DC Trip

Over Memorial Day Weekend Team Trenerowski decided to take a road trip, as a family of four, to Washington DC.  It was a courageous undertaking, but the trip was a necessary one! There were two main factors driving our decision to get away.  

(ONE) We wanted to get away.  

(TWO) Michal had a bike up in DC he needed to pick up.  

This bike isn't just any ordinary bike... this bike is from Poland and one Michal could just not part with.  When we moved back to the United States from Warsaw, at least once a day Michal was talking about how much he missed his bike.  So, for Christmas I tried to get it shipped out to the United States.  The only problem.  Shipping would have been around $800.  It would have been worth the money to stop hearing about how awesome this bike was and how Michal would "never find another one like it," but... Andy Armstrong came to my rescue and told us that when he came back to the United States after his tour in Poland, he would bring the bike with him.  So - that's exactly what he did.  

Fast forward...

April 2013

The bike is in California.  We have a newborn.  No way are we driving to California to pick it up.  

August 2013

We move to Winston-Salem.  Now we are really screwed because California is even further away than Utah.  

September 2014

Andy Armstrong moves to Washington DC and plans on living there until June 2015. 

So, naturally, we plan to come out in September - only we decided to go to Atlanta for a mission farewell instead.  October - Michal has a work conference and we plan our month around that. November - Michal's work get's really busy and picks up through the remainder of the year. December - Due to being pregnant, I can't travel more than 100 miles away from home. January - I have a baby. February, March, April - Newborn Baby excuses.  May - We decide to bite the bullet and be brave and venture on a 5.5 hour road trip to retrieve a part of Michal's long lost soul.

We had no idea what we were undertaking.  Lily was potty trained.  But we thought that she would TELL us that she had to go when she was in her car seat.  We were right - only that when she told us we weren't fast enough in getting to a toilet.  So 2.5 hours into our road trip and we take our first pit stop to change outfits.  Then every 30-45 minutes after we have to stop to ensure bladders are emptied and Marco's tummy is full.  An average 5.5 hour trip to DC took us just shy of 8 hours to get there.  

And the odd thing about our road trip is that Marco decided he wasn't going to like the car seat anymore.  He was the happiest boy when we were out of the car doing things, but when we were in the car - he just cried and cried.  Lily, on the other hand, was an angel... and that may be because we let her watch Sesame Street the whole way to greater DC.

Once we got to the Armstrong's residence we were elated and so happy that we made it!  It was a success! And not only were we so happy to see them, but I think that Lily was so happy to get all the attention that she did. Right away they gave her a gift - which contained a talking OLAF toy.  It was such a hit that that very night Olaf's name appeared in her prayers as she prayed for those she loved!

And Marco was such a happy baby also.  He loved all the attention that he was receiving.  (Either that, or being out of the car seat).

But while we were in DC, Michal had a double agenda.  He wanted to go vote.  Apparently elections in Poland occur every 5 years, and similar to the US's absentee ballots, if you are a Polish citizen you can vote overseas for your candidate of choice.  So Michal took advantage of this opportunity.  For those of you who don't know Michal - he takes pride and importance in being politically involved.  Thus, this was very important to him and we made it a high priority for him to go and feel a sense of national pride.  He wanted to show our children how important it is to be active in the decision process of electing leaders for nations.  And even though I'm sure they were a tad to young to learn this, Michal felt like he was being a responsible parent by teaching them this young.  (Notice how he made them involved in his voting process in all the pictures).

Lily was just excited to get a candy bar.  A Polish Candy Bar.  But I was a mean mom and wouldn't let her eat it because it was hot and would have melted in the sun and it wouldn't have been a very fun mess to clean up.  (And, I knew that Lily was tired and within minutes the poor candy bar had fallen asleep with her).

Since Lily had fallen asleep we decided to walk around by the Polish Embassy.  For nearly two hours Lily slept and we were able to see some pretty incredible architecture, over two dozen other embassies, churches, a mosque, and a car hit a speed bump a little to hard that all the oil in his car leaked and his vehicle started smoking.  (Funny thing is Michal hit that exact speed bump too hard also... we are just grateful that we were fortunate enough to not have any damage done to our car).

We even saw a marriage ceremony at the mosque as we were passing by.  It reminded us of our time in Istanbul - so we decided to go and eat some hummus to bring back even more memories.

Lebanese Taverna was the restaurant recommended to us that we go and visit.  And while it was yummy, it was a little overpriced and portions were small for being in America.  

For Dinner we met back up with the Armstrong Family and ate at Bangkok 54.  Every person at the table was in heaven.  Fireworks were exploding at our table with everyone eager to let the person at his or her side sample their delicious meal.  I almost wish I could have had three stomachs for this meal so I could have consumed more!

All the other down time was spent at the Armstrong's home.  Marco was the happiest baby, and Lily was the happiest toddler.  She was in heaven.  Cute Rachel played with her and introduced her to miniature figurines.  The first thing Lily said in the morning to us in the morning was, "Rachel.  Toys. Rachel.  Toys."

