Our Boy is One!

I am trying hard to not give in to the idea that Wilson is already experiencing the life of a second child. I feel bad because he turned one over a month ago and I still have not written anything about what he's doing in this new phase of life! Oh well, I know I just need to take the pressure off :)

Wilson has been such a joy. He is ALL boy! It has been so fun to see him do the boy thing. Here are some things I want to remember about the first year (and even a few I would be fine to forget):

* His favorite toy to play with is a ball or anything he can pretend is a ball (aka an orange, apple, etc). He will throw it and chase after it himself.
*We have a doggy door (see picture below) and Wilson crawls through it daily. No telling what our neighbors must think watching our one year old go in and out like a little pup. We used to try to fight it. Now we just sit back and laugh...that is until he starts eating our dog's food from the bowl. We'll let you decide whether or not you think that has happened a couple of times already.
* He loves music. He loves drums. When he is dancing and he really gets going he puts his hands down behind his back and just bounces up and down.
* He loves to tease. He teases his sister (to which she responds appropriately half the time). He will pretend he is going to take something, throw something, or even hit something until he gets a reaction out of whomever he is teasing.
*He is walking now. He is still a bit wobbly but right around his first birthday he started taking steps.
*When you ask him for a kiss he leans his forehead into your lips so you can give him a kiss.
* If he is having troubles sleeping he still loves to cuddle.
* He adores Lillian and she adores him. I love watching their relationship develop. She is learning how to include him in what she is doing but she is also understanding that he just wants to follow her around.
* He says "Dad" and "ball" pretty well but he still is not too interested in saying much more (at least in a language we can understand. But he likes to talk!).
* He loves to sing songs (and do the motions). Anytime he is fussy I will hear Lillian start to sing him a song, always starting with her ABC's.
* He took a long time to sleep through the night...really not until he was close to a year did it happen consistently. After we set his surgery for tubes and the doctor told me he had basically had fluid in his ears since his first ear infection (at 4 months!), I found some compassion for his lack of sleep.
*Though he doesn't always want to go to sleep, whenever he's really tired he'll just grab his blanket and lay flat on the wood floor. Its seems to be his way of raising the white flag and saying "take me to bed."

We thank God every day for the joy of being Wilson's parents! He is such a delight to us.

Lisa and Daniel

Beginnings and Ends

This last week has been full of firsts and lasts. So often we commemorate the firsts of life but often times we forget to note the lasts. Here are a few first and a few lasts from recent days.

Wilson took his first steps this last week. They were so wobbling and unsure but he was so excited. His sister was sooooo excited for him. She is so proud of her little brother.
He also nursed for the last time. I don't know that he has cared a bit and although I am excited with my new found freedom I am reminded that my little man is growing up.

We spoke our last words to our dear friend Bart Phillips on Tuesday as he passed away Thursday night. Daniel did his funeral service yesterday and it was lovely. It was so honoring and God's presence just rested in that room. Bart left behind his 3 boys (12 and under) and his amazing wife Suzi. We had planned to have dinner with Bart and Suzi on Sunday night. Suzi's strength in the last few days has been so inspiring to me as well as challenging me and my faith in my Lord.

Wilson had surgery this morning to put tubes in his ears. It was a first for Daniel and I to have to hand our child over to a medical team and trust them to take care of our baby. Although the procedure was quick and uncomplicated anytime a person has anesthesia there is a faith that we must put in professionals and ultimately our Lord.

For the first time this week Lillian talked about not wanting to be apart from her brother because she would miss him. I pray that continues all her life. I was getting ready to leave her at The Playroom and I considered taking Wilson with me but she was not having it because she knew that she would miss him if he was not there with her. I love that!

This week has sure been an emotional one. We've ridden the roller coaster of emotions way up high this week and way down low as well. I thank God that He knows my thoughts and my feelings even before I do! He is not surprised by anything.

