STILL INFECTED

Cora had her ear re-check appointment this morning. Once again, Jay took her into the doc (I had a baby shower to attend). An hour in the waiting room, another hour in the exam room. Long morning for him! Oh, and the bottle liner collapsed (which NEVER happens) and he lost half her morning milk. Apparently she didn't care though. And now we know why, since her left ear is still infected. Mildly infected, but infected none the less. And she has a bit of a respiratory infection/cold to top it all off. They gave her a shot and prescribed another round of (stronger) antibiotics. If we hadn't caught the respiratory infection today, she likely would have progressed to fever in the next few days. Poor baby doll. She's sleeping it off in my office...

And she weighed EXACTLY the same as she did 2 weeks ago: 17 lbs 14 oz

Oh yeah, and once again, we forgot to put a bow on her head and somebody called her a boy. Seriously? The girl is wearing a dress and PINK TIGHTS! (And Jay was carrying her when this happened, it's not like she was strapped into the carseat or anything - Jeez people!)

MY NEWBORNS

We are quickly approaching James' 2nd birthday (only one week to go!) and I am feeling extremely sentimental. As I watch him run and dance and swing and march and dangle and climb and play and talk and laugh and sing and sass me, it is getting harder and harder to remember the day when he was just an 8 lb butterball bundle of newborn squishiness. And as Cora is starting to babble and scoot and spin and pull-up and really play with her toys, I can't help but wonder where my teeny tiny 6 lb baby doll has gone.

And these thoughts, my friends, are how baby fever gets started. Good thing my terrific (not terrible, for I insist on being optimistic about this upcoming year of the two's) toddler and fiesty infant keep reality in check. Way to go kiddos!

MOMMY TIME

Well, I've been slacking a bit on one of my New Years' Resolutions. There hasn't been a lot of free time so far this year, what with travel and sick days and snow days and Jay's unfortunate class schedule (two nights a week during the dinner/bath/bedtime hours), but I decided that today was a great day to blow off work an hour early and go collect my little man for some one-on-one time. Rather than hit the gym or park, I thought it would be fun to go on a short nature walk. We looked at flowers and trees, we called the birds, we played in the dirt and fallen leaves, and came across some train tracks. James seemed to really enjoy himself, so I must make more of an effort to do this every other week or so. LOVE spending time with my baby boy!

(The sucker was just a bonus treat, left over from the Valentine's candy his teacher gave him that we never even showed him, since he's too young for candy in our opinions...)

BIO-DIESEL

Fueled by Mama :-)

HANGING WITH THE FAM

We neglected to get a single picture of Cora with her namesake during the Waddell Family Christmas, so we were sure to remedy that this weekend. GG was happy to get a chance to hold her, and Cora behaved well (I had worried that she'd be flailing and dancing and causing a ruckus). These adorable ladybug jammies are the ones GG bought her.

The night before, when we left Aunt Sara's house to go back to Jill and Marv's for the night, we told James to tell everyone 'bye-bye' and to blow kisses and say 'I love you'. Well, I've heard him say 'I love you' twice, both times to Jay, even though I am near constantly asking him to tell ME these days. And who does he say it for? His GGmama. He told her "Bye-bye GG, la luv you". How absolutely adorable is that?

After dinner, Julia played the piano for us, and James was completely fascinated with her (and her piano).

And she was sweet enough to teach him Octopus' Garden. Or "oc-pus", as James says it.

James was quite the Mama's Boy this weekend, starting Saturday afternoon. Since there were so many willing hands to hold Cora, my arms were free, and I suppose James figured it was thus HIS turn for some extended mama-time. All weekend long I heard "Uppie!", "Mama!", and "Mm-hmm-hmm-hmm" (which is 'whine' for "hold me please"). While a bit trying at times, I openly admit that I loved being the center of his attention. Especially the bedtime cuddles, which I very rarely get to enjoy, since he's usually a daddy's boy...

It was a great weekend. We were so thankful to get to see some of the family, and it was really fun to hang with the Kennedys outside of the 'Burg. I do believe our next adventure should be camping. Eh? Whadya say guys? We need a trial run before we head to Yellowstone this summer...

ZOO ATLANTA!

Our second great adventure this weekend was Zoo Atlanta. Lots of cool animals, big open exhibits, and some fun playgrounds for the kiddos. James even fed some parakeets.

Cora posed with one of the MANY bronze statues:

James loved walking around with his Uncle Gerald and Ma-maw:And hanging with Will:And posing for his own silly photos:My favorite animals were the Red Panda and Komodo Dragons (BABY komodo dragons!)No, we don't know the other kids in this photo. In fact, there were a few girls sitting there before I finally managed to find the camera buried in the diaper bag. This little table was next to one of the playgrounds, and after we handed James his sippy cup, he trotted right on over and sat with the other kiddos. It seemed they all flocked there for a little break. It was pretty darn cute.

