Seeing Santa

On Saturday we took the kids to see Santa. One of our neighbors hosts a Santa gathering at her house every year and takes a collection of canned goods for the Ronald McDonald House, which is also in our neighborhood. Tyler has been to this gathering in previous years. It was Emma's first time seeing Santa. Tyler headed for the toys as soon as we walked in, so we took Emma over to see Mr. Claus first. To our surprise, she freaked out when we tried to hand her over. We didn't think she'd entered the "stranger-danger" phase yet!

So, I sat down with her on my lap near Santa so she could warm up to him for a while. Santa was very understanding. He let Emma touch his furry coat and pull the white ball at the tip of his hat. Things seemed to be going well, she was smiling at Santa now, so we tried to set her on Santa's lap again.

She cried!

At first Tyler wasn't so sure about this whole thing, either. Then he remembered he could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, and he perked up. In case you miss it in the video: he's hoping for dinosaurs - BIG ones.

Still wouldn't sit on the Jolly Old Fellow's lap, though.

Finally, we sat down on a bench, holding the two kids, and Santa "snuck" in behind us so we could get this shot. Tyler insisted on making his "CHEESE" face... oh well. Good enough for the Christmas cards!

Things Kids Say and Do

Tyler is entertaining us with his antics. On Sunday we went to our nephew's baptism. The family gathered in the church lounge before the service to meet with the minister and get an overview of what would be happening. When the minister finished talking she asked if anyone had any questions. Tyler's hand shot up in the air while he announced, "I do!" The minister was wonderful and humored him, asked what his question was. "It's about DINOSAURS" he replied. We all had a good laugh and the minister informed our budding student that she was not an expert on dinosaurs so she probably couldn't answer his question. Tyler declared that he was a dinosaur expert, so he thought he would be able to answer the question himself. He sure does love attention...

Preschool

Tyler started preschool this week. He's going to the Woodbury Preschool. Here he is charging into the museum on his first day. He'd had me worried that morning, and even during the car ride to school. He would wimper, "Mommy, please don't leave me at preschool."

I thought we were in for a big meltdown at drop off, but when he got out of the car he really suprized me. He got all excited and started running into the museum. Luckily a good friend had volunteered to stay with Emma so I didn't have to tote her along while trying to keep up.

Here he is, making his "CHEESE!" face at the door of the drop off room. You can see the two teachers, Mrs. Cheryl (standing) and Mrs. Maya (sitting with her back to the camera) in the background. He wanted to burst into the room.
First order of business is putting the book bag (Tyler informs me I can only call it a backpack) in your cubby. He recognized his name when I pointed it out to him, then promptly spelled it for me. He's really into spelling words right now...
And then, he was off. It was time to play and he dove right in, not even stopping to look back at either Steve or me as we were standing, hovering in the doorway. He went straight for the plastic elephants. He has some that are very similar at home and he LOVES playing with them. We had also been to the zoo the day before, so he had animals on the brain.
He took the elephant over to this table to play. Later he informed me, "The king didn't like to live with the elephants... they kept breaking the castle." I guess he was acting out a scene from The King, the Mice, and the Cheese. I hope he didn't do too much damage...

The first day was shortened, only an hour long. They played in the first room for about 50 minutes while the parents went to a conference room for tea & coffee and to hear about the procedures for the preschool. We were given our security badges and had our pictures taken. Then we were allowed into the observation area (there are mirrored windows into one of the rooms so you can see the kids but they can't see you) to watch our kids for the last 10 minutes. It was neat to get to peak at what they were doing. Tyler decided to draw a picture instead of participate in circle time while we were observing. He's very proud of his drawing, which he informed us is a picture of the night.

"The Night"

He's Here!

Joseph Franklin Spencer was born on August 5th at 2:56 PM. He wasn't here quite as quickly as we thought he would be, but he made it and everyone is healthy. The family came home from the hospital on Thursday. Gretchen promises to post more info on her blog when she gets the chance.

Big News!

