January 31

It was a good, good day.

Really, I think the kids and I just needed a good dose of Vitamin D. Well, Daisy gets Vitamin D supplements every night, so she's fine. Maybe that's why she's so cheerful. But Caleb and I really benefitted from the fresh air and sunshine.

But before the fresh air and sunshine, there was my sweet little sunshine, who woke up at 5 am. And stayed up. Chris' alarm went off, and boom - she was up. He hit the snooze button and went back to sleep, but not Daisy. She and I were up until 6:22, when Chris was finished with his run and shower and he took her from me and I buried my head in the pillow and slept... for thirty more minutes. *sigh*

Then Chris went to work, Caleb woke up, and we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Caleb loves biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

That's when I knew it was going to be a good day, after all.

Daisy "helped" me make breakfast by attempting to pull the diaper bag off this sweet little bench that my dad got for the kiddos. She didn't get the bag off, but she somehow managed to swipe my wallet and chew on the zipper pulls for a while.

Daisy went down for an early nap, and Caleb and I played outside while she slept.

Well, really, Caleb played and I raked and scooped and dumped leaves. It was hard work with very little results, but I'm still proud of my effort. Occasionally Caleb abandoned his play and tried to help me, which was sweet.

Then Daisy woke up, and we headed back outside.

Give the girl organic kale and spinach-flavored rice puffs, and she's a happy camper.

"Yum! Thanks, Mom!"

And this kid is just too cool for school in his shades and Jimi t-shirt.

After naps, I popped both kids in the BOB and we walked to the library. I clocked our time there and back; we live sixteen minutes from the library.

16 minutes.

By foot.

LOVE IT.

It's one of my favorite things about this new house.

Hooray for walking to the library! And the playground! And the pool! It almost makes up for the fact that the house is a dump needs a lot of love and there's nowhere nearby to buy affordable groceries. Almost.

January 30

Well hello, 65 degrees in January! I'm happy to see you!

It was a good day, starting with breakfast.

Caleb is in a slow-eating phase right now. We've started keeping a timer on the kitchen table; when everyone else is finished, we ask him how much longer he would like and then set the timer for that amount of time. When it goes off, we're done. Funny, isn't it, that a kid will argue with his parents til the cows come home, but he takes a timer's beep as the end?

Daisy and I were long finished with breakfast, so I let her scoot around while Caleb ate. This is where she ended up. Eventually she found Caleb's feet and started patting them.

Then she found the newspaper, which I had haphazardly tossed on the floor for some reason. 

The girl is an avid reader. Not so interested in the ads; more interested in the sports page.

She might also be shopping for a new car.

After perusing the paper, she was off - she started scooting down the hallway.

Later, playing, reading, singing, dancing, naps, and then - finally - outside time!

Daisy was so happy to scoot around on our giant deck!

Caleb ran around singing.

The kids played while I cooked my very first pheasant. And you know what? It turned out alright!

Daisy's funny little face here reminds me of our nearly-two-year-old friend, Michael. He's the master of faces like this.

As we ate our pheasant at our normal dinner time, I noticed that finally, FINALLY, there was still a hint of light in the sky. That, plus this amazing weather, was just the reminder that the dark, dreary days of winter don't last forever. Hooray!

January 29

While Caleb and Daddy slept this morning, Daisy helped me make blueberry oatmeal pancakes.

I might be using the term "helped" loosely.

Also, Chris didn't stay asleep once Daisy figured out that metal bowl + fridge magnet = really fun noises. Oops.

January 28

Hey! Today is my 800th post! How about that?

(please no snarky comments about how ridiculous I am. I know.)

What happened today?

Chris and Caleb went for a run.

Even though Caleb just rode in the BOB, he did some pre-run stretching with Daddy.

Oooh. Stretch those hammies!

Have I told you about Caleb and the Piston Cup? 

That roll of toilet paper? Caleb thinks it's a Piston Cup. In case you're not down with the Cars movie lingo, the Piston Cup is the big race that Lightning McQueen wants to win. Doc, the old racecar, won several Piston Cups and had them hidden in his garage.

One day, after watching the movie, Caleb looked inside our linen closet, saw the toilet paper rolls all lined up, and said, "Oh! It's a Piston Cup!"

Now it's our family joke, and Caleb keeps a Piston Cup in his closet.

While Caleb napped, Daisy chewed on a shoe and scooted around. I tried all of Daisy's shoes on her today, and have determined that she is a size one. Though she is nearly nine months old, she is nowhere near fitting into size 6-12 month shoes. Most babies her age wear size two or three; Daisy wears a one. So she's tall, skinny, and has little feet. Hope she doesn't tip over once she starts walking!

Pshht. Ma, you are so silly.

