It's Potty Time - Again...

Some of you might recall that about 6 months ago Annie started showing interest in the potty. Well that interest faded pretty quickly, but was recently re-sparked after a visit to our friends the McCrosky's. Annie found Madelyn's potty chair which plays music and talks to you and has some other cool features. Madelyn graciously let us borrow her potty, and it was pretty funny to see Annie try and lug it down the street to our car - she didn't want any help at all. So the day we borrowed the potty was also the day we left for our trip to Ohio so Annie really just kind of lost interest until just the other day. Now she has been going both #1 and #2 in her potty. She actually sits on it backwards for better access to the plunger and the toilet paper roll. Her teacher, Ms. Nancy thinks it will just be a week or two until she is potty trained! I guess I'll believe that when it happens...after all she hasn't agreed to use the potty at school yet.

Battle of the Veggies - Part 1

Let's call it a tie. I made Annie's favorite meal yesterday - Mac and Cheese - and thought I was being pretty cleaver by pureeing up some carrots and cauliflower to mix in with the cheese sauce. Annie was all excited because we were eating her favorite and we were eating out on the patio. I placed her plate in front of her, hidden veggies and all, she took one look at it and says "I don't want something in my mac-ma-roni." I played dumb, looking at the mac you could kinda tell that the cheese sauce was a little lumpy but not too bad - I kept my mouth shut pretending not to know what she was talking about. She looked at it, stuck her bottom lip out and furrowed her brow. A few tense seconds went by and then she finally took a bite. I laughed to myself, "Ha! Victory is mine!" She ended up taking a few more bites and washed each one down with a generous gulp of her juice. Usually she eats all the mac and cheese when we have it, but this time just 4-5 bites, but those 4-5 bites where hiding more veggies than she had eaten all week. Next stop, spaghetti with broccoli!

Splash Day!

Ok, 3 days at work was enough for me so I took today off and took the girls to the park down the street. The park has a fun water feature with fountains and bubbly streams and pools to splash around in. Annie was kind of intimidated by it until I got soaked by a sneak attack fountain. After that she was having a grand time, as long as I was not more than 3 feet away from her. This got a little more difficult after Olivia woke up from her nap. So I tried to stay in the one spot that I thought I might be safe from any water squirts to try and prevent Olive from getting soaked like the rest of us. Apparently this is a pretty popular park because about 30 minutes after we got there a whole bus load of kids showed up, and then as we were leaving another group of kids showed up.

Since Annie had been really good all morning I thought I would treat her to a happy meal lunch. Of course she went straight for the toy and the carton of milk that came with it. Finally I convinced her to eat the apple dippers. After those were gone and in an effort to make the chicken nuggets look more appealing, I took a bite thinking I would make a big deal about how great they were and perhaps Annie might take the bait and try a bite or two. I don't know how many of you have actually tried the McNuggets, but they tasted like they had been battered in a sugar and honey mixture. With that discovery and the fact that dipping the chicken in the leftover caramel sauce from her apples made them even more sweet, she gobbled them all up and then finished off my french fries. I was amazed, I've never seen her eat so much. Me on the other hand, my hamburger, blaghk! I can still taste and feel the grease gunk in my mouth. Next time, I'm going for a sugar loaded happy meal! Well maybe not...it depends on what toy they have that day...

Lunch Date

Today I met Tim for lunch at the only place we can afford now that we are paying an arm and two legs for daycare for the girls. Lucky for me, that place happens to be one of my favorite…the Sam’s Club Café. Only $3.73 got us two huge hotdogs and two huge drinks, plus a foot and a half long churro to share for dessert. Anyways, this was my first churro experience so Tim thought he might be able to make fun of me for never having tried a churro before. Then I kindly reminded him of the multitudes of food I had introduced him to, all of which I might add are more tasty than the churro was. Did you know Tim had never to his knowledge tasted the following foods until he met me?

