The Countdown

Mya is very excited for her Baby Brother to arrive!  She asks me almost daily if he is "done" yet.  Yesterday, she told me she really wanted to take her Baby Brother to Home Depot!  She also decorated my entire tummy with stickers!  Unfortunately, I got all but 1 removed before heading to my weekly doctor's appointment!  My Doctor handled it well... telling me that all pregnant tummies should be decorated at least once!  (Pretty embarrassing!)

I'm not sure if the excitement will last once she realizes that he is here.... for good!  But, for now, I will embrace the love and excitement she already holds for her brother!  I decided to make a countdown chart for Mya.  Everyday, we count how many days are left until the day Mommy gives birth to her brother!  We point to each number and say them together.  Then, she gets to put a Dora sticker on the current day.  She LOVES this and brings me the chart each morning!  I heard her counting her other stickers while playing-  seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-teen!  I guess we still need some work with our counting... but she's getting there!

EASTER

EASTER MORNING

The Easter Bunny brought Mya lots of goodies!

Mya was nervous to open her door and see what the Easter Bunny brought her.  She was pleasantly surprised when she finally opened her door!

EASTER AFTERNOON

Matt and I offered to host Easter for Matt's family.  Some thought I was crazy to host a party of 25 with only 3 weeks left of my pregnancy.  At times, I thought I was crazy too! But, I had lots of help from my Mother-in-Law, Diane,  and Matt! For the first time in my life, I had cleaning ladies come in to clean my house (I think I'm hooked) yesterday!  I also cashed in on my second prenatal massage that Matt got me for Valentine's Day while the cleaning ladies were at my house!  How awesome is that? Thankfully, Matt cooked the fabulous meat (Ham and Lamb) and Diane made yummy potatoes and vegetables.  The rest of the family took care of the rest of the sides, apps, and dessert!  My job was pretty easy!  I made the Easter baskets for the kids and set up the Easter Egg Hunt! 

Our "GROWING" family!  I didn't realize how HUGE I was until I saw this picture... and others (that got deleted!).

Mya LOVED the Easter Egg Hunt! 

The Wiegman Cousins (Ben, Mya, and Drew)- minus Quentin (he was sick)

Collin, Ben, Mya, and Drew

Mya ate more candy today than she has her entire life.  She was in heaven!

Look... I got EGGS!

Tricycle Triumph

A week or two ago, Matt and I decided to take Mya to get her first "bike." She had been loving her Little Tikes low-rider but we decided it was time for her to get a big-girl ride!  When we got to Toys-R-Us, she COULD NOT pedal! We tried every single tricycle and it was a lost cause. She would just use her legs to move the bike.  Matt, Mya, and I were so frustrated! So, we left with a basketball hoop instead of a bike. 

Later the following week, while at Target, she browsed the bike section. She asked me to take one of the tricycles off of the shelf.  I hesistated, knowing the frustration she and I were soon to endure.  BUT... to my astonishment, she jumped on it and rode off down the aisle! I was shocked!!!! Of course, she didn't want to get off of it! She greeted other shoppers with a friendly (and proud) "HI!"  I decided to pick my battle, and let her follow me around all of Target on her tricycle! I got lots of weird looks...mostly from men, teenagers, and grumpy old women.  My fellow moms looked at me with, "I so know what it's like, and girl take advantage of getting some shopping done in peace!" The difficult part was after my shopping was complete and convincing her that she had to leave the bike at Target. I promised her we would come back with Daddy and get it ($50!).

When I got home, I was determined to find a better deal on a tricycle. Finally, this week, I saw a posting for a $5 tricycle...identical to the one at Target! This morning, Mya and I drove 35 minutes each direction and picked up the bike (I wonder how much that is in gas money these days???)! She didn't know what we were getting, but she knew it was a surprise for her! Her face when I loaded it into the car was PRICELESS!  It rained all day so she had to ride it in the house! She woke up from her nap asking where it was!  She has loaded everything from her babies to her beads to her magnetic letters into the little basket in the back!  She LOVES her new bike!  And I LOVE that it was only $5!

