I Love Being a Girl!

When I realized almost all of the Nielsen girl cousins (sans Abigail) would be together, I immediately plotted a mani-pedi excursion. Ireland actually didn't go either because she was napping and hey, too young, right? Liesel, on the other hand, acted like she was a regular. Once upon a time when I asked Liesel if she was a boy or a girl, she would vehemently respond she's a "girly girl" and she certainly lived up to that! She quickly opted for a pretty pink color, chatted easily with her nail technician, and relaxed into her giant massage chair. She decided to get a snowflake design on her big toes. I have to say I was amazed the lady could fit it in considering the size of her canvas! Everyone was so nice and patient with our large group.

Grandpa couldn't help sneaking in to take some video. While the cousins were under the dryers they talked excitedly... sometimes to each other and sometimes to themselves. They were so cute. At one point, he asked them to show off their manicures and all the cousins delicately held out their hands. If I can get a copy of the video I will certainly add it because it's just precious! It was so nice to get in some girly time. I love my nieces.


What girl doesn't mind a little pampering?

Lest you're concerned Brent was drowned in all the estrogen, allow me to mention he managed to go to the shooting range with my brother. He came back with some bullet casings and a little more swagger in his step. We made sure he got some testosterone time too!

Polar Swim

With the excitement of Christmas over, we grabbed siblings, cousins and Grandma for a little fun out of the house. The U of I has an amazing new rec center with a little something for everyone:


Brent and Whitney trying the climbing wall

Whitney and Liesel playing with the fountains while Brent and Ireland float around the lazy river.


Liesel enjoying some light showers

Grandma helping Ireland get in some swim time. I love to see her chubby little legs kick so hard! She's definitely a water baby.

My personal favorite is the huge hot tub and ginormous flat-screen TV. You can play with your kids and keep an eye on the game! It's best to cheer for the Hawkeyes of course. I loved relaxing a bit with family and letting the warm, bubbly water carry away the residual holiday stress. Ahhhhhhh!

Merry Christmas!

The Wuehlers in all our morning glory

Somewhere I read that even tiny kids should sit at the "big" table
when possible. I decided to set a place for Ireland rather than put
her in the high chair and she was thrilled with the arrangement!

Believe it or not, this was our very first family only Christmas! I have to say it was a success too, with just enough (ok, perhaps a teensy bit of excess). After talking to friends and family about how they put it all together, Brent and I settled on the philosophy of  "something to wear, something to read, something they want and something they need." We did our fancy dinner on Christmas Eve which was nice for two reasons: it filled up the girls so they slept hard and it gave Brent and I good fuel to do our elving. In the future I think we'll stick to the fancy Christmas Eve dinner and then do something simple like a crock pot or frozen meal on the big day. Since we spend all morning eating chips and candy, it's kind of nice to finish the day with something simple.

The girls and their stockings

Brent's mother always rang a bell to let everyone know when it was time to come out. After a bit of searching, I procured our own Christmas bell that Brent rang after I queued some holiday music and ran the train around the tree for ambiance. We started the festivities off with a photo and then launched into the stockings. It took Ireland a bit to catch on but catch on she did! Liesel was getting eager to "help" unwrap her presents so Dad gave her a little lesson in folding arms and being patient for our turn. My favorite part of the morning was seeing Irelands little fingers covered in Pringle cheese. Pringles are a tradition from my family. One year my Mom got them because they quickly filled the stockings. Christmas isn't Christmas without Pringles ever since.

Liesel showing patience and restraint before opening her big gift.

There's always a gift that surprises and this year it was definitely the train people. We have an LGB train with a "Duck Tour" car. Technically it's themed from the cartoon but we adopted it as our Boston car. During our time there, we went on more than one Duck Tour to show off our city to visitors. Well, the plastic ducks that came with the car didn't really make sense, so this year I ordered some people. Heretofore, Ireland has been somewhat terrified of the train. Early in the month I think she accidentally knocked over a car and the resulting mess traumatized her. In fact, the reason she's scowling in our family photo (above) is because the train was running behind us and she didn't like it. Well, once those little people were on the Duck Tour car, her demeaner completely changed (see video below).

After about 3 times she started bidding the people, "Buh BYYYYYE, BYYYYYE, BUUUH BYE!" when they came around. I hope you all had a wonderfully Merry Christmas!

The Sweetest Thing

Makes me melt.

Got Lasik?

Anyone out there interested in getting lasik from TLC Laser Eye Center? We received two coupons for $250 off but can't think of anyone who might use it. It feels wrong to just throw them away since that's a chunk of savings. If you're looking to sharpen your vision (pun intended), please send along your address and I'll send one to you!

MOSI- Dr. Seuss Exhibit

We finally invested in a family membership to The Museum of Science and Industry! I was so excited to get into the "Members Only" line this most recent visit and I know we're going to make good use of our membership. I took the girls to see the Dr. Seuss exhibit which coincided with the Christmas Around the World festival. It was amazing. The main tree was a Grinch Who Stole Christmas-themed one (see the Whos holding hands and singing around the base?). I really loved the presents wrapped in plain but brightly colored paper. I may have to do that next year! It almost looks more festive than traditional Christmas wrapping.

