Snow!

7:30am, Saturday December 11th. The car got stuck in front of our house for awhile.

11am, Saturday 12/11

3pm, 12/11

3pm, 12/11

Sunday morning, 12/12 - this is what we saw when we opened our front door.

Looking out our front door, 12/12

Yep, that's a huge drift of snow on our patio! 12/12

We've been stuck in a huge snowstorm all weekend! It started Friday night, and didn't let up until Sunday morning. It snowed all day Saturday, and the wind was really strong, blowing the snow around and creating blizzard conditions. We were very happy to stay tucked snugly in at home! We were supposed to go to a Christmas party on Saturday afternoon/evening, but that didn't happen! And on Sunday we were supposed to have a baby shower for my sister, but that didn't happen either!

It was definitely the biggest storm that I can remember for a long time, and to be honest, I still haven't been outside, and it's now Sunday evening! One perk of living in a townhouse is that we aren't responsible for snow removal! We finally got plowed out around 5pm tonight. It's very very cold outside, so I was glad to not have to be the one out there doing the work!

Hopefully roads will be ok in the morning and we won't see any more snow for awhile!!

EJ - 8 Months Old

This was probably the worst monthly photo shoot I've experienced! I got the one good shot, and then it was all downhill! Poor EJ still wasn't feeling 100% better that day, so that didn't help. I also didn't have anyone home with me to help me distract him while I took the pictures. EJ is super active and has to always be moving, and it was nearly impossible for me to get him to sit still long enough to take a picture. The second picture here pretty much sums up how we both were feeling after only a couple minutes of trying to get some pictures! Poor guy. He forgave me though! :)

So Behind!

I am very behind on my blogging! EJ is almost 9 months old and I haven't posted his 8 month pictures yet... It's getting close to Christmas and I haven't posted about Thanksgiving yet...

Sigh.

Oh well! I'll catch up when I have a few spare moments!!

For now, just a quick update on our lives! We're keeping busy. November was an interesting month for me, because Jay worked 2nd shift the whole month. That meant I was on my own with the kids every day (before and after work) and we only really saw Jay on the weekends. I figured out some routines that worked, and made it through the month, but it was a little rough at times! I'm definitely used to having that extra set of hands!! It doesn't look like he will work that kind of schedule again for awhile, so that's nice. I can handle 2nd shift, but 4 full weeks of it in a row was a bit much! Jay is enjoying his job though, so that's great!

EJ and Mara are both doing great. They both moved up to new rooms at daycare. Mara is officially in a preschool room, and EJ is with the 'big' babies! It was a little bittersweet for me. He seems to really like it in there and is doing great, but it makes him seem so grown up all of a sudden! Both kids enjoyed seeing Santa (pictures to come!) and are going to be in a daycare winter program next week!

I'm trying to finish up EJ's stocking in time for Christmas, as well as planning a baby shower for my sister, and all of the usual holiday hustle and bustle. Usually I'm done shopping by now, but I still have a few things to get...hopefully soon! Then I can start to wrap!

Busy, busy, busy... I promise to post pictures and more updates soon!

Harry Potter Mania!

I realized that I almost typed 'maniac' in the title...which really wouldn't be too far off!

I am somewhat obsessed with all things Harry Potter, so I had been counting down for a long time, to the most recent movie. Jay is the one that got me hooked on the movies (and the books!) and we've gone to all of them together. The newest one (part one of the two) came out on Friday, and we went to a 9:15am showing.

It was fabulous!! Well worth the wait, and makes me want to re-read the books (again...). I am excited and sad - only one movie left. I think it will be amazing, but bittersweet. The end is near...

Sigh.

But for now, I'm just trying to plan when I can go back to see this movie again!!

Halloween!

The kids wore orange to daycare on the Friday before Halloween. Mara loved her pumpkin shirt and was excited to wear it!

She was not as excited about her giraffe costume! :( She barely wore it all weekend. She put it on for a little while at her daycare party, but it's hard to tell what she is without the hood on!

EJ on the other hand...he seemed to like his Harry Potter costume! This was one of the only shots I got of him with the glasses on - he was pretty interested in his pumpkin at daycare!

Mara did a craft project at her Halloween party.

The three grandchildren, at Grandpa and Grandma's house the day before Halloween. Mara wouldn't wear her costume, but at least she had her pumpkin shirt on!

