Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was certainly a little different this year than last year (and not just the weather!) Last year we had 3 separate Thanksgiving celebrations (one with the Tripler crew, one with the University of Hawaii crew, and one with our Hawaii Cousins Tim, Beth and Melody). This year we celebrated just as a little family of four. It was actually kind of fun to sit around the table with just our own little family, but it did make me miss the friends we left in Hawaii, and our families in Ohio.
We were lucky enough to get to Skype in the morning with Mammaw, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt D, Aunt Coral and Uncle Ed, Alex, Lyndsey and Brent. The girls really enjoyed getting to see everyone on the computer screen, and it made us feel a little closer to home.
Today we of course had to head out into the Black Friday craziness (you know me, i can't miss a good deal!) This year we opted out of getting in line with the truly dedicated bargain shoppers on the night before the big day, and decided to sleep in as long as the girls would let us (which happened to be 6:30 a.m.), and then just head out to see what was left of the bargains. We were super lucky to score a couple of the things we were looking for kind of by luck. I have been wanting a KitchenAid mixer for about 5 years, and was hoping this would be the year i could find a good deal. We ended up at Walmart around 8:30 a.m., and of course all of the Kitchen Aid's were long gone....until Cris spotted an employee restocking the shelves, and what should be in her cart but the Kitchen Aid! He swooped it up and now i can't wait for Christmas to roll around so i can try it out! A lucked into a similar re-stocking incident with Hungry Hungry Hippos (which we thought was also sold out), but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the Kitchen Aid.

The girls were little shopping Angels, and didn't mind us hauling them around from store to store to try to find a bargain at all. The were super cheery and giggly all day long, and we really had a great time. Of course we ended the day at the local mall, which has a fantastic kids play area - a.k.a. a Swine Flu Germ Pool. The girls LOVE the play area, and always get excited when we get to the mall and scream "Shopping-Play" all the way in. Juneau is obsessed with the Little Einsteins TV show right now, and everytime she went down the slide she would raise her arms up in the air and shout "Blastoff". So cute.

I tried to dress the girls Festively for the Holiday Shopping Extravaganza, and they looked so cute!

Endless hours of fun with a Laundry Basket

Love that Smile!

Cute Little Bug

love the footies

nothing in the world cuter than 2 baby girls in footie pajamas!

feeling so very much better!
This is pretty much how daddy dresses his "girls" these days. As you can see, Juneau is wearing the "i love dirt" shirt, and Nova is wearing the "junior ace" airplane shirt. Fortunately Juneau's hair is long enough that she doesn't get called "little boy" anymore. Nova's still sporting the serious mullet, and gets called a boy pretty much every day (especially when daddy is in charge of the wardrobe). I'm thinking of instead of trying to get rid of the Mullett, maybe i will just really shape it up into a full-on mullet any white-trash-trailerpark-middle-aged-man would be proud of.

My Favorite Ohio State-Michigan Game

Today we celebrated another Buckeye win over that hated team from up north. The fact that this was the 6th straight win for the Buckeyes and that several times during the game, when the commentators said "Michigan" loudly enough to grab her attention, I got to hear Nova, who was playing quietly in the middle of the floor stop momentarily and say "Michigan...YUCK!" could have made this my favorite installment of the greatest rivalry in sports...But it didn't.

My second fall in Columbus (1992), my brother-in-law to be, Ed and I were in the Horseshoe when the Buckeyes intercepted the ball on the final play of a 13-13 game and looked momentarily like they were going to run it all the way back for a touchdown but didn't and ended the game in a tie (this was before OT in college football). The fact that this was the first OSU-Michigan game I ever attended could make this my favorite...But it's not.

In 1995, I stood on the sideline in Ann Arbor as a student athletic trainer, as our highly ranked and undefeated team, led by Heisman winner Eddie George needed only to win to clinch a Rose Bowl berth. Even though I walked away from the game with one of Michigan's game balls (which I still have) when one of our defensive back carried it off the field after an interception, the fact that we lost 31-23 makes this clearly NOT my favorite.