Just got a phone call from Patrick - they're at the hospital! Gretchen's water broke last night. Joseph should be here VERY soon!

Seabreeze

During Steve's holiday we took the family back to where it all began... Seabreeze Amusement Park. What a fun day! Steve and I hadn't been back to the park since the summer that we worked there, which is how we met. A few things had changed... the Quantum Loop has been replaced (this was the roller coaster that got stuck and nearly ruined our first date), the Gyrosphere is gone, and the water park has added a spray park area and a wave pool. My mom and dad came along for the adventure. We all had a blast watching Tyler ride all of the kiddie rides.

Appointments

Emma had her two-month check up on Monday. She now weighs 13 pounds 11 ounces and is 25.5 inches long. This puts her at the 95th percentile for both weight and height, just like her brother. The doctor's comment to us when she walked in the examining room was, "wow, you have a tall family." She also said that Emma is perfectly healthy and doing great. Three shots plus an oral vaccine and we were good to go.

Clover had her yearly check up at the veterinarian on Wednesday. She has been having some difficulty getting around recently. Dr. B says it is arthritis, and not unexpected in a dog of her age and size. She has a prescription for a cox-inhibitor for the next ten days. Depending on how she does she might switch to aspirin after that, plus glucosamine supplements. It's rough getting old!

The Chicken or the Egg??

Which comes first?? I feel like I get stuck in this loop so often these days, and it is SO frustrating. I'll be trying to figure out a solution to a problem I'm having and before I know what happened I'll get into the situation where it seems that I can't find the place to start because there's always something else that needs to happen before the thing that I'm thinking of. And then I don't know what to do, and I'm stuck. And then nothing happens, and I'm annoyed with myself.

Anyone else have this problem? Better yet, anyone have a solution for this problem?

Growing

So many things are growing around the Tudor House... here's a list:

The garden! A neighbor gave us a few iris rhizomes the other day. This is the same neighbor that agreed to take our extra rose bushes back in March, so it seems we have a bit of a plant exchange going on. The irises have been added to the garden that borders our back deck. (Three of the rose bushes were relocated here as well.) I'm so proud that this garden is finally taking shape and looking presentable. The lilac bloomed beautifully in early May. Now the rose bushes are at it (only the ones that weren't transplanted). I'm hoping to finally transplant many of the perennials that I started from seed this spring into the garden this weekend. They have grown like crazy under the lights in our basement. Here's hoping they do as well outdoors.

The kids! Emma and Tyler are both growing like weeds. Emma weighs more than 12 pounds according to our bathroom scale. The accuracy of this measurement is supported by the fact that she's also growing out of the 0-3 month sized clothing. She's taken on a pleasantly plump appearance which we find adorable. She has periods of time that she's actually awake now. She likes to spend them kicking her feet and watching her big brother. Speaking of the big brother, Tyler is learning to dress himself. He can take his clothes off without a problem and does a great job pulling a t-shirt over his head. He still needs a bit of help pulling his pants all the way up and getting his shoes on the correct feet. Socks are his nemesis. He doesn't know it yet, but in a few weeks he is going to experience an intense week of potty-training while Steve is on vacation from work. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

Oh Deer!

Yesterday, while returning from a fishing tournament, Steve had a little run-in with a deer. The deer ran all the way across I-490 (4+ lanes of highway traffic) and into the side of his car while he was merging onto the highway. Tyler was with him, thank God he was on the passenger side of the car. No one (except the deer) was hurt. The deer jumped into the back window on the driver's side, after first hitting the driver's side mirror. Then it hit the back quarter panel and left a few dents. The window was completely shattered. Tyler was shaken up quite a bit by the whole thing as he had the best view of the event. His comments about the accident are: "the deer jumped into Daddy's car and the glass broke. The deer didn't look both ways. I don't like deer. The deer scared me. The deer hurt three of us: Daddy, Tyler, and green blankie." Yes, green blankie was involved (and seems to be taking on imaginary friend status), but Mommy used her laundry skills and saved the day. Tyler has also decided that the song "It's Not Easy Being Green" is about the blanket.

