The Simon Family

Tutus!

2010-01-31T18:41:00.001-06:00

I have a new hobby - making tutus! I started making and selling tutus this fall. All the tutus I make are custom - meaning you can pick the size and color. My favorite idea is that I make matching tutus for baby dolls. What girl wouldn't love a tutu for her and her doll? If you are anyone you know is interested in the tutus, just shoot me an email.

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-07-23T18:53:00.007-05:00

Our Mother's Day weekend was jam packed with fun! That Saturday we went to Mascoutah in the afternoon for Lilah's 2nd birthday party (and our first time to meet Laith!) The party was at Scheve Park and Mia loved the playground. After the birthday party, we headed to Tony's with Art, Randa and Scott to celebrate Mother's Day with the Simons. On Sunday, we had lunch after church at Mom & Dad's house to celebrate with the Twenhafels. Sunday afternoon and evening was time for just Jake, Mia and I to celebrate together. Last year I had decided that a tradition I wanted to start was dedicated family nap/snuggle time on Mother's Day. This was definitely my favorite part of the weekend - just hanging out at home with my 2 favorite people!

At Lilah's party at the park!

The Twenhafel Girls

Mommy and Mia

Lauren's Graduation

2009-07-04T13:33:00.015-05:00

On May 16, my niece Lauren graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in International Studies. We are so proud of her and all of her accomplishments! We all made the trip to Champaign for the graduation ceremony. I was nervous that Mia would be difficult during the ceremony, but in true Mia fashion - she was awesome! There was a large lobby area that Mia explored while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin. It definitely helped that she could run off some of her boundless energy. Once the graduates started walking into the auditorium, Mia was content sitting on my lap and watching. In fact she made it through almost the entire ceremony and helped cheer for Lauren as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma. Afterwards, we went out for a nice family dinner. Then it was back to Lauren & Adam's apartment to help them pack up. They both decided that they wanted to pack up (neither had really started) and leave that night, so there was a little craziness as they packed and we made trips to load up the car. On the way home, Jake and I both agreed that while we enjoyed our college days and have many memories that we cherish, we are glad to be where we are in life. (I guess we really are getting old!)

Magic House Fun

2009-07-03T21:15:00.012-05:00

Here's a little secret....every 3rd Friday of the month, the Magic House is FREE! We decided to meet up with our friends, Sarah & Chris and their little girl Miranda, on the free Friday in May. (Miranda and Mia took gymnastic classes together this past winter.) As we expected, the place was pretty crowded. But the girls had a lot of fun. The slide was a big hit, as was the dollhouse. Also, once the toddler area cleared out a little, the girls loved playing in "the store." I am a big fan of the Magic House and definitely recommend it for a family outing!

Big Girl Hair-do

2009-06-23T15:14:00.011-05:00

One Sunday afternoon in May, we were visiting at Grandma Randa and Papa Art's. It was warm outside and Mia had her hair down. So I grabbed a clip and put her hair up in a twist. She looked so grown up, and it goes with out saying, so cute!!

Forest Park

2009-06-09T21:51:00.016-05:00

Back in April, we went to the Earth Day Festival in Forest Park. It was a beautiful spring day and we enjoyed being outside. After we walked around the fest, Mia had a blast running around in the grass. Of course we had the camera handy to snap a few pictures.

Peek-a-boo!

Practicing for Senior pictures

I'm going to get your nose!

Mommy & Mia

Forest Park is so much fun!

Easter 2009

2009-06-03T19:32:00.032-05:00

Wow - I'm behind on blogging. We have had lots of fun the past month or so since my last blog. I'll try to catch up with the highlights.

Easter this year was so much fun with Mia! The Easter Bunny left Mia a whole bunch of surprises in her Easter basket and hid a few plastic eggs filled with graham crackers in our living room. Mia was so excited to see the basket when she came downstairs in the morning.

After finding the eggs, it was time to get ready to head to Mascoutah for church. After our church service, we headed over to my Mom and Dad's for Easter Pulled Pork sandwiches (perhaps a new classic?) Mia had Easter goodies from Grandma & Grandpa, including a plastic bucket and shovel for playing in the sand. (If you ready my Magic House post you'll remember how much fun Mia had playing in the sand!)

Then it was on to Art and Randa's for more Easter celebration. Mia had 2 more Easter baskets waiting for her at their house, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Scott. The highlights were an Elmo video and a teapot and cups. Mia loves to pretend and serve us drinks! We did an egg hunt in the backyard and Mia as all over it!

Mia took a short nap and then we headed over to Beth and Terry's for the extended family Easter gathering. Alana, Lisa and I had planned an egg hunt for the little girls and then the older boys (Pastor's kids). The little girls were so cute. Lilah was on a roll, picking up the eggs, putting them in her basket and moving on. Both Mia and Annaliese were interested in the eggs, but once they picked up one they just wanted to open it right then. I think the adults probably had the most fun watching all the kids!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2009-04-25T08:00:00.011-05:00

On the Saturday before Easter, we decided to color Easter Eggs. Since Mia loves to color, we thought this would be fun for her. She was interested in it - for about 5 minutes - and then was ready to move on to something else. So basically this ended up to be more for Jake and me than for her. Oh well - at least we had fun!

Mia coloring her egg

Mia trying to eat her egg

Our finished eggs

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-18T09:28:00.014-05:00

The Easter Egg Hunt in Webster Groves was several Saturdays ago. Since this was Mia's first official egg hunt, we thought it would be fun to invite all the Grandparents to come with us (and Uncle Scott too!) The egg hunt was in the courtyard at a retirement community. It actually was a neat set-up with two different egg hunt areas: one for little kids (under 3) and one for big kids (over 3).

The Easter Bunny was there too.

When the egg hunt officially started, Mia was a little overwhelmed. Luckily, for the little kids hunt, adults were able to accompany the kids. Mia picked up a few eggs, but certainly didn't get the concept of racing around to pick up the eggs, like some of the other kids. Instead, Mia would pick up an egg, show it to me, shake it, look at it, etc....before I would get her to put it in her basket and move on to another one.

After the hunt was over, the little kids area cleared out as everyone had moved over to the big kids area. We took advantage of this time to do our own little mini egg hunt with Mia. Since we have to be careful of candy with Mia's peanut allergy, we filled the eggs with grapes and graham crackers. Mia thought that was so much fun!

After the egg hunt, we went to lunch at one of our favorite places - First Watch. Yum! We are so happy that we could share this day with the family!