Love this girl!

Chris and Daisy played guitar together, too. While Caleb sleeps, Daisy gets free reign with Caleb's toys. Hooray!

Also while Caleb napped, I was cleaning up some toys when I found this:

His tractors, all lined up and "tipped".

What a silly boy we have!

Caleb was totally into his Cardinals hat today. He insisted on wearing his hat during his nap, all afternoon, and to bed.

Then my mom came over to watch the kiddos so that Chris and I could go to a work event. We were all gussied up, so Mom took our picture. 

Now we're home, and we all had a great evening. Thanks, Mom!



January 27

These kids.

Do all siblings love each other this much? It is so unbelievably rewarding to see how much Caleb and Daisy enjoy each other. Of course, Caleb is still learning how to interact with  his sister, and he makes mistakes every day hour, but still. He genuinely adores her and wants her to be happy.

Daisy was having naked time today (to help with her yucky diaper rash) when Caleb woke up from his nap. He immediately insisted that he have naked time, too.

I had no reason to tell him no, so my two diaper-less darlings rolled around on the floor together. Caleb gave Daisy snuggles and kisses and made her giggle.

Isn't it funny how their outfits (or lack thereof) ended up coordinating? Caleb demanded to wear BabyLegs, just like his sister.

Giggling and snuggling into each other.

In a few years when they're fighting and arguing, remind me of these moments? We are so blessed.

January 26

Tonight was another out-late, I-get-to-be-a-grownup night. Ok, so I wasn't out that late. But I was out past bedtime. My husband is amazing.

What did we do today? Not much of anything.

Daisy has a wicked diaper rash, so she had lots of naked time. She peed on three different  blankets.

Caleb and Daisy both took crummy afternoon naps, and both woke up crying at the same time. It looked something like this:

I showered, cleaned the kitchen, and finally sat down on the couch with a steaming cup of coffee, a cookie (or two), a Bible, and my book for tonight's meeting. I started reading, then was startled by something in my peripheral vision. I looked out our BIG sliding glass door into the backyard to see the fluffy white tails of four deer bounding through our yard, up the hill toward the pond.

I gasped.

cool!

and then Caleb started crying. Shrieking.

and then Daisy started crying. Wailing.

and it was all gone.

So the kids played in Daisy's room while I tried to get started on a sewing project. Caleb wanted to color, so I got out his markers, then went back to work. Then I looked up to see him scribbling furiously - on his hands.

See? On his knuckles? And also possibly on his nose?

He was pretty proud of himself. I started to take the markers away, but then I realized that we've never had the "we use markers on paper, but not on our skin" talk. So we had the talk, and I gave him another chance. He complied.

Meanwhile, Daisy emptied her shelves.

"Who, me?"

Then Caleb handed me a scarf and asked me to make it a tie. 

So I knotted it loosely around his neck and told him it was a tie. He walked into the hallway and said, "I wearin' my tie. Now I go to work. I go to my bank to work."

Sweet boy wanted to be just like his Daddy. Doesn't it make your heart melt?

And Daisy was still working on clearing those shelves.

January 25

Chris came home from work today and asked me how my day was and... I couldn't remember. Today felt like two separate days, not one. But the kids were cute and funny, took good naps, and performed admirably for the dear friends who came over for dinner. Overall, a good day.

Caleb played his guitar,

And Daisy played doctor.

(This was the first time she wore this sweet royal blue shirt. The color looks A-Mazing on her. Too bad I already know that anytime I put her in it, people will assume she's a boy.)

But she doesn't care!

January 24

I just got home from "Book Club" and I'm scurrying to write a post before Miss Daisy decides it's time to wake up and eat. She wasn't willing to eat much for Daddy tonight while I was gone.

But boy, oh boy, was she in a good mood today! This was lunch time:

Give the girl a cheese stick and a piece of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, and her grin will be so big that you'll worry her face might split. For breakfast I gave her a kiwi. I'm pretty sure that she thought it was the best thing I'd ever given her, EVER. Daisy gobbled it up, then cried for more.

Later, an impromptu dance party with a golf ball. Because all the best dance parties have golf balls. I'm glad she doesn't throw like a girl.



January 23

1. I officially no longer look like death. I am still puffy and yucky, but I am nearly healthy.  Hooray!

2. Caleb slept until 7:24 this morning. It was beautiful.

3. Daisy loves her brother. A lot. She was really excited to go in and wake him up this morning. Or maybe she was just excited to play with the things in his room this morning.

She scooted across his room, grabbed his toothbrush, and immediately stuck it in her mouth. That furtive look shows that she knows Caleb would be unhappy if he caught her using his toothbrush.

