Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Baby Clothes from Great-great-grandma Lil

 These days there isn't much occasion to dress your angel in hand-made bonnets and sweaters, but Mom passes these along to us and they are vintage and sweet and Joe will soon be to big for them, so we decided to class up yesterday, just for fun.


My melting point is a chubby-cheeked baby in a bonnet. Oh. My. Goodness.
 This outfit was made by my Great-grandma Lillian Lucile Monroe for my brother, Jon, over thirty years ago. Admiring the clothes got me thinking about her and what she was like so I rang up Mom to get a few details.

My Great-grandma Lil liked all kinds of needlework, especially crochet. She was a twin but her sister died young of whooping cough. She was a shoe model because she had great legs, and when she got married her fiance insisted she wear a short dress so everyone could see! :)  She was a real lady of the times - didn't drive and had never written a check till her husband passed away, but full of class, was a world-traveler and held the title of Queen of the Nile (the woman equivalent to the Potentate of the Shriners. It's prestigious.) Her husband was President of Omaha Power, a position he worked up to from errand boy, as well as Potentate of the Shrine. They were active church-goers and I'm going to say they were quite the power couple. 

And then Mom had to go teach violin lessons, but it's pretty cool how dressing up Joe led to this very interesting conversation. I'm glad I have such classy relatives! Maybe I'll remind Riley of that next time she is running around with no diaper and her pants on her head.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Dave does cool stuff



   Here Dave is, jumping stuff again. He's so good at it! In other news, the boy has been offered a full tuition scholarship from Minnesota, so we very well might be moving there this summer. We still have four other schools to hear back from so it's not a done deal yet, but it's definitely in the running. Minnesota is a beautiful state and I wouldn't mind it for our next adventure, though, let's be honest: winter, eh? MN has it in spades and I'm kind of a wimp about the cold and snow...I'll have to put my big girl pants on and deal, I guess. Bloom where you're planted, etc.
    This is the stuff of my daydreams, lately. I like to envision us packing our lives across the country to some little apartment in an unexplored city, taking on this new challenge together. Maybe I'll work and maybe Dave will get an internship in Africa...who knows. It's fun to dream.
   
    
     

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day is the best and I love it and my only complaint is why is there just one a year??

This day...how do I love thee, let me count the ways:

1) Involves chocolate and kissing and expressions of love to and from all your homies
2) Turns all your favorite shows into romantic comedies for the week
3) Relieves a winter setting with vibrant reds and pinks
4) Allows you to be mushy all day and no one can call you a moron (hypothetically speaking, according to the movie, Valentines Day)

It has been such a lovely day and I'm plum wore out, so enough chit chat. On to the pictures/videos for which you came!
Dave's Valentine balloons for the babes. The card, I think, was more for my benefit. "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - A.A. Milne. "I know how you like old pooh," Dave said. snicker. There were also chocolates and roses, but the card was my favorite, obviously. Dave does the sweetest things, tastefully balanced with comic relief. I love him.
 We had a party for a bunch or babies and their moms in our ward and those balloons kept everyone pretty well entertained. Also, aren't these mommy/daughters the cutest? We have such a lovely ward.

Zombie Riley here because Clarissa was holding out an m&m to get her to look! Silly baby.

Riley spent a lot of time helping herself to treats and got herself crazy on sugar! She has since crashed, not in a good way and I'm thinking next time we maybe should limit treats to, I don't know - one's body weight or something.



Ang sent this card for Riley but as you can see, Joe enjoyed it too.
Then people had to go home but we partied on!


And, out of respect for the day, we took our Chinese take-out into the living room for a picnic.


I love them so much it hurts! Seriously, this dull ache in my chest feels like heaven. How did I get so lucky?? Dave and the babies, the rest of my family, close friends - each one brings so much light into my life. And I definitely take them for granted a lot, but shoot, you can't NOT reflect on the love in your life today! It's Valentines Day!

 Now, if I die of a heart attack, at least it is recorded: Heidi Munion died happy.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A for Effort

Oh my giddy aunt. Potty training attempt #1 was a failure on par with old timey lobotomies or keeping pet baboons.

We felt prepared - we had treats and a potty and a tarp in the living room and a gate to keep the trainee within the potty zone. It started well, with Riley plopping herself down for a bit of reading up on the subject, but that's as much action as that potty got all day. The floor, on the other hand, saw plenty of action.

 


I'm not sure if Riley wasn't ready or if it was the fact I had sad, teething, Joe to care for too and couldn't give her the proper attention, or if Riley just balks at people trying to make her do something, even if the something is sitting on a potty that she has sat on many times before without prompting... but I feel like now that I've helplessly watched our toddler going on the floor while I am stuck on the couch breastfeeding, I really should be able to just deal with anything with complete zen-like repose. So that's good...


We'll give it another go when Riley starts showing interest again. Dave took her out last night to pick out a different potty, one that looks more like the real thing and has a flushing lever, but she has mostly ignored it. She might be slightly traumatized from my repeated attempts of whisking her over to the toilet mid-stream to get her to finish in the bowl.

I definitely was - later that night I laughed while we were watching the office and Dave said, "That's a sound I haven't heard today." Oops - sorry baby - I don't mean to be an droopy-faced, black hole of joy, but days like that I sometimes don't even notice. It's something to work on.

Next post I write it will extra happy, don't you worry. I can pretty much guarantee that because we are having a toddler Valentines Day party for some wardies, and those are always a good time! Oh, hey, and I can even end this one on a positive note - Dave got his first response from grad schools - an acceptance from Minnesota! They will be sending him scholarship info this week and want to fly him out in April to show him their program, which is awesome. Go Dave!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

This n that - mostly just Joe's pretty face




Capturing some beautiful, everyday moments.

I'm reminded of a story I read once about a stressed out student, I think it was, who was having his dinner on a park bench when a homeless bag lady sat on the same bench to watch the sun set. She turned to the student, smiled and said, "God spoils me." 

He really does. 

Not much going on at the Munions' today. Dave did an interview with Notre Dame yesterday and the professor he skyped with said that Dave's powerpoint (the one I posted here) had circulated around the office, even to him, who normally didn't see the applications because ND likes their interviewers to go in fresh, or something. But it was just toooo good not to see :) Plus, the interviewer had just had a baby like three weeks ago. We will start hearing back from schools at the end of this month and through March so we will have exciting news to share soon!

In the meantime, it's a whole lot of silly baby time, baking, Charlie Brown, teething, work-out videos (I enjoyed some of today's from the safety of the couch - that Insanity really lives up to it's name), snowboarding, and day-dreaming of spring. And now Riley wants her lunch. I can tell because she is draped over my shoulder, licking my face. She can say lunch, but prefers more direct communication.

A baby video for the road: I don't know what the rules are but seems like a fun game!


Friday, February 1, 2013

Potty Training, Like a Boss

Well...

1) Riley isn't officially training, but she did take off her diaper today and sit on her potty we got her last week, lid up, of her own volition. I'm gonna say it's time.

2) I might have misused the term, "like a boss", at least, I hope nobody's boss it potty training. gross.


 She's been getting all discrete when she has a bowel movement, waking up from naps dry, and understands what poo and pee are so, according to several internet sources, she is probably ready to train.

I am part "Hallelujah and let's go on vacation with all the money we're going to save," and part, "Noooo! I'm scaaaared! I don't wanna clean accidents off the floor!" Not that it matters if I'm ready or not. Let's do this. Next weekend. I like the 3 naked days method I read about here - anyone out there who's tried it and has helpful feedback, do send it my way, please.