Staycation 2009 - Day 5

2009-04-09T20:36:00.017-05:00

For our final day of Staycation, we decided to check out the City Museum. Both of us had been there years ago and we remembered it being a really cool place. I had read about the Toddler Town area online and it sounded pretty cool. The City Museum is awesome - but many of the activities are too big for Mia. Unfortunately, visiting Toddler Town in person was not as cool as visiting online. Oh well! We still had a great time and the weather was gorgeous so we had fun exploring outside. Mia's favorite part was running around in the open area of the ballroom (yes - even with all the cool things to see and do, all she wanted to do was run & scream at the top of her lungs...although she did get a little scared when the employee tried to say hi to her!)

After the City Museum, we headed over to M-town. Lauren and Adam were in town so we were able to visit with them for about an hour. It was so nice to see them, as always! After visiting with them, it was time to take Mia's to Grandma & Grandpa T's house. They were watching her so we could go to our Club Cross event - Lumpia Night. A woman from our church made us a Filipino dinner (DELICIOUS!) and the she taught us how to roll crab rangoon, which we got to take home with us. So fun!

Our week of Staycation was incredible. We had so much fun doing things around St. Louis that we always talk about but never had the time to do. And best of all, we had some great family time together and made some wonderful memories!

Staycation 2009 - Day 4

2009-04-06T20:27:00.005-05:00

Day 4 of our Staycation was our day to chill. Since we had packed in so much fun on Wednesday, we decided to take it easy in the morning and just hang out. Mia had fun playing and watching Elmo (her favorite!). Mia was ready for a nap at 11:00, so we went ahead and let her sleep. Once she woke up, we ate some lunch and then decided to go shopping at St. Louis Mills. I was excited to go to the big Children's Place store. We got some great deals that day! We found a darling Easter dress for Mia and I was in sales rack heaven picking up clearance items for next fall. Oh I do love to shop! The Mills has a nice indoor playground that Mia was excited to check out. After shopping for several hours, it was time to head back home. We had thought about going out to dinner, but Mia fell asleep in the car so we just grabbed sandwiches. All in all, it was a great day!

Staycation 2009 - Day 3

2009-03-31T19:34:00.025-05:00

We started off Day 3 of Staycation at First Watch, our favorite breakfast place in Webster. After breakfast we headed to the Transportation Museum. We weren't sure what to expect here, other than what I had read online about a toddler activity room called Creation Station. We purchased our "boarding passes" for the Creation Station as soon as we arrived. Our boarding time was 10:30, so we had about 30 minutes to check out all of the trains. The Creation Station turned out to be a really cool place. Mia was overwhelmed at first, but then she started exploring. Mia had a great time climbing on the ship, playing dress-up and just running around. Our tickets gave us an hour of play time, but shortly after 11 she was ready to go. Before we left the museum, we checked out all of the cars and took a family picture.

Mia playing on the ship

Ahoy Matey!

Dress up fun!

The Simon Family

After the museum, we headed home so Mia could eat lunch and then take a good nap. Once she woke up, it was time for more fun. We went to Monkey Joes, which basically is an indoor play area with lots of bounce houses. The first four bounce structures are only for toddlers, so we were able to let Mia bounce, jump and play without worrying about the big kids. She absolutely had a blast! This was probably the outing she enjoyed the most out of our whole week of activities! Plus, it was relatively cheap too - only $5 for unlimited bouncing. I'm sure we'll be headed there again soon.

Whee!

Jump! Jump!

Most of our activities on Staycation centered around Mia, but we did do a few things that Jake and I enjoyed more than Mia. For dinner we went to one of our favorite pizza places - Dewey's. Mia was tuckered out and starting to get a little fussy, but our waitress saved the day by bringing her cheese and grapes to tide her over until dinner. And just like Mom and Dad, Mia loved her Dewey's pizza!

Staycation 2009 - Day 2

2009-03-29T17:30:00.012-05:00

Our 2nd day of Staycation was also St. Patrick's Day. The weather was gorgeous, which was ideal since we had planned a day at the Zoo. Our goal was to get to the zoo by 10am, so we could take advantage of the free Children's Zoo admission. Little did we know that we would be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic within Forest Park. We made it to the zoo past 10, but decided to ante up and pay for the Children's Zoo admission. Unfortunately many of the exhibits were closed or the activities were too old for Mia, so we didn't spend much time there.

Probably Mia's favorite thing at the zoo was the carousel. This was Mia's first time on a carousel, so we weren't sure what to expect. Before the ride started, she couldn't decide on which one she wanted to ride on. But then we heard the bell and we were off. Mia's face was pure joy as we went round & round and up & down. Jake was watching us so he could take pictures and we waved to him as we passed by each time.

After the zoo, we had planned to eat lunch at the Boathouse since the weather was beautiful. Traffic was still crazy in the park, so we actually couldn't make it into the parking lot. We decided to go to Schlafly Bottleworks since they have a large outdoor seating area. After 45 minutes in traffic due to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dogtown, we finally made it to the restaurant, only to find that the patio didn't open until April 1. Oh well - we were starving and it was late so we ate inside anyway.

Since Mia had slept on our drive to the restaurant, we went straight to Tilles Park after lunch. This park has an awesome children's area. Mia had a blast running around and going down all the different slides. Plus, since most kids were probably napping at 2:30, the park was nearly empty. After Mia had her fill (or more like Mom and Dad needed a break), we put a blanket on the ground and had a "picnic". Mia loved walking around in the grass barefoot! As we were lying on our blanket, Jake and I took a moment to appreciate how lucky we are and how much we enjoy spending time together as a family. Staycation is the best!

Apparently, the diaper change game can be played anywhere!

Staycation 2009 - Day 1

2009-03-22T16:55:00.012-05:00

After Jake had to work such crazy hours in December and January, we decided that we needed some extended family time. My work had given me an extra week of vacation in lieu of a raise, so I had still have 5 days to use before March 31. Jake also had vacation available, so we decided to take a full week of vacation - but instead of traveling somewhere, we opted for a STAYcation. This would give us the chance to do activities around St. Louis that we've always wanted to do, but can't quite seem to find the time to do them. Also, with Max needing insulin shots every day, we wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to take care of him.

Our week of Staycation was awesome! We were able to balance the right amount of busy with the right amount of relaxation. We had some wonderful family time and enjoyed having so much extra time with Mia. And the weather cooperated beautifully. Really, we could not have asked for a better week!

One Day 1, we went to Imo's for lunch. All of the high chairs were taken, so Mia got to sit in a booster seat. She actually did really well! Here's Mia with the creepy Imo's statue.

After lunch, we went to the Science Center.

The main attraction for us there was the Discovery Room, which is a special area just for Toddlers. This area requires tickets for 45 minutes of play. Mia had a lot of fun checking everything out. Her favorite activity was the computer (like father, like daughter). After our time in the Discovery Room, we checked out a few more things, but Mia was tuckered out so we headed home.

That evening we had swim lessons at the Y. Afterwards we went to DQ for ice cream - a birthday treat! What a great day!

Ready for Spring!

