What we did for the 4th

Hello blog world.  I'm back.  For now.  I am feeling overwhelmed at the amount of things I need to catch up on so why not start with what we did for the 4th of July weekend.

I love the 4th.  It's right up there at the top of my list of favorite holidays.  I love every excuse to have a bbq, getting together with friends and family, the parades, fireworks, and just the fact that we get to celebrate our independence.  We are so blessed to live in America and have the freedoms that we do.  I'm glad we have a holiday to celebrate all those who fought for our freedom and continue to do so.

I especially like that the 4th was on a Monday this year, we got an extra long weekend to celebrate!  Wahoo!  To start off our weekend, we had some friends over last minute for dinner.  Then we put the babe to bed and Jeff and I relaxed and watched a movie.
Saturday we were able to get a bunch of work done outside, or I guess I should say Jeff was able to get a lot of work done outside while Trey and I watched.  :)  Then some friends of ours watched Trey while Jeff and I went to the movie Super 8.  We enjoyed it.  We followed up the movie with a BBQ with some friends and let me tell you... we had LOTS of delicious food.  Thanks guys.

Sunday was pretty low key.  We went to church and then that evening did some sparklers and poppers with Trey.  The poppers were a hit.



Jeff's brother Andy flew in late Sunday night.  He is a pilot and coincidentally had an overnight in Pittsburgh. I went to bed, but he and Jeff stayed up until all hours of the night playing computer games.  Not my kind of fun, but whatever makes them happy.

Monday morning we had a 4th of July breakfast with the 4th years at a nearby park.  We don't seem to get together as often as we used to, but when we do we always have a great time.

 Trey and his Uncle Andy

Jeff took Andy out to the lookout point over Mt. Washington.  Can't let him leave without getting at least one picture there.

Andy had to leave around 2 that afternoon, so it was definitely a short trip but we enjoyed what little time we got to spend with him.
After he left, we headed down to the point to the 3 Rivers Regatta where they have a bunch of vendors selling all kinds of yummy food, boat races on the river, bikers showing off their skills, and this amazing sand sculpture.

We were able to watch one of the boat races but the one we waited forever to watch wasn't all that exciting.  Oh well.

That evening we went over to our Bishops for a ward barbecue.  He has a HUGE backyard with a perfect view of the fireworks.  Seriously, I don't know if the view could get much better than that. 

Trey loved the fireworks and was a champ all night considering we kept him up way past his bedtime.  By the end of the night we were all exhausted and went straight home to bed.  What a good day.

I was sad to miss out on the annual Lewiston parade this year as well as watching the Stadium fireworks with my family out by the Lee's parking lot, but this was definitely a close second.  I will take it.

Happy belated 4th everyone!!

He's close!



Along with figuring out how to walk, Trey is practicing his dribbling skills.

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Town

My mom and dad came to visit us this last week, and although the weather was rather depressing the WHOLE TIME they were here, we still had ourselves a good time.  We spent the first weekend relaxing and watching conference together, and of course eating yummy food which is a MUST over conference weekend.  We took them to Pamela's and Uncle Sam's... which is also a MUST.  I'm really going to miss those places when we move.

My parents were so kind to watch Trey for two of the mornings so I could get some work done at the dental school by my very own Dr. Jeff.  He did an awesome job, and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband.  My teeth look great and the best part is it was pain free!  I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he's put into becoming a dentist.  It has definitely paid off.

Because the weather was so crappy we spent a lot of time indoors playing games, watching movies, and relaxing.  Not to mention our free entertainment.  [Trey]

Despite the freezing temperatures and non-stop rain, we managed to take a quick little trip to Niagra Falls and Palmyra.  Niagra was a little too cold for my liking, especially with a baby, but at least my dad got to see the falls and that's all that matters.  Right Dad?  :)  It actually started to snow while we were there and the wind was blowing so hard, so even though it was like 30 degrees, it felt more like 15.  I probably would have enjoyed myself a little more had I of not been so worried about Trey the whole time.  The wind kept blowing off his blankets and he kept pulling off his gloves.  It must not have been too terrible for him because somehow, despite the cold, he fell asleep.  Snow. Wind. Rain. and all.  Crazy kid.

