Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Georgia snow day 2014!

In our third winter in Georgia, we have finally had our first snowfall! It snowed during the night last night, and Charlotte, Toby, and Jake were out by 7:45 this morning!


They are sitting on their legs, not waist deep in snow.  All told, we got about an inch and a half.  Which was enough to close schools today AND tomorrow!  I already got the automated phone call from the school.  Rob also had the day off today as there is just no snow clearing equipment around here.


By some miracle, I was able to dig up snow pants for all three big kids (that fit even!) And we had hats and coats, but we were lacking some good gloves and any sort of boots.  Jake came in a few times this morning with bright red hands because he kept taking off the little knit mittens we put on him. He didn't seem to mind too much.


This is Charlotte and Toby's 6 inch tall snowman.


Two of our neighbor boys came over to sled down the very slight hill in our backyard and throw some snowballs with Toby. (The sledding worked once Rob got a "track" packed down for them., and Toby has been dreaming of snowball fights all winter, so he was overjoyed.)  And yes, that is Charlotte belly down, eating snow off the ground.  Lovely.


In between outdoor play times, our kids came in for hot cocoa and muffins for breakfast, and chili cheese nachos for lunch while clothes were thrown in the dryer- which brings us up to now.  I have set the kids the task of drawing me pictures of their favorite thing about this snow day and Jakey will be going down to nap this afternoon.  Which is my favorite part of a snow day.


Amelie agrees with me.

Amelie at 4 months

Our sweet baby girl turned 4 months old nearly 2 weeks ago!


At her four month check-up she weighed 15 lbs. 11 oz. and was 26 inches long.  (That is in the 75-90th percentile.)  We have many, many nicknames for Amelie right now.  The most frequent are Miss Pinkness, Pinkie Pie, Smiley, and Ameloo (rhymes with vindaloo.) She also gets called Ami, Stinkie Pie,  Ameluska, and Alarm-alie - particularly at 4:30 am.


Eyelashes, cheeks, lips, chubby fists... LOVE.


I'm not sure what it is, but these two kiddos seem to have a particularly special bond.  And yeah, my photo is sideways, whoops.


We started Amelie on rice cereal this past week.  As with all of our kids, it was not love at first bite.  She is warming up to the stuff though as we give her a few spoonfuls at dinnertime each evening.


Amelie has a cowlick right in the front of her hairline and it has recently reminded me of a nursery rhyme my mom used to tell me...

There was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good
she was very, very good,
but when she was bad,
she was horrid.

This could not be more true of our Smiley girl!  She is the quickest to smile and coo and bestow her joy on all around her... when she is happy.  However, when she is not happy; for instance, in her carseat or put down pretty much anywhere alone, she SCREAMS at an ear piercing frequency that we have never experienced before. As soon as we rescue her, she smiles again and all is well with the world.  

Happy four months Miss Pinkness!

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Happy New Year 2014!

I thought I would sit down and record how we rang in the New Year... and immediately realized that I have no actual memories of New Year's Eve this year.  I do remember about four trips to the pediatrician between Christmas and now for Jake's ear infection and bronchitis and Amelie's RSV followed immediately by croup.  And I also remember many, many nights when I was up at midnight giving breathing treatments to little ones- hey! maybe one of those happened to be New Year's Eve?!!?  At any rate, we did not go out and celebrate this year, we stayed home and hibernated instead.  (As we have done most- maybe all- years since we got married.  Rob and I agree it is highly preferable to the late night parties we went to as singletons.)

At any rate, here we are in 2014, which promises to be another busy year for us!  But more on that in coming months.  (No, I am not pregnant.)  We talked about goal setting with the kiddos and made some New Year's resolutions individually over dinner and that was fun.  I tried to keep it simple this year for my personal goals:

1. Obviously, try to get back to pre-baby weight.  Is this ever not my goal in years when I am not pregnant?  Well, I have done it three times before, and I will do it again. 

2. Memorize all 100 scripture mastery scriptures.  In high school, Mormon kids go to Seminary which is a daily scripture study class.  Each year there are 25 scriptures to memorize as part of the coursework.  I only went to Seminary my Junior and Senior year- to what is called Early Morning Seminary where we met each day around 6 am for an hour before going to school.  So I only ever memorized 50 of these passages, which I have mostly forgotten in the 18 years since then.  I think this will be a good spiritual, as well as mental, goal for me.

3. Teach my children more life skills.  I think this is important.  I want independent children.  I want capable children who are confident when they contribute in our home AND when they finally leave our home... which I realize will be all too soon.  The kiddos set their own goals which fit nicely with this goal of mine, so I am hopeful that we will all learn a lot together this year.

And that's it!  Three goals this year.  I should be able to manage that, right?  And anyway, even IF(when?) I fall short, I figure I will have progressed beyond where I am now- and personal progress is a good thing.  I have already gotten started this week on all of my goals in fact...

 
Miss Pinkness is 3 and 1/2 months old now and actually likes sitting in the exersaucer.  Unlike the bouncy seat, or the boppy, or the bumbo.  I think she is happy to be upright and in a position to squeal her orders at everyone in the room or give smiles when she is pleased with her minions.  She has BIG plans for 2014.

 
Toby and Jake volunteered to wash the dishes last night. They say "many hands make light work," and I hope that someday they will, but teaching those hands what to do is a whole lot of work for the mom.

 
Charlotte very much wants to learn to cook.  So last night she peeled the potatoes for our potato soup and helped put together a simple salad.  I truly enjoyed having her happily help me in the kitchen.  It is fun to see what the kids are capable of when given an opportunity to help.