Did you know Dr. Seuss never actually got his PhD from Oxford as intended? And Seuss is supposed to be pronounced like "voice." I definitely sympathize with having a German name no one can pronounce! Apparently Green Eggs and Ham was born out of a bet with his editor. The bet was that he couldn't create an entertaining book from 50 words or less. There are 49 one-syllable words in Green Eggs and Ham and 1 two-syllable word (anywhere). Dr. Seuss joked he was never compensated for that bet. He never had any children stating, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em." I loved seeing some of his original artwork! I once heard that genius is the ability to return to childhood at will. In that case, Dr. Seuss was the most brilliant of geniuses.

Yes I flipped for the photo, but I got a discount with our new membership!

Aside from the Dr. Seuss exhibit, the museum was decked out with dozens of Christmas trees representing different countries. It was the perfect place to take the girls and get them excited for the holidays. Oh how I love this museum!

The Chicago Do-It-Yourself Messiah

Growing up, the first Sunday of December heralded in the holidays for my family. My parents packed me and my siblings in our rusty van and trekked up to northern Iowa. What was the attraction? A Messiah sing-along. Eventually I grew old enough to sing (rather than just watch) and it became my favorite holiday tradition. I remember how thrilled I was when Mom bought me my very own score. After leaving home, I made use of that score by finding a sing-along here and there (Abravanel Hall in SLC, Harvard campus in Boston), but it's been years since I've been to one. Attending the one in Chicago was my #1 priority this year. Turns out it almost didn't happen due to funding difficulties. The organizers managed to pull it off though, and Mom and Dad came to town to join in the fun.
I didn't know The Messiah debuted in Dublin, Ireland! Even more reason to love it. Our conductor said it is the most performed piece of music in the world. He also told a story about how Handel was known for having a short temper. Handel confronted a man who was having difficulty with one of the solos saying, "You said you could read at sight!" to which the man replied, "I can, just not at first sight."

The conductor Stanley Sperber was fantastic! Apparently he flies from Israel just for this event every year. He was wonderfully humorous, ribbing the tenor section as is only fitting. With just 10 minutes of rehearsal time, he was incredibly patient with the amateur audience. Out here they call it the "do-it-yourself" rather than "sing-along" and rather than end with the Hallelujah chorus, they also do all of Part III minus one song. Initially I was disappointed because the Hallelujah chorus is such a fantastic finish. That feeling was short-lived because after the conductor, soloists and orchestra took their bows, everyone returned and we all sang it as an encore. The soloists joined in this time and even from my balcony seat, I could see the conductor smiling as wide as the Grinch after his heart grew 3 times.

(Credit: Lisa Fielding/WBBM Newsradio/CBS)

The woman seated next to my mom closed her score and sang Hallelujah from memory, which I found incredibly touching. Even in the the heart of a city as diverse as Chicago, it was magnificent to proclaim my faith in the "King of Kings, Forever and ever!" and "Lord of Lords, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" alongside others. My heart wrapped itself around the music of my Savior and I very nearly started bawling I was so moved. As every one's voice swelled fortissimo with utter rejoicing, it felt like the roof would blow off the theater. Rarely do we get the chance to feel so at one with complete strangers but this was one such occasion. This is a holiday tradition I need to cement!

(the janitor with the yellow caution sign is my favorite!)

Seeing Santa

With nothing on our agenda, Brent and I decided Saturday was the day to take the girls to see St. Nick. Oh what a mistake! Even though we got there relatively early, there was an insanely long line that DID. NOT. MOVE. A trickle of molasses moves faster! The Donner Party moved faster! Continental spread is faster! After waiting for an HOUR, we were told Santa was going to "feed the reindeer" and would be back in 30 min. We'd finally made it into the elaborate Ice Palace and with the girls primped, I wasn't going to lose my spot in line. We hunkered down with lunch and waited. All told we waited two hours. I'm definitely rethinking how I go about pictures with Santa in the future. Brent believes we don't need photos at all and I know many would agree with him. Still, there's a huge part of me that clings to yes--queue Fiddler on the Roof music--TRADITION!

This photo was NOT posed! This is Ireland trying hard to be patient.

Almost as tall as a baby polar bear!

The Ice Palace had this screen which showed
images from BBC Earth.

Inside the Ice Palace was a waiting room with more BBC Earth images and fake falling snow. Every family got to go in alone before meeting St. Nick which was actually really cool

I think everyone (including Santa) looks exhausted.

I'm SO glad Brent caught this footage of Ireland falling asleep in the car. Classic! What a doll for mumbling "cheese" even in her exhaustion!

Which Is Cuter?

When they fall asleep?

I told Liesel to come out when she finished her mac n cheese.
After half an hour I checked on her and found this.

Or when they wake up?

There were never two bows more skiwampus!
Socks are a lost cause when it comes to napping.

