Vanessa's first few steps

Not the first official steps, but here is a few she decided to take on her own today.

I had leftover fabric, and it turned into a dress for Vanessa!

I shrunk down the pattern I had to make a dress for Vanessa - it was a little easier because I did not patch it, but instead, kept each layer one solid strip of fabric.  I love how it turned out!  This project was low priority...and still took me about three weeks.  She is getting used to wearing dresses still - she can't walk much and gets frustrated when crawling with a big skirt on.  Maybe this will motivate her to walk more.  She took a nap in this dress and when I got her out of bed, she had pulled on the shoulder strap ties and the ties came apart, and the dress was around her waist. So funny!

Our house is a construction zone

The gazebo needed new cement pillars to sit on, so there has been a team of guys working on moving it, digging and pouring new cement, and putting it back on its new foundation. 

Klunder's guys are tearing off our roof, and putting on a new one.

Landscapers are about to descent on the yard at the end of this week!

Vanessa took more steps

She pulled up to stand next to a chair and took off walking, maybe 5 steps.  She's a little stinker and will only walk on her terms.  She prefers to crawl or "knee-walk" still. 
We got her 1 yr pictures taken, and had to narrow down 100+ pics at the photo studio down to one.  It was hard but we love the one we chose.  I'll try post it later.

Rachel has been here for the week

Even though she's traveled across Iowa to talk to lots of different orthodontists, she's spend a good amount of time with our family and its been very nice!  We took the kids to the Iowa City Children's Museum on Tuesday for most of the morning/afternoon, and she was gracious enough to babysit all 3 kids and put them to bed so Dave and I could go out on a date for our 8th anniversary.  We got some pizza at Tony's on Main Street, a few chocolates from Indulgence, and then went to see a move in Waterloo.

Tomorrow morning we plan to go strawberry picking.  And I want to make some yummy strawberry jam!

"Done!" ~ Calvin

Calvin's morning has become quite a ritual.  He is always the first one to wake up, and wakes me up by yelling from his bathroom "Dooooone!" because he has gone poop and needs help wiping.  He's always been a morning-goer, since he was a baby.  I'd always find a dirty surprise in his morning diaper.  At least he's predictable about one thing! 

What prompted me to blog about this was the fact that every single morning has started THE SAME since last week.  About 7 am, I hear him yelling, I stumble out of bed, throw on my bathrobe, and go help him.  I wish I was a morning person...mornings might be easier for me.

Violet and Calvin shared Violet's twin bed last night

Last night as Dave was putting the kids to bed, it started thundering really loudly.  One crack of thunder even startled me!  Calvin is very scared of thunder, so Dave came up with the idea of letting them sleep together.  Calvin and Violet snuggled up together in Violet's bed.  We peeked at them before we went to bed and both were sound asleep, so we just left them.  Violet was on the left side of the bed on her back, and her left arm was hanging straight out.  Calvin was curled up facing her snuggled in his favorite blue blanket.  Violet looked a little uncomfortable.  Apparently they slept that way all night.  Calvin was the first one awake.  Violet told me that he said "I will hug you if I hear thunder!" How sweet.  They really do love each other!

Vanessa's 12 month doctor check-up

This morning I took the kids to the pediatrician for Vanessa's 12 month well-baby check up.  Violet and Calvin were pretty good troopers.  I was anticipating arguments about who got to hit which buttons in the elevator, but surpringly, Violet solved the problem by allowing Calvin to hit the "up" button by making a deal with him, if she could hit the #4 once we got IN the elevator.  It actually worked, both did their part and avoided fighting.  I'm glad to see her making the choice to step back and let Calvin go first sometimes.  I should have praised her now that I look back at the situation but I was probably focused on something else.  I will mention it to her tomrrow.  The only difficult part of the appointment was when Calvin discovered the foot pedal that operated the metal garbage can lid in the exam room.  He kept stepping on it, banging the metal lid against the wall and making a very loud BANG.  I made him sit in the stroller.  Violet knew Vanessa had to get some shots, and was anticipating that moment.  We got there at 8:50 am - amazingly we got out the door all dressed and fed that early.  Vanessa got stats done first, weight (19 lbs 5 oz), height (29 1/2"), and head circumference was 18" or something like that.  She squirmed and fussed on the scale, making the nurse work quick.  I question the accuracy of their measurements sometimes, they seem to rush through it.  Her weight and height are in the 25-5 0% percentile, and her head is in the 100% percentile.  Well...yeah...I knew her head was large!  She was actually quite fussy during the visit, not wanting to cooperate and be held still while the doctor examined her ears, nose, eyes, body, tummy, etc.  But once that part was over, the doctor left, and the nurses came back in with the tray of vaccines.  She got a quick dose of liquid tylenol, 2 shots in the left leg, 1 shot in the right.  She screamed, of course...and took awhile to calm down once I picked her up.  She also got her finger poked - they checked her blood for iron levels and tested for lead poisoning (school requirement).  Vanessa freaked again when she got the finger poke, which wasn't the worst part.  She had to be held still enough for the lab lady to squeeze out enough blood to fill a teeny tiny vial.  Calvin stared in amazement at the blood dripping out of her finger.  Once we were done, Calvin took a potty break, and we made a quick trip down to the van and left for home.  Vanessa did calm down but didnt' take a nap til later in the day after lunch.

