Oops

Dislocated shoulders and elbows are just a part of growing up and having too much fun, right? We had our first dislocation in our house yesterday and one would assume it was on Amelia. Nope. It happened at 12:05 and our pediatrician closes at noon on Saturday so poor Juliet made her second trip to the ER in as many weeks. It was a normal round of playtime on the floor with dad/mom and her big sister and her arm got grabbed in just the right way to partially pop her elbow out. Ouch. She was such a trooper and after a dose of Tylenol and getting her elbow popped back in she was back to her smiling ways almost immediately. After the stomach flu, ear infection (which took two rounds of antibiotics to clear up) and her dislocated elbow I sure hope she doesn't have to see any doctors for a while.

Here is Juliet in the Children's Memorial ER. She was happy to give the doctor and nurses lots of smiles especially when they commented on how cute she is :)

Time To Earn My Keep

*warning - lots of text, little pictures*

Well after 24 weeks of focusing on being a mom, I am returning to work tomorrow with mixed emotions. I enjoy my job and HOK has been a great firm for me. I like getting dressed in my work clothes and not having to clean the floor after lunch. I know that I am a better mom by working outside of the home. I like being mentally challenged and working through the constants flow of problems that are inevitable when designing and building large buildings. I like my co-workers and how they make me laugh. BUT I had a very hard time returning to work after Amelia was born. I told myself that with the next one I would try to negotiate a six month leave. I thought the extra time would make such an enormous difference. I could nurse my baby longer, pump less, hopefully be sleeping through the night before returning to work and take the extra time to adjust to life as a family of four.

I also have talked about going to a four day work week since Amelia was born. Nope, I never got the courage to request that of my firm although I know they would let me do it. I have had such internal struggles over what is "expected" of me in the office versus being honest to my bosses that I need extra personal time at this point in my career.

Then my mom got cancer. A great friend of mine, Amanda was such a rock to me during my mom's diagnosis and treatment. Her and her family have and continue to live with the unknowns of cancer on a daily basis. At one point Amanda told me, "Whit, you have to stay positive and believe it or not good things will come from this." Well the scare of my mom's diagnosis in March and wanting to hold onto my girls just that much stronger FINALLY gave me the courage to negotiate the extra time. What do you know, my boss was very supportive and we worked out an extended leave and a four day work week when I return. I worked 8-16 hours/week from home during my leave to allow HOK to not have to switch responsibility for my existing projects.

My leave and where we are with Juliet have neither panned out how I envisioned but I know that is the way life unfolds. With needing to put in time for HOK I didn't get in nearly as many walks, workouts, lunches with friends and naps as I had planned. I thought for sure at almost six months Juliet would be in an easy routine and sleeping through the night. She had other plans. Juliet has steadily regressed in her sleeping and is currently a hot mess. It can take an hour to get her to sleep and she wakes up anywhere from once to five times at night. Night sleeping was better this weekend so please keep your fingers crossed.

Onto the positives. We feel much better about our daycare arrangements this time around. Juliet will be joining Amelia at Rainforest and although they will be in different rooms they will get to see each other at the park, in the big play rooms and during special school events. "My Jenn" (as Amelia calls her) is now a teacher in Juliet's room. Yep, that makes an ENORMOUS difference in how we feel about Juliet being away from us. I'm totally freaked out about how Juliet's sleep habits or lack thereof will make her super high maintenance for her providers...

And finally, I have peace in my heart as I know from experience the wonderful relationship I have with Amelia has happened with me working outside the home. As a family of three we were in a groove that had us all smiling and happy. I know it won't come without struggles but I am confident that we will find the same happiness now that we are a family of four with two working parents.

I think Amelia will adjust okay to my return to work since she has still been going to Rainforest three days a week. With me having Fridays off now she will just be going one more day. As for Juliet time will tell how she adjusts but I know we will get through it and little ones are more resilient than we give then credit for. Mark will have to adjust to being the family chef again and my crankiness as I become more sleep deprived. As for me, tomorrow I will be trying SO hard to not cry (which I'm doing now) when I think about someone else getting to wake her up from her naps (that is if she actually takes naps).  Even though I've spent way more time helping Juliet learn how sleep the past month than I would ever wish on a parent I will think of my leave with nothing but a warm heart.

Sweet Baby J - Mama is going to miss you but we will be a-okay.

Minnesota Sickation

Well our week in Minnesota was one for the books due to the following who ALL were taken down by the flu: Amelia, Juliet, Mark, Uncle Loren, Nana Gayle, Cousin Chris, JuJu, Poppy and Cousin Dylan. Yes, that is NINE family members who were getting sick at various times of the trip. It is safe to say that the Mark Lang side of the family picked up the flu at our daycare and took it with us to Minnestoa. It was a 12 hour bug that hit hard and left the victims exhausted for a couple of days after. Those of us that didn't actually catch the flu were exhausted from being nurses and our bodies fighting off the flu. Chad and the Anderson family timed their trip perfectly as they showed up later in the week once the flu had mostly passed.

