Diane's Title goes Here !!! she's got nothin'

Slow blink. Anyone know what a slow blink is besides Diane? It is when I turn and look at her after she makes a completely silly comment about something nonsensicle and very very very slooooowwwwwllllly blink my eyes in response to her comment. Diane is now "very offended and stuff". I asked her what the "and stuff" part includes and I get my usual response that I give her, 'dont you worry about what and stuff is". Enough quibbling, on with the weekend....

Four score and four days ago, we were all excited about going on vacation for a long weekend up to Grand Lake without the kids. This vacation has been in the works now for two months. We had to plan that far ahead in order to line up the baby sitter to watch the kids. We tried teaching the dogs to watch them, bathe them, feed them, change diapers etc, but I guess old dogs cant learn new tricks. Allie's idea of giving them a bath was to lick the graham crackers off of their hands. Guinness is the disciplinarian of the two. He likes to growl at them if he doesnt want to be disturbed. So, that plan just wasnt working out.

Diane has a great friend in Suzanne that volunteered to watch them for us for the whole weekend. We were originally going to come back on Saturday, but she insisted on us staying until Sunday. Bless her soul, that is what makes a real friend. So, Sunday it was. Her daughter Grace and Suzanne were going to watch our kids. They did a trial stay for us on the Rockies opening day where we went to the baseball game and stayed overnight downtown after the game.

Leading up to the weekend was pretty typical. Diane was paranoid that Wes or Mia were going to hijack a car or hold up a bank or something and we werent going to be able to go. She was following them around making sure they stayed out of trouble, stayed off the tables, didnt climb up onto the couches so they didnt fall off the back and break a limb. But, she was not able to keep daycare from revealing its wrath. The daycare attendee told us on Wednesday that Wes was really fussy and was crying all day. We just wrote it off as she didnt know how to distract him since she was new, or his teeth were still bothering him. He acted pretty good that evening for us, so we didnt give it a second thought. He also had a little spit up of his milk after dinner which we didnt think much of either. La La La, we are going on vacation....no kids, just beer and late nights for the both of us. We were destined to stay up until 10 even if it killed us.

Then all of our months of detailed planning fell apart. During the night, or early morning sometime, Wes puked on his bed. It was only a little one, so the plan goes on. We warm up the bottles, feed them both. They are both acting fine, lots of energy, throwing things they shouldnt be throwing, getting into things they arent supposed to be getting into. Wes had a wet burp, followed by another wet burp, then a cottage cheese throwup, however small it was. So we let them rest in their rooms while we get ready, hoping for the best, but really knowing in the backs of our minds, this isnt going to turn out well.

Time for breakfast. We give Wes some water thinking it would be better for his tummy than milk. Five minutes later, he projectile vomits. More water, more projectile vomiting. We take away the water, Wes screams. Cussing could be heard in the distance, must be the neighbors arguing again. We give Mia breakfast, at least she isnt sick too. Time to call Suzanne and let her know the story.

Amazingly, Suzanne tells us, "No problem, I've taken care of a sick kid before". Very hesitantly, Diane agrees to go ahead with our plans. Wes has actually been acting very normal so far except for the vomiting. He finally hit a wall around 9:30 and fell asleep on a pillow on the living room floor. Mia was constantly going up to him and rubbing his back and saying his name. After the two hour baby sitting orientation course, we are ready to leave. The course includes very detailed directions on how to do everything from changing a diaper, to feeding rituals and tieing your shoes. Thanks to Suzanne and Grace for being as patient as I am everyday in completing the course. Your diploma will be mailed in six weeks.

We were hoping for the best, hoping it is only a 24 hour bug. Wes didnt throw up anymore after we left. He was acting better and started getting into trouble again. Then Friday afternoon crept up on them. It was Mia's turn. She threw up 6 times in two hours right around bed time. Poor poor baby sitters, we felt so sorry for what they are going through.

So you are saying, at least the two of you get to enjoy your time away. Think again. Diane started getting sick on Friday afternoon. She took a nice nap instead of shopping while I went and played golf. I knew right then she couldnt be feeling good. The next morning Diane was walking around like a hunchback, moaning like a zombie and snarling like I pissed her off. She had spent the whole night, how to put this....in the bathroom. She couldnt decide if she wanted to sit on the toilet or hug it like her best friend. The noises eminating from in there kept me awake most of the night, I cant imaging what the people next door thought we were into. She was pretty much sick the rest of the day. She took a nice nap that afternoon after going into town and walking for five minutes, sitting for fifteen and repeating the process. I think she is really happy that it is a small town.

