The Life and Times of the Welch's

Brat Fest and the Terror of the Wheel

2009-06-06T20:47:00.004-05:00

We recently went to the wonderful Brat Fest here in Madison. It was simply delicious! There was all sorts of rides for kiddos and yummy food and beer. Esme has never been on any fair rides so she was in for a surprise! She went on the carousel, the mini roller coaster with Rory, the big Ferris Wheel with me and Rory and the princess bounce house. I have never been a fan of fair rides...I used to go on them when I young but I pretty much tortured myself by making myself sick. We went with our friends Annie and Brenty and they stayed (safely, comfortably, smartly) on the ground with Scarlett while Rory, Esme, and myself rode the Ferris Wheel. I guess I don't like heights anymore. I don't like being up high in a death cart with the people I love most in the world. I was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. Rory couldn't get over how "ridiculous" I was behaving. The carts we were in were large and spacious I'll give it that, but they are not the safest things in the world if you ask me. Esme kept going on her knees and I kept begging Rory to keep a hand on her at all times. If Esme didn't go on her knees she couldn't see any of the "beautiful sights." Oh boy. Thank the good green earth that this ferris wheel was slow and after a few times around was over. I don't think I'll ever have to go back on one of them for the rest of my life.

New subject: Scarlett the Great!

Scarlett is so funny and happy and sweet! Her favorite thing these days is being told how great she is so that she can clap. If you say 'good job', 'yay', or 'big girl' Scarlett claps for herself. She is at the age where she is so proud of everything she does. She also loves to eat Cheerios. She could eat them all day and be happy as a clam. She cruises around the furniture and lets go for seconds at a time before realizing she is standing and then either falls on her butt or quickly hangs on. She loves to follow Esme to her bedroom to play which is so adorable.

We've been spending all sorts of time outdoors lately and it's been wonderful. We've become friends with our neighbors Debbie and Jose and their dog Bugey. Esme is obsessed with going over to their house and Esme is crazy for their puppy. She makes this excited noise everytime she sees him and smacks her lips for a kiss.

The Latest from the Welch Clan

2009-05-23T13:49:00.003-05:00

For starters, I got my hair chopped off! Hooray! I believe the last time I had my hair cut was when I was in Tulsa last year at Easter. I think. It was definitely needed for the summer!
Last week Brad, Cristen, Anne and Claire came to Madison for three days to visit. They stayed in a hotel within walking distance to our house which was awesome! We had a lot of fun playing in the pool with the kids and eating all the free food the hotel offered! They had social hour during the week for dinner so one night we had grilled burgers with the fixin's and the next night they ordered pizza. Also a keg of Leine's Beer was available for all to drink! Pretty nice deal if you ask me. It was Scarlett's first time swimming and she loved it. At first she was pretty unsure of the whole situation but after about 15 mintues she was loving it. She was happily floating around the pool in her boat while the three adults were tending to the three older children. Claire was fearless and had a blast jumping off the side of the pool to Brad. Esme did really well with an intertube and floaties on her arms. Anne is the opposite of Claire but once in awhile she gets moments of bravery and ungrasps herself from you!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I am pretty busy these days being a nanny again! I watch a 3 month old baby girl named Matilda everyday until 1:30pm. I also watch my friend Jessica's son Shade who is 3 around three days a week. He and Esme have a blast playing together and it's really nice for Esme to have a playmate. With four kids under 4 I am pretty busy. It does make my days go by pretty quickly and I tend to have a lot of energy! I don't have time to be tired anymore! When the kids leave and I am left with my two, it feels like a breeze!
That's all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend!

