elsieism 042420

The conversation I just overheard, "you never stand in the toilet. You know why? Because you pee and poop in the toilet"

Spencer puts her in the bath, pokes his head out and says, "yeah she was just standing there with both feet in, big toe waaay in! I don't even think she had peed yet, just standing there"

Easter 2020 under quarantine.

Easter under quarantine.

We saw a wild brown bunny a couple of days before which was perfect!

Was sad to not be able to see any family, but we did a virtual hang out with my family. Egg hunts all over the inside and outside, was ~45 F so not the nicest day. But better than Mom and Laura who got like 6 inches of snow. Started the day off with easter bunny pancakes. Then ham, potatoes, corn, rolls, and dirt cups for lunch/dinner.

fake nails from Gma E, and lots of other presents from the Easter Bunny.

She loves the new Elsa Frozen shoes from Gma E, and the Frozen Bubble wand from the Easter bunny.

In her Easter dress making breakfast with me.

March 2020 Photo Dump

Getting some playground time in at the Washington St. playground, our first 50 degree day! Still snow on the ground but metling.

LOVES her wubbas, doesn't get to have them at bedtime and "they are just a toy, right?!" "RIGHT?!"

She's getting really great at taking pictures of everything using my phone.

Elsie's first pony ride at the Madison Kids Expo during the first weekend in March, before life went to lockdown.

Enjoying time with cousins, and grandma and grandpa at the water park, what a fun weekend!

They're ready! They both LOVED to swim, though Elsie was sick. Grandma got them matching swim suits and some water shoes.

Akshith Madepaly, Rebecca Gillis, and my undergrad Mike Kuehne presenting their work in the lab at the capital in Madison, WI. Way to go!

At the Kid's Expo this was her favorite by far! And the line went fast.

Love my Elsie!

These two love eachother to death, she loves to dance and carry him around, and Arthur just loves the attention. He never runs away if she gets too aggressive.

Enjoying some sensory play with some cloud dough and plastic animals. Lots of fun!

Dad invented the dad-powered driving around in a car, which of course Elsie LOVES.

Playing the animal game, where Elsie pretends to be an animal and runs to hide and we use our binoculars to find her. Lots of lion roars!

She face planted and bit her lip so she wanted to put a band-aid on it :)

Helping dad make cookies :)

Remembering life during coronavirus pandemic

💙Just so I NEVER forget-April 2, 2020 

Gas price a mile from home was $1.65

School cancelled - yes cancelled

Self-distancing measures on the rise.

Tape on the floors at stores to help distance customers (6ft) from each other.

Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.

Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled.

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

No masses, churches are closed.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less. 

Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

Children's outdoor play parks are closed.

We are to distance from each other.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Shelves are bare.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.

Fines are established for breaking the rules.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Government incentives to stay home.

Barely anyone on the roads.

People wearing masks and gloves outside.

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!

Be thankful. Be grateful.

Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.

We are all one! ☀️

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WI Dells 2020

We got to spend a lovely weekend with Lena, Laura, Ron, Elsie, and Nathan in WI Dells. Because of coronavirus lock-downs, the Great Wolf was only open one of the nights we planned to stay there, so the next night we went over to Kalahari. The two girls had an amazing time together! And everyone enjoyed the water parks. It was fun exploring a new water park, but I think the girls enjoyed Great Wolf a bit better. It was good to get out and be together before our planned isolation for the next couple of weeks.

As far as COVID-19, literally EVERYTHING has shut down, libraries, schools, restaraunts, most businesses. It's a horrendous disruption to life as we knew it, and I'm feeling a little nervous about the whole thing, but we plan to stay pretty secluded from most other people. It's hard though, because Mary just had little Hayden and we want to go see the new baby cousin, so maybe in a couple of weeks. So far it seems the symptoms are mild, and it is mostly a problem for the immuno-compromised and elderly. However, now that I'm a bit immuno-compromised myself I'm especially going to steer clear of the public. How long will it last?!? I am kicked out of my research lab at UW-Madison Chemistry for 8 weeks. Madison College will have us instructors move to online instruction for the remainder of the semester. I had to say good-bye to a good lab friend under these horrible circumstances, will probably never see her again becuase she's moving to Pittsburg after her April 7 defense!

Anyhow, we had a lovely time together at the WI-Dells and I look forward to doing it again soon!

Cousins were happy to see eachother and both graciously wore their wolfie ears so I could take a picture. Lena (18 months) and Elsie (2.5).

The girls were ready to go swimming right away! Grandma got them matching outfits and swim shoes :)

Lots of fun playing with everyone in the water! Little E likes to run and splash the fountains, and swim in the shallow toddler pools.

Swimming with dad and a life jacket, though she's fine on her own at this point.

Lena loves the slides.

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Celebrating Dad's 60th! Mary made him a compilation of 60 photos!

Gma E was a favorite to swim and hang out with in the water.

 Monkeying around in the hotel room together:

Gma E bought them a bunch of stuff, including these giant clown fish pillows. They spent the next 20 minutes rolling around with them on the ground.

elsieism 031020

Lately when I've been waking up Spencer before I leave for work I say, "good morning Spencer!"

Then Elsie chimes in, "good morning Dad! It's ok if I jump on you?"

Spencer always says yes, and Elsie goes down and plays in the bed, and jumps all over Spencer. Good morning indeed ♥️

March 2020

Singing her babies to sleep and tucking them in with her Mao.  Still loves babies jj Emma and Mao. Also needs water bottle, usually green one, and pink Teddy to sleep with also.

Doing great with potty training! Wears pull up to nap and bedtime and it's been working great! She was a breeze to potty train 👍

Especially compared to last year it was a mild but snowy winter, and spring is already on the way, though I'm sure we'll get some more snow. We discovered a couple more indoor gyms and playgrounds which has been great to try and add to the other good places we have found to do stuff indoors. 

Spencer takes her swimming at least once a week, children's museum once a week, she loves her Kindermusik class with Miss Debbie Monday nights with me, we go to the library once a week, and some form of indoor playground at least once a week. Starting to explore preschools and I'll excited and I know she's excited to hang out with kids her age and learn new things. 

Plan to stay in Madison regardless of my job situation for the immediate future, so Spencer has been hitting the real estate hard to great effect and I've been moving in a teaching direction which has been really fun. We are going to buy our first rental property in the next couple of months once we decide on a financing situation (lots of options) and get the business up and running!

Arthur and Olive are doing great so far. We had a big scare from Arthur when he was gone 5 days in a row at the beginning of the year but thankfully he came back! I was gearing up to go all out to find him but I think the trick was putting litter and things that smell like us in the back yard for him to smell and find his way home. 

She's getting great at taking pictures with my phone.

I found some old pics from the wedding that I thought were worth re-sharing.

Dad and Mom having a great time!

Tim and Conner come to visit!

I thought it was a cute body shot, not her best face haha, but she's getting tall!

Playing at the new gym we found:

Lovely 45 degree Sunday so we went to the park, still some snow but lots of neighbors for her to play with.

Grabbed from my mom's phone, thought it was cute of Grandma Betty with little Mary and Betty. Doesn't Elsie look like me?

This was a Christmas gift from Gma Elsie and I finally remembered to have her try it on.

Arthur still her buddy. And that quilt was a gift from my Mom.

She's now willing to pose and smile for pictures which is super cute and fun! This is at the Madison Children's Museum.

Another fun indoor play place is the East Towne Mall, it has this little area with cars and a little play place that's usually PACKED with kids.

Olive snuggling on the couch. She's still hesitant to let Elsie touch her, usually a few pets then runs away.

Those two get up to some shenganigans!