2009-03-21T10:19:00.013-05:00

After the Birthday celebrations at Beth & Terry's, we headed over for a quick visit with Grandma and Papa Simon. Mia loved running around in the backyard and we were able to snap a few cute pictures. We are all ready for the spring weather so we can enjoy more time outside!

Running with Daddy!

Swinging around with Mommy!

Looking cute!

Happy Birthday Terry & Kara!

2009-03-21T09:52:00.011-05:00

I'm actually jumping ahead in my blogging to catch up so I can blog about our recent Staycation (which is sadly coming to a close-boo!)

The weekend before our Staycation was full of birthday celebrations. On Friday 3/14, the Simon Family took me out to dinner to Saleems West (Lebanese food). We've been going to the Saleems in the Loop for several years and were sad when we found out that it had closed. However, I found on Sauce Magazine website that there was a new Saleems West location. It was a trek for the IL folks, but we all decided it would be worth it As we anticipated, the food was delicious! After dinner, we headed to Best Buy so Jake and I could make a purchase - a Wii! Of course that night we stayed up late playing games - complete with a sore Wii arm the next day!

In the Twenhafel family it is our tradition that Terry and I celebrate our birthdays together since his birthday is one day before mine. On Sunday 3/15, Beth and Terry had the family over for a birthday lunch. Beth made two different homemade lasagnas (regular version and seafood version). Both were fantastic! And mom made my favorite chocolate sheet cake and Pearl made Terry's favorite angel food cake. As you can tell, we had lots of good eats this weekend!

The Birthday Boy & Girl

Mia trying on Uncle Terry's new shoes

Mia reading Mommy's new book

Slumber Party!

2009-03-20T09:42:00.005-05:00

I've been craving girl time - which I feel I never get enough of anymore - so for my birthday Cathy hosted a Slumber Party. It was a girls only night - Margaritas and Senoritas. Cathy made delicious margaritas, we had lots of Mexican food- including Toni's homemade guacamole - and had some time to chat and catch up. Toni also made a homemade apple cake that was scrumptious, especially with the cinnamon ice cream. I had such a fun night and it was just what I needed. Thanks to all my girls - you are the best!

Wow - look at all those candles!

Valentine's Day 2009

2009-03-19T10:02:00.009-05:00

I'm still behind on my blogging but thought these photos were too cute to skip. For Valentine's this year, we kept up our tradition of our Valentine dinner at Pho Grand. Jake and I have been going there for years now. This year it was a little more difficult with Mia. We had about a 40 minute wait, which is pretty long for a toddler. After dinner, we headed to DQ for an ice cream treat. Yum!

Mommy and Mia at Pho Grand

Daddy and Mia

Mia and her Valentine gift - an Elmo book!

Mia - the little mother

2009-03-17T19:44:00.008-05:00

Mia absolutely loves to play with her baby dolls. She has several at home that she carries around with her. Many days her sheet from school states "Mia and Lauren had fun playing with the baby doll" or something to that effect. Its so funny to watch her with the dolls because many times she reenacts things we do with her - diaper changes, rocking the baby, and feeding her. Here's a perfect example:

Mia giving her baby doll a drink from her cup. (Complete with sound effects! I'll work on getting video!)

Mia burping her baby.

Mia hugging the baby after burping her.

Mia's wrapped up the baby in a blanket. Baby is ready for "Night Night."

The Magic House

2009-03-14T10:10:00.015-05:00

In the beginning of February, the Webster Groves Parents as Teachers organization hosted a free night at the Magic House. We were so excited to check it out since we haven't been there since the renovation. However, we had so much fun in the toddler area (which is the old section) that we didn't even make it over to the huge new area. We'll have to plan another night there! (By the way, I just recently found out that the Magic House is free the 3rd Friday of every month!)

Mia's favorite activity was playing in the sand. She loved to use the shovel to fill up the funnel with sand.

Climbing up the circular staircase

Look at me!

Having fun with Daddy!

What a cute little pose!

Super Bowl Sunday

2009-03-12T19:02:00.009-05:00

On Super Bowl Sunday, the three cousins wore their cheerleading outfits to church. Annaliese cheers for the Bears, Lilah cheers for the Rams and Mia cheers for U of I (yes, I realize its a college team, but work with me people). The girls looked adorable, so after church we took a few pictures. Of course, it was a difficult task to get a picture of all three girls looking at the same camera. The first picture cracks me up - all of the moms look great, but the girls are pretty funny!

Peek A Boo Mia!

Corralling Annaliese and Lilah

Annaliese and her fancy beads!

Toddler Gymnastics

2009-03-06T19:27:00.009-06:00

In January we started Mia in a Toddler Gymnastics class through the Kirkwood Y. My co-worker Sarah had signed up her daughter Miranda, who is about 4 mos older than Mia, in the class. We thought this would be a fun class for the girls, as well as a fun time for us to hang out.

It was amazing to see how Mia progressed over the course of the class. When we first started on January 5, Mia was still a little unsteady when she was walking. By the end of the session in mid-February, Mia was running all over the place. The class was a great way for Mia to explore, climb and jump in a safe environment. There were lots of mats set up, a slide (by far Mia's favorite!), a bar to hang on, a small balance beam, a mini trampoline, etc...

Mia's favorite slide

Mia and Miranda on the bar

Jumping!

Miranda

Snow Day

2009-03-06T19:24:00.006-06:00

When we had the big snow about a month ago, all 3 of us stayed home together. After lunch, we decided to go out and play in the snow. Mia was apprehensive and didn't really like the snow. But of course we had to take a few pictures to document her first time out in the snow!

Our little family

This is one of my most favorite pics of my most favorite people!

Mommy & Mia

Diaper Change

2009-03-05T19:46:00.002-06:00

Mia's new favorite game to play is "Diaper Change". She gets the changing pad from the diaper bag, the wipes and a diaper. Then she lays the pad down on the floor and then she lays down. I thought at first she was trying to tell me that she had a wet diaper, but when I checked she was dry. She was just having fun playing diaper change. Too funny!

Papa Art's Birthday

2009-03-01T20:01:00.007-06:00

For Papa Art's birthday, we went to Sala Thai restaurant in Belleville. This is one of our favorite places to eat! Since we had recently ate Thia food with Mia, we were all interested to see if Mia would enjoy it as much as the previous time. Guess what? She loved the fried tofu and the noodles! Yum!

The Birthday Boy!

Papa Art, Grandma Randa and Mia

Play Date with the Cousins

2009-03-01T19:53:00.009-06:00

Annaliese invited Mia and Lilah over for a play date on a Sunday afternoon. We love getting all three girls together. The Lockwood's house was perfect for our play date. Basically we took over their awesome basement. The girls had fun and so did the parents. We're already looking forward to the next time we can all get together. :)

Annaliese having fun with the boxes

Lilah playing with the shopping cart

Mia crying...

