciting! and we are planning to go back to Minnesota the weekend of the 18th/19th so it will be so nice to see some familiar faces. I miss home in Minnesota and I miss the familiarity and knowing where all the groceries in the store are and all of our friends and fellow-churchgoers. We do like it here and we'll get adapted and it will help to join a church and get involved with some activities so that we meet people, but it still feels weird that we are going to live here for a long time!

interesting financial videos

In the midst of all this hullabaloo about the economy, Mike wanted to know more about what was going on and he came across a youtube video that did a lot of big picture explaining. If you go to youtube and search for Peter Schiff there are interesting videos of his (from a 2006 banking conference -- 8 segments long -- or try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3Qefbt0n4&feature=user). He is called Mr. Doom but from the sounds of it he has been right on about a lot of stuff (eg. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going down). Even if the doom doesn't happen, Mike said that it is a good big picture talk anyway. I watched the first segment and it is very interesting and he is rather amusing at times, too. Happy watching!

Can you tell we aren't from the city??

Today when Allison and Rachel and I walked to school we saw an interesting site. I wrote before that Allison loves to watch the cement trucks and the tower crane work on the 12 story building being built (www.1555wabash.com), and today was no exception. Well, today an even bigger crane was onsite -- a mobile, hydraulic one. On the way to school we saw it put 50 tons of weights on the back of itself and I had absolutely no idea what they were doing. But on the way back from school, two hours later, we found out why. They used the mobile crane to dismantle the big yellow tower crane that had been permanentally onsite for the last few months. She thought it was pretty neat to see it come apart and to see the guys climbing, 12 stories up, on the part that swings around (the jib or working arm -- I had to look it up:) and see parts of it be lowered to the ground. We actually sat down for 5 minutes to stare because it took a while to hook up a piece and lower it down. We are dorks, yes, and it is probably glaringly obvious that we are not from the city, but so it goes. She likes to watch them and I think it is kind of cool myself. I'd take pictures to post here for you, but that might be a little much:)

Well, apparently the sickness that I had a few weeks ago was contagious -- Mike and Mariah both got it (Allison and Rachel were spared, thankfully), but then it got passed to some kids at school, both of Mike's parents and at least one parent and another staff member. We are better from that now, but I got a cold yesterday and feel rather droopy today.

an interesting chat with Mariah

Yesterday afternoon Mariah and I had an interesting chat. At 4:30 on Friday morning she had woken up with a bad dream about robbers. She didn't say anything else about it until after school, but then her tummy started hurting and she said that it was because she was thinking about the dream. I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it covered many topics. I told her that I had bad dreams about robbers when I was little, that God is with you even when scary or bad things happen (I just recently read The Shack by William P. Young and it is a very good perspective on bad things happening). She then asked about angels and if God would send them if something bad happened and I could only say maybe -- sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I told her this story that I had read about missionaries out in the jungle who were not well-accepted by the tribe in the area and one night they heard people surround their house to come kill them. But, those people dispersed and later the missionaries found out from the tribe that there had been 24 men around the house so they couldn't attack. Even later, they found out that 24 people from their church had been praying for them that night and the tribe eventually accepted the gospel. But, I also told her about the missionary Jim Elliot and others who were killed, but that good came out of that because the wives and kids ministered to the tribe and the tribe later came to know Jesus. I would absolutely love to be able to tell her that no robbers would ever break into our apartment or that nothing bad will ever happen, oh how I want to be able to tell her that, but I don't know that for sure and so I can't reassure her in that way. She knows now that she doesn't have to be afraid of dreams because they can't hurt her. She wouldn't tell me everything that happened in the dream, but she asked "so if they throw rocks in my dream, those can't hurt me?" Then after all of that discussion, we talked about how the only thing we need to fear is God because he decides where your spirit goes when you die (try explaning spirit to a 5 year-old!!) -- (reading various books by Neil T Anderson of Freedom In Christ Ministries has really helped me deal with my own fears and understand why we only need to fear God). And then we talked about that when people who love Jesus die, their spirit goes to be with Jesus and that when Jesus comes again, everybody who loves him will be alive again and live on the earth and the earth will be perfect and that we'll live here forever. That all kind of blew her away, I think. She asked "what does Jesus do with everybody's spirits in heaven!?!?" (that was the really astounding one) and "will Adam and Eve be there when we live again?" and "forever is a long time....like 50 years!.....I can't imagine!!...". We agreed that it will be pretty cool when we are resurrected and live in a perfect world, though. I know that my theology isn't perfect, but I hope that it is close enough. I don't know if that all will stick with her, but it was nice to have a chat like that with her!

