What a Wedding!

Tim and  I attended the most elaborate wedding we will probably ever be invited to this past weekend... and I was lucky enough to be in the wedding party.  One of my best friends from college, and the maid of honor from my wedding, Raschele, got married in downtown Chicago last Friday and Saturday.  Raschele married Deepak, who is Indian, so the wedding festivities kicked off Friday with an Indian Sangeet at Cafe Brauer, a fancy dance hall in the middle of  the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Just WOW!  The colors, decorations, outfits, it was like a wedding from a movie.  We all wore traditional Indian Sarees... which I was a little nervous about since your midsection is completely showing and let's be honest, my midsection isn't really in shape to be hanging out at a wedding.  But even the Grandma's were showing some skin, so I figured if they could rock it, then so could I  :) 

[caption id="attachment_518" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="My SareeBridesmaids"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_505" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The bride and groom's throne"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_506" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Table decorations for Friday night"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_507" align="alignright" width="300" caption="My mehndi"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_520" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="The bride and groom"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_521" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The bride performing a traditional wedding dance"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_508" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Traditional Bride and Groom dances"][/caption]

 

Then on Saturday morning the entire wedding was invited to a wedding brunch on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building.  Just WOW again! 

[caption id="attachment_510" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Saturday Brunch"][/caption]

 

 And last there was the Christian ceremony and reception on Saturday afternoon and evening.  The wedding was held at The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago (directly across the street from the Hancock building) with a reception to follow in the Crest Room at the Drake Hotel.  WOW and more WOW!  I felt like royalty  :)  It was a wonderful weekend and I wish Raschele and Deepak all the happiness and love life can bring them!  Congratulations! 

[caption id="attachment_511" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Bridesmaids dress for Saturday's Christian WeddingHusbands of the bridesmaids, what a handsome bunch!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_514" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Decorations on the head table"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_515" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Bride and Groom at the head table"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_517" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Happy Couple"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_516" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Their first dance as man and wife"][/caption]

 

Going, going and going some more

I am happy to report, knock on wood, that Graham has been 90% successful in potty training these past 2 weeks.  His Pull-Up has even managed to stay dry through naps and almost every night.  Of course he has been waking up super early telling me he has to go potty, but hey, I'll forfeit an extra hour of sleep if it means we are closer to being free from diapers and Pull-Ups!  So I say 90% potty trained because we are still battling going #2  :(  It can and has been done, once, but on a regular basis, not so much. 

Potty training in the Ahlers household was accomplished thanks to the ever wonderful movie, CARS.  We have a Cars potty seat, Cars stickers and matching Cars fruit snacks for successful trips to the potty, we have brand new Cars underpants, Cars Pull-Ups for at night, we even have flushable Cars wipes for the glorious occasion when going #2 actually takes place on the potty.  You would think all these wonderful Cars things would be enough to make the kid go #2, but NO SIR... Graham is not having any part of going #2 on the potty.  So instead, because he wouldn't dare poop in his Cars underwear, Graham has just stopped going, all together???  I'm guessing that's not good.  Every 3rd day now I have resorted to giving him a 1/2 TBSP of Milk of Magnesia to make him go... and then the process begins!  

Graham knows enough to tell me when he thinks he has to go #2, or "poopers" as we like to call it at our house.  So once he drinks his Milk of Magnesia, it's off to the races.  About every 10 mins or so he "thinks" he has to go, so we run to the bathroom and sit on the potty.  And we sit, and sit, and sit, and sit... NOTHING!  We sign songs, read books, tell stories, I even considered borrowing a portable DVD player just for pure lack of other entertainment ideas.  Still, nothing ever happens.  On Wednesday I counted, we sat on the potty 27 times, 27!  Still no poopers.  The process is so painstakingly time-consuming that neither of us has the patience for daily recurrences.  Eventually Graham sneaks away from me, usually when I finally give in and take a potty break for myself, and then mysteriously there is an accident in our underwear.  This of course results in crying because we have to take his favorite Mater underwear off to wash them, dram, drama, drama. 

In hopes to entice a little potty pooping, we went to Target last Thursday and bought 3 new Cars toys.  All 3 are sitting on the bathroom counter and if he goes poopers on the potty he can open one.  Still not doing it!  There is lots of talk, but no action.  Sigh... what can you do?  90% is better than nothing  :)

My Nemo Fin

Tim and I have, unscientifically, decided that I have only one truly functional ovary  :)  Each month on day 21-23 of my cycle I have to have a blood test done to check my hormone levels and see if the Clomid did it's job.  And every other month my levels are off the chart, but on the opposite months, my levels are nill, none, nada.  In honor of this lovely phenomenon, Tim has started calling me Nemo!  I guess you have to find the humor in this whole situation where ever you can :)

Bubbles?

