What's happening lately...

This latest round of colds have been quite lingering for the kids.  They still have a little bit of a cough, mostly when they wake up.  Johnny still has a runny nose but it seemed considerably less this morning.  So hopefully that will wrap up soon.  We spent last weekend running errands, getting the computer part recall taken care of and getting Vader's yearly shots.  Johnny has let us sleep a little, but he still wakes up in the early morning hours every couple of days.  We think it's the teething.  He's so close to have more teeth coming in, they are just taking their time.  He has 8 teeth total right now...6 of those he got all at once early November.  It looks like he'll have another batch of teeth when the next round makes its appearance.  He's been drooling out his clothes and gnawing on his fingers.  He's also been cruising around the house, getting into stuff...he always seems to know what he shouldn't get into.  Our house is fairly babyproofed but there's some of those toddler things that we didn't think much about.  So the babyproofing just happens as we go.  Holiday has been 'helping' lately.  Like helping Daddy cook or helping me fold clothes.  Little helper Holly.  She goes back and forth through her books, her bunny house, playing Rollie Pollies, art projects and the like.  David and I have been busy with errands lately so there hasn't been a lot of free time.  Usually the time we get we either play board games or simply decompress on the couch watching tv or cruising around on our tablets.  This might be the weekend that I can actually get out in the yard because the time is now for getting those roses pruned.  The yard is coming back to life...and that includes the weeds so I got to get out there and get to work.

Colds, Valentine's and Sleep deprivation...oh my!

We're still working on all our colds.  Today there seems to be a lot of coughing and sneezing just because our little selfs are just trying to get rid of the rest of the snot.  Poor little Johnny is just a snot rocket right now,  the good news is that it's getting out.  On Valentine's Day when I went to put my shoes on I was met with Holiday saying, "Happy Valentine's Day Mommy."  It was so cute.  She made little Valentine's with David's help for her friends at daycare.  After dance class we took the kids to Pike Place Market and the weather actually turned out to be pretty nice that day.  David and I went on a date night on Saturday.  Uncle Drew, Ellie and Anna came to our house to babysit the kids.  We had dinner at Mojimi and dessert at Diletannte's.  Everything was great.  The only rough part of the weekend is that the kids keep getting up early or waking up in the middle of the night.  David had it rough yesterday.  I know today my brain is super fuzzy and I have a headache.  Holly woke up twice last night and I'm not sure what the issue was.  She was crying so it might have been a bad dream.  All I could make out was her saying, "I'm upset."  She did go back to sleep both times and today her mood seems much better.

Johnny's 9 month check up

I guess my brain was so snotted up yesterday that I forgot to tell all about Johnny's check up from yesterday.  Basically he's a big, healthy boy.  I don't remember the numbers off hand but his weight and head circumference were somewhere in the 90's percentile and his height near 50th percentile.  The doctor was passing off the height measurement as an inaccurate read since Johnny is so squirmy that it's just difficult to get a good measurement.  Johnny didn't like his ears being looked at but he liked trying the get the light from Dr. Hutchinson.  No shots this time but there will be more at the 12 month check up.  Since Holiday's birthday is just 3 weeks before Johnny's I'll just piggy back them when it's time for Johnny's next check up, then we'll get all the shots over with together.  The doctor suspects John will be walking be the time she sees him again.  He's drooling like mad so maybe he's cooking up another batch of teeth.  Both the kids seem a little better from yesterday, at least they're sleeping pretty good.  They're not waking up in the middle of the night coughing or anything like that.  Holly had a couple crash 'n burns last night.  She always had this thing that she could do anything she wants and the universe was going to take care of her.  Maybe last night has opened her eyes that maybe she should listen to mommy and daddy when they say no running in the house and no jumping on the couch.  Slipping on the floor and falling off the couch on your head is less fun.  The night before she ran without looking and bowled Johnny over, but luckily he was on the rug...didn't even cry. She felt really bad about that one and was worried that she hurt Johnny, but he was fine.  David and I definitely have our hands full with a precocious toddler and infant that will soon be walking.  'Toddler' just doesn't seem like the right word for Holiday anymore she's so grown up.  Perhaps 'pre-schooler' would be more accurate.

Colds are Lame

Holiday and Johnny picked up a cold from daycare last week and now we all have it.  Mine just started yesterday and so far I wouldn't say it's the worst cold I've ever had.  Holiday missed her dance class on Saturday because of it but is otherwise doing okay.  Fevers are pretty low grade, so as long as Johnny nurses fairly usual that will be enough for me. So it's kind of a bummer that we just stayed in the house all weekend, better luck next time.

The Usual Goings-On

Nothing really new to report this week, everybody is just doing their thing.  The Seattle Boat Show is over so now David will have his weekends back.  The kids did really good through it all which helped me out a great deal.  This weekend is looking dry so maybe I'll have some time to poke around out there, maybe trim the butterfly bush or do some weeding.  The crocus bulbs I planted in the fall are spouting and buds are showing up so that's exciting.  I updated the sidebar of the blog to reflect the kids' current clothing sizes.  Basically they're set for awhile, until the weather gets really warm or a growth spurt happens.  We did watch Holiday's dance class last Saturday, she's improved a lot in a month...all the girls have.  She seems better at ballet than tap, but David did point out that they started with ballet only for a couple weeks before they introduced tap.  Holly does try hard at both.  Johnny will be 9 months old tomorrow, his 9 month check up is  this Monday.

Good Lord we have to lower the crib again!

So in a span of a month...Johnny has gone from the reverse booty scootch, pull to standing, crawling and now cruising.  When I turned the light on in his room this morning to get him up he was standing in his crib chewing on the railing.  He was fairly bent over so he wasn't posturing to make his escape, but I know darn well that's just a matter of time and I'm not taking any chances.  The crib is going to it's lowest level tonight.  The big challenge now is not letting him get into Holiday Cozy Critters.  Not only would he mess them up, he could choke on pieces, so we got to figure out a way to manage that.

Pictures and New Stuff

Sleepy baby John.

Pile on Mommy!

Johnny grinning whilst playing train track demolition.

Squeaky clean Johnny boy!

Holiday's 'castle'.

Johnny just might be a drummer...he's very good at it.

Little cuteness.

Holly dressed like Abby KaDabby.

Who's got a new walking toy?

Johnny does!  And he's thrilled with it.

Miss Holiday getting ready for bed.

Doggy and kitty are having a 'picnic'.

Holiday playing on her leap pad.

Vader is giving David a kiss. (Not really but it looks like it).

Johnny has gotten way better at pulling up to standing.  He's still working on the whole stability thing.  Johnny has also figured out how to crawl and has picked up speed on it.  He likes pulling out Holly's golf clubs and banging them on the floor.  He'll crawl into places he can't get out of just yet...like under a chair or into a toy box, that's frustrating for him.  It's been much more challenging to change him now since every time we lay him down on the changing table his first impulse is to roll to his left and sit up facing the mirror.  I try to distract him with a toy or anything he can hold long enough to change him.  Otherwise we have to deal with the crocodile death spiral pretty much every time.  Holly never did that so that's a difference between children.  Holly's progressing like usual.  She's interested in helping around the house, so we have her help with putting things away, or stir something in the kitchen and she helped folding clothes the other day.  It's rare for her to have potty accidents during the day now.  So we think she might be ready to do at least the nap portion without an accident.  We'll see...it might be too soon.