Lost and Found

If you’ve lost it in our house, chances are it is in Charlie’s bed.  This is the catalogue of things I found in it today when I changed his sheets:

• two mardi gras necklaces--one purple, one gold
• one wooden seal
• one wooden zeebra
• one small Tonka fire truck
• one brown plastic Mater truck
• one large fire truck with sirens
• one white teddy bear
• a book on the Titanic
• one stuffed monkey
• one stuffed doggie
• one Woodie Pez dispenser
• one tennis ball
• one palm-sized basketball
• a yellow football
• one push-pen flashlight
• one canning ring
• a plastic screwdriver
• one large soccer ball that sounds like broken glass when you kick it
• a pair of red plastic eyeglasses. 

Apparently all were indispensable to his sleep at one point or another this week.  No wonder the poor boy wakes up with weird indentations on his body!

Who me?

I had to have a stern conversation with Wendy over dessert last night.  Her side of it went something like this:

“No mom, I was not just trying to eat chocolate ice cream.  Are you crazy?  I’m only two and a half months old!  I wouldn’t even think of putting anything in my mouth but breast milk….why don’t you believe me?“OK, fine. I’ll confess, I did have some, (and it has opened my eyes to the world of food--I’m certainly not ever letting the food that you are holding right there in your hand out of my sight) but it wasn’t my fault.   He gave it to me!”

Ahhh the joys of being a second child!….

working from home requires tactical training

Perhaps Jonathan would be a better one to be writing this post, but this is an important flavor of our lives right now and I want to remember it.  

Jonathan works from home.  This means he is here, and not here.  Tangible, yet so frustratingly unattainable.  Both Charlie and I come up with excuses all day long to “interrupt” him so that we can talk to him.   Of course I like to think I am pretty good at camouflaging and limiting my suspect motives.  Charlie is not subtle at all and it is really funny.  

His favorite ploy is to go in and start asking about Jonathan’s screen saver pictures.  These are a series of truly fascinating pictures of space, planets and space shuttles etc.   I’ve noticed Jonathan can’t pass up a chance to chat about moons and planets and the international space station.    He loves instilling the love of space in Charlie! Sometimes the instruction even spills over into a few U-Tube videos (with Charlie on his lap) for a proper understanding of the subject at hand.  (1-Charlie, 0-Dada)

Another tactic, usually employed when Charlie’s attempt to lure Jonathan into a conversation has been rebuffed is to watch the computer screen while leaning on Jonathan’s right arm, the mouse hand.  This means Jonathan can’t move his mouse without moving Charlie.  (2-Charlie, 0-Dada)

When those tricks are deployed to no effect, Charlie chooses from either the “fiddle and fidget”  or “roll on the bed” strategy.   “Fiddle and fidget” involves opening and closing desk drawers or the different plastic parts of the printer tray.  It usually ends when he picks up some small sharp, potentially dangerous article and/or touches Dada’s earphones and is told to leave the bedroom.  (2.5-Charlie, .5-Dada)

“Roll on the bed”  is exactly that.  (Jonathan’s ‘office’ is in our bedroom)  This seemingly innocent action has the strange power of reminding Jonathan that the state law provides him  at least one 15 minute break a day.   That 15 minute break is necessary so that he can wrastle his two year-old into submission on the bed!  Much giggling and bouncing and screaming commence.  (4-Charlie, 0-Dada)

But the ‘shock and awe’ of Charlie’s attention grabbing campaign is chair stealing.  Every time Jonathan gets up from his desk chair to go to the bathroom or get a cup of coffee, Charlie makes a beeline for the office.   And when Jonathan returns, there he is, sitting proudly on his chair, saying “I sitting on you chair, Dada,” with a great big grin on his face, knowing that Jonathan will have to interact with him before he gets back to work.  (5-Charlie, 0-Dada)

Today, I overheard from the office, where Jonathan was trying to work, and Charlie was doing his best to prevent it:  “Charlie, what are you up to?”  “I up to you, Dada!”

News

I just thought I’d post some random facts about our lives around here.

#1. Charlie is working hard on his grammar. “Let I take picture!” The reason I’ve noticed is because of all the exceptions he’s not aware of yet. i.e. “That mine’s cookie?” or “Please I may get down?”

#2. I have successfully completed my first pool outing with the kids by myself. Success=no one drowned! Here’s how it went: Wendy put a bathing suit on for the first time and dipped her toes in. Wendy cried. Mom put Wendy to sleep while watching Charlie in wading pool. Wendy took a nap while Mom and Charlie practiced swimming in the big pool. Wendy woke up. Mom put Wendy back to sleep while Charlie ate his snack. Mom and Charlie practiced jumping into the big pool. Wendy woke up. Wendy cried. Mom, Charlie and Wendy went home. Wendy cried. Wendy refused to nurse until Mom no longer smelled like chlorine—sheesh! BUT it was totally worth it and so fun to be in the pool with Charlie!

#3. I just got the bill for my broken toe. It turns out my orthopedic specialist, who was in the exam room all of 2 minutes to confirm that my pinkie toe was indeed broken, thinks this roll of tape is worth $265.00. He also had the audacity to call his use of the tape (around my pinkie toe and across my foot) “surgery” to the tune of another $357.00.