In 2005, our first year in Hawaii, the Buckeyes came from 9 points down with 7:00 minutes left with the winning touchdown with 24 seconds left to win and I jumped around the living room so wildly that I woke up Emilie who was sound asleep on the couch after being on call the night before.

The following year, the #1 ranked Buckeyes beat the #2 ranked Wolverines in a shootout 42-39 to advance to the national championship game.

Last year the Buckeyes decimated the Loserines 42-7.

All great games but none of these are my favorite...

In 1994, the Buckeyes were stuck in the midst of a 0-5-1 streak against Michigan. But that year, the game was in Columbus and hopes were high that we'd get back in the win column. That year, my sister Coral had a brilliant idea...as an early Christmas present, she would give up her ticket, we'd buy the ticket off our other roommate and I would take my grandpa and dad to the game.
Though both were die-hard and lifelong Buckeye fans, neither had ever actually been to an Ohio State-Michigan game so we knew they would love it!

When game-day arrived it was a typical freezing November afternoon in Columbus. That day as I climbed up to the upper deck of the 'Shoe with my grandpa and dad, I could feel all the eyes zeroing in on us...it was probably because our seats with right in the middle of a student section and I was parading up the steps with a 70 year old farmer completely decked out in his overalls and Dekalb hat. I actually looked out of place in our party as my dad was attired similarly to grandpa.

My grandpa had spent spent pretty much everyday of his adult life when he wasn't going to church or in the army wearing a pair of overalls so why would a cold day at a football game be any different?

Wearing the overalls even at a young age...


The farmers' standard issue uniform

Overalls even in formal family photos...

That day was destined to be great as the Buckeyes came out strong and began making plays. Each time the crowd rose to respond to a big play, there was my grandpa and dad cheering just as loudly as anyone. It became clear to everyone else in our section that these two "old dudes" were as big of Buckeye fans as anyone and it wasn't long before the drunk fraternity guys were back-slapping and high-fiveing my grandpa and dad after every big play as Ohio State built a commanding lead.

As the final seconds ticked down on the Buckeyes 22-6 win and brought an end to the losing streak against Michigan, the fans stormed the field. We stood in the upper deck and laughed as the cops did their best to keep the horde of fans from tearing down the goal posts (and were successful I might add).

After the initial ruckus died down, the three of us ventured down out of the stands and walked out onto the field at Ohio Stadium...it was clear my grandpa and dad were loving every minute of the experience.

I'm sure the next day as they took their normal Sunday afternoon nap that their dreams were a little sweeter as they reflected on the day.

Every year, when I'm watching the Big Game, I think about that day. It was especially on my mind today as this was the first Ohio State-Michigan game since my grandpa passed away last January.

In his 84 years on this earth, that game was the only time he got to see his beloved Buckeyes play Michigan in person. But I'm sure that today he was looking down from high above the stadium in Ann Arbor and I'd like to think he was fondly remembering the last time he'd seen an OSU-Michigan game in person...

...And when the final seconds ticked down on the Buckeyes 21-10 win, I know grandpa was smiling.

go bucks!!

brief update

the day after Nova was diagnosed with pneumonia, Juneau started spiking temps again, so back to the hospital we went. she has been coughing so hard she pukes, so i thought surely she had pneumonia too. fortunately her x-ray was crystal clear. Unfortunately there was pus pouring out of her left ear, which means her cold turned into a nasty ear infection and she perforated her eardrum. these poor kiddos! and poor cris, too. They have not been sleeping AT ALL with their various ailments, and cris has been up 5-10 x/night with them. today they are both in beautiful moods, and there is defintaley less snot flowing, so i think we may finally be beating whatever nasty bug this is (with the help of a little amoxicillin).
This is pretty much how Nova spent the beginning of the week. She was so pitiful, and just laid around with her blankie and her milk.

Tomorrow is the big Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Keeping with The Buckeye Tradition we whipped up a batch of buckeyes last night. The girls of course had a great time.

They have been practicing their Fight Song and Alma Mater, and have been trying out a few anti-Michigan chants, so i think they are ready for the big game.