The temperature warmed up a bit while we were in Palmyra and the rain subsided for a good chunk of the day so we were able to enjoy ourselves a little more.  Actually, a lot more.  We really had a great time in Palmyra.  Visiting the Sacred Grove and the place where Joseph Smith grew up could never get old.  

I'm so glad my parents decided last minute to come spend the week with us.  Trey loved every minute of having them here.  And although we were hoping for warm weather and sunny skies (I suppose that's a lot to ask in Pittsburgh), it gave us a good excuse to stay indoors and relax.  Maybe if you come back this summer (cough, cough) we can view Pittsburgh in all it's glory.  :)

 

Thanks for coming Mom and Dad!  Please come back soon!

The Wind-Up

Untitled from Kimi Wegener on Vimeo.



Untitled from Kimi Wegener on Vimeo.

We're not sure where he learned this but it sure is cute.  Watch out MLB!!

April Fools 2011

I know some of you are waiting for this post.  Believe me when I say, I've been waiting a whole year for another opportunity to pull pranks on Kimi on the one day that pranks are....well.....accepted. 

I successfully completed 2 out of 3 pranks....and I'll take that success rate.  Before I describe these pranks in painful detail, there are a few things that you may or may not know about Kimi that you must understand to appreciate these.  First, she is ridiculously afraid of spiders....not the normal spiders are "icky and gross" kind of afraid....I'm talking....screaming, standing on a chair, freaking out, and not moving till I come kill the spider, kind of afraid.  Oh and heaven forbid if the spider somehow escapes out of view....that side of the house becomes uninhabitable for days.  Watching her picking up a towel in our laundry "basement" is like watching someone disarming a mine...she's afraid that a spider is going to scurry off when she lifts it up.   As funny and as cute as all this seems, either she has me fooled, or she really is deathly afraid and I usually have to do things that she will refuse to do.  For example....if we need anything from the basement such as our luggage, coolers, any box, I have to go and inspect it and bring it up to her and present it as "clean".   Well today was my day to get her back. 

The other thing you need to know about Kimi is that she MUST apply lotion to her entire body IMMEDIATELY after she exits the shower or her skin will apparently flake off.  I don't actually know why she does it and she doesn't really know why she does it but all she knows is that it MUST take place.  Well, she wishes she didn't have that OCD tendency now.

Prank #1:  Success.  Early this morning I looked for something I could make to resemble a spider.  I cut part of a banana peel into the shape of a spider.  I broke up toothpicks to create nice looking spider legs and attached them to the banana peel.  I used a sharpie to color it all black.  I was actually pleasantly surprised that it looked something like a spider.  I placed it next to the drain of our shower.  Kimi, I'm sure groggily pulled back the shower curtain and FREAKED OUT.  I wasn't there but I'm sure Trey is traumatized from the screams.  It took her a long time to look again.  Once she was sure it was an April Fools joke she showered....leaving the fake spider in the drain and refusing to look down at it again.

(It doesn't really look too much like a spider after it had sat through a shower)

Prank #2:  Success.  Early this morning I took her massive bottle of lotion and emptied it.  (I washed it completely out to make sure there was no lotion left).    I cut the corner of a Ziploc bag that I had filled with Mayonnaise.  I squeezed the mayo into her lotion bottle and returned it to her normal location.

Kimi applied two......that is right, two full squeezes of mayo to her arms and body before she realized something was wrong.   Kimi said she "wondered why it was lathering so weirdly".  She also said she will never be able to handle the smell of Mayo again.  Kimi opened up a new bottle of face lotion and deodorant claiming her current ones "smelled funny".  I did not mess with either of them.  She also claims mayo is almost as difficult to get off as vaseline.

Prank #3:  Failure:  I tried to tape some plastic to our kitchen faucet with an opening towards the operator so when the water was turned on it sprayed out.  Apparently it didn't work so well. 

Kimi may or may not have send some very angry text messages to me this morning containing some choice words.  Personally I feel like it has been a great April Fools Day.  I have had a good run the past few years and you can read about them here, here, and here.  I don't know how I'm going to keep this up.  Until next year....  -Jeff

1 Year Old

I'm obviously playing catch up this past week.  Here are Trey's 1 year pictures.  We took him to JCPenney and got a few picture, but we haven't got the pictures back yet, so these will have to do for now.  

