Superbowl & Stuff

It's been a crazy busy last week and a half or so on good 'ol 66th Street. Matt wrapped up his month of paternity leave with baby G, and returned to work on 2/2. It was wonderful to have him at home and obviously he and his daughter had some good bonding time.

Oh, daddy

Genevieve learned lots from her time with dad, and is now an expert at razzing (Matt's favorite baby noise). Apparently she also learned how to use utensils.

The little Squish helped herself to my spoon as I was putting my bowl in the sink


Special K goooooooooood

We spent last weekend in Rochester for our annual Superbowl get together with friends. We stayed at my parent's house and everyone else piled into Kyle & Robin's place (thanks for hosting!!). Saturday was spent at at Lark Toys in Kellogg, MN, where they specialize in hand made wooden toys. We checked it all out and everyone found a treasure or two to take home, including:

Nerd Alert - Matt found a beloved childhood toy


Ethan worked on his city planning skills


Robin and Miles hanging out


Showing Genevieve the dolls -
Matt about had a stroke when he saw what a hand carved doll house cost


Ethan shows the rocking chair who's boss


Ethan goes in for a hug (while Melissa supervises)


Razzing for Shawn (which for some reason seems to make her ears look huge, no?)

The other cool thing about Lark is their incredibly beautiful hand carved carousel which they fire up every half hour. Naturally the kiddos had to go, so it was all dads on deck:

Scott & Ethan, Matt & G, and Kyle & Miles


Genevieve seems a little underwhelmed

There was one kid on the carousel who was probably 6 or 7, and spent the entire ride in hysterics - to the point that his mom was trying to cover his mouth with her hand. Good times! Although I can't really fault him as the carousel went a LOT faster than I expected. So much so that Miss G gave a good hurl pretty much as soon as they got off. Looks like she'll be staying on dry land with mom and dad next time there's a deep sea fishing adventure...

After Lark we crossed the Mississippi back to the Wisconsin side for lunch at - where else - a cheese factory. While the kids got their toys at Lark, the dads got their treats at Nelson.

Hard enough to get three moms to look at the same camera at the same time, but three babies too?


Who wants lunch?

And even though we were there "for Superbowl", we packed up the car early on Sunday as the next day was Matt's first back at work and Genevieve's first at daycare. Before we left though, there was mandatory cuteness among the kiddies:

4, 8, and 13 months...in other words, least to most mobile


Ethan: Dude, gimmie 5!
Miles: Whoa, there's someone on my left


Genevieve: I should hike my pants up
Miles: Whoa, there's someone on my right!


Ethan: Jazz hands!


Genevieve: He he, I hiked my pants up again
Miles: You people are exhausting me
Ethan: I'm pretty much done, can we go?


Ethan: Hey, I can walk! Peace out, suckers

Alas this cuteness was the immediate end to the fun. Earlier in the weekend I thought I heard a little rasp in G's cough, and by midday Sunday she was hacking like a veteran smoker. By the time we got home the nose had joined in the fun, so I did something yesterday that I've never done in my working life: took a sick day. Off to the pediatrician we went and sure enough the little kitten has RSV which is a nasty, nasty virus that is loading her up with fluids and mucus. Yesterday was pretty rough (as the pediatrician put it, probably the "worst day of her life" - how sad is that???) and while the symptoms are definitely still in full force today, she seemed to be happier. A huge thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Maio for taking time out of their work weeks to watch her while we work. I would take more sick days but this virus can linger up to two weeks and Matt is going to be out of town all next week for work so I will either be home with a sick baby or I'll be getting her going in daycare for the first time. Talk about the one-two punch! Until then we are spending lots of time in the bathroom with the shower on full blast, loading up on baby Tylenol, and putting Vicks vapo-rub on anything that will stand still. My house smells like a vapo-bomb went off. Stay tuned for more updates, and now you should go wash your hands (I wouldn't doubt that the virus may be strong enough to be electronically communicable).