Where have I been?

I feel like my blog has been lacking in updates lately. And it's not for the lack of subject matter because we have plenty going on around here. I think it's mostly because our laptop died. So I'm forced to use the desktop computer which is far away from a little 16-month-old troublemaker. I can't leave her alone for more than 5 minutes so that severly limits blogging time. My free time has also been consumed lately with preparations for Madeline's big 3rd birthday bash coming up this weekend. I have tons of fun planned for the kids and I can't wait!! You will certainly see posts about this. I've been working too hard not to share all the fun.

Other big happenings around here have been potty training Madeline and getting a new minivan. I think we are on Week 5 or 6 with Madeline and she is doing fantastic! We followed the 3-day potty training guide and it worked wonders for us. It was a long and frustrating 3 days, but she got it by the end of the 3rd day. Going #2 took a bit longer but she is getting the hang of that too. Staying dry at night has been hit-or-miss. She finally woke me up in the middle of the night this last week to tell me she had to go, so that is progress. But on nights when she is dead tired, this hasn't been happening. So we'll see how she continues to progress.

As for the new minivan, this was NOT planned at all. However, with Andy's car being 13 years old, we knew this day was coming. We were just hoping to be able to wait it out another year. But he ended up taking it in last week and it needed $1000 to fix its various issues. We decided this was our breaking point and we were done putting money into his old car. Since one of the problems was a safety issue, something needed to happen ASAP or we would be living with one car for awhile. Neither of us wanted that so off we went shopping for a minivan. Fortunately we had been kinda window shopping earlier in the year so it helped us decided on a minivan rather than an SUV. We knew we couldn't afford new so we went looking for a used Toyota Sienna or Honda Odysessy. As luck would have it, Toyota was turning over its fleet of courtesy vehicles. So we found a "used" 2011 Sienna with only 2000 miles on it for the same price as the 2008's we were looking at. It's their base model, but it still has a lot of extras like power sliding doors, XM radio and a back-up camera. And the space!! How great it would have been to have this on the many road trips back and forth from Columbus with 2 kids, 2 dogs and days worth of luggage. It will serve us well on our road trip this summer to the beach.

Just Because

Top Chef Tour!

The Top Chef Tour came to town this past weekend and I was beyond excited. I love this show but when I found out Richard Blais would be here, I knew I had to go. I am a huge fan of his! It could have only been better if Michael Voltaggio was here. Oh, and both of them together?!? I don't know what I'd do.

Madeline was my buddy and came along for the show. We got there early but not early enough to get seats. Bummer. So we staked out a spot as close as we could and waited......and waited.....and waited.

The show finally started and it was great. It was a 15-minute cook-off between Richard and another Top Chef alum, Eli Kirchtien. If you don't watch the show, here is Richard showing off one of his secret ingredients.

Eli is a great chef too. He's just not Richard. Sorry man.

They talked and answered questions while they cooked. It was definitely worth standing in the rain while holding Madeline for over an hour. It was torture though watching everyone in the tent get to try their food.

Madeline was a trooper so we grabbed a bite to eat from a tent nearby. We did just get finished watching a cooking show after all. We were hungry.

Fia is 15 months!

She is definitely in between being a baby and a toddler now. She still loves to snuggle when she gets tired and of course I love that. But when she is full of energy, she is ready to move. She just recently started cruising but she doesn't go too far yet. She took a few steps with me holding her hands the other day so we keep working on that. She also discovered she can climb so walking has taken a sidestep to climbing on everything she possibly can. Her current obsession is our fireplace. I have to pull her out of there about 50 times a day.


She has started to babble a lot, but she doesn't consistently use words. In rare instances, I've caught her saying bye-bye, dog and wow. Her favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider and sometimes she will try to sing it too. It is absolutely adorable! This means, of course, that we sing it constantly.

Her emotions are starting to come through and she gets her feelings hurt when she gets in trouble. This particular development has really made me feel her transition from baby to toddler.

As for her stats, she is 23 pounds 6 ounces and 30.25 inches long. Both right around average and smaller than Madeline at this age.

Despite her progress, her doctor, Andy and I were concerned how slowly she was developing. I decided to contact Help Me Grow, a state-funded program that helps infants and toddlers achieve their milestones. I figured it couldn't hurt and since it was free, we had nothing to lose. She had an evaluation and did qualify for services for speech and gross motor delays. I'm now in the process of figuring out where we go from here so we'll see how this program can help her move along.

Easter!