This is her "my-brother-is-so-funny-and-smart-and-handsome!" face. I'm not sure what Caleb will do the first time he meets a woman who doesn't  think he's funny, smart, and handsome.

Then Daisy scooted to Caleb's closet to talk to the baby in the mirror. She was fascinated.

Later, we went to the playground. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the best idea. It was kind of cold out, andI don't think I had the kids dressed quite warmly enough. But they didn't complain...

Do you like Daisy's BabyLegs that clash with her pants? I only have one pair of girly ones, and they were dirty. So the red and silver stripes it was! It was my attempt at layering so she wouldn't get too cold. Plus, the girl is just so tall and skinny that I need BabyLegs to fill that ankle gap. Or maybe I should get her a pair of tall boots...

Caleb loves swinging, but he loves it even more when Daisy is in the swing next to him. It warms my heart that these two love each other so much.

Cute, huh? I'm pretty pleased with Caleb's new shoes - $8ish on clearance at Target. Hooray!

Daisy, clapping because she loves the swing. Or because she loves to clap. Or because she was trying to wave but ended up clapping instead. I think her brain is still finalizing those connections. Sometimes she tries to wave or clap, but ends up wiggling her feet instead.

(Have I mentioned that I think she says "bye-bye"? She doesn't say it when we're leaving or anything, but I keep finding her randomly waving and saying "bah-bah". It happens so frequently that I'm almost convinced it's intentional.)

Caleb loves this frog. I asked him what its name was, and he said, "Kyoto". No kidding. I guess one of his storybooks features two frogs named Kyoto and Osaka. I haven't read the story with him, but he has explained this to me.

(Note that Caleb is now wearing my mittens. Because I was a bad mom and didn't think 45 degrees was that cold, so I didn't bring his mittens. Or a real coat. Honestly, the kid is lucky that he even has a hoodie on, because I almost took him out wearing just a sweater. I failed the weather test today.)

Yep. Daisy eating woodchips. Because why not?

She was happy with the arrangement.

Dinnertime. Caleb has figured out that if he eats his dinner, we'll give him a treat. "Treats" can range from fruit to cookies to pretzels to fruit snacks to raisins. But the kid has gotten smart. If we ask him to  take a bite, he replies in a wheedling voice, "Caleb can have a spesssshhhhhul treeeeaaat?" If we say yes, then he asks, "What will it be?" He's not going to eat his dinner for just any old treat.

I think this will not end well for us.

But at least he's eating what we're eating, and we're not making special meals for him. Right?

Daisy still eats more than Caleb on most nights. Tonight was Tilapia, snow peas, au gratin potatoes, and blackberries. She and Caleb were both particularly pleased about the blackberries. And then Chris and I made the executive decision that this regularly scheduled non-bath night should become a bath night. It was a good call.



January 22

Today:

Church. Chris and I worked with the babies, Caleb went to his classroom. When I picked Caleb up, his teacher said that during worship he gave little Miss Harper a hug and a kiss, and later he tried to hold Harper's hand. I asked Caleb about it, and he smiled and laughed, "Yeah. She's nice." Harper's mom says that Harper is pretty independent, and was pleasantly surprised that she tolerated Caleb's affection, rather than responding by biting or hitting him. We'll see how this pans out.

Lunch. Naptime. Oh, naptime. See, naptime was important today. We had a birthday party for a very special five-year-old at 2:30, so it was essential that Caleb go to sleep in a timely fashion so that he would be well-rested for the party. Instead, the child literally spent at least forty-five minutes like this:

Only most of the time, he didn't look this pleasant. Most of the time, he was crying and screaming, "Caleb should go poopy! CALEB should go POOPY!" After giving him time, then battling, then fighting, Caleb was appeased when he finally worked out a teaspoon of pee into the potty. Then he went to sleep.

While he slept, we worked in Daisy's room. I bought fabric to make her curtains last night, but haven't yet hemmed or sewn them in any way. Chris and I hung them up anyway, just because they have blackout fabric behind them and it helps with naptime. Then I got to work making this mobile for Daisy:

They're little felt bird ornaments I bought on clearance at Target. Cute, huh? Add some white wire hangers and thread, and boom - it's a mobile. I'm excited that Daisy's room is starting to take shape, instead of being an empty box. Next up: hanging pictures on the walls.

Party time. We were so excited to be on the guest list for a beautiful, rainbow-themed birthday party and celebrate with some fantastic people and hear their amazing news.

Dinner. Tried this recipe. Not a keeper. Oh well - not everything is a winner.

Bedtime. That means naked time in our house.

Those are Daisy's new curtains, but they're not really that yellow.

Focus on the baby, not the background. There is nothing inappropriate in the background.

What a sweet girl.