ONU Homecoming

This last weekend, our family traveled with Stephen's mom and dad to Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois for homecoming. This is the university where Stephen's grandpa went to school, his parents met, he went to school, and where he proposed to me, so it's got sentimental value oozing from every building. :)

The kids travel very well, and in no time we made it to Bourbonnais (3-4 hours away). We stopped for lunch @ a McDonald's with a super-cool playplace, so the kids got to burn off some extra energy. There was a minor scare when it was time to go. Katy had come out of her "one more time" through the slide, but Caleb didn't. After waiting a bit, we sent Katy in to look for Caleb and bring him out. She came out saying that Caleb wasn't in there. Coming from a girl who has difficulty seeing things right in front of her, this didn't mean a lot. So Daddy volunteered to remove his shoes and look around. When HE came out saying that Caleb wasn't in there, I confess to a moment of panic. (Aside: I'm not a mom who has to see her kids at all times to know they're ok, but Caleb is only two, and loves his own gender so much that he would gladly walk away with any male, especially if they're around grandpa age.) We looked closely one more time, and we were very relieved to see him hiding in another part of the play area. Hiding, you see, because he had pooped his pants.

Great.

Stephen -- who is assigned to boy clean up -- said it was the worst clean up job he had even encountered. I'm inclined to believe him, because he came out of the RR with two smears of poop on his forearms.

When Capt. McStinky was strapped in, we went to the campus to pick up our tickets.
Sadly, the music department canceled the afternoon concert (BOO!!), so now we just had the football game and the evening planetarium show.

The football game was versus Taylor University, where my father-in-law taught for many years. He was pleased because he couldn't lose either way, but the rest of us had more at stake. The kiddos liked the cheering, but they LOVED the marching band and mascot. As it turns out, the mascot was a guy who goes to our church. (Hi, Ben!) Katy got her picture taken with Toby the Tiger and could have died a happy girl. :) The Tigers didn't win the football game, but we didn't even stick around for the end. Having missed naptime, the kiddos were fading fast. They fell asleep on the way to the restaurant, and I stayed with them in the car to let them have a little rest.

We got to eat with Sarah's brothers and their wives -- always a treat. The kids were about sleeping on the table until our wonderful server brought out their meals early. THANK YOU!


After supper, it was time for the planetarium show. ONU is one of three digital planetariums in the state of Illinois, and it was a great show. The kids got to see how small we are in our universe, some cool constellations, and a laser light show. Great end to a great evening.

The drive back was even good because I didn't have to do any of it. :) Thanks, Mom and Dad! We love spending time with you and thoroughly enjoy having kids close to their grandparents.

Hopefully I'll be able to add some pictures later when I've got my camera cord with me.

Looking Forward to Christmas

I LOVE having kids this time of year. I am looking forward to helping my kiddos learn why we celebrate Christmas. We have a large tree up in the front room, and a tabletop tree in the kids room. (LORD -- please protect my ornaments!!) It was quite the treat to decorate the tree with Katy because each ornament was new again, and it was as if each one was a present for her. We let them put up ornaments that are theirs, like the "Baby's First Christmas" etc. Each time I handed one to her, I got this huge response: "Thaaaaaaank you, Mommy! This is goooooooooooorgeous!" (Yeah -- she's only three.) So it's been super fun.

Caleb-boy has been adjusting well to life outside the crib. He usually wakes up with 10 books in his bed, body out from under the covers. He is normally a very light sleeper, but every once in a while he just doesn't wake up when I open the door. Here's a picture of how I found him the other day.

What a cutie!

Big Feet

I seem to post in spurts, because this is the second one of the day.

Back when I was pregnant with Katy, the ultrasound tech was ::ahem:: flabbergasted at the size of her feet. She maintained that shocking foot size for about the first 18 months, but it's kind of evened out now. Imagine my surprise when I was in for Caleb's ultrasound and the same ::ahem:: flabbergastedness occurred.

Fast-forward to today...

I just got back from Muncie with my two kiddos. We were shopping with Mamaw, Nathan, Aunt Sandy, and Aunt Karen. One of the goals of the day was to pick up a first pair of shoes for my beloved son who has hard-to-fit feet. That's mostly because they're shaped like this:




So we went to a specialty shoe store to get his feet measured and to buy a pair of shoes that fit properly. After waking him up to stand and put his foot on the measuring doodad, we discovered that his size is 6EE (or 6XW or 62E). YIKES! He's only 13 months old! So here's what we got for Mr. Megafoot.


Of course, now that I have purchased these, he will need the next size tomorrow. :)

Ch-ch-ch-CHANGES

I've been writing this since Feb. 17th. Sad, isn't it, how I can't even finish posting before I have to move on to something else? Anyway, you need to read a few things as they were written a couple of weeks ago...

It's been a big week here en la Casa Swan.

