Risky Strollers?

Here is an interesting post about strollers: http://phdinparenting.com/2008/11/22/pushing-away-away-facing-strollers-stress-babies/ I was still walking with her facing me in the "pumpkin seat" all fall..or about 90% of the time. I haven't walked in awhile outside as it's been too cold :( Boo. I seem to remember last fall was much milder. We went from sandals on Halloween to winter coats...what about something in between, Mother Nature? I think that stroller post was interesting and had never given it that much thought. I just know that I like seeing her face vs. the back of her head!

Our Awesome Hotel

We stayed at a great family-friendly hotel called Mt. Olympus. There was a lot to do. http://www.mtolympuspark.com/ They had an indoor water and indoor theme park. Here is our room. Notice the babyproofing by putting the trash up on the sink and having to take out the Kleenex box that is just the perfect level for her to pull out all the tissues and play with!

These pictures were actually from the morning we were leaving. She slept in that crib all of 2 hours the first night, but it was useful while baby-proofing the room etc. as a playpen, and it was free so why not take it!

There were also a set of sweet bunkbeds in the room. Claire had fun climbing on the bottom bunk and back down. It was very low to the ground so it was perfect.

I think this is the first time she ever sat for 2 seconds to "watch" TV, not that I want to encourage that or anything. I did bring some toys in the room, but it was really not needed. There are lots of great toys already in hotel rooms, like all the plastic cups, ice buckets, crinkly bags of coffee...

Beds to climb up and down on 50,000 times or more. She couldn't get to the top one yet so that was good!

Alarm clocks make great toys too! Especially when they have clock radios you can mess with!

Drawers are also fun to open and shut 50,000 times!!! YAY!

Just unplug that phone and TA-DA! INSTANT TOY! :)

Claire has a monkey on her back! It is a child-leash, and I think it's great! It keeps her from running away!

She kept wanting to run up and down the nice long hallways and would bang on the door.

I was able to push the bed up against the wall so she could sleep next to me! I was glad the big wooden beds weren't bolted to the floor or something.

Playing with Daddy!

Playing with the phone some more. I think this was her favorite thing to do all weekend!

Lake Delton--or what was

As you probably heard, this summer Lake Delton had a few issues this summer. http://www.channel3000.com/news/16551812/detail.html On Sunday morning we took a little outing to see what the lake or "non" lake looked like. If you've never heard of Wisconsin Dells, you must be from the Indy area and not the Chicago land area. WI Dells or THE DELLS is a huge summer get-away and the Water Park Capital of the US.
David and Erich were much braver than me. I didn't even go on the lake bed at all!

This is why: SINKHOLES! Plus I had Claire in the Bjorn and was wearing clogs. I did not want to get sandy socks. I also did not want to get stuck like Richard did this past summer! Smart guy also stayed on the beach!

You can see me standing up on the shore. I'm the one with the baby! Here is Holly walking back. Aren't her hat/scarf/mittens gorgeous!!! She made them!

Ah, yes, Holly with a camera in hand. And she also made Mark's hat and scarf here. It's a very nice green and gray.

Holly, it looks like you should make Erich and David some hats as they aren't wearing any!

Richard said this past summer it was just a mud hole, and now the vegetation is growing in the lake bed. It's amazing how it will do that!

Yes, it looked very different than the past several times I've seen it or taken Duck Rides on it. That's right. You can ride on Ducks. If you never have ridden a Duck, you really must do this before you die! http://www.dellsducks.com/

We stayed 2 nights in the Dells since it wasn't too far from Mt. Horeb where the funeral was. I'll post pictures soon of the hotel stay, etc. Oh yeah, it had an indoor water park. :) Apparently David who booked all the rooms wanted to put the FUN in FUNeral. Our family is something else...

Family Pictures

Claire with her cousin Mark (12 years old), Daddy, and Uncle Richie. Oh, and that must be Oma on the left with her flip cam!
Glama Lynn and Grandpa Jason sent this dress for last Easter along with the shrug. She wore it for her 1st birthday pictures that I sent out on the invites and it still fits! So it was perfect since it's yellow! She even wore the yellow shoes from the Lees! She was wearing the super thick tights and a warm onesie, so she was plenty warm, no worries!

Mark had a good time playing with Claire during the visitation hours. Claire did great all day! Well except at supper after it all...then she got a 2nd wind and was alright!

Claire loves this little baby doll. She drags it around now in public instead of the CareBear. She still loves the Bear too, I just don't like washing it. The doll seems to be easier to spot wash.

Here is a picture of people taking pictures of the people below (Pictures of picture taking?...I thought it was a funny idea.)

My Great-Aunt Gladys's kids: Lonnie, Vern, Beth, and with their Uncle Vernon.

