RIP Grandpa John

Aotis and I took an unexpected trip out to Los Angeles the Friday before Christmas, to say "Hi" to my Grandpa John who was in the ICU with organ failure and not expected to make it through the day.  He held on long enough for most of us to get there to see him, then early on Saturday, December 19 - interestingly enough it was the anniversary of his first date with Grandma - he said enough is enough with this hospital and passed on through to the other side.  I was grateful for the chance to see him one last time, and the visit with my family that weekend was a great way to remember Grandpa.  

Grandpa, Dad and me, circa early 1979?

My travel buddy was amazing.  He rocked his first airplane travel experience like a champ.  He maintained his sunny disposition, took naps, entertained our neighbors, and only needed to roam free on the airplane one of the four legs of our roundtrip excursion.  He even tolerated being awoken to get out of the car at the hospital, then having to wait in the hospital lobby while the adults took turns going up to the ICU, falling asleep again, then being woken yet again to go get a bite to eat after midnight and ultimately staying up waaaay past his bedtime our first night there. 

Posing for a selfie on our flight out west

Both of these guys were ecstatic to see one another :)

GGma Margie was happy that Aotis wanted to sit with her too

A very unusual-these-days moment of just the three sisters! (picking Shannon up from the airport)

Paying close attention to Grandpa Dave on the computer

Enjoying the view

Airplane! 

As always, my cousin Travis couldn't get enough of baby-time!  He and Aotis were entertained for a long time with the peep hole in GGma's front door.

Rockin' with GGma in his Great-Great-Great Grandpa's chair

I was glad to have Aotis with me on this trip.  Our last night in LA I think was my first night ever(!) in a hotel alone…sort of…since I had Aotis with me I wasn't technically alone.  I was mostly worried about not waking up in time for our 6:30 am flight out of LAX, but we made it!  Gotta love traveling with little people…getting through the security line goes so much faster!

Close up of the airplane

I typically pick an aisle seat, but I thought he might enjoy looking out the window since it was daylight during this flight back to WI.

While the purpose of the trip was a sad one, we had a nice visit with family.  It's strange to think that I no longer have any living Grandpa's, and my kids won't likely remember the only Great-Grandpa who was alive during their lifetimes.  But to find the silver lining, my cousin Kristen and her husband Morgan welcomed their first born on Christmas Day!  Quite the circle of life.

My last visit with Grandpa prior to this trip - March 2015

Rest in Peace Grandpa.
John Stonewall Miller
May 5, 1926 - Dec 19, 2015

He's 10 months old!

I know I sound like a broken record by this point, but I honestly don't know where the time goes!  As I write this, Aotis is closer to 11 months old, which is only a month away from 1 year!  Aack! At this point too, he's suffering from 3rd child syndrome (or I am I guess!).  I at least have pictures for him, but beyond that, I can't even think of what new things he's doing to share here!  He is definitely becoming more opinionated, and more communicative and more expressive.  He's begun using more baby signs…at this point clapping his hands together is universal for "more", "please", "eat", and "milk" (although he usually just bangs on my chest for that one).  

Physical development is not too much different this month…he is starting to stand unsupported more now - he'll let go of whatever he's holding onto and stay upright for 5 or so seconds, but he still doesn't seem too interested in holding onto your hands to take any steps, but will cruise along any and all furniture, walls, chairs, adult legs....  He continues to try and get after any big brother toys he can get his mitts on, and at times, I'm positive I've heard him say "Gus" and "Arjen." 

He definitely likes testing his boundaries as well.  Particularly with the Christmas tree and trying to sneak off to rooms that are supposed to be off limits.  He's lightening fast on all fours, but his giggle gives him away when he's headed somewhere he knows he shouldn't.  It's like he's taunting you to chase him down.  Impossible to not laugh with him!  

How old am I now?

Remember when I could lay across this chair and barely touch the edges?

Getting bolder with discovering new dimensions of movement

He recently discovered my dresser…I had to laugh when he was trying to put my shirts on! 

