Heins 57, or life as 4

A month has flown by since Sprout has joined our family.  I recognize I'm way far behind on the blog (although, I looked back and with Bean I did a 2 week post, and a 1 month post.  So going by that history, I'm just 1 post behind!).  The easiest way to catch up is to do a hodge podge post.  So here's random photos and commentary on the past month:

We took Bean home on Thursday, and thankfully, my mom stuck around for a couple extra days to help us adjust.  She was a big help in keeping Bean busy and letting Steve & I catch up on sleep!  Our first full day at home marked my birthday, but really it was just another day. Steve & Bean surprised me with roses! We didn't do any big celebration on Friday; but my dad, sister Sara, sister Amber + fam all came on Saturday to meet Bean.

(Sara approved of Sprout's name and loved cuddling her even more.)

(Sprout getting passed down the line.  Big Sister Bean got first dibs!)

(With family visiting, it got chaotic inside.  Luckily, the weather was just right for some sprinkler fun with cousins outside!)

(Sprinkler fun was followed by chalk bodies.  You can't tell in the photo, but Bean all those chalk bodies were hers and they were named "again" & "again-again" & "again-again-again".  Haha)

(Ahm & Abo and all their granddaughters who were in present.)

Everyone left except my parents on Saturday night.  They stayed so that they could go to church with us to have Sprout dedicated on Father's day! Yes, we were those crazy parents who took their 5 day old to church.  

(We'll blame the sleep deprivation on Steve's closed eyes.  Look how tiny Sprout is!  Even though having it done on Father's day didn't matter to Steve, I pushed to have her dedicated on that day so that she'd be with same group of babies that were all born around the same time.)

(Sprout on her dedication day -- No, she didn't wear the ears at church, but I did think about it!)

My mom went back home with my dad, leaving Steve & I alone with the kids for the next week.  Things went fairly well.  Steve had a long list of projects he wanted to accomplish.  He quickly learned that wasn't going to happen and pretty much buddied up to Bean for the week.)

(Cuddles in bed! Bean loved us all laying together.  Even now, she'll get on our bed and tell Steve and I to lay down with her. If we are lucky, we can catch a few extra minutes of closed eyes while Bean thinks we are playing.)

My mom came back on the following Sunday and brought back reinforcements -- Gabbie! I don't remember why the weekend was rough, but I do remember my mom walking in and my breaking down crying. Haha, oh those crazy hormones.  Bean wasn't getting enough attention from us, and Gabbie was just what she needed.)

(Bean wanted to be with Gabbie constantly.)

(Frick & Frack wearing their "matching jammies".)

(My mom & I took the three girls to the zoo one day while they were here -- okay, really, I needed to go and get my wedding ring checked for its warranty.  It just so happens that the jewelry store and the zoo are 5 min apart.  Win-win!)

(Pony Ride! Bean loved it!)

(Question - Can you push a stroller with a 7 year old and a 2.5 year old?  Answer - No.)

(Riding the carousel! That girl on the outside had me nervous. She was riding alone and had issues like: couldn't get on the horse & when she did, her shoes fell off.  Sheesh.)

(Feeding the giraffe some lettuce -- Bean loved it this time!  Maybe it was the fact that we were at eye level with the giraffe and it's long tongue couldn't get through the fence.)

(Brushing the goats!  Bean wasn't traumatized by the poop this time, either.  She's growing up!)

(All 3 napped on the way home!)

I feared a huge fall out when Ahm & Gabbie had to leave.  But Bean was actually okay with their departure.  She talks about Gabbie constantly and just says, "play Gabbie in a few weeks".  I guess that means I have to do some cousin planning for Bean! Steve went back to work while my mom was still here.  His work is pretty crazy this month and he had to work a Saturday - leaving me at home for the first time with 2 kids for an extended amount of time.  It was a success! 

(Sprout got a little too comfortable in daddy's arms -- if you know what I mean!)

(I'm learning that bribery is great motivation.  A sucker and new play-doh toy eased the pain of Gabbie's departure.)