(Unfortunately, I didn't capture any photos of Rachel playing with Lily.  But Rachel was so awesome, she stayed up until ten o'clock each night playing with Lily and wearing her out.  I can't wait until Rachel gets older and I can hire her to be my nanny!)

Before Church we decided to do a big group photo.  

And Good-bye's are never fun.  Every 30 minutes, the whole way home, when Lily was awake, we heard, "Rachel.  Rachel.  Rachel." 

On our way out of town we stopped by and saw a dear dear friend of mine from good ol' college days: Courtney.  I was lame and forgot to take pictures.  But it was so fun reminiscing, catching up, and seeing how happy she is.

Friends are truly the best and we feel so blessed to have been able to have spent such good quality time with our friends this Memorial Day weekend.  It couldn't have been any better.

Marco Loves Lily

Watching Lily and Marco play together just melts my heart.  Watching Marco smile, laugh, and play with his older sister makes me just want to jump in and squeeze both of them.  My days are made brighter and my worries forgotten when I watch the two of them interact.  And while I may have already documented a number of these photos in other blog posts, I wanted to share these specific photos because each smile was caused by Lily being a great big sister.  Every time Marco looks at Lily he does so with amazement, with fascination, with love.  And each smile is full of pure happiness and love.  Each of these photos really emphasizes his feelings towards Lily.

(Look at the way he just watches her)...

...(or plays with her).

This is the most recent photo (taken June 24, 2015).  Lily and Marco had their car seats right next to each other in PaPa's truck.  As I was siting on the other side of Marco, I watched Lily reach out and wake Marco up because she wanted to hold his hand.  This is the reaction that Marco gave her.  He smiled.  He was happy and he looked at her with such adoration. For the next ten minutes they sat hand in hand as the world passed them by and just held on to each other.  I was like a fly-on-the-wall and was able to absorb this tender moment and reflect on their actions.  It made me realize that sometimes the world is in such a hurry and things are going by so fast, but what really matters in life is those that you love and how you choose to hold onto them and cherish them - or get caught up in the fast-paced busyness of the world.  Watching Lily and Marco made me realize I need to slow down and show others around me how much I love them and how much they mean to me and not get caught up in the mundane things that can make life seem so crazy.  And that I need to be happy when others reach out to me, and not let go, but hold on to them and show them love back.

Jealousy

Lately, Lily has been going through this kick where anything Marco uses, touches, shows interest in, or looks at... Lily has to somehow be involved also.  

Some things, like bath time, are great!  Baths, that used to take a half hour, now take no more than three minutes.  

Marco's seat has been a little trickier than bath time.  I didn't think that Lily would fit into the things I place Marco inside of... but apparently I was wrong!

Any time we take Marco out of the bumbo, she sneaks her little bottom right in and gets all cozy.  But, this isn't the only thing that she has wanted to use.  She uses his baby bouncer (also seen in the picture above), she wants to lay where he is in the stroller, and she has even asked to be buckled into his carseat once he awakens and we take him out at church.  We will buckle her right in and she sits all comfortable and strapped in for a good twenty minutes before realizing that she is bored of "Marco's toys" and wants to get out and participate in whatever he is doing instead.

But where he sits, lays, and sleeps, aren't the only things that she also wants to be a part of.  She wants our attention more than ever before.  And doing things where I need to give a LOT of attention to Marco, I need reinforcements.  And Michal sure makes a good handy reinforcer.  Sometimes I just can't hack it alone, and I am so, so grateful to him for all the additional help that I receive from him.  He is truly a blessing when it comes to handling two children during difficult times.

But jealousy isn't necessarily a bad thing, because Lily plays so very well with Marco.  She wants to show him how to play with his toys and interacts with him when he is trying to figure things out.  She wants to share and make sure that they are doing the same activity together.  And normally, Lily would never be interested in most of these toys/activities, but now she exemplifies what it means to be a good big sister!

Through this whole experience of Lily's want and need for additional attention (ahem... jealousy), I have realized many things... one of them being that Lily needs more interaction with children her own age until Marco is old enough to really play along with her.  We've tried to get out and visit other Moms in the area who have kids the same age as Lily, and that has helped.  And I've decided that come Fall she will be attending a pre-school a few days a week to help her get involved with boys and girls in similar situations. But the quickest fix to this problem was, deciding last minute, to take a trip out to Utah where Grammy and Pa-Pa could shower her with loads of attention and make sure that she felt loved and the need for jealousy didn't arise.  

She is really such a good kid and loves her baby brother so much, but sometimes a little too much and  I can't get upset at her for wanting to be involved and wanting love.  However, sometimes I don't know how to give her the attention she needs so I'm experimenting with different options.  Each brings new understanding: some positive and some negative.  But overall, I'm growing to love these children, and their love for each other, more and more each day.

Marco 4 Months

May 22, 2015 

FOUR MONTHS OLD

Marco is growing and growing.  He is becoming pretty interactive and is full of smiles.  

Likes

* Classical Music - He settles right down when we play classical music for him.

