Out of the mouths of babes

Today Jason said, "Butt crack itchy".. but itchy sounds more like aitchy.. like "I"-tchy instead of itchy - long I sound. Anyway - I need to carry my camera w/ me.

Tom taught him to say butt crack the other day b/c he (Jason not Tom) always has plumber's butt, and Jason had a dry patch on his back/hip. So tonight we were showing off Jason's sweet language skills for grandma and papa by having him say butt crack then I asked him if he was itchy so they could hear how he says it and he came up w/ butt crack itchy all by himself. We are PROUD parents!

The croups seem to have pretty much left the house. Jason is still a bit coughy, but he no longer sounds like a barking seal and his appetite is back so all is getting better. Now if those 4 molars (in both kids) would just finish their journey maybe the wee ones would be a bit less cranky! Mommy his trying really hard to keep it together. Jason and Lily are both whining A LOT and their nap schedule is all screwed up so I suspect they are rather tired. They had gone back to two naps while they were sick and are now trying to get back to one. They slept for a whopping ONE hour today. Calgon take me away!

We're happy to have Grandma and Papa back in the state and will be spending a lot of time getting reacquainted. :)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving this week!

The Croup, brother of the year and super grandma

So Lily got croup... she's had a runny nose for a while and on Monday night she started w/ a bit of the barky cough that indicates croup... yesterday and today she was in full fledged seal bark mode.. and miserable. I think we hit the high (or rather low) point of it today and she is on her way to being better, but tomorrow should tell.

Jason so far seems healthy - hopefully he will be passed over. I think the last time that Lily got croup Jason had maybe one or two croupy coughs, but that was it. He was such a trooper yesterday and today. Usually when I spend a lot of time holding or paying attention to Lily he either cries and wants me to pay attention to him or he starts acting out and getting into things. This time he - for the most part - played by himself.. showing us his toys and the cool things he was doing. He even let his sister play w/ his coveted cups with out losing it like he usually does. I was/am so proud of him.

When Lily is sick she seems to like to have Jason around or in site. On two occasions we took her upstairs to sit in a steam room (the bathroom) to breath for a while and both times she got really upset and kept asking for Jason.

Grandma has been a godsend while she's been here. I'm not sure how I would have gotten anything done and kept it together if she hadn't been here. Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - for her we've been really low key because of the 'illness'...

A trip to the zoo..

here are some pics and a video from the zoo. :)

We took a quick trip and had a pretty cool experience w/ the mama lion.





Snack??


This guy worked here for a while ... I guess the lion remembers him.


And daddy lion was keeping a close eye on everything...



We're having a good time... though Lily has croup and Jason was a pill last night. He was up around 3 or 4 hours whining and crying for no apparent reason. When we would go in he would perk right up and lay w/ me, but Lily would wake up and scream. At one point we brought them in our room (which never works anymore, but we wanted to try.. poor Lynda was in the next room)... well it turned into a base diving, free for all and no one was even thinking about sleeping. There was a lot of standing on pillows and jumping off followed by laughter. After we put them in their beds Jason continued to cry for hours after that.. ugh! They took a morning nap today and hopefully will take and afternoon nap too.... PLEASE!

Grandma Lynda is here...

Grandma Lynda got here last night and the kids got to see her this a.m. .. the last time they saw here was last Christmas so we weren't sure how the kiddos would react.. well here's a pic to show you how it went:



They took to her right away. As soon as we got downstairs Jason gave Grandma a big hug. It took Lily another couple of minutes to dole out the hugs, but she is now snuggling right up.

Here's the stillest I've ever seen Jason.. this wasn't even anywhere near nap time.


Kids must just have sense about things. Maybe it was because Lynda was here when they woke up and in her jammies so they knew she must be okay. :)

Here's Lily trying on Lydna's shoes and walking around the room. She was so proud of herself.



This morning we just hung around the house and got reacquainted with Grandma, then when they took a nap I got to take a few hours to go grocery shopping and sit and read in a coffee shop - ALL BY MYSELF! :). This afternoon we took a short trip to the park.. uh, it's getting cold.

We are having fun and I'm excited to head out for a long overdue hair cut. Thanks Grandma Lynda!