Trey's 1 Year Stats:

Height:  31 1/4" tall ~ 95th percentile

Weight:  25 lbs. 8 oz. ~ 85th percentile (We've made progress!)

Head:  19 1/4" ~ Off the charts

Most of the time Trey is a bundle of fun... the other part of the time he is waking up from naps much too early, and waking me up much too often in the night.  I don't know what we're gonna do with this kid.  I thought he had it all figured out, but in the past couple of weeks we have gone completely backwards in the sleeping department.  I'm really hoping it's just a short phase and that he'll figure it out soon because I am out of ideas.... except for letting him cry, but trust me, I have done that.  Way too much of that unfortunately.  Who'd have thought by age 1, I would still be stressing about getting my kid to sleep at night!  People used to tell me that their kid didn't sleep through the night until they were 9 months.  I remember thinking, 9 MONTHS!?!  Are you kidding me!?  My kid will figure it out way before then!  Ha, I am having to learn the hard way.

We are getting into the non-sharing phase, which from watching other parents, has always looked oh so fun.  For some reason Trey is only interested in the toy that every other kid has.  There could be a million toys around him and he wants the ONE toy the kid playing next to him is playing with.  And he's not afraid to let you know it either by his loud grunting. Teaching an only child to share is going to be a fun task... I can already tell.  :)  Unless of course it's his food... and then he is all about sharing!

Just in the past few weeks my non-cuddly baby has turned into quite the cuddler.  He likes to give hugs and will even lay his head down on your shoulder for an extended period of time.  I love it!  This is one stage that I really hope will last!

Trey's latest obsessions include the STAIRS (have you seen my stairs!?! Yikes!) and helping me with whatever it is I am doing.  Aka unfolding my just folded laundry, taking the dirty dishes back out of the dishwasher, emptying my fridge, etc.  He is a HUGE help!  He also is infatuated with the dust buster and the broom.  Anything he sees me doing, he wants to do it too.  I suppose if he keeps it up, this might come in handy later on.

I never knew babies this young could throw tantrums, but as I am slowly learning, MINE can!  Does this mean I am in trouble when he is two??  Help!!

Trey is getting so fun to play and interact with.  I just love him to pieces.  Despite some of the hard times, I absolutely LOVE being a mom.  Of course it can be hard, stressful, and exhausting at times, but I am trying to learn to embrace those moments because as I have learned, it will only last but a small moment, and someday I will look back and realize those days were a piece of cake.  This is after all what being a mom is all about.  Without the bad, it's hard to appreciate the good.  So bring on those non-sleeping, tantrum throwing, no-sharing, food throwing phases!  I CAN handle it!  (I think.)  :)

[Jeff says I make Trey sound like a bad kid.  He is NOT at all... he really is so fun right now and for the most part always happy.  I consider myself lucky to have such a good kid.]

Birthday Fun

Trey turned 1 last Saturday so we of course had to have a little celebration.  We had one on his actual birthday and then the following day we invited a few friends over for cake and ice cream.  

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but Trey is REALLY into balls lately.  Basketballs... Tennis balls... bouncy balls... kick balls... you name it.  He absolutely LOVES it when you throw the ball back and forth with him. Seriously, if you give this kid a ball, he will be entertained for hours.  Even if it's in the middle of the night.  (Especially if it's in the middle of the night.)  Right Mom?  :)

So... I found it only fitting that I made him a basketball cake.  Complete with cupcakes that I decorated as baseballs, soccerballs, and  basketballs.  I've since learned that I will NOT be going into cake decorating any time soon.  Don't be jealous of my art work.

I put balloons on his high chair and all he wanted to do was play with them.

So I took them off.

The cake was pretty much a failed attempt... as  you will see in these videos.  I thought he would dive into the cake and love it.  Like usual, I was wrong.  It was almost like he didn't want to get his hands dirty.  I eventually just gave him a small piece and he enjoyed it for a minute.  Although, I think he got more on his face than he did in his mouth.

