OH - IO

sorry for the lack of posting. we are in ohio for my dad's surgery--except it was cancelled, 12 hours before the surgery. More on that later, but i will say that in spite of the dissapoinment in the surgeon for his management of my dad's care, we are so incredibly thrilled to have gotten to spend the week with my dad and with our families. It has been a jam packed week with a few days in columbus, a trip to COSI, 2 days of SHOPPING!, the girls getting dedicated at my home church, watching Aunt Coral make turning 40 look good by finishing a half-iron man triathlon, a Carousel Birthday party.

Nova unfortunately suffered an ear infection that resulted in perforating her little ear drum, but she has been a trooper in spite of it.

i have TONS and TONS of pictures that i will post once we get home in a couple of days.

Two Years Old!

Juneau's second birthday has finally arrived! It seems like I have been thinking of her as a 2 year old for the last couple of months. I'm not sure if it is because of her new found ability to throw a tantrum at the drop of a hat (fortunately her tantrums are mild and short lived), or if it is because she has been developing so quickly over the last couple of months.

Our very first glimpse of a tiny newborn June-bug

One Year Old Photos

Two Year Old Photos!

Before Juneau came home "two" seemed so grown up. We were waiting and waiting and waiting for our tiny little baby, and i couldn't ever imagine this baby being a two year old. Well, two crept up on us very quickly.
It seems like Juneau is changing daily! Every day she talks in more elaborate sentances. Today she was decorating her chocolate cupcakes with pink icing. There was definately more tasting than decorating going on. When i told her to work on the decorating she said "I'll take just one more tiny taste". I didn't even know she could make sentences like that! She is starting to take her "Big Sister" role very seriously these days. We were singing Wheels on the Bus in the Car today, and she was enthusiastically doing the motions. Nova was just kind of singing along, and Juneau looked at her and said "Sissy, do the motions!"

I have been slacking a bit on our updates for the girls as they are growing. Since this is the only "Baby Book" i have of any kind for them i am going to try to do a little better with that. So, this is all about Juneau at Two Years Old!

Social:
Juneau is a social butterfly. Whenever we are out and about she greets everyone she sees with an enthusiastic "Hello!" and a smile. She will often say "Goodbye, have a nice day" to the cashier's at the check out. She has recently started giving unsolicited hugs and kisses, and it is the sweetest thing ever, ever, ever. She has been insistent about doing things "By Self" for the last several months. She is an avid Pretender, and likes to pretend eat, pretend drink, pretend suck a pacifier. She can be a little rough with her sister sometimes, and will pretty much take what she wants. She is, however, quick to say sorry and give her a hug.

Physical:
Juneau hasn't yet had her 2 year check up, but she has been in the 60% for height and 50% for weight pretty consistently. She wears 18 month - 2 T clothes very well. She has a full set of teeth. She has become much less of an eater in the last few months. She will still consume massive amounts of fruits and berries, but otherwise has really stopped eating like she used to. She is a great runner and jumper. She loves to sit on the potty, but isn't very consistent about actually doing anything on the potty. She does use it most mornings when she wakes up and after most naps.

Intellectual:
One of Juneau's best qualities is her unbelievable memory! She can remember the tiniest little details. She knows all the words to tons of songs, and LOVES to sing. She is going to be that kid in her class that doesn't exactly know how to "blend" with everyone else. She sings at the top of her lungs and it is hilarious. She gives special emphasis to the last note of every song, and often raises her hands up above her head and give that last note a huge vibrato ending. we try not to laugh. She knows all her body parts including her phalanges, patella, clavicle, and omohyoid (she can blame daddy for turning her into an anatomy nerd). She has known her colors, can sing her ABC's at regular speed and in double time, and counts to 10 .

