Morning Sounds

The girls humming as they eat, their metal spoons clinking the lips of the ceramic bowls.
My beloved's compact footfalls, staccato on the linoleum, efficiently completing preparations.
Bubbling and angry hissing as the coffee pot protests the cold start to the day.
Our baby boy's even breathing as he nurses, and I nuzzle his tiny, precious fist.
A silent prayer, thanking God for these blessings.

Baby Bullets: 13th Edition

I'm behind posting an update on the girls. These are from the last six months. Enjoy!

• Home Alone was on TV, and though I don't find it to be appropriate for our girls' ages, they'd already seen it at Grandma and Grandpa's. Sigh. Anyway, at some point I said my usual spiel about how TV is just pretend, even when there are real people on it, and if any of the things happened to the burglars in real life, they would have been seriously injured or killed, etc. A couple of days later, Baby R was talking about the noodlers on Home Alone. I could not figure out what she meant, and then finally realized she meant burglars. Burgers, noodles... it's all the same, right?
• While I was pregnant, the girls were fascinated by my growing belly, and at one time tried touching my boob to say hi to the baby. Um, a little lower, kids, thanks.
• Baby R went on a diatribe about poop one day. She was getting closer to being able to go number two without as much trouble. She started prefacing everything with it: poop-diabetes, poop-strength, etc
• Baby R came in crying one afternoon. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Sissy said I was delegating!" Insults know no bounds in our house.
• S and Baby R put on a song and dance routine, the lyrics to which were, "You can do it! You can do it! You're awesome!" They sure are.
• Came upstairs to my bed having been made last August. Shocked, thanked my hubs who said, "I didn't make the bed." Nope, that would be our sweet S. Who spent the majority of the afternoon defying me at every opportunity. And who was supposed to be asleep instead of completing this chore. This is why I can't stay mad at her. Oh, and that she's the most adorable six-year-old in the world.
• S picked up some new mannerisms in 1st grade. She came home one day and told a story including head bob and waving hand. Oy.
• Once Cinco was born, the girls couldn't wait to hold him. Baby R was doing so and sang a lullaby. Such a precious moment. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I - " Suddenly she stopped and said, "He's heavy!"
• S went to a bday party for a classmate in November. It was her first experience at that famous place with the pizza, tokens and a singing mouse. The next day, she and and Baby R played with the tokens and tickets. It took all my will power not to bust up laughing every time they talked about going back to Chuck E. Cheez-Its.
• We took the kids to Legoland. They really enjoyed it. We'll be going back when Cinco is old enough to play, too.
• Baby R said, "You ruined my life!" She's 4. Sigh.
• We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family in STL at my sister's house. On the drive there, Baby R sang carols, most notably, "On the first day of Christmas, when my dreams have come to me, a part in a pear a pantry."
• It was the year of the DVD for Christmas. The girls have enjoyed watching them, but they are really into watching The Justice League on Netflix lately.
• When Baby R was born, DH took S to see Sesame Street Live. He continued the tradition by taking both girls this January. Such an amazing dad!
• There's a popular set of Sprint commercials out right now with James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell dressed in tuxes and speaking texts from a stage. The incongruity between these amazing thespians and the teen slang is funny. One in particular is two teenage girls texting about how cute a boy is. At the end, they say "Totes McGoats." It's become a huge catch phrase, and one day Cinco passed gas and DH said "Toots McGoots."The girls thought it was hysterical and kept saying it over and over.
• S got a toy archery set for Christmas. She's been asking for one since she became enamored with Brave. She's done pretty well practicing with it. Just need more warm days and less wind. An actual target other than the swingset would be nice, too.
• DH bought diapers and wipes at Costco, so the girls asked if they could build spaceships with the boxes from them. Love it!
• Baby R: Magazines are for pooping. Newspapers are for quiet time.
• Baby R is taking after her big sister in the fashion department. The other day she wore a red and black flowered blouse, a brown flowered skirt she got for Christmas from my sister, pink/purple camo sweatpants, an orange striped sock and a multi-colored striped sock, sparkly Hello Kitty shoes and a grey flowered cardigan. As one of my friends said, she is FABULOUS!

Happy New Year!

From Pinterest

"Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

November
Baby R's 4th birthday party: Thomas the Train. I felt terrible because only 2 kids showed up. No one RSVPs anymore. What's up with that? It was an awesome party anyway, and she had fun. That's all that matters.

S played i9 Basketball and really enjoyed it. She was so fun to watch, and she enjoyed it, but she's not aggressive enough. Will see if she wants to play it again.

I stopped by the office several times while on maternity leave to be in our holiday video and Christmas card photos. Each department re-enacted a bunch of awkward family photos which was creepy and hilarious. Then there was a group photo of the whole company in ugly Christmas sweaters. Fun times.

I volunteered at the library at Sam's school.

I finally met with a counselor at the county center for aging and started making real progress with my parents' housing situation.


December
Our company Christmas party was at the President hotel in downtown KC. It was fun. The video was hilarious. It was mostly 80s tv show parodies and Wham's video for "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was the finale.

I started back to work the following Monday. It was actually fine the first day - good to see everyone. Miss my babies a ton still, but getting used to it since it's been a month now.

There was a winter storm advisory on my bday, so we decided not to go out because we were worried my in-laws might not be able to get home if they came over to babysit. And then the storm never happened. But it was fine having dinner at home with the kiddos and watching a movie with DH. We saw The Internship - very good.

Christmas - The weekend before we went to St. Louis and celebrated with my side of the family. It was fun. We came home on the 23rd. I'd gotten 90% of the Christmas stuff done before I went back to work, but never got that last 10% done, so finished most stuff up that day. That night I went to bed and woke up at midnight throwing up. Food poisoning. Sick all day Christmas Eve. Missed DH's side of the family's big get together that included 7 new babies for the cousins. DH took Cinco and got a super cute pic of all of them dressed alike and lined up on the couch.
Unfortunately the girls were little terrors that day and weren't allowed to go - I put them to bed at 6:30pm honestly believing Santa wasn't coming - that's how badly they were misbehaving. When DH came home at 7, he got them up to put out cookies and milk since I'd gone to bed, too. Epic fail on my part this year between going back to work and being sick. They were able to redeem themselves by cleaning the toy room before going back to bed and Santa did make it to our house after all. Whew!
And thank goodness, because I must have been a really good girl this year. I got an awesome Nikon DSLR from my amazing DH. Squee! Now I have to learn how to use it. Too many hobbies - not enough hours in the day.

DH and I spent New Year's Eve at home, per usual. New Year's Day Cinco was super fussy. He's usually so laid back, smiley, happy as can be. Poor guy - I couldn't tell if he had an ear infection or is teething or what. He was better this morning, thank goodness.

We were supposed to go to STL this weekend again for my nephew's 1st bday party, but he was diagnosed with RSV yesterday, so we're staying home to keep Cinco away from him. Bummed to miss it. Planning to go out in a few weeks to celebrate instead.

My freelance social media job has been put on hold for now while I adjust to being back at work full time and my client waits for the post-holiday business to pick back up. Hopefully I'll have a little more time to post updates. We shall see.

Quick Cinco timeline:
1-Week Checkup: 21" albs, 7 oz
9 Days old: Umbilical cord fell off
11 Days old: Plastibel from circumcision fell off
4 Weeks old: First cold. :(
6 Weeks old: First responsive smile
8 Weeks old: First laugh

He's still so sweet and happy and laid back. Love this little addition to our family!