Say Cheese!

2009-03-01T19:44:00.007-06:00

As you can tell, we like to take a lot of pictures of Mia. Mia now starts smiling when we get the camera out because she knows I'm about to tell her to "Say Cheese!" Of course by the time I have the camera ready to take the picture, she's moved on to something else. But sometimes I'm able to capture her right in the "Say Cheese" moment. Here's a couple of my favorites!

University of Illinois

2009-03-01T19:21:00.004-06:00

Jake's crazy work schedule came to an end on January 24. The week-long presentation that they prepared for and then presented was finally over. After 2 months of pushing himself to the limit, Jake was ready to crash! But I was ready for fun! That weekend a few of our friends were heading up to U of I for a little getaway, so we decided to join them. Even though Jake was tried, we decided a change of scenery was just what we needed.

We made arrangements for Mia to stay with Aunt Beth/Uncle Terry during the day and then spend the night at Grandma Jan/Grandpa Bob's. I know they were all excited to hang out with Miss Mia.

Our little trip was great! We had a chance to hang out with our friends and visit with our nephew Adam. Unfortunately, Lauren had gone home for the weekend, so we didn't get to see her. Best of all, Jake and I had some quality time together. We talked non-stop the entire drive there - it had been awhile since we had been able to connect like that and we took full advantage of our time together.

Our Silly Little Girl

2009-02-28T09:36:00.008-06:00

This is one of my all time favorite videos of Miss Mia. This video was taken January 7. Mia and I had stayed home from school/work this day since she had woken up with a fever. Little did we know just how sick Mia would get over the next few days (this was just a few days before we ended up at the ER). This video definitely captures just how silly our little girl is....and how much we love it!

Fried Tofu - So Yummy!

2009-02-22T17:05:00.012-06:00

While Jake was in the middle of his crazy work schedule back in January, Art called me up on a Saturday and asked if Mia and I wanted to meet them for dinner in the Loop. Of course I said yes! We decided to meet at Saleems for Lebanese food, but unfortunately the place was closed. So we walked a couple blocks to a Thai restaurant. The most fun of the evening was watching Mia eat. She tried everything we gave her and she seemed to have an appetite that could not be fulfilled. Her favorites that night were fried tofu, ginger pork, mushrooms, and noodles.

Mia and her noodles!

How many noodles can a girl eat at once?

Fun in Peoria

2009-02-21T11:14:00.011-06:00

My two good friends from college are Meg and Julie. Meg and her family live in Chicago and Julie and her family live in Peoria. Peoria is the perfect meeting spot for all of us - and even more perfect is that Julie's house can accommodate all 6 of us adults and all 6 kids! Lately we've been able to meet up a couple times a year and I enjoy that time immensely. Our last trip was the 1st of weekend in January 2009. We weren't sure until the last minute if Jake was going to be able to join us since it was in the middle of his busy time. Luckily he was able to log in from home/Peoria and didn't have to actually go into the office. Yay!! We all had a great time hanging out, playing with the kiddos, remembering the "good ole days" and making new memories!

The Whole Crew

All of the little ones (yes - Mia was not very happy about this...just like last time!)

All the little ones back in August (notice Mia has a similar "smile")

Happy New Year

2009-02-14T17:05:00.008-06:00

Yes, I realize we are already 1/2 way through February, but I'm still trying to catch up...

Since Jake had been working such crazy hours during December, we decided for New Year's Eve that we just wanted a fun family night. After talking with Alana, we decided that our 2 little families would meet up at Chuck E. Cheese's for some pizza and games. This was the 1st time for both Mia and Lilah at Chuck E. Cheese's. When we arrived, the place was packed and it was a little overwhelming for Mia. Lilah was ready for action, but we decided to eat first. After dinner, the place cleared out and Mia was much more comfortable exploring. The girls had a blast! I think Mia's favorite was riding on the horse. And the big kids (Jake and Sam) had fun playing video games.

Just a Spoonful of Yogurt...

2009-02-13T20:29:00.006-06:00

Mia has been working on using a spoon and fork for quite some time. We tried the spoon with applesauce but quickly learned that it's a little too runny. (Yes, we had applesauce all over the dining room!) We've had much better luck with yogurt. Here's a cute video from December of Mia using her new found skill, and also perfecting her animal noises and other words.

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Grandma Randa's Birthday

2009-02-10T21:48:00.004-06:00

Grandma Randa's birthday is December 27. Papa Art always plans a special night out for Randa's birthday. Since Mark, Kelly and the kids are in town, its fun to be able to celebrate as an entire family. This year was was no exception. We had a scrumptious dinner at Charlie Guitto's on the Hill. Excellent food and ambiance! I was a little nervous since its on the fancy side (we had to bring our own high chair because they don't have any) but Mia was a great little girl. And our waiter had kids, so he was totally understanding and even offered to make special noodles for Mia. In addition to Mark, Kelly, Christian and Aubree visiting, Annette, Daniel and Sierra were visiting Scott and were able to join us as well. It was so great to all be together!

Unfortunately I forgot to bring our camera, so I don't have an pictures to share from that evening. But I do have a sweet picture of Mia and her Grandma Randa. :)

It's been awhile...

2009-02-03T20:53:00.004-06:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately Of course I have lots of excuses (mainly Jake working 80 hours per week for the months of December and January and Mia being sick) but now that things are back to "normal", I'm hoping to start blogging again more regularly.

So the next several blogs are going to be mainly ones to catch everyone up to date on all things Simon. I have lots of fun pictures and even cuter videos to share. So until the next blog is ready, here's a sweet picture of Mia to enjoy!

This photo is from September when we surprised Mia with her new house!

A Visit to the ER

2009-01-13T22:16:00.003-06:00

I'm a few weeks behind in my posts, but instead of trying to catch up, I've decided to blog on the most current happenings with the Simon Family...mainly Mia being sick.

Last Wednesday morning, I noticed that Mia had a fever so I stayed home from work with her that day. She had no other symptoms, so I just assumed she was fighting off a virus. Mia still had a fever on Thursday morning, so Grandma Randa came over to stay with Mia so I could go into work. Jake is in the middle of a super duper busy time right now (working 7 days a week and averaging 12 hour days) so he didn't have the ability to stay home. Thursday night Mia was still sick so I called the Nurse Exchange. She suggested that I take Mia to the doctor in the morning. So on Friday, Mia's pediatrician diagnosed her with a Urinary Tract Infection, which apparently aren't that uncommon in little girls. Mia started antibiotics right away, but she was still feverish. Saturday morning, Mia's temperature was hovering between 104 and 105. I called Mia's doctor and she suggested that we go to the ER since it seemed like Mia's medicine wasn't working. Luckily Jake hadn't left for work yet, so he called in and told them he wouldn't be in until later.