* Lily

* Sucking his thumb

* His gumbo

* Being swaddled/wrapped in a blanket

* His swing - he still falls asleep in it super easily and sometimes prefers to sleep in his swing at night

Dislikes

* His car seat

* His pacifier

New Skills

* Grasping and holding on to things

*Talking, or squealing, to us

Expert Skills

* Smiling right after eating or waking up

Favorite Toys

* Lily

* Oball

* Any blanket

Firsts

* The first time I heard him laugh was this month

Other

* has trouble pooping consistently

* can't figure out his schedule

* Lily loves him

* Wakes Mommy and Daddy up 1 to 2 times at night

* gets distracted nursing unless i give him all of my attention (no more reading for Mommy)

* loves to fall asleep on Mommy or in the baby carrier on Mommy or Daddy

Marco Dress Up

Have I mentioned that Lily loves dressing herself now?  In addition to her coming up with some pretty interesting clothing choice combinations, Lily also loves to "dress up" Marco.

Here's some of my favorite "dress ups" that I was able to capture on photo.

This particular day I was in the shower.  I came out of the shower to witness Lily having gotten into her bows and making sure that they were all in her hair and all over Marco.  She sure didn't want him to feel left out.

I'm absolutely horrible at remembering to do tummy time.  And this is why... 

Every time I do tummy time with Marco he get smothered by Lily.  Today Lily wanted to make sure that Marco felt loved by giving him her princess stickers that were on her hands and putting them on his hands.  If you look closely you can see Lily's generosity on the back of Marco's hands.

I can't tell if he wasn't happy to have tummy time, or to have princess stickers on his hands... but Lily made sure that Marco was a happy baby once tummy time was over.

Lily also has an obsession with hats lately.  And by obsession I mean sometimes she has to go to bed wearing a hat.  (or when we take a bath, or go to church, etc.)  

This particular day she wanted to make sure that we didn't feel left out by not having a hat. Lily had her winter had on from Babcia, I had a summer hat on, and Marco had a swimming hat on that Auntie Bailey gave Lily last year.  This is what Michal came home to.  He walked in on us "dressed up" and took a photo right away.

Each day is filled with surprises and you never know what you're going to get!

Monday's Garbage Truck

Every Monday the Garbage Truck comes at around 9:30 in the morning.  And to help motivate me to get up and going on a Monday morning... we go and chase the garbage truck.  Lily just loves finding the garbage truck.  Normally when we go on walks I have to give her treats, or my phone in order to get her to sit still.  But the only times where she is able to sit and be complacent with just looking is when we are at the zoo - or when we are searching for the "Big Truck."

The Monday mornings that are the best are the ones where the recycle and the regular garbage truck comes.  Usually if we hit it just right (on a regular Garbage only day) we can see the truck about 9 times.  When we go on the recycle day (if we are lucky) we will see the truck about 14-15 times.  Lily has such an ear for when the truck is right around the corner because she will make sure that I know the garbage truck is coming.

Every time the garbage truck passes us he gives us a nice little honk on his horn... and Lily waves as he goes by.  We don't get the same kind of "love" from the recycle - but we are working on it.

Monday May 18 Lily was so disappointed because we searched for 90 minutes and didn't find either the recycle or the garbage truck.  Normally we only go out an hour, but I wanted to make her happy.  There must have been a different garbage man collecting in our neighborhood that day since we didn't run into him once and he didn't take the usual "normal" route we always see him take.

Until Next Monday...

Marco 3 Month Pictures

Marco is now 3 Months old.

I really wish that I could be better at writing down his milestones and achievements, but I try to make up for it by taking photos.

He now smiles and sleeps and smiles and sleeps and if he is every unhappy we just have to make sure Lily gives him some love and it makes him forget why he is upset.  

Even though Marco's eyes look dark in this photo, they are still a light grey... and I'm convinced that he has red hair (from how many people have commented on it).

I do know that Lily just adores and loves him... sometimes a little too much... but I think that he adores and loves her back.  It just warms my heart when I watch Marco watching Lily.  He looks at her with such amazement and it makes me so happy to know that they feel connected and love for each other. 

Marco Doc Appointment

Little boy had his 2 month doctor appointment on April 8, 2015.  He was truly older than 2 months, but I guess that's the way they do it around here.

Here are Marco's 2 Month Stats:

Weight: 12 lb 11.5 oz (5.769 kg) 37%

Height: 24" (61 cm) 68%

Head Circumference: 40.6 cm (15.98") 73%

He was a healthy little boy and such so cooperative for his appointment.  (In order to get Lily to behave I had to give her an apple).

At least he was cooperative until it was time to go.  I'm not quite sure what happened, but he had a blowout where NONE of it was contained or captured inside of his diaper.  It all ended up on Mommy's lap.  I couldn't go home like this, and I didn't want to get it on the seat of my car.  So I found a nice nurse who gave me a towel to go home in.  Such an interesting, interesting day at the doctors! Thank you Marco for keeping me on my toes!