It really is the small things

 I am looking out my window watching the trees in my backyard bend from the breeze. These large organisms giving way to something bigger than themselves but yet is unseen. Often in the evening after the kids are in bed Daniel and I love to lay in our hammock. Even though we live in the middle of a neighborhood the trees in our backyard sort of shelter us from the neighbors and it kind of feels like we are in our own world. We dream about what is "out there" in the world around us and remind ourselves of how big our God is and yet how much He cares about each one of us!

There are certain times in life that leave us more reflective and this is one of those times. I want to cherish life, drink it up, love my kids, my family, and my friends. I want to talk to people, get to know their story, have conversations, talk to my kids, I mean really talk to my kids, I also want to listen a lot. I want to serve our God with all I have. I am thankful that I serve a big God. One that holds the world in His hands. Life truly is made up of the small moments.

Here are a few of my favorite moments of late:

Lillianisms

Lillian is at it again saying the sweetest and most hilarious things. Wilson continues to prove himself to be a boy by grunting, barking, breaking and sliding down things (like stairs!). I'm the luckiest dad in the world. Here are a couple recent Lillianisms from our three year old that I hope you'll find entertaining:

1. Yesterday Lisa put Lillian to work in the kitchen shucking fresh peas for a salad. As she stood atop her step-stool she wore her pink, sparkling princess dress and high heels. Lillian gave a running commentary about each individual pea. One of them Lillian described as "huge". And then she said, "Mommy, 'huge' is another word for 'big.'" Lisa asked her if she could think of another word for big. Lillian fired off "massive." When asked if she knew yet another synonym for big, she said "gargantuan. Daddy says that word." What Lillian doesn't know is that I didn't know what gargantuan was until I was 18.

2. This morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table with Lillian and Wilson feeding them breakfast. I was thanking God out loud for having a job that I love, and in a time like this, for just having a job. I could tell Lillian was taking it all in, her dad talking out loud to God. She's learning that this is prayer. And so I said, "Lillian, do you know that I love my job?" She nodded and then said as energetically as she could, "Daddy, I love my job, too. I get to stay at home all day and play!" Priceless.

3. We then left the breakfast table and Lillian followed me up to my bathroom to watch me shave. She and her pink stuffed bunny took up their front row seats on the closed toilet lid. As I applied the shaving cream, Lillian asked, "Daddy, why do you use shaving cream?" I told her it keeps my skin from getting irritated. She followed up with an appropriate question: "You use shaving cream because you don't want to cut your face off?"I responded in the affirmative.

That's it for now. Come see us...but only if you want to laugh!

Much love,

Daniel, Lisa, Lillian and Wilson

Chicago, Wedding, Home, Tulsa, Wedding

Well we are home after doing some traveling for weddings! It has been a fun few weeks but I must admit I am glad to be home and getting back in to a "normal" routine!

The morning of July 7th we flew to Chicago. We had the 6am flight out of Denver! We debated on getting a hotel in Denver that night but then I decided that the hour or so of sleep we would save in the morning we would probably loose the night before trying to get the kids to sleep in a different place. So at the last minute we opted to sleep in our own beds for our short night. We got to Chicago and got our rental car without any problems! It went really well. We spent Thursday with my best friend Kristin as well as seeing my dear friend and roommate from college Alissa and her two boys (one of which is a day younger than Wilson). We also got to see one of my WVHS basketball buddies Dani Becker. It was fun to walk around downtown Naperville although it was hot and crowded! :) It meant a lot to me to have friends take time out of their days and get to hang!

We spent the night at the Ostergaards and loved it. The next morning we were able to take a walk to the park Kristin and I grew up playing at and let our kids play! I must admit it was somewhat surreal to have our kids playing there together.

Friday night we headed into the city for my cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner. I so loved being in the city. I really miss Chicago. It was fun because my parents where there as well as my brother Kevin and his family. The remaining nights of our trip we spent at our friends the Beatties. They were our families best friends during our time in Naperville. They were our "family" in Naperville.  Saturday was the first birthday for my niece Chloe! We got to have some cake and then we headed to the city for the wedding.