Now we have to wait until Monday to get an estimate for the car and see what the insurance wants to do. It's a 2001 Chevy Prism, so there's not a lot of difference $$-wise to the insurance company between repairing it and totalling it.

Progress

Thought I'd post an update on how we are doing. Emma is now two weeks old. She's doing really well, growing really fast and becoming less jaundiced all the time. Her first week we had to go to the doctor's office three times to have her weight and bilirubin checked. On Monday she was down to 6 pounds 15 ounces. Tuesday she gained one ounce, back to 7 pounds but her bilirubin was still increasing. By Friday she was at 7 pounds 11 ounces and the bilirubin level was decreasing. Seems she is going to have a similar growth pattern to her brother after all. Now we won't go back to the doctor until she is two months old.

We were told about a research study going on at the University of Rochester Medical Center while we were in the hospital when Emma was born. They are studying vitamin D levels in breastfeeding moms and their infants. After getting the OK from our pediatrician we have decided to be a part of the study. We'll go over to the Clinical Research Center once a month for six months to have our vitamin D levels measured and our progress monitored. We'll keep you posted on the findings.

Tyler is doing REALLY well with his new status as the big brother. We're all amazed at just how easily he has made this transition as he is usually very opposed to any change, no matter how small. We were all prepared for Tyler to have some major meltdowns over the appearance of his new sister. Instead he seems to love his new role. He is already quite protective of her and will remind everyone (including his parents) to "be careful with Emma because she is a baby." He gets quite concerned if Emma gets upset (which thankfully is a rare occurrence) and does everything he can think of to make her feel better - turn on lullaby music, sing the ABC's or a number song to her, say "it's OK, Emma" and then inform me "I think she needs some mommy milk." It's really quite cute to watch him with her.

A Day Out with Thomas

We went to the "Day Out with Thomas" Event at the Medina Rail Road Museum on Saturday. What fun! Tyler had a lot of fun playing with the toys at the train tables. Then it was time for the big event - a ride on the train pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine. For those in the know: we rode in "Annie", which is the passenger coach closest to Thomas. We all had a great time.

in our seats aboard "Annie"

Tyler and Emma in the stroller

Daddy and Tyler as conductors of the railway

She's Here!!

Emma Helen Goerlich entered the world on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 1:23 AM. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. Even the doctor declared her "perfect".

Mom and baby are both doing very well. We were glad to be released from the hospital yesterday. We enjoyed our short walk home (not going by car really confused the hospital staff). It was such a beautiful, sunny day. After dinner we felt up to joining Daddy, Tyler and Clover on an adventure over to the neighborhood playground. The neighbors declared Emma to be the new record holder for youngest kid at the playground.

Stayed tuned for more updates from the Tudor House Family.

Baby Buzz

No baby, yet... We know everyone is anxiously awaiting Emma's arrival. Well, the date has been set. We found out at our last check up that Emma's entrance into the world will be encouraged (induced) on Friday morning, April 25. An update will follow ASAP after the arrival.

We decided to spend our last night as a single-child household by going to get ice cream at the neighborhood parlor. Tyler really enjoyed this, as you can see from the following photo...

We've done all we could do to prepare him for "the arrival". Only time will tell.

2008 - the "Year of Organization"

Back in January I decided to declare this year the "Year of Organization". Our house had gotten a little out of control with the clutter, and we have an impending addition to the family, so it became obvious to me that getting organized was going to be of major importance. OK, so being organized is ALWAYS important to me... now it was going to become imperative for the entire family.

