Seaside Oregon 2010 - Wellnitz Style

We spent a week in Seaside for our big vacation of the year. Even though I made fun of the desination for weeks prior, it turned out to be a great time. We stayed in a house with Mark and Sarah, their kids Drew and Grace, and Colleen and her boyfriend Patrick. The house was a totally awkward layout, but we made the most of it, and had some good times at the house, the beach, and the rest of Seaside. Petie's favorite thing was fishing and Chloe's favorite thing was staying up WAY past her bedtime every night.

Jersey Shore Night

Don't call CSD - It's just her teeth

Well, the suspense is over, Chloe does actually have teeth under those adorable gums. What is not so adorable are the little white gifts from satan that lurk just below the surface. She is not a fan. I am not a fan. I'm sure our neighbors are equally not impressed with the sounds of torture coming from the open windows the past few nights. Is this what it will be like for every eruption? I have been buying the generic tylenol in bulk. If they recall that we are in big trouble people. I will go black market. I will crush adult tylenol in small doses. I distinctly remember my mom giving me an adult aspirin crushed in a spoon with sugar and a little water. I can still taste it. Terrible. Thank goodness for the cherry flavored crack they have now. That's her chewing on the dispenser in the photo below. She hasn't showed off the new little gems for any photos yet. Will post as soon as I capture them.

Here's Petie just being cute in front of Shannon and Gregs.  Wheaties shirt, pajama pants, yellow rain boots that say "Sean Ryan" in way too large of writing on the back.  I actually took him to Fred Meyers like that because I thought he looked too cute to make him change.  I am one of those parents.  He wore a cape to the store the other day too.  Confessions of a preschool mom.

Memorial Day Weekend in Irondale (Port Townsend)

The big girl loving to be in the middle of things and to eat!  That's Jake's handiwork with the food mostly in her mouth.

Yes, Jake can't get enough of Chlo-bo and I can't thank him enough for how helpful he was over the weekend.  And for those who haven't been, that's the view of the bay from Grandma Bolan's cabin.  Amazing!

Clamming at Oak Bay.  Or in the kids case, being trophy children with shovels and buckets and upping our quota so we can get more clams!!

Another self-portrait with the offspring:

Notice the amount of people clamming. Usually there are like 5 other people when we go.  And those nets that are stacked on the right side probably held 300 clams each. (No limits for the Native American folks). Not judging, just saying.  Way easy clamming for all of us!!

Peter Parker and his hippie chick MJ hiking through the grass:

Pimp My Ride

Some men have a midlife crisis and buy this:

My husband has a midlife crisis and buys this:

They actually look pretty similar, dontcha think?

I must say though, it is AMAZING!  It is all leather, with Nav, DVD, heated seats, back-up camera, sonar, fancy cruise control (with car detection that backs off when you get too close to a car!), and eight million other things that we haven't even had time to figure out yet!  Because of the kids, you see.  Which are the reason that we got the thing in the first place.  Petie cried last week because I drove him to school in the Kia.  To say he likes the new "miniban" is an understatement.  He truly would sleep in it if we let him.  We also got new fancy phones that I also haven't had time to play with.  I know, wah wah.  Typical 1st world problems.  I am lucky that these are the most of my worries!  I know, I get that!

If dogs could read, Murphy would like this one

For some reason I've been thinking a lot lately about our dog, Murphy.  aka Murph.  Murphy Brown Keitges Wellnitz.  Noodle.  New new.  Troppy Prinny.  Tap Dancer.  The Murphinator.  Idgy (what petie called her before he could say Murphy). 

It was December 2001.  Kev and I were living in Barb's basement apartment.  We were both working and going to school full-time.  Kevin was finishing up at Portland State and I was working on PA school requirements at PCC.  I didn't even ask Barb if we could have a dog, let alone one that would grow to be 90 pounds!  I have been allergic to dogs since I was a kid and a fan of dogs since, well, since never.  I never really liked dogs.  I don't know if it was because I was allergic and therefore subconsciously knew I couldn't get near them or what.  I just wasn't a dog person. 

