Spring is here.

Finally. It feels like its been a long time in coming, but I think Spring has finally arrived. This winter was tough for me. A Wisconsin winter is a far cry from a mild New England winter. I obviously knew what to expect, but I have to say that this winter was pretty depressing for me. All that time indoors is rough when you know that in Maine you'd likely be at the beach, perhaps even watching surfers or climbing up a mountain somewhere. On the other hand, spring in Wisconsin is incredible. We've been enjoying it.

Since my last post, Milena has mastered crawling and standing. She doesn't have the coordination to move her legs to walk yet, but she is really trying and getting her fair share of cut lips, bumps and bruises along the way. It won't be long. She's 'talking' much more and other than 'mom' and 'dad', I believe I've heard her use her own words for Claire, more and water. Not sure, though, because she's constantly babbling and half the time I'm sure I just *think* I can make out an intended word. But she is using sign language now, and thats really cool. She is often standing at the front door watching the cars go by and I'm sure wishing she could be outside. She's happy for spring as well.

Claire hasn't lost any other teeth recently. She has decided to grow out her bangs. She got her ears pierced, which she's been asking about for a year now, since Milena was born. A few times I told her we could go and get it done, but then she'd back down and say she'd like to wait. But not this time. She was ready and she did awesome. Even got a lollipop afterwards. The school year is winding down and she seems to be soaking in every last second. She's using words like 'incidental' and 'essentially' and 'empathetic'. She's doing multiplication. I... don't know if I use words like that now.

Thats what we've been up to. Looking forward to Easter this weekend.

A Picture a Day

One of New Years resolutions was to take one picture every day. So far its going awesome. I don't think I've missed a day yet. I find I take a lot of pictures with my iPhone (the best camera is the one you have with you). I play around a lot with my LensBaby. And I end up with some awesome pictures I'd never have had if not for the picture-a-day goal. So its going exactly as planned.

Most of the pictures are of the girls. They are obvious favorite subjects, but I have to say I am looking forward to when there will be some pictures taken outside. I'm ready for winter to head on out, but I'm pretty easy to please. I'd be totally happy with a day where the temps get all the way up to the mid-30's and the sun makes it feel even warmer and you can go out without a jacket and still be comfortable. Or, you know, Maine's forecast for this week of temps in the mid to upper 40's. Where if it snows, it'll all just be melted off in a few hours anyway.

It did not take long to get spoiled.

Favorite iPhone pics

I use my iPhone camera much more than I thought I would. I can even get a really nice 5x5 print from it. The only downside is that pictures stay on the phone for a long time because I rarely sync it with the computer. But I did last night, and so, here are some of my favorite pictures, taken with my iPhone.

Claire and I having fun on a walk.

Playing in bed with Milena while living at the apartments in Madison.

Claire and Mike walking home from the bus stop on her 6th birthday.

On the way to the bus stop.

Mike and Jim at Niagara Falls, making the drive from Maine to Wisconsin.

Claire dressed up and standing on the window seat at the apartments in Madison.

Milena in her stroller.

Milena keeping an eye on me.

Claire and Mike watching the sunset at Lake Saint Germaine, WI.

Milena and Jim "watching football".

And my favorite of the favorites. Claire feeding a giraffe a cracker, but then changing her mind a the last second, and letting the cracker drop. I was very fortunate to catch this, just as the cracker falls from her hand, especially with the (compared to my Nikon) slow response time of the iPhone.

2009 Wrap Up

2009 was a big year for us. Lots of change.

We started the year off right with a second trip to Hawaii.

April brought a new baby. From day one Claire has been the best big sister anyone could ask for. Milena lights up when she's around.

Claire graduated from Kindergarden.

We moved back to Wisconsin. I found out that three years is more than enough time to make some really good friends who are difficult to leave.

Mike started working as an attending. Six months in its still hard to believe he is done with training.

Tim and Josie got married, a perfect reason to have another Fitz beach house reunion.

Dave and Erin got married. I don't think I've ever seen Dave smile quite so much in one day.

We bought a house.

Claire turned six.

We (already) went back to visit Maine.

2009 was a fantastic year. Can't wait to see what 2010 holds.

Last Weekend, This Weekend.

Last weekend was awesome. The girls and I spent a day at the Tundra Lodge in Green Bay, of which I have no pictures because I was in the water the whole time. It was awesome and so much more fun when you have a six year old. Claire had a great time and at the end of the day said "Mom, this is the most fun I've ever had with you." So I clearly scored some major points. Milena was unhappy with the noise level, but after she realized there was WATER to play in, she was quite happy. Mike went to the cabin (which was suppose to be The Cabin in Ironwood, but at the last minute they went to a different cabin with heat and running water and electricity. Wimps.) with the Portage group. I don't have any pictures of that either. Sunday we had the Portage group and their families over for dinner. Eric and Kate made some amazing chicken stew. It was really fun to see everyone.

This weekend we celebrate Christmas with my family. It took a bit of juggling, but we were able to find a few days that everyone can get together. We're looking forward to it.

Here come the Holidays

The time between Halloween and Thanksgiving always goes so fast. And then its a blur all the way through New Years.

Claire has been coming up with some great quotes lately, though she has no idea.

She heard a truck backing up and mistook it for tv being censored. She explained that they play the BEEP over a bad word so you can't hear it. I asked her what kind of bad words they say, and she answered right away with "Like crap. Like 'Oh Crap!' You know." I said I did, and she had no ideas on any other bad words. Six years and she only knows crap? Not bad.