The wedding was at a lovely church downtown and the reception was at the Willis Tower (formally the Sears Tower). That was exciting. We got to stand on the Sky Ledge (Daniel was not happy about that) and enjoy seeing the city. My dad worked at the Sears Tower during our time in the Chicago area so it was fun for him to be there. Sunday Daniel and the kids and I spent our day downtown walking around and ended it with some Chicago Pizza!

Wilson leaning on the glass on the sky deck. Daniel was not happy!

Mom and her siblings and mother

Lillian and Cooper

After arriving back in Denver early on Monday morning the kids and I began to pack for our trip to Tulsa. We left on Friday morning. Daniel's sister Anna was married in Tulsa on July 23rd! It was lovely. We had a great 10 days in Tulsa with my family as well as his family. The kids as well as Daniel and I were  a part of Anna and Stephen's special day. We drove to Tulsa and I must admit it is a little more relaxing to drive with two kids rather than flying with two kids! We can stop and get out whenever we need too.

Unfortunately I hardly got any pictures during the wedding day, but here are a few others from the week.

Bridal Luncheon

The "Grothe" Ladies

Eating cupcakes to celebrate Taylor's birthday 

My boys

It was great to hang with Nana and Pops...and boy did we need their help!

Cousins

Things at home are back in full swing. Church, work, The Children's Playroom, doctors appointments, dentist appointments...welcome back to real life!

Catch Up

We are WAY behind on updating our blog. I always get frustrated when that happens. I actually keep putting it off because I am so far behind, which just puts me further behind. There has been a lot going on in our home and we've had a busy and fun 2 months.

The end of May we celebrated my birthday and Lillian's birthday. Thankfully we celebrated Lillian's birthday the weekend before our birthdays (mine is May 27th and hers is the 28th) because I ended up with the worst case of the stomach flu I've ever had. I ended up in the Urgent Care topping the morning of my birthday and got some IVs administered. I don't think I have ever felt so terrible as I did during those several days.  Thankfully once I got the IVs, I started to feel better but it definitely was not the way I wanted to spend my 29th birthday!

Starting in June we had a lot of company, which is one thing we LOVE! My best friend from Naperville and her family came. We had 4 kids in our home and Lillian was the oldest (at barely 3). It was a blast and they all did really well together. Kristin's husband Scott hiked Pikes Peak the first full day they were here! What an accomplishment. It was so fun to get to spend some quality time with Kristin and her amazing family.

Next came my brother Kevin and his family--Julie, Cooper and Chloe. Cooper just turned 5 and Chloe is 6 weeks older than Wilson. We had a lot of fun and the kids all played so well together. We went to the zoo, went on a great hike, ate some good food and enjoyed some great time together. It was so special to our family to have them come.

While my brother was here, Daniel's long time friend Gyle Smith and his family arrived. They didn't stay with us but we got to spend some quality time together. We road the Cog train up to the top of Pikes Peak, we put together a trampoline (thanks Smiths), ate lots of good food and went to the pool. I have never spent an extended amount of time with the Smiths, so I really enjoyed the chance to get to know them better.

Between all the company Daniel has been to San Antonio and Nashville playing drums as well as laying new sod and rock in our yard! We had 15 tons of river rock brought in and the guys wheel-barrowed it all over our yard. This last Saturday was our first real day off together in a long while. It has been such a fun month!

In the last month it sure feels like our kids have grown a TON! Lillian is now 3. She is so much fun!
Here are a few things that we want to remember about Lillian at 3:
*She loves to imagine...play imaginary games. These games include playing doctor, pretending to drive places, and "reading" books
*Lillian loves to look at letters and talk about the sounds and figure out how to spell a word. She does well when we help her sound it out.
*Numbers: she counts to 40 without any help and can go higher when we help with the prefix (fifty __)
*She also loves to add and subtract when we help her visualize and talk through the problem
*At her 3 year old appoint she weighed 30 lbs and was just under 38inches tall.
* She does NOT like car washes, smoke alarms, or the lawn mower. Basically any loud noises are not among her favorites.
*She is an amazing big sister. She insists on giving Wilson kisses before naps or bedtime and really enjoys being around him (except when he is after one of her toys).

