OUT AND BACK

James' tubes are out, and his ear infections are back.

He had a bit of a runny nose on Sunday afternoon, woke up with a croupy cough on Monday morning, and actually asked to go see Doctor Smith for medicine to make him feel better when Jay picked him up from school. No fever, but both tubes are out and both ears are infected, and he has a touch of croup (we're all too familiar with his usual symptoms, so we tend to catch it really early, and it still shows up every time the seasons change or the weather changes drastically).

He got the standard steroid shot and Rx antibiotic, a band-aid and a sucker (for which he reportedly asked for a second shot, so that he could get a second sucker...), and is already feeling much better this morning. He didn't even have to stay home from school.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Ethnic Supper Club convened yesterday after a long absence (due to the departure of Sara and Philip, and the holidays, of course) to celebrate the eve of the Chinese New Year. We enjoyed homemade dumplings, egg rolls, crab Rangoon, egg drop soup, beef and broccoli, General Tso chicken, lychee gelatin and fortune cookies for desert, and some Chinese (and Thai...) beers to accompany the feast. Oh, and Whoopie Pies for the munchkins (and those who didn't love the lychee so much).

We had new attendees this month, including Cari and Mike and their boys Jacob and Bridger, and Erinn. Jay and I were really impressed with how well the boys played together, and excited to learn that we'll be able to use our little kiddie picnic table until James is at least 10-years-old (that would be Jacob's age, the cutie on the front left):

(For the record, I didn't intentionally cut Mike out of the photo. And I didn't notice until I downloaded it that his head was missing. No worries though, he wasn't smiling at my camera anyway - ha!)

RAINED OUT

We had big plans today: playing at the "Little Choo-choo Park", going for a run together on The Trace with the jogger, lunch out someplace fun, grocery shopping at Fresh Market for Chinese New Year meal components, and swimming at the Y. We even planned ahead, packing the diaper bag the night before so that we could just get up and go. But we forgot our jackets. And we were all in t-shirts. And as soon as we had made it to the highway, the rain started. And the temperature began to drop. And then for the 3rd time this week we had to make an emergency stop on the side of the road for James to poop. Yes, I just said poop. Parents never get tired of discussing their kids' bowel movements, didn't you know that? Anyway, after about 12 minutes of that joy (Have you ever had to sit in an enclosed vehicle - due to the rain, otherwise we would have had the door open - while somebody pooped? It stinks. Literally.), Jay turned our frowns upside down by deciding to take us to the Children's Museum. So we may have missed the park (which James had been talking about ALL WEEK LONG) and the run, but we still managed to do everything else AND have fun at the Museum (which James has also been talking about all week, since the K4-3rd graders are going there next week and he's been hearing about it at school).

Cora was so brave on this trip. She did lots of "big kid" activities, including climbing all the structures (with our help) and going down the big tunnel slides, racing boats and fishing for catfish, and climbing through the huge "Digestive System" exhibit all by herself. When I went to show Jay, and convince James to give it a try since Cora could do it (he's always been too scared to go through, even when we offered to go along), a bunch of bigger kids came through. And one little boy rough-housed Cora in a section we couldn't see into, stepping over and on her, leaving a huge red welt on her arm. At which point Jay had to squirm his way in quickly to rescue her because she became terrified. Poor Sissy.

(That purple portion behind them is the colon, in case you're wondering. And this end slide that James is emerging from empties into the "toilet". Nice, eh?)

After that drama, we retreated upstairs and the kids helped one of the employees build a chimney for the house. Cora ended up inside the brick box repeatedly, and James was cracking us up with his towers of bricks. And he refused to put that little blue hammer down.

P.S. The swimming pool at the Y is not quite warm enough for our kiddos. Our swim session was cut short due to chattering teeth, but the kids still had a blast. They tried to jump in, they splashed, and they particularly enjoyed the lockers in the locker room. At one point, when I came back from drying my hair, James was missing. And when I inquired "Where oh where has my little James gone?" I heard giggles from one of the big lockers, where he'd shut himself in to hide from me. Silly boy.

KIDS' BATHROOM MAKEOVER

The kids love the new deco in their bathroom even more than I do (with my transparent love of birds), which makes me extra happy that we finally changed out the silver embroidered shower curtain, black mats, and black and silver porcelain accessories that we've had for the past 8 years. Cora always yells "Owls!" and pretends to count and name the owls by color (because that's what her big bro does), though she only knows 1, 2 and "boo", "geen". Hiding behind the curtain is always a fun pastime as well. As is emptying all the washcloths out of the lower cabinet...

It's fancy, right?

(As long as you can look past the 2 potty seats and step stool.)