He finally chilled out about chasing after the tree and it's water (he was loving dipping his hands in there!).  But he still likes to very carefully see if he'll be allowed to touch any of the ornaments his brothers so conveniently hung low for him!

Breakfast with Santa

Breakfast with Santa at the Osthoff, will definitely remain one of our Christmas-in-Wisconsin traditions.  Almost better than getting to see Santa, was the "knee-high buffet"…sized just right for the little people! Arjen had a blast getting to go get his own food from the buffet line.  He was impressively skilled with carrying his plate, and even managed to have good manners waiting his turn in line and using the serving utensils appropriately, without needing much (if any!) supervision!  I enjoyed watching him too.  :)  

He was a big fan of the pancake table with whipped cream, berries, and all the fixings!

He even figured out he could set his plate down to better access what was in the food warmers

Waiting in line for Santa after breakfast was an exhausting task.  These two couldn't even remain vertical!

Aotis was less than thrilled to be dumped onto the big guy's lap.  He looked around to everyone for help, yet we all just left the poor kid there.   

And somehow, the other two managed to give some of their best posed smiles to date!  Go figure.

After removing the screaming Aotis, Gus got a chance to ask Santa where he parked the reindeer.  (They had flown back to the North Pole of course!  Valet service for Santa!)

School wanderings

With the weather staying nice so late into the year, we had many opportunities for walking to and from.   Only in Wisconsin, will our walk home from school take us past a christmas tree decked with PBR cans! 

And what kid wouldn't want to stop and climb the caboose? (Located at the end of our street) 

And we attended another family night at school for the Junior Kindergarten families.  Cookie decorating and bead stringing! 

Grandparents were invited as well, and I was impressed that almost all the kids there seemed to have at least one grandparent with them! 

Arjen showing us his tree outside his classroom

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Without vaulted ceilings and Apple Hill with it's U-cut christmas tree farms, our tree shopping experience this year looked a little different…

We found pre-cut trees at Menards (a local/regional version of a Home Depot).  Sadly, I don't even remember the name of the tree we found (Balsam Fir maybe?), as they were all different varieties than I am used to! The boys still got excited to find the perfect tree, and were happy to help throughout the process.

Yes, our tree fit on a normal sized shopping cart

 It is our first tree that could possibly be called "cute."

Gus helping "hold the tree up" while Andrew secured it in the tree base

Aotis supervised getting the lights on while having some dinner

Stringing Popcorn!

The finished product.  It's amazing how you can decorate a tree with almost anything!  This will likely go down in history as one of my favorite trees.  Homemade tree topper angel (a la Shannon and Casey - see blog post from December 1, 2013), cranberry string, popcorn string, candy canes, and some folded paper ornaments that the boys came up with all on their own.  (Later we did also add some homemade applesauce and cinnamon ornaments that the boys helped make.)

Winter Wonderland

Seeing as how we have absolutely zero snow here, and it's only slightly colder than a winter back home in CA, it's high time I finally get these pics from our ONE snow "storm" back in November uploaded.  Maybe it'll even bring good weather luck our way to give us a white Christmas.  

Gus came in to wake us up and announce that there was white stuff on the leaves outside his window!  

He then proceeded to get dressed faster than any morning I have ever witnessed, all so he could go outside to play in the snow.  He did this so fast mind you, that I had to throw my jacket and boots on over my pajamas just to catch up with him!

Snow!

Catching snowflakes on his tongue, of course

Had to capture the pumpkins in the snow (yes, our pumpkins failed to develop into Jack-O-Lanterns this year).  But this California girl has NEVER had a pumpkin with snow on it before.

Big bro finally came down to join us

And then the wee one.  Mean parents we are, poor kid got stuffed in the walker instead of let loose on the ground.  

Decided to take my coffee home instead of enjoying it on the patio at the coffee shop.  Paused briefly to at least enjoy the white view. 

We didn't quite get an inch this storm.  But it was at least enough to get excited about, and enjoy for a day.  And enough to build a tiny snowman! And snow angels!