I can't decide!

Tidbits

This is another post of random things that have happened with the girls I just can't bear to forget. So without further ado...

Ireland is getting more and more antsy to start gymnastics. Brent and I firmly believe we're not going to invest money into classes for her until she's old enough to understand classroom dynamics and physically can build the basics. That doesn't stop her from trying to sneak into classes though! She's pretty sly about it too. Ireland pretends to be casually observing the class and before I know it she's sprinting towards the tumble track. I told her she could start gymnastics when she learns to use the potty. The other day she asked to go potty 3 times even though she didn't really use the potty. She makes sure to wipe though!

The other day Liesel put Ireland's backpack on her. After she clicked the front strap in place she said, "Okay Ireland, now go to college!" Ireland turned around and walked to the door. When no one opened it, she continued playing with her toys.

We'd been planning to wean Ireland from the binkie in stages: in November she could only have it when she was sleeping, in December she could only have it at night, and then we're throwing them away in January. Just before we implemented this plan, Ireland was hanging out one night and had a binkie in her hand. Suddenly she raised it high in the air and spun around gleefully crying out "beeekieee!" It was like something out of a Broadway play, no lie.

Lately Liesel has only been putting on her seatbelt halfway. Every time I discovered she wasn't really strapped in, I've tried to impress upon her young mind how serious that is. As we headed out for church on Sunday, Liesel piped up from the back, "Mom, you'd better put your seatbelt on or you'll fly out the window!" Brent frowned at me for that one.

Once Brent is home from work, I usually head over to the clubhouse for a workout. When I change into my workout clothes I explain I'm going "running, running" to the girls. Now when Ireland sees me changing, she says something equivalent and pumps her fists as if she's running. So cute.

Ireland is old enough she wants her fair share of prayer time. To alleviate any fighting, I told Liesel she could teach Ireland how to pray. Today at lunch Liesel told Ireland to be "thankful we love our food." I just about burst out laughing because Ireland really loves her food!

The girls laugh like crazy when I say their names like a ghoul. I laugh like crazy when they try to do it.

Gratitude in Vomit

Yesterday, December 7th, 2011--a day which will live in infamy--Ireland was suddenly and deliberately attacked by viral forces from the empire of pneumonia.
It began as a somewhat typical day. Brent showered and dressed for work and then offered to take Ireland while I got ready. Liesel was still asleep which was a little odd but hey, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth! Ireland was extremely lethargic, wheezy and cuddly which is atypical behavior these days. Brent noticed she seemed sick and asked if he should request to work from home. I firmly told him no. I could handle one sick child on my own, right? Turns out Ireland had something to say about that. She vomited 4 times all over Brent from his head to his shoes and then some. When it was all over she pointed a shaky finger at the mess and pitifully squeaked out "ewe!" I jumped in the shower with Ireland while Brent stripped, scrubbed and garbage-bagged everything else. He was definitely staying home.

A call to the pediatrician's office led us straight to the ER. I've been told by a number of medical professionals the best time to visit the ER is in the morning. It's the least busy because people figure if they've made it though the night, they're going to be okay. With timing on our side, we were triaged pretty quickly. All in all, we still spent a couple of hours there and believe me, it was no picnic. The staff was wonderful but lets face it, Ireland was miserable. After they sucked her nose to test for RSV, she begged for her coat. When Ireland asks for her coat, it's her way of saying, "I quit this job, I'm outta here!" The last 20 minutes of our visit she fell asleep in my arms, exhausted from the sickness and all the prodding.

Our RN brought in toys to keep Ireland occupied. She looked
SO tiny in that big hospital room!

Brent picked up Liesel from preschool and looped by the ER to get us. I gave him as many details as I could remember about all the treatments and procedures she'd gone through (including a breathalyzer and x-rays). I tried to describe what the image of her lungs looked like and what the dr. told me to watch for in the next little while. When we pulled up to the apartment, Liesel opened her door and then got a funny look on her face. She vomited all over the car, the street, and me and then burst into tears. I quickly called the pediatrician's office (again), added my pukey clothes to the garbage bag, and jumped in a bath with her (my second of the day). Luckily, Liesel wasn't having any of the wheezing issues so we just hunkered down for the day. By evening the apartment was a huge mess but everyone was feeling a little better.

Even baby hospital gowns leave your bum hanging out!
Thank goodness she could still wear a diaper.

As hard as it was to see Ireland and Liesel suffering, I'm so very grateful I can be home with them. I remember the dreaded calls at work telling me Liesel was sick and needed to be picked up right away. More than anything, I wanted to BE there for her! But so many times I had to call Brent to see if his afternoon had any huge meetings in them like mine or worse, I had to call a friend. I'm so grateful to be the one stroking back their hair and caressing their cheeks, whispering it will all be okay. I'm happy to pick up the ginger ale and make beds on the couch so they can quietly watch The Muppets as they doze. I'm also grateful for my wise husband who decided to work from home for a day :)

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Brent's gonna kill me but it's too funny NOT to share!

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