Coming Up Roses: The Goings On

Hey Guys! Long time, no talk. In fact, I'm not entirely sure where January and February went. Literally, they were the fastest and slowest months of all time, which if you don't understand what I mean, you obviously do not live in an area of the world with bitter cold/snow and 2 cooped-up kiddos. Bottom line, we're ready for spring....and outside walks...and trips to the park.....and picnics outside......and in general, not bundling up when we leave the house. Please get here soon. Please!

In the meantime, I've been keeping the little ones busy with everyday chores, fun crafts and lots and lots of music. And Toy Story. Because let's be honest, that's on like once a day around here. And I have no idea where it started, but Jude's been obsessed with Youtube. Which is not my favorite thing in the world, but it's there, and it helps when I need a babysitter (total honesty right there guys). But Youtube is the weirdest thing in the world. For example, the other morning I plopped Jude down on his chair in his bedroom and put the ipad on his lap so I could get myself sort of ready for the day (aka I just wanted to brush my teeth without anything in our house breaking). He has been over the moon for everything trains lately and had asked what railroad crossing bars were the day before. So I found a 13 minute video from like Japan of different railroad crossing bars going up and down. Yes, 13 minutes of this. I mean, he was in heaven, and I'm not going to lie, I was too, because I literally got to brush my teeth while he sat in a chair. But apparently I took a tad bit longer than 13 minutes (I had the cleanest teeth of all-time) because when I got back to his room he was watching some strange video of this little Japanese boy in his underwear playing with a choo choo train. Granted, he was just as into this video as the other one, but for crying out loud, that's not exactly what I want him to be watching. The worst part is that now he asks to watch that video. And it's weird to have to tell him he can't watch the show with the little Asian boy playing choo choos in his underwear.

Aside from all of that, I've really been trying to organize and simplify our life. I've been on this major "get rid of it if you don't use it" kick and I have to say I am loving it. I feel like I'm "getting there" but to be honest with you, I feel that way in a lot of areas of my life. Not QUITE there.....but almost. So I'll just keep it up and see how it goes. In fact, that is one of my Lenten promises: to let others enjoy the stuff that I'm not using. Along with drinking more water, I think I've got a pretty good Lent lined up. But I digress....

Besides organizing our life, I have also kept busy with transitioning Jude into his very own room. Both Lucy and Jude got sick in January (and Chris, too) and I thought I was going to go insane. They had terrible colds, coughs, and fevers and since they were in the same room, they kept waking each other up during nap time. In fact, they weren't even napping at all. It was terrible! So I just did it....I moved Jude over to the guest room. I knew that it would eventually happen, but we had a good thing going with that shared room for a while. I loved it, but it is definitely much better now that they are both at the "walk quietly so we don't wake up the child" stage. I can't wait to show you pictures of Jude's new room. Again, it's "getting there".

I hate that it seems I am always doing these 'catch-up' posts, but for now, that's just the way it is. I'm going to throw a bunch of pics at you, because let's be honest, I have a limited time before the little people wake up.

Love you all! Hope you have been keeping warm this winter!

Lately:

She finds this to be the most comfortable sleeping position.

See?

She wears her sunglasses at night (and inside)

We have a sippie stealer on our hands.

Not an uncommon sight in our house.

"Mama, wanna play dis? It is soooo coooooool" -Jude

She is so proud of herself when she bangs on the piano....

.....and when she stands up tall

Jude is going to preschool (in August)!

I can't get enough of baby girls in leggings.

Sometimes we take Jude to the "Disneyland" store just for fun. You guys, he's going to die when he actually gets to go to Disneyland and he realizes it's a bazillion times more fun than the store (which he already thinks is fun)

Lucy's trip to the ER

Lucy had to be put to sleep at the beginning of January because she had an abscess on her booty. Poor girl!

It comes in handy to have your Daddy working at the hospital next door. He just popped on over to help out (ok it wasn't as easy as popping on over...but after switching calls with another resident and finishing up some work, he was there in no time!) And Jude was a great helper too! (At one point we were out taking a walk in the hallway for the millionth time and Jude was friends with all the nurses by that point. One of them said, "Oh are you heading home?" and Jude goes, "No, we're just out takin' a walk in the hallway. Lucy Girl's still sick" He said this so matter-of-factly that I nearly died laughing and I'm pretty sure the nurse actually did. Also, if someone asks Jude his sister's name, nine times out of ten he will say, "Lucy Girl" Shout out to Aunt Jenny for all your help on this day!!

