Minnesota Weekend

I have been in a constant routine of work and being a mom so when my college roommate Michele suggested a girls weekend away, I responded enthusiastically!  We tried to find a reasonable trip down to Miami, Key West, Ft Meyers, etc but just couldn't find anything affordable or with decent flight times so decided instead to do a long weekend in Minneapolis the last weekend of April, where Michele lives.  It ended up being a blast!  I didn't take my camera so don't have many pictures to show for the weekend sadly.

I drove up on Wednesday.  I was alarmed when I still was seeing ice and snow on the hillsides on the way up.  The drive was pretty painful and I was starting to wish I'd flown but I ended up getting there around 6pm and we went to an awesome local Italian place for dinner. 

Thursday
We slept in (you'll see that being the theme of the weekend!) and had a delicious homemade chocolate chip pancake breakfast.  Then we took a long walk around Lake Nokomis with Michele's dog Riley.  It was a little bit cold for me.  I thought I was used to the cold, living in Chicago, but I will definitely concede that the Minnesotans know a cold I don't.  Congrats to them?  The walk was around 3 miles and so after we showered and got ready, we headed to the Mall of America. 

I love shopping, so this was one of the things I wanted to do over our weekend and I'm glad Michele was up for it.  I bought:
Nordstrom Rack - a pair of Paige Jimmy Jimmy skinny boyfriend jeans, and two pairs of shoes

Marshalls - a pair of Ralph Lauren brown sandals and a little Lightning McQueen car for Barrett, since his was somehow lost at school a few months ago

Gap - a blue plaid button down for Tim ($12!), a pink gingham button down for Barrett, and a navy sweater with hot pink hearts for me (no pictures online)

Old Navy - a couple of the Tami style tanks

I had my eye on a pair of over-the-knee leather boots at Steve Madden but lucky Michele got the last pair.

We headed back to Michele's and had a quick dinner of tilapia, salad and rice before heading out to a comedy show in downtown Minneapolis.  Afterwards, we crossed the street and had a few cocktails at Crave.  I had a (ok, 2) very delicious Crave martinis (Stolichnaya Razberi, Chambord, pineapple, Domaine Chandon Brut).

Friday
It was a gorgeous day.  We were really lucky with the weather Friday and Saturday!  We had breakfast and headed to Stillwater.  It is a quaint little town on the St Croix River, bordering Wisconsin.  It reminded me a lot of a smaller St Charles, MO, with its old homes and little shops.  We ate lunch outside and had salads and I had a bloody mary.  I haven't had one of those in years but, hey, I was on vacation, right?  They served it with a little glass of beer.  Is this a MN thing?  I hadn't seen that before. 

We walked around for a while, shopped a bit, had some mint chocolate chip ice cream (they called it mint bon-bon in the great North apparently) and headed back into the cities.  We ended up on the northeast side of the city, at a little local brewery near Michele's friends house.  It was named Indeed and we tried a few different beers.  Some of Michele's friends came too and so did my friend Terese!  She and her husband used to live in our area but they moved up to the Twin Cities a few years ago.  It was great to see her again and catch up! 

Saturday
What do you know, another beautiful day in Minnesota!  We slept in (I was feeling pretty rested at this point!) and walked around the lake to a little breakfast place.  Oh, was it good!  I had a BLT omelet and lots of coffee. 

Sufficiently caffienated, we drove to Minehaha Falls.  Let me tell you, everyone was outside that day.

We walked around that area for a little while and then ventured into Uptown, an eclectic city-feeling area, which reminded me a lot of the Wicker Park area of Chicago.  We did some sightseeing and walked down by Lake Calhoun before heading back to Michele's and then to her friend Sarah's for a cook out.  I, of course, had to try the local drink a Big Ginger, which I'd seen people drinking so we stopped to buy the ingredients and do some grocery shopping for the cookout.  It was delicious!  It's: 1 part Irish whiskey, 4 parts ginger ale, some lime and lemon wedges squeezed in and for garnish, served over ice.  I may have bought the ingredients to make these at home.  We had a good time with some of Michele's friends.  She has such a strong group of friends she's made up in MN and is so busy and active all the time! 

