Hot Street Fairs

Yesterday was really really hot.  I spent it outside in the sun, at a craft show.  It was fun but sweaty!  Luckily I had an EZup from my inlaws, it came in SO handy.  And I felt like a pro, since most of the other booths also had theirs.  Three shows I've done and now I feel like I really "get" how to do them!  Next stop, get a Square reader so I can use my iPad to take credit cards, won't that be fancy?

My helper had to leave me to go let out her wee little dog who can't be left alone for more than a few hours, so I was stuck by myself.  Brendan was a doll and packed me a picnic, bought me beer, watched my table so I could go to the bathroom.  What a guy, huh?  It was super helpful.  The kids enjoyed themselves, as there were bands playing and lots of people milling about.  Ingrid really likes to hand me a bag when someone buys something, so she sat and helped me for awhile.  They stayed for one of our favorite bands to play--Milwaukee's own Promise Ring was the special secret guest, I was so excited!  They're always fun to see, even though it was a little surreal to be holding a kid while dancing to the music...Brendan and I looked at each other and just said "damn, we're old!"

Otis fell asleep for awhile, even amidst all the noise.  That kid was tired, he's been getting up before 5am lately.  What the f**k?  Not cool, dude.

He's lucky he's so cute, amiright?

Today we recovered by being super lazy, eating Kringle and watching TV.  We played outside for awhile, went to the wading pool, and then the kids were in bed promptly at 6:30pm.  Sigh...time to relax finally!



Sickly

Today Otis was not having a good day.  He was all snotty, cried at the drop of a hat (which is really unlike him) and just did not feel well.  I was so tired by the afternoon, all I wanted to do was take a nap.  Ingrid went to sleep right away.  Otis, however, got a second wind as I changed his diaper.  He was blowing raspberries, kicking his legs, yelling and screeching.  Good lord.

I worked on him, though, fed him and rocked him and sang to him, and lo and behold he fell asleep.  I got up gently, put him in his crib ever so softly, where he stiffened out and started screaming at the top of his lungs.  So I got him back in my arms, he immediately calmed down again, we rocked and he was snoring wee baby snores.  Again, go put him in his crib and he freaked out. 

*sigh*

It was one of those afternoons.  I even tried to lay down with him in my bed but he was not having it.  So after two hours of this b.s. we went back into the living room.  He sat on his blanket with his toys and looked up at me with the saddest teary-eyed, snotty nosed face and I just had to take pictures.  My poor sickly.  Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight and take naps tomorrow. 

Go, go, go, crash.

On the way home from the park today, this happened:

Ingrid has never slept in her stroller until after she turned two.  Now if we're out for a bit she'll conk right out.  She is so not ready to give up her naps but she has to be in her stroller or the car for it to happen.  How frustrating.

But look at this:

So cute.  So calm, so quiet.  I went inside and cleaned up the living room while she slept it off out in the beautiful day.  Unfortunately she woke up crabbier than before...Oh well, it was a nice half hour.

Sheets Make Shirts

I finally found a great vintage sheet the last time I went to Salvation Army.  I've had so many ideas going through my head about what to make with it, but in the end I've just made one of my ribbon shirts for Ingrid.  This time I used a really thin ribbon, which works well, the ties stay tied better.  I made it super short and it kind of flares at the bottome, I love it! 

Notice the dazed look in her eyes...she has been having so much trouble sleeping lately!  Not going to sleep until 9:30 or 10pm and then still getting up at 6am.  Yuck yuck yuck.  I hope this is a phase and that it ends quickly.

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bob

Brendan's parents came to see us for Ingrid's birthday.  It was great seeing them again, it's been since March since Brendan and I have seen them, and since Thanksgiving since Ingrid has!!  We used to live with them, and before then we lived about five minutes from them, so seeing them two or three times a year is kind of strange.  Although Ingrid doesn't see them very often, she adores them.  They sing songs to her and bring her boxes of Daddy's old toys.  They wanted to go to the zoo so we drove to Toledo and checked it out.  We had a nice picnic, and we saw some elephants and penguins.  It's funny, every time we ask Ingrid what animals she wants to see at the zoo she says squirrels. 