While I am not a huge fan of "Parent/Tot" swimming lessons, mostly because the kids don't learn much and the class is only 30 mins, I still signed Graham up for another session this summer hoping for the best.  At the North Liberty Rec Center the lessons are 30 mins a day, everyday for 2 weeks and parents have to get in and swim with their toddler.  Today concluded week one and again, not impressed.  We basically go to the pool and play for a half an hour, shower and come home.  Oh yeah, and some days we sing a few songs.  Needless to say the whole process of going and coming home takes longer than the actual swimming, but this year our little neighbor boy Carter is in our class, so Graham wakes up every morning asking to swim with Carter. 

Now, to paint the scene, Carter and Graham are for the most part like oil and water.  Graham is a string bean, Carter is a big muscley guy, Graham eats like a big, Carter will eat pretty much anything, Graham can't take sand on his feet, Carter cries because you have to wipe the mud out of his mouth@ the park  :)  They like all the same things, but can't ever, ever play without fighting over pretty much every single thing... that is until we get to the pool.  In the pool there are no, or very few, toys to fight over so all that's left is to swim.  The two boys just have the grandest time EVER!  You would think they had never fought a day in their lives  :) 

Carter is, of course, somewhat of a fish, loving to be dunked and to splash.  Graham on the other had loves to swim as long as no part of his head or face gets wet... I know, right!  But after 5 days of watching Carter swim around like a fish, we got.... BUBBLES!  Graham decided all on his own that he was going to blow bubbles in the water today :)  You would have thought the kid had found gold!  He went to all the parents and the teacher, showing each of them his new found skill, and of course looking for the appropriate praise in response.  Ahh, if nothing else comes of these lessons, at least we got bubbles!

Again...

I feel like I have written this post at least 5 times before, but we are back on the potty training bandwagon again.  After the last fiasco, I told myself I was taking 2 whole months off and then would give it one week and if he wasn't getting it, I would give up until late next fall.  So the first of July ended our 2 month potty ban, of course I waited until after the 4th, and then it was back into the big boy underwear.  The first 2 days were a little shaky, quite a few accidents, some frustration when we had to stop what we are doing to go potty and the like.  But on day 3 it was like something clicked... and the accidents stopped.

For the last 3 days Graham has been telling me, Tim, even Grandma that he has to go potty and holding it all the way into the bathroom.  There is still a little work to be done on the whole going #2 on the potty, but we have gone twice, so I feel like that is progress.  Who knows, next week at this time we may be back in diapers, but for now I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that our new, magic "Lightning McQueen" underwear will keep us in potty business!

Graham's Second Movie

Because we clearly hadn't done enough activities over the 4th of July weekend, or maybe it was because Tim's softball game got rained out... whatever the reason, we decided to take Graham to Toy Story 3 when we got home from NE Monday night.  What a great movie  :)  Graham loved it and was super thrilled we got to eat popcorn and "drink pop" during the movie.  It's crazy to think about how much Graham understands compared to even a few months ago... his favorite part was when Buzz Lightyear was in Spanish mode and was dancing "all silly" with Jessie.  He was belly laughing out loud  :)  And even though he couldn't understand a word Buzz was saying, somehow he still knew it he was being silly.  My favorite part was when Ken tried on all his different outfits and Tim, of course, liked when Woody escaped from the Daycare on the glider.  We had a great time!  It's so nice to be able to do 'family' activities now that Graham is a little older.

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Happy 4th of July

The day after Tim's 30th birthday party began a little slow, as it was pouring rain and it took everyone a bit to recover from all the beverages consumed the night before... but once we got things rolling we had an awesome day.  We visited with family in the morning and had a nice breakfast together.  Then we were off to Uncle Billy's "Shed," which is like a super, giant garage filled with toys for all ages, for some basketball, soccer, pizza and popcorn.  The kids had a blast scooting on scooters, playing in the tractor and watching the adults running around playing sports.  Wahoo, NE is by no means a metropolis and to be honest it has very little to do, especially on a holiday, so we are more than blessed to have an Uncle who is like a big kid himself... he always provides plenty of entertainment for everyone. 

After lunch and naps we went to Tim's grandma's for dinner and a celebration of her birthday.  Then, of course, there was sparklers and fireworks before the night ended.  Whew... I'm tired just typing it, but it was an awesome way to spend the 4th!

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Surprise!

In honor of Tim's 30th birthday his family and I wanted to do something special.  After much debate we decided it would be easier to have a party in Nebraska, where 90% of his relatives live, than to try to invite everyone to drive this way.  Since we already had a trip to NE planned for July 4th, Tim's mom and I thought what better time than to also plan a surprise party?  Tim's birthday isn't until Aug. 14th, so we figured we'd be early enough not to stir suspicion, plus, Tim's grandma's birthday is on the 4th, so he just figured all the preparation was for her party  :) 

Tim, his dad, his brother and his uncle all went golfing on Saturday giving the rest of us plenty of time to get the food, decorations and guests in order.  When he returned we were all waiting to yell surprise.  It was nice and old-fashioned and I truly think Tim was surprised.  We had a corn feed plus brats and burgers on the grill, classic bbq style... of course with plenty of beverages to go around.  All in all it was a great time and I loved seeing Tim's face when we yelled surprise!  Here are just a few photos from the July 3rd festivities:

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