1. An elephant ear
2. A funnel cake
3. Pork Tenderloin sandwich
4. Chubby Hubby Ice Cream

You know, all the good foods in the world. The list could go on but I don’t want to embarrass him too much….

Speaking of food, I’m going to try and get more fruits and vegetables into Annie this summer. It seems like her diet mainly consists of dairy products and chicken nuggets. We've already replaced popsicles with yogurt and berry popsicles. I borrowed a book from the library that has recipes where you puree the veggies and then hide them in favorite foods…for example – puree cauliflower and mix it into mac and cheese. Or puree strawberries and mix it in with her milk. I’m sure she will go crazy for that. She loves milk and the color pink so much, I’m sure she will flip over pink tinted milk. I might start added purees to my foods, I’m not a big veggie eater myself. I am a little worried that if I trick her into eating veggies she’ll never eat them when they aren't hidden.

It's Your Birthday!

Today we were walking out of school and Annie told me that it was her Birthday. I told her, no you're confused, your birthday isn't for a few more months. I went on to tell her that the next birthday was going to be Uncle Tony's, and then mine, and then Uncle Justin's, Kyle's Luke's, Aunt Andrea's, Daddy's...etc. The she told me she was going to get Tony some polka dots because he would like them. More specifically she was going to get him some purple polka dots. I'm not sure that she even knows what polka dots are! After that she told me it was going to be her birthday next. I said we would see...

Olivia - 3 Months Old

Olivia turned 3 months old last Thursday and she is a very good and happy baby, always talking too! She is also very strong and sometimes she tries to pull herself up to sitting when you are cradling her in your arms. I can't wait to see more of her personality soon.

Back to School/Work

Today was my first day back to work and Olivia's first day to school. It was kinda tough because Annie decided that she didn't want to go to bed the night before and I was awake thinking about all the things Olivia needed for the next day...needless to say the only person who got a good nights rest was Olivia who was oblivious to everything going on. The next morning I let Annie sleep in so that she wouldn't be a bear to her teachers which got me and the girls out the door...finally!...around 8:30. I dumped Annie the grouch in her room and headed towards the nursery, which they call the Nido (is that French for something? Who knows...) Her new teacher (Ms. A) greeted me and helped me get her set for the day. Kinda hard to understand her, she is a sweet Asian lady who speaks very fast and happy broken English. Luckily there is an other teacher in her room, Ms. Hannah who speaks English pretty clearly. So I left her there...she smiled at me through the wall of windows...no idea that I wouldn't be back for a baby's eternity. Oh well, on to work! Not much going on there, I finished up some training classes I missed while out and cleaned up my mailbox...went to lunch, started a new/old project, got kinda tired of being there so I left early to pick up the girls. Maybe tomorrow will be better!

When I got to Olivia's room, Ms. A filled me in on Olivia's day...from what I gathered, it went pretty well for her...sounded something like this... "Oh baby so sweet she happy smiles all day she poopoo she laugh and smile and talkie talk all day, she not like bottle then she hungry she say no no no bottle but she hungry she drink bottle then she sleep so happy, wake up no cry, smile laugh so happy baby so sweet" Sounds good to me!

The Nues You Need To Know...

So nobody claimed responsibility for being the 3000th visitor to our blog-sweet-blog, shame on you visitor number 3000! I guess it's better this way, now everyone will get a share of the prize! I know that you all are just dying to read our updated blog on a day to day basis (or for some, maybe hour to hour). For a limited time you (yes you) can have the Nuetzel Nues delivered straight to your inbox! How is this possible? Simply click on the link labeled "Subscribe to the Nuetzel Family by email" which is located just below our family picture on the upper left side of this page and provide your email address...anything that we report on will be automatically sent to your email account for you to enjoy, or deposit straight into your recycle bin... I say enjoy!

3000!