My mom with her older brother Victor (L) and younger brother John (R) and their dad.

Pictures of Flowers

Pictures of Pictures

Our Family loves pictures all around! Here are some pictures of the poster boards various people made for the funeral. I made the one on the bright yellow board.

Religion as a Comfort Device

I remember now...the other point I said during the little speech was that in another conversation with my Grandma I said, "Religion isn't real; it's just a comfort device." This was during my "rebellious" phase. Perhaps I was sick of being forced to go to church constantly growing up? Anyway, her response was completely unexpected to me at the time. She said, "Well, yes, of course, that is one of the many gifts religion provides." So it is a comfort device! This memory of course relates again to her faith and how much I admire that about the way she lived her life.

Lots of Driving!

I got bored in the car while Josh was driving. So I put on some make-up and took some pictures of myself. I sit in the back with Claire on long trips. This way I can read to her or entertain her by singing, etc. Here is a scary close-up of my eyes.
This one almost looks a little creepy. I was trying to be sexy, but this is definitely creepy. BOO!

Coming up on the Chicago Skyline. I know, we've all seen it 10,000 times, but it's always pretty in it's own industry way!

Here is Claire sleeping. She had no chances for real restful naps other than in the car all weekend, so she will take some good naps and go to bed early the next few days. I've got to get her caught-up in time for Thanksgiving so she can get all sleep-deprived again!

I found these little neck-wings at Babies-R-Us and they work great. The little head support the seat comes with is too small for her now, and these are perfect for her to lean on now.

Well we weathered the weekend all in all fairly well. Friday we attended the Memorial Service at Timbercrest, which was well attended by locals and other members from the nursing home as well as staff. My Grandma worked there as the director of nurses for 20 years, so several people she hired still work there. That says a lot about what a great facility it is! They also liked their supervisor, which is also a wonderful testament to my Grandma's personality. The pastor asked if anyone would like to speak about her, and quite a few people did, which was nice.

I surprised myself and actually got up and talked! I said a few things that came to mind quickly, as I only jotted a couple notes as the first couple people talked.

• My Grandma's middle name was Joy, my mom's middle name is Joy, my middle name is Joy, and Claire's middle name is Joy. It means even more to us now that she has passed. And my Grandma always was a Joy! She was always giggling and laughing about something! I am so glad that Claire was able to meet her and actually visit several times! It was so hard for me at my other Grandma's funeral because EVERYONE was asking me if Claire was able to met her. HELLZ NO! She was only 3 weeks old when she died...when was there time?? When she was in isolation for her infected foot? Are you allowed to bring a pregnant lady or newborn into that? NO? Why not? Oh, common sense! So make a little note to yourself. If you ever go to a funeral and somebody with a little baby is there... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't ask them if they got to meet their deceased loved one. Really. Ask someone else if you really must freaking know... ARGH!
• One time when I was staying the night at my Grandma's, she was saying a good night prayer with me. You know the one, "Now I lay me down to sleep..." At the end we said "Bless Mommy, Daddy, etc"...and went through the family members. The last thing was and bless "everyone we love." So after it was over, to be funny (I was like 9 or 10), I said, "And bless everyone we hate!" Now I don't know who I hated at that age or if anyone ever, but I was trying to be funny, and she turned it into a lesson that "Yes, we should pray for our enemies and those we don't get along with!"
• I will always remember her for her faithfulness. My baptismal birthday is on her birthday, March 23. And of course, my mom picked that day on purpose. This year I decided to start going to church REGULARLY and JOIN one in January as my New Year's Resolution. I would have to say that she did have some influence on that. I wanted Claire to be baptized. Amazingly enough, it has been the only resolution that I've ever actually kept. And I would honestly have to say not have church in my life was like not having a child in my life. You don't know what you're missing until you have it. And I think the issue was always the right church. You have to shop around to find one that fits your family! So that's another thing that Josh and I have done this fall as a family. We joined our church! I seriously do so much stuff that I can't possibly blog about it all. And I forget my camera (believe it or not 50% of the time!). I would say I blog about, oh...2% of my day???? Hard to estimate. But I am getting off-track (imagine that!). So I found the church we joined by the end of January and met with the pastor. She asked if Easter was ok for Claire's baptism, and I said sure. Later on, I realized that this year, Easter was early, March 23, which was my baptismal birthday and my Grandma's birthday. Sweet! Plus Easter is all about Baptism anyway! I know some other churches "dedicate" and then "baptize" while older, but it's really the same thing and it's not the same thing. That's a whole other debate and post...I just know that I feel a lot more complete personally/spiritually/emotionally and that I'm incredibly glad that she was baptized.
• There was something else that I can't remember right now...I'm tired so I'm off to la-la land.