By the end of the day Saturday, she was feeling better but not 100%. We were able to go out to eat where I had an amazing smoked elk sausage and poorly smoked buffalo ribs. We then headed to a brewery where she was nice enough to let me drink a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel. Come to find out later that the hugging of la toilette ritual was also being performed back home by Grace. Now that is a babysitter taking one for the team.

We came back on Sunday late morning. Everything looked good, the kids were happy to see us and we think Suzanne and Grace were happy to see us show up too. Giving thanks to them cant show how much we really appreciate everything they did for us while we were gone. Although everthing didnt go as planned, it was good to get away for the weekend and had a nice time.

Soap Box

I'm looking for some sympathy. I just got home from work the other day and was sitting on the couch. Diane did a little of her favorite hobby, shopping, after work. Pretty much the first words out of her mouth was "This is a very nice box !!!" I was like, the usual, what? I dont understand what you are talking about. Sitting on the floor was a box, a plain brown box probably 18" in each direction. She repeats, "This box, it is a really nice box." So, I was like, what makes that box soooo much nicer than any of the other really nice boxes you have stored in the basement, in the garage, in the closet upstairs and I'm sure she has some secret stash of boxes someplace that I havent discovered yet. She replies, it doesnt have any writing on it so when I mail something in it, I wont have to scratch anything out. Ok then.

What is up with the kids you ask. Driving Diane insane is Wes' priority. He likes to stand right next to her, hug her leg and scream "up", very loudly. He will scream for 20 minutes straight without stopping until she gives him her attention. Gotta love it. He also likes to crawl up onto the coffee table and dance for us. He knows lots of words and discovered he could kick a ball last week. He thought it was awesome using his leg for something other than walking and running. He has his four pointy teeth coming in at the same time. He likes to line up his farm animals and play with them. He also loves knocking down block towers.

Mia is her usual sweet self. She spends most of her time defending herself from Wes. She knows lots of words and taught Wes how to climb up onto the coffee table. She is a go getter. She also learned how to kick a ball last week. The ball is almost as tall as she is though. She likes to take the barnyard sheep and walk around the room with it in her hand going bah bah!!! There isnt a block tower that lasts more than 30 seconds around her.

They just had their 18 month checkup last week. Mia still isnt 20 lbs yet, but really close and is 30.25 inches tall. Wes weighed in at 25 lbs and has a vertical reach of 31.5 inches. Mia is at the very bottom of the growth charts and Wes is about the middle. Both of them checked out to be very healthy. We bought them their first potty last week. They havent used it yet, but like to sit on it and take it apart. We just bought them a sandbox today, but they havent had a chance to play with it. See the other post from today.

Wes thinks that anything that is round is a ball. He calls blueberries, "ball", the canteloupe on the counter, "ball", the potato we give him to chew on because his teeth hurt "ball". Since he likes to chew on the little fingerling potato, we started calling him tater...then in recognition of Ron White, it evolved into Tater Salad.

Here are some pictures. Thanks to Dianes mom, my favorite mother in law, for the outfits. They look adorable in them.

Twisted Pretzels

What has the world came to. I was sitting home while the kids were napping and Diane was out shopping for a new purse or something. Tiger Woods was making another amazing comeback in a golf tournament. Seems just like any other day here at the Tepen's. Then all of the sudden sirens start blaring, the dogs are up pacing around acting all nervous. I was like what the heck is going on. I walk out onto the back deck and look around, nothing too special, the typical afternoon thunderstorms we get. More sirens going off now, I'm thinking, uh-oh better wake the kids and head to the basement. It wasnt even raining yet. As I was walking towards the stairs, I glance towards the front door and have to take a second glance because I couldnt believe I saw what I thought I saw. I walk out onto the front porch for a better look. The neighbors are all out looking up at the sky. Lo and behold a funnel cloud. It wasnt anything too special at first, just a small little dropdown. I was thinking, all this noise for this little thing? Well, it didnt take very long to grow. It was not very far away from the house. I felt some relief that it was a few miles away, but still an amazing sight watching it grow from basically nothing to a full fledge tornado. Now it wasnt one of those big midwest cat 5 ones, but pretty good for Colorado.

Wes and Mia preparing for our big storm:

Progress of the funnel cloud as it passed us by