Fingerpainting Frenzy!

The girls started off painting their Earths so neatly with paintbrushes.

I decided to paint with the 3 girls today.  Amy (twins' Mom) and Matt both told me I was crazy!  I knew it would be kinda crazy, but was hoping for good crazy!  It was.  We discussed the "rules of painting" before we began.  They could only paint on their paper... no painting on their body, table, or chairs!  I was amazed by how good they were!  They quietly painted their Earth pictures to celebrate Earth Day.  I even gave them a little mini-lesson on the Earth being green and blue. :-)

After they did their Earth Day pictures, I let them fingerpaint!  They were SO excited!  They picked out their own "Easter" colors and away they went.  They couldn't stop giggling as they stuck their little hands into the cold paint!  I loved seeing them tell each other what they felt and what colors they saw on their hands.  It was priceless!

Then.... I told them they could use their hands!  OH BOY!  The girls couldn't stop giggling! 

The end products!  Not too shabby! 

Easter Egg Sort

Today Mya played with the plastic Easter eggs I bought for our big family Easter Egg Hunt!  Sorting, separating, and filling kept her busy for about an hour! 

3 Peas in a Pod

Thankfully, the weather has been nicer and we are able to get outside to play on our days with the twins!  

Very difficult to get 3, 2 year-olds to sit still AND look at the camera!  This is the best I could get!

Sidewalk chalk

Brooke and Mya

The girls playing with the kitchen in the playhouse- the conversation was priceless!

A Dangerous Job

 My sister has so graciously gifted me tub, after tub, after tub of clothes and toys that her kids have outgrown.  I told her I wasn't sure if I wanted to hug her or strangle her!  It is AWESOME to not have to purchase clothes, especially for a boy.  But, it is a bit overwhelming when everything has to be washed and hung! This little guy has SO MANY clothes! It is absolutely unbelievable! I have already made a run to Target to get hangers and I have to go get even more! It is crazy!   

I lured Mya in from outside by asking her if she wanted to help me sort her baby brothers new clothes.She loves any type of organizing and sorting (hmmmm... wonder where she gets it!?!?!).  She accepted my invitation with great excitement!  I went into the other room for a minute, and when I came back this is what I found.....  You can never be too safe for the job... especially when there are THIS many clothes!

Here is just part of our little guy's closet!  AND... I still have another tub of clothes for newborn to 12 months!

What a Weekend

What a fabulous weekend!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous... about 60 on Saturday and  85 today! 

On Saturday, Daddy and Uncle Chris (Uncle Christmas, as Mya calls him) went to the White Sox game while Mommy, Mya, Auntie Katie, and Kylie enjoyed the warmth!  We spent the night at their house.  Mya was excited to sleep in a big girl bed, although resisted for about an hour after bedtime!  Regardless, it was fabulous to have some adult time once the girlies were in bed!

The girls and their babies

Cute lil' Kylie Clare

On Sunday, it was BEAUTIFUL outside!  I think the thermometer reached 85 degrees!  I was able to go to the Lake County flea/antique market with Auntie Katie in the morning!  Then, I headed home to play, clean, play, and clean some more!  We scrubbed patio furniture, raked some leaves, set up Mya's water table, and watched Daddy smoke some yummy food! 

Mya loved her water table.  Notice her black nose... this was from leaning against our dirty screened in porch!  She looked hilarious!

Mya and Daddy with Daddy's platter of MEAT!

Had to show Daddy's smokin' project of the day.  ALL this food was just for us!  UGH.. good thing I'm prego! ;-)

Mya with her "sunglasses!"

HILARIOUS!