There is a great playground and carousel at the zoo, which of course is all that Ingrid wanted to do.  Luckily there was also an ice cream vendor right there, which is all Mama wanted to do.  It has been so stinking hot here, ice cream was just the thing I needed!

Unfortunately we lost Ingrid's shoe somewhere between the zoo and the parking lot, and after a hot day in the sun the last thing I wanted to do was go retrace our steps and try to find it.  Here's hoping someone turned it into the lost and found and we can make another trip to pick it up...

When we came home we cooked out some more, Bob showed Ingrid how to play the cup game (where'd it go?  Which cup is it under?) Ingrid just basically enjoyed having two people stare at her and laugh at her jokes and say how smart she is. 

Now, if only she could sleep.  Two days of go go go, minimal naps, and she still took over an hour to go to sleep (Mama, come back!!  If I have to hear that again I will scream...)  Tonight I thought maybe she just needed to go to bed a little later, but no.  Put her to bed 45 minutes later, still took her over an hour to fall asleep, which just meant she is now getting even less sleep than before.  Sigh...Two is supposed to be a magical number, but so far it's not turning out that way for Ingrid and her sleep issues. 

Gallup Park, now 20 minutes closer!

I am so enjoying being close to everything now that we've moved!!  There's a great park in Ann Arbor that has trails, two parks, canoe and kayak rentals.  It was always a far drive away from us, but now it's five minutes away.  Ingrid and I headed out there on this sunny, cold day. 

We had some nice one on one time with the ducks.  They were pretty harmless, just quacked at us and ran away.  The Canada Geese, however, those guys are brutal!  They will attack if provoked, and I made sure Ingrid steered clear of them!

I got some coffee and sat in the sun watching Ingrid play.  We had a great time, a nice calm morning.  It feels good to be getting back to normal.  Our living room is painted, the furniture is back where it's supposed to be, and all but two boxes are unpacked!  Slowly we will get back to normal.

I can't wait, because Ingrid has been having some issues dealing with things.  Instead of going to bed she sits up and wails that she needs a drink.  She sips a little from her water bottle, then says good night.  Then a minute later she throws her nuk on the floor and cries that she can't find it.  Then when I finally say enough, no more water, no more getting your nuk, she yells out "I gotta go poopy, Mama!"  That kid!!  She knows I can't say no to that, I have to let her go to the bathroom.  However, after three times of getting her out of her pjs and onto the toilet only to have her say all done about a second later, I banned potty breaks as well.  She sure does know how to stall bedtime...

It's a Crab-tastic Day at the Liddles!

Yesterday we went to a friend's house for a playdate.  I wasn't sure how well Ingrid would be since she is getting her two year molars and has been a completely sleep deprived young thing.  Waking every hour or so, going back and forth between our bed and hers, taking lots of ibuprofen and chewing her pacifiers to bits.  It has not been pleasant.  But, she did pretty well.  Anywhere that has new toys is always a good thing. 

She decided she'd like to hang with the babies for awhile:

She even crawled all by herself into the exersaucer! 

Before we left, I had to put this pair of shoes I made onto little Olivia.  She's five months old, so the perfect model for this pair of 6-9 month slippers.  They fit well and looked pretty cute!

We only stayed for an hour, then had to make a quick getaway when I saw Ingrid start to yawn.  We raced home, got ready for a nap, and she fell asleep pretty uneventfully.  She only slept for an hour or so, nothing like the three hour naps she was taking mere weeks ago!!  But it's better than no nap at all...

This morning she was up screaming and crying at 4:30, and by 5:30 Brendan said he'd just get up with her.  Better you than me, buddy!  All of us have been crabby and snippy and it's not a good morning so far.  I'm hoping a nap will cure this (on all our parts!) but Ingrid's not looking like she's going to calm down anytime soon.  Oh, cruel world, why do you make sick/teething kids think they don't need to sleep???