In a serious lapse in judgement I decided that I would buy Kevin a dog for Christmas.  I knew he always wanted a Chocolate Lab so that part was a no brainer.  Katie, Angie, Beth, and I drove up north somewhere (the details are fuzzy - I think I tried to block it out) and came to this nice family farm with a kennel full of lab puppies.  They were ridiculously adorable.  I picked the most mellow of the litter.  What a naive thought - that any lab puppy would be mellow.  I sneezed all the way home (I think I made Angie hold her) and took her to Katie's for a bath before presenting her to Kevin later that night.  We both immediately fell in love with her.  She was so sweet, so soft.  She was a major pain in the ass, but it was too late.  We were hooked.  We found another place to rent that allowed dogs and Murphy spent the first year of life with Katie's dog Chaab.  They lived it up.  Murph ate couches, chairs, and most notably a pair of Italian strappy shoes of Shannon Moran's that I borrowed for our engagement party.  They were actually from Italy.  Murphy has good taste.

We bought our first house and Murphy made a great watch dog in our "transitional" neighborhood.  We moved into our second house and Murphy made a great older sister to our first born.  She took plenty of tail pulling, playing horsey, and general abuse without a groan.  Now she's the eldest of 3 and starting to look her age.  She is 8.  She prematurely greyed, so that's not it.  It's just she's different now.  You could break into our house and if it happens to be nap time (23 our of 24 hours of the day) she probably wont bother to get up.  And after a day of fetch, you can tell she is hurtin.  She is just getting up there.

Kevin will tell you that I don't like her.  I don't really pet her or brush her or take her for my runs.  But I do clean her ears and clip her nails on occasion and I do tell her she is a good girl.  Because she really is a good girl.  I should probably tell her more often.  I really do love her.  Like you love a relative that you don't ever agree with.  I don't agree with her chronic ear infections or her fur, but I do love her.  And I will miss her when she's gone one day.  At least I'd like to think so.

The latest time suck (the booties, not the kids)

So here are the world's cutest little baby booties I made for baby Kersens to be.  They are my favorite ones so far but they took FOREVER compared to the other pairs.  Baby Kersens (to show her face to the world tomorrow) is of course worth it, but I don't know if I'll be making another pair anytime soon. 

These are the much easier Robeez version.  Is it Robe-ese or Rob-ese?  I just don't know.  These were for baby Javier.  Hope he likes them.

And here are some recent ones of the kiddos.  Too bad for facebook, these have already been posted and seen by the masses.  But they are a few of my favorites. 

Gotta love the quizzical face:

And just hamming it up as usual:

Petie showing off his$10,000 dollar thank you Jesus for dental insurance smile:

Their good sides:

The Seven Year Itch

The first verse was: "You changed into a red golf shirt and changed my world."  I can't remember the rest of the poem I wrote that term in Creative Writing senior year, but really the first line says it all.  It was October 1st, 1994 and on our first official date, you showed up at my house on 44th with not the typical t-shirt, but a golf shirt.  Bright red.  Hat turned backwards.  Clean shaven.  Those dimples.  Wow.  You took me to a pizza place downtown that no longer exists and then to ice cream on the waterfront.  We watched Stand By Me in your parent's basement and you drove me home.  Something just seemed right.

15 1/2 years later we are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary.  Those first 8 1/2 years had some rocky moments, but the last 7 have been rock solid.  We have done so much.  Eugene, Moraga, FedEx, PSU, Murphy, our first house, PA school, Platt, Petie, OHSU, Providence, our second house, Chloe, the saga continues. We have grown up together.  And made this life our own.  Who would of thought I would ever have changed my last name or that you would have insisted in having bubbles blown as we left the church?  It is ever evolving, ever changing, but always working. 