Juneau wtih an Enthusiastic "go BUCKEYES!"

In other news, I passed my PT test! Yeah! my lungs weren't too happy about having to breath heavily in 33 degree weather, but i thankfully made it with time to spare.

The Little One's got the pneumonia

poor baby nova.
Last night we started getting worried that Nova was getting worse instead of better. before bed her temp was 103.7, it came down with some meds, but this morning was back up again. It was the 7th day of a high temp, so we decided we better take her in to be seen.

I have a fear of being the annoying Dr. Mom, and didn't want to taker her in just to be told it was a cold and to give her tylenol, but we were actually getting really worried, as she was starting to act kind of lethargic and floppy, and still had a really nasty cough.

First stop was the E.R., who sent us up to Pediatrics. There Nova endured getting a catheter urine sample, having her blood drawn, and then down to radiology for a chest x-ray. Many hours later we got the results back, and sitting there in the base of the left lung was a nasty little pneumonia. So back to pediatrics for a shot of antibiotics.

Nova was such a little trooper. I forgot to mention in my last post that while in Disney World Nova discovered her Inner Princess. It's so weird because we never talk about princesses. She's never seen any princess movies, and we don't have any princess paraphanelia. The whole thing happened at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (a money sucker where little girls get transformed into princesses). Our girls did not get princess makeovers, but they did get "Bibbidi Bobbidi'd" by the receptionist, who sprinkled fairy dust (massive amounts of glitter) all over them. Nova just stood there completely enthralled by the whole thing. She then went around saying "bibbidi bobbidi" all day. She then found a princess nightgown of cousin Hope's, and wore it around all day (and even home that evening on the airplane) while patting her chest proudly and saying "princess". All of that big story to say that while she was getting tortured in the Peds dept she distracted herself by talking about princesses and bibbidi bobbidi.

so, we are all home, recovering from the tortuous ordeal.

I have my PT test tomorrow. I really really need to pass it. seriously.

in the words of juneau.....whewwwww doggie

We are home from our crazy week, and we are exhausted! You may be wondering what possessed me to haul 2 toddlers across the country by myself to disney world! excellent question. The answer is: "as Grandma Kavanagh always says, whatever's free take lots of it". I'm not actually related to Grandma Kavanagh (She is the grandma of a friend from med school) but i like her advice, so i have lived by it for the last 8 years! :) Disney offered FREE 5 day park hoppers to all Active Duty service members, and kids under 3 are free, so that made our entire Disney trip free! I found cheap plane tickets, and we timeshared a condo, so it turned out to be a pretty cheap vacation.

Although we really really missed Cris, it was actually good that we decided not to tag along on his Hawaii trip. He filled every second of every day catching up on stuff at the University, and helping out with some of his student's projects. it was nice for him to not have to worry about fitting in family stuff along with all the work stuff. I will say, however, his love of Hawaii has been renewed, and he is anxious to return to our little island one day!

It was easy to convince my sister and her kids to drive to orlando from tallahassee to hang out with us at disney for the week! I also convinced my awesome mom (have i mentioned she is awesome?) to come and help out with the girls since i was playing single mommy for the week. The party got even more awesome when Aunt Nutkin decided to fly in for a couple of days to join in the fun!

Here is Juneau playing in the fountains at epcot. Don't tell cris i let them run around in their diapers in a crowded public ameusement park! They had a blast playing in the water while the big kids rode the big rides.

Nova checking out Outer Space.

Juneau taking a little candy break

What? Do you think seven years old is too old to ride in an umbrella stroller?

Seriously though, poor Hope arrived at Disney with some sort of yucky illness. I would say it was the Swine, but the Alford's already had that back in June (they jumped on the bandwagon early). Anyway, the first couple of days were rough on her, so she hopped in the stroller for a quick rest while we ran around the park.

Unfortunately, i think it would be virtually impossible to keep the illness confined to just Hopie when her cousins were super excited to play and kiss all over their cousin, so Junebug got sick 2 days later, followed by Nova the next day. Yucky yucky cough and high fevers put just a bit of a damper on an otherwise awesome trip!

