Fingers Crossed - Healthy at Last

The past few weeks have been very long for all of us! It started a little over three weeks ago with runny noses and led into an ear infection for Anna that took two doses of antibiotics to get over, a sinus infection for myself and Asthmatic Bronchialitis for Max!! Poor Jon is just now getting sick and I am not sure how he held out until the rest of felt better!

What should have been a very happy Easter week with Jon's parents turned out to be our worst week yet since having children. With Anna's fevers and Max having an ambulance transport from one hospital to another, we spent just about everyday with one Doctor or another. I am happy that we managed to have Easter breakfast but sad that we never made it to our dinner reservation. I have some very cute pictures of the kids and Grandma and Grandpa Friedman that I will post tomorrow. Luckily, Anna and Max started to feel better and were able to laugh and have some fun with their grandparents. Thank you Bob and Sally for helping with the sick kids, we appreciate it. We really hope that the next visit is much better.

There is so much to catch up on that I don't even know where to start. Since my last post, Jon has been to Vail. He flew out for a few days of skiing with his cousins and he had a wonderful time. Linda, thank you do much for the beautiful outfits. I plan to put them on the kids and post a picture soon! That was so sweet of you!

While Jon was in Vail, the kids and I took a road trip to VA in the new minivan to see Aunt Chrissy and to see what spring was like. We had a wonderful time and the kids spent a lot of time in the yard and at the park! Who ever would have thought that buds would actually be on the trees! Our last day in VA, Anna, came down with a high fever and we ended up in a walk in clinic. She was diagnosed with an ear infection and that was the start of our endless visits to the Doctor.

Anyway, we enjoyed our first day of spring back here in MI with a beautiful snow fall and about six inches of accumulation! I actually took a picture and will post that tomorrow as well. The real shocker is that we actually had some more snow a few days ago!! We just can't seem to win.

Lets see, what else???? Anna and Max start Montessori school this week. Today was their first day of the adjustment period and they did very well. I just sat in the corner and they went about their business. They jumped right in and seemed to have a great time. I tried to leave after an hour but Anna didn't think that was a great idea and she screamed bloody murder. Tomorrow is the last day of the adjustment period and I am told that she should be fine by the first day of school without me. As of right now, they will go for a few hours on Tue, Wed and Thur from 9:00-11:30. It is just so cute to see them in that setting. They now can point to most of their body parts and they are learning more words each day. We just started to count and they try to say ten for the number of fingers that they have while holding them up.

Our house is being shown but we still have no offers. Only time will tell with this. The only other news that we to report is that I am doing some consulting work for the company that I worked for before having the kids. I am giving it a try and plan to do some work while the kids are at school and while they are sleeping.

Upcoming visitors to MI: This weekend Christy, a twin Mom from the twin group I am in will be staying with Sheri and we plan to have the 6 kids play together over the weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing Christy and the girls again and I know the kids will have fun. Of course, I will post some pictures. Then on Monday, Grandma and Grandpa Contursi will be here for a visit!

Gosh, we really are very busy here at the Friedman household! I hope you are all well and I plan to post pictures tomorrow. I am just way tooooooo tired at the moment.

Trip to Carnival Cuts

Max was such a big boy yesterday and sat by himself during his entire haircut! He was very sweet and seemed to enjoy it. I had planned to take him for a hair cut this week but yesterday morning when he brought me one of Anna's hair ties and insisted that I put it in his hair and it actually stayed, I knew I needed to make time to get it done ASAP! Max now has his very own hair wax and we can either spike his hair or brush it to the side. Here are two pictures of him in the chair. I tried to have Anna's bangs trimmed but she screamed and I fought so much that I decided it just wasn't worth it. I guess my decision as to bangs or no bangs has been made. She has let me keep her hair back the past day and a half and I hope she continues.
It was so nice out yesterday that we were able to play with the neighbors for a little while before dinner. I had to post the last picture because they actually sat down in their seats to eat! I think they are getting tired of standing. Well, I can hope.

Big Post - Many Pictures

It seems that the past week has been filled with water and playing with friends. Because of the colds that Anna, Max and some their friends came down with, we had to cancel a few play dates. We luckily played with Elsie and Reid early last week at our house and today we played with them at Jungle Java and had lunch out. Anna and Max have been to Jungle Java a lot these days and the older they get the more fun they seem to have there. Jon and I took them over the weekend and we spend a lot of time running around on the top two levels and going down slides with the kids. Today we met Sheri, her Mother, Elsie and Reid and the thought was that the kids would have fun in the big kid section but unfortunately every child in the county was there today. It was a little overwhelming and we mostly stayed in the toddler section. Poor Elise missed her nap and was pretty much ready to go once we arrived. Anna and Max had a very tough morning and needed a morning nap making us a little late. Things are never that easy!


All of you reading this from the west coast or those of you that live down south may not understand this, but yesterday it was sunny and even though it was only 40 degrees outside, the kids had fun playing outside. They pushed one of their lawn mowers around and they had a ton of fun in a mud puddle. I just could not say no to them. These poor children have been tramped in this house for way too long and they were having so much fun. I even set up a water table for them to play with in the house. Spring, where are you????


Over the weekend we took the kids sledding on the big hill at the elementary school. I think Jon and Max had the most fun and it will be nice next year when the kids can actually walk themselves up the hill. I regret that I didn't have the camera with me but I am sure we will have another chance to go again this year. The snow just keeps coming.

There are some random pictures and videos below. Max and Anna now make muscles and grunt. I didn't get a great video of it, but it is still funny to watch.

This Past Week.....

Anna and Max have had a very busy week and we all ended up with a bit of a cold! They still have stuffy/runny noses but that hasn't slowed them down too much. I will be updating the blog tomorrow with pictures and a recap of their exciting week!

Catching Up.....

I think I am caught up for the most part with the life of Anna and Max. As mentioned in an earlier post, they are learning more words each day and are really enjoying playing together. Here is a picture of them playing with their Little People animal zoo. It is one of the things that they really enjoy playing with at the same time and I find it to be very sweet. They love to ask what the animals are and can now say some of the animal names and make noises like quack, moo and roar. Although, most of the animals appear to make the roar noise if you ask Anna or Max.
This morning while reading a book to Max he pointed to the sock in the book and then touched the sock on his foot and said "sock". I was so excited that he not only said the word but made the connection that they were the same thing. Another exciting new word and connection came from Anna when she picked walked to garage door (they each get to put their own dirty diaper in the garbage after changing them) with her dirty diaper and said "garbage". I know that all children will learn to talk but it is just so exciting for me to watch the process.

Enough of the Camera

I think that Anna and Max are sick of me taking pictures of them. They seem to have had enough. Here are two shots of them walking away from me taking pictures. I managed to get a quick shot before they could get away.

Alternative Uses

Anna and Max received a ball popper for their birthday and they have enjoyed playing with it since then. They have fun watching the balls coming out, pushing the button to make the music play and dancing along. Well, last week they discovered yet another use for this ball popper. They love putting anything and everything that will fit in hole into it. They have discovered that plastic pizza will not fit into the hole. They have tried many times to get it in, but have finally accepted that it will not. Here is a photo of some of the stuff they enjoy putting in it.