The nurse called me back later yesterday and told me Vanessa's iron level was 10.8, and they would like to see the minimum number to be 11.  So they say she's very slightly anemic, so we'll put her on an iron supplement for the next 3 months and re-check at 15 months.

Grandpa Loren's memorial service in Albia (and Vanessa's first birthday)

Last weekend was the memorial service for my Grandpa Loren in Albia, IA.  The service was set for Friday at 4 pm.  Our family drove down to Albia on Thursday evening with the goal of making it in time for dinner, so Dave brought along his computer and headset, and worked in the car on our drive down.  I scrambled around all morning getting everyone's things packed up and loaded in the van.  We knew it was approx 2 1/2 hrs there so we left with plenty of time to get there before 6.  At 3 pm we pulled out of our driveway, and we drove about 20 minutes, and I called my grandma to tell her where we were on the road to give her an idea when to expect us.  It was during that phone call that my brain reminded me I had forgotten to put my flute in the van.  DOH!  So we turned around to go get it.  I grabbed my flute and also a portable high chair and tray for Vanessa.  It set us back about a half hour but we managed to make up lost time on the road.  We pulled into a parking space by grandma's apartment at 6:10 pm - not too bad!  We had to skip stopping at our favorite place on the road, Smokey Row Coffee shop in Oskaloosa, but oh well. 

My Grandma Rowena had a delicious dinner prepared - short beef ribs, baked potatoes, cooked carrots, and a delicious fudgy chocolate cake which was eaten in honor of Vanessa's first birthday celebration and my mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary, which happen to fall on the same day, June 2nd.
We ate very soon after we arrived.  The kids were excited to get out of the car and were pretty hungry too.  When the carrots went around the table, I scooped up some and put them on Calvin's plate.  He took one look at them and said "Mom, is there grass on the carrots?" I just laughed.  It was dill seasoning. 
After dinner the happy birthday song was sang in Vanessa's honor.  My mom held her and "helped" her blow out the 1 candle on the cake.  I served her up a piece and she ate it steadily and quickly, not making much of a mess.  I am sure she thoroughly enjoyed it!  She is a chocolate fan already just like her mom, grandma, and great grandma!

More candles were added to the cake and we celebrated my mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary. 

That night we didn't go anywhere, we stayed in Mama Row's apartment.  Violet and Calvin kept asking to watch movies, there really wasn't much to do there.  We tried occupying them with things.  We ended up throwing a yellow ball around in the living room for awhile, and before I knew it, it was 10 pm and we had to leave to go check into the hotel.  Everybody was tired.  When we drove across town to the Indian Hills Inn, we got checked into our room and by the level of excitement, you'd have thought it was 8 am.  They jumped back and forth from bed to bed, giggling and laughing.  I sure hope nobody was directly underneath our hotel room.  It seemed like a quiet place.  We got them all settled down and in bed by 11:30.  I do not know what took soooo long but they just took forever to settle down.  Vanessa was the first one asleep - she was in a crib in the corner, with a blanket over the top so it was darker.

Friday morning we all got up somewhere around 8:00 - don't really remember the time.  Calvin was the first one up, as always.  He came walking around to my side of the bed and wanted said "I wanna nuggle wit you."  So I couldn't resist that! 

We got dressed quickly and went over to Mama Row's place for breakfast.  She had prepared creamed hard boiled eggs over toast with fruit.  We designated Friday morning as our swimming morning, so after eating a yummy breakfast, we headed to the hotel and got our suits on.  Vanessa went down for a nap as soon as we left the hotel room to go to the pool so that was good timing.  Violet wanted to be brave and learn to swim herself, so I worked with her for a couple hours.  Calvin was satisfied enough to walk around the pool with his life jacket on the whole time, scooping up water and dumping it elsewhere.  He threw balls and we threw them back.  Violet actually did great in the water.  I held her for awhile but she caught on to how to get herself moving on her own in the water quickly.  The pool was small but she figured out how to push off the wall, and doggy paddle swim towards me about 8 feet away.  She was SOO excited!