Things Juneau Loves:
1. Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Bluberries (is there a trend here?)
2. Ice Cream
3. Laurie Berkner Songs (her favorites are I Know a Chicken, We are the Dinosaurs, and The Cat Came Back)
4. Tackling Daddy
5. Singing Ohio State Songs while marching around the Kitchen
6. Doing anything by herself
7. Coloring and Stickers
8. Swinging really high
9. Bathtime
10. Books! Her favorites are "Where the Wild Things Are", "I love you through and through", "Bear Snores On", "Cat in the Hat", "Cat in the Hat Comes Back", "Green Eggs and Ham", "The Very Hungry Catepillar"

Juneau, you are a beautiful and brave little girl. You are smart and funny, and you keep us on our toes. We love every single little thing about you, and our lives are forever better because of you. I hope one day you can look back and read about how much we adored every second of watching you grow up.

non-picture post

a post without pictures? I haven't done that in AGES, but i'm stranded here at work, and it is 1 a.m. and i have no access to pictures. i haven't really taken too many recently anway, because i have been back to working like a resident this week! I have been stuck at work until after 6 p.m. all week for various, frustrating reasons, and this weekend i work the night shift Fri, Sat, Sun, so it's back to the good ol' days.

Recent Little Girl news is that pacifiers are now a thing of the past. it has not gone well. the first night we tried it was super smooth, and we thought it was going to be easy, but i think they were just really tired. they also didn't realize that they were saying goodbye to the "pacies" forever. there has been a lot of crying going on. But with Juneau's second birthday around the corner (Literally!) we decided the time had finally arrived. They only ever use their pacifiers at bed/nap time, and it is rather pitiful without them.

Juneau turns the big TWO on Monday! that is the day we are flying to Ohio, so we probably will not do a lot that day, but we have a little birthday party planned for her in Ohio (more details to come!)

i guess that's about all for my mini-photoless-update. we are so very very looking forward to seeing all of our family this week! It seems like AGES since we were back in Ohio, and it is going to be so great to get to see everyone. We are also looking forward to completing our travel in the matter of a few hours instead of a whole day on the airplane with 2 toddlers.

oh, the other annoying thing that happened this week at work is that due to hospital rennovations there is no longer a "call room", which means that if there is nothing exciting going on (like now) my only option for sleeping is on the floor in my office. I have a handy "nap mat", but it's just kind of crazy that there isn't a place in the hospital to stash a bed. oh well, i am off to catch some zzz's on the office floor :) I'm not so sure life outside of residency is all it was cracked up to be!

Inked

I had a 3 day weekend, which was awesome (especially since it was preceded by a 4 day weekend, which means it was only a 3 day workweek -- got that?).

Friday morning we headed up to the Air Force Academy for Cris to work in the lab (we are still waiting for word on the Research Grant for an official position at the Academy). Afterwards we continued heading north to Denver to watch Cirque Du Soleil "Kooza". This was my 3rd Cirque (we saw Saltambico in Hawaii, and Ka in Vegas), but the first one in an actual Big Top, so that was really cool. I was a little nervous about how the rest of the show would go after Juneau completely freaked out in the first 30 seconds when there was a kind of scary part and a loud "boom". After the initial freak-out, both girls were mesmerized by the show. They both sat spell-bound for the first 1.5 hours before the intermission. After the intermission they were a little fidgety, but overall still loved the entire thing. Cris and the girls in the parking lot in front of The Big Top

our view on the drive home - I think i could get used to these Colorado Sunsets


After Cirque - both girls were wiped out!

How Daddy entertains the girls while Mom is at work

Who knew a Cheerios box could be so fun?

I LOVE these sweaters! Aunt Coral passed down a treasure box of Ohio State gear from Alex, Lyndsey, and Brent's toddler days. It was VERY chilly all day, and so the girls got to wear these super awesome sweaters.

I'm not quite sure why, but Juneau insisted that they both lie down on the stairs for this picture...she's kinda weird like that sometimes :)

Nova has somewhat mastered the task of eating her "Rainbow" by herself. I usually find a marshmallow or 2 stuck in her thigh folds later in the day.

The big news of the week is i got my first tattoo! I've wanted a tattoo since i was about 14 years old. At the time i was obsessed with M.C. Escher, and almost got a tattoo of one of his drawings, but never did. A couple of months ago I had an idea for a tattoo that i really loved, and i finally went for it on Thursday. It is still really new (these pictures were taken about 12 hours afterwards) and still really red and puffy, but i think once it heals it will look really cool. It is all white ink, so it will be pretty subtle, and i got it on my right side, kind of across my ribs.

The Template: Hawaii (Nova's birthplace) and Vietnam (Juneau's birthplace).