Sunday
I was antsy to get on the road the next morning and get back to my beautiful babies, whom I missed tremendously!  I left around 8am and got him around 2:15pm.  I pulled into the driveway and a little towhead popped up in the front window with a smile and said "MOMMY!"  (no it wasn't Tim, though I think he had the same sentiment) 

Although I could never see myself living even further north than I already live, I started to understand what's appealing about living in Minneapolis.  The lakes are beautiful, there seems to be a lot of things to do, the homes are charming, the cost of living was reasonable, and it's a city without feeling too harsh and urban.  When the weather was nice on Friday and Saturday, everyone was out in droves.  So many walkers, joggers, bikers and people out and enjoying the day.  There was so much activity!  I know Michele says there's a lot of activity in the winter too (ice fishing, broomball, races, etc) and that you have to get involved with that kind of activity or you'd go crazy.  But I also learned about roof rakes and there was still a lot of snow and ice-covered lakes for being the last weekend of April, so that will likely deter me from moving there!

Tim did a great job taking care of the kids for those few days and I appreciated that I had the chance to get away for a long weekend and have some fun girl time.  I had so much fun for the weekend and was glad to have a nice getaway, but there's no place like home, with my family of course! 

And just one more...

This morning

Barrett: "I don't want to go to school today.  I want to go to work with you."
me:  "You wouldn't like Mommy's work.  There's no playground and no friends and no books.  It's not very much fun.  Why would you want to go to work?"
Barrett: "I just want to be with you, Mommy," wrapping his arms around my legs and kissing them. 

Awww!

This is age 3.  A roller coaster of independence and snarly faces and backtalk and deliberately knocking glasses of milk off the table and throwing trains and cuddles and laughter and sweet kisses and sweet words and "I love you so much"s and discovery and joy.

Latest Barrett-isms

Having a 3 year old is a source of never-ending frustration and fun.  3 is definitely challenging but I will say, Barrett makes me laugh every single day.  He's so sharp, aware, and funny.  Here are the latest Barrett-isms:

B was quite interested in two dogs at his grandparents' house and kept wanting to see them and know what they were up to.
Barrett, to me: "What are the dogs' names?"
me:  "I don't know. Why don't you ask?"
Barrett:  "Maybe they don't talk"


Barrett is obsessed with his blue blanket.  He carries it constantly around the house, snuggling it and chewing on it all the time.
Daddy:  "No taking blankie into the grocery store.  You need to leave it here in the car."
Barrett:  "Okay.  I chew it really quick."
proceeds to nibble on it for a few seconds.  Then sets it aside.
Barret:  "Okay.  All done" and was ready to go.


I asked Audrey a question tonight, in the usual sing-song way of talking to an infant without expecting an answer.  Barrett decided to set me straight.
Barrett:  "Audrey doesn't talk."
me: " Well, Audrey  will talk soon!  What do you think she'll say when she will be able to talk?"
Barrett:  "'Give me back my toys.'"
Yes.  Probably.

Audrey - 16 months (nearly)

One of my nicknames for Audrey is SnuggleBug and that pretty much sums up how she is these days.  So snuggly!!!  I love it.  She lays her head in the hollow of my neck and shoulder and puts her arms around me and I just melt with the sweetness of it.  She wears my arms and back out on the weekends, because she loves me to carry her as much as possible.  She gets upset when I set her down and she still prefers her mama over anyone else.  No complaints from me!

Her latest lovebug move?  When you ask for a kiss she'll lean her head into you so you can give her one.  Awww!  I also heard from her teacher at school that when the other boys and girls are upset, she tried to calm them down.  Apparently she goes to get their toys or pacifiers and hands them to them.  Last night Barrett was wailing in time-out, which he was placed in because he pushed her.  She picked up his blanket and shuffled down the hall to take it to him. 

Also, we handed her a baby doll two weeks ago and she took that little doll, pulled it to her chest and gave it the sweetest little hug.  She's definitely a little girl!  She now likes to put the doll into a stroller and walk it around the house.  She's very interested in putting its pacifier in and taking it out. 