Easter 2009

2009-04-15T09:11:00.004-05:00

We had a lot of fun this Easter! Me and the girls went to St. Paul to stay with Brad and Cristen and Rory stayed home. He was supposed to work on Easter then at the last minute he didn't have to. He could have come with but he already had friends coming to visit for the weekend and had plans to go to a concert. Even though we were apart we both had a very fun weekend. Anne and Esme had a blast coloring eggs and even more fun finding them Easter morning. I thought that it might be crazy chaos when the hunt started with shrieking and screaming and grabbing and pushing...but in reality the girls were so good about it all. They worked together finding eggs. They were overjoyed with every egg they found and just had a blast! Claire really was just all about eating the eggs. She loves hard boiled eggs so much that during the coloring she took a big CHOMP out of an egg; shell and all. Anne and Esme spent the majority of the weekend playing Princess and the Pauper. They each have the Barbie version of the story and happily pretended they were Annaliese and Erika all weekend. We were also able to spend a bit of time outside. We played in the backyard and walked to the park to play there.

Bowling and "BOB"

2009-04-07T13:39:00.004-05:00

Things are going pretty well for us at the Welch household. I finally found a nanny job for a sweet little 2 month old. I start that position this week. Wish us all luck! For our friend Brent's birthday we all went bowling! Annie, Brenty, Rory, me and the girls. It was Esme's first time bowling and she had a blast! She really got into it and before each roll she would scream at the top of her lungs in a deep husky voice, "READY???!!!! ONE!!!!!! TWO!!!!!!! THREE!!!!!!!!!!" She then let it roll. The Dude would have been proud. Scarlett has recently started to love saying the letter 'B'. She says bubba bubba, what sounds like Baby and Baa. Our favorite word that she says is 'Bob.' It is the cutest thing in the world. She'll look at you and just say 'Bob.' Rory and I told her that if she wants to call her Dad Bob for the time being that would be fine with us. Scarlett has been a busy little baby learning all sorts of things this month. She will be 8 months old tomorrow and she signs "more" for more food when eating and can do the "milk" sign for nurse. She can grab your nose when you ask her where it is and she crawled forward for the first time this past Sunday! I missed it though because I was at the store, but her father and sister swear it happened. She really can move all around the house now, what with rolling, crawling backward, and kind of throwing herself forward. Her biggest motivation is Esme and Esme's toys. Especially the barbies. The girls and I will be heading to St. Paul this weekend to spend Easter with my brother Brad and his family and we are super excited about it. Rory has to stay home because he can't ask off for the whole weekend. We will miss him bunches but at least he has some friends coming into town for a concert, so that will take his mind of missing his family a little bit. That's all I have to report for now. Will post again after the weekend in Minnesota.

WOW! Something New!

2009-03-19T15:59:00.004-05:00

A lot has changed since the last time I posted on here! I've been so very bad about keeping our blog up to date and I vow right here and now to do better.

It is now the middle of March and we have been living in our own house since February 1st. We live in a lovely duplex on the far east side of Madison. We really like being on the East side but ideally we'd like to be a little bit closer to the center of town. We have a very nice backyard which we've already made use of with the lovely weather we've been having!

Scarlett is of course changing all the time! She looks a bit different than she did from my last post in December. She is very much a Mama's girl which is a different story from when Esme was a baby. Esme was a complete Daddy's girl and still is! Scarlett has many nicknames which we bestowed upon her from her early weeks. Some of them are: Scarbo (from Rory calling her Greta Scarbo), Scarlito (Scarlito's Way), Scarborough Fair (obvious), Scarbo Cutepants, and Scar. When I was pregnant with her I swore I'd never call her Scar, but it has stuck. Scarlett is sitting up by herself, crawling (scooting really) backwards and around in a circle and babbling all of the time. She recently discovered blowing raspberries and does it so much that sometimes she does it in her sleep! She is very passionate about eating food. So far her favorite is sharing a banana with me. She also loves rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She is on the fence when it comes to avocado though. She is also very good at drinking water from an open cup.