We went to an apple orchard/farm today and saw some animals and got lots of tasty produce! It was really weird to be out in the suburbs by all of these HUGE houses, open space, and lots of chain stores! But, it was also nice to see TONS of trees and some wetlands and farm animals, too.

Another book that I've been reading lately is The New Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman. The huge thing that I have learned so far is my tendencies toward perfectionism which I have known about, but haven't quite gotten past. I've learned a lot about not being perfect in my school work (that I can just do my best because I can't even come close to perfection when I have three kids at home!) but I have long been frustrated at keeping the house clean and picked up. I discovered in reading the book that I am a discouraged perfectionist -- that I know I can't do things perfectly on a regular basis so often I just don't even try. Case and point is cleaning the bathroom. Yes, I cleaned the bathroom every week growing up (external motivation from mom:), but never that often since being married. I always thought that the right way was to get the sink wet, scrub with cleaning powder/baking soda, then rinse with a wet sponge and dry. That's how we always did it growing up. Even after a summer of housekeeping at a resort and using the spray and wipe method there, I thought scrubbing was superior (silly me:). (Once when I was about 12 I even told on my older sister when she used the spray and wipe method because you weren't supposed to do it that way:) So, I actually cleaned the bathroom two weeks in a row using an environmentally friendly cleaning spray then wiping clean with a rag and you know what?? It looks just fine! I finally realized that a bathroom sprayed clean once a week is a whole lot better than a perfectly scrubbed bathroom once a month. Duh! you might say, but sometimes I'm a little slow. So now I just need to be less perfectionistic about finding homes for all of the stuff in boxes.....

Well, my entries always turn out like a chapter in a novel.....what can I say??? I like to think and I analyze my life a lot and I don't have grownups to talk to most of the day and I figure that I might as well share my imperfections so that maybe somebody else can learn from them. I'll try to keep a balance between updates of the kids and ponderings on my own life. The beauty of a blog, though, is that you can choose whether or not you want to read it all! :)

I want to go back to kindergarten :)

Mariah went to the top of the Sear's tower today on her learning excursion! I haven't even been up there yet. The skies were absolutely clear today so she probably saw A LOT! We can almost see the Sear's tower from our windows, but there is a building in the way so all we see is the two lightning rods on the top :( Here are a couple of pictures from Mike's mom of Mariah at school:

Mariah and her teacher, Mrs. Doig

At Millenium Park with classmates.

doozy of a week....and month....and year....

I got sick this week. I didn't feel like it was a virus or a bug, but almost like my body was rebelling -- too much stress, too little sleep, too much unusual food, so Tuesday my intestines emptied themselves from both ends and I slept and rested and slept some more. I feel better now and can eat fine, but am still tired. Even though being sick really stinks, it always makes me sit back and think about life and slow down a bit. Even though I resist it sometimes, I really do like to think and get advice, so some of my thinking and advice received is:
Rachel needs to sleep through the night -- 14 months is way too old to be waking up, still, move or no move, loft-living or no loft!
I need to get more sleep and not eat weird-for-me food (aka large quantities of dairy and potato chips) and I need to exercise (especially my abs which are practically nonexistent after 3 kids!)
I need to give myself some grace -- 6 months to feel adjusted to the move. It's the little things of where to buy groceries and where to locate the bath towels since we don't have a hall closet that really are stressful:)
I need to appreciate the work that I do -- even though I usually don't feel like I get much done during any given day, when i'm on the couch for two days straight, I can tell that I really DO do something when I am home because last night the house was more of a disaster than it has been since we moved.
I need to pray -- because there is no way that I can be a wife, mother of three, adjust to a new city, and spend two hours a day writing a thesis on my own strength.
And last but not least, I'm not perfect and no matter how many times I realize these things I will mess them up again. But, I did clean the bathroom this morning (for the first time since we moved - gross) and did some pilates and took a nap....progress.

