January 6

I know - I'm a week behind on my blog posting.

See, the problem is that I was having this pregnancy-related back pain. It finally got bad enough that I went to see a (really great) chiropractor, and unfortunately it turned out that my back pain is of the "must get worse before it gets better" variety.

In other words, I haven't been able to sit down long enough to edit pictures or blog for nearly a week. 

I haven't been able to tend to the kids the way I'd like.

I haven't been able to tie my shoes or load the dishwasher.

I haven't been able to get Daisy in and out of her crib.

I haven't been able to pick things up off the floor, or even comfortably put pants on. (Don't worry; I've still managed to get them on)

BUT. Thanks the the chiropractor and her *amazing* massage therapist, we're making progress. I'm still in a lot of pain, but it's getting better by the day. I'm also learning some coping techniques to help me manage.

In the meantime, my children look like this:

That would be Caleb, in Daisy's hair bow, practicing his scissor skills.

That would be Daisy, wearing my high-school lunchbox as a hat, an outgrown dress as an apron (?), her still-too-big rainboots, and a bath mitt hand puppet. The mess behind her is the remains of Caleb's cutting practice; he "helped" by sweeping it up for me.

And this is what my children do when my back is functional. Can you imagine the chaos that has occurred in this house over the past six days?

January 4

Daisy is 20 months old today! That means she's closer to two years old than anything, and I find myself shocked that she's actually that old. At the same time, she's had a recent explosion of language that is so much fun! She's speaking in more sentences. Today's examples:

Mommy do it.

I like that shirt. (Yes! She uses first-person already, which is awesome!)

Mommy crazy! (In response to my comment: "Your hair is crazy!" Though her statement is generally true...)

Daisy turn.

Daddy at work.

Daddy home!

Where Caleb go?

Scarf back on.

Hair down! Hair down!

She's still nursing twice a day, though I'm really, *really* hoping that she decides to quit sometime soon. Her doctor told me that 55% of babies will self-wean around their mother's 13th or 14th week of pregnancy due to changes in the milk. We're nearing 14 weeks, so I'm hoping that one of these days she'll just decide she's done. That's how it went with Caleb, but he wasn't as old as Daisy, or as *ahem* determined as she is. I certainly don't mind nursing her; we had our struggles a few months ago, but we've reconciled our differences and she's no longer challenging. But I also don't intend to nurse both Daisy and the new baby at the same time, so we've got about six months to end our situation as peacefully as possible.

Here's the birthday girl, rocking my scarf. 

I know it's out of focus, but her little smile is so sweet...

And then there's this boy, walking his little toy horse along the road. We all went to see my midwife today; I was nervous about taking the kids, but they were fine. I told Caleb that our friend was going to check on the baby growing in my belly, and he got worried. "Is the baby going to fall out?" No, Caleb. The baby will not fall out. As we got out of the car for our visit, Caleb asked, "Is your belly big now?" No, Caleb. It's not very big yet, but it's getting bigger every day! 

We got to hear Baby's heartbeat for the first time, which was really exciting. It was strong and fast - 148 beats per minute. Caleb acted uninterested at the time, but at dinner when I asked him to tell Chris about our visit, he was pretty excited. Caleb told Daddy that we heard the Baby's heartbeat, and Chris asked what it sounded like. Caleb thought for a minute, then shouted, "It was really fast!" 

I'm still having a hard time imagining what life will be like with three...

January 2

It's a new year! 

After taking a week off, Chris is back to work, and life is slooowwly returning to normal. Except that we have much more stuff now, and much less space... I need to address that. Someday. When I have the energy. In the meantime, I'm feeling guilty about the thank you notes that have yet to be sent.

The highlight of our day was a trip to Target, where we purchased a much-needed set of underpants for Caleb. 

Really, that was the highlight.

He was thrilled to choose superhero undies, and he waited patiently all day until they were laundered and ready to wear.  Finally, at bedtime, I gave him the ok to put a pair on. Then began the debate: Green Lantern? Batman? Superman? Eventually he chose Superman.

At first, he insisted that he wanted to wear his "Superman outfit" with the new undies. That would be his Superman shirt with the detachable cape. But since this favorite shirt is the one he wants to wear every.single.day, I told him no. No wearing it to bed, too.

Then he asked for his cape with the star on it. At first I told him no, but then I realized that he was just a three-year-old who was really excited about his new underwear, and so I told him yes.

That boy was beyond pleased. Also, his sister can't let him have the spotlight, ever. Don't you love how she bombed this photo? She looks almost evil here, as if  Caleb is the hero and Daisy is the flower-power villain.

I realize that we're nearing the point where I should no longer post photos of my child in his underwear. Perhaps we're long past that point, but it just crossed my mind tonight. This will probably be the last public photo of its kind.

