A Birthday Carol

I present to you a holiday tale. A tale unlike any other holiday tale. This is not of the yule log, caroling, and Tannenbaum variety. For this is a tale of three birthdays, beginning with the past.

The First of the Three Birthdays
The first birthday arrived a mere three months ago. It was Miriam's 3rd Birthday! What a big girl!!

The morning started off with one of Miri's favorite breakfasts...donuts! With hers being straight out of The Simpsons...pink frosting with sprinkles. (Mmmm...dohh-nuuuts...) Then outside to open the first present from Mommy and Daddy...a shiny, red trike. (3 months later, and our little shorty still can't reach the pedals!) After that, the Bashaws plus Gramma and G-Pa plus Gammy and Grandpa all jumped in the car and headed to the Elegant Farmer for some apple pickin'. We went on a hayride, picked whatever apples were available that early in the season, and Miri went on her first pony ride (she picked a little guy named Blackjack). We followed that up with some lunch at the farm, including our first cake of the day from Grandpa (pumpkin with cream cheese frosting...yum). Home for some quick naps. And then, what Miri had been talking about for the months leading up to her birthday...her first taste of peanut butter (in the form of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup). The peanut butter tasting was followed by many, many more presents from her grandparents, parents, brother, uncle, aunt, and cousins. A few things she got-- Cabbage Patch Kid, ballet clothes/shoes, Playdoh set, puzzles, games, clothes, Elmo puppet... Presents were followed by another one of Miri's faves...pizza! We ended the festivities with more cake than any 3 year old plus 6 cake-eating partygoers (E wasn't partaking) could possibly ever need...one chocolate Elmo cake + one purple Abby Cadabby cake + a handful of Elmo cupcakes (...and did I mention we made another 2 dozen cupcakes for her school celebration?!) Why, you ask? We have no idea. But Miriam sure loved it!! And she's the Birthday Girl!

(Video under construction; Audio Missing)

The Second of the Three Birthdays
The next birthday up...at least in our immediate family...is our New Year's Day baby. We are less than 3 weeks away from our little guy turning ONE! What a crazy, fast...but amazing...first year we have had with Emmett. I will give him a birthday blog post as well...so look for another birthday tale probably around St Patrick's Day (oh, we are just horrible at this blogging thing).

The Last of the Birthdays
It's mine.


"And it was always said of [Jason], that he knew how to keep [birthdays] well [through blogging], if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

...and curtain!

*****
And, to continue a tradition Alli started last year, here are Miriam's answers to "the birthday quiz" this year...

1. How old are you?  I'm two

2. Who is your best friend? You (mommy)

3. What are your favorite things to do?  Swim

4. What is your favorite color?  Purple and pink

5. What is your favorite food?  pizza

6. What is your favorite toy?  Bear and Baby Sandie and my kitchen

7. What is your favorite book?  Happy Birthday Little Pookie and Madeline

8. Where are your favorite places to go?  Strawberry Festival

9. What is your favorite snack?  Fishies (goldfish crackers)

10. What is your favorite dessert?  birthday cake

11. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Bear and pink circle blanket

12. What is your favorite song/ music?  Hush Little Baby, Walking Walking Hop Hop Hop, I will wait for you (Mumford & Sons)

13. What is your favorite thing to wear?  T-shirts

14.  Trademark phrases:

• "Can I have a treat?" (the minute she puts the last bite of dinner, or lunch, or breakfast in her mouth)
• "Hey little brudda"
• "I NEED TO GO PAHHH-TY!" (yelled from her room 1-2 minutes after she's in bed for the night)
• "Emmett's MY baby!"
• "Wanna dance with me?" (girl LOVES to dance)
• "Can I have a bite of that?" (even if she has the same thing on her plate)
• "Is it a Mommy Day or a School Day?"

Jason's territory

So, as Alli mentioned in her last entry, pediatrician visit blog entries are my territory. In order to...er...mark my territory, I'll catch you up with both kids' last appointments...

Miriam had her 3-year appointment on September 13th (more details of her birthday will surface in an upcoming blog entry...stay tuned). She is doing great and took her shot without a single tear...tough girl! She's a nice, even 3 feet tall (so almost caught up to her mom), which is the 19th percentile for her age. And, she weighs in at 26lbs 12.8oz, which is the 11.5 %ile...definitely not the biggest girl in her class! No concerns from the doctor though...he says, "she's just petite"! Next appointment...age 4!

Miriam says always eating a well-balanced meal
is partly to thank for her excellent 3-year appointment.

Emmett had his 9-month appointment on October 4th. Mommy was testing his development and milestones all the way up to the day to fill out the questionnaire, and he's pretty much doing everything he should be by now...sitting, crawling, feeding himself finger foods, etc. Doctor just said he needs to work on his communication a bit more (like waving). But being from a dad who just happens to hold a Communications degree, I am not the least bit worried he'll be waving by senior year! Everything else checks out, and doctor says he's doing great! Not to be outdone, he also shed no tears with his shot! He measures in at 29", which is the 74th percentile! And weighs in at 17lbs 15oz...21%ile. Tall and skinny, just like his old man! Next appointment...1 Year!!

Emmett says regular exercise played a key role in
stunning the doctor at his 9-month appointment.

I can't believe how fast these kids are growing. SLOW DOWN!!!

Summer Sum Up

Fall is here. The leaves are turning colors. Football is on. And Allison has started her obsession with all things pumpkin (Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte, DQ's Pumpkin Pie Blizzard, Panera's pumpkin bagel, etc). So, what better way to usher in the fall than to write a summer blog post!