(We went to our friends' house for 4th of July.  We let Bean do her first sparkler, and she got a minor burn from trying to touch it after it burnt. She still had fun, though!)

(A shockingly good photo!)

This past weekend, Steve's family was able to come visit and meet Sprout!  I sucked at taking photos and came out with only 2 from the whole weekend.  His parents arrived on Friday and stayed until Monday night - giving me some extra help while Steve was at work! Scott, Ashley, & Tyson came up for Friday night & Saturday and gave Bean some extra attention and a new toy -- a sprinkler!

Our weekend was filled with lots of yummy food on the grill thanks to Doug & getting to sleep in thanks to Trisha! She would wake up with Bean and allow us to catch some extra sleep in the morning.  It may not seem like much, but it was a huge help for us!  They also helped Steve get some maintenance items checked off his list -- washing/waxing our car and scraping/painting some trim on the back of the house.

(While the others worked, I played with Bean outside with her new "Frozen" sprinkler from Scott & Ashley! She is timid to do it on her own, but loved being held as I ran around it, getting us both wet.)

(Bean wanted to be outside and paint, too.  So I gave her a cup of water & a brush.  She loved it.)

Christmas Vacation

It's hard to believe that our Christmas was a month ago.  We spent over 2 weeks travelling between CO, OH & IN to visit both of our families for Christmas.  We spent the first week leading up to Christmas day in Colorado with Steve's family and the week after Christmas with my family in Indiana.  It made for a long and tiring couple of weeks, but it was worth it to be able to spend special time with our families.

(The calm before the storm! We tried to do some family Christmas activities with Bean before we left town. She did a great job decorating with the candy and not eating it all like her Daddy. . .  Next year, we'll have to be even more intentional about making sure Bean gets "Christmas" with just us before we visit all our family.)

Colorado Christmas:

We left on the Thursday (before Christmas) and headed to the airport in Detroit.  Ohio was having weird weather and it was in the 50s.  Boy was it a shock to get to Colorado and it to be in the 30s and below! Our flight came in close to Steve's brother Ian's flight.  Steve's dad came and helped us get all our luggage and load up the car to head to their house.

The first part of our Colorado adventure included a visit to a museum to see a neat Sherlock exhibit (you got a case book and went to different stations and tested different aspects of the crime to figure it out), lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (Steve had been dreaming about that lunch for years), and a "kids only" trip to Casa Bonita (a not very good -food wise- restaurant that has several themed rooms with entertainment like cliff divers, puppet shows, games, etc).

(A station in the Sherlock exhibit.  There wasn't much for Bean to do, so she was entertained by each of us at some point.  There were some stamps she could do in the case book, but not enough to keep her entertained the whole time.)

(After the Sherlock exhibit, we took her to a kids discovery area.  She loved it and cried when we had to leave.)

(She was afraid of falling off the dinosaur, but still humored me for a picture.)

(Still in the discovery area - she played in the water with Daddy's supervision.)

(Back at the house, Bean got to open an early present to help entertain her for the week -- a Mr. Potato Head.  Thanks Ash!  Uncle Ian was trying to help her with it.)

(Dinner at Casa Bonita.  We got a table in perfect proximity to the cliff divers.  Close enough to watch the little shows, but far enough away to not get splashed.  And no, the face I'm making is not in reference to the food, although it was pretty depressing.)

(The saddest puppet show I've ever experienced, hahahaha.  It was all about an animal with the hiccups.  The puppeteer kept asking the audience - which was comprised of me, Steve, Bean, Ashley, another lady and her son - who did not want to be there - for help with getting rid of the hiccups.  Steve and I dominated the suggestions department.)

(Playing with Uncle Ian and his panda bear Johnny! Trisha had saved some of their old toys and pulled them out for Bean.  Big hits were the wooden train set and marble works tower.)