But he was so excited that I just had to share!

Oh, also, remember this? It was taken June 2011, before he was given his "real" cape. (Thanks, Amber!) It's probably one of my favorite Caleb pictures, ever. Love this kid.

December 31

One year ago today, we moved in to our new house. Who on earth moves on New Year's Eve? Us, apparently. Not one of our smartest choices ever, but I'm forever grateful to the friends who helped us make it work.

Today, nothing so exciting. But we did have snow, which is pretty exciting in its own right! After naps, we headed out to play.

Daisy was suspicious of the snow. I'm sure the fact that she could barely move in her much-too-big snowsuit and completely-inflexible snowboots didn't help the matter. She was content to sit on the ground and eat snowballs.

Once she overcame her suspicion, she was pretty funny. 

She didn't move, but she was funny. Here's a variety of her best funny faces: 

I love this girl.

Eventually, I moved her to an open area. Then, she stood and ate snow. 

See the much-too-big snowsuit? Size 24 months, so it really should be close to fitting. She is nearly 20 months old, after all!

Meanwhile, Caleb (in his size 18 months snowpants, which miraculously still fit this 3T boy!) ran and jumped and played and caught snowflakes on his tongue.

Daisy gave the snowflake-tongue bit her best effort, but only succeeded in being adorable.

She cracks herself up, too.

Then we headed to the front yard, where Caleb impressed me with his shoveling skills. Give the boy a few more years and Chris won't have to do any more shoveling!

Sadly, I have no pictures of our New Year's celebration. We didn't have fancy hats this year, but we did have a delicious feast: grass-fed filet mignon, grilled snow crab legs, twice-baked potatoes (we cheated on the diet to allow those, and they were worth every bite), roasted asparagus, steamed artichoke, and something bubbly, pink, and non-alcoholic. For dessert, I made some pretty fantastic double-chocolate cookies that happened to be grain-free and sugar free. Our little family of four all sat on the couch, watched the New Year's shows on TV, and dunked our cookies in raw milk. Not your average celebration, but I'll take it!

Overall, it's been a good year. God has provided for us mightily, and blessed us in so many ways. We have healthy children, a comfortable home, great neighbors, and a good job. I'm not sure I could ask for more! Hopefully 2013 brings us more adventures, and a healthy, happy baby in July. (Caleb insists that the baby is a girl, and her name is Baby Rainbow.)

Happy New Year!

December 30

Lord help me.

Daddy's shoes were his "ice skates".

He is going to be a hockey player, isn't he?

Again. Lord, help me. 

(But look at how happy he is!)

December 29

Daisy is really engaged in story time.

 

Love that girl.

December 28

Now that Christmas is officially over and Christmas music is no longer playing in the house all day, Caleb has taken it upon himself to handle the Christmas tunes.

For a while, his favorite was "Gloria", by Michael W. Smith. But tonight at dinner, he regaled us with "Last Christmas", by Wham! Apparently he knows the entire chorus. Perhaps next year we'll be more selective about the music he hears...

Regardless, the house is now officially de-Christmassed, except for the outdoor lights. We'll keep those up through the first, just because they make me so happy. There's something about coming home to a house lit up with twinkling lights that makes the long December nights a little bit better. But just as we were putting all of the Christmas stuff away, it began snowing! Caleb asked why we were putting everything up, and I said, "Well, Christmas is over."

His response? "Christmas isn't over yet, silly! It's snowing! It can't be over!"

So even though it was just a light dusting, we have a little bit of Christmas left to tide us over.

I sent him out on the deck to enjoy his first snowfall of the season, and he was delighted!

He even caught a few snow flakes on his tongue.

Hopefully we get a few real snowfalls this season, so we can go out and play!

December 26

We did all kinds of cold things today, and had lots of fun doing them! This morning, we took Caleb ice skating for the first time. (I use the term "we" loosely - Chris took Caleb out on the ice, while Daisy and I sat in the bleachers, took pictures, and shivered.)

We only attempted the endeavor because:

1. I found a great Groupon deal for it.

2. Chris is an experienced ice skater.

3. Caleb had expressed some interest in it.

4. The kid slept in super-late this morning, meaning we could push naptime back a bit.

Still, I was a little bit leery; Caleb's a pretty cautious kid, and I was worried the whole experience would be too much for him.

He was a little bit nervous at first, but he wanted so badly to skate that he overcame his fears. What a big boy he's becoming!

Daisy was not at all entertained by the whole "waiting in the cold" thing.

Caleb started out slowly, and asked Chris to hold him (while skating!) several times, but eventually he got the hang of it. He progressed from being pushed along to walking on the ice to almost skating on his own. A few times, he even skated without holding on to Chris' hand!