Before we get into all the posts (or singular, "post") about what we're doing/have done this fall, I thought I'd sum up the last bit of summer...and certainly the busiest part of our summer. It seemed like we were making up for lost time or something. In about a month, we squeezed in...
tractors and animals at the Ozaukee County Fair, 
flavored milk, fried food "on-a-stick", rides, games, and Cream Puffs at the Wisconsin State Fair,
enjoying some "late night" tunes with Gammy and Grandpa at Summer Sounds in Cedarburg,
petting the stingrays and Zoo A La Carte at the Milwaukee County Zoo,
dancing and eating with Gammy and Grandpa at Irish Fest, 
swimming and picnicking at Fox Brook Park,
playing and being tourists with Gramma and G-Pa in the Dells, and 
eating our way through the Taste of Madison and enjoying campus and the Terrace with Gramma and G-Pa in Madison...

...PHEW!

(now is it time to sit back, relax, and enjoy a pumpkin blizzard and a football game?)

Emmett's Baptism

Emmett is now 7.5 months, but I realized that I never included his 6-month check-up stats.  Actually, pediatrician visit blog entries are suppose to be Jason's territory, so I blame him.  ;-p
At Emmett's 6-month well-baby appointment on June 23, Emmett was 27.25 inches (57th percentile) and 16 lbs, 15.5 oz (30th percentile).  Dr. Esser was happy with his growth and development.  Next appt is in October at 9 months.

On July 28th, our sweet little Emmett Greyson was baptized into Christ and the Catholic Church.  It was a very special day, made all the more special by the fact that so many of our family members were able to be there, including both sets of his grandparents, Aunt Mary (my own godmother), and Aunt Robin and cousins Desmond and Maggie.  Emmett is very blessed to have our wonderful friends, Erin and Erich Kaiser, as his godparents.  The baptism was held at St. Boniface, the parish we belong to here in Germantown.  The ceremony was brief but quite nice.  There was one other baby being baptized, a little girl named Emmaline, and strangely enough, her parents told us if she had been a boy, her name would have been Emmett!  It seemed like fate that they were baptized together.  Emmett looked adorable in his little knit romper and was such a good baby, as usual.  I felt very grateful that the deacon didn't ask "Where is the baby?" when we brought our very nearly-7-months-old baby up to the front of the church.  ;-p (That is sort of a Rymer family joke. When Adam was baptized at 9 months old, the priest asked my parents "Where's the baby?" when they presented him with Adam.  Babies are typically baptized "as soon as possible" in the Catholic church-- most often within the first 3-4 months)  At any rate, Emmett was his usual laid-back self and accepted the dumping of holy water over his head by a bearded stranger with not even a fuss.  Miri was also a good girl in church and even participated in the deacon's homily by sitting up at the front of the church with him and nodding enthusiastically when he asked if she remembered her own baptism.  I also encourage you to notice in the video I've linked below that you can hear Miri say "What's Emmett doing?" as he's being baptized; she's such a sweet, concerned big sister!  Here are some pictures and video from the day.

As I already mentioned, we were lucky enough to have family in town for his baptism, and we certainly enjoyed our time with them!  It is always especially fun to see our nephew and niece and to get to see the cousins interacting and playing with each other.  Miri really enjoyed playing with Des and Maggie, and Emmett loved the extra attention he got, especially from Maggie who was so interested in the "baby," as she calls him.  And, of course, it was great to see Gramma, G-pa, and Robin as well!  :)  That Saturday, we  took the kids to the All Children's Playground in Cedarburg and were joined by my parents and Aunt Mary as well.  All Children's is an awesome park, and the kiddos had a great time running, jumping, swinging, sliding, and so on (despite the autumal weather!).  We also had lots of extended-family time at home, just playing and hanging out.  It was a really fun, albeit fast, weekend.

Joyful July

July has been a lot of fun so far!  We started out the month by celebrating the 4th of July in Cedarburg with Gammy, Grandpa, and Aunt Mary. After the warm-up in Jackson last month, Miri was ready for all the dancing, cheering, and candy-collecting of the Independence Day parade!  

The week after the 4th of July, Jason and I took Miri to Kids' Night at the Zoo.  Miri thought it was super cool to be outside, at the zoo, after dark.  She also loved her frozen yogurt push-up pop, as you can see from these photos.

This past weekend, we journeyed to Minnesota for a visit with Adam, Rochelle, Kaden, and Charlotte (and LJ).  Our drive up was very unpleasant, to put things mildly.  Little Mr. Emmett, usually our happy little man, was not a big fan of being confined to a carseat for such a long time.  Poor little guy just SCREAMED whenever he was awake... which was most of the drive.  But we eventually made it there, and the weekend proved worth the drive.  In 2 short days, we took in a petting zoo, a 10-cent kiddie carnival, swimming in the Rymers' beautiful pool, a parade, and plenty of play time at "home."  Best of all, we got to spend time together.  It is especially fun to see the kids interacting and really starting to develop relationships.  Miri especially looks up to Kaden so much and thinks she is just the coolest thing since sliced bread.  Kaden is a wonderful big cousin and really looks out for her; it's so very sweet to see.  Emmett and Charlotte are quite interested in each other, and they will really watch what the other is doing.  It will be so neat to see them growing up together.  We had a really awesome time!  (And we made the excellent decision to drive home at nighttime, around Emmett's bedtime... the sound of silence has never been so sweet!)

  And just a few recent cute pics of the kids hanging out at home.  :)

Next up on tap:  Emmett's baptism and visits from Gramma, G-pa, Aunt Robin, Desmond, Maggie, and Aunt Mary this weekend!