Which makes me think the x-ray I got for $102.00 must be a screaming deal!

#4. It was 99 degrees today with 55% humidity. I believe them when they said it felt like 108. Our air conditioning was on all day and we barely maintained 79 degrees. TOO hot!

#5. Wendy had her 2mo checkup today (a little late). It turns out we are growing a giant.She weighed 16.5lbs! Her head and length were solidly in the 95th percentile, but the doctor just kept laughing when she was showing me the weight gain curve chart. She said Wendy was 99.9 percentile for weight. It made the first-born, success driven, achiever part of me wonder for a second if there was a chance of us attaining the 100th percentile….and since we were so close, if we should just go for it as a mother-daughter team … waaaaait a minute!?!?…

…and that’s all the news from St. Louis, where all the grown-ups are sweating, the toddlers are thriving, and the babies are above averagely fat!

More California Fun

We decided to make a vacation out of the wedding in LA and stayed in a rental house for the week with Jonathan’s other brother and his family. Read 6 children under 9 and 5 adults over 32 .

Needless to say there was nary a quiet moment, except perhaps at 2 am,

BUT oh the cousin love and fun that were had!!!

Our schedule was jam packed with wedding events and enjoying as much of the area as we could while we were there. We went out for frozen yogurt and had an In-n-Out burger and even spent a day at …. There were all sorts of rides and elaborate Lego constructions everywhere. Charlie got to go on his first roller coaster. Which he said was “too fast.” I went on one too, with Jonathan. He said I was fun to ride with, but the truth of the matter was that I really DID think I was going to die, I wasn’t just screaming for fun! (Since Wendy wanted to eat every two hours, and didn’t fit the specs for most rides and because I had broken my toe the week before, I considered it a triumph to just keep up with everyone, let alone go on a ride!)

Here’s Charlie going down the biggest slide of his life, looking like a pro. He got some air right after I took this picture, but managed to land it and get to the end safely. (My heart was in my throat watching as Jonathan let go of him at the top!)We also went into the Lego water park. It was so much fun for everyone! Even Papa and Wendy had a smile or two to share!

And, you have not visited California if you are a land-locked Midwesterner unless you have also visited the BEACH. We spent two afternoons marveling at God’s creation there! Charlie thought the ocean was too noisy.It sure was windy!

Wendy enjoyed it in her own way—which meant Mama got to enjoy it too! (Thanks for her shirt, Christine!)The surf was amazing. I could understand why Charlie got a little frightened watching it!Look at those curls! They could make a fortune selling salt spray as a hair product!

We had such a lovely time with our family! As we drove in to our parking lot at home in St Louis, Charlie suddenly said in a disappointed voice, “Not this house!” When we asked him which house he wanted he said he wanted the one “with cousins.” We sure DO miss those cousins!

Thumb-Sucking Here We Come!

I video taped a little conversation with Wendy yesterday morning, while she practiced finding and sucking on her hands.  It’s become her obsession, and she’s improving at it every day.   I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a thumb-sucker on our hands!   (Yet another instance of like mother like daughter reveals itself!  I hope she has not also inherited my non-math abilities)

Two-month Smiles

Miss Wendy (aka: 'baby sister' or 'missy moo') turned two months old on the 4th. Jonathan and I are smitten. When she makes eye contact with us she breaks into earth-stopping smiles. Every time it happens our hearts turn over in awe……they soften to the world, the Word, each other……and fill with deep deep joy. What a delight this daughter of ours is!

California Wedding

We just got back from lovely California where we joined Jonathan’s brother David in celebrating his marriage to Marie. This this beautiful woman with handsome man----

               

They certainly have loving on our children in mutual! ….hmmmmm…..

The WEDDING ceremony was lovely.

As was the couple!

Since Jonathan and Andrew were both groomsmen, Marla and I were left with the minivan and the four youngest. We were so proud of ourselves when we arrived at church before the ceremony started with four dressed up (and even happy) children!

Marla handled the LA freeways like a pro!

Just go ahead and break my heart with the cousin cuteness!!!Here we are; the back row celebrants…(note: this picture is taken before the wedding started. After the wedding started, I was wrangling Anna and Charlie to sit down while nursing Wendy, as Marla was working on convincing Emily not to throw the little pieces of pea gravel that some architect (too busy to have children of his own) decided would be a brilliant addition right next to the glass windows in the back foyer. Still, considering our median age, we did pretty well, I’d say! )The Marzinke cousins: Anna, Charlie, Andy, Wendy, Rebecca and Emily! (… Dave? Marie?—your turn to add to the line-up now!!!)This picture cracks me up—look at those nails on his shoulder! Yep, that’s my man, surrounded by beautiful ladies! All I can say about this picture is that it makes me do a double take every time I see it. I may be grown up enough to be married, and can possibly imagine having a child, but I am certainly not grown up enough to be the mother of two children, in a family of four. And yet there is pictorial evidence to the contrary, good grief!Everyone enjoyed themselves at the reception in different ways.  

some gave exuberant hugs some had good conversation, food and kissessome danced themselves  silly

some watched the dancing with giggles!

And some just went ahead and did what they love to do best of all! 

All that to say, CONGRATULATIONS, DAVE and MARIE!”

Thanks for the fun party.  We are so happy for you!