The actual tattoo - looking very raw and puffy and a little scary - but i think will be cool once it heals. The Close up And, that is our weekend so far. No big plans for tomorrow. Then 1 more week of work before we fly back to Ohio for my Dad's big surgery. We are excited to see the fam, but anxious about the surgery.

College Football Season Is Here...Finally!!

What a great loooong weekend for the Stickley clan. Thanks to the Army habit of taking the Friday off prior to a Monday holiday, Emilie had 4 straight days off which meant a weekend full of activities...the exhaustion demonstrated by Juneau and Nova tonight as we put them in bed was evidence of how much we managed to squeeze in.

The weekend started on Thursday night for me as the college football season FINALLY arrived...Next to Bowl Week (which Emilie is always quick to point out is actually longer than a week), this is my most anticipated sports weekend of the year. So, Emilie actually wasn't exaggerating in her last blog on Thursday when she said I was sitting in the recliner soaking in every last down.

Since we now live in a place where garage sale season comes to an end as the weather gets cooler, we spent most of Friday morning snooping out the last few garage sales, hoping it will be enough to get Emilie through until the Spring...probably not...At least the thrift stores are open year round.

The most important part of the weekend finally came at 10:00am MST on Saturday when the Buckeyes kicked off another football season.


Waiting for Kickoff...Go Buckeyes!!
The girls love to take their Ohio State flag and march around the kitchen pumping their fist in the air while I sing the fight song. (Nova is very good at chiming in with "Go Buckeyes!" at the appropriate spot in the song.) So, they definitely were excited when they heard "Fight the team across the field, show them Ohio's here!" coming from the television.

"That game was WAAAY closer than it should have been - I'm exhausted"

After a nap to recover from a nail-biting Ohio State victory, it was off to the Colorado Springs Hot Air Balloon Festival which meant some more mileage for the Radio Flyer

Feel free to come up with an appropriate caption for this picture:

Nova definitely has her dad's sweet tooth - especially for ice cream. Here she is attempting to eat her body weight in Dippin' Dots.

Hey Nova...What do you think of those Dippin' Dots?

Saturday night glow at the Hot Air Balloon Festival

The girls loved it!!

Heading to the car, Nova is WIPED OUT!!

That looks comfortable Nova, let me try that.

The highlights for Labor Day started with the parade in "Downtown" Fountain, CO. This was the girls first parade; they found their spot sitting on the curb and were ready to go...

The Army band kicked off the procession.

The girls loved how everyone kept waving at THEM!!

Juneau and Nova loved watching these little Shriner's car buzzing around the street. I'm told that back in the day, my Uncle Tim used to buzz around the parade circuit in these little things.

Since this is the former "Wild West", the parade had to include a group of ole' time gunfighters shooting pistols and rifles at each other as they came down the street. You can see what Juneau thought of the ruckus:

The parade ran well into naptime. We got the girls to lay down in the wagon but couldn't convince them to go to sleep...people kept throwing candy at them...

One of the highlights of the weekend came after the parade when we went to the festival. I had been severely disappointed when the Colorado State Fair didn't include a tractor pull on the schedule but the Fountain Fall Festival came through. And this was the best kind of tractor pull...all local guys with their old time tractors, many of which likely came straight out of the field to participate.

This sweet Farmall C kicked off the action. Our rooting efforts were best summarized by this puller's shirt: "If it ain't red, keep it in the shed!"

It was VERY hot but Nova was loving having water poured over her head

"Go Farmall!!!"

Go Buckeyes!! - The "scarlet and grey" Silver King

"Boooo Green!!!"

Our FAVORITE puller of the day - 16 year old Haley driving the 1953 Farmall H

16 Month Old Nova in the foreground...Is that Nova in 15 years from now in the background on her Great-grandpa's Farmall H?

growing up

i've been so busy posting about all the activities we've been doing that i haven't posted much in the way of updates about the girls. 2 things happened this month that made me a little sad to realize our babies are growing up. First of all, Nova hasn't had a bottle in about 3 weeks. i've got a little tear in my eye about that one. Nova LOVES her bottles. She is so cute when she is getting tired and asks for "bott bott" in this pitiful little voice. She was down to just a bedtime bottle, and we had a few busy days where she fell asleep without a bottle, and before we knew it she was bottle free. This month the girls also moved up a diaper size. They are both in 18 month clothes now. Now we are the ones gazing at the little newborns we see out and about with that "remember when" look.

