Friday, July 29, 2011

Birthday stuff

Sorry for the delay on posting. The week of Emma’s bday was a whirlwind, a good whirlwind, but crazy nonetheless. The house invasion began on Wednesday night, with the Johnson clan coming down. Thursday the ladies split off and went shopping while we hung out. Nothing overly exciting, other than it was hot and this summer . Friday we enjoyed a morning of pictures with the grandparents and grandkids. A little note on Emma. You know how some kids are the types who when they see the camera, they turn to the camera and cheese it up? Emma is NOT that child. The lady taking pictures didn’t grasp this and had Emma sitting the longest of the grandkids, so that process was lovely. Saturday morning we headed to wonderscope with the kids. They seemed to have fun, so it was a great way to start the day.



So Saturday afternoon was the party. Let me tell you something about my wife. She takes this stuff very seriously, she wants to put her touch on it and make it special. Even though in 25 years when Emma has just started dating (I am a firm believer that if you say something enough, it will become reality) she isn’t going to remember what happened at her 2nd birthday, it’s important to Lela that everything is perfect. Year 1 bday party wasn’t so seamless, I’ll be honest. We were literally running around until the moment people walked in, putting things up after people arrived, it was a cluster. This year was much better. Lela also likes to put her touch on everything, and as she is a phenomenal cook and baker, she likes to make things for various events. Side note, Lela doesn’t think she is very good and generally thinks her food only tastes okay, but as a foodie wannabe, I can tell you she makes a lot of really good food. So the point I am trying to get at is we got all the food made that Lela wanted to make, and it all seemed to taste good, without the insane scramble that was year 1. Did I mention we had about 10 kids ages 1-5 there? I think when you become a parent, you get dulled to the craziness that is kids, because it didn’t seem nearly as insane as you would think. Of course when I spent 3 hrs cleaning up all the toys and dishes on Sunday, it probably also proved that it was crazy, and we just didn’t notice. Anyway, it was a great party, it was great to share it with friends and family and get to see all the kiddos play and allow the adults to mingle. We love to get everyone who has and will continue to mean a lot to us and to Emma together in one place, and missed those who are in that category who couldn’t be there.



Tuesday we had Emma’s 2 yr appt. Everything is going great, per the doc. Emma has shot up to around the 75th percentile for both height and weight, which the doc attributed to a likely growth spurt in recent weeks. After 2 min of being around Emma, without me saying a word, the doctor went into her “here’s how to potty train, change to a big girl etc with a strong willed/stubborn child.” So it’s that obvious, huh? Of course 90% of the time Emma is the happiest, most loving little girl ever, but she also has very strong opinions. Like about how she wants string cheese when she walks in the house and how I am not supposed to open it. Or how she wants to enter the bath. Or how we aren’t allowed to help her with something unless we have asked and she decides she doesn’t want to do it. Oh and on the hugging thing, should I be concerned that toward the end of the party Emma went around to all the adult guys in the room and hugged them. Then she reluctantly went to the women and did the same after having to be prodded? Not cool Emma, not cool.



This summer I also got back into soccer a lot. Other than intramural 3 on 3 in college, I haven’t played soccer a lick in my life, so my obsession is probably odd. But ever since I moved in with random guys in Iowa City in 2002 and got up at 3 am several morning with one roommate to watch the US world cup matches in Korea, I have loved it. This has grown some over the years and I loved having the women’s world cup this summer. The matches were mostly midday, so if I went to the Sprint Gym over lunch or around midday, I could watch something other than Sportscenter repeats, it was great. Plus there is that whole Abby Wambach miracle goal stuff and my overlooking the whole “they are playing for something bigger” garbage about how we should be happy for the Japanese. Emma’s part Korean, go read about what the Japanese have done to the Koreans over the years, we are disallowed to be okay with anything Japanese. . besides our Honda’s that are in the garage I am also kidding about most of that, though I was literally mad about the US losing for about 4 days. I need some Hawkeye football to get here so I can be mad about a 19 year old losing a game and ruining my life for 6 days rather than 25 year old women, you know, much more important. Anyway, I am now obsessed with getting Emma in soccer lessons. I think it’s a great sport that translates well into all other sports. She likes kicking the ball okay now, and what is likely going to happen is the fact that I would love for her to be the Wasian Mia Hamm is that she will not like soccer at all and will make me go to dance recitals all the time, something I have nightmares of from having a sister. No, I am not dramatic at all, those things were like monthly (in reality probably once a year, but that seems too frequent to a 10 yr old) and they never even had snacks there, of course I have nightmares. . .. I will have to post once she gets going how soccer is going. Anyway, that’s a random musings paragraph, but I wanted to get it in.