Off we went to the ER at Children's Hospital. After explaining Mia's situation to several people (I felt like a broken record; no she doesn't have a runny nose, a cough nor diarrhea, etc...) and then doing a urine culture, they confirmed that Mia did have a UTI. Then they decided to give her an IV filled with antibiotics to basically kick-start the medicine.

I think one of the hardest things of being a parent is seeing your child sick and suffering. It was a heart-wrenching experience. Mia screamed while they were inserting the IV, but after the nurse's left the room, she calmed down and all she wanted to do was snuggle. She definitely was a trooper through all of this. Here's our darling daughter in the ER hooked up to the IV.

Thankfully, we were able to go back home after the IV had run its course. Now Mia is now feeling much better and seems to be back to her normal stuff. The only problem - while she was sick and basically only wanted to be held for 5 days, we watched A LOT of Elmo on TV. Now Mia is addicted! She points to the TV and says "Mel-mo, Mel-mo" and pitches a fit when I won't let her watch it.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2009-01-02T14:56:00.008-06:00

I think Mia just looks adorable when she is all bundled up in her puffy coat and fun hat. Here's Mia before we left for Chuck E Cheese's on New Year's Eve. Isn't she just the cutest?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-28T22:27:00.020-06:00

We started a new Christmas tradition this year for our little family. After the festivities in Mascoutah with the Twenhafels, we headed back to good ole 527 Atalanta. We wanted to be able to celebrate Christmas morning at our own house. Mia must have been a good girl this year, because she got lots of fun stuff from Santa. Her 2 big gifts were a Dora the Explorer kitchen and the Little People Nativity Set. These were both set up in front of the tree so as soon as Mia made her way downstairs in the morning, she saw them and immediately started playing. So fun!!

After Mia's morning nap, we headed back to Mascoutah to celebrate Christmas with the Simon Family at Papa Art and Grandma Randa's. Grandma & Papa gave Mia a baby bed for her Bitty Baby. However, Mia thinks its for her.

Mia had a great time playing with her cousins Christian and Aubree.

Christmas Cheers! (And a delicious Christmas Dinner prepared by Grandma Randa!)

After dinner, we headed over to Lockwood's to continue our Christmas fun with the extended family. It was a busy day, but one that was full of the best things in life - family...and lots of good food. :)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2008-12-27T08:22:00.010-06:00

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to the Christmas Eve church service and then head over to my mom's house for egg nog, gift opening and lots of snacks! The added fun this year was getting to see Mia open her presents. Since the Twenhafel clan celebrated early at Thanksmas, the adults had a mini-exchange. Mia had a blast and wasn't shy about tearing off the wrapping paper. She received wonderful toys, books and clothes from everyone! And this was just the beginning of our Christmas celebrations!

Grandma, Grandpa and the Grandkids

Mia looking at her presents

Mia & Max

2008-12-21T21:27:00.010-06:00

Mia and Max have become pretty good friends lately. Max is awesome with Mia. He lets her pet him and hug on him and never seems bothered by it. Mia's allergy test indicated that she is allergic to cats, so we had been trying to keep Mia and Max separated, but as you can see...that doesn't work very well. How can you deny these two? Thankfully Mia's eczema is doing much better lately. Just in time for Mia and Max to become pals. Here's a couple pics from last week of the two of them.

Flashback!

2008-12-18T21:01:00.008-06:00

It is so hard to believe how fast time goes by! Since I wasn't blogging until Mia was 11 months old, we have lots & lots of photos that I haven't shared. I thought it would be fun to post Mia's Christmas photos from last year. Mia was 1 month old when we took these pictures. Its hard to remember Mia being so small, but I definitely remember her being a cutie!

Ho Ho Ho = Wah Wah Wah

2008-12-14T20:41:00.008-06:00

Last night we went to a Christmas party hosted by our neighbors. This is an annual party and practically one of the only times we visit with our neighbors. This is the 3rd year that we've attended and we've always enjoyed it. However, now that we have Mia, its even more fun because Santa makes a visit. We eagerly anticipated Santa's arrival and Mia had been practicing saying "Santa" and "Ho ho ho". We weren't sure how Mia would react to Santa. Once he arrived, we sat and watched about 10 kids sit on Santa's lap and then finally we decided it was Mia's turn. Luckily Jake was quick with the camera because Mia's time with Santa was cut pretty short. Just one look at the picture and you'll know why.

A much happier Mia, before Santa's arrival:

Watch out Picasso!

2008-12-09T21:28:00.005-06:00

We have a budding artist on our hands. I guess that shouldn't really be a surprise since one of the most creative guys I know is her daddy. Mia does have a fun time with the art projects at school and at home. Here are a few pics of Mia and her "Splash Art" toy she got from Heather for her birthday. Its a fun way to create colorful pictures with water...once it dries you can start all over again. No mess AND lots of fun!

Walk this Way

2008-12-01T21:28:00.006-06:00

Our baby is becoming a toddler more and more every day. She's starting to get more and more interested in walking. On Thanksgiving, both Annaliese and Mia entertained everyone with their walking progress. Thanks to "Auntie" Alana for helping get the girls moving!

Mia walking!

Merry Thanksmas!

2008-12-01T21:14:00.006-06:00

On my side of the family, every other year we celebrate Christmas at Thanksgiving time since that is when my sister and her family are visiting. (They take turns spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with both sets of relatives.) In our family, we've dubbed this holiday "Thanksmas". Its a little strange to be celebrating Christmas so early, but Mom makes sure to have all of her decorations up to get us in the Christmas spirit. Plus, its nice to have a lot of my Christmas shopping done so early...impressive for a procrastinator like me!

Mia was incredibly cute at the gift opening. We all take turns opening gifts, youngest to oldest. This whole process usually takes a couple hours and Mia was in a great mood the entire time. She had a blast opening up the gifts and when she would see what it was, it was usually greeted with a "Wow!" from her - her new favorite word. When it wasn't her turn, Mia was content hanging out, playing with her new toys and watching everyone else. We couldn't have asked for a better night!

Here's a video of Mia opening a gift. Listen carefully and you'll hear her "Wow!"

Mia Rosa

2008-11-25T22:54:00.014-06:00

Last Friday night, we went to a restaurant solely based on its name: Mia Rosa. We really didn't know much about this place, but since our daughter is named Mia Rose, we felt that it was our obligation to go there. The restaurant was a little more fancy than we would normally attempt with Mia, but she was an angel. In fact several of the other patrons stopped by our table to tell us how cute Mia is and how impressed they were by how good she was. We sat in the bar area and the live entertainment was acoustic guitar. As soon as the music started, Mia was enthralled and spent a majority of the time just watching the performer, who I must admit was pretty amazing.

