Playing Catch-Up - Part 1

Our old house in Urbana

It is no secret that I have been a TOTAL slacker about keeping Tessa's blog updated.  Of course I have a million and one excuses, but the biggest one is that we have been in a state of transition since July.  That is when we moved from our home in Urbana up to Ottawa.  We have been and are still living with my mom and dad.

So, instead of trying to "catch up" I have decided to just include pictures and highlights over the last 6 months.  Hopefully, I won't ever have to do this again as I have no plans of ever getting this far behind again.


July

Having fun at the movies.

Hey, Llama!

 Prior to moving, Tessa and I tried to fit in our favorite things in Urbana.  We went to Prairie Farms several times.  She loved the animals - especially the llamas.  We also went to the movies for the first time.  We saw the first part of the Lorax before we needed to leave due to a short attention span.  We had fun while we were there.  Tessa specifically liked the popcorn and juice!

July was also about saying goodbye.  We
had to say goodbye to some really great friends and colleagues.  We also had to say good bye to the only caregivers that had ever taken care of Tessa.  Sue and Michelle Kozlowski took care of Tessa from the time she was 2 months old.  Tessa loved these ladies and still talks about these women to this day.  They are very special to us, and we will forever be grateful for the love and care they showed Tessa as well as Broch and myself.

Miss Sue and Tessa

Tessa and Michelle on her last day of daycare

Our last family photo in Urbana.

August

In August, both Tessa and I started at a new school.  I started teaching at DePue Schools.  I teach 7-12th grade special education.  Tessa attends preschool at Summit Learning Center, in LaSalle.  It is at Grace United Methodist Church.  Tessa goes Tuesday - Thursday mornings from 9-12.  She loves it!  We had a P/T conference in the fall and were told that Tessa is ahead of the other kids.  She is a role model and rarely gets in trouble.  Tessa loves her class and Miss Elizabeth.  Her favorite friend at school is a little girl named Teddy (Theadora).

Braylin, Tessa, and Kaedin
at Relay for Life

Prior to school starting were pretty busy.  We participated in Relay for Life again.  This was the 2nd year we have walked in support of my mom and uncle, and in memory of Broch's dad and my Grandpa Schwarz.  This was the first time that Tessa got to participate in the youth lap and other youth activities.  She had a great time!

Tessa and Kenley Wilson

We were also able to attend a few summer festivals this year.  Tess and I met up with our friends the Wilson's at the Mendota Sweet Corn Festival for wristband day.  It was the first time Tessa had ever been on a carnival ride of any kind.  She did really well and had a lot of fun!

Tessa at the parade

We were also able to attend the Sweet Corn Festival Parade.  Our friend, Jamie Zinke, always has a cook-out on the day of the parade.  She
invited us to attend and watch the parade at her house.  Tessa loved the marching bands and cheerleaders.  She did not like the "tall corn" (people dressed up like sweet corn walking on stilts).  Tessa also thought it was pretty cool to get candy while watching the parade.

We were also able to make a trip down to Bloomington to spend time with the Kietzman's.  Tessa and Cora were so use to seeing each other every week at Little Gym, that it was a hard adjustment for both of them when both of our families moved away from Champaign/Urbana.  The girls picked up right where they left off and had a great time at the Children's Museum.

Tessa and Cora painting at
the Children's Museum,

August was also the month that Tessa officially stopped using diapers and started wearing underwear during the day.  She caught on really fast and loves being a Big Girl.  She still has accidents at nights, so she uses pull-ups when she is sleeping.

September

Having fun on the carousel

September was a fun month for us.  We were able to visit the DuPage County Children's Museum.  Tessa LOVES going to any and all children's museums.  She enjoys playing and experiencing new things.  While we were up by Chicago, we also went to Brookfield Zoo.  Tessa has always been a big fan of zoos and animals, but her favorite thing at the zoo was the carousel.

Braylin and Tessa at the Pancake Breakfast
at the Peru Airport

We were also able to go to the airport in Peru for a pancake breakfast and an up close look at the airplanes.  Tessa thought that getting that close to the airplanes was pretty cool.  She like the pancakes too!


Along with September and fall weather came visits to different pumpkin patches.  We went to several this year.  Tess's favorite thing to do there was play in the corn cribs.  I had a really hard time getting her out of there when it was time to go.  She likes being outdoors in general, so this was right up her alley.  

October

This October we spent a lot of time as a family.  It was so nice outside, we were able to go and play at a few parks and enjoy the weather.  We found a park in Ottawa that we really liked on the East side of town.

Tessa and Daddy playing
at the park

We also made a trip down to Bloomington to go to the Rader Family Farm with Gigi.  We went there last  year and had fun, but now that Tessa is a  year older we knew that she would have even more fun. Unfortunately, it was really windy and chilly the day that we went.  Even though the weather was not ideal, we still had a lot of fun.  We will make this an annual trip!

Tessa (Baby Bop), Kaedin (Mario), and
Braylin (Luigi)

Along with October come Halloween.  Tessa was torn between wanting to be a princess and wanting to be Baby Bop from the show Barney.  Due to the weather, Baby Bop won out.  Tessa actually went trick-or-treating twice.  We went the weekend before Halloween trick-or-treating in Amboy with the Wilson family.  Tessa really enjoys playing with Wesley, Kenley, Charley, and Molly.  While Broch and I really enjoy hanging out with Dan and Amy, so it was a win/win situation!  On Halloween, Tessa went trick-or-treating in Spring Valley with Kaedin and Braylin.  She had a great time, and she was only scared once.