This was near the end. I wish I had captured  better how proud Caleb was of himself. It was the highlight of the whole experience for me. 

Skating with just a little bit of support! Yay, Caleb!

(However, I am a bit concerned: Caleb likes to ice skate, he's pretty good at handling a hockey stick and shooting the puck... There is no way I'm letting this boy be a hockey player! His sweet little face! His teeth! His injury-free brain! His meager college fund!)

After naps, we met up with Grandmother, Grace, and Sally and headed out to the zoo for their Christmas light display. It was cold (around 30 degrees), but we were all bundled and had a lot of fun!

We even splurged and rode the carousel. Grace was so excited to ride her zebra!

Daisy was initially excited about the carousel, but lost interest quickly. She held onto that pole the whole time! Her glowing necklace was a timely gift from our neighbor - she brought it over right before we left for the zoo.

Caleb, posing with his Grandmother and aunties on some sort of beetle sculpture. 

Even the sea lions were frozen!

A happy little elf (literally; a girl in an elf costume!) took this picture for us. This was right before we left, when we were all nearly frozen solid.

Daisy with her aunties!

Before we left, Caleb stopped to give the sea lion a pat on the head. Funny boy!

December 25

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated with my family on Christmas Eve, and I failed miserably by forgetting my camera at home. At one point, it was in my diaper bag, and then I moved it so that I wouldn't forget it, and... yeah. But we had a great time!

I did remember my camera on Christmas morning, though.

Chris and I stayed up until 1:30 assembling Christmas gifts, and Caleb woke up promptly at 5:30 am, not because he was excited, but because that's just what he does. Luckily, we lured him into our bed and were able to steal another two hours of sleep while he snuggled/played/talked in between us. When Daisy woke up at 7:30 (a Christmas miracle!), we groggily stumbled in to open presents.

The first thing Caleb saw was this amazing train table (a hand-me-down from Chris' super-generous cousin and his family!). Caleb's response? "Wow! Fabulous!" It was pretty sweet.

Before we opened gifts, we snagged one family photo. Chris and I are getting a lot of mileage out of our family Christmas jammies! I love that Caleb's old ones fit Daisy this year;  I just wish I'd thought to buy them in bigger sizes so that the whole family could match every year. 

(FYI: we completely realize how nerdy this is, but isn't that half the fun?)

Then we got to work opening presents. In case you're wondering, that green smudge on Caleb's cheek is from the dry erase markers that came with the easel that I stayed up late assembling for him. They broke that   bad boy in right away!

Daisy loved her new cape, and  took off flying in it right away.

(I swear I fixed the lighting in these pictures on Photoshop, but it doesn't seem to have saved. I'm too lazy to go back and re-do it. Sorry.)

Both kids got rain boots with matching umbrellas - a big hit.

I was surprised that Daisy really loved this little Change-a-Tune piano that was a MOPS hand-me-down. She started singing and playing right away!

I made a yummy egg casserole for breakfast, but Caleb spied these cupcakes left over from our Christmas Eve celebration and asked if he and Daisy could have them for breakfast. Since Christmas comes but once a year, and it is the most important birthday of the year (and the cupcakes were made with beans and honey, rather than flour and sugar), I said yes. 

We stuck a candle in one and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Someone certainly enjoyed her cupcake (and the stickers that were in her stocking!)

After breakfast, more playing. I think it will take a while before Daisy learns to play with the train set and not destroy it.

Meanwhile, Caleb regaled us with his versions of "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman" on his new, *real* microphone.

And my husband was charmingly geeky in his jammies. Love him, especially because he's doing cooking of some sort. What a good man.

After some really fantastic naps for the whole family, we headed over to Chris' family's house for Christmas, take 3.

I'm including this photo so that you can see:

Daisy and her apple, which she refused to let go.

Her sweet little leggings.

How cute Sally and Grace are.

Two of Grace's three Chihuahuas (Coco is next to Daisy, and you can just see Izzy's little ears on the right of the frame).

The embarrassing amount of gifts. Dear family: this was so much fun, but maybe we should scale back next year?

Caleb was excited to open gifts with Grandmother, at one point even offering to help her open her gifts (in the politest way possible).

After all of the hubbub was over, Sally opened up two of her gifts: Halloween wigs. The kids were entranced, and immediately wanted turns.

Daisy rocked the blue wig - doesn't she look like a supermodel in the making?

Caleb wore the hot pink wig, which set off the raw redness underneath his poor little nose. I hope he gets over his cold quickly!

This is what I love about this family. I've yet to meet another family that embraces fun and silliness the way they do. Love you guys!