Wilson is now 10 months:
*He started crawling at 8 months and is totally on the go! He loves to get places.
*Right at 10 months he conquered going up the stairs. I am now awaiting him figuring out how to go down. He fell down the stairs the Sunday morning after he started crawling and it was all my fault. He fell all the way down the steps on to the wood floor. He recovered in about 4 minutes and I have yet to recover. :)
*With his newfound freedom he gets into EVERYTHING! He pulls all sorts of treasures out of the cabinets. He also chases Lillian around and she used to hide on the stairs so that he couldn't get to her but now that he can do the stairs she's had to resort to going on the bed or the table. ;
:)
*He pulls up on everything and in the last day he has started letting go of things and trying to stand. The first time I saw him do this was when he was playing on Lillian's drum set.
*He is making lots of sounds and I am pretty sure he has learned the word "ball". He LOVES to play with any kind of ball. He throws to you if you are near and if you aren't, he will throw it to himself and chase after it.
*He will do the sign for "more" and "all done" and if you say "how big is Wilson?", he will throw his hands up in the air as if to say "so big".

We are loving life and are so grateful to God for our precious kids and our family and friends!

Lisa

Lillianisms

Lisa and I are blessed parents. Lillian Carol and Wilson James keep us laughing. This blog is our attempt to capture--to preserve--the memories we're making and the precious things are children are saying and doing as they grow.

Here are the fan favorite Lillianisms for the last couple weeks:

1. Lillian is not yet three, but she's very punctilious when it comes to using language/grammar. Wilson, who is 8 months, doesn't always enjoy getting dressed. He doesn't want to stay in one place very long. So the other day as Lisa was dressing Wilson, he was protesting by rolling around and being difficult to corral. To console him as she restrained him, Lisa was using baby language and talking in that voice that every parent acquires to try to let their babies know that the torture of getting dressed will be over with soon. She said in a baby's voice, "I sorry, Wilson. I sorry." Lillian jumped all over it. "Mommy, it's 'I'm sorry', not 'I sorry.'" Come on, Lisa. What were you thinking?

2. Last week I took Lillian to a stage production of Alice in Wonderland. It was a great daddy/daughter date together. The weather wasn't that great when we went in to see the show, and as we walked out Lillian commented that "it's quite windy out here, dad." Every once in a while with Lillian it sounds like a 30 year old adult is talking to me. I never expect to hear the word "quite" coming from my two year old.

3. When it comes to clothing, Lillian is pretty opinionated. Not picky in the sense that she wants brand-name clothes, but just very definite on the texture of the clothing and how it makes her feel. She has grown to disdain tags that rub up against her skin. She let Lisa know, "Mommy, I like to play tag, but I don't like tags." We laughed.

4. The other day we were getting ready for dinner and I couldn't find Lillian anywhere in the house. I called out. I went upstairs and down to the basement. To where in the world did she disappear? Until I opened up a coat closet. There she was. And she was holding something--a pair of scissors in each hand.

Hmm. This was unusual. Like a lamb before the slaughter, she didn't say a word. She just looked at me with her wide, irretrievably guilty eyes. And then, I saw it. One gorgeous, curly, blond lock of hair lay on the wood floor. It was Lillian's first--and surely last!--attempt at cutting her own hair.

5. Lillian understands the concept of Lisa and I being married. She gets that it's just the two of us for the rest of our lives. No others. We talk about that from time to time with her. She just smiles, looks to the ceiling and gets this slightly embarrassed look, as if to say, "Oh, that's so cute. I like that about you Mommy and Daddy."

And then one day Lillian went for the jugular. She walked up to me and said, unsolicited: "Daddy, I'm going to marry you one day."

That's all for now. I'm going to go cry now.

Love.
Daniel, Lisa, Lillian and Wilson Grothe