Juliet, being the youngest of all the victims had the hardest time recovering from the flu. After 24 hours of continually being sick and showing signs of dehydration we made a trip to the emergency room. Luckily she was on the cusp of coming back from the flu so they decided to not give her fluids but they did find an ear infection so we are working through a prescription of amoxicillin for that.

I think it says a lot about the Backlund family as even with all the ailing family members we still managed to smile, laugh and even dance (that Ellie has some killer booty moves) a lot together!!! Thank you to JuJu and Poppy for the awesome week at the lake and to the Minnesota crew for welcoming us. I sure hope we are allowed back and if so we promise to leave the flu in Chicago!

Poor Juliet was kept outside and without clothes on as the flu clean-up was much easier that way.

Amelia loved relaxing on the dock and the water was so high she could sit on the dock and splash water.

Lulu, Amelia, Brady and Ellie enjoying the hammock.

Amelia attended her first baseball game by cheering on the Alexandria Beatles. This is small town baseball at its finest. Dylan was the most excited for the game but came down with the flu that morning. He was a total trooper and made it through the game with lots of water and Sprite!

Juliet's first boat ride. She slept the entire time....

Um, apparently while becoming a mom to two I lost my common sense. What do you do when you on an inner tube behind a boat and the front of the tube starts to go in the water? Yes, you shift your weight back. Nope instead I allowed Lulu, Amelia and myself to do a nose dive into the lake. Amelia was SO excited to finally try the tube after watching all the big kiddos. Thank goodness for life jackets and the fact that we were going slowly as Amelia was pretty freaked out. Lule on the other hand thought it was hilarious. Sadly the weather didn't cooperate again as I really wanted her to try again just maybe with her dad.....

The kiddos who aren't old enough to roast their own mashmellows "calmly" waited for their s'mores. While they calmly waited they busied themselvs fighting over who got to sit in which chair. Too bad we don't live close to Lulu as in a few year she will be the best babysitter ever!

Amelia and JuJu enjoying the weather and great food at Gayle and Greg's restaurant.

Before joining us at the lake Jill (Mark's cousin) explained to Ellie that Amelia is her cousin and is also two so they will have lots of fun together. Ellie responded, "I don't want to share two." Bless their hearts as sharing just didn't come real easily to either of them. After a long day of "MINE" they made up while watching the sun set over Lake Le Homme Dieu

Potty Training According to Amelia

I really hope this posting does not jinx the great job Amelia has been doing using the big girl potty. Potty training has been a pretty funny process in our house and has left Mark and I laughing with tears a few times. As I print my postings into books for scrap books I thought Amelia would enjoy reading some potty training highlights when she is older :). She has been doing an awesome job and aside from a 24 hour stretch this past weekend has hardly had any accidents. Here are some highlights of potty training according to Amelia:

 
1. Amelia had been pretty uninterested in potty training and was content giving us a report on who from her classroom used the potty, pull-ups or diapers. One day I was talking to her teacher and she said, "Amelia is one of those stubborn little girls who is fully aware of what is going on and will decide when she is darn well ready to use the potty. Once she decides she is ready it will go quickly." Turns out her teacher was right on as Amelia got interested and there has been no looking back.
2. A loud "I'm pooping!" usually means "I need to go pee." (Amelia still hasn't quite mastered if she needs to go #1 or #2, but is getting better every day.)
3. One day we were out front playing with sidewalk chalk and Amelia walked over to the front stairs, faced the stairs and got into the "male stance" for going to potty. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "going potty out of my tail like daddy does."
4. Last weekend when my mom was in town Amelia refused to put on a pull-up to go out to dinner. I decided we just needed to go with it and let her go to a restaurant in big girl underwear. As always Amelia packed her bag before we left the house. In her horse purse she packed a single pair of underwear. When we got to the restaurant she pulled her underwear out, spread it out on the table and REFUSED to take it off. The waiter was not entertained.....
5. While Elise was in town we were playing in the sprinkler out front when I noticed Amelia had the look of needing to go potty. I asked her if she needed to go but she adamantly shook her head no. About that time Elise pointed out to me that there was #2 running down Amelia's leg and proclaimed, "Diarrhea in the grass."
6. A couple of hours after #5 Elise yelled, "There is diarrhea in her pants" and again she was correct. It kind of took Shannon, Mark, Katie and my pizza appetites away. Thank goodness for Mark who cleaned that one up while I drank wine and talked to the girls.
7. At the beach Saturday Amelia told us she needed to go pee. Previously Mark had taken Elise and Amelia and taught them to squat in the lake (sorry, Carson). For whatever reason (I was feeding Juliet, we had just gotten her cleaned off to go home, the beach was packed, etc.) Mark and I decided to tell her just to go next to our chairs (okay I get that maybe wasn't the best idea). As we had instructed her to do she took off her suit and squatted next to the chair. The only problem with the situation was that she didn't need to go pee she had to go #2. Yep, we had to clean the beach up......