You are my sure thing in a crazy world of who knows what is next.  You tell jokes that I don't like to admit are still funny.  I smile everyday when I see you in Petie.  Standing on the ottoman singing a made up song in his made up language, shaking his hips and loving it all.  You are painfully honest and loyal to the end.  You work too hard (in a good way).  Your family and our family are always first and you are a true friend.  There isn't much about you that is wishy washy.  You are real.  Happy Anniversary My Love.

Off to his happy place

We are waiting at Emanual hospital for Petie to finish with his dental work in the operating room.  Planning on 4 crowns and 8 sealants.  He did really well this morning with the routine of getting on the hospital jammies, having his temperature taken, and getting the happy medicine to make it all a distant memory.  I knew the Verced had kicked in when he let a very large male nurse (Kev said think Sloth from Goonies, no lie) pretend to tickle him and joke with him.  Petie with no reservations was a pretty funny sight.  He let the dentist and anesthesiologist take him away without a care in the world.  Now where is the Verced for the parents?

Surveying the damage:

Chillin with Dad:

Update:  We made it through the day.  Petie ended up with 4 crowns and 4 fillings.  He did just fine with most of the day.  The car ride home was a little rough.  He kept screaming "I want to go back to the hospital" over and over.  What?  Anyway, we are now finally home and he is fast asleep on Dad's chest.  Now to begin the serious dental program of flossing and "serious" brushing!  We vow not to return to the OR for dental work!

In Memory of Great-Grandpa Wellnitz

Kevin's grandpa, Dave Sr., passed away on February 23rd, 2010.  We went up to Seattle last week for the services.  Rosary, funeral with full mass, and burial.  You know how the Catholics roll; lots of prayers, lots of tradition, lots of food and drink.  It was strange having this funeral just 2 short months after Kevin's cousin Charley's death and service.  The mood was very different.  People were sad, but not shocked and heartbroken sad.  There's a big difference.  We honored a long life full of accomplishment and family.  "The Kennedy's of Wedgwood" the priest called the Wellnitz family of Seattle.  Pretty impressive legacy.  So many traits of his that were mentioned in the eulogy I can see and appreciate in Dave, Jr. and in Kevin.  Good with numbers. Slightly anal, okay, maybe really anal.  Family as the most important thing.  An honest, trustworthy man.  And of course there is the physical resemblance:

Link to the obit here.

And it was great to see the Seattle family and stay with Pat and Veronica and Finoosh (Finn) again.  We had probably one of the best sandwiches of my life here on Tuesday night.  And I don't make that comment lightly.  Sandwiches are serious business.  Thanks to Pat and Nika for the hospitality as usual.  When are you coming to Portland by the way?

Oh, and we had a few interesting conversations with Petie around the subject of death and funerals.  He asked very loudly at the burial, "where's the box?"  And when it was over I asked him to please not dance around on the headstones because that's where people are buried and he asked, "is this heaven?"  He also saw Kevin's uncle Doran (who has salt and pepper hair and uses a cane due to his MS) and said, "Poppa's Dad isn't dead Daddy, he's right there."  Oh, wow.  There were more that I can't even remember.  He doesn't miss a thing.

Portland sun

Hadley spent the night last night so this morning we took a nice walk to Laurelhurst Park.  Here are the buds getting ready to walk:

Hangin out at the park:

Chloe and Mom and Dad:

Happy girl:

First time on the swings:

If we could only have LA weather with Portland life!

For the Children

A few weeks before Christmas Kevin and I worked with Petie to clean up his room. We knew more toys from our generous families were on there way, so we tried to clear out some clutter. We taught Petie that some of his toys we were giving away to children who didn't have as many toys as he did. He didn't seem to pay much attention to the clean up and was just happy we were all in his room spending time together.

Fast forward to just a few minutes ago. Petie comes out of his room after playing quietly by himself for the past 20 minutes (rare these days) and says to me, "here mom, I want to give this fire truck to the children. I already have another firetruck and I want them to have this one." I said, "are you sure honey? I know how much you love firetrucks (more than any other vehicle he tells me) and I just want to make sure you want to give it away." "Yes mom, the children don't have many toys so I want them to have this one."

