Zoo.Baseball.Texas.Surgery.Volleyball.Etc.

Wow. So I'm using Ben's computer and found that he has WAY more pictures than I do on mine. So this is a post completely overloaded with images. If there are typos, I apologize, but there's no way I'm editing through this beast of a post.

Obviously this is from Easter. I have the cutest playgroup friends that meet every week (or several times a week) for fun activities. Here, we're collecting eggs.

 Almost every single day that Ben gets home he takes Charlotte out to play baseball. Here they stopped for some artwork.

On a zoo and ice cream date with Dad. 

 Launched through the air to land on the Love Sac.

Another baseball game. 

We've been to 30+ Cub's games in the past 5 years and before this season have watched them lose maybe 3 times. Even though they've never been good, we always saw them win. This season, however, they might have won 1 that we've seen.

So depressing.

 A different game where the temperature was 100 degrees.

The great state of Texas.

The Dude (Ben's Grandad and handsome man below) passed away back in May. His wife, Nana (NanaMoo to Charlotte), made sure that his memorial service was at a time where the whole family was able to make it. Luckily, Ben had a solid week off in July and the rest of the family worked out their schedules and were all able to come. It was a great mini family reunion down in Austin.

We had so much fun in that week. We went swimming, played games, went kayaking and paddle boarding, stayed up late watching movies, and ate amazing Texas BBQ.

Charlotte was the only kid. So she ate up attention like nobody's business.

In downtown Austin there's an old hotel named the Driskill that is gorgeous. If we're in the area we walk through it. We noticed they had these tiny pieces of furniture that Charlotte quite enjoyed.

 One of these days I'm going to actually purchase a cowboy hat when I'm in Texas.

 My family at the memorial service.

 Blurry picture of the cute siblings.

 Ben, creepy looking Hans (cousin), JoJo (cousin), and Nathan (BIL).

 Okay. So I didn't take many pictures, but Jenna, my SIL, did. So these are from her camera and she is in a lot of them. =)

 Cousins Hailey and Hans and SIL Jenna.

 Love this man. Even if his glasses have glares from the flash.

 I rarely saw this kid. It was usually when she was crying about something that I saw her.

 We brought next to no toys for this kid to play with so while we were at Uncle Pete and Aunt Jenni's house, Hans brought his toys out to play with. Unfortunately, all of his toys were missing heads and limbs. She was a wee bit confused.

 She loves playing music, but I guess what 2 year old doesn't?

She played on this piano and sang until her mother told her to stop and take a tiny break. =)

 Wearing Auntie Jenna's cute shoes in her Jessie cowgirl pjs.

 Being shy before going swimming with her 2 aunts and uncle.

 Another swimming time with Daddy.

 Hanging out in the backyard.

 Cute siblings.

 NanaMoo has a huge yard that she loved to use her energy on running and running.

 Hazards of staying in the home of a golfer.

 NanaMoo trying to teach Charlotte how to play Mexican Trains.

 "I don't know about this... it's too difficult."

 With Auntie Caitlin.

 With Auntie Jenna.

 With Uncle Nathan.

 JoJo and Jenna

 Charlotte's signature look with Hailey

 Aunt Jenni (Hans, Hailey, and Hannah's mom), Caryn (Jaci (who couldn't come) and JoJo's mom), and my MIL Marci.

 This cute and happy couple just celebrated their 1st anniversary last month.

 Nana with Uncle Jim

 My FIL Jeff and Uncle Pete

 BOWLING!

 DOS SALSAS - we go to this Mexican joint every time we visit Austin.

 Joe wearing all of Grandad's clothes at his memorial service.

 Irish pride

 All of the family that was able to make it came from California, Colorado, Texas, Utah, Illinois, and Missouri.

The Surgery.

Ever since Charlotte was tiny she's snored. Her tonsils were so big they practically touched in the middle. About 6 months ago we noticed it got worse and she would stop breathing at night. FREAKY!

So we took her to a pediatric ENT and showed her a video of her snoring and stopping breathing at night and she took a look a her tonsils and knew those puppies had to come out.

A week ago today she had her surgery.

Ben had to work in the ICU so he popped down before and after her surgery to check on her which was a relief. I tend to have to do most things by myself because of his work schedule, but this was not one of those I was excited about.

Her surgery was at 8:15 am so we were there at 6:15 and she loved that she was at Daddy's work.

We put her tiny hospital "dress" on and they brought a little wagon in for her to ride in which she loved. They gave her an oral drug to help keep her calm when they wheeled her away later, but she spit most of it out. Luckily some got into her system =)

 In the holding room before being wheeled away to the operating room where she'd be put under.

 This is about the time the oral meds started to work. She played with stickers and drew pictures and wanted to show all of the nurses that came by. She was also incredibly cheerful and acting silly.

 The doctor came in to say hi and then the anesthesiologist. When he walked in she stuck out her hand for him to shake and said "nice to meet you".

Then as they wheeled her away (which I was nervous about) she gave me a smooch, held the anesthesiologist's hand, and they pulled her wagon down the hallway. She never once looked back and chatted the whole way down. I heard her say something about seeing balloons on the wall and the anesthesiologist said that she was about to see a big balloon that she was going to breathe into. Haha.

 Going in to see her afterwards was horrible. I could hear her moaning down the hallway right when she woke up. I came into the room and she was slouched in the nurses arms waiting for me with her eyes closed crying. As soon as they said I was there her little arms came up and she squeezed me so tight around the neck I got teary (from emotion - not lack of oxygen). Then she bawled and bawled. They had paged Ben so he was on his way. I just sat there in a chair holding her oxygen close to her mouth and rocking her as she woke up. She kept pulling at her IV and managed to yank it out which got her quieted down fast. She fell asleep for a few minutes, drank some water, then they thought she was ready to go to her recovery room. As I was being wheeled to her room she gagged on her spit and mucus and threw up all over me. Nice. Which then got her crying again.