For obvious reasons this post doesn't lend itself to lots of pictures. Shannon managed to capture the front yard clean-up.

Silly Girls

We had a great weekend with the Cates Ladies this past weekend. Mark was a good sport putting up with a home of five girls all weekend and will probably beg Carson and Evan to join Shannon and Elise for their next Chicago trip! From Elise's first plane ride, pizza with Katie and some potty training mishaps (I will save those for another post) we had a blast the entire weekend. Having two little girls that can talk, giggle and make messes totally changed the noise level in our home this weekend. Mark and I got a glimpse of what our lives will be like in a couple of years! Thanks Shannon and Elise for coming to play for a weekend!

I did it. I said I would never go to the American Girl Place and that if Amelia ever went it would be with GranAnn. When I was planning the weekend I just couldn't not plan a visit to American Girl. As I suspected the girls loved it. Amelia was a bit on the young side to go but she loved following Elise around. By the end of our brunch Elise was crawling under the table and Amelia was drinking syrup out of the pitcher so apparently the girls aren't that grown up yet. Thanks to JuJu who watched Juliet so we could have a fun outing!

Amelia got to pick out one item for her baby doll so she is now the owner of a doll stroller. She insisted on dragging it down Michigan Avenue at one point the girls thought they needed a rest.

If either girl was sick before this weekend they are now both sick as they were REALLY into kissing each other.

Elise's first trip on public transportation was down Montrose for a morning at the beach.

Beach bums (this was the location of one of our great potty training stories)

The double stroller was a complete hit. The girls LOVED riding facing each other with their matching purses and stroller full of toys. They rode to the Thursday Lincoln Square concert and spent the entire ride home kissing and licking each other.

Juliet joined in for all our adventures except to American Girl. Here she is loving on her toes while the big girls danced the night away. Our precious little girls who spent the first two months of her life sleeping has turned into a sometimes "fussy baby." Shannon was treated to a few nap and night times of Juliet screaming while we put her to sleep. I know you aren't supposed to label your kids but I'm starting to think we have a bit of a drama queen on our hands. Seriously the girl goes from the happiest baby on the block to inconsolable in 2.2. I just can't figure her out so if you have any advice feel free to shoot me an e-mail!

4th of July Cabin Style (2 of 2)

oops, forgot to post the remaining cabin photos....

Amelia and I heading off to the parade

More candy please! Amelia got a bit lazy as the parade went on and just sat and let the candy come to her.

Amelia went on her first unassisted "hike." It was  very strenuous hike that took her 100 yards from the cabin and an elevation increase of 10 feet.

Papa and Amelia celebrating the 10' summit!

Remembering Jim

During this year's cabin trip we had the honor of remembering my great-uncle James who passed away this spring. It was a difficult visit for Vivian as we buried his final ashes. We all felt honored to have been with her on that beautiful mountain day.

When I remember Jim I will always smile thinking of his love of catalogue shopping as I first wrote about here:  Jim and Stuff.  Vivian has been so blessed with a community of friends and family to help clean up the MANY items Jim collected over the years. Vivian brought with her a few items Dad asked for when he was helping her over Memorial Day.  Wish Viv luck as this weekend is her huge sale where she hopes to get rid of much of the items she doesn't want to hold onto. If you are in need of skis, guns, trailers, gates for horses, four wheelers, cow hides, etc (just to name a few) Paonia, Colorado is where you should be this weekend.

Here we are enjoying some of the goodies Jim had stored away. I do hope Viv can find some comfort in knowing we will laugh and smile as a family for many years to come as we enjoy Jim's memory and possessions!

Viv has no idea where this came from but it brought us many hours of entertainment as we all took turns getting our photos taken in the brassiere pillow. This thing is way better than those travel pillows you buy for airplanes and long car rides. For some reason no one was willing to take it home on the plane....

No one can explain it but Merrill cries laughing whenever she sees this photo.

We continue to pass on Jim's love of playing cards to the newest Evans/Cheney kiddos. Amelia got great at learning the suits but that is about the extent of her current card playing talents.

I saved the best for last! The toilet seat trailer hitch as been found!!!!!!!!!!