February 8

I worked the ACT this morning, so I was up and out the door by 7 am. Chris and the kids had a fun morning, though! There was a special event at the Butterfly House, so my brave husband took all three kids out in public by himself. Luckily, he took some pictures for me.

I'm not sure why a still-in-his-jammies Caleb has a beer bottle cap in his hand, but he sure was happy about it!

Lily still refuses a bottle, but she seemed pretty happy with a sippy cup of breast milk. Chris also had luck using a straw to drip milk into her mouth, dropper-style.

(Also, I love that he pulled out the bib she's wearing. Lily is definitely the star of Mommy's blog!)

Daisy was dressed and ready to go to the Butterfly House... 

wearing her new swim goggles... 

with her sunglasses on top...

Oh, my. I guess Caleb wore his goggles, too?

Daisy reported to me later that no butterflies landed on her shirt. She was quite disappointed.

Lily, however, appears to have been pleased with everything!

When I got home at 1:30, Chris had all three children down for naps - at the same time! Maybe I should leave more often? He's pretty good at this. 

When Lily woke up from her nap,she was happy, happy, happy! 

Happy to see me (and nurse a bit), happy to see Daddy, and happy to have her picture taken. Can you believe that she just looked right at the camera and grinned? That never happens!

I guess I should rephrase that: it never happens if Daddy's not involved.

Then Chris wanted to take a picture of me with Lily. Lily was briefly smiley and entertained,

But then she started chewing on my necklace,

and all of her smiles were gone. Silly girl.

After dinner, we put the kids in their jammies and headed out to do some wild Saturday-night grocery shopping. It was quite exciting.

I sewed the other half of my tablecloth wrap into a ring sling, and it's perfect for quick trips or for wearing Lily without having to take off my coat.

My shopping partners! The kids were so excited to drive the "rocketship cart" with Daddy. Life right now isn't glamorous, but it sure is fun!

February 7

We had a playdate with Amber and her darling children today, so the morning was kind of hectic. Add to the chaos the fact that Lily slept for TEN HOURS STRAIGHT last night, and things were really crazy. That's right - my baby slept from 9:30 last night until 7:30 this morning. I personally slept eight straight ours, which was amazing. I was hurrying around, getting things ready, when I spied Caleb doing this:

He had sorted through the newspaper and pulled out the comics, and was "reading" them while he ate his chocolate zucchini muffin.

I can't even begin to describe how sweet that was. 

Then Caleb started crying because Daisy had tried to erase his drawing. The only way to appease him was to photograph it, so here it is.

He actually drew this yesterday when I wasn't paying attention (shocking, I know), and I was so impressed when I saw it. On the right is a sea monster - Daisy tried to erase its eyes, nose, and mouth - with spikes or fur all around. On the left is its friend, which is some kind of aquatic creature as well. I was delighted to see how hard Caleb had worked to create such a detailed drawing, but I was even more delighted to hear his original story to go with the drawings!

After naps today, I set Lily on the couch while we cleaned up the front rooms.

One by one, Daisy and Caleb each came up to snuggle with her.

Lily Clare, I hope you always know how much your brother and sister love you!

Daisy, snuggling her baby sister.

Caleb, leaning in for a kiss.

Caleb may be making a goofy face, but Lily is smiling at the camera because she knows just how much she is loved!

(Side note: Caleb has already started praying that God will give him a baby brother named Yoey. Twice now, he has looked at my belly and asked me if I was growing another baby. I am not. But if Caleb has his way, there will be another, it will be a boy, and his name will be Yoey. So prepare yourselves, friends.)

February 6

There's so much to say today - like what fun we had at MOPS this morning, or how Lily slept eight straight hours last night (!), or how Chris took the kids swimming after dinner, but the most exciting part?

Lily plays peek-a-boo.

Seriously.

This kid is a genius. Sign her up for MENSA. She's clearly a prodigy.

What? You think I'm being dramatic? Psshhhtt. Whatevs.

Further proof she's brilliant:

She claps.

When she plays peek-a-boo, she tries to say "boo".

She can already play the piano.

(See that look in her eyes? Can't you see the intelligence oozing out of them?)

She's very inquisitive.

And she's even demonstrating early athletic prowess. Look at how she gnaws on handles that ball!

But the clearest proof? When her brother does ridiculous things like this,

she is clearly aware of how absurd he is and is barely even entertained. Do you see how she momentarily paused from gnawing on reading her book to look at him, but wasn't even willing to set the book down?

Yep. She's going to achieve great things. As for Caleb, well... we'll see if he ever gets out of that laundry hamper!

February 5

When we woke up to six inches of snow this morning, I was worried that I might have to cancel our playdate with Amber and her kids.

When Chris left for work and called me halfway through his commute to tell me that the neighborhood was "rough", I grew even more worried.

When the streets hadn't been plowed at 9 am, the deal was sealed: no playdate.

Since we couldn't go have fun with friends, we made our own fun here. Lily slept until 9:30 this morning (shocking, I know. I have no idea what is going on with her and sleep.), and as soon as she woke we put on snow clothes and headed out. Normally, I would never entertain the idea of taking the baby out to play in the snow with the big kids. But I guess I was feeling frisky today. Either that, or sleep deprivation is causing me to make some questionable choices. Whatev.