We loved Animal Kindom! Here we are checking out the Safari!

Nova LOVED the animals!

June-bug and Cousin Hope!

The clan at Hollywood Studios with the Monsters

Nova found a little waterfall in the playground and spent quite some time getting herself completely drenched

The girls both discovered a new favorite food - POPCORN! they couldn't get enough of it. This is Nova and Aunt Becky just before the parade.

Juneau totally LOVED spending time with the family this trip! She had been a little slow to warm up to everybody the last time we were all together. She became Aunt Becky's new BFF. It was actually really awesome because it was fairly stressful at times to deal with 2 sick babies, and Juneau was more than happy to be held by Aunt Becky the whole week. Every time i turned around Juneau was saying "Aunt Becky Hold Me?" I'm surprised she remembered how to walk since i don't think her feet touched the ground the entire trip. The last day of vacation Juneau was wiped out, and fell asleep riding around in the Ergo on Aunt Becky's back.

Did you know Nova is a "blankie baby". She is seriously one of the biggest blankie babies i have ever seen. She loves loves loves a cuddle blanket, and even in 80 degree heat was attached to this blanket the whole trip. Even in her middle of the night febrile delirium she would wake up and say "momma? milk? blankie?" about 500 times. if i wasn't so exhausted it would have been kinda cute.

The trip home was a dream come true. the girls slept the ENTIRE 3 hour flight from orlando to denver. I'm not sure how i managed to get the 2 of them and all of our stuff through security, but somehow it worked. Juneau did find and eat a piece of styrofoam off the airport floor during the security ordeal, but i consider that a small detail in the grand scheme of things.

so, now we are all home, and recovering from our big trip. I am hoping to avoid whatever nasty illness the girls had - although i'm not sure how that can happen as there has been literally mountains of snot all over them and everything they touch (and i'm not sure if i'm being a hypochondriac or if i am actually starting to get a sore throat). I have to say that in spite of the trip having it's difficult times, it was overall really awesome. I'm so glad the girls got to spend some time with their Florida family, Grammy, and Aunt Nutkin.

Our next big trip will be in about 5 weeks as we head off to Ohio for christmas.

gone for the week

tomorrow cris will be heading west to hawaii, and the girls and i will be headed east to Orlando. We will be away from blog-land for the week, and there probably won't be any postin going on for a while.
i am really really looking forward to spending some time with the girls. i have been working ALOT the last 2 or 3 weeks, and i am excited about a fully uninterrupted week of Juneau/Nova time.
Cris, on the other hand, is fairly devasated about being away from his little 24/7 buddies. The three of the have been literally inseperable for the last 4 months. they have spent every waking moment (and many sleeping moments as well) together. it will probably be nice for him to have a little freedom....and it will certainly be nice for him to be back in an academic setting for the week, and back among friends, but i know it will also be rough.
anyway, don't miss us too much for the week! I'm sure we will have plenty to post about when we get back to Colorado!

Lots of Shots

Today was Nova's 18-month and Juneau's 24-month check-up which meant shots all around. You may remember that Nova chose to pass out last time to get out of taking all of her shots causing a code to be called in the peds clinic so she had a little catching up to do. Add to it that they both needed to get the dreaded H1N1 and we're talking a lot of shots.

We warned the nurse about Nova and told her she'd be fine adn we'd handle it if she tried to pass out. Luckily she was a seasoned pro and said "I've seen it all honey, just do what you need to do and I'll keep sticking her as fast as I can until I'm done." So, Nova was well on her way to pass out after the first one...I told her to pause long enough to pick Nova up off her back (she'll usually take a breath if she's being 'held')...she took a breath so I laid her back down and she finished up quick. We survived.

Juneau went next and actually had a harder time than Nova I think. Emilie held her down and unfortunately, Juneau is JUST old enough to know what shots are and remember they hurt so she had a full-on anticipation fit before the shots even made contact. She's super tough though so as soon as she was done, all it took was the promise of a sticker and some smarties and she instantly was happy.

I'll close with this video of our Buckeye girl getting in the zone for this weekend's big game...