Okay, Just glanced at the counter and the next person to look at our blog will be...THE 3000th PERSON TO VISIT OUR BLOG! If you notice that it is you, leave a comment or email me and I will send you a special surprise...bet you wish it will be you!

We're Motor Skating Now!

Yesterday we had a play date with Abby and Zoe who live down the street. It was the first time the girls had met and it took a long time for Annie to warm up. Finally they found some common ground...they all discovered that there was a big red with purple polka dots train in the back yard. I'm not sure what they all were talking about because I didn't see anything of the sort, but none the less I received a ticket (a handful of grass) to ride the train. Annie had a great time and all afternoon kept asking about her new friend Zoe...should we share our Popsicles with Zoe, does Zoe want to color with us, should we go to Zoe's house?

Later that afternoon Annie tried out her "motor-skates" as she likes to call them. She was doing great until 5 seconds after this last photo...she ended up flat on her back with a sore noggin. Later she said, "I have an idea!" Usually she says this and then doesn't tell you her idea, but this time she ended up saying.."I have an idea! Maybe we should motor-skate in the grass" Genius!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We started this weekend with a quick one night camping trip to the Rampart Range to meet our friends Tim and Erin for a hike to the top of a fire lookout tower. This is the same hike we did, just about the same time last year, or was it two years ago, can't remember, but I do remember that I blogged about it. Anyways, we met Tim and Erin Friday night and set up camp, roasted some marshmallows and Annie and I shared one of her newest favorite drink "soda pop." She had just enough to make her want to stay up until 11:30, then of course she woke up early early, and didn't have a nap on Saturday, so needless to say, the drive home on Saturday morning and the rest of the day was pretty fun (not!). Today we woke up and I reminded Annie that it was Father's Day. Since she had already given him his Father's Day present, (a "water" coosie she decorated for him at school) I asked if she wanted to make a special breakfast for him to celebrate. She replied that no, he can make his own breakfast himself. After breakfast we headed to the Cherry Creek Res. beach. I really wanted to make a cool sand castle, but each time I got anything good done Annie came and stomped it down. I even made a decoy castle but that didn't keep her busy enough to keep her away from the real one until it was done. Oh well! It was also Olivia's fist trip to the beach. She slept under the umbrella most of the time we were there, and when she woke up we played in the water and buried her feet in the sand. She came home covered in sand thanks to Annie the castle destroyer...This afternoon we all (except Tim) took long naps to make up for Friday night. Not sure what Tim did while all the girls were asleep, hopefully something fun!

A new summer do for Annie

We headed out this morning to get a few of Annie's hairs cut...we asked for the "Suri", but ended up with the "Annie" complete with ribbon and glittered hairspray, much more cute, I think!

What's the difference between a baby?

A lot of people have asked me if and how Annie and Olivia are different. My answer was that I didn't know because I hardly remember Annie being a baby and Olivia is just starting to show her personality. I can tell you that right now the difference is that Olivia is sleeping soundly and Annie is up in her room crying for more milk, or more toothpaste, or someone else to say goodnight too. (While we were on vacation she told me in an attempt to delay falling asleep that she wanted to say goodnight to "that Monster". That didn't really work. What did work was the next night when she said she wanted to say goodnight to "That Man". What man? I asked. She pointed over my shoulder and said "That Yellow Man". Okay, that kinda freaked me out and I was the one not getting much sleep that night thinking she had really seen some mysterious Yellow Man...but back to the post at hand) So the differences that I have noticed between the 2 babies...They have differently shaped eyes, Olivia looks chubbier than I remember Annie being. Olivia needs to be held when she is tired, but doesn't really want to be held when she is awake. Annie would fall asleep on her own. Olivia talks a lot more than Annie did and her cry is a lot louder too. Annie's cry could barely be heard from the next room. Olivia is already starting to be afraid of things, namely Annie, and Annie was pretty much fearless until a few months ago. That is about all I can think of that is different between the two, after all Olive has only been around for a few months, sometimes I don't think I even know her at all yet! I guess the same thing applies to Annie though too.