Mia Rosa is basically an Italian tapas restaurant. We tried several excellent dishes, but our favorite (and Mia's too!!) was the pancetta wrapped asparagus. Delicious! The waitstaff at Mia Rosa was great too. They thought it was so neat that we had a Mia Rose and told us to send in a picture of her to their website. If it does get posted, I'll be sure to include it in an upcoming blog. If you are interested in checking out the restaurant, here's the website:

Here's the review from Sauce Magazine.

Mia Rose outside of Mia Rosa

Movie Star

2008-11-22T20:53:00.000-06:00

You know when something triggers a memory that you haven't thought of in ages and it makes you a little sentimental? That happened the other night when Mia was trying on her sunglasses. The instant she put them on, I immediately said "Oh look at the movie star!" It was one of those times when the phrase just popped out. All of a sudden I remembered a time when I was little and came strutting into the living room with my big red sunglasses on and my mom saying to me "Oh look at the movie star!" I haven't thought about that in years, but now the memory is as clear as it happened yesterday. Maybe one day Mia will look at her little girl wearing sunglasses and call her a movie star?

Here's my little Movie Star!

Official Potluck Taster

2008-11-20T20:54:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, our church celebrated its 140th anniversary. Its a well known fact that we Lutherans love our potlucks! For the celebration, we actually had a catered meal, but our little Mia was dressed to impress in her "Official Potluck Taster" bib. So cute!

Dawn and Dave's Wedding

2008-11-17T20:42:00.001-06:00

This past weekend our good friends Dawn and Dave got married in sunny Ft. Myers, Florida! Jake and I had the pleasure of joining them for their beach wedding. This was our first "vacation" without Mia. It was hard to be away from her, but we knew she was in good hands while we were gone. Friday she stayed with Grandma Randa and Papa Art, Saturday she was with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bob and Sunday she visited with Uncle Terry and Aunt Beth. This way everyone got some extra one-on-one time with Mia. While IL/MO weather was cold, rainy and 40 degrees, Jake and I were enjoying 80+ degree weather and lots of sun! Except when the rain rolled in during the outdoor reception. I have to hand it to Dave and Dawn - they totally rolled with it and didn't let a little rain ruin the fun. Here's a few pictures from our trip.

Fall is here!

2008-11-09T22:50:00.000-06:00

Over the years, my favorite time of year has changed from summertime to springtime and now in the past few years I've finally decided that I like fall the best! I love the chill in the air, pulling out my sweaters and enjoying all the fun "fall" things like playing in the leaves. Here's a few of my favorite picks of Mia this fall.

On one of the warmer days this fall, Mia and I went to a park by our house. She squeals when she sees the park coming and claps her hands once we get there. Usually her favorite is the slide, but this day she was loving the swing.

Jake had just raked a big pile of leaves so we decided to let Mia have some fun!

Vote for Mia

2008-11-04T21:08:00.000-06:00

In the spirit of the election, Mia wore her "Future President" shirt today. Who knows...maybe one day...

I hope everyone got out and voted today! Enjoy democracy!

Baby Talk

2008-11-03T21:33:00.000-06:00

Every day it seems that Mia is picking up more and more verbal skills. It really is amazing to see her try to mimic the sounds that she hears. Her latest is when something drops on the floor (more like she purposefully throws it to the floor), she'll look at it and say "uh-oh". It's cute...the first few times at least. :)

Here's a video clip of some of Mia's first words. Enjoy our little talker! (I can only imagine of what is to come!)

The 3 Little Pigs

2008-11-02T15:18:00.000-06:00

For Halloween, the 3 cousins dressed up as the 3 Little Pigs. And what cute little piggies they were! The group caravanned around town making stops to show off the girls to the relatives. Thanks to Lisa for making the adorable costumes!

Terry"s awesome pumpkin carving!

M1A

2008-10-29T20:45:00.000-05:00

For Mia's 1st birthday, we had a birthday party at Uncle Terry and Aunt Beth's house. We were blessed to have lots of family and friends be able to celebrate this milestone with us. It turned out to be a wonderful day and a fun party!

Mia's highlight from the day: playing in the bouncy with Annaliese and Lilah. Thanks to Uncle Scott for bringing this over!

Mommy & Daddy's highlight from the day: singing the "Baby Mia" lyrics Jake wrote to the Mamma Mia song that Scott played on his guitar.

By the way, when a marketing girl marries a graphics boy, it should be no surprise that a logo is involved.

Other fun pics from the day:

Happy Birthday Mia!

2008-10-25T10:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Mia's 1st birthday! Its hard to believe that a year has past already. And what a fun and eventful year it has been. Mia is such a joy to us and we are thankful every day that we've been blessed with such a wonderful and amazing little girl.

Mia's birthday party was yesterday afternoon and I'll be sure to blog on that and include lots of pictures. For this blog, I want it to be a special one, capturing Mia at this point in time. We all know how fast time goes and how you think you'll remember everything, but as days go by some things are fleeting. So, this post is all things Mia...

At 12 months old, Mia can:
-clap
-wave hi and bye
-baby sign "more" and "all done"
-point to the things she wants
-climb up the stairs
-give someone 5
-raise arms on "so big"
-clap along with patty cakes & "happy and you know it" song
-stand up and cruise along furniture
-can walk when you hold her hands
(*Mia took her 1st real step on her birthday!)
-raise her arms up when she wants to be picked up
-go get daddy when asked
-give hugs

Mia's favorites:
Food: hot dogs, cheese slices, mandarin oranges, black olives, deli turkey meat
Songs: "If you're happy & you know it," "Wheels on the Bus," "ABCs"
Toys: books, rings, ball, shapes, baby dolls, remote controls and cell phones
Activities: being chased and then tickled, tickle bug, riding on shoulders, going upside down, playing peek-a-boo
Books: "Who loves you baby," "Peek-a-Zoo," "Squishy Turtle"

Mia can say:
-hi, bye, mom, da-da, ball, ba ba, more and mum mum

Other fun stuff:
-Mia is a climber! She loves to climb up on everything - which scares mom & dad!
-Mia is a snuggler. She loves to sit on laps, cuddle and give lots of hugs.
-Mia has 4 teeth. Two more are peeking through on the top and 1 more on the bottom.
-Mia loves shoes!
-Mia loves her pacifier.
-She wears size 12-18 mos clothes and is about to move into size 4 shoes
-Mia loves other kids and loves to watch them.
-She likes the slide the best at the park.
-Mia takes 2 naps a day: usually 9:30-10:30 and 1:00-3:00
-Mia's bedtime is 8:30
-In a crowd, Mia is sometimes shy and sometimes a big flirt!
-Mia likes bathtime, but her favorite is at the end when we do "baby burrito" and wrap up in the towel
-Mia likes blues music!
-Mia likes to watch and then try to do it herself
-Mia is a happy little girl and full of smiles!