She says a few words regularly:  mama and uh-oh.  Some words she says infrequently:  hi, daddy (ah-ee), and more (muh).  I haven't picked up on any others yet. 

I know she's starting to understand what we're saying pretty well, since she's starting to follow some simple commands.  Like leaning in for a kiss or if I ask her to get a book, she'll go pick one out.  She lets me know what she wants by pointing and if I offer her something she doesn't want, she'll shake head head furiously or push it away.  So even though she's still not speaking a lot, her non-verbal communication is strong.

Favorite books:  Audrey's obsessed with Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  She and the speech therapist read this book weekly and so now she's obsessed with our book at home.  Whenever I try to read other books to her at bedtime, she rips them out of my hands and shoves Brown Bear in.  She does like the lift-the-flap books we have too. 

Favorite toys:  she always likes to walk around with a toy in her hand - lately it's either her little yellow duck or one of our bath books.  She takes this to daycare, in the car, to bed. 

I'll say one thing about my kids - they're obsessive.

Favorite foods:  Audrey's still on a restricted diet but that ends this week - hooray!  I am so ready to be done with this.  Making all these extra meals has been a huge pain.  She still eats pretty well but the drinking has been difficult.  She's never been too enthusiastic about drinking, starting from the bottles at the very beginning and continuing to valveless sippy cups or open top cups.  But in the last two weeks, she pretty much decided she wasn't drinking at.all.  We push and push the liquids but she still doesn't drink much.  I don't know what the deal is but it drives me crazy!

Size:  She wears size 3 diapers and is in size 12-18 month clothes.  She still wears 12 month pajamas but there isn't much additional room and I plan to move her to the 18 month now (although they seem so big!).  She is 18lbs, 10oz.  She's around the 2nd percentile for weight and I think around the 4th percentile for height.  She's only gained four ounces since her pre-op appointment six weeks ago and her height is just a tad bit more.  I'm not surprised but that was a bit of a bummer.  The first few weeks after her surgery, she lost her belly.  It's back now, but she had a lot to overcome.  I hope that she'll grow now that she can be back on her regular food again.

I think she's already figuring out how much fun it is to push her brother's buttons.  She like to grab his toys and tease him.  I don't feel too sorry for him because he instigates plenty with her too.  I think now that she's so much more active, he sees her as more of a peer so he is a little more rough-and-tumble with her than I'd like.  She usually likes it and just smiles and laughs when he's pushing her around or climbing on her but sometimes it erupts into tears.  I have to watch very closely.  Barrett definitely sees her as competition now for our attention.  He mimics all the things she does and of course the things she plays with are suddenly what he needs to play with.   

Snatching a toy from big brother and running!

I couldn't have imagined such a sweet little girl in our lives.  Everyone who knows her is head over heels in love with her.  She's so sweet, so playful and so loving!

Latest Barrett-isms

Barrett is a never-ending source of laughter these days.  Some of the latest things he's said to make us laugh...

Tonight on the way home from school:
me: "I see you didn't eat lunch today!  Why not?"
Barrett:  "I didn't like it.  I didn't like it, I didn't like the pizza, I don't like pizza bagels, I didn't like the fruit, I don't like yellow fruit, I didn't like it, I didn't like the fruit, I didn't like it... I like ice cream.  I like ice cream and candy."
oh. Okay then.

Barrett is obsessed with getting bigger and tall (like Daddy/like Mommy).  Some of the funny things he's said about that:
Barrett:  "When I grow big and tall like the sky, I won't fit in Mommy's car."

Barrett and Audrey were splashing in the tub, giggling and having fun. 
Barrett to me:  "When you get littler, you can get in the bath with us and play too."
Sorry, kid, it doesn't work that way.

Audrey's Cleft Palate Repair in Pictures

We are nearly 4 weeks out from her surgery now, and Audrey is healing like a champ.  I felt like I'd been holding my breath for the last few months in nervous anticipation of this surgery and now I can finally let it out and feel like the worst is over. 

Pre-surgery, trying to keep Audrey happy despite the early morning wake up

The Versed was kicking in!

 

I look back at these pictures and I want to cry over the images of my sweet baby girl. Seeing these brings back such awful memories of holding her in the recovery room as tight as I could and wishing I could take away her pain. It was such a terrible few days in the hospital and the first days at home. But she was such a strong little cookie and she is past it now.