In other news, Mariah is on her first learning excursion today (experienced by most of us as a field trip) to Millenium Park on the lakefront of Chicago to see a few treasures of the city. Rachel is a full-fledged walker now and Allison, well, it is amazing how much that girl can talk when Mariah is not around to overpower her:)

Mariah's kindergarten class

Here is a picture from Mariah's first day of class. It so beautifully illustrates the diversity that we enjoy at Daystar -- you can't see it, but there is also a lot of social and economic diversity among the families, too.

I am constantly amazed by Rachel -- it seems like she is so small and shouldn't be that smart, but oh my goodness, does she know things and have an opinion.! Yesterday she started insisting on eating food out of a bowl with a spoon. If the same food was on her tray and she had to eat it with her hands, it was just not any good! She loses a lot down her front when it falls off the spoon and sometimes the bowl gets dumped and she puts it all back in and starts over, but she is insistent that she learn to do what the big people do. Her other demand lately is fingers -- anybody's fingers that she can hold onto and walk with. She'll stand up, squeeze her fists and look around to see why nobody is letting her grab their hands:) And while is is walking she must have certain things along -- sometimes it will be her doll, other times she will insist that she wear Mariah's bike helmet while toddling around the house. It's funny.

did we over do it??

We watched a lot of Olympics. A lot. The girls loved it and I enjoyed it, but perhaps it was a bit too much....for the past few weeks when Mariah "reads" books on her own she tells stories starring Misty May and Michael Phelps and Stephanie Rice. It's funny:) One day she and Allison were doing gymnastics on their bed complete with the after-performance hug, using the chalk, and having a water bottle. Their moves were a bit different, of course, but they definitely did not miss a thing in all of the hours that we watched.

Allison is sick today with a fever, cough, and is very tired. That is not very fun to watch. Rachel has a slight fever, but is too obsessed with walking to be sick:) She takes at most 10 steps at a time and always wants somebody's fingers to hold on to so that she can go a lot faster. Mariah continues to love school and says that she missed Rachel more than she misses Allison. Interesting.

A Wedding!

In the midst of camping a few weeks ago with Mike's family, we made short jaunt to Grand Rapids to go to my sister Jodi's wedding. The wedding was in a the beautiful outdoors, it was short (great for the kids) and I cried (especially when we sang the Old Irish Blessing) , but it was nice to be together for three hours....Here is a picture of the family now:

The people are: Amanda (my youngest sister), Michael (her boyfriend), Rob (Joslyn's husband), Joslyn (next youngest sister), my parents (Shari and Larry), Jodi (my older sister) and her new husband Kenny and daugther Naomi (a new cousin!) and then us.

Interesting things we do and see

Mariah had her first day of kindergarten yesterday and she loves it! When I asked her if she wanted to go back again today, she was very quick to say yes. :) It is weird and sad and nice, all at the same time, that she is gone -- weird to have her gone all day, sad because I miss her and it is a lot quieter, but at the same time nice because it is quieter and less busy with just two at home.