Sticker Picture

I try to do at least one "artsy" project with Mya every week.  This week's idea came from a cool blog I look at http://learningdevelopmentactivities.blogspot.com/ that has tons of activities to do with your kids.  In addition to the idea from the blog, Mya became very interested in stickers after I implemented a new bedtime reward system (see new blogpost coming soon).  She spent quite awhile decorating her ocean/island scene.  I was so impressed when she began the activity by putting the fish into the water! But... soon followed a polar bear, happy faces, and "GREAT!" stickers! 

Full of Questions

Mya is FULL of questions! It's ALL DAY EVERYDAY!  Sometimes, I wish she would just sit back and be quiet! But, I know that she is learning about the world around her! I should appreciate the curiosity that fills her little mind!

Why?

Where are we going?

Why?

Where's Daddy?

Why?

What are you doing?

Why?

Are we going home?

Why?

Can we play outside?

Why?

Is it time for bed?

Why?

Can I have a snack?

Why?

What are you doing?

Why?

Where are we going?

Why?

Go CUBS Go! Mya's First!

Ever since we got married, Matt has sworn he was going to take our kids to Opening Day at Wrigley Field EVERY YEAR!  He said he would excuse them for school (a mom/teacher nightmare), bundle them up, or whatever else it took to make it to the official start of the season.  Well, Mya is 2 and has yet to even GO to a Cubs game.  We thought about it last year, but decided it would just be a disaster.  We didn't think she'd sit still and we feared the thought of a "no-nap" day. 

This year, opening day was on Friday.  Matt and I both had to work and the weather was going to be cold and rainy.  We watched the game with Mya on T.V. and asked her if she would want to go to the baseball game.  She was SO excited!  She jumped up and down and asked if she could go NOW.  We had to explain that the game we would go to would be the next day.  She continued to talk about the game throughout the day.  As she laid down to sleep, her last words were, "Momma, I get hotdog at baseball game?"  I replied, "Of course!"  Her final question, "They have ketchup?"  I replied, "Of course!"  (Daddy's nightmare... any true Chicagoan knows hotdogs are eaten with MUSTARD ONLY!) 

Matt bought our tickets Saturday morning.  If possible, I think he was more excited than Mya!  Matt, being a DIE HARD CUBS FAN, wanted this day to be perfect!  He surprised us with fantastic tickets!  We sat 3 rows behind the Cubs bullpen!  We got to the game 2 hours early and watched the pitchers warm-up!  It was a pretty cool experience... for all of us! We walked around with Mya a little bit before the game and then headed to our seats.  We stayed ALL 9 innings and didn't leave our awesome seats!!!!!  Matt and I couldn't believe it!  Luckily, our row wasn't full so Mya had a little room to roam.  She played, ate, watched the game, and entertained the fans around us! We've never stayed for an entire game.  Perhaps we are always too anxious to head to one of the local bars... regardless, we definitely didn't think the first time we'd stay all 9 innings would be with our 2 year-old daughter!  She was great and the Cubs WON! 

The Wiegmans in Wrigleyville before the game!

Daddy and Mya in front of Wrigley Field

Mya was in AWE of all the people and the big stadium! The day started off cold, but it ended up being a gorgeous day!

Daddy got Mya an enormous popscicle before the game. She was in heaven!

She got her hotdog!  Of course, she didn't want her bun....just ketchup!

Teaching his daughter the game....

Mommy and Mya



Mya having one of her MANY snacks!



Mya applied LOTS of sunscreen to her face when the sun came out.  The fans around us found this hilarious!  Unfortunately, she woke up this morning with a bad rash on her face....OOPS!

Happy Girl! GO CUBBIES!

Silly

Mommy pulled the "I'm pregnant, get out of my way!" card and pushed her way to get Matt Garza's (a starting pitcher) autograph.  Daddy pulled the, "Hey, it's my daughter's first Cubs Game....throw us a ball!"  We have NO SHAME!  But, we got both!! Awesome souvenier from Mya's first game!