Winter and the (Blessed) Beginning of Spring

2.5 and 8 Months - Where has the time gone?!

I think I have officially entered a state of panic over how much time has passed since I last wrote down how life is, how the girls are, how they've changed and grown...  I will be angry at myself in the future for not finding the time to do it, but hopefully I'll remember why and be a little bit forgiving!

Life has been a whirlwind of the mundane - it has been tough and wonderful.  It seems like each person in our family is on their own little path right now...

Charley is working really (very) hard right now and has very demanding hours with lots of business travel.  He is trying to get through the demands of his job while also trying to enjoy his ladies in the moments he has after work (if they are still awake).  

And then Nora is also on her own journey, learning that her voice and body language are getting her things that she wants... so she has become quite bold.  She is quick to swipe the food off my plate, take the toy out of Riley's hands, or grab fistfuls of the cat's fur (while dying of laughter of course).  She is also very much in her own little world right now.

Riley seems to be on a mission to assert her independence and flex her wings a bit by pushing boundaries and testing limits.  She is becoming very observant of her surroundings, and is figuring out where she likes to be, how she likes things, and what she is afraid of... She is vocalizing all of this, which is honestly dumbfounding at moments for us.  We knew she'd be able to communicate with us, but every once in a while she blows our minds with her assertiveness. There are times when I'll overhear her telling herself that "it is okay, bugs are gone," or I'll catch her singing her heart out in the shower (is this a natural inclination that most people have?), and I'll even eavesdrop on her conversations with Nora when she is explaining that things are fun, or dresses are beautiful, or the cat is hungry. She is in her own little bubble, and luckily she pulls me in and lets me be a part of it (sometimes).

As for me, I don't necessarily feel like I'm working through/toward anything as the rest of my family is, but I do feel some forward momentum... And I think it is largely orchestrating the moving parts, attempting to keep us all together in a unit, but also just enjoying how incredibly entertaining and fulfilling it all is.  I have felt energized by the arrival of spring, am excited for what the next six months have in store. Big things (well, big things relative to me) are about to happen!

Nora is on the verge of being mobile.  Scary, but so exciting.  I can't WAIT to see what she wants to explore, what she is interested in, and where she will want to go. I know I'll be chasing both of them all over the house, but hey, it will be so much fun to observe.  

Riley is going to start preschool in September, and I can't wait to spend these months of nice weather with her.  Playgroups and playgrounds, birthday parties and weekend getaways...  It will all be so much fun with her.

We have lots of weddings to go to, and our lovely ladies get to be flower girls.  It makes me want to die at the thought of their future cuteness.  They will be flower girls together at my cousin McCall's wedding in August, and Riley will get to play the part again at (my cousin) Alexis' wedding in September.

There have been a few fun events since my last post.  First of all, I turned 30.  Well, the actual turning of 30 was uneventful, but I had such a lovely weekend that Charley planned out.  He flew Ryan and Alexis out to help send me off into the next decade, and we got to celebrate the event by acting like young children (and even recreating a childhood moment). 

We also went to the Dominican Republic the first week of February with my parents. The trip was alright... To be clear, we had a lovely start to the trip.  The resort was beautiful, and everything was completely family friendly so it was seamless with the little ones.  BUT, Riley started projectile vomiting (seriously, ask my mother) halfway through the trip, and then Nora got the same bug a few days later.  Needless to say, we spend the last three days of the vacation in the hotel room with very sick babies and a disgusting amount of laundry. We were able to get a few pictures from the healthy half of the trip...

As you can see, Riley has been very "anti-camera"

Nora, for as smiley and happy as she is, can't seem to keep her tongue in when the camera is out...

And then there was Frozen on Ice...  let's just say that Riley had started to lose interest in Frozen, and then her adventure with Charley and her Nana to the show on ice opened a whole new can of worms.  Riley now owns three Elsa dresses and two pairs of Elsa shoes (one pair is high heeled Elsa shoes).  Patty is to blame. SHE WILL NOT WEAR ANYTHING ELSE.  We rotate the three dresses through the wash, and she pretty much refuses to wear anything else unless it is light blue and we can convince her that it is Elsa's Easter dress, or Elsa's winter pajamas...

She even wears her heels to bed, and we stopped fighting it because the tantrums kept waking the baby up.

If you ask her about her outfits, she tends to describe herself as "princess Riley" or "so beautiful"... it is hilarious.

And sweet little Nora is doing so well.  She gave us a scare a while back with a bunch of very high fevers without any other symptoms.  We were in and out of the doctor and hospital every other day for a week, and we never got an answer.  Riley went through this a while ago, so I'm assuming they both just get high fevers whenever they catch a virus.

She is no longer the delicate little baby she once was.  She is actually becoming quite the brute.  Baby-led weaning has turned her into a hungry little chunk (she will polish off a piece of bacon or chicken finger in two minutes flat).  She is also very much enamored by her older sister, to the point of abuse.  She will yank her dress (and get a very loud response - "MINE ELSA DRESS!!!"), grab her feet, pull her hair.... 

Their relationship is blossoming before our eyes and we love every interaction.  They bathe together, they sit side by side in the car and "chat" and sing with each other...  it is magical.

Nora just sprouted her first tooth, which was quite the painful process.  She is an easy baby in the sense that she self-soothes and goes to sleep on her own... but she wakes throughout the night for so many reasons... teething, illnesses, getting her limbs stuck in the crib slats, getting stuck on her belly (she can turn over, but she forgets this fact at night).  I think she'll figure it out on her own, but I'm tired quite often.

I tried DESPERATELY to get a picture of these two girls in their coordinated dresses... but someone refused to cooperate ("NO TAKE IT THE PICTURE" as Riley says)...

The girls have been so sick this winter.  Since the Dominican, one of them has been sick every other week.  Riley had tons of ear infections and viruses, and Nora has as well (she has already had her first two ear infections).  Riley ended up in the emergency room a few weeks ago when her fever hit 105.6 at home (and ended up hitting 106.7 in the hospital).  She was fine, and had a viral infection in her throat, but it was terrifying.  She was very brave, and very distracted by all of the friendly nurses, popsicles and cartoons.

Because of all of her ear infections, Riley was referred to an ENT to see about getting tubes put in to help her ears drain.  And oddly enough, at each of Riley's doctor's visits for ear infections, her pediatrician noticed what he thought was a growth or cyst in her ear canal.  He first noticed in in January, and figured it was part of the ear infection.  Then a month later, it was still there... and even his colleagues couldn't figure out what it was.  When she was in the ER, I think the doctor used the words "interesting" and "puzzling" and said it looked like Mickey Mouse died in her ear (apparently it was red and yellow). 

After a second referral, we went to the ENT last week. After looking at the lump, he said it'd have to come out... so we figured she'd need a surgical procedure.  We were relieved (and wildly entertained) when he went in to investigate and started pulling chunks of red and yellow PLAY DOUGH out of her ear.  It had been in there for over three months!  No cyst.  No growth. Play dough.  

Easter was fun and busy.  Again, very difficult to get a photo of Riley in her dress (and super easy with Nora).  Riley LOVED hunting for eggs though... she still pretends to look for them.

Some of my closest college friends were staying in Boston (and our house) over Easter weekend, and we managed to fit all of our children (all little girls!) into one bath. They all were obsessed with Aavani, who was the babysitter/leader/oldest of the group.

And a few other random photos... mainly because I can only get pics of Riley when she's not looking!

She loves to cook.  She loves being naked.

I chose not to focus on the ridiculous winter, but here is our driveway and our house covered in ice-dams...