Scarbo's favorite person is still Esme of course. It doesn't matter what Esme is doing she loves it! Esme dances for her, sings to her, holds her, lifts her up and moves her around on the floor, plays pretend with her, reads to her, and is just super attentive to her little sister. She is always making up songs about how she loves being her big sister and that they will always be together. I am so happy and proud of Esme for being such a wonderful big sister. She takes her role very seriously. Esme is taking some time adjusting to our new house. She mentions quite often how she wants to live back in Stevens Point at our old house with all of her friends. I think now that it's getting to be spring and we will be able to get out of the house and do more things she will start feeling better about being in Madison.

I feel that this is already a novella so I will stop for now, but I promise to make more frequent posts with all of the fun things we are doing in Madison! Happy Spring Everyone!

Esme's First Rock Song: Jumpy

2008-12-11T10:41:00.005-06:00

Esme likes to go downstairs to the basement when Sean is playing his guitar. She likes to jump around when he's playing so Sean wrote part of a song called Jumpy for Esme. Last night they both worked on the song and Esme added her own lines: "Yes, sir" and the "jumpy, jumpy, jumpy" part. Sean said that Esme is a natural with the guitar, she has really learned how to have a jam session, and is quite good at taking breaks to work on the progress of the song. They are super cute with their guitars.

I can only get the second one of the videos uploaded. I will continue trying to upload the first half. Click on the title of the post and it will take you to our youtube account. Eventually the first part will be on there too. You can look through Rory's videos and find it. Good Luck and Enjoy!

Finally Something New!!

2008-11-14T16:07:00.002-06:00

Well it'ts been a long time since I've had anything new up here and I figured there might be some interested people who would like to know what Scarlett looks like now. These are some of my most recent pictures. One is from Halloween when we were still in Point and the rest are from here in Madison. We are enjoying ourselves here in Madison and are mostly settled in at Sean and Beth's house. They have been so gracious letting us into their home and making room for a family of four. Esme and Scarlett are doing really well. Esme has been a real artist lately. She has been drawing pictures for us every day. She's been perfecting her people, now with bodies, instead of just arms and legs coming out of their heads. She also likes to draw suns, trees, birds, and other various animals. Scarlett is quite the little talker these days. I think she talks to her Mom the most, but that doesn't mean I'm her favorite or anything ;-) She is chubby and sweet and cuddly and cute. She just adores her big sister! She lights up every time Esme comes around her. Esme likes to include Scarlett in her pretend, having Scar be Michael or John when she's playing Peter Pan. Scarlett also loves it when Esme dances and sings for her. I'll be posting a video of the girls soon.

A family update with not so current pictures.

2008-10-02T08:46:00.008-05:00

Well I keep trying to get updates on here but the photos are not as recent as I'd like them to be. These photos of Scarlett are from when she was 4 and 5 weeks old. Tomorrow Scarlett will be 8 weeks old already! She had been practicing holding her up for longer and longer periods of time. One of her favorite positions is arching her back like a little kitty cat, comfortably while she's on your chest. It's been about a week now that she has been smiling and cooing. She saves up her biggest smiles for her Dad. She tries really hard to say "agoo" but often it turns into an exhausting sigh. We are just all having so much fun with our new little sweetheart. Often in the mornings Esme crawls into bed with us and sings songs to her sister. She loves to make up her songs about how much she loves Scarlett and how she's a great big sister. That's all for now; I will try my hardest to get some more recent pictures up here!

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A Few Photos to Hold you over.......

2008-09-08T19:55:00.004-05:00

I've had some requests from grandparents for new photos but I have yet to put the newest ones onto the computer. So until I have more time, here are a couple to hold you over!

"My Time of the Year"

2008-09-08T16:12:00.005-05:00

Here is a little video of Esme singing to her baby sister the first week we were home from the hospital. Let's hope YouTube doesn't find a reason to delete this one!

(click on the title: "My Time of the Year" to be directed to YouTube.)