TV TIME

Other than movies on the weekends and the occasional Dinosaur Train or Curious George or Penguins of Madagascar episode on the DVR, our kids don't watch TV. Mostly because we don't watch much TV. But also because children under 2-years-old are not suppose to watch TV, and we've further curbed our habits to support that in our home. However, most nights, for 20 minutes or so right before bed (we usually do stories throughout the day, and often at bedtime as well, but it's not a set part of our nightly routine, though neither is TV), we'll put on half an episode of WipeOut. Or turn on whatever happens to be playing on PBS or Animal Planet. While Jay was in class on Tuesday night, the kids were super cute all huddled together on the couch, and I couldn't resist a few photos. There were trains and horses and huge waterfalls and monkeys. Now really, it doesn't get much better than that if you're a toddler. Cora actually sat still for 10 whole minutes.

(My favorite is that last one where James has his head in his hands - adorable!)

MAMA'S NIGHT OFF

The kids are asleep, and I have yet to sneak in and kiss their heads.

I haven't seen them since 8:00 this morning, and it feels weird. Jay picked them up from school, took them to the park, then the gym, then went through all the evening rituals alone, including dinner and baths and books and bedtime. All while I worked my late/long day, then headed straight to a wine tasting with some coworkers, and stayed for dinner. Pretty darn rejuvenating.

Thanks sweetie, I needed that! And thank you Dawn, Natalie, Heather, Matt, and Jim for hanging out with this mama who tried her best not to talk about her kids the whole time. Y'all are good sports!

WE'RE STILL HERE! (THOUGH IT WOULD BE MORE FUN IF WE WERE THERE)

Sorry for my blogging absence. It's been a busy week, yet generally unexciting. So instead of boring you with details about house projects, joining the YMCA, Jay's classes starting back up, and taking the kids to the local park, I'll share this adorable picture of Christopher, back home and enjoying the gorgeous weather that is at the opposite end of the spectrum from what we're experiencing here lately. Wish we were in Maui with him!

COUNTING BEARS

You know what's better than counting and sorting the Counting Bears by color? Climbing up onto Daddy's built-in closet dresser with full cups, then dumping them over the side, sliding down the front of the dresser, and picking them all up to do it again. And again.

Seriously one of the best little presents the kids got this year. This activity (a game that James dubbed "Makin' a MESS!") can keep the kids busy for 15-20 minutes, easily. Long enough for Mama to put away 4 baskets of clean clothes. Best $10 we've spent.

FANCY PARK = FANCY RULES

James and Cora finally got to take their Daddy to the fancy new park in Flowood. And we started out with a picnic that he packed (and Starbucks...)

(Cake pops are James' FAVORITE special treat, ever since he first had one back in November. He asks for them at the most random of times. I suppose I need to learn to make them before his birthday!...)

While Jay was pushing the kids on the swing, I was swinging next to them. Just enjoying playing with my family. Then a "Park Ranger" came up to me and told me to get off the equipment. Apparently it's only for kids 12 and under. Sure was news to me (we've been there 4 times now and never been asked to stay off the equipment, and there are always park employees around). I asked him if he was kidding. He was not. He directed my attention to the dozen signs posted around the playground and the fine print about 5 bullets down the list. Seriously. (Pretty sure those signs are new, but Sophie, correct me if I'm wrong). That guy had an overabundance of self importance, and for the 2 hours we were there, he crushed the fun out of many adults. I was bummed, but I felt especially bad for James, who kept asking me to climb and play and go down slides with him, and I had to keep telling him I wasn't allowed. Don't worry, I made sure to say it very loudly with an "I'm sorry buddy, but that man won't let me play with you." 'Cause he deserved it.

If you're curious what James was serving his Daddy at the "breh-fast table" below, it was "blueberry giggles". James has been making us blueberry giggles for months now. And they're delicious. You should try them.

Baby Doll has baby fine hair:

After the park, we went to spend the last of the Christmas money that was burning a hole in our pockets. We're doing a mini remodel of our bedroom and bathroom. New bedding, new wall color, furniture moved around, pictures and artwork rearranged, etc. Hopefully we'll like it. And hopefully it won't take us too long to accomplish. (We've also been doing a few other mini remodels, including new deco in the kids' bathroom downstairs and some reorganizing of toys in the living room and James' room. Who needs Spring Cleaning when you have New Year's Freshness?) Cora thought all the shopping was a blast!

Hooray for a 3-day weekend! Lots to do...

GIVE AND TAKE

"LOOK MAMA, TWO THOMAS!"

"James haff a Thomas and Co-wah haff a Thomas. We bowf haff a Thomas!"

LEARNING TOWER

After helping Daddy assemble it...

...the kiddos helped Daddy make dinner for the first time.

