I will not walk on camera, people

This little girl is getting such a big personality. She's got her own taste and interests and she lets you know how she feels about everything. She's a huge cuddler, but she is more than happy to play with Dylan for hours without Mom or Dad. And don't even think about walking by her without picking her up if she has her arms outstretched or you will hear the wrath of Katie. She throws mini tantrums by lying as flat as she can face down on the floor. She'll swat you if she doesn't want what you're offering. She's really sweet and silly and fun.

She's taking even more steps today, but of course she won't perform as soon as I turn on the camera. Even so, she is quite entertaining. Here she is making me laugh until I snort:



And when she gets bored of pretending to walk, she inspects the camera:



Dylan is watching Transformers in the background. He loves the RescueBots. I'm so thrilled that he's not watching Caillou or Barney or the Doodle Bops anymore. Transformers are awesome and I can totally watch this show with him and not feel like giving the main character a noogie.

One step at a time

Maybe I should play the Lottery. I dropped my iPhone in the bathtub yesterday and after I finished panicking and managed to fish it out of the water, I realized that it still worked just fine. The speakers weren't working but that was nothing that couldn't be fixed by wearing headphones. And then this morning I woke up with a fully functional phone. Speakers and all!

What are the odds?

I've been taking way too many baths. Since my father-in-law brought me gourmet soaps and my aunt gave me a heavenly muscle soak, and since I'm already constantly freezing, I take at last four baths a day. Really hot baths.

Since my TSH levels were so damn high as of last Monday, my doctor put me on the fast track to getting them from a 15.34 down to a 2.5 or less by doubling my Armour levels from one grain to two grains. So I've been feeling pretty lousy, as usual, but it's a different lousy. I'm still overly fatigued and pretty much bed(couch)-ridden but now I'm absolutely freezing on top of that. I cannot warm up no matter how many layers I've got on or how many baths I take or how many blankets I'm under. Last night as we watched Dexter on the couch Sean tucked me under my fuzzy bathroom, in a sleeping bag, under a fuzzy blanket, and then he laid his legs on top of mine and I was shaking I was so cold. This will be a huge benefit to me come summertime on those tropical 80° days. I'm constantly on the THYCA forums and "cold" is a pretty common symptom oddly enough so I'll just be glad that it isn't anything worse. Cold, I can handle.

Little Miss Katie Rhea has been trying to walk since yesterday. She's so cautious, unlike her big brother who was plowing through everything at 11 months and climbing up the ladder of our swing set not long after. She has the muscles to walk but not the confidence. You should see how proud she was last night as she kept taking one step and then another step before sitting herself down. Katie does things at Katie's pace.

Here she is taking one small step for mankind, one giant leap for a baby:



Pardon the boys playing football in the background. She's been taking more steps than that but I haven't been able to catch it on video, mostly because I'm busy helping her to not topple over.

It's her party!

Today we celebrated Kate's birthday with our family. Rather than post all of the photos, here's a short video of our day:



Thank you to everyone who came out and made her first birthday extra special. She's a lucky little girl to have you.

The last day of babyhood

Today began with a crying Kate at 5AM, followed by the news that a good family friend has passed away. It continued with an entire cup of coffee spilled on the couch, a snow storm, and running out of paint after painting half of a wall. And then Dylan finger painted on one of the dogs. But all and all we still had a really fun day filled with laughter. And playing in buckets.



Poor tolerant Dylan:



Today is Kate's last day as an eleven-month-old baby. Tomorrow is her first birthday. I'm desperately sentimental about such a big milestone. I don't remember feeling this sad about Dylan turning one, but I'm sure I did. I've been busting my butt to give Kate a really sweet first birthday party. I did the same for Dylan but we had his first at his favorite park and it was so windy and cold and rainy that my plans to decorate the gazebo were completely scrapped. I know that a one-year-old doesn't care about what kind of party they are thrown, but this means a lot to me to make it really special for her.



Here she is dancing a bit:



And talking:



I just looked back at Dylan's photos from the day before his first birthday. He seems so much bigger. He was walking by then. Look at this boy!!! Oh, I love him so much!



As sad as I am for my baby to grow up, I will be so glad not to have to photograph her everyday for her 365 project. I may not take a single photo on Thursday just to feel rebellious.

