February update- kind of a bummer blog post

What to say about February? Well, we had one. I guess that's really all I can say about it! Nothing bad happened but I have diagnosed myself with a mild case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (I pretty much self-diagnose every winter!). It really has been mild but every weekday I go to the Y, work out, shower, and then rack my brain to find something to do to fill the hours until nap time. I know that sounds bad but I'm just being honest. The winter is always a harder time for us, financially, so I haven't been able to help my plight with any pay activities, like the indoor play areas that are a good way to whittle away the hours. It's mostly been too cold to go to the park, although on the few nice days we've spent as much time outdoors as possible. So we have been spending lots of time at Whole Foods, where, for the price of some bananas, dried beans, and a cup of coffee, the kids and I can walk around, check out the fish, expensive cheese, taste a sample, and let Finn drive one of the kid-sized carts they have. It's a good way to pass an hour. We love the library but my kids would rather walk around the story room, opening and closing doors and pulling books off of shelves. What the heck?!

The kids have also had back-to-back colds so we've been spending lots of time at the dr's office. I love their pediatrician but as far as a place to hang out, it's not so great. We discovered Carolina has an allergy to penicillin, so she got a crazy rash over her entire body.

Finn had his first dentist appointment, in which it was discovered that he needs 11 fillings and two crowns. Yes, you read that correctly. No, I've never heard of an almost-three-year-old having crowns. The general consensus is that he has some enamel malformations (I don't think this is related to his Isovaleric Acidemia) and that plus his low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet and strong love of raisins contributed to the decay. We have brushed his teeth just like we did with Maggie and she's never had a single cavity! And yet I still feel guilty about it, like I should have done something differently. He has his first (of two) sedation dentistry appointments scheduled for March 6.

There have been a few other events in February though, like Valentine's Day. This was our first Valentine's Day where Maggie was in a class with more than four other children, so it was fun making her Valentines. I will probably hate myself one day for saying this but I hope my kids will always give out homemade Valentines. I'm not putting down store-bought ones but it's really fun to make them. I got a great idea from Pinterest (that's a phrase I find myself saying every day!) and we made these fun ones for Maggie.
We took this photo of her (it took about 4 photos before we got the right one) and then I made little slashes on her hand with my X-acto knife and threaded the lollipop through them.
The lollipop was in there tight enough that I didn't even have to use tape. Her teacher said they were the hit of the class! They were so easy, too, and took about thirty minutes to take the photo, cut the slashes, put the pops in, and let her address them.

Another hard (but good) thing was the departure of our good friends, the Robinsons. We have known JP and Jill since Grant and I were first dating and their daughter, Riley, and Maggie, have been best friends since they were in preschool together, almost three years ago. They are two peas in a pod. They're moving to Uganda for missionary work and will be there at least two years. We had Riley over for one last sleepover four days before they left and after we said goodbye Maggie basically cried off and on for two days. If we talk about it now, almost a week later, she will start crying again. It's been so hard to watch. On the one hand, having the perspective of a 32-year-old, I know she will be okay and have other best friends. But on the other hand, it just makes me so sad to remember how helpless it feels to be a little kid and have big changes that you have no control over. She said to me, "The next time Riley sleeps over we will be EIGHT!" and then dissolved into sobs.This is random but we played outside that morning and Riley and Maggie harvested the last of our carrots. My favorite is the purple one hidden on the bottom.I feel bad writing such a downer of a post. I really try to be encouraging and positive (in life and on the blog) but I felt the need to be honest about our blah February. Let me leave you with something a little humorous to make up for it.
On Sunday I went to Trader Joe's for our week's groceries. Everything was unloaded onto the table from the bags, and just as I was putting the last box of cereal away I remembered I had purchased a bag of flour but didn't recall putting it away. I spent 30 seconds looking for it and realized quickly that the door to Finn's room was closed. Immediately I knew where I could find that bag of flour.Yes, that is my hand in the lower left corner, holding an empty five pound bag of flour. As soon as I saw what happened I yelled for Grant to come with his camera. I know this may not be great parenting, but it makes me less angry if I can document the crazy messes that they make. It helps me realize the humor in it. Here is exhibit B, Carolina in the flour. She was an innocent bystander but she enjoyed the fun texture nonetheless.All right, I don't know about you, but I for one will be glad to welcome March! Until then you can find me at Whole Foods, turning $5 and an hour into a pretty fun outing.

Carolina at Fifteen Months

Carolina at fifteen months is awfully fun but with a few challenges. She is still talking a lot, is running around everywhere, is finally growing some hair (I'm dying to put a bow in there) and even can sing about seven or eight songs (Happy Birthday, Twinkle, Twinkle, etc.) As soon as Grant comes home she runs over to him, bats her eyes, and says, "Heeyyyyy, Daddy." She loves him a lot, and she loves me a lot...sometimes maybe too much. Not really, but every day from around 4-6 (when I'm trying to work on dinner, tidying up before Grant comes home, and am already kinda crabby from taking care of the kids all day) she just wants to be held constantly. If I put her down, she cries until I pick her back up again. Have you ever tried to scrub and chop carrots with one hand while holding a baby on your hip? I don't recommend it. It's actually not safe at all. So it kind of wears me out.
But the other 22 hours of the day she is pretty much as sweet and cuddly as a little baby sloth.
See?Here she found Finn's hat, put it on, toddled over to me and said, "Look. Finn's hat."
After these last two photos you will think all I ever do is feed her chocolatey treats. Here she is with a tiny mug of hot (warm) chocolate.And here she is after eating a chocolate croissant from Provence in the downtown library. As soon as she swallowed her first bite she declared, "Like it."
Oh, and for the grandmas, here are her stats from her 15-month appointment:
Height- 31", 65 percentile (I actually think she's taller than this; she was a little scrunched up.)
Weight 22 lb, 13 oz, 50 percentile)
She got two immunizations and only cried after the second one.