Olivia in her Baptisimal Gown

Home Sweet Home

Well we are back from our trip to Ohio and have a lot to report so this may be a long post! The whole trip started out a bit shaky thanks to the helpful people who work at United (not!). We got to the ticket counter and our tickets wouldn't show up when we swiped our card like it should have. Since everything to do with checking in is automated now there were about 4 agents just staring at us while we tried to lure them over to our station to help. After throwing Annie at them one finally came over to see what they could do. So with that finally figured out, we got Tim a pass to walk us back to the airplane. That took about 2 hours because Annie was still limping from her collision with the ticketing agents so we were the last to get to the plane. Believe it or not, it is United's policy to seat families in the very last row of the airplane. Tim kissed us all goodbye and handed me Annie's 20 pound seat. I had Olive strapped to me in my sling, and had the carseat in one hand and Annie (who didn't want to go in the correct direction) in my other hand. We walked down the jetway to the smallest "bridge" from the jetway to the plane. Of course Annie didn't want to cross it and of course the stewardess standing in the plane didn't want to help me either. So anyways, to make a long story short, there was a lot of crying for the first 20 minutes of the flight from all Nuetzel's involved...and I'd also like to add they didn't offer the last row of the plane any refreshments either! Jerks.

Onto Ohio! We landed in Dayton around 12 am and headed to the hotel I booked thinking that we would get more sleep staying in town rather than driving to Lima (not!). Annie was so excited to see Nana and visa versa that we didn't get to sleep until 2 am. And then Nana says this isn't the case, but Nana woke Annie up at 8 am while I was in the bathroom, so we only got like 6 hours of sleep. But on the other hand we got the hotel room for $20 less than I booked it for and I'm not positive but I think someone in Greeley got the bill for it. At least that is what the receipt said!

Onto Lima! Well the whole week was a blur, but we did arrive to find out that there were reports of a panther on the loose within a few blocks of where Nana and Papa live. People had reported seeing it chasing a deer across a field, killing barn cats, creating havoc and being a sourse of jokes at the Rondot house. Later in the week it was found out that the panther was really just an oversized breed of cat that was once used to kill rats on ships. Makes you wonder how this cat ended up living in the woods of BFE.

Anyways, what did we do? We went to visit my Grandpa Miller...

We went to a carnival were you could win a cake for 10 cents, or win a crappy prize for $2.00, or decided you want to ride a pony only to change your mind and then get talked into riding a pony but not like it one bit. Speaking of bits, or should I say bites, Annie decided that her cousin Kyle tasted tasty so she took a bite out of his back one night...she's really sorry for that! Anyways, here is the whole gang (Annie and her cousins) with the $10 worth of prizes from the go fish game. Kyle is the taste cutie with the baseball bat which he should have used to defend himself against Annie and her teeth.

What else did we do? We swam a lot in Nana and Papa's pond, fed their baby ducks, set them free and then decided we wanted them back in their pen, almost got blown away during a storm that caused several tornadoes around the county, played in the golf course sprinklers, rode the Papa ride (the golf cart) and the other Papa ride (the tractor).

The main reason we were back in Ohio was to have Olivia baptised, here are a few pics of the ceremony as well as some of her in her gown which I designed and did the embroidery on, Nana sewed it all together just in the nick of time.

The whole time we were in Ohio I kept thinking how nice it was to be back home and especially so this time because Annie's cousins Luke and Kyle stayed at Nana's house, and John is living in Lima again so we saw everyone a lot more than we normally do, and believe it or not while we were leaving for the airport on our last day I was seriously thinking that it wouldn't be all that bad to live in Lima...crazy! I guess we will have to wait and see which Home Sweet Home, Denver or Ohio wins out in the end. ps, check out our photo album, I'll be putting more photos of our trip in there soon.