November

Tessa's cake

November was a busy month for us.  Jodie was due with Addison right around the time of Tessa's birthday, so we decided to have Tessa's birthday party the weekend before her actual birthday.  This year, Tessa decided she wanted a Mickey and Minnie Mouse themed party.  She had a great time celebrating with all of her family.

Tessa and Addi on Thanksgiving

It was a good thing we moved up her birthday party because Addison Mae Goetz made  her appearance a day after Tessa's birthday.  Addi is such a great baby and is very loved.  Tessa can't wait to teach her how to dance, blow bubbles, and get into trouble.  Tessa loves to "help" with Addi even when help isn't really needed.

The day after Thanksgiving, Tessa received a special package from the North Pole.  It was her elf - Peppermint!  Tessa isn't a HUGE fan of Santa, but she does LOVE Peppermint.  She is still scared of Santa and freaks out when she sees him, but as long as Peppermint is the liaison between the two she is good to go.  This year, Peppermint got into a little bit more trouble.  She wrote on the bathroom mirror and drew on some of grandma's pictures.  She also decorated the Christmas tree with Tessa's underwear; at first, Tessa blamed Daddy for putting her underwear out there, but then she thought it was pretty funny that Peppermint did that.

Tessa loved that people started putting out their Christmas decor at the end of November.  She has a "thing" for inflatables and lawn decor.  Anytime she sees an inflatable decoration or lawn decoration, she always asks to have her picture taken with it.  Here are just a few examples.




December

Tessa on the Polar Express

Kaedin, Tessa, and Braylin
on the Polar Express

December was a busy month for us.  Peppermint brought us tickets to go on the Polar Express at the beginning of December.  Tessa really liked the train ride, but since she has a huge aversion to people in costumes (Santa, Easter Bunny, gingerbread men, etc.) she was a little nervous about partaking in some of the activities.  She really liked singing all of the songs on the train.  Tessa loves music and singing!

We also took Tessa to see Disney on Ice in Peoria this month.  At first, I thought we were going to have to leave because she was nervous about the characters.  However, once she realized that she just had to watch them skate and not interact with them, she was good.  She still talks about it today and would like to go back sometime.  After the show and lunch, we took her to an indoor inflatable park called Monkey Joes.  Tessa loved it!  There were mazes, slides, and climbing.  It reminded me a bit of the air tran at the Little Gym.  We will be going back here again this summer.

Tessa at Monkey Joes

A few days before Christmas we went in to the hospital for our 3rd set of tubes in Tessa's ears.  We are really hoping that the third time is the charm.  Her last set was in for less than 6 months.  It hasn't really effected Tessa's speech that much.  She talks ALL the time, but according to hearing tests it has effected her hearing a little.  She did really well during the surgery, but after the surgery it took a while for her to calm down.  Like I said, we are praying that we don't have to go through any more surgeries for a long time.

Tessa on her big girl bike.

 Christmas Eve was VERY interesting this year.  We spend every Christmas Eve weekend in Bloomington with Gigi.  We went to church with her and Brihta the Sunday before Christmas Eve.  Then, Broch brought Grandmother up from Lincoln to join us for gift opening and dinner.  Gigi was a hero with the gift giving.  Tessa really only asked for 2 things for Christmas - a blow-up house (an inflatable house she saw in the Farm n Fleet ad) and a Barbie jeep.  Amongst other things, Gigi got Tessa a Princess bike and the blow-up house. Tessa couldn't have been happier!

Tessa's Christmas dress

Tessa in the blow-up house.

 After we opened up gifts, we got ready to go and have dinner at the Grand Cafe.  As we were walking out to the car, Tessa tried to open the door by pushing it.  She straight-armed the door; it was a pull door.  Immediately, she started crying and holding her arm.  She wouldn't even let me touch it.  I thought she may have dislocated her shoulder.  Once we got home, it got even worse.  As I was trying to get Tessa inside, Grandmother fell on the ice and broke her wrist.  We had to call 911, to come and get Grandmother.  Broch and I decided we needed to take Tessa to the ER as well.  So, there we are - Grandmother in one room of the ER and us in the other.  They took some x-rays of Tessa's wrist.  As they were rotating her wrist to get the right angle, she stopped crying.  The x-rays came back as normal.  The doctor diagnosed her with a slightly sprained wrist, but the nurse thought it may have been nursemaids elbow from when she straight-armed the door.  Either way, she was fine and hasn't had any problems since.  Unfortunately, Grandmother wasn't as lucky.  She was in a lot of pain and had to have  a cast.  She is now out of the cast, and she is at home.  She is weaker than she ever has been, but she is home and comfortable.

Tessa and Grandmother before the
night took a turn for the worse.

Tessa at Home Depot

 The other thing that we started doing this month was taking advantage of the Home Depot kids weekend.  The first Saturday of the month, Home Depot holds workshops for kids.  This has become a Daddy/Daughter time.  So far, Tessa and Daddy have build a bird house and a Valentine holder.  She really enjoys the painting and building.  Broch said that she even hammered in a few nails.  He was really proud of her!