Goals and the New Year

My God I can't believe 2008 is SO close.. it's so close I can almost taste it. As usual I'm very excited about the new year. I'm not so excited about the big chill that is winter here.. puts a damper on my new year/new slate let's get going mentality, but I'm busy thinking and mulling over my goals for next year... as many of you can tell by the barrage of emails I've been sending out 'recruiting' others to join me in my adventures for 2008.

Andy has agreed to indulge me/join me in my big 2008 goal. (And my friend Gena is 90% there.) I'm hooked on triathlon and know I don't have the time to commit to training for an Ironman (will I ever?) so I'm going for the Half Ironman ... and I can't believe that Tom is so accommodating to my crazy need to comPLETE endurance races. Well, let's face it he deals w/ much crazier / off the grid things from me. :) Andy and I are going to do the Barclays 70.3 half ironman in Lake Stevens, Wa in July of 2008 - any other crazies that want to join us (uh, Karen P.) please do!!! And anyone else that thinks we are too crazy, but would love to watch are welcome as well! Or you can join us for a post race smörgåsbord ... I'm sure there will be alcohol and beer! And if you like to give massages Andy and I are available for practice.

I hope Todd, Julie, Cooper and Anna will make a 4th of July trip out to Seattle (if they aren't already living there again) to see us try to kill ourselves. We'll be racing each other.. okay, I'm joking. And Matt & Colleen and Brian & Jennie - you have been put on notice that we will be in town and you should make plans to be there as well. :)

There are many other things bouncing around in my head for 08... all will eventually be listed on the blog and I'm trying to make a collage (as you remember from THIS post these things seem to work for me) - but I only have about 4 magazines in my house... tried recruiting friends, but they have the same problem.. guess I'll be printing things off the web.

Okay.. now that I've got some of this out I might be able to get some sleep (What did you call it Karen P? Blogapy? Therablog?) ... LS 70.3 is out there now for all to see.. now I just need to register!!

Nuts....

So I've started giving the kids some nut milk here and there - whatever I have in the fridge, right now it's walnut - and I think it's funny the things that run through our heads. I didn't start giving it to them as a replacement for dairy milk I just wanted to see if they liked it and they do so I give it to them probably once a day - or every other day. Then I start thinking - eek is it too much nut product (they get nuts in other things I make)... then I have to check myself and remember that people don't hesitate to give their kids copious amounts of dairy milk (a known allergen along w/ other things) and here I am worrying about some nuts. They show no signs of allergy at all so why should I be worried. They like, they are happy - I am happy.

I was thinking about it for me too.. I eat quite a few nuts in any given day be it snacking on nuts and raisins, having nut milk in a smoothie or nuts in some dish I'm having - it's one of three fat sources for me and I know that fats are good. My point? I don't really know. I guess it's just funny how we have to reprogram ourselves. In the past I wouldn't allow myself to eat peanut butter (back in my disordered fat free days) and it's amazing how strong a hold something like that can have on you. Now I eat only raw nuts and I eat them freely, but every now and then I find myself thinking... 'hmm I shouldn't eat so much of this." ... anyway. I just find it interesting how things stick w/ you... even if they are wrong.

We are looking forward to Grandma Lynda's visit next week. I can't believe that it's November already. I remember when her trip was booked it seemed so far away... this only means that 2008 is RIGHT around the corner. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that!

Playdough

Playdough is AWESOME! The kids are loving it and I have been able to work on the paper shredding project I've been trying to get done for months. I might actually get half of it shredded today. :) (all part of the "oh crap it's November and I have to get that room cleaned out" project in preparation for our bathroom remodel.)

Here they are playing nicely:


They are at my feet playing right now. It's so cute to see them so focused. They both really enjoy taking small pieces of it and either attaching it to a larger piece or putting it in a cup. Second it sticking it on their finger/thumb and showing it to me. :)

Lily's vocabulary is now exploding - dad, you will be happy to know she has adopted the "no, no, no" w/ finger shake that you taught Jason.

We've started having a green smoothie and/or some veggie juice every day and the kids really love it... Spinach and fruit is actually really good - especially if you add coconut oil. Here they are sitting down to have their smoothie - we all share one.


And I was trying to fold laundry (for those of you that have mobile kids you know this is impossible and I'm not sure why I even try)... anyway.. Lily found one of Tom's shirts and had to put it on. She wore it around the greater part of the morning until the sleeves started to irritate her.