Sibling Love, Part III

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to having your children close together, and to having them far apart. Luckily we've gotten to experience both situations, with Maggie and Finn 3 1/2 years apart, and Finn and Carolina 17 months apart. My friend Rachel commented recently that she thinks that most of the disadvantages to having kids close together are experienced in the first year or so, and I'd have to agree. It certainly was often hectic basically having two babies at a time (I know, I'm sure twins are harder but 17 months apart is pretty darn close!).
I often feel that if I wrote down my tasks for the two of them for the day it would look something like this: prepare food for and feed Finn and Carolina, wipe off faces, sweep giant mess off floor, change two dirty diapers, chase two busy little ones around, and then repeat two more times! BUT...they love to play together, they are cuddly and sweet most of the time, and they have so much in common (books, songs, toys, etc.).
Finn has a million nicknames for Carolina (and so do we!). He calls her Liney, Lina, Caro, Kay-Kay, and then Caro-LINE when he's being bossy. She calls him Finn (duh), brudder, and buddy.
Apparently having two children under two is called "Baby Bunching" and there is even a blog dedicated to baby bunching. I actually read a lot of this blog when Carolina was a newborn because there were so many new challenges for me. Because of the age difference between Finn and Maggie, by the time Finn was born, things were pretty easy. Maggie was old enough to walk next to me at the grocery, so Finn went in the cart. Problem solved. But what do you do when you have one baby not sitting up and one toddler who will run away from you while you grab some carrots? Both kids need to be in the shopping cart, but with two kids in a shopping cart, there's not room for the food! I would often carry Carolina in the sling and put Finn in the cart, but then she got big enough to grab things off the shelves, like that time when she grabbed, then dropped a large, glass bottle of Blood Orangeade. I was bleeding, there was a huge mess, and I couldn't do anything because I was wearing Carolina! It was mortifying. Anyway, it has been a big adjustment but I have grown to love the age difference between Finn and Carolina. Here they are in an awesome two-seater cart from Costco. Finn had just taken his hat off, hence the awesome 'do. I call him Crazy Hair McGee in moments like this.

Maggie and Carolina's Birthday Party - with photos of people!

Here is my sweet one-year-old with her cupcake!
She had to lean in close to check it out. (By the way, I think she really looks like my baby pictures here.)
I'm so glad she went for it!
I can't be sure but it looks like she's finishing off her cake here. Poor third child...I'm positive we watched every second of Maggie eating her first birthday cake. Also, it appears I am finishing off a bit of cake in this photo. Note to self, if I'm going to lick my fingers I should check first to make sure it isn't being documented. Here's my mom with the birthday girl. So cute.And here's Benton, (Poppy to the kids), with Carolina.
Here's our dear friend, Mike, getting a little birthday girl snuggle. Oh, Mike. You are so beloved by my children!
We were also very lucky to have Grant's parents surprise us and show up the day of the party (from Texas!). They didn't know they would be able to come until the last minute and we were so thankful to have them.Here is my dad, with his wife Elizabeth, and Carolina. Oh! I bought this little chalkboard sign at Michael's and had my mom write "Happy Birthday" on it. We took photos of everyone holding the sign but I can only track down these two for some reason. (If anyone has these photos will you e-mail them to me?!)You can see the sign here, too. She is shirtless because she got some hot pink frosting on the shirt and I threw it right into the wash. Yes, I am that crazy. Mimi (my mom) had to get in some snuggles with the other birthday girl.And Finn is always up for a snuggle, too.Yes, she has him completely wrapped around her finger.Here is my son, the class clown.
I can't remember all of the details (and it probably won't be as humorous in print) but this photo was taken right after Finn called Mike "Michael," to everyone's amusement. As far as I know, only Tiffany, Mike's wife, calls him Michael. He must have heard her say it and he waited until it was pretty quiet to say, "Michael!" to make sure the maximum number of people heard him. I think you had to be there but it was hilarious.
He was on a roll that night. The second the last gift was open he stood up and said very loudly, "Ok! Goodbye! See ya later!" He's pretty extroverted so I don't think he was actually wanting everyone to go. I think he was just trying (and succeeding) at being funny. What a nut.

Some other party guests; my sister, Erin, and her daughter Lily Kate.Of course there was the opening of presents. And the kids' great-grandmother, Grandma-ma, sent money to buy them a gift and I just knew she would approve of these pink, sparkly Toms for both girls.
I know I've said it before, but I just love planning parties for the kids! I think the ones like this are my favorite because it's just family and so I can do all the fun planning and then actually enjoy the party and not feel so stressed out, as I do when there are lots of non-family there. I love those, too, but these are just more relaxed. It was just a sweet time.
I'll leave you with this cute photo of my adorable one-year-old (who is now actually my 15-month-old!).