I squeezed him extra tight. I almost cried with pride.

We are blessed for sure.

Twenty ten begins

Here was our only snow day of the season. Technically this was 2009, late December. There was just enough snow for Petie and Kev to play for about an hour outside before it got too dark. By the next day it was all melted. It paled in comparison to the Artic Blast of 2008 that gave us many days of the white stuff and Chloe among other things!
Chloe at 4 months, in the bath. Starting to get big enough in the little tub that she really makes a big mess kicking and splashing all over the place.

Starting to like tummy time more and actually look around some before declaring defeat and getting her diapers all in a bunch.

Petie and mom's craft hour. He's a dinosaur and I'm a bunny if it isn't blatently obvious.

Just looking cute as always. She is only interested in sitting up now. No more of that baby lying down when you hold her nonsense. Thanks to Katie for her trippy new outfit.

It's been a long time

A whole lot has happened since I last posted more than 3 months ago. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, Petie's 3rd Birthday, New Year's, and Chloe just turned 4 months old. Both kids are thriving. Petie is talking and taking in more than ever. He is doing well at school and talks about his friends and all the latest gossip. He finally stopped crying at drop off which makes my morning much less stressful and the guilt factor has gone down exponentially. Unfortunately, he is the proud inheritor of 4 (yes 4) cavities and will have to undergo crowns (and his first experience with general anesthesia) in March. We haven't had the heart to tell him yet, but he has made strides with cutting out juice and chocolate milk and eating what mom and dad eat (instead of all the processed crap we were giving in to appease him). Chloe started Sunshine School with her brother and is a big hit! They just told me this morning how she is way past the developmental milestones for her age. As if I needed the reassurance of her brilliance! I am back at work and enjoying the relaxing environment of a surgical clinic compared to the days with 2 kids at home. Does that sound bad? If so, whatevs, it's true.

On a sadder note, Kev's cousin Charley (30) died the day after Christmas. Technically it was Christmas night in a freak accident he fell 5 stories from a roof and died almost instantly. We went to the funeral in Seattle and it was the saddest ever. The church was beyond packed. Kev's uncle Jim just kept telling us, "hug your kids tight." The tears were freely flowing. Patrick gave a really nice eulogy and it was good to be around family even if the reason truly sucked. I don't think there is ever a good reason when someone young and healthy and so full of future dies like that, but it has definitely helped me put some perspective in my own life.

1. Life is fragile. Don't take it for granted. Live in the now. You know all the cliches, but really, you just never know...
2. Family is great. My family (and extended in-law family and friends that are like family for that matter) is amazingly awesome. Don't take them for granted. Don't fight over the small crap. Get over it and appreciate each of them for who they are.
3. Say "I love you." I consider myself pretty good at this. But there is always room for improvement.
4. Appreciate each stage your kids are in. Embrace it. If Petie is convinced there are ants in his bed at 3am and wakes you up for the 3rd time that night - take a minute to take in the moment and give him hugs and tell him what a great kid he really is. He's only 3 little years old. Why try to make them grow up any faster than they have to?

So those are my deep thoughts for today. Just needed to put into words what I've been thinking about for the last few weeks. And hopefully I can get better at blogging because I really do enjoy it and I like the record it creates for the fam. Photos to come soon.

Black Butte Trip with the Wellnitz Family

I wish I could say I had an amazing time in Black Butte. If you call breastfeeding and blowing your nose all day while breastfeeding and shaking with the chills all night amazing, then maybe it was. The kids had a blast at least.

My birthday. Don't I look awesome? I think this was the worst of my days with the flu.

Poppa trying out the hooter hider and breast friend. What a good wet nurse.

Oh, and now that I'm home I have a stye in my eye and a fever blister on my lip that is hideous. Can it get much better than that?