After swimming time came to an end, we all showered up and got ready for the memorial service that afternoon at 4 pm.  We ate some barley vegetable soup with cornbread at Mama Row's house for lunch, and stayed there until we left for the church.  The family gathered in a small room next to the church's sanctuary while everybody else took seats and waited.  I tried to get Vanessa to take a nap in the crib in the church's nursery, but she wasn't having it.  She kept standing up and screaming.  I was afraid she was going to climb out (the mattress wasn't lowered all the way) so I couldn't just leave her like I normally would.  She stayed in a stroller for part of the service and my mom took her out during a good chunk of it (thanks mom!!).  After my dad, Aunt Ruth, and Uncle David shared about their dad, I got a chance to get up and speak and share some of my favorite memories with my Grandpa Loren.  My grandma Row told me she hoped this would be a time of joy and celebration, nothing too sad, so I tried to keep it memorable and fun. 
At the end of the service, since Grandpa Loren was a war veteran, Violet was asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner accompanied by me on the flute.  Dave went up with Violet and sang with her, but he sang quietly and she sang loudly.  Her start was a little rough but she gained confidence and sang well through the rest of the song.  A trumpet player played the TAPS at the end.

Calvin and Violet sat well during the service.  Calvin leaned over and laid down on the bench at one point, and totally fell asleep on his back.  He was OUT...which we were glad for, it was the only nap he took that day.  He slept through the point the service was over, so we left him laying on the bench until we had to leave for the burial.

There was a short burial at the cemetary that the ashes of his body were buried into.  Two songs were sung by everybody.  We left the van running and Calvin and Vanessa fell asleep.  Violet walked with us to the burial site.  It was super hot, close to 90 degrees, Violet complained about being sweaty. 

A meal was served in the church's fellowship area after the burial.  Burgers, coleslaw, baked beans, and ice cream and brownies.  All of Grandpa Loren's favorites, I think!  We decided to go back to the hotel after that and take the kids swimming again.  Jay and Molly talked to us in the pool, my dad went swimming with us.  Violet swam again, but wanted to leave her life jacket on and have freedom.  She enjoyed the hot tub too!  I put Vanessa in the pool that night too, she seemed to enjoy splashing around.

After the kids went to bed, we decided to go down to the hotel bar and hang out with Jay and Molly.  We ordered a pizza and a few drinks, and enjoyed some time just chatting.  When we were leaving and tried to pay, the bartender told us it was taken care of, and "that table" over there had paid for it.  Philip "Flip", Walt and Jolene were there too, and Flip had footed the bill.  How kind of him!  We chatted for a short time but went to bed...it was after midnight and we were all tired.

Saturday morning Mama Rowena's good friend Carol Sovern's house - she hosted our family for brunch.  She served pecan cinnamon buns, fruit, and egg casserole.  Coffee and orange juice were refilled all morning.  The kids didn't have much to do and wandered around the yard and complained about how hot it was.  It was nice to see all the family.  The rest of the day was spent at Mama Row's place.  I had to lay Vanessa down for a nap, but had nowhere to put her, so I laid out some blankets on the floor and laid down with her in a dark room.  I knew she was exhausted but was at the "overtired" point.  I held her down with my hands on her back and she cried herself to sleep for about 15 minutes, trying to roll over and crawl away.  She eventually gave it up...and konked out completely and slept hard for 2 hours.  I got tired holding her down, and when she fell asleep, I laid my head down next to her blanket and fell asleep too.  I didn't realize how much time had passed, but when I woke up, 2 hours had gone by.  Vanessa was still sleeping so I crept out of the room to join the rest of the family and waited to hear her crying.  Violet ended up going in to get her after awhile, and brought Vanessa to me. 

My Aunt Ruth prepared a delicious seafood pasta dish with salad for dinner.  She went crazy in the kitchen, getting almost everything dirty!  The meal was yummy and satisfying.  Everybody enjoyed it.  We decided to leave that night, so we worked on packing up all our stuff and saying our goodbyes.  Grandma Row stopped to say a few things before everybody left - read some letters that Loren had written to her a long time ago, and some poetry. 

Our drive home was silent.  They changed into their pajamas before leaving.  I think the kids fell asleep and we got home in good time.

Vanessa's first birthday

I wanted to make a separate post about Vanessa's birthday, but it is wrapped up in the weekend along with Grandpa Loren's memorial service right above this one...so read up. :)