Our New Life

2008-08-28T07:21:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure how long I have to write on here before Scarlett wakes up so I better just get to the point! Life is pretty wonderful as a family of four. It's been an adjustment getting used to the lack of sleep but otherwise we have really seem to have gotten used to having a new baby in the house. Esme is coping very well with our time being divided among her and her sister and is quite the helper! She is willing to do most things we ask of her even though every once in a while she grumbles, "you guys make me do everything around here..." as she's doing us a favor. Scarlett is such a little sweetheart! She's been growing very well-her birth weight was 6 lbs 13 oz, and as of her two week appointment she was 7 lbs 8 oz. She sleeps well in her bassinet during the day but is a little less fond of it during the night, she prefers to be next to her Mommy and Daddy, which I can't really blame her for! Right now we are looking forward to this weekend because my parents and my brother Brad's family will be arriving to meet Scarlett. They will all be here for a little more than a week! That's all for now, I will continue to try and update whenever I get the chance.

Welcome Scarlett Rose

2008-08-25T13:08:00.003-05:00

Scarlett Rose Welch
Born: August 8th, 2008
8:24pm
6 lbs 12.9 oz
18.5 inches

Nothing Compares 2 U

2008-07-29T22:43:00.003-05:00

Rory started singing to Esme "Nothing Compares 2 U" at bedtime and it has become her favorite song to sing and perform. It is written by Prince and as Rory's daughter she's pretty much required to be a fan. She sings it all day long and is very passionate about it. We found Sinead O'Connor singing it on You Tube and Esme loves sitting at the computer watching it, singing along to every word.

*Click on the header "Nothing Compares 2 U" and it will take you to You Tube where you can watch the video.*

Blessing Way

2008-07-27T12:35:00.007-05:00

This weekend my friends Johanna and Leah threw me a beautiful Blessing Way to celebrate me and my baby girl. I had such a lovely time with everyone pampering me and giving me great wishes and blessings for a wonderful birth and recovery. I want to thank everyone who was there for making me feel so special and giving me such a wonderful day! Also our friends Annie and Brenty were in town and whenever they come to town we get to have their kitty Wally stay at our house. The picture is of Esme and Wally looking out our living room window at a baby bunny.I have only three weeks left before I'm officially a Mommy of two! We can't believe how quickly these weeks are flying by. (Esme took the picture of me and Rory.)

Summer Fun

2008-07-21T16:15:00.004-05:00

We've been having a pretty nice summer thus far. Esme and I have been to the beach a couple of times with friends and we've been to Sunset with Rory once. Esme is a bit more adventurous in the water this year but listens very well so I don't have to worry too much about her. We need to get out a few more times before I am unable to take her swimming!
I have four weeks from today until my planned C-Section. It's hard to believe that it's just around the corner....these past 8 1/2 months have at times sped by and other times have been real slow. The baby has been super active lately and is head down. She responds really well to my touch which is pretty sweet. I'm having a bit of a hard time catching my breath lately with the baby taking up so much room and have been getting tired out quickly as well. We had an ultrasound last week to check on things and at the end of the appointment the tech had us watching the baby's face to see if she'd do anything funny like stick out her tongue, and all of a sudden she put her foot right to her face! I thought it was her hand but then you could clearly see 5 toes. Right up to her mouth! I guess I'm going to have a toe sucker on my hands in a few weeks. What a goofy baby.
Also, Esme has just started taking gymnastics at the YMCA. She LOVES it! She wasn't so sure if she'd enjoy it but once she had a class she was hooked. She did forward rolls on a ramp and backwards rolls on the ramp with the teacher's help. Then the kids hung onto the bar and swung and did "ta-da's" with their hands above their heads when they were done. Her favorite thing was doing the possum hang....with her ankles and hands wrapped around the bar.

Update!