It has been fun to get to see Allison's personality a bit more with Mariah gone. She can be so quiet and play for a while by herself, but when I start chatting with her or she gets an idea in her head, she talks loudly and gets very excited! Yesterday when we were on our way to pick up Mariah from school, we stopped for 10 minutes on the sidewalk to watch various construction activities at the 12-story building that is going up -- the elevator cage on the outside of the building going up and down, the guys in the lift doing some drilling, the cement truck filling up a 30 gallon-ish cauldron which the crane then lifted up to the roof. She would probably watch this every day if she could. Across the street from the building is a sales office with a model of what the 12-story building will look like and she exclaims loudly every time we walk by "Mommy! That buildling is going to look like that one when it is finished!" I love it! When we were walking back with Mariah, Allison wanted to watch for a while again, but Mariah would have none of it :)

Rachel is 14 months now and is developing quite a personality, too. She hates hearing no (which doesn't need to happen very often, thankfully). She needs to learn that she does not own my lap and cannot de-throne other kids who want a hug. She loves to do what Mariah and Allison are doing (much do their chagrin when they are building lego houses with Mike). And, most importantly, she is learning to walk. She started out with a small step stool and a small kids grocery cart -- pushing on her knees. Then she progressed to pushing the stool while standing and then found the 3ft tall stools at the counter (taller than her!) and lately it has been the umbrella stroller. She can just see over the top of it and is steady enough that it doesn't roll away from her and she has just about mastered the art of steering it around boxes and corners and toys (oh boy, do we hear it if she runs into anything!).

Mike and I are slowly adjusting to the move. The adrenaline of moving has worn off and now we are in it for the long haul. It's a bit of a chang-of-pace since Mike is gone all day and Mariah until 3, but it is nice, too, to have a bit more structure to our days. I will be starting back into my thesis writing next week now that I've had a sufficient amount of time to adjust (this does not mean that all of the boxes are unpacked, though!) and now that Rachel is sleeping more than 4 hour stretches at night and sleeping better during the day.

Life in the city is so different from life in the suburbs and I think that I really like it. I cannot begin to describe all of it, but here are some of my favorites:

Seeing people -- the 'burbs are almost lonely sometimes!
Lots of different kinds of people -- all ethnicities, people with dogs, people with babies, people in suits, people running, biking, in pajamas or suits walking dogs. It's fun.
Watching trains -- freight, amtrak, commuter trains, the El.
Walking lots of places -- to school (four blocks), the park (1 block), Lake Michigan (1 mile) , soldier field (1/2 mile).

Things I don't like:
Not being able to have the windows open at night (we're on the first floor)
Freight cars labeled "inhallation hazard" or "hydrochlroic acid" on the tracks a block away
Not being able to shop at the Wedge Coop :)

I think that the goods outweight the bads:)

Alive and Well

Well, what can I say?? We made it to Chicago safely and finally got internet a few days ago. It feels a bit weird to be here and it isn't quite real yet that we are going to stay. For a long time. This isn't just vacation anymore. Mike started work last week and I've been trying to get stuff out of boxes and get some sleep. The girls have done really well for the most part, but really miss the backyard :) We are going camping this weekend with Mike's parents and sisters' families and Mariah starts school in two weeks! Weird!

Slowly....

Well Stephanie's parents made it here Sunday night around 8:00. It will be a great help for them to watch the kids some while she packs up, especially since Allison woke up in the middle of the night last night with a painful ear infection. I have a feeling she might claim Grandma's lap for most of the day.

Things for free and for sale!

For better or worse, all of our things for sale were sold or moved or given away....

Some Progress

Things are starting to line up. We sold the Explorer and the Truck and now own a minivan, a 2000 Mercury Villager (cousin to the Nissan Quest), so it will be nice to only have to move one vehicle. We also found out today that Stephanie's parents will actually drive the truck down to Chicago for us! That means Stephanie won't have to drive with the kids all by herself.

In other news, Mariah took her first major crash on her bicycle today. She cut her lips, chin, scraped her knee and a few of her fingers. She wanted to sleep in bed with Mommy tonight, so I have downgraded to the couch. I will try to take some pictures tomorrow.

Welcome

Well we have finally decided it is time to start a blog and begin the process of keeping everyone updated on how our move to Chicago is going. As of right now, we will be moving on the 31st of July, 2008, and moving into 1601 S Indiana Ave #110, Chicago IL 60616 on August 1st.