Oh yeah and then there’s that whole last post I put up. So the baby is due to arrive Jan 16. The accountant in us thinks, hey, if you came 17 days early it wouldn’t be bad as then we could get the tax break and get all the insurance this year. The Dad in me thinks, this needs to happen after Jan 5 or so, so the child can celebrate his/her bday at school. I always felt bad for the Christmas break birthdays, because their half birthdays are in the summer so they get hosed often times, plus there is the whole overlap with Christmas thing. Well maybe I didn’t care back then because sympathy wasn’t a strong point for an adolescent Mike, but because it could now have implications on my child clearly its important Anyway, Lela is doing all right for all who have asked. She’s been squeamish at every meal, never to the point of throwing up (tmi and I don’t care) but enough where no meal goes fully enjoyed. Lela also likes to pretend she is not pregnant and fights going to bed and getting enough rest. We are now somewhat the opposite of other families as Emma now requests her bed and her mom won’t go to it. We are excited about the new addition (for some reason saying that makes me think of the band New Edition from the 90s), we find out Aug 30 the gender and my prediction is another girl,. . .who I will try to make into the next Mia Hamm, but we’ll see!


Water table time


Picture time before some Oklahoma Joe's


Julia understands pictures better than Emma.  Oh and we were enjoying the Family Feud.

Wonderscope pics




The cake.  Kudos to Barb's Kolache Bakery!


Chaos ensued.











I think this says how Emma felt about pics



Thursday, July 21, 2011

Costco

We'll have a post about Emma's bday in a few days.  So Emma and I were at Costco the other day. I am one of those people that enjoys Costco, I think they have made me one of their minions. I love get really excited when I find a shirt there as its always reasonable and for some reason nicer. I love buying milk there because its cheaper, even if those cartons make you spill part of the time. The samples can be a nice side item as well. Anyway, Emma and I had a nice conversation. We decided that its nice for parents that the carts have 2 seats, in case parents have 2 children who want to ride. We also decided that its irrelevant to the Huebners because 1) Emma no longer believes in riding in carts, only pushing them or walking beside them and 2) we currently only have 1 wasian who could ride in a cart anyway. As a side note, I bet you didn’t notice the change in title at the top of the page. .. . see below


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Independence Day weekend with the Huebners

So this whole Independence Day weekend thing isn't for Emma.  We have made her watch a lot of Ricky Stanzi, the most patriotic Hawkeye since Nile Kinnick  (see link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlU0GQgooWM), but Emma is at times rebellious.  It all started last year when Emma and I headed up to NYC to enjoy the 4th with Lela and we thought, it was NYC, it was crazy insane hot, it was clearly an anomaly. . . well after this year I am beginning to wonder.

It all started Friday July 1.  Lela and I were getting a head start on the weekend and took the day off to try to get various things we haven't been able to get done around the house.  Around 3 we got the call.  Apparently Emma had decided to revisit lunch after nap, so we needed to go pick her up.  I went to pick her up and she was running around the room laughing.  Ah, lunch may not have agreed with her, she'll be good to go for the weekend.  Let's just say various things didn't agree with her for the next 6 or 7 hrs.  Lovely way to start the weekend.  Saturday Emma was a bit under the weather, but mostly okay.  Sunday I got whatever she had had, followed by lela getting it on monday.  Emma had clearly decided she was going to infiltrate Independence Day weekend and distract us.  Doesn't she know that Will Smith made a movie about defending this holiday from aliens when we were in high school?  That rednecks everywhere live for this holiday????  Okay, so maybe that's not a good argument.

The thing is, we still had a good weekend.  When you are laying in bed wanting to die there is nothing better than hearing "Daddeeeeeeeee" followed by emma climbing on top of you and jumping on you.  Usually that is followed by more nausea and wanting to die, but that's irrelevant.  Or when Lela is sick, getting to go to Walmart on the 4th and getting to interact with said rednecks.  I know lela feels the same way since she literally crawled over to Emma's room while I put Emma to bed when she was sick. 

Emma is also excited to have a new cousin, Jaxon Gregory Johnson.  He joined us on June 30, so he has his own month and won't add to the long list of July bdays!

Here's the main pic from the weekend, of Emma who decided she wanted to carry the basket in walmart.  Please note the PJ outfit, as I dressed her and decided I didn't want to get her out of her PJ's.  Emma picked the shoes that clearly match.  I think it helped us to fit right in with the locals. . .