Untitled from Kimi Wegener on Vimeo.


Untitled from Kimi Wegener on Vimeo.

You can see in the bottom 3 pics, he is clearly annoyed.

I love this picture.  He's looking at us in desperation.  "PLEASE MOM, WIPE IT OFF!!"

Opening his presents.

All that money spent on presents and I should have just got the darn kid a balloon!!

Ahhh..... Here's my toys!

Happy Birthday Buddy!
We sure do love you!

The trip to Utah and back

Not that I really want to remember this but it might be nice to look back someday when I'm having a bad day and realize... it could be worse!!

The flight to Utah was definitely a day from hell, as I like to call it.  It's bad enough that I stress for days before my flight, thinking of all the things that could possibly happen.  Unfortunately for me, it seemed that MOST of those things, DID happen to me.  Jeff tells me I worry it true.  He's probably right.  Here is the real quick version of my flight home... and the few days following.

Real bad snow storm the night before we were supposed to leave.

Jeff got our car stuck that night on his way to go play basketball.

Found a friend (thank you Brett) who was willing to drive us to the airport at 5am.

Flight got delayed 3 hrs in Pitt airport, on top of getting there early so Jeff and Brett could make it to their 8am test.

Trey cried a good majority of the 3 hour flight to Denver.

{Did I mention Trey was really sick with an awful cold, and in the process of getting over an ear infection?}

Trey pooped on the plane... and there were no changing tables on the plane.  WHAT!?  (apparently I should have known this but he has never pooped on the plane before.)

.....At which point I realized I FORGOT the extra stash of diapers I meant to pack in the backpack....at which point I also realized his amoxicillin had spilled ALL OVER my backpack!  Lovely.

Missed our connecting flight by 20 minutes.

Next available flight was leaving 4 hours later.

I cried.

So did Trey.

Trudged around the Denver airport in search of diapers.  Found ONE for a whoppin 4.99.  ONE!!  I refused to stoop to that level... so I kept walking in hopes I would get up the guts to ask someone for a diaper.  Eventually I found two diapers for 3.99.  Hmmph.

Arrived in SLC. (Trey did much better on this flight thank goodness.)

No luggage... No carseat.

They lent us a disgusting carseat to get us home.  How kind of them.

It was a perfect ending to an awful day.

We finally made it home at 9pm.  (11pm Pittsburgh time)  Poor Trey had gone from 5am-11pm with a measly hour and a half total of napping.  He was exhausted and so was mommy.

But honestly, despite everything that went wrong, I am so grateful we made it there safely.

So I guess, it COULD have been worse.

[I am sure there are many of you who have had worse or similar flying experiences, I guess we can all sympathize with each other]

The next morning Trey woke up with a rash covering his whole body.  This lasted 3 days.  Still not sure what it was... but after taking Trey to the doc 3 days later for what was to be his SECOND ear infection in a 2 week period, the doc said it was probably a reaction to the amoxicillin... called an amoxicillin rash.

The good news is he recovered just in time for me to take on 6 kids.  I was worried he would get all the girls sick and I was already exhausted from taking care of ONE sick kid.  The bad news is he turned into a child I did not recognize.  I'm gonna chalk that one up to a little thing called jealousy.

I was a little disappointed because I had plans that week to spend time with my cousin and her new baby, and also my brother and sister-in-law and my nephew Henry.  I didn't want to risk Trey getting either of the babies sick, but lucky for me, my brother (who is a germa-phobe mind you) made the sacrifice, and came up anyway.  Don't worry, we didn't let Trey get close to Henry.  This was the closest they got.  Close enough for a picture.

Someday they will get to play together and become the best of cousins.

Every time Carson comes into the room, Trey just lights up.  I don't know what it is about Carson, but Trey just LOVES him.  It is too cute!  I'll give it a few more years and I think I've found myself a babysitter!

Trey also made a new friend with this furry little thing.  He used to be a little scared of dogs.  Not anymore.  He tried giving him kisses through the gate.

The night before we left, my fam did a little birthday celebration for Trey.  This would be the first of three.  (He takes after his mommy)  I don't think of it as Birth-Day... I think of it as Birth-Week!  Might as well live it up right!?