Oh man, do they ever love this thing. It's useful, and it also makes a great "toy" (you know, a castle, tower, bridge, etc., whatever their little imaginations can come up with). Thank you so much Gramma!

RAINY DAY ACTIVITY

When it's cold and rainy, and daddy can't take you to the playground, the next best thing is a warm bath with colored shaving cream to paint with.

Am I right?

Pretty sure they had an awesome afternoon!

Photos by Jay

18-MONTH CHECK-UP

Cora finally had her 18-month wellness exam today, and there isn't much to report. She's hitting all her milestones on or ahead of target. She screamed like a banshee the ENTIRE time the doctor was touching her (after the doc had JUST discussed with me that we should let her cry at night, proving even to old school Doc Smith that Cora is not a force to be reckoned with!) Then she yelled again when she got her Hep-A vaccine. And while she was weighed and measured. Her face was SO red by the time we left... Her diaper rash is finally healing (we hope for good!), hence the plastic diaper. Yup, she has a crunchy butt. We used them in Cali when my order of FLIP disposable inserts got lost in shipment, and we've decided to keep up with them for a while longer, until her rash is 100% healed and we no longer need to use creams on her. (Yes, they're a brand with fewer chemicals and whatnot, Seventh Generation. It's the best we could do.) In a side note, I also ordered new (different scent) cloth diaper laundry detergent, since we're worried the "Sweet Clementine" was bothering her ULTRA sensitive skin (since that is one thing we can point to as changing around the time that the rash first appeared), and threw out all of our BumGenius Elementals. And I didn't shed a tear. It sucks to lose that money we invested, but they had become so worn out (holes along the edges, an unfortunate result of using organic fabric - natural fibers don't hold up as well as the manmade ones do) that we couldn't have resold them anyway. And we'll still have saved over $1500 by using cloth instead of disposables over the past 2 years, so we're happy. Plus, we're getting close enough to potty training Cora that I'm starting to thin her stash (selling off her fitted diapers), so we'll just use her pocket diapers (she has PLENTY) until she's trained. Oh, and finally, in surprising news, Cora's weight (23.2 lbs), height (32.25"), and head circumference (46 cm) are ALL up, with her head circumference increasing to the 50th percentile to join her weight and height. She still seems tiny to us, but I guess Baby Doll is catching up with her peers!

NOTE: when measuring her at home against her new growth chart, she is not even close to 32.25", so we're pretty sure the nurse measured her wrong. She was right at 31" for us...

CORA'S 18-MONTH PORTRAITS

Portraits by Jay

LONG LOST BUDDIES

James hasn't seen Gabriel (his old buddy from PCDC) in so long that I can't remember for sure. October maybe? And it's been a while since we've seen the Kennedy's too. AND it's Will's 2nd birthday today! So we "hit the road" (a new phrase James picked up from his Grambot and Pawpaw while we were in Cali) to Catfish Row park this afternoon and let the kids run out their energy. The boys pushed around big trucks and carted them all over the playground and down the slides, and Cora did her best to keep up (she's yelling "Wait!" in the picture below, one of her more commonly used words lately). The kids had fun, and we really enjoyed catching up with Michelle & Lucas, and Al & Christina. Not to mention, it was about 70 degrees today. In JANUARY. That alone is a great excuse to get out of the house to play!

SLEEP DRAMA RETURNS

Now, we're not pointing any fingers (literally, anyway), but as awesome as our holiday vacation was, the aftermath has been equally UNawesome. If that's a word. Between the travel and busy days and departure from schedules (and spoiling), we somehow (not surprisingly) lost our newfound sleeping star in Cora. She is back to waking up multiple times per night (sometimes staying awake for hours at a time). Once up, she refuses to go back to sleep in her crib, so she's been sleeping with Daddy and/or Mama, and sometimes James.

We sincerely hope that this sleep drama will end soon (10 days of vacation to break her STTN pattern, 10 days back home before she starts STTN again?...), because we sure liked getting to sleep together, alone, in our own bed, for the past couple months. Cross your fingers for us. And please send any extra sleepy dust you have laying around your house over to ours. Express mail.

THE BEST FROM GRAMBOT

Here are a few more photos from our trip to Cali, courtesy of Grambot.

Our family photo session was hard work. The kids were obviously parched afterward.

James actually liked giving Eli hugs (normally he refuses hugs from other toddlers/preschoolers, even though he loves to be held and cuddled by any adult - he's never met a stranger, as they say):

Mama got a workout pushing both her kiddos around the block (you can see what a big helper Cora was...):

Davey and I with Addy and James at Oak Grove Park:

Eli catches some air at the Children's Museum:

Pawpaw and his Lindsay grandkids:

A better photo of Cora and I with her Great Grandma:

Group shot at the Sac Zoo:

All aboard the Sac Zoo choo-choo: