More playing in the snow

It's been a pretty quiet winter here, compared to all the snow everyone else has been getting. But we got a few inches of snow last week, so we had to get out and enjoy it.

Molly did a lot better staying on her feet this time, but she still held my hand most of the time that we were out. She had fun, but I had a hard time getting a picture of her!

Elijah's favorite game in the snow is to make as many footprints as possible.

Celebrating Daddy

Last week we finally celebrated Patrick's birthday (a few months late!) The kids picked out presents for him, and we made him a special dinner and his favorite brownies. Elijah and Molly each picked out a nice outfit to wear for dinner and colored a special picture for Daddy.

My assistant baker.

We gathered our ingredients and put on our aprons.

Elijah mixed it all up.

Molly got her own bowl to mix.

Dressed up in their Happy Birthday Daddy best!

Smiles! We love you, Daddy!

Pictures from the weekend

Molly in her church dress & matching coat, and pretty hat made for her by Bobbi.

Not the safest way to go down stairs, buddy.

Cute kiddos reading together.

Quotes

My favorite of Molly's new words this week:

#1 - "So, Elijah, ..."

Elijah likes to start conversations like, "So, Daddy, how was your day?" or, "So, Mama, I was thinking of an idea ..." Now Molly follows him around all day saying, "So, I-jah, ..."

#2 - "funny"

Molly likes to tell me when she thinks things are funny - which is hilarious, because it is so random. This morning I was getting her dressed and she said, "Pants! Funny." and she chuckled.

A quiet week

With two kids trying to get well again, we've had a pretty quiet week at home. The kids spent quite a few days in their pajamas, and drank a lot juice (both very popular perks of being sick around here), and played and colored and watched videos. They didn't really eat much, and Patrick and I survived on quick, easy meals like scrambled eggs and frozen pizza. Holding a sick baby all day just didn't leave much time or energy for cooking! But we all came through it pretty well, and Patrick and I are thankful that we didn't catch this bug too.

Elijah has been getting better pretty quickly, and he was actually well enough to go to his gymnastics class yesterday morning. Molly has had a much slower recovery, and is still not completely well (even though she got sick earlier than E). We took her back to the doctor on Wednesday. Fortunately, her 6 day-long fever finally went down and stayed down that day (and we got to avoid a trip to the hospital for a chest x-ray - 'cuz that sounds like a lot of fun with a toddler). Her doctor said that Molly had been by far the sickest kid that she saw the day that we first took her in with croup (last Tuesday), and that she was sure when she came in and heard Molly's breathing that day that she'd be sending her to the emergency room right then. Fortunately, her lungs were quite clear and her oxygen levels were great and we did not have to go to the E.R. The doctor said this time that she wasn't surprised to see her still sick, since she had been so very sick last week - it's just going to take some time to get well. Anyway, she seems much better yesterday and today, but she is still having a lot of trouble sleeping and is still coughing a bit.

Here are some pictures of our low-key week.

Elijah got to build some pretty amazing train tracks while Molly took extra naps.

Molly's favorite activity lately has been coloring. She demands that I write her name for her many, many times a day.

Showing me her crayon - "broken"

Here's a little video of Molly coloring, spelling her name ( she says "M-O-Y" or "M-O-Y-Y" - I guess the Ls are the hard part) and saying some of her colors.

Still sick

Yep, the kids are still sick today. Molly woke up with a low fever this morning, but after taking a morning nap, she seemed to feel a lot better. She actually ate more than a couple of bites of lunch - a really good sign after a week of surviving on mostly apple juice and milk. We are still going through tons of kleenex and juice, but hopefully they are both on the mend now.

Sick babies

This was my week - sick kids. We started the week with two little runny noses. Molly also sounded a little froggy and was complaining of a sore throat on Monday (when we asked what hurt, she said, "neck." Then Monday night Molly took a bad turn. She and I were up all night, and we found out in the morning that she had croup. Two days of steroids helped a lot, but she's still a pretty sick little girl. I thought Elijah was over his little cold, and was going to survive Molly's germs, but then last night he started coughing and sounding like Molly. We took him to the doctor this morning, and he also has croup now. Molly is still feeling pretty bad, coughing and a fever coming and going. She can't get down from my lap without crying, and can't cry without coughing, so I've (literally) had my hands full. Elijah is acting sicker today than I have ever seen him - he is so, so crabby. I'm so glad they are taking good naps today!

Not at all himself this morning - crabby and tired.

Miserable little Molly last night - she had a fever, and just wanted to snuggle.