Trey was unimpressed by the cupcake.  In fact he got mad and pushed it off his tray.  Silly boy.

I also got to spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa.  My Grandpa hasn't been doing well the past few weeks so I was grateful to be able to see him and spend some time with him.

Trey wouldn't sit on his lap for even 5 seconds so I could get a picture.  My poor grandpa was trying so hard to hold on to him.

My grandma was able to distract him for a few seconds longer.

I made sure I got to see all my girlfriends as well.  I went to dinner with them and was lucky enough to be there for my friend Laci's baby shower.  Speaking of which, she had her sweet baby girl 1 day before Trey's one year birthday.  She is beautiful.  It's probably a good thing I'm not there to hold her because I might just have to have one of my own.

The flight home was nothing like the flight there.  The night before started out rough, with Trey waking up all night and not wanting to go back to sleep.  I was bracing myself for another horrible trip home.  I think Heavenly Father knew I couldn't handle much more, because once we boarded our flight, it was smooth sailing.  There were no delays and Trey only got a little whiny a couple of times for about a min.

Halle-freakin-lujah!

And then there were SIX!

My sister-in-law Angie, asked me quite some time ago if I'd be up to the challenge of watching her 5 girls while her and her husband went on a cruise with some friends.  Of course I told her yes, because on top of getting to spend a week with her 5 girls, I was also going to get to spend a week with my family.  At first I was totally excited about this.... but as time went on, I started getting really nervous that I wasn't going to be able to handle 6 kids all at once.  And to add to my stress, I would be taking care of TWO babies that are only 2 months apart!  Originally, when I had told her yes, Trey was still a wee baby and was not at the stage of crawling around and getting into everything.  So I thought, "Sure, no problem!"  Ha, little did I know just how difficult he would be!  As it turns out, her kids were a piece of cake.  It was MY child who gave me a few gray hairs.  I guess that's to be expected when you throw a baby, who is used to having ALL of my attention, into a house full of GIRLS who are taking away all that one-on-one time Trey is so used to.  BUT, after it was all said and done, I am so glad I did it, and loved every second I got to spend with these sweet girls!

The first day started out like this....

 And as time went on....

Went a little something like this.....

 [Gotta love the pink high chair and flowery bib!]

I love this face.

She is looking at me like, "what is his problem?"

Poor Lydia tried all week to be Trey's friend.  She would give him hugs, TRY to give him kisses, ride on his back, and pat his head.

Trey on the other hand was NOT a fan.  His response was quite similar to the picture above.

As long as we kept them entertained and seperated, they were happy.

They quite liked the rides in the doll strollers.

Although Trey appears a little too big for his.  :)

Don't worry, they did eventually tolerate each other.... and occasionally even had fun together.

 

 They gave us quite the concert. :)

Jadyn and I became the best of buds.  I get a kick out of some of the things she says!

She set up a this tea set for her and her sisters to have a tea party when they got home from school.

We ate lots of yummy food...

I made them my grandmas famous swedish pancakes.  Complete with fruit, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.  They were a hit!  (Minus Jadyn who stuck with her good ol' syrup)

And we also went out to eat quite a few times...

 

I made quite the spectacle walking into a restaurant with 6 kids.

At one restaurant we asked the waitress if she thought these were all my kids and she said, "well yes, I figured you must have had the oldest when you were REALLY young, and I just assumed the babies were twins!"

HAHAHA!  Apparently I can pull off having a 13 year old!  Scary!

This sweet little girl got some kind of stomach bug and threw up a couple of times, on top of having multiple blow outs.  It was so sad.  I can't count how many outfits we went through in a week with this girl.
Despite the fact that she was sick, she was still still her happy-go-lucky self.  Thank goodness no one else got sick.

A few random pics throughout the week...

The girls playing with Tay's new hamster.

Kenna reading to Trey

Cheese!

All ready for church.

I am glad I got to spend a week with these girls.  They really were so much fun.  I couldn't have done it without the help of the oldest girls.  They were a HUGE help!!  I hope someday my kids are as well behaved as all these girls were.  Ang... you have a GREAT family!!  Love you girlies!!