It started with (finally) moving Tyler into his new room. His room was formerly known as the guest/craft room, which really meant it was full of junk. As evidenced in a previous post, Tyler now has a very nice, organized room. All of the junk was cleared out. There was no where left for it to go - all the other places junk could possibly be put (attic, garage) were already full. I did manage to convince Steve that I needed a new home for my crafting, which is what began the overhaul of the laundry area in the basement. Walls and floor were painted in an attempt to keep the water out, and generally freshen up the area. Steve and my dad built a new set of shelves over the washer and dryer which greatly increased the storage space, plus the shelves that used to hold the supplies when they were in Tyler's closet moved to another wall in the basement space. Progress in this area has been kind of fitful, but it's really coming along nicely. I still have to sort through almost ten years' worth of Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple magazines. Steve has promised to put up more lights and add some outlets for me (isn't it great to be married to an electrical engineer?). There is also a plan to make a back splash behind the utility sink with peg board, and to change the faucet. Let's just say I'm not holding my breath on the back splash, but I am hopeful about the other plans.

A few weeks ago I got this book out from the library after seeing Peter Walsh on an episode of the Oprah Show. I shared it with Steve and we both decided that his plan was exactly what we needed for our house to be free of the clutter. We each began spending about 30 minutes each day on the "Clean Sweep" - removing the easy stuff. This past weekend we had our first major clean out. My parents graciously agreed to take Tyler for an overnight on Saturday so we could really get some major work done. We decided the focus would be our bedroom. I am so proud of the results of our efforts. Not only did we manage to clean ALL of the junk out of our room, we also went through our nightstands and dressers, set up the cradle, and cleaned out the nursery, too. We even had enough time to take my car to the car wash to have the outside AND inside washed, install the baby car seat, removed all but one rosebush from the front yard (and found new homes in the back for four of them, still have two plus the one in the front looking for homes - any takers?), and organize the electronics drawer in the desk! Getting out the car seat and cleaning out the nursery meant a few forays into the attic, so that space got a little bit of attention in the organization department as well.

All this cleaning has become a bit addictive for us. We're having such a great time clearing out all of the clutter, and it's so nice to have the house clean. Order is being restored. And did I mention how much happier we are? It's even helping Tyler - the struggles to get him to cooperate with picking up have been nearly eliminated and he's just much more cooperative in general. Kids sure do love structure and routine.

The 3rd Birthday

Thomas the Train came chugging to a very happy 3-year-old's birthday party. Though it seemed to take forever to decorate, the train cake turned out really well. Tyler and his friends enjoyed playing "stick the #1 on Thomas". The poster is now hanging in his room, which he still insists is "Emma's Room". Boy, is he in for a surprise...

Tyler's New Room

Tyler has been sleeping in his "little boy" room for about a week now.

He insists he isn't a "big boy", and that the nursey is still his room, too. He was very upset with my today when I was putting baby clothes in the closet in the nursey. Tyler wanted me to put them in the closet in his room instead. He likes to try to tell me that his new room is Emma's room. I'm sure he'll get used to all of these changes eventually.

We had a lot of fun setting up Tyler's new room. Most of the furniture comes from family members or was moved from other rooms in the house. The bed comes from my side of the family. At least three generations have slept in it before Tyler: my sister and I, my maternal grandmother and her siblings, and her father's generation before that. (Where this bed was while my mother and her sister were toddlers is a mystery.) The nightstand came from Steve's Opa's house. The reading chair belonged to Steve's mom. We decided on "ABC 123" and primary colors for the theme. I made the curtains and bedding with fabric we found at JoAnn's since the bed is not a standard size. Tyler says the sheets have "Put Me in the Zoo" print.

There are still a few things we'd like to do in the room. We're planning to get this rug that has a town mapped out on it. We have a cute mobile from Pottery Barn Kids to hang up. We'd also like to put up a large bulletin board on the wall between the door and the closet so that Tyler has a place to hang his latest works of art and other collections.

Welcome!

Lots of people have been requesting this, and it's finally here - an online spot to keep up with us. After my sister, Gretchen, created a site for their family it seems everyone wanted to know if we had one, too. Well, now we do! Eventually we'd like to host this on our own site, but this seemed like a good way to get started for now.

Check back often for updates. I'm hoping to post fairly frequently, but once a month might be more usual...