When did our little monkey learn to dangle? Who taught him that? Why is he growing up so fast?

When he got sleepy, I scooped him up into his Beco, but he never did nap. Too much to see and do. He sure loved the elephants. One of them was "dancing" and he kept telling me to "Sing! Sing!" (I suppose to keep the elephant dancing?...)

Cora spent most of the day being carried around in her Beco as well. Because that's what Cora likes best. When she's not eating, of course. Carried by me. And by her Daddy. She was cracking me up, hiding her face under the strap while Jay was carrying her. He kept thinking she was asleep, but when I'd peek, she'd just stare right back at me. Eventually she did nap though, unlike her big bro. And yes, Jay got lots of sweet smiles and "awe, that's so cute's" from the ladies, since young and old, no woman can resist a babywearing daddy.

I took James on his VERY FIRST TRAIN RIDE!

(Here he is thinking "What is this ticket for Mama?"...)It was a ridiculously short ride (3 minutes, MAYBE), but James loved it. Dark, loud tunnel and all. Afterwards (and after a snack) he was running around saying "Moh? Moh? Moh tee-wain?" But alas, there was no more ticket. So we hit another playground instead. And he was a happy, happy little man!

And this is the result of 2 full days of nonstop action: 2 exhausted kiddos!

GEORGIA AQUARIUM

We spent a busy and fun day at the Georgia Aquarium with Jean and Gerald, and our buddies the Kennedys. Everyone had a good time, we saw a LOT of different fish, and we managed to wear-out the kids. We started off with the Whale Shark exhibit. That's one of the four Whale Sharks up above Jay's head:

My boys, swimmin' with the fishes... African cichlids:They had TWO albino alligators!Family portrait at the Pacific Barrier Reef (James napped for almost an hour in our arms): The Whale Sharks were so cool, we went back for seconds. (Plus, the ampitheater was the perfect atmosphere for a napping James and nursing Cora.) You can see Al and Christina ahead of me on the moving platform in the tunnel here, with one of the Whale Sharks above their heads:Cora was just as impressed as the rest of us...At the end of the day we grabbed a photo of the kiddos, all nestled back into their strollers. When we tested Will in the stroller next to Cora, James got a bit jealous, so we gave him his spot back.

Oh, and that's not Nemo. It's Deepo, or something like that. We skipped the show because we didn't think the kiddos would sit still (or stay quiet) for it. Though 3D fish DOES sound fun. Maybe next time...

ME AND MY CHUNK

I thought Cora looked far too adorable in her big bro's hand-me-down shirt today NOT to take a picture of her. And since we hadn't taken a photo together in a while, that sealed the deal. She's getting big, isn't she?

WHILE DADDY STUDIES...

...the kids join me for dinner (Sloppy Cups!), take a bath together, hang out in their diapers (these are Doopsy pocket diapers, which we use for overnight), and have a dance party in the living room

"Brother, what interesting feet you have"

Then class is over. And they get to play with Daddy. Who encourages dog-piling on the baby...

THE STASH: UPDATED

Our diaper stash is ever-evolving. We have sold the newborn diapers (long ago), added a couple more AIOs for daycare, added more fitteds and pocket diapers for overnight, added some cute AI2s (with all but one being made by Margie), added some stay-dry doublers and liners (to keep skin dry overnight) and hemp doublers (for extra absorbancy), and sold another set of diapers that wasn't really working for us (the Best Bottoms system - we just couldn't get a good fit, no matter how badly we loved those Gators colors).

This is everything, minus 4 Bumgenius Organic AIOs (now called "Elementals") that were being worn or dirty, and the Elmo pocket diaper:

That makes 56 diapers total, not counting covers (FLIP or fleece) or accessories (doublers and liners), but counting the 6 organic FLIP and 6 gCloth inserts.

Each kiddo has their own box of AIO/AI2 diapers that we use during the day (I'm sure you can guess whose is whose).

The big box in the center is our overnight assortment (pocket diapers, fitteds, and all the covers). And the divided box on the right holds all the inserts and liners and doublers (FLIP up front, gCloth in the middle, and all the doublers and liners at the back - the hemp are the yellowish ones at the far back).

GOOD THING

Good thing we took their Valentine's portraits a week ago, before they got sick, since neither kid was in the mood for photos yesterday...

"Mine!"

"Please Mama, no more pictures!"

Opening Valentine's Day cards from their grandparents and great-grandparents was fascinating though. The novelty of it lasted at least 10 minutes, which is pretty long for two kiddos under two.
(Little monkey girl is holding one card in her hands and one with her feet. And James wanted her hair bow "Off!" - I guess he prefers her unadorned...)

LOVE FROM JAMES AND CORA