ZLC Fall Festival

2008-10-22T21:44:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, ZLC hosted a Fall Festival, complete with games, activities, and a big bouncy house. Mia loved the train ride and had an absolute blast in the bouncy house! Both sets of Grandparents were able to join us and enjoy this perfect fall day. We hope that this becomes an annual event. Here's a few of our favorite pics.

Mia checking out the bouncy house.

The bouncy house is so much fun!

Daddy and Mia on the train ride. Choo Choo!

The Cousins: Lilah, Mia and Annaliese

Kisses for Annaliese!

The Simon Family

The Best Sound...EVER!

2008-10-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Awhile ago I had blogged about Mia and her Bitty Baby. "Baby" has become one of Mia's favorite toys. A couple weeks ago, we shot this video of Mia and her baby...it's sure to make you smile! :)

Parents as Teachers

2008-10-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

Last night Amy, our Parent Educator from Parents as Teachers, came over to visit with us and play with/observe Mia. Parents as Teachers is an awesome organization that is based upon giving parents tools and resources to enable their child's development. We heard about the Parents as Teachers organization through our Lamaze class and signed up right away. It is free to join and as a member you receive 4 home visits per calendar year from a parent educator. All that is required is that we attend 1 group event per year - and there are over a dozen events to choose from, including family events and lectures on parenting topics. The program starts prenatal and lasts until the child enters kindergarten. As you can see, I am a huge fan of this program!

We always look forward to our visits with Amy. She always brings an activity that we can do with Mia. Last night we worked on shapes. Amy has great suggestions on toys that you can make at home using household items. For instance, Mia loved trying to get the clothespin into the Gatorade bottle. Ingenious - fun for Mia, easy for us and basically free!

Bowl-a-rama

2008-10-12T21:11:00.000-05:00

On Friday night, we went out to celebrate Toni's birthday. The birthday girl's choice - Bowling at Saratoga Lanes. Saratoga is an old-school bowling alley where you actually have to keep score by hand. No electronic scoring here! (Thank goodness for high school PE!) And even though I started out bowling like a champ, I couldn't quite break a triple digit score. Good times!

While we were hanging at the bowling alley, Mia was home with a new babysitter. Well, actually Miss Laura is not someone who is new to Mia, but it was the first time she was at her house. Miss Laura is one of Mia's teachers from daycare. She's great and Mia loves her. I think the two of them enjoyed the extra bonding time. We are so happy to find a babysitter close by, and one that we know Mia loves too.

The Bump Report

2008-10-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

Today when I went to pick up Mia, the first thing I noticed was Mia's teacher giving me a sheepish look. And then Mia turned her head towards me and I understood why. She has a big purple bump on the left side of her forehead. Poor little girl! It looks so painful, but apparently Mia handled it like a trooper. They were outside on the playground and Mia was climbing on the picnic table. Miss Laura told Mia that she needed to sit down because she kept trying to climb onto the table. Mia doesn't like to be told "No" and can sometimes be dramatic...so instead of sitting down, she flung herself off the table and her forehead connected right on the motorcycle riding toy. Mia really didn't seem to be affected by it. Her bump report (1st one ever, I might add) said that they treated her with ice and lots of TLC. I love that they put that on there! I know accidents happen, especially with toddlers just learning to walk, so I'm sure this is just the beginning.

Work Day - Play Day

2008-10-04T21:03:00.000-05:00

In an earlier post I had written about our ceiling in our sunroom leaking. Today Scott came over to help Jake work on replacing the ceiling. Of course as with every home project we've encountered, once you start to fix one thing, it leads to many more things that need to be fixed. In this instance, once the drywall was removed in the area that had been leaking, we found that this drywall was actually on top of another ceiling and that this ceiling had mold. So now the ceiling, sub-ceiling and insulation for the entire sunroom has to be removed. Before they guys tackled this, they went up on the roof to find the point of entry for the water. What they found up there is that the water was not entering from a hole in the rough, as we had expected, but actually through a rotted area near the gutter. To fix this, they guys removed the gutter, replaced a 2x4, added flashing, reinstalled the gutter and then added gutter covers. They also were able to add an extra downspout on the other gutter which has been causing us problems since we moved in. Hopefully this will make a big difference the next time it rains. We are so thankful that Scott was able to come over and spend the entire day with us. And he's volunteered to come back tomorrow to continue working on the sunroom ceiling. What an awesome brother!

While the guys were busy working on all of this, Mia and I pretty much played all day. I had so much fun hanging out with her! In the morning we pretty much stayed upstairs so that we were out of the guys way. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a walk after lunch. We went to the park and Mia had a blast going down the slide, riding on the merry-go-round and swinging. A few weeks ago, Mia didn't like the swing, but today she thought it was fun. We played for quite awhile and I don't think she ever would have wanted to leave. She absolutely did not want to get back in her stroller!

Papa Art and Grandma Randa came over in the early evening and visited with us while Jake and Scott finished up. Then we all went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. That was my first time there and it was quite a different place. Its a buffet restaurant, but the weird part is that you go through the salad line first before you pay. Its confusing and I just couldn't figure out why you didn't just pay at the front - like every other buffet restaurant? Mia was a good eater - no surprise there. Some of her favorites tonight were chicken, peas, black olives and ice cream. Her list of dislikes is quite small, but we did find out tonight that she doesn't like pickles. So I guess that makes her list of dislikes up to 2: pickles and lemons!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-10-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Grandma Jan's birthday. We were able to celebrate with her on Tuesday night at Beth & Terry's. Of course, Mia was the entertainment for us that evening. She was in a great mood and was having fun crawling around and climbing up and down the stairs. Probably the cutest thing was when she would see a pillow on the floor and go lay her head down on it like she was going to sleep. What a cutie!

There's another October 1 birthday that I need to mention - happy birthday Toni Jo!

Lil Kipper

2008-09-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

Monday nights are swim lesson nights at the Webster Y. Mia's in the "Kipper" class and boy does that girl love her swim lessons. She actually squeals with delight when we walk from the locker room to the pool area. She's quite a little fish too. Basically all we do is play games and sing songs as a way for the kiddos to get comfortable in the water. Mia loves to splash around and does a good job of sticking her arms and legs out to swim. Her favorite part of class is when she gets to go down the little slide into the pool. She always has the biggest grin on her face!

Here's a cute pic of Mia in her swimsuit from Mia's 10 month photos:

The Week in Review

2008-09-28T21:44:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since my last blog and the Simon Family has been quite busy. Last weekend our friends Angela and Jay were married in Washington, MO. Jake and I made the trip while Mia stayed with Aunt Beth and Grandma Jan. Angela is one the girls in my dinner club. Since Emma moved down to KY last summer, I believe this first time all 6 of us have been together. We all had a blast at the wedding. And I hear Miss Mia was an angel while we were away (no surprises there!)

