4/52: rub a dub dub

Do I have the only kids in the world who are terr-i-fied of the shower? Probably. But they do love their tub time, that's for sure! It takes a lot of begging and pleading to get them to come out... usually we end up draining the water and freezing them out. Parents of the year!

January, Week 4/52:

Rub a Dub Dub

Oliver: This guy has been dunking his entire face under water for long periods of time, pretty much taking years off of my life in the process. He, of course, thinks it's hilarious. Also, that top tooth is basically hanging on by a thread- Seriously, it swings back and forth when he talks. I'll be shocked if it's still there in next week's photo!

Peyton: Her favorite thing after we get her out of the tub is when we wrap her up in a towel and hold her in front of the mirror and say, "Awww, look at my sweet, sweet baby!"

be mine

How did you guys make out in the blizzard?? I was SO SO SO stressed out about going into labor while being trapped in our house (we live in a slightly rural part of town, making it nearly impossible for an ambulance to reach us in a storm like the one predicted). My neighbor didn't make things much better when he said to me: "Wow, you must be really worried! I don't need to tell you that low barometric pressure can bring on labor!" Fortunately, the storm lasted almost 24 hours less than it was supposed to, and, though we did get over two feet here, we did not get the three plus feet we were supposed to, soooo yay for the #blizzardbust!

Usually I keep my pretty snowflakes and wintery decorations up as long as possible, but this year I kind of forced myself to take them all down early- I was afraid if I didn't, they would end up staying up until summer, with the new baby and all.

I am a holiday lover, for sure, but I don't really have much of an opinion either way about Valentine's Day: I'm not a hater, but Jon and I don't usually buy anything for each other (besides a nice bunch of flowers) or go out to dinner or anything. I usually get a few nice books for the kids from Cupid and leave it at that.

But I do love Valentine's decorations! They make me so happy. (Even if it is a "Hallmark Holiday" I still think it's nice to be reminded of love in the world.) Plus, there are lots of fun crafts to do with the kids too!

Lately, I've been searching for digital downloads on Etsy to switch out for the holidays. This one was $5!

Candy jars keep getting re-filled because, hello?! pregnant lady here!

Sunday Breakfast!

I don't know why I get so excited to switch out the striped straws each season/holiday. Cheap thrills, I guess!

Some of the Valentines the kids and I have been working on. All ideas are from Pinterest because I've not had one original idea since starting on there. Feel free to follow me (Warning: I'm a mad woman when it comes to pinning) link is at the top of my blog site!

"I've got my EYE on you!"

"Roar Means 'I Love You' in Dinosaur"

life lately

Hi!

Still here.
Still with child.

My bags are all packed (and 6-page crazy-lady instruction list for how to care for the kids while I'm in the hospital has been penned...) and we're just playing the waiting game. Honestly, I don't feel like anything's about to happen anytime soon. But it's okay: people have been asking me how I feel lately- "you must be so ready to go!"- and while it's true that I'm sooooo excited to meet this little one, I actually feel great. I felt like absolute poop for 8 months, but these last few weeks have been wonderful.

I have about 6 half-written posts to publish, but I haven't been able to edit or finalize any of them because I literally have not had more than a few minutes to myself since before Christmas. (Jon laughs because I've been taking longer showers than usual, just to get a few extra minutes to myself!) First, it was school vacation and my dreadful cough/cold, and then, ugh, the kids went back into the petrie dish known as school and I've pretty much had one or both of them home with me every day since.

Nobody wants their kids to be sick, obvs. For us, though, it's extra stressful because anything- a low fever, a cold, anything-  can lower Ollie's seizure threshold. So, I've been awake with him many nights so far this month, monitoring and worrying.

After going to the Grossology exhibit at the museum last weekend, I tried to follow up by teaching Peyton how germs get into our body, but it seems I only succeeded in terrifying the poor little Pixie, because now it's all she thinks about: "I can't eat with my hands, I have GERMS!" "Ollie touched me with his GERMS!" "My friend tried to kiss me at school with her GERMS!" I'm not gonna say that her thought process isn't precisely my current state of mind, but... a 4-year-old shouldn't have the stress of a 30-plus-5-year-old, amiright?

I know J and I are inevitably going to get sick too, but in the meantime, we've been eating clementines like woah- no joke, 2 crates a week. So, I've also been popping Zantac in the same fashion because hello heartburn! But seriously, I think they truly are the magic pill, because the day I started taking them (in proper, pregnancy-friendly doses, don't worry!) was the day I stopped feeling like poop.

By now, the bowl's probably empty...

 Today it's a winter wonderland outside so we headed out to play, and now we've got a fire going and the kids are having fun playing. Once that goes to hell (probably in the next few seconds since I just gave it the kiss of death by acknowledging it...) we've got some Valentine projects to do.

Watching Farmer Dill plow us out.

After I suggested that the head was too big, J politely told me he didn't need anyone micromanaging his snowman-building skills. 30 seconds later, the man of snow imploded under the immense weight of his snow-noggin. But I'm not one to say I told you so.

"Daddy, you need my help." It wasn't a question.

No cocoa for us after the snow. Downton-style, all the way. Peyton's is pure sugar.

Snowy day activities.

Little bookworm. 

What else? Our printer died. Then our fridge died. Annnnd, we bought a new car. So, if I don't write anything next month, it'll be because I'm busy breathing into a paper bag after opening up our credit card bill. But, I must say, the new fridge is a beauty- really classed up our kitchen (HA! But seriously, now I can't wait to win the lottery and do a kitchen renovation.)