My Fussy Valentine

One of Kate's top teeth has popped through the gum today so she's been extra sore and quite cranky. We played with snow when we woke up hoping that eating some would give her some relief. She didn't feel like smiling.




Dylan ran into his playroom and found a funnel and shoveled the snow into his cement mixer. He was thrilled that he thought of the idea and was highly entertained until his Tupperware of snow almost completely melted.



And when he was done he asked if he could do one of his favorite activities. Googling "trucks" and telling me that he wants pretty much all of them. Not the toy version, mind you, the reeeeeaaal life-sized trucks.



By ten Kate was insistent on taking a two-hour nap on the couch.



Can you see her? Me neither. She's under the green sleeping bag. Every time I uncovered her she hibernated deeper under the blanket.

She was much happier upon waking.





We painted a bit, made Valentines for Daddy, ate lunch, and Kate tried a sippy cup for the first time. She seemed quite proud to be drinking like a big girl.



We did a bunch of projects after lunch. I rearranged our bedroom. If I think to take photos later I'll post them. I'm a moron for doing it by myself. Yesterday I could barely walk. Today I felt pretty good so I decided to move a giant dresser, loveseat, and bed by myself. Way to take it easy. Also, two pieces of advice for those of you who are in the market for new furniture: never buy black, every little particle of dust shows up on it and you'll be forever dusting to keep up, and don't buy a canopy bed if you have dormered ceilings. Ours are barely dormered, slanted just about a foot, but it severely limits where I can put the bed and our taller furniture. If only I knew then what I knew now...

Here's a video of Dylan singing the opening to Garth Brook's The Thunder Rolls:



He's been so good today. Not perfect, but he's having to show lots of patience for being stuck at home with a mom who is too busy doing house projects to play with him. He'll be glad to have Sean home soon so they can play soccer in the basement.

And now that Kate's medicine has worn off, she's back to feeling miserable.





I'll have to run to the store to get her some more. There's no way I can expect her to go through this pain of teething without some sort of relief.

We'll be celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow by stocking up on a ton of candy on sale. I can't wait to get stockpiles of chocolate. Happy Love Day, all!

Little Valentine Man

Today was Dylan's Valentine's Day party at school. He couldn't wait to go. Possibly because he heard that candy would be involved. The kids were instructed to wear white and red. Dylan requested to wear his dressy shoes and gel his hair.



He was also excited to present his teachers with the cards he made them.





Dylan spent nearly an hour making these fabulous cards for his teachers and he showed great patience as he traced his name and the teachers' names on the front of the cards. Dylan is a lefty and neither of us has figured out how the heck a lefty holds a writing utensil just yet.

D came home hopped up on sugar and very content. We dumped his cards on the table and read them together as Dylan scouted for candy in his pile of valentines. I had forgotten just how exciting Valentine's Day is when you're a child. So special.

We rushed outside after Kate woke up from her afternoon nap because tomorrow is calling for a big storm and we wanted to play on the swing set while we could still hobble through the snow.



Kate was able to try out her new-to-her swing.










It's half an hour before bed and the two peanuts are playing with a bucket of snow in the living room. They love to play with snow indoors. I think Kate's about to get her two top teeth, they are bulging pretty hard and she's chewing on everything.

So here in the north we are used to this kind of snow, but my heart is with all of my friends down south who are experiencing some crazy weather. Lots of people are stuck in traffic as motorists aren't prepared for this kind of weather. The Governor of North Carolina said today during a news conference, "Don't put your stupid hat on." I've got my fingers crossed that the power stays on for everyone, nothing is harder than freezing in your own home.

And just for fun, I love this picture:



The entertaining result of taking a three-year-old boy's photo as he rocks away on a rocking chair.

New year, new recipes

We've been snowed in for the last few days and it has been quite cold. So we've been having fun inside building snow trucks and working on learning how to walk.







This one is a riot:



It was nice to stay in pajamas for a few days but hard not to go stir crazy.







2014 has been awesome so far. Sean and I have implemented a new budget for extra savings and are having a great time cooking new recipes with fresher food. My goals for this year are to feel healthier and to simplify. Four days in and I've been feeling amazing. I woke up this morning feeling human again. No pain in my legs, zero exhaustion. I can't remember the last time I felt this perfect. And Sean and I are like newlyweds. Our kids are asleep in their beds by 7PM and Sean and I cuddle up and watch Weeds at night. Last night I even enjoyed a beer. I felt twenty.