On Sunday, Jake played with his dad and brothers in the ZLC Golf Tourney. They were all very excited to play since they had won 1st place in the tourney last year (which incidentally was the day of my baby shower - my how things have changed in 1 year!) Although the guys had fun golfing, they weren't able to keep their title of reigning champs. But they did bring home a 3rd place finish. Go Team Simon!

While the guys were golfing, Mia and I hung out with Grandma Randa, Christian and Aubree. The cousins had fun playing together!

Our week was busy as usual. Both of our jobs are pretty stressful right now. Jake's work is very demanding as his company is preparing for reviews with the client to determine if the contract will be continued. This means lots of late nights for Jake, but at least they have given him a laptop so he can come home and spend some time with Mia (and me!) before he has to log back on for work. As for me, Maritz has been going through a "re-structuring" period that finally culminated on Friday. A total of 5 people from my department were laid off. Thankfully I was one of the lucky ones that still has a job. Sounds like my job really won't change much - although I'm hoping maybe some of the workload can be adjusted because I have a ton on my plate right now. At least the stress of not knowing if I would be affected by the layoffs is over.

This weekend was another fun one for us. Friday night found us at Shenanigans in Belleville for a surprise 30th birthday party for our friend Angie. We had a fun time catching up with our church friends that we haven't seen in awhile. While we were out, Uncle Scott was watching Mia. Since he lives in Belleville, it worked out great. We dropped Mia off at Scott's and Grandma Randa and Papa Art came over to visit. They had fun playing. Mia really likes Scott's guitar! After the party, Jake and I went back to Scott's and spent the night there too. It was nice not having to hike back over across the river that night.

Saturday took us in an entirely different direction. Dawn and Dave had a luau themed engagement party in Foristell. Now that's a hike! We were practically at Mizzou! The party was fabulous and Mia was awesome. She looked like an Hawaiian princess in her Hawaiian dress. She's just too darn cute!

Now its Sunday night and once again it feels like the weekends pass by way too fast. Hopefully this week I'll be able to keep up with my blog better...we'll see...

A Trip to the Allergist

2008-09-18T21:25:00.000-05:00

Today Mia had an appointment with an allergist. She's been having issues with eczema since she was about 4 months old. In addition, she's had signs of reactions with certain foods and our cat, Max. It took 2 months for us to get into the allergist, so this was a highly anticipated day!

Mia ended up having a skin test. Once again, the test bothered me more than her (just like her immunizations). Mia's test results were somewhat surprising: she's highly allergic to peanuts (which had never crossed our minds); not allergic to milk or wheat (both of which we were sure she was allergic to); and is mildly allergic to soy. The funny thing is that we had switched Mia over to a soy formula at 6 months old and her eczema eased up. A couple months ago we tried the milk-based formula again and her eczema flared up again. Could be that she's outgrown her milk allergy or that her intense peanut reaction somehow affected the soy results. At any rate, we need to avoid peanuts at all cost, but do not need to move her to a soy-free diet.

She did turn out to be allergic to Max, no surprise there, but the allergist feels that her allergies are mild enough that we don't have to go to any drastic measures such as removing Max from the house - thank goodness!!

I'm so happy that we finally were able to meet with the allergist and have a little more knowledge around her skin issues and find out about her peanut allergy! And of course, Mia was great during the appointment. In fact, she fell asleep on my lap right after the skin test and napped until we left. What an angel!

Water, Water Everywhere

2008-09-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today got off to an interesting start. It was raining pretty hard but nonetheless we were packing up to go to church in Mascoutah. Right as we were getting ready to load up the car, (we were planning to stay the whole day so that requires diaper bag, change of clothes, extra bottles and formula, etc...) Jake noticed that the ceiling in our sunroom was leaking. Upon further inspection, Jake informed me that the ceiling was just moments away from caving in. What!? So we hurriedly moved everything out of the surnroom, turned off the power to that room and then called Scott, Jake's brother, for advice. He suggested that we drill a hole in the ceiling to let the water drain. Good thinking! So we decided that Mia and I would still head to Mascoutah and Jake would stay behind to work on the sunroom. A few blocks from home I realized that the road was flooded and all the cars had to turn around. I went the other direction and the road was closed a few blocks the other way due to flooding too. So, I decided it would be best to just turn around and head home. Jake was able to poke a few holes in the ceiling (no drilling required it was so soft) and about 6 gallons of water drained out. We were able to save the ceiling from caving in but we definitely have some work ahead of us.

Later this afternoon, the weather cleared up and we took Mia to Tilles Park. On the way, traffic was still being diverted on Brentwood due to flooding. It was crazy to see indicators of how high the water had risen this morning. Once we finally got to the park, we had a great time walking around. The water was so high there that the pond was covering part of the road through the park. This meant that we could get right up next to the ducks, which Mia thought was so fun. She would point at them and say "Duck!" Okay, actually Mia likes to point at things and say "Da" so really she could have just been saying that, but we do like to think that she is a genius! After such a crazy morning, this was a great way to end the weekend!

Here comes the Sun-deckers

2008-09-13T15:52:00.001-05:00

Last night we went out to Sundeckers on the Landing to celebrate Lisa's birthday. Grandma Randa came over to our house to watch Miss Mia. I know both of them had fun hanging out!

Our big night out on the Landing was quite a bit different from our "old days". For instance, this time we were leaving to head home just about the time we normally left to head out. The nice part was that we missed the crowd and pretty much had the place to ourselves. I've always liked Sundeckers - pretty good food (good bbq sauce and honey mustard - what else could a girl want?) and always good music.

In addition to celebrating Lisa's birthday, we also got to celebrate with Alana and Sam on their big news that Lilah is going to be a big sister! We are so happy for them!

Bitty Baby

2008-09-10T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight Jake went to the driving range to prepare for the ZLC Golf Tourney (go Team Simon!) so Mia and I enjoyed some girl time. Just recently Mia has started showing interest in her Bitty Baby, which was still in its box, so I decided tonight would be the perfect time to play with her baby doll. Mia was super excited and was all smiles when she held the baby. But the real excitement for Mia was actually the box. Take a peek at my Bitty Baby!

Hey world - I'm bloggin!

2008-09-09T22:08:00.001-05:00

Social media - its one of those buzz words in marketing that seems to make its way into every conversation. I've been working on launching a blog for my work, because we need to "get on board this social media train." It started getting me thinking that maybe its time I entered the blogosphere on my own terms. I mean, if everyone else is doing it, shouldn't I?

Actually, along with the work nudge, I've been inspired by other friends who use their blog as a way to capture, share and preserve family stories, memories and pictures. So I guess now along with my titles of wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and marketer, I can add blogger.