I just love this picture of EJ with the pumpkin! He looks just perfect, and so happy!!

We went to visit my Grandma on Halloween, and I got this cute picture of her holding EJ!

Mara put her costume on long enough to get a piece of candy from Great Grandma. Then she wanted it off again!

I did manage to get a few pictures of Mara with the pumpkin...maybe next year she'll pose in her costume!!

Homemade

This year I attempted my first ever homemade Halloween costume.

I have always gotten Mara's costumes from Old Navy...they are cute, not too expensive, and really warm. I still love them! And again this year, she has a costume from there.

But I decided to be brave and attempt to make a costume for EJ for his very first Halloween.

And I think it actually kind of turned out ok!

It's a bit too early to reveal the details, but let's just say there was cutting, pinning, and sewing involved. And there are a few different fabrics and pieces. We even have a couple accessories to go along with it.

Hopefully when we put it all on him, it won't look like a little kid made it, and people will realize what he is dressed up as. The first test of that will be at the daycare Halloween party this afternoon!!

A Nice Weekend

This weekend went way too quickly!

It had been a long week, but thankfully EJ was feeling better this weekend. He happily played with toys, laughed, smiled, and had a great time. He was even eating normally again!

Mara had been a bear all week, but seemed more relaxed this weekend, and had a good time playing and reading lots of books.

Jay and I cleaned up the house quite a bit, I made some baby food and a nice crockpot meal on Saturday. I even worked on EJ's costume a little bit (but I should have done more! Halloween is fast approaching!). I had some time to read, and today Jay and I went on a little 'date' for our anniversary - a movie (Inception - it was awesome!) and an early dinner (Red Lobster - yum!) while my parents came over and hung out with the kiddos.

It was nice to have a relaxing weekend, and to feel like we're starting the week with things organized. I mean, I still have a lot of laundry to do - some to fold, and lots to wash. There are a couple dirty dishes on the counter right now. The stairs need to be vacuumed. And I'm sure there's more, but overall I'm feeling like maybe I can handle the mayhem of Monday.

We'll see what the week brings!

Sick Baby

Is there anything worse than a sick baby? My poor EJ was sick for 6 days this past week, and it was horrible! It started on a Friday, so we thought he'd be able to recover over the weekend. Wrong! He had vomiting, diarrhea, a low temp one day, and you could tell he just felt miserable. He is usually so laid-back and happy, and he barely smiled for 6 days. It was so sad!

On day 5 we took him to the doctor, just in case, but of course there wasn't much they could tell us, just that it had to run it's course.

So finally on day 6 we saw a bit of an improvement. Slowly every day since then he's been doing better and better. Today he's eating great, playing, and acting like his normal self - lots of giggles, smiles, and grabbing whatever Mara is playing with! ;)

We're so happy to have our sweet baby back, and crossing our fingers that this is the worst we'll have to deal with for awhile!!

Go Vikings

Daycare had a 'purple' day last Monday when the Vikings played Monday night football. I had fun dressing the kids all in purple, and Mara thought it was pretty cool too!

Unfortunately, all the purple didn't help the Vikings win the game, but at least my kids looked cute!

Elijah is Seven Months Old!

Now that I posted the 6 month pictures from last month, I can post the 7 month pictures from a week ago! I can't believe EJ is already 7 months old! He is getting so big! He is 17lbs 6oz, which seems small to us compared to Mara at this age, but he is getting around really well, getting so good at entertaining himself, and sitting up like a pro. He loves to sit and play with books, blocks, and whatever Mara has. He also loves the cats! He was sick for almost a full week, so he was not feeling the best when I took these pictures, but he still managed a few little smiles!

Oops...

EJ turned 6 months old...over a month ago (September 16th). Oops! Here are a few pictures!

Busy, Busy, Busy

So, things have been pretty crazy the last two weeks...

Jay started his new job on the 13th. It is going great, he likes it, and said the days go pretty quickly. He is on an orientation schedule, working days for now, but will get a taste of the other shifts soon too. (Have to say, I'm NOT excited about the month of 2nd shift that he'll be doing in November!!).

EJ started at daycare on the 13th also. He is doing pretty well, it has been an adjustment though! He is getting more comfortable now, sleeping and eating ok there. It has been a little rough because we had some sickness come through our house, so he has missed a couple days already. But otherwise things are going well!