#1 - Last Saturday, I took Katy and Caleb to Muncie. While we were away, Stephen moved Caleb's crib into Katy's room, making the New and Improved KID ROOM! We were very excited not to have to roll Caleb out into the den/office every night, but our excitement may not have spread to the entire family. When we got home, I showed Katy the new setup, and she said nothing. She played around for a while, both in the room and out. Later, as I was working in the living room, I heard some thuds and thumps coming from Katy's room -- whoops! I should say, "the KIDS' room." Anyway, the thuds were the sounds of the crib hitting the door posts as Katy said, "Caleb, look what I've got for you!" I told her that Caleb was going to sleep in her room now. She wasn't fond of the idea at first, but she loves it now.

#2 - I attempted my first haircut on Caleb. I am pleased at how it looks, even though I would like to trim some more, and I am pleased that he didn't lose an ear or finger in the process. He tried to turn and grab the scissors a couple of time, but he didn't get them.

.........................................................................
Ok. Back to real time.
The sleep thing is still going well, and Caleb's hair looks fab. :)

#3 - I have finally hit the "10 Pounds Lost" mark, and I would not like to find those pounds again. :) I definitely am feeling healthier, but I hope to be able to do a little more walking etc. when the weather turns nicer. I have also lost about 4 inches according to the measurements that Curves takes. Unfortunately,

#4 - This is a big one. I am about 10 days away from being finished with the required courses for my master's degree. Originally, I had planned to be completely done at this point, electives included, but originally I didn't plan on having Caleb, so those electives will wait till this summer. I should be graduating in August. Hooray! On the downside, I'm having trouble justifying the expense of getting my degree while only working part-time. It's something I'll have to be thinking about as I consider job opportunities for the fall.

#5 - We have officially entered the cool group known as PTPs, or "Potty Training Parents." If you've been through it, please pray for us. If you haven't, count yourself lucky. :) Actually, Katy's doing pretty well. After changing two years of diapers, having her go in the toilet is a grand and glorious thing.

Well, it's time to pay some bills, so off I go.

A Storm is Coming...

My children are a joy to me, and I have come to appreciate playing with Katy, cooing with Caleb... all those warm, fuzzy, Hallmark-esque moments.


This is not one of those moments. At least it wasn't when I was experiencing it.


Caleb has been a little more fussy than normal because of thrush, and it has become more difficult (during the day, especially) to soothe him into eating or sleeping. So I was pleased when I was able to get him to eat and on his way to Sleepytown. However, Katy had other plans. While I was shushing and rocking Caleb, Katy's cold medicine was making her NUTS! :) She picked up a small trash can that I had recently emptied and first made it into a
drum. Right beside the chair where I was rocking. Great. So I asked her to take it into another room. Of course, my obedient daughter moved on, but her methods had changed. Instead of a drum, the empty trash can was now a sound effect machine. She tossed the can up into the air, let it clatter and bounce on the hardwood floors while screaming, "THUNNNNNDERRRRRR!!!!!!" at the top of her lungs. After a few rounds of these interior weather phenomena, I was about ready to zap her with my furious laser eyes. Instead, I put him down in his crib, quickly scooped up the weather girl, and put her down for a nap. Whew. Caleb got a little more rocking time and went down also. Crisis handled, and all kids survived.

When I was sharing with Stephen about this harrowing incident, instead of expressing sympathy for his poor wife, he nearly fell to the floor with laughter. ("How like a man!" for all you Anne of Green Gables series fans.) Then God reminded me that I, too, had a sense of humor, and that this moment required its use.

I whine a lot more than I should about staying home with my kids, especially when I consider all the women who would love to be able to do so. I don't feel like I want to or am even able to stay home all the time, but I do want to be able to appreciate the summers that I can spend with my little gems.

We're Having FUN Here!

The title of this post is a quote from my all-time favorite movie musical, State Fair. And while it's not quite time for the State Fair, it IS time for the county fair. I was slightly surprised at the timing of this year's fair. Every year that I have lived in Marion (almost 10 if you count college), the county fair was the same week as my church's district campmeeting. Being raised as well I was (thanks, Momma and Daddy), I know that church comes first. This year, for some reason, they are different! Yippee!! The kids and I have actually been to the fair twice now, since Stephen could only go on Monday, and my parents could only go on Tuesday. When we go, I like to see all the crafts and livestock submitted by kids I know either from church or school, and some from kids of people who work at IWU with Stephen. Here are some of the pictures from Tuesday...





Katy getting a good look at a goat









Katy investigates a pig. (She snuck up on this one, and when it turned around, she quickly backed away. Smart girl.) :)






Here is Katy almost getting brave enough to pet the calf. Most times we would ask her if she wanted to touch it, she would lean forward, and then back away, saying, "Noooo.....hee hee hee!" It was almost as if the laugh was saying, "Silly! Why would I want to touch that?"











Caleb had obviously had enough excitement to last him for months... By the way, on Friday he was up to 9 pounds, 9.9 ounces. (YESSSS!!)




















Mom & Katy with Caleb & me, strolling around the fairgrounds. I don't know about the rest of my group, but I had a great time.