She was reading a menu and and thought Chicken Chow Mein was 'Chicken Chew Meat'.

And lastly, she was singing 'There's a Little Wheel Turning in My Heart", but she thought

(actually still thinks, I haven't been able to correct her just yet) the lyrics were "There's a Little Mini Turtle in My Heart. Which doesn't make a lot of sense. But taken literally, and what isn't in the world of a six year old, the correct words aren't any better.

Milena has yet to even give us a word to quote, but she has mastered blowing raspberries and does it on request, and thats fun.

Halloween

Another successful year of trick-or-treating. Milena was a frog. A decision that was easy to make because we had a frog snowsuit in her size. She was warm and happy the entire time.

Claire decided to be a doorbell. A little less obvious than the frog, but a much higher creativity score. We even rigged it up with an actual doorbell, so she rang if you pushed the lit up button. Lots of people on our candy route really liked this, and I think Claire got someone to 'ring' her at each house we stopped at. We even found a house that has their doorbell set up on the same frequency as this one, which might be fun for walks in the future.

The First House-Guests

James and Elissa and family made the 20 hour drive from Texas to spend some time visiting in Wisconsin this week. We were lucky enough to have them stay with us a night. I'm amazed at how kids can just pick up where they left off. Its like they didn't even miss a beat. I guess the same was true for the adults. It didn't take long for us to settle in with Taboo, ice cream and drinks, just like we did while the guys were in medical school.

Its been about three years since we've seen them, and naturally, I expected all three of their kids to be adults now. So I wasn't at all surprised at how much everyone had changed in those three years.

...and how much they hadn't.

We definitely had a great time seeing them. I'm sure we'll be planning a trip to Texas soon enough. But we'll fly, because only crazy people would drive that far.

I actually had my camera out for the first time in forever, so here is some bonus Milena:

Its been a busy week. We've had some kind of get-together every night this week, and its been really fun. Things are coming together with the house, furniture has been purchased, some pictures have been hung, but we kind of forgot to start settling in socially. Its nice to have started that. Even Milena is making some friends.

Claire definitely has the advantage. She's friends with EVERYONE in her class. Then a few weeks ago she moved from Kindergarden to first grade, and so now she's friends with TWO classes. We'd put her in Kindergarden again because of different age requirements in WI vs.

Maine. We figured a second year of kindergarden never hurt anyone, but I guess she was paying attention last year and didn't need a repeat. First grade is awesome, I'm told.

I've done a bit of painting. Claire's room used to be pink PINK! Pepto-pink. I thought it would be fun if she got to pick the new color. But she's artistic, and that didn't go well. She was talking about painting squares and stripes and swirls and using 17 different colors of paint. So I told her that I would be picking the colors, and she finally agreed to that as long as there would be 'more than one color, Mom'. So there are three, and it turned out really well. I have before and afters, I'll post them later.

Then I gave our bathroom a facelift. It used to be a lovely mint green:

And now its so much better:

It felt good to paint over the green with a really nice brown. I took out the big bulky white blinds and put window film up, which I love. I hung some pictures. Then I got some towels and rugs that match, a new shower curtain, and suddenly its like a new room. Milena's is next.

Also, last weekend we went to Green Bay, and the highlight of the trip was the zoo. I love this picture:

Claire drops the giraffe's cracker when she is surprised by its tongue poking through the fence, looking for that cracker. Good stuff.

6

Claire turned six on Tuesday. The highlights were bringing blueberry muffins to school, going out for pizza and of course opening a few presents. She's having a party this weekend, and we're all looking forward to that.

Settling in.

We've been at the new house for almost two weeks now, and things are slowly getting to where they need to be. You can tell which rooms we spend the majority of our time in: the kitchen, living room, and Mike's office. Those rooms are pretty well set, but the others still need some attention.

Its so nice to be able to just move right in, as opposed to the last house we bought, where everything was stacked up on one side of the house while we made the other side livable. This time around, we don't have to paint/resurface/replace/fix anything, though there are a few 'just for fun' painting projects in the future (Claire's room, the master bath and possibly Mike's office). Those projects have a much better chance of getting done now that Claire is back in school. Today is her second day, the first full day, and the first day she rode the bus. Very exciting for all of us. The whole routine of getting Claire up and to school and then coming home and having breakfast is so nicely familiar. Mike is usually not home or in bed, Milena goes down for a nap shortly after, and then I have some time to myself. I like to think I'll use it to Get Stuff Done. But actually, I read the paper or play around online.

Last week we spent some time in St. Germain. It was nice to get away for a bit. We had some campfires, watched the sunset, did some mini-golfing (I dominated), and Claire and Mike rode some horses. At Elmer's Saddle Horses.

Elmer must have a good sense of humor.

Fun times.

Also, I found an old picture of Claire, back when she was about Milena's age and had the coolest hair around.

Even together, Dave and Milena can't come close.

My Brother Got Married.

We had a great time last weekend at Dave and Erin's wedding. It was awesome to see he and his bride so happy. I don't have a lot of pictures of them together on the actual wedding day, but I had a great view for the main event. A camera might have been distracting during the ceremony, but I didn't hesitate to take pictures during the rehearsal, so just imagine them looking all fancy and such.

I also have to say that I enjoyed being a bridesmaid and having access to both the girls' room

and the boys' room. And everywhere else people were. I took plenty of pictures in the few

hours before the wedding and as people started arriving.

Seriously, I don't think Dave ever stopped smiling.

They said 'I do', we cheered, smiled for many many pictures, and then we were all off to eat and dance all night (and Claire did an awesome job being the flower girl).