Nova is 16 months. She has had a rough week as she got FOUR molars in all at once. well, not really all at once, they came in several days apart in order to stretch out the terror that was Teething Nova. In between her episodes of toothache, she has been cracking herself (and us) up lately. She will just sit in her carseat laughing hysterically over nothing. She is talking a little, and communicates the basics with us. She loves to pretend like she is going potty. Her favorite foods are "Rainbow" (lucky charms), mac and cheese, rice, and hot dogs (disgusting, i know). She has become a funny little dancer, and loves to dance to the "I Know a Chicken" video by Laurie Berkner. She is sweet as always, and one of our very favorite things is how she loves to cuddle when she wakes up in the morning or after nap. she will just snuggle up on our shoulder and lie there contentedly for 30 minutes.

Juneau, Jbug, J-blog, BugJuice, Bug, Buggie is 23 months! She is outrageously hilarious. She talks nonstop. She speaks in full sentences now, and knows the lyrics to about 10 songs all the way through, from Baa Baa Black Sheep to Chris Daughtry songs. She has a super awesome memory. Basically everything that she talks about she includes Nova in. For example, if she wants to eat breakfast she will say. "Eat? Juneau Rainbow, Sissy Rainbow". She can sing her entire ABC's, and loves to count. She can say Nova's name, but more commonly refers to her as "Sissy Beeba". She is such an easy easy kid, and entertains herself with playing, singing, dancing, and reading books.

And Now, some photos

S-P-O-I-L-E-D

Grandpa and Grandma Stickley caught word that we were looking around for a wagon, and before we knew it Juneau and Nova were proud owners of their very own Cadillac Wagon, complete with built-in backpack and sun shade. The girls LOVE their wagon. We tried it out at the zoo over the weekend and it was a huge hit. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for an awesome gift! I'm sure it will get TONS of use!

Nova livin' it up in the wagon. A great place to sit and relax when the zoo wears you out.

Juneau and the Gorilla

Checkin' out the Koi

Juneau and Grandma made this awesome craft last week - adorable little stepping stones made from scratch! Grandma very patiently helped Juneau paint the stones, and they came out awesome!

Is this dangerous?

Not only do J and Nova love their swingset, Sherpa has found her perfect home. Every morning when we wake up we find Sherpa sitting under the platform. If you want to see 2 little faces light up all you have to do is say "swingset" and the girls go crazy. Juneau will sing for 30-45 minutes at a time, and Nova has gone down the slide about 500 times. They LOVE this swingset!

Blast from the Past - Cris found this Big Loader at a garage sale a few weeks ago. He had one when he was 5 or 6 years old, and remembers many hours of fun with it. The girls have been equally enthralled with the Big Loader. They love to help cris set it up, and then watch it run it's course over and over (and over and over and over and over) again

Last weekend we made a trip to the Colorado State Fair. It was a much bigger success than when I convinced Cris to go to the El Paso County Fair (which was basically the equivalent of an elementary school carnival). Cris and I are both from "Fair Country" and we are used to quite a production. The Colorado State Fair ended up being pretty good. There were plenty of Kid Friendly activities, and we all had a good time. Here Cris and the girls are checking out some brand new baby chicks.

ok, I know Grandpa Stickley already thinks i'm just a tiny bit crazy after I asked if he would mind building a Landing Strip in his soybean field (for the record, he was actually rather receptive to the idea, and has even previously had a landing strip in the field). Here is my next idea: Juneau and Nova entertained themselves FOREVER in this corn "Sand"box. Cris estimated it would be about 10 bushels of corn. Any chance of hauling 10 bushels of corn across the U.S. for a sandbox? :)

Jbug and the baby pigs

This tractor got Cris all excited about restoring his Grandpa's first tractor (which is still currently in service on his dad's field)

We are loving Colorado, and have been having tons of fun exploring these last few months, but we sure miss Hawaii. We are already contemplating how to bargain with the Army to send us back in a couple of years. We have especially been missing the good Sticky Rice that is so easy to get in Hawaii. I had tried and failed a couple of times with making good sticky rice, but tonight i hit it right on, and cris and the girls were in Sticky Rice heaven. Speaking of heaven, Cris is reclined in the brand new La-Z Boy welcoming with enthusiasm the first night college football.