 Once we got to her room she downed a bunch of water and red slushy (they had a slushy machine on the pads floor). She was so happy to have something cold on her throat and something in her tummy we let her eat and eat.... which made her throw up again all over her, me, and the bed.

This got her crying again until we cleaned her up, gave her a little water, and then she fell asleep on my chest for almost 2 hours. Once she woke up she had a couple of blue slushies (I think she was turned off by the red ones after throwing it up), water, and asked for food. 

When the nurses came in she chatted with them and took a little walk with one of them.

Then we knew she was ready to hit the road.

The first few days at home were fabulous. She carried on like nothing was wrong and only woke up once or so at night to get more medicine. 

Then it hit. 

The last few days have been tough. She wakes up 3 or so times a night screaming because of the pain in her throat. Then it takes a good 10-15 minutes to calm her down so she can take more medicine.. 

oy vey...

When she's got her medicine in her system she's perfection, but as soon as it runs out - watch out! I try to get it in her before it completely runs out, but that's hard to do at night.

So that's where we are now. We take advantage of her good and happy times and get out of the house to play and then when the storm hits we head home.

A few days ago Ben had his first day off in weeks so we headed downtown to a doughnut joint and then to a beach volleyball tournament.

We waited in line for 45 minutes for doughnuts at the Doughnut Vault.

Totally worth it.

 Then we sat and watched beach volleyball for a few hours (luckily in the shade since it was over 100 degrees out).

 Then we played in the water while a storm slowly approached us.

After 20 minutes of splashing in Lake Michigan, the heavens opened and gave us a torrential downpour so we headed home.

Wow. That was quite an update.

'Jesus is at home'

Today while Charlotte and I were driving around we were listening to Brooks and Dunn 'Red Dirt Road'. Of course I only know the chorus which I was belting out with the windows rolled down.

Charlotte picked up on one part of the chorus - 'It's where I found Jesus.'

So she stopped my singing by saying:

"Mom! Mom! Jesus is at home. Let's just go home. We can find him there."

........

Tonight we were putting puzzles together and apparently I was either getting impatient and putting them together too quickly or hogging all of the pieces because Charlotte grabbed my hand as I was about to put one down and said:

"Whoa! Wait. You need to share. Whoa."

Then as I put her down to bed tonight and gave her a kiss she reminded me that I needed to be better at sharing...

Sheesh. Well excuuuse me.

our little angel

looks can be very deceiving...

{My mother and I were shopping in an antique store a few months ago. I left to use the restroom and came back to see this. My mother posing Charlotte next to this angel. She kept saying "Mommy Mommy look at me, look at me." Then she'd pose with her little head down and stay still.}

swimming downtown

Last Friday Ben was post call and it was well in the 90's... so we headed to the water. There are beaches all along Lake Michigan downtown Chicago. We grabbed a picnic lunch from Fox & Obel and headed to a beach that had maybe 30 people hanging out.

 Ben realized after swimming, jumping, tossing Charlotte around, and dunking down into the water that his iPhone was in his pocket still... oops.

He packed it with these silicone packing pouches for 4 days and it WORKED.

Miracle.

We love Chicago.

the past few weeks...

 My tiny best friend and I went to the movies yesterday. It was cold and rainy. And I had zilch planned for the day. So we headed out to see Mirror Mirror loaded with snacks. I told her it was a Snow White story. She liked it but kept waiting and waiting for the "I'm Wishing.." song to be sung. So she sang it for them.

Below: the first attempt at getting a picture at the end of the movie. She wouldn't stop looking at the screen.

.....

Charlotte got a play house for the heck of it and of course the afternoon we decided to put it together it poured. Ben only had that afternoon off before a crazy week so we covered up and went to work. Charlotte was a big help...

.....

 The art virtuoso.

The next Kandinsky.

.....

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Wisconsin to camp. After Ben worked 107 hours that week it was a much needed time away.

Below is the ONLY picture of me with Charlotte. Thanks, Ben...

 I was worried about a 2 1/2 year old around a bonfire, but she had fun throwing marshmallows in from a safe distance.

 Is it cheesy that I had her wear girl scout shirts the whole weekend?
And here's Ben in his ever-present-whenever I hike/camp hat he bought in Bolivia a few years ago.

 One of those days it was in the 90's so we headed to a lake to go swimming. She LOVES the water. At one point Ben thought I had her hand and I thought he had her hand and she went under... for awhile... oops. We're great parents. I snagged her right up and she spit the water out and said "whoa.." then continued jumping around.

 She was pooped on the way home. Can't ya tell?!

 Ben gets a kick out of this. If you can tell there's a "baby on board" sign and then the bumper is dented and sagging. Anytime we come across this baby sign and a crunched car he thinks it's hilarious and takes a picture.

 We drove about 5 hours northwest of Chicago into the rolling hills, forests, and cornfields of Wisconsin. I love that state. She did great in the car, slept like a champ in her own mummy bag in the tent, and only got 3 mosquito bites (compared to Ben and my countless ones).

Side note: one afternoon we stumbled across a flea market in a forest. I kid you not. These people had tents and tables set up amongst the trees and bushes. It was amazing. Enamelware, old kitchenware, old windows, old pallets, farm equipment, old milk jars.... it was a vintage/country/primitive gold mine. And ridiculously cheap: enamelware teakettle $4, old blue mason jars $1, old farmhouse windows $5. 

I could have gone crazy.

But I didn't.

I bought 2 old windows for $5 each.

That is some serious restraint.