Here's our Lucy Girl before the whole procedure started. It took 3 tries to get the darn IV in. She's looking at it here.

Here she is before being put to sleep.

Here she is after. It was sad and silly all at the same time. She was just like a drunk person....blabbering but not making sense and flailing all around. It took her about an hour to get back to normal. The red popsicle really helped! And after that crazy day in the ER, I'm happy to report, the abscess is gone and her poor booty is back to normal.

Winter at our house

Snow. Snow. and more snow (oh, and freezing, freezing temps)

And snow is pretty when the Christmas lights are still up.

And miserable when you have places to go. Which makes me extra thankful that I get to stay home these days.

Birthday Party at the "Choo Choo Zeum"

This is the face he makes when he's REALLY excited. He couldn't wait to go to Lucas's birthday party at the Museum of Transportation!

Everyday shenanigans

We do things like build and paint firetrucks!

This is his 'focused' face.

We also play with huge trash trucks

We double fist our sippie cups because we're that obsessed with water.

Always exciting when Daddy comes home!

Sometimes there are reindeer feet in our bed (I don't remember taking this pic)

Sometimes your sink breaks and Jude fixes it.

Sometimes you have a random really nice day and decide to walk to a far away park so you can get out of the house.....

....and stop at Chiptole for dinner.

There is a 100% chance she was making a "love" noise at this time.

No matter how many times I tell them to keep this door open....!

This was my baby doll from when I was little. I named her Baby Judy because my mom's friend Judy gave it to me.

Sometimes we play tabletop foosball on the kitchen floor in a fedora.

Other times we walk around the house with a monkey backpack and suitcase all ready to go. Even though we have nowhere to go.

One morning it was unusually quiet in the playroom when I was cleaning up from breakfast. I went in to discover this.

I apologize. The following pics are NOT pretty, but are 100% real life.

One day I got sort of 'put together' because I was sick of feeling not put together and then this happened. I learned my lesson real fast. Also, if there was a mom record for most puke cleaned up in one month I would've totally won for my accomplishments in January.

So I was thrown up on in the kitchen. I couldn't track that all the way upstairs. So I had to strip down right then and there. I don't know what's more disgusting....the puke, or the fact that my legs match my completely WHITE socks.

While all of THAT was happening in the kitchen....THIS was happening in the rest of the house. I made a choice to document this scene because YOU LITERALLY CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP. (And yes, he did try and run the cart through the puke, but luckily motherhood has created some quick reactions...even when pants-less.)

We got a new 60in TV, which is bigger news for some than others.

We broke it in by watching the Olympics nonstop.

I couldn't help but take a pic of this beautiful girl.

Also, do you see these jeggins? I mean, seriously.

"Are you still taking a picture of my booty in these jeggings?"

Wednesday is a big day around here.

He slept with the car Grandma and Grandpa sent him for Valentine's Day.

Dinners around here get a little messy.

Ok, who am I kidding, breakfasts do too.

One night Jude threw a huge fit at bedtime. He said in full on tantrum mode: "Mommy I really wanna go downstairs and watch the bolympics with you. I really would 'preciate it!" So I gave in and 2 seconds later, this happened.

He's the type of kid that gets really into what he's doing. Exhibit A: the tongue.

One day it started raining SO hard for like 10 minutes and then completely stopped.

She enjoys herself some goldfish, and will follow you around until she gets them.

A boy in a choo choo store.

I don't know who these brilliant people are, but they turned an old warehouse into a huge toy store with a HUGE (free) train table for boys to play on. There are also like 5 other normal sized train tables. They even have chairs and benches for parents to sit on while their kids play. Genius!

For a good hour he didn't even know we existed....

.....but was fully aware of the train overhead.

Lately, Jude has been fighting nap time. I am completely beside myself, considering he has always been a great sleeper. I have done EVERYTHING to make him sleep during the day because I am convinced that nap time is the only thing that keeps me from going full-on insane. So when he asked to sleep on the floor, I was like, whatever floats your boat little one. And after a half an hour, he eventually fell asleep.