2008-06-29T08:13:00.008-05:00

Well
we haven't posted any new blogs lately so I figured I'd give a little update on what we've been doing this summer thus far. It's hard to believe that it's almost the Fourth of July! It feels like summer just started here and there really haven't been too many good beach days yet. We need to start getting out there before it's too late!
On June 14th we went to Appleton to celebrate Annie and Brent's wedding reception at Brent's parent's house. It was a great time with a amazing food and lots of it! I can't often eat so much at once but I was able to eat and eat and eat all day. It was fantastic. Esme had a blast running around with the other kids, she's really getting to be so big. It's strange that we can just let her run around now and only check on her every once in awhile.
On June 22nd we made a trip to Iola in the morning to see our new sweet cousin Zoe Newton be baptized in Honey's church. Then in the afternoon we went to New London to have a going away celebration for our aunt, uncle, and cousin MaryAnn, Doug and Laura Kate who will be leaving for Armenia at the end of July. It was nice party with good conversations and yummy grilled food. It down poured on us for awhile so we were stuck inside, but the clouds ended up moving away and we were able to play outside with chalk and bubbles with Esme, Henry and Lucy.
I haven't been having the most pleasant pregnancy but it's still great none the less. I feel sick a lot of days and I think I am growing at a much faster rate than I did when I was pregnant with Esme. I am currently almost 32 weeks and I just feel HUGE! I will add a picture of the ever-expanding belly of mine. It looks like our names are down to Scarlett, Lily, Violet or Elise. Although Esme is always coming up with new ones like Kelsey, and Do-da, and Ach-ee and all sorts of silly ones.

Scrub a dub dub

2008-06-14T09:17:00.004-05:00

Esme has discovered a new way to keep water out of her eyes when she is in the tub and shower!

Esme the Ballerina

2008-06-13T10:33:00.003-05:00

Our little Ballerina! Esme is pretty sad
that dance class is over but the YMCA
only offers a class this summer for children
who are at least four years old. So for now she
likes to wear her "leotarts" and practice
what she knows. We will have to enroll
her in the fall when they offer it again
for her age group.

Memorial Day/Carrie's Belly

2008-05-30T09:35:00.003-05:00

We spent a beautiful Memorial Day at Brody and Jessica's house. We grilled some delicious food and the kids played in the yard all afternoon. It also happened to be the Anniversary of Brody and Jessica's Wedding so we celebrated that by eating a super yummy ice cream cake! We saw Skylar's new haircut that she chose for herself at the salon.

Also I wanted to include a picture of my ever-growing belly. I am now in my seventh month of pregnancy and things are going pretty well. I get pretty uncomfortable sometimes and seem to be running out room for food, but I love feeling my baby move everyday. It's the best feeling in the world.

Always the flower girl, never the......

2008-05-06T14:13:00.004-05:00

Well, it seems as though Esme has found her calling in life. She was one of two flower girls last weekend in Annie Johnson's wedding. This is Esme's third time as flower girl and she really loves doing it. I was worried about her standing up in Annie's wedding because she hadn't gotten her normal amount of sleep the night before and the ceremony was at 4pm. Oh yes, and no nap. Didn't sound too promising. Luckily she got her fit throwing out of the way at the hotel while we were getting ready so she was picture perfect by the time the ceremony rolled around.

The Winter That Wouldn't Die

2008-04-28T11:20:00.003-05:00

For the love of all things good in this world! I like winter. I like when winter first comes and there's that nip in the air and the first snow fall and all that jazz. I love winter for Christmas and I even love it in January when it's freezing cold. I tolerate it in February with hopes of looking towards March. March is still winter in Wisconsin but it's generally considered the end of winter. By the end of March beginning of April you can see Spring coming. Even though there's usually snow in April a couple of times and the temps still get cold enough for a coat, by that time, I've retired my winter coat and am getting by in a fleece or a sweatshirt.
But today.....April Freaking 28th!!! You've got to be kidding me! I know that this time of year it's possible to get snow but when I think of snow at the end of April/beginning of May I think a snow/rain mix that will melt the second it touches the ground. Not this. Not the forecast of 1 inch of accumulation and so far at least 4 inches on the ground with more coming! I am not amused. Esme and her friend Rowen want to go 'play' in the snow. PLAY IN THE SNOW??? I told them that they must be kidding me. This isn't happy snow, this is glare out the window while cursing the Goddess of Earth Snow!