So yeah...sickness. EJ, Jay, and I all got sick in the last couple weeks. Horrible timing of course! Thankfully Mara didn't catch anything, and we are all feeling better now. (I'm knocking on wood so I don't jinx myself, of course!)

We are just trying to get used to this new schedule and routine. Some days it's a bit of a struggle for me to get out the door in the morning (Jay is gone before I get the kids up), but we're figuring it out!

Exhausting.

Taking kids places is exhausting.

First, there is all the prep. You have to make sure you have everything that your kids might possibly need while you are away from home. Even if you are just going somewhere for an hour or two, there seem to be a million things you might need. There are the basics, like diapers, wipes, bottles, and formula. Then all the other things - a change of clothing, a hat, sunscreen, a jacket, a blanket, a stuffed animal or two, a book, a toy, a sippy cup of water.... Well, you get the point. If you have two kids, everything is doubled... And that's just for summer trips! Imagine all the extra gear you need in the winter....

So once you get it all packed up, then you have to get your kids prepared. Diaper changes, clothes changes, wrestling your 2 year old around for 15 minutes to get a pigtail in her hair (or is that just me??).

You make sure you've double checked the bags, and start the process of packing the car, and getting the kids buckled in. The two year old wants to do it herself of course, so this takes extra long.

To be honest, I'm exhausted before we even pull out of the garage!

The car ride includes stuffed animals being 'dropped' (aka, thrown) on the floor and then a yell for someone to pick them up, begging for there to be 'more cows!' to look at along the way, adults remembering that in all the fuss to get ready, THEY forgot to go to the bathroom before we left, and then some general yelling and shushing, because the baby's trying to sleep.

You finally arrive at your destination (whether it's 15 minutes or two hours, it probably seemed like an eternity)! Time to unload all of your belongings, and your kids, and haul them in. Then you hope you remembered all that 'other' stuff too...whatever that might be. The birthday gift, the potluck contribution, whatever.

Once the kids warm up to the new surroundings, you hope for a little time to relax and visit with your family and/or friends. This is silly -- it's not going to happen. You are chasing the 2 year old, feeding the baby, digging through the diaper bag for whatever is needed at any given moment. If your child happens to catch a glimpse of people in a swimming pool that she wants to swim in, you get to listen to her yell and scream about it for 30 minutes or so.

After a lot of whining and chasing, you decide it's time to head home. This sometimes involves diaper changes, changing into pajamas, maybe another bottle. Then it's all in reverse as you load the kids into the car again, and make sure you haven't left any important items behind. Finally you are on your way home...and hoping the kids will both sleep...which is of course, wishful thinking.

Undoubtedly once you get home, you realize something you either forgot, or forgot to do, while you were out.

But you're mostly too tired to care...

Cereal

We gave EJ cereal for the first time over the weekend. He wasn't too sure about it at first. Most of it that actually went into his mouth came back out again!

After a couple days, he is getting more used to it. I think he will really like baby food, but we will stick with the cereal for a little while longer to get him used to the whole idea of eating off a spoon! He is not one to turn down food, and is always grabbing at everything we are eating, so we're hoping he will be a good eater! It's hard to believe he is already old enough to be at this stage! The biggest issue that we have is getting him to sit still. This kid does NOT stop moving!!

"I'm Swimming!"

Last weekend we visited our friends and spent some time outside, and in their pool. I wasn't sure what Mara would think about it, but she loved it! At first she wanted me to hold onto her tightly, but soon she was floating around by herself and having a blast!



At one point she exclaimed: "I'm swimming!" It was fun to see her so excited about it!

EJ enjoyed himself from the deck. Maybe next year he'll be having fun in the pool too!

After the pool fun, the kids played inside. It was fun to see them play together! We've been getting together since they were babies, and they are interacting a lot more now and having fun together!

There was even a little picnic table just for the kids (and Maggie!)

After dinner, Mara enjoyed playing in the sandbox too. She was in Heaven with all the fun outside activities!

Both kids were pretty wiped out from an exciting afternoon and lots of fresh air. It was a great day in the sunshine with friends!

Elijah - 5 months old

How is my baby already 5 months old?? Time really does fly, and it's amazing how much a baby changes in just 5 months! EJ is so smiley and happy. He adores his big sister and his kitties. He is so close to crawling, which scares me! He gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth - one of these days he is just going to take off!

It's hard to remember life without him around! He is so sweet and can always make me smile!

Sweet Baby Boy