Regardless, it ended up being a great idea. We had so. much. fun!

Here's a window-reflection selfie of our snow getup. I wore Lily in the Ergo on my back so that my front was free to play with the big kids. I know she looks floppy and bored in the picture, but she actually loved it. 

(Don't worry, Mom. She had three shirts on, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, her bear suit, a hat, and mittens, and she was strapped to me. She was fine.)

I didn't get pictures of the best part: sledding in our across-the-street neighbor's front yard. They have the perfect hill, and were delighted when I called to ask if we could sled on it. While we sledded, they sat at the window and watched and laughed! Caleb rocked the sledding, and as I attempted to help Daisy sled I discovered that my snow pants were slippery enough that I could sled down the hill on my bottom! I hadn't intended to let Lily sled, but she inadvertently got several trips down the hill on my back! We all thought it was pretty funny.

This boy is like a Siberian Husky. He's in his element in the snow.

Picking up a snowball.

Eventually I took Lily off my back so that she could "play" in the snow. She was completely unimpressed.

Then I put her on our little baby sled, and she was much happier!

I ended up pulling her up and down the sidewalk, and she seemed to enjoy it. Then I attached strings to Daisy's sled, and pulled both girls up and down the sidewalk. Caleb didn't understand why I couldn't pull him, too! 

Daisy called this "snow mountain". I suppose it was nearly as tall as her.

Caleb found another clump of snow and carefully placed it in this branch. He always has a plan or a story going in his mind when he does silly things like this.

I just think this picture is funny. Daisy is a jumbled, tangled, snowy mess, and I love it.

I think Lily looks regal in this picture, like she's the queen waiting for her team of horses to whisk her away in her carriage. Or she's tired and cold.

Caleb insisted on shoveling the sidewalk with the big shovel, but actually ended up shoveling the front yard. Oh, well.

Later, after Lily took a nap and while Caleb and Daisy were still napping, we had another milestone for the baby book: 

Lily's first time emptying the drawer of kids' dishes!

She was clearly miffed that I'd been keeping such a treasure trove of goodies away from her.

Mmm. Plastic.

We're slowly trying to move away from using plastic dishes with our kids, but seriously: emptying the drawer of dishes is kind of a birthright, isn't it? Every child should get to do this, and I certainly can't let Lily loose with a drawer full of glass cups and plates!

When Caleb and Daisy woke up, I pulled out the little old point-and-shoot cameras we have just for them. They had so much fun!

Daisy: "Say cheese! Smile!"

And then, when I was making dinner, Daisy came in wearing her Cardinals cap backwards. She grinned at me and proudly proclaimed, "I Yadier Molina!"

I laughed really hard, and she disappeared, only to return with two baseball gloves.

When I asked her for her best Yadi face, she squatted down and grinned.

The girl gets it! It makes this mama's heart proud.

February 4

Last night, I was feeling pretty comfortable with Lily's sleep.

Tonight, the only conclusion I can come to is that she hates me and she wants to see me suffer, or she's defective. It's rough.

But I'm not going to waste even more energy complaining about it. Let's talk about today!

The girls and I dropped Caleb off at preschool and headed to the Y so that I could exercise. Sadly, we go there and discovered that their childcare area was at capacity, and it would be at least 20 minutes until they could maybe get us in.

Ain't nobody got time for that.

So we headed to my mom's house instead, and spent the morning with her. It didn't burn any calories, but it sure was fun!

Lily enjoyed some quality time with Grandma and Willie.

We left just in time to pick Caleb up from school, and headed home for lunch and naps. By the time we got home, Lily had been awake for three and a half hours, and should have been exhausted, fussy, and ready to nap.

Instead, she looked like this:

Why was she so happy?

Because she just learned how to clap!

See? Lily clapping!

What? You want video? Of course you want video!

Isn't she brilliant?

My baby is the clapping-est clapper that ever clapped. 

Okay, so really it's a 7-month skill, which means she's a little bit ahead. But when she started doing it, I didn't know that and I thought I might have a baby genius on my hands. I mean, clearly the girl is talented.

(She's also talented at not sleeping and driving her mama to exhaustion, but I'm not talking about that.)

Also, it snowed today. It was supposed to be another Snowmageddon, but it didn't really turn out to be that bad. Still, Chris left work fifteen minutes early because he was concerned about the drive home.

The children anxiously waited at the window for Daddy's arrival!

I made the mistake of giving Caleb this book light last night because he was afraid to walk down the dark hallway. Now he's obsessed with it.

When he realized we could take pictures like this with it, he became even more obsessed.

At dinner, we gave Lily some steamed broccoli with butter for the first time.

She loved it!

Then she was a little grossed out by it.

And then she promptly forgot her disgust and began eating it again.

Man. It's hard work being a baby.

February 3

Hooray, Do-Nothing Monday!