Dance, Dance.....

2008-04-17T07:48:00.005-05:00

Esme had her last dance class yesterday at the YMCA. She was in a class called 'Tippy Tots' and did everything from ballet to tap to jazz. She LOVED the class so much and had so much fun. She had one little dance routine half way through the class where they did ballet. Yesterday's dance routine was a tap to 'Happy Tappin' With Elmo.' All the kids were super cute with their little feet tapping and trying to snap. I tried to upload the little video I took but it was too big so I'm going to try and figure out how to compress it so I can get it up here. A couple of photos will have to do for now.

It's still a girl

2008-04-10T11:43:00.002-05:00

This is the Mr. in the Welch's blog. Now I know that as a man I'm supposed to want a son, and part of me did. However, I really wanted another daughter. I know it seems weird not to totally want a male heir, but I have such a great relationship with Esme' that I really wanted to continue the "daddy's little girl" thing. Now we really like Esme's name suggestions, Darby from MY FRIENDS TIGGER AND POOH, Violet from THE INCREDIBLES, and Junior from Carrie's parents new puppy. Great names all around but I think we have some nicer names not from cartoon or other peoples pets. No we aren't going to put them on the blog for now, but when you see us in person you can ask us and we may tell you. TTFN

It's a Girl!

2008-04-10T08:31:00.004-05:00

Well I had an ultrasound yesterday and we found out that we are having a little girl! Esme is super thrilled, it's exactly what she wanted. When I was pregnant with Esme we decided to let the gender of the baby be a surprise. But this time around Esme was pretty adamant about not wanting a baby brother. We thought it would be best if we found out so that in case it were a boy we could prepare her for that. We didn't want some horrible reaction at the hospital when a little boy popped out! So now we know that we are going to be raising two little girls. I am so happy for Esme to have a little sister. Siblings are built in friends and I can't wait to see what kind of relationship my daughters will have. "Daughters"- Weird. It may take some time getting used to saying that. Esme's choice for baby names right now are: Darby, Violet, and Junior.

Rock and Roll Family

2008-04-03T07:56:00.004-05:00

Rory and I bought Rock Band this year for the PS3. It is so much fun! I had no idea how much I would love playing guitar. We've had several parties where all we've done is play Rock Band. There's room for one person to play the drums (uber-hard!), one can play the guitar and one can sing on the microphone. If you buy another guitar then someone can also play the bass. It's so much fun and I must say, I've become one of the better guitar players in the house. It's great to actually be better at a video game than all the guys who've been playing for years. The cutest rocker in the house has got to be Esme. She loves doing her guitar poses and she loves to "play" the drums while either Mom or Father (her preferred choice of name to call Rory-'fadder') is playing guitar. Fun Fun Family activity!

Vacation for Esme and Carrie

2008-04-01T08:25:00.004-05:00

Esme and I were able to visit my parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma for two weeks this March. The weather was great to us, even though on certain days ( the ones in the 50s and 60s) locals were saying how much like winter it was. Give me a break! It ranged from beautiful spring in the 50s to glorious summer in the upper 70s and low 80s. I enjoyed every minute of it and Esme fully enjoyed not having to wear a coat anywhere.

We were able to celebrate my Mom's birthday while we were there and the Easter Bunny visited us as well. We (along with the rest of spring-breaking Tulsans) spent the first day of Spring at the super busy Tulsa Zoo.

Rory spent a mostly miserable two weeks at home missing his girls. I kept telling him that he needed to enjoy the quiet and be happy he could live in a messy house with no one telling him what to do, but for some reason he missed the noise of a three year old and the loving directions from his wife ;-)

That's all for now! Hope everyone enjoys the little updates about our life in Stevens Point.