TV Cuddle Quilts

My mom made these for my kids for Christmas. With my kids tendency to become obsessive about blankets, these of course are now required for any kind of quiet activity. You can't see it in the picture, but the other side of Jo's has the alphabet on it, thus it is lovingly called "my ABC bwanket!"

Froggy (otherwise known as Fwoggy)

Joanna received Froggy as a gift for her first birthday.


He was instantly loved, but didn't become the favorite until Joanna was two. Then something clicked. I think Joanna figured out that it was easy to hold on to the back of his head and make him look around, giving him a lot more personality than the other stuffed animals. Whatever it was, Froggy has gone everywhere and done everything. I've already shared about storytime at the library when Joanna was suddenly sitting next to me whispering "look at Froggy" and Froggy had taken her place in the storytime circle.
He's also gone bowling

played with trains


Gone trick or treating

and enjoyed a good dinner at El Torro Viejo.


Occasionaly he will be shared with Ginny, but that kind of generosity only lasts for thirty seconds at the most.

Ethan with a very young mom and dad

I think we're just about through the worst of winter now. The end of January through the first of March is the hardest time for me. It's too cold and the air is too crummy to spend much time outside and we all get cabin fever bad. But the other day was in the fifties and I opened my windows and took five walks with the girls.

Ethan

I've been saving up some cute one liners and stories, and I'm throwing in a bunch of baby pictures of all three kids, just for kicks.

Joanna

Ethan said that Matt's new name is now "sneaky go to work guy".

Ginny

Back in December when everyone had their Christmas lights up I was driving Jo down the street to pick up Ethan at a friends house. It was dark and every house was lit up. Jo stared at the lights for a while then yelled "I found Krit-mas!"

Ethan

The kids love watching old Looney Toons cartoons. For a while I could here Jo in her room talking to her animals and saying "say your pwayers". I didn't make the connection until I brought home some big carrots and she got excited, grabbed a carrot and recited the whole Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd cartoon where Daffy is Bugs' double:
"alwight wabbit, say your pwayers"
"I dare you!"
"Cut!, bwing in the double!"
"alwight wabbit, say your pwayers"
"I dare you!"
"BANG!"
"Makeup!"
I don't know if it carries over just reading it, but it was adorable.

Joanna

Matt: "I'll be home at dinner time"
Joanna: "No, be home ah cereal time!"

Ginny

Ethan: "Does this apple taste mellow?"

Ethan

Some Joanna translations:
Zeldard = lizard
Chickenhawk = rooster/eagle/parrot
cawwy monsers (with shoulders shrugged up and scary fingers) = scarry monsters
bemadda = banana
pee-madoh = piano (she uses this one when she reenacts the Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom is playing a concert and Jerry is living in the piano with resulting chaos)

Joanna

Ethan, in the shower, sings out the NPR All Things Considered theme song, then:
"Here's the news, the bad guys blew up the Earth and God made another one. That's all the news for now."

Ginny

Life is Better in a Box

Little Trooper

Ginny's had kind of a rough go of it the past few months. Shall I just list of few of her troubles?
1. Right before Christmas she got a bad flu followed by a very bad cold. The flu threw her digestive track for a loop and she still isn't able to get back to solid foods. Her insides think about it, then send the food right back.
2. Her two bottom teeth broke through.
3. Some kind of upper respiratory infection went through our kids. The older two weathered it just fine but Ginny got an ear infection and the beginnings of pneumonia.
4. The antibiotics for the ear infection leave her with a pretty nasty diaper rash.

So our poor little Ginny is constantly having medicine shoved into her mouth. Besides the prevacid and axid for her reflux, there's the antibiotics and ibuprofen and tylenol.
The great thing about Ginny is she smiles through all of it. We may hear a wimper when the ibuprofen wears off, but about 99% of the time, she's still giggles and grins.
What a great baby.

Silly Puddy Woes

"My head is stuck to my pillow!"
Not something you want to hear at 3:00 am.
Poor little Ethan fell asleep with silly puddy in is hand. In the night it transferred to his pillow, and then with the turning over that happens in sleep, spread to three different parts of his hair.
Thank heavens for google. Olive oil left to sit for a minute helped to break it down enough to be encouraged out with a comb. There were some tears and some cries of "just use scissors!" but it came out in the end.
I pulled out a hot wheels car that I had stashed away and gave it to him for being brave and we both went back to bed feeling like champions.

My Favorite Sunday Afternoon Activity.

Cheese Part 2

Ginny is our smiliest baby by far. Ethan was a good smiler but he was nearly 8 weeks old before popping out with a grin. Joanna's smiles came earlier, but she was always a little stingy with them. Ginny's smiles came even earlier and she gives them out like it's easier than breathing. Sometimes she even has a little grin on her face while she's sleeping.
For the past little while she's been getting really good at mimicking. Stick out your tongue, she'll stick out hers. Nod your head, she enthusiastically copies. And with smiles, it seems like she has noticed that we have a lot going on in our faces when we smile at her, so she has tried to follow our lead.
She smiles, then scrunches up her face, then lets out a giggle and looks at us like she's so proud of herself for figuring this out.
What a doll.