On Sunday morning, we loaded up the SUVs and headed up into the mountains for a few days.  Steve's parents rented a cabin in a very remote location that was at 11,000 feet elevation!  They live near Denver at 5,000 (which was already an adjustment for us)! Everyone experienced altitude issues in one way or another, even with constant reminders of "Drink water!"  It made for an interesting couple of days (especially throwing pregnancy sickness on top of it!).  There were several plans of skiing, hiking, ice skating, sledding/tubing, and snow shoeing while we were up there.  However, a lot of the activities got axed due to a snow storm moving through and people not feeling up to activities.  Instead, we enjoyed playing lots of games, watching movies, and even got a nice dinner out in Breckenridge.  The roads were a little scary at times and I think most of us were thankful to make it back to Steve's parents (and leaving the snow behind!).

(Lucie was so excited to go play out in the snow and pretty much had to bribe adults to take her out.  She became best friends with Ian when he offered to take her out without her prodding.)

(Playing outside with Ian & Ashley!)

(Working on a puzzle with Poppop.)

We were supposed to stay in the cabin until Wednesday, but left a day early due to a snow storm coming in.  We got to hit up our favorite Colorado pizza joint - Beau Jo's on our way out of the mountains.  The rest of our time in Colorado was spent visiting a zoo up in the mountains, eating at a legit BBQ place, and sneaking in a brunch with Steve's best friend Steve and family! We figured it up that we hadn't seen Steve and his wife for four years.  It was fun to get to meet their two kids and chat about life.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures :(.

(Bean was unsure of the giraffe.  She tried to feed the giraffe some lettuce, but she quickly retracted her hand when the giraffe took the lettuce with its tongue.  Not gonna lie, it freaked me out a little, too.)

(Don't be fooled by that innocent looking giraffe.  It's tongue was super long and black and would wrap around the lettuce as it took it from your hand.)

(Checking out the Elephants.  I couldn't handle standing in the elephant building.  Little too smelly for this nauseous preggo. We did get to see the elephants exit the building and go out into their outdoor area. Who knew that elephants would walk up a hill for some bagels?!)

("Coloring" at Mommom & Poppop's! The easel and markers were a big hit.)

(A trip with Mommom wouldn't be complete without some art projects! Bean loved the water colors!)

And of course, we celebrated Christmas together with Steve's family! We opened up presents, enjoyed Christmas cookies, had a fabulous Christmas ham (thanks Trisha!), and even got to see Trisha sing at their Christmas Eve service.   We had packed a lot in on Christmas Eve, including packing up all our stuff and figuring out how to get it all back to Ohio (thanks Scott and Ash for taking some items!).  Steve, Bean, and I had an early flight on Christmas morning.  Everyone woke up early to see us off (even uncle Ian, much to Bean's delight) and Steve's dad took us to the airport (thanks Doug for chauffeuring us!).

(Making a gingerbread train.  I think she consumed more candy on this go around.  Apparently it had better candy than the kit we had!)

(Opening up presents! Bean made out with a ton of great gifts this year -- Potato Head, puzzle, clothes, shower basketball, Thomas RC train, and much more!)

It was odd flying home on Christmas day.  We've flown on Christmas day in the past, but it's always to leave town and go visit family.  I think knowing we were heading back to our empty home was a little bit of a downer.  We ate our "Christmas" dinner at Taco Bell and got home around 6.  We shared some Little Debbie Christmas treats and had Bean open up a few presents that "Santa" left for her.  Once we got her settled down from being back home, she went to bed and I frantically worked at unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking.  We had a 9am departure for my family the next morning. . .

(The perk of having to buy a seat for Bean is that she has some space to lay.  However, this nap didn't last nearly long enough.  Crossing time zones is a tough adjustment for toddlers!)

Indiana Christmas:

We got up, ate breakfast, quickly loaded up the car and hit the road to Indiana.  We were the last to arrive at my parents for their Christmas festivities.  My family's Christmas traditions are really laid back.  Lunch consisted of deli sandwiches and lots of finger foods (nachos, meatballs, deviled eggs, etc).  The guys all played different computer games in one room while the women and children all played and hung out in the living room.  The afternoon gets a little tricky with two toddlers who need to nap, but we have a system and made it work! Once the kiddos were up, we opened up presents and continued to enjoy being together.