Sad little girl



 

Fortunately those days went quickly and Audrey recovered amazingly.  Despite the splints, despite the food restrictions, she adjusted so well.  So proud of our sweet little girl!

 

 

Our experiences with Cleft Palate repair

I did a ton of searches on the internet over the last year to read other peoples experiences with their child's cleft palate and the repair.  I found a lot of different information all over the place.  I wanted to jot down a few of my experiences with Audrey's cleft palate repair as a reference for others who may be readying to go through the same thing.

Recommendations:
-Wear dark clothing the entire time.  I had heard this and wore a black tee and sweatshirt the day of surgery, but hadn't planned to need to wear dark colors the 2nd day onward.  But I definitely needed to, so wore the same tee the entire time at the hospital.  Even on day 6 post-op, she still drools blood during her sleep, so dark bedding and clothing would be good to have to reduce stains.

-We've always put Audrey to sleep with this seahorse and she seemed to like it so we sent it back with her during the surgery.  Well apparently it was a great decision because it was the first thing she reached for as she was waking up and she has wanted it played continuously for the days after her surgery.  It has had such a calming effect on her.  Now when we go into her room in the morning, the first thing she wants us to do it turn it on and carry it downstairs with us.  So if your child has a favorite toy or lullaby item, send it to surgery with him or her and hopefully it'll have the same effect ours did.  We did take some other familiar toys and books to the hospital, which she played with very briefly.  She just wasn't in the mood and really just wanted to be soothed the entire time.

-Audrey has to wear her no-nos (arms restraints) for three weeks.  Different doctors have different time frames.  I discovered in the hospital that having colorful covers for the no-nos is nice - we were given some at the hospital that had been tie-dyed.  Apparently a family of a daughter who'd been a long-term patient at the hospital dyes men's socks to give to patients for these covers and it's been really nice.  I'm thinking of buying some and dying them myself - they'd be pink of course!

-a handheld blender will be your best friend.  I bought this one at Costco (for $20!) a few weeks beforehand and am so glad I did.  I have used it for everything so far and it's way easier than lugging out my food processor constantly.  I'm wondering how on earth I made baby food without one of these for so long.


Like I mentioned previously, Audrey is on a puree/liquid diet only for three weeks and then soft-foods only for an additional three weeks (again, different timeframes from different doctors appears to be common).  Her weight and feeding has always been such an issue for us so I'm really trying to think of foods that she likes but can be easily eaten now.

Foods I've been feeding Audrey:
-infant oatmeal mixed with milk
-ice cream
-chobani yogurt
-regular full-fat yogurt blended with fruit
-applesauce
-pureed soups
-pudding
-mashed up bananas and avocados softened with milk
-refried beans, mixed with milk
-puree of sweet potato/chicken/grapes
-mashed potatoes, thinned with milk
-pureed fruits, vegetables, prunes

What I didn't know
- the breath.  Oh my goodness, her breath.  I didn't know that her breath would be so bad after the surgery.  I know this can happen with an infection, but really her breath has been this bad from the very beginning.  It's a sign of how much I love her that I'll still kiss her and cuddle her cheek-to-cheek when her breath is as rank as it is now. 

-the clinginess.  Audrey's always been a mama's girl, but she has been so needy and clingy lately.  There are very few times throughout the day where she'll be content without me there.  I see glimpses of her usual self occasionally, but in general, she's just been very clingy and mopey

-the bleeding.   Like I said above, she still drools blood in her sleep, so I'm washing sheets every day.  It's getting more and more diluted, so I think it will hopefully be coming to an end soon

Every day Audrey is getting better and better.  I think every child and every repair is so different.  I was expecting two weeks of up-all-nights, crying, etc but her sleep was back to normal when we came back home.  We did wake her up to give her tylenol for the first 4 days or so to keep our timetable of giving her pain meds every 6 hours consistent.  But her sleep was fine.  Maybe because her cleft was primarily in the soft palate, but our experience seems to be much better than others have been.  We feel very fortunate so far and are so happy to have this behind us right now.