And the new car? Well, Jon and I previously both drove little VWs, which had worked perfectly for a family of four. My Jetta Wagon has been my favorite car of all time. (And it's a clean diesel, so I was getting about 600 miles to the tank.) But, though I could fit three car seats across the back, it was TIGHT. Plus, I had visions of the big kids beating the boredom of a long car trip by putting scraps of paper or like, jellybeans, into the baby's mouth. So we started a car search and I ended up falling in looouuurrve with an Acadia, which, on Monday, I will be the proud owner of. Watch out, world- Mama's got a big ol' car now! Be afraid.....

So that's life lately. I'm just hoping and praying that Sick-A-Palooza is finally over so we can get back to normal and I can stop stressing about my Bugaloo. Also hoping to finish up a post about Ollie & Peyton's birth stories before the new little one is born so we have something to compare it to! But for now, I've got a fire to cozy up to!

Happy weekend, Friends!

3/52: sleep, little ones, sleep

Sleep, little one, Sleep.

Your dreams are long and deep.

Sleep in your burrow, cave or den, 

Sleep till the winter's done and then

Rise up and start all over again. 

Sleep, little one, sleep.

 Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep by Jane Yolen & Heidi E.Y. Stemple

Our sleep schedule has changed this year because the kids (both of them!) dropped their naps. Ollie took a 2-3 hour nap until he was 5 1/2, which I know is incredible. Peyton could probably still use one, but with her school schedule it's just not in the cards. Anyway, no naps means that after tubs and a couple of books at night, these two are out like that (pretend you can see me snapping my fingers)... and usually no later than 7 pm, either, so J and I usually have a bit of time to hang out. Or not, because let's be honest: my nightly snuggle time with Ollie usually ends up with me falling asleep too.

January, Week 3/52:

Sleep, Little Ones, Sleep

Peyton: When I ask her in the morning, "How did you sleep last night?" She always responds, "Like this!" and then tilts her head and places her prayer hands under one cheek. 

Oliver: There has not been one single night since he was six months old that he has not slept with his little puppy blanket, Roni. Over the years, we've invested in seven extra Roni's (that we keep on constant rotation to keep a consistent wear-and-tear). Some nights, he sleeps with all eight!

2/52: sick days

Not too many great photo opportunities this week- our house was down for the count with a weird 4-day virus. Boo! Ollie had some miserable moments (especially at night), but also some not-so-miserable moments, like when he realized he'd get to stay home from school and hang out with me on the couch watching movies all day! Thankfully, I got one day to re-group...and then Peyton woke up with the fever.

January, Week 2/52:

Sick Days

Oliver: Wearing a wristband from a show that Jon had gone to the previous night and my headband that he demanded I take off and give to him.  All snuggled up with his "Tom Bwady" aka, Patriots blanket. He recently decided that Garfield & Friends is his new favorite cartoon.

Peyton: A Pteranadon is just about the only thing I can get this kid to eat this week... besides popsicles (see below).
I think she was secretly thrilled when she woke up sick- she had a very detailed plan in place of what she wanted to do throughout the day while she had me to herself, including, but not limited to: reading a giant  stack of books, lots and lots of playing with dinosaurs, and popsicles. (I think she was taking notes while Ollie was home sick!) 

project 52

There are several great photography challenges out there. Project 52 & Project 365 are a couple that I've read up on that I might try... someday. For this year though, I thought I'd try my own easy Project 52, which is to take a weekly portrait of each of my kids this year. (I hope I can keep up with it!)

Here are my first set of photos.

January, Week 1/52- Playing in the Snow 

(Alternate title- I'm Jealous of my Kids' Lashes) :

Oliver, Age 6

Peyton,  Age 4y 1m

holiday aftermath.

Sorry for the radio silence- I had kind of an unintended technology blackout! After Christmas, I kind of just crashed. I don't need to bore you with the details, but we've had a nasty kind of cough/cold floating around our house for the past few weeks and, combined with us trying to do everything the season offered... and it kind of all caught up with me. I spent most of the kids' school vacation relaxing and really enjoying their company- I'm a little embarrassed to admit that after four months of them being in school full time, I wasn't sure how it would go. I'm really in no shape to take them out by myself because I'm moving at about 1/100th of my regular speed... so I was worried about how long days at home would go, but it turned out that they were excited to have each other to play with and we actually did end up doing a little something outside of home almost every day of break- the museum, the trampoline park, a quick trip to Massachusetts. I didn't take many pictures, and I didn't have any expectations for any of it, and our house is still in a state of major chaos, but I'm okay with that... it was seriously so much fun. 

Anyway, I know it's kind of late, but here are some of our pictures from Christmas! 

Tree Decorating Day:

Starting the day with cocoa & marshmallows. Not too shabby.

Delish.

Passing the time.

Decorating fun.

So proud of their  beautiful tree!

We camped out under our beautiful tree. (Not terribly comfortable when you're 8 months pregnant, btw) 

Christmas Morning: 

Looks like Santa enjoyed his cookies.

Christmas Dinner at Auntie Kim & Uncle Gordon's:

Happy Birthday Ollie!

"Oh, there's my letter. Take my pisher with it."

Taken at the end of a looong day, so it was what it was :)

Now that the holidays and vacation are over, we are getting back into the regular swing of things. I think you may have figured out that I love the holiday season... buttttttt I also kind of love when it's over, too. I'm looking forward to getting this house back in order (the tree finally came down a couple of days ago- along with 100% of it's needles), Valentine's Day... and welcoming our new little one! Just 28 days to go! 

happy new year!

Happy 2105!

(image via Pinterest.)

Wishing you all the best year yet!