Although technically, we did something. The kids and I were feeling frisky, so we headed up to the YMCA for a workout/play session. Apparently our house is so boring that going to the childcare area is a fun, exciting thing for them? I only exercised for half an hour, though, because I was nervous about their first time in the childcare area. Next time, I am totally taking advantage of the free coffee at the Y and having some Mommy time. And really, the exercising is optional... Perhaps I'll just head up there with a book and sit in the lobby, read, and drink coffee while my children play? 

Kidding.

Kind of.

However, it really was hard for me to leave Lily in the childcare area. It's totally not like the nursery at church - upon drop-off, I asked the worker what I should do with Lily. She replied, "Um, set her on the mat?"

Lily was in the exact same place when I returned. No one played with her or held her. But sweet Daisy was sitting next to her sister, playing, so that's something. And really, I don't want anyone touching/sharing germs with my sweet baby. The big kids got doses of Elderberry syrup and fishy oil when we got home, because ain't nobody got time for all those germs!

Caleb built this "camera" out of blocks. The cars are taking pictures of other cars.See the yellow emergency vehicle up top? He's the photographer.

I much prefer that my son is using blocks to build cameras, instead of guns.

Caleb also tied this string to a toy and was plucking it. He was delighted with his innovation, and even more so when I showed him this awesome video of a man playing an upright bass. (Seriously - watch the video. It's lovely to look at and listen to. Daisy was particularly interested in the dog, which sleeps until about halfway through the video.)

And this girl? Happy, happy, happy. I'm too tired to talk about her sleep. I'll just say that it's not good, but I think we're headed in the right direction and making progress.

February 2

Sheesh. Last night, we had another epic sleep battle that lasted from around 11 pm until sometime after 1 am. At first I was calm and explained to Lily that she needed to go to sleep by midnight, and it would be really nice if she slept until 8 am since I was quite tired.

Ha.

After about an hour, I was no longer calm and patient and able to explain things to the girl. Finally - after nursing her and snuggling her to sleep, only to have her wake as soon as I laid her in the crib three different times - I gave up and left her in her crib. In theory, I don't believe in Ferberizing babies, or using the "cry it out" method, but in reality? Sometimes it's the only thing you can do.

In this case, I gave up around 12:45, and told Chris not to go into Lily until at least 1. By 1:15, she was sound asleep and she slept - get this - until 8:15. My little girl, who previously had slept a max of five hours, slept seven hours straight.

Apparently she was listening to me?

This age is so, so rough when it comes to sleep. I'm thankful that she'll outgrow it soon, and I'm hopeful that none of our choices will cause permanent damage to her psyche.

Sadly, despite all that sleep, I only took crummy pictures today.

This is the outfit Daisy chose for church today. I love the combination of polka-dotted dress with striped tights with flowered shoes. I also love how obvious her streak of blond hair is; it's been there since birth, and I love it!

Caleb chose to wear his "work clothes" to church. I love that boy.

And here's a very-tired Lily, relaxing at the kitchen table after church. Right after I took this, I put her down for a nap and she slept for four hours. Now that's a sleep schedule I could get behind - seven straight hours of sleep at night, with just one four-hour nap. Sadly, I don't think it's normal or developmentally appropriate for a six-month-old. Still, a mama can hope!

When Caleb woke up from his  nap, he immediately asked to go swimming at the Y. You know, because he hasn't gone enough this weekend. Luckily, we didn't have much planned today, so Chris could say yes - again. Even better, the girls were still napping, so it was a special boys-only swimming visit. Caleb tried to take his shirt off, but he's still not proficient with buttons. I love this photo of Chris helping Caleb practice on his shirt. Soon, he had it down and was able to get his own shirt off.

We also picked up some goggles for Caleb last night, he returned home to tell me that he jumped off the ledge and did a belly flop and went underwater and... He was so excited! The underwater is a new thing for him, so I asked him what it looked like underwater. Caleb replied, "Um, it looked like ground. And feet." Ha!

February 1

Chris may have taken Caleb and Daisy swimming twice today, just because he could and because they asked.

Caleb slept in this morning, and by "slept in", I mean he slept until nearly 7:30. That's a big deal around here! After he woke up, the kids sat on the counter and had first breakfast (raisins and Chex) while we contemplated what to make them for second breakfast.

We ended up making "chocolate milkshakes", which were really smoothies. Their heads may explode the first time they taste actual milkshakes and realize they've been duped all these years.

After breakfast, Lily did some flying. I'm not sure who's enjoying the flying more!

Super Baby!

(Please disregard the breakfast mess on our counters in the background. It got cleaned up eventually.)

After breakfast and flying, Chris took the big kids to swim and I put Lily down for what ended up being a nearly 4-hour nap. Wowzers.

She woke up just as the big kids went down, so she got to come grocery shopping with me. I was too chicken to try wearing her in the wrap at the store (something about wrapping a baby on my back in the parking lot in the nearly-freezing rain seemed unappealing...), but I wore her on my back in the Ergo for the first time in public, and she got lots of comments. She was also very happy.

Another happy camper?

Caleb, when he helped unpack the groceries and found this brown paper bag. He informed me that it's not a hat, but rather it is actually his head. So there you go.

And then they went swimming again. Because, why not?