Molly talking

Just a little video of a typical conversation with Miss Molly. Enjoy her cute little toddler voice! Yes, she does love Elmo. No, she is not potty training. (I'd like to be done with Elijah, first, even though she is expressing quite a bit of interest.)

Winter time playing at the park

Elijah and Daddy went to the park the other evening.  It was cold, but they had fun!

Miss Molly at 19 months (and her 18 mo. check up)

Our little Miss Molly is 19 months old! She is hilarious, stubborn, shy with new people, loud (at home), and very opinionated. She is still quite a little mama's girl most of the time, but occasionally makes a friend and turns into a giant flirt - when she happens to feel like it, and usually only with guys. (Scary!) She has really started talking a lot, and is learning new words faster than I can keep track any more. Some words are more understandable than others, of course. (She is saying "lobster" all the time, but I don't think anyone other than her mama would've ever figured that one out). She loves crayons and is working on her colors. She doesn't know them consistently yet, but often surprises me by being right, especially with white, pink and orange. The color that she says most often is "blue," but she says that about everything. She loves to eat, but is a pickier eater than Elijah was. (I think every kid is pickier than Elijah was at 18 months though!) Her favorite foods are cheese, yogurt, pasta, sausage, red and black beans, pizza, pears, blueberries, clementines and oranges. She doesn't drink a lot of milk, but she makes up for it with cheese and yogurt. Her favorite vegetables are lima beans, but she's not a big fan of vegetables in general. She loves to run races with Elijah, read books, build with blocks, and play with trains. She loves her baby dolls and is very busy dressing and undressing them. She loves jackets and hats and will wear them around the house regardless of the temperature.
(The pictures are some of Molly's many funny faces.)

"Teeth"

Some of her current favorite things: bath time (especially with bubbles), snacks, crayons (especially the new ones she got for Christmas), buckles and her Buckleyboo, building train tracks, reading, singing (she still says, "read" to mean either read or sing), tickling, Elmo, and animals. Her favorite show is Baby MacDonald, and her favorite song is Old MacDonald had a Farm, which she sometimes sings to herself. It's funny to listen to because she just leaves pauses where she can't say the words: "Ee-yi-Ee-yi ... baa baa ... baa baa ... Ee-yi-Ee-yi." Her favorite book is still Goodnight Moon. That poor book is only held together by miles of packing tape at this point.


We took her to the doctor (almost 2 weeks ago) for her 18 month check up, and all is well. She is growing and reaching all of her milestones. The doctor was surprised at how many words she knows - I guess she is pretty verbal. Molly weighs 27 lbs (84%) and is 34.5 inches tall (99%). She has eczema like Elijah, but so far it has been pretty mild.

(Yes, she's wearing Elijah's hand-me-down PJs.)

Crazy morning hair! She had a complete mohawk during the night.

I started trying to write down the words that she is saying now for her baby book and was surprised at how many there are. Here's my list (incomplete, I'm sure) - for the grandmas. Patrick, Nana and Bobbi, you can tell me if I forgot anything.

More	Chicken	Book	Cookie Monster	Dress
Done	Yeah	Read	Animal	Tights
Tray	No	Moon	Bird	Socks
Seat	Pacifier	Cow	Diaper	Shoes
Bib	Blanket	Sheep	Wipes	Boots
Bowl	Baby	Pig	Pee	Go
Spoon	Nap	Dog	Poop	Outside
Fork	Emma	Goat	Potty	Jacket
Apple	Buckley	Duck	Sink	Mittens
Banana	Ducky	Horse	Head	Hood
Pear	Elijah	Meow	Hair	Buckle
Orange	Mama	Roar	Nice	Home
Toast	Daddy	Frog	Gentle	Dinner
Eggs	Grandpa	Ouch	Eye	Lunch
Cheerios	Nana	Tractor	Eyebrow	Bath
Pizza	Bobbi	E-I-E-I-O	Nose	Bubbles
Yogurt	Papa	Snuggle	Mouth	Bellybutton
Grapes	Thomas	Hug	Teeth	Arms
Crackers	James	Kiss	Cheek	Legs
Cheese	Percy	Walk	Chin	Feet
Raisins	Blocks	Lobster	Hat	Elbow
Snack	Ball	Crab	Shirt	Toes
Juice	car	Elmo	jeans	Neck
Water	PJs	George	Backpack	Doodle
Milk	noodles	Grover	bike	watch
Blue	White	Orange	Green	Pink
Mine	Upstairs	Zipper	barn	couch
Thank you	Sorry	Bottom	Back	button

That's 140 words - wow!