(Gabbie reading bedtime stories to Bean.  How are these kids this big?!)

(My parents with their grandkids (sans Savannah).  This picture took way too long to get a good one and the kids weren't the problem in most of the photos, haha!)

The rest of our time in Indiana was a blur.  On Monday, Steve graciously watched Bean and my niece Gabbie to let me go with the rest of the family to see Star Wars again (thanks to Ashley, Steve and I were able to see it with his family while in Colorado while she watched Bean).  My mom had foot surgery on Tuesday and was an absolute trooper. She was up more than I thought she would be and was able to help with Bean. We made plans and met up with some college friends on Wednesday.  They live about an hour from my parents and it worked for us to swing by and visit with them for a few hours.  Aaaaand in true Ackerman fashion, we didn't take a single picture with them and their 4 kids.

We didn't do anything crazy for New Year's Eve.  I convinced my sister that we should make galushta (Romanian dish passed on from my grandma.  It's always tradition to have it around Christmas/New Year's.  My mom wasn't able to do it this year because of travel and her foot, so we jumped in to carry on the tradition.).  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen between making the galushta and snacks for New Year's Eve non-party.  My sister and her family came over, along with our friend April.  The guys played computer games, girls chatted and watched tv.  Typical Willis shindig!

We had to head back to Ohio on Friday afternoon because Steve had to work on Saturday.  There's nothing like a kick to reality by husband having to go to work on a Saturday leaving you with a Christmas-crazy toddler who was hopped up on too much attention for two weeks.  Okay, really, it wasn't that bad.  But there was definitely a few days of all of us trying to ease back into routines.  Thanks to all our family and friends who made this Christmas so great!

Fort Wayne Zoo

Every six months, I have to get my wedding/engagement ring cleaned/inspected to upkeep the warranty on it.  We got it from Zales because we figured they are all over so wherever we end up living, there will be one close by.  However, the past 2 cities we've lived in haven't had a Zales! So I end up having to travel an hour+ away to find one.  Or we get fancy and time trips to pass by a Zales.  So far I've had my ring cleaned in Memphis, TN; Denver, CO; Lafayette, IN; Zanesville, OH; New Jersey; and now Ft. Wayne, IN!

I waited until the last possible day (has to be done in Nov/Dec & May/June - based on when the rings were purchased) in June to go get it taken care of.  It just so happened to work out that Fort Wayne is exactly half way between my house and my sister's house, has an awesome zoo, and the mall that the Zales is located at is 5 min from the zoo! So we set up a Zoo date!  Originally, I was going to go to Zales after the zoo, but knew if Bean didn't nap at all in the stroller, she'd zonk in the car and I didn't want to risk a meltdown to stop at the mall (the whole point of the trip to Ft. Wayne!).  So I went there first.

We got up, packed our lunch and hit the road by 8:45am.  That got us to the mall just after 10, right after it opened.  We zoomed in, I got my ring cleaned, and we were out of there in 10 min, getting us to the zoo at 10:20.  Amber and her girls were planning to get to the zoo earlier and we'd just join them when we got there.  However, they had just gotten there and hit up the bathrooms when we pulled into the parking lot.  So they waited for us.  It was a rainy morning and a little on the cool side, but the radar appeared clear once the system passed - and that's exactly what happened!  The rain stopped, the sun came out, and warmed us up! It was what I like to think of as perfect zoo weather.  The rainy morning detracts lots of people from going, so the crowds were down.

(Rain had just stopped when we got there! Bean didn't know what was going on and confused by all the attention at first, then she went with it.)

(Allie pushing while Gabbie & Emily held Bean's hands.  We finally had to set up a scheduled rotation of who was on Bean duty, who pushed the stroller, etc.)