Here is Kate today getting bundled up to go grocery shopping.



We made pizza pasta in the crockpot and then went outside for a few minutes.



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Crockpot Pizza Pasta

1 lb ground beef
1 6oz package sliced peperoni
1 26oz jar pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 16oz uncooked rigatoni pasta
1/4 cup chopped onion


Brown ground beef and onion, drain, mix everything in the crockpot. Cook 1-3 hours on high or 3-5 hours on low.

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This recipe isn't exactly healthy, but it's fun and new so we're expanding our horizons. We're making a fresh salad with it to balance out the bad with the good.

I've discovered a really neat food planning app called Food On the Table. It makes shopping and meal planning easy.

It was too cold to be outside this morning, dangerously cold, but later in the day brought 25° and so I took Dylan outside.




We came inside to find these two cuties relaxing on the couch.



I also cut off data to my iPhone and switched my phone line to an old basic flip phone. My iPhone is still fully functional--aside from text messages and phone calls--when I'm in a WiFi area (which is always, practically) and now we save $30 extra a month. I'm kind of on a saving money kick. I've given way too many things to charity this year that I bought but didn't use and so I'm determined in 2014 to appreciate what I have. I've already got everything I need right in front of me.

Milestone: The first night our 3yr old and 10 month old share a room

Their room is dark save for the blue glow of a night light and Kate's crib mobile with the swinging monkey. I'm sat in the hallway on the floor with my back against the wall watching the two of them spend their first night in their room. Kate is standing up, holding onto her crib rails, babbling.

Dylan says, "Shhh. You should be asleep, Newy."--he calls her by her nickname, Newy, because she is our new little wee, his Newy--"Don't make a peep, Newy." I have to hold back my laughter at how adorable he is as her temporary authority. He teaches her the rules of bedtime; her tiny teacher. I stay only a few minutes before Kate is fast asleep. I whisper to Dylan that I'm going downstairs and give him a kiss. He is so glad to share his room with his baby sister.

When Dylan was fifteen months old we transitioned him into his own bed in his own room and we struggled for months trying to get him to sleep because he was a breastfed co-sleeper and so he needed to learn to put himself to sleep without me. We'd put him in his big boy bed and sit on the couch in his room and put him back into bed each time he crawled out from under his covers. We spent almost an hour per night trying to get him to sleep at one point. Now his routine is simple and predictable: bath, brush, book, bed. He goes to sleep quickly and on his own now that he is older.

Kate is a pretty good sleeper but she doesn't like to be alone. She's accustomed to sleeping in her crib next to our bed and so when we put her up to bed at 7 she knows she is alone and immediately starts crying until we bring her downstairs with us. And then she naps on us for a few hours while we watch television and sometimes stays asleep when we transfer her into her crib and sometimes wakes up and then stays up for hours when we're ready for sleep.

Last night I decided that I would move her crib into Dylan's room today. He's been so excited at the prospect of sharing a room with Kate. The two of them adore each other. And she will sleep better when she finds her new bedtime routine.




I put them to bed early, they were both pretty exhausted and I wanted them to enjoy their first bedtime together. They had a bath and put on pajamas. We read books--Sean took these pictures--and talked for a bit about the day as we cuddled together.





I was back downstairs by 7PM with two sleeping happy babies. I feel like I should knock on wood or something at how great that first time putting them both to sleep went. I know it wont always be this easy. I'll keep you updated on their progress for those of you who are thinking about transitioning your kids into one room.

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Grandpa George came over and celebrated Christmas with us today. Dylan was exhausted but Kate had taken a nice long nap and so she was ready to party. Dylan perked up a bit when he saw that HESS truck, though, and he loved showing Grandpa George his playroom and their new shared bedroom and our tree and the Christmas village and, and, and!



Kate was thrilled playing with the wrapping paper.




What a big day!

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Kate just woke up crying. I went upstairs to find this:



And this:



My big boy is upstairs with his new roommate, his baby sister--his Newy--fast asleep, cuddling his new Hess truck and Kate is clapping and dancing. I gave her a bottle and she's hopefully falling back to sleep. It's going to take a while to get her on a 7PM bedtime but at least she's in good spirits. And luckily Dylan can sleep through anything.