Yelling at the TV

"Come on, start driving!  I only hit a shell, keep moving!"  Of course he has learned all of this from his dad.  Mario Kart is now played on a daily basis in this house.  Don't you love daddy-son bonding time?

A picture's worth a thousand words

I just really wish I knew what she was going for with this picture.  Secretive?  Annoyed?  I have no idea.  All I can say is maybe she's been watching too many Bond and Bourne movies with daddy lately.  

I cleaned one bathroom...

...and walked out to find this.  I think my kids are telling me to clean faster.  Or maybe cleaning is a waste of time.  

Recent Michael Cuteness

Bye bye baby

It's creeped up on us once again.  Sadly, our baby is no longer a baby anymore.  Elli has turned one!  The first three months went by slow enough that I remember her newborn stage.  The last nine months have gone by in a blur.  Good thing I have some cute pictures and memories written down.  Here is what Elli has been up to lately:

• She's pulling up on things, especially people, and can stand by herself a little bit.
• She will walk along things a little bit, but not much.
• She says dada, uh-oh, hi, go, and sock (maybe socks because she puts a "z" at the end) clearly enough for us to understand her.  She does not say mama, it is rare to hear and has been heard a total of ten times.  She also doesn't say milk or water in any way because it's a fight to get her to drink anything.
• She has her front four teeth now.
• She's been giving Michael kisses a lot, but rarely anyone else.  She will randomly crawl next to Michael and the next second it looks like she's trying to eat his face.  Luckily he doesn't care.
• The only foods she hasn't liked so far have been green beans and broccoli.  She loves carrots, zucchini, avocado, and all fruits.  
• She has a very distinct personality.  We've decided that she is exactly like me.  She can be very independent, but when she wants attention she will let you know and she better get it.  
• Most of her day is spent chasing Michael around or playing quietly with her toys.  
• She enjoys singing, especially wheels on the bus which she dances to.
• Her favorite toys are Michael's cars, legos, dinosaurs, and tools.  She has never really liked baby toys unless they make a lot of noise.  She adores stuffed animals.  She sits and hugs them for a really long time.  
• Her hair is growing at a rate of 1/8" per month, but it is growing.  It will probably stay bright blond, but we're not sure if it's curly or not.  
• She responds to peanut, bean, and stinker as much, if not more, than her name.
• Her attention span is ridiculous.  If we turn on an interesting kids show she could watch the whole thing.  She can play with the same toy for a long time if nothing distracts her.  However, when Michael's around it seems to be that of a normal baby/toddler.
• She is still adorable and gets away with far too much.

Because the best birthday pictures are of kids covered in chocolate...

She looks at her hand

She eats her hand

She enters a chocolate coma

She emerges victorious!

The Happiest Family on the Block

Okay, so maybe we aren't the happiest family, but the last week has seen an incredible mood shift.  I will simply thank the weather for it.  We've been able to go outside for extended periods of time EVERY DAY.  I can finally take the kids out in just a long sleeved shirt and not worry about coats, which gets us out of the house so much faster.  It has been pure bliss!

We've gone on long walks, visited a park one day, went to the zoo twice, and visited a duck pond.  Elli loves sea lions, likes giraffes, and ignores monkeys.  Michael finally learned that the white duck is still a duck, not a chicken.  I think the duck almost had a heart attack as Michael chased it screaming "chicken nuggets!"

This weather has really made a difference with Michael.  That poor kid can't stand being shut up indoors.  Unfortunately it's too hard to carry Elli around while he plays in the snow because she just wants to crawl around after him.  Soon he will have a yard where he can run out the back door and play in the snow whenever he wants.  That can't come soon enough.  Until then I'll take the warm weather, the Vitamin D, and the happy sounds of Michael chasing ducks.

16 weeks and counting...

Wednesday I was officially 16 weeks pregnant.  I keep wondering where the time went, then I remember a good chunk of it was spent in the fetal position on the bathroom floor.  If this is the worst pregnancy maybe it will be the quickest delivery??  With my track record I'm going to shoot for 4 hours of labor and one push.

Thursday I had an appointment with my midwife and everything looked great.  I'm still losing weight, I'm down a pound from a month ago, but it's no longer a dramatic loss.  Absolutely no sugar in my urine (which is always a plus because no way am I going to starve myself and take a gross sugary drink if I don't have to!) and my blood pressure was 96/60, lower then it has been through my other pregnancies.

I'm left to wonder, what is so different about this pregnancy?  Is it because I have two kids to chase around already?  Is it because I was running and working out a decent amount before getting pregnant?  Maybe my vow to never weigh more than 160 ever again is really working?  The whole thing baffles me.

Josh still thinks the baby is a girl, I still think it's a boy.  I found a place to do my 20 week ultrasound and will schedule an appointment soon, but I still don't want to find out.  Josh does.  I keep telling him that not knowing may be exactly what I need to get through labor if it isn't as quick and easy as past ones. We'll see what happens in a few weeks.

For now everything is going well.  Michael understands there is a baby in my tummy and he gives it hugs and kisses a lot.  Elli seems to understand that when I refer to "the baby" I don't mean her anymore.  She used to look at me and get excited when I would ask Michael where the baby was, like we were going to play peek-a-boo, but she's stopped doing that.  Hopefully they like this baby as much as they like each other.

Never-ending sickness

You might be wondering why I post so sporadically.  Well, I'll enlighten you a little.  Let's go back a few weeks.  Oh, and don't read this if you can't handle puke or poop.

I reached the end of my first trimester, where I should be done with the morning sickness.  Well, I wasn't.  In fact it got worse, sooo much worse.  To the point where I couldn't keep anything down all day and had lost 5 lbs.  I know, I know, don't complain about losing weight.  See I would have no problem with losing weight in the first trimester, when you shouldn't gain any at all.  I do have a problem with losing weight when you should be gaining a pound every week or two.   

With some different vitamins we thought that got all cleared up, but it's not anymore. 

Then we get to Josh and the kids.  Just when I was starting to feel better Josh thought he had a little stomach bug, which turned into a monster of a stomach flu.  He was miserable all night, and I was very miserable the next morning when Michael puked all over the carpet.  We are going on day 5 of this stomach bug.  This bug isn't an ordinary bug.  See my kids on Sunday?  They were as happy as could be!  No stomach problems all night or that morning, or even through church.

Then we got home.  Yesterday I did three loads of pooped on or puked on clothes, sheets, mattress covers, pillow cases, and even pillows.  There was the baking soda I had to dump all over the carpet and vacuum up.  Plus the three baths. 

Today I've already washed one set of sheets and a bunch of blankets.  Then there are the six diapers and one bath.  Oh yeah, don't let me forget the poop on the carpet...that currently has a second pile of baking soda on it.  

The smells - even with baking soda, lots of laundry detergent, taking diapers out constantly, and a fancy glade candle that's almost gone after three days - are getting to me.  

So this is why I haven't been blogging.  I've either been horribly sick, or the kids have been keeping me constantly busy.