The zoo is set up in 3 different loops Africa, Rain forest, then Australia/petting zoo.  We did the Africa first because we could hear the lions roaring.  A lot of the African animals (Zebras, ostriches, etc) were not out because they ground was too wet.  Our zoo trip just so happened to fall the week after all the monsoon rain and flooding had been going on.  After we did the first loop, we decided to go back to the cars and eat our lunch.  There is a picnic area outside the entrance (you get back in just by showing receipt), but the tables were all wet.  So Amber folded down the seats in her van and we ate a picnic lunch in the back! Haha

(You would think that all the older kids would be the ones looking at the camera.  It was like pulling teeth to get all of them to look at once.)

(As close as it is gonna get!)

(Picnic lunch in the back of the van!)

(Usually Bean wears a smock to keep food from off her clothes, but since she was eating on the floor of the van, I had to improvise.  Naked lunch and eating on the smock!)

The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing all the other animals.  As a special treat, I paid for a round of rides on the carousel.  It was Bean's first experience and I wasn't sure how it would go.  There's a little horse ride at our grocery store that she always asks to ride, but then freaks out once I put her on it.  She did the same thing with the carousel.  She freaked out if I tried to put her on an animal.  So my 3 nieces rode on animals, and then I held Bean and stood by an animal behind them.

(Playing in the shark outside the aquarium building.  Bean loved the shark, just not trying to coordinate a picture, haha.)

(Standing on the carousel. Wheeeee!)

After the carousel, we hit up the little petting zoo area.  Bean got really cranky and should have napped sooner, but was really fighting it.  She wanted me to hold her, and only me. Then it turned into her crying and kicking while I held her so I just put her back in the stroller.  She wasn't happy about it but then she zonked, so I was happy about it :).  We stopped and got a snack while she napped.  She only slept about 35 min and woke up in a panic.  It took her a little bit to really snap out of the panic, but that has happened before when she's really tired and naps hard for a short period like that.

(Cousins helping Bean play with the goats.)

(There is a little stand where you can get brushes to brush the goats.  Bean loved holding the brush and even brushed a couple goats. While I was watching her with the goats, I saw a goat poking its head out of the fence and getting something out of someone's stroller.  Then I realized, it was MY stroller!  The goat had my roll of crackers in its mouth trying to pull it out of my bag.  I got the crackers (which were all slobbery) and pushed the stroller further away from the fence, haha!)

(Things were going great in the petting zoo until the goats started pooping. Bean has been traumatized by a couple of pooping in the bath/shower incidents and doesn't like talking about poop or witnessing it - like in dogs, thanks Tyson! and goats.  So the goat would poop and Bean would start sobbing and saying, "no no no!" That's when I deemed naptime VERY important.)

(After fighting nap and being put in the stroller, she zonked out!)

(We stopped and enjoyed a nap while Bean slept.  Allie and Gabbie shared a freeze and wanted to drink it "Lady & the Tramp" style.  Not sure who was who!)

We finished up the zoo by walking by the sea lions again and then the gift shop, of course! Only downside of the day is that there wasn't a water play area anymore.  There used to be a fountain that kids could play in, but they took it out.  But the kids handled the change of their plans great!  (I think the carousel made up for it, or at least I'll pretend that).  At the shop, Bean got a pencil and her first ever sucker (which she loved).

(After Bean woke up we went and saw the sea lions again as we headed towards the gift shop.  She really liked watching them swim past her.)

(Time to say goodbye to the animals and make our way through the gift shop!)

(First sucker ever! She loved it.  I let her suck on it while the other girls finished shopping.  I used it as an incentive over the next couple days, but then the top came off the stick and I had to throw it away.  You would've thought the world ended! Sheesh!)

(These girls are hilarious.  They wanted a picture with the Zoo sign, but each wanted to sit on the same letter.  So we had to take the photo 3 times so they could all sit on the middle "o".  I joked about putting the stroller in different positions, but Bean didn't care.  She just enjoyed her sucker.)

 We had a great day!