hibernation

I think that it should be the norm for everyone and everything to hibernate during the winter.  That should just be how life operates: when winter hits, you just stay inside until spring comes.  And if you feel the need to be doing something, work on indoor projects around your house.

With that being said, I do kind of feel like that has been the mode we've been in the past few weeks.  We returned from all the travels around the holidays, unpacked (some of us only finally unpacked his bag yesterday...), got all the laundry done and have started tackling the indoor home projects we've been waiting for the winter to do.  And I'm glad about this, because I really just haven't felt like doing much.  Emma is just a terrible sleeper, and the lack of sleep has been catching up to me, and with that, zero motivation for anything.  More on the girls in a minute. 

I don't have pictures, and my camera is too far away (lack of motivation example) to take a picture now, but we have started the renovations of our main bathroom.  It's probably a good thing that the wallpaper was peeling and nasty, as well as the floor, or we may have just left it once we realized how much work taking down wallpaper really is.  I threw out the idea (read: declaration) that in the next house we buy, if there is wallpaper up from the previous owners, we just will cross that house off the list and not even consider it as an option.  But, once the wallpaper is down and the walls are sanded, we will be painting, redoing the floor, replacing all the fixtures and Jesse has left me in charge of making it look nice, so I have been searching the internets for ideas.  After we conquer the bathroom, we are moving onto the kitchen to finish.  And really, we probably wouldn't have as much issue with the wallpaper except that the previous owners just plastered that stuff directly onto the drywall and not onto an already painted surface, so it just doesn't want to come off nicely.  It's annoying.  Well, for Jesse since he's the one really doing the work so far.  

The girls are doing well.  Lily is potty-trained, minus bedtime and long car trips.  And since both my siblings made me promise that I wouldn't post all kinds of potty-training adventures on Facebook (you're welcome, you two) like so many other people do (and they find awkward), I will just brag here about Lily.  On one of the early trips into town in her Big Girl Panties, she announced 10 minutes down the road that she had to go.  Keep in mind, we live 30 minutes from town and really, there are no good spots to stop.  So I pulled over and told her she'd just have to go on the side of the road.  She looked appalled and said "Momma, I tinkle on toy-et!" and then held it until we got to a bathroom.  I felt that learning to go outside would be handy/helpful for car trips when she has to go now, so when she started talking one day about Zeke going to the bathroom outside and asked if she could go outside, I said sure and she was successful!  However, she now thinks that's just the best and is always asking to go potty outside.  Keep in mind how cold it is today (-1deg is what the windchill is claiming).  Other than that, Lily is hilarious, brilliant and adorable, as you would expect from any of my kids.  She has started telling us what she likes and doesn't like, and also what her favorite is.  Which is funny, because even if she has no idea about something she will say "oh, my favorite!"

Emma.  It's a good thing she's cute and so happy when she's awake.  She is just a terrible sleeper through the night, though she has been slightly improving the past few weeks.  Introducing baby food hadn't really been helping at all, but she seems to be sleeping a bit better now.  And while we're talking about her eating, she is on a semi-nursing strike (boo) which was stressful for a day or two until Jesse pointed out that really, eating food is the end goal, so it's ok.  And I figured out a better routine about when she would want/need to nurse, so she is still getting plenty of nutrients that she needs (I hope).  At her 6 month doctor appointment, she was weighing in at 18 lbs and some odd ounces, so yes, she is a little chunker!  With how clingy Lily was, Emma being so adventurous has already kept me laughing and on my toes!  I will leave her playing in the living room and then go to the kitchen or my bedroom.  When she is done, she will crawl all over until she finds me.  She can sit up with no problems, crawl (fast) and is starting to pull herself up on stuff.  

Poor Zeke isn't liking Emma quite as much as he first did now, because she goes after his food like there is no tomorrow.  When Zeke growls at Lily, she knows she needs to stop what she's doing and leave him alone.  Emma, not so much.  He sees her making a beeline towards his food and he growls, then jumps up and races over to begin inhaling his food and water as fast as he can before she gets there, inserting some quick growls as a warning between bites.  We have started keeping his food up and out of her reach.

That's really all I can think of.  Jesse is doing well and staying healthy.  I threatened him that if he starts to come down with something, he has to just get over it immediately because the girls and I have been passing something back and forth for a few weeks (ah, winter) and I'm tired of that.  I'm doing pretty good.  Sick and tired, but am probably single-handedly keeping the coffee growers of the world in business, so that's good (for them).  And for those of you who are possibly seeing a connection between my coffee consumption and the fact Emma doesn't sleep, good thought, and I thought so, too.  I actually completely cut out coffee and caffeine for a few weeks to see if that would help and she slept worse than she does when I have caffeine.  Lame.  I'm ready for some snow here (since we missed it last time) so I can go sledding and take Lily out to play.  

Here are some pictures, just because I know this was a boring post.

Emma

Lily

Emma

Lily

Emma

Lily.  and Jesse.

Lily

Emma

remember this face?  she cracks me up.  still.

Obviously, my girls look a little similar, but I don't see the identical-ness that some people think.  Maybe partly because I'm the mom.  Maybe partly because I don't look at baby pictures of Lily every day.  But looking at these side by side, I feel it must be said that Lily has squinty eyes like Jesse and Emma has bigger eyes like me, I think.