rsv.

last night was ek's first "real" dance class, since last week was just a trial.  i'm still on the fence about committing to something like this with her being only three and me already having a hard enough time feeling spread so thin, etc.  but man she loves it so much.  in last night's class, they sang "bippity boppity boo" while twirling and running around the room, flinging scarves this way and that.  she could not stop jabbering about it last night or this morning.

hollis has rsv and an ear infection.  poor thing.  he's so pitiful - this is the sickest he has ever been by far.  i brought him to the doctor this morning and his breathing is still pretty good, so that is a relief.  he's napping right now and when he wakes up we'll go fill his prescription and hopefully get him to eat something.

some dudes are working on our house right now - we're having a wall removed between our laundry/storage rooms, scraping popcorn off the ceiling in the den, removing paneling and installing drywall, etc.  it's a lot to manage.  the television is in the middle of our dining area, furniture and random stuff is scattered throughout the rest of the house.  i'm super excited to see what it's going to look like, just not entirely thrilled about the process toward that end result.

forgetful.

i forgot hollis's lunch again this morning.  there is no excuse for this, except that justin left for DC at like 5:45 and emme claimed she was carrying hollis's lunch in addition to her own.  but really, there's no excuse for doing this two (school) days in a row.  sigh.

here are some baby selfies hollis took on my lap yesterday.  he was so pleased to see himself on that little screen.  poor boy isn't feeling 100% (snotty snotty, mean cough, etc.) and i'm just praying it's not RSV.

snow day (again).

it's frozen again today, so school and daycare are canceled.  again.  lots of quality time with the kidlets these days.  which is great and also stressful, since work doesn't just disappear.  and also since you can't let kids roll around outside when everything is covered with ice.

hollis has a runny nose and is pretty much beside himself today.  i finally put the humidifier basically directly on his face, rocked him for 30 minutes, and got him to take a little nap.

ek has been mostly cooperative and fun.  we made muffins this morning and she loved that.  we were out of eggs, so i found a recipe for eggless banana muffins and we used coconut oil and added chocolate chips.  they're heavenly, really.  last night, she wore the air bags from a recent amazon.com purchase as a scarf and she and justin pretended to paint each others' faces.

coping skills.

this morning i forgot hollis's lunch and bag o' gear and didn't realize it until i got all the way to their school.  so i dropped them off, drove home, got his stuff, drove back.  as i was heading to the office on track to be an hour late (love our new house - rough times being 3+ miles from school instead of less than one), i got a speeding ticket for going 48 in a 35.  the speed limit just lowered to 35 from 45 and apparently i didn't see the new sign.

so.  i sat in the car after the cop gave me my ticket, crying like a goon.  i drove like 44 miles before 9a.m. today and went absolutely nowhere.  then i began to mentally berate myself because what the hell.  can i not cope with just a little bit of inconvenience without losing it?  apparently not.  i need a personal assistant.

anyway...on a lighter note, we survived snowmageddon round 1 on friday.  the kids' school was closed, so we played inside and hung out.  my parents came in after a 12-hour drive (compared to the usual 6) because of the ice over.  it was back into the 70s saturday and sunday, so we lived it up with lots of backyard and wagon time.  tuesday is supposed to be snowy again.  oh, texas.

first dance class.

we brought ek to a dance class last night as a little trial to see if she'd like it, if she'd go, etc.  i have really battled the whole extra-curricular activity thing because i feel like she's really young and also like we're already spread super thin and how do you fit one more single thing into life?  bleh.

but, she's been dancing around the living room daily and telling us to check out her "ballet".  and there's a dance school like 90 seconds away from our house.  so.

of course, i neglected to snap a picture.  but despite initial reluctance/shyness to go inside, she sucked it up and went.  she did awesome - paid attention, participated, followed instructions.  she looked like she was having a blast and couldn't stop talking about it last night and this morning.  so i think we're going to do it.

park.

i love austin sometimes.  the winter is definitely one of those times.  sunday afternoon, we walked to the park at the elementary school the kids will go to.  have i mentioned it's three blocks from our house?  love that.  emme is always asking us to push her THIS high (insert arm movement.big gesture).  also, to pour her "this lot of milk" or make her the "biggest toast of my life".  she was willing to take a turn pushing daddy and hollis today.  she can be really sweet sometimes (mental note to remember this as i struggle daily with her three-ness).

great slides, happy dogs, happy kids.  yay for sunny and 70 degrees.

so big.

central market for dinner on friday night - hollis got to climb on the playscape and he was really proud of himself.  we kept telling him he was so big, and i managed to snap a quick pic of him responding.

dragon.

ek: "whenever i got bit by a dragon when i was five, i had to run away.  that's one of the things i had to do."

helpless.

hollis is still sick - his fever jumped up to 104.3 last night, which is just terrifying (and also clearly not related to the MMR vaccine).  i brought him in this morning and his white count is normal, he doesn't have the flu, and his ears, throat and lungs are all good.  so, big relief, but i still have a virus-riddled bebe who is sad.  and i still have a job to do (like a work-job, not a mom-job), even though my heart/gut tells me the most important thing is to care for this niblet.  helpless.

i got notes home the last two days in a row about emme scratching/clawing other children and drawing blood during a confrontation.  one was about chalk.  the other was about space for her nap mat on a shelf.  her nails were definitely too long (my fault - again, no excuses but MAN it is so hard to keep up with every.single.thing.).  but, even with short nails, she could have hurt these other kids.  this level of passion/fury/intensity in my sweet girl is hard to know how to channel.  i don't know if i should be worried about it or if it's within the realm of totally normal three year-old behavior.  i want to just know what the solution is, and i don't.  so, here again, i am helpless.

and the obvious answer: ask for help.  which i'm notoriously bad about.  but i suppose it takes a village for a reason, right?  because we can't do this (or at least, not well) on our own....

half day.

hollis still had fever this morning, so he's home with me again.  sweet bug.  i'm working but also using the opportunity to try to make some headway on this house/organization.  i will never feel done, right?

i just found a pile of journals i started and stopped from 1997 or so until like 2006.  am i supposed to keep stuff like that?  reading them makes me dislike my hyper-dramatic past self.

fever/first black eye.

today i got a call mid-morning that hollis had a fever and i needed to go pick him up.  low-grade fever, so i'm pretty sure it's the post-MMR vaccine thing the pediatrician warned us about.  it's been nice hanging at home with him (though i've had to work too) and getting some one on one time.
last night, he pulled his dog guitar off the table (where emme had put it so he couldn't reach it) onto his eye.  poor bug.  also, i don't know how/why his hair is doing this spike thing, but i love it.

one year old.

my sweet sweet baby.  it's now been a whole year since you were even due (!), and a little over a week since your first birthday.  i would apologize for the lack of fanfare surrounding your birthday, but you loved it anyway.  you're so good about going with the flow of whatever is happening, especially if it enables snacks or music.  we are really so blessed to have you as a part of our little family and we adore you.  

physical: at your 12-month appointment, your stats were about the same: 
- height: 29" (25%)
- weight: 23lbs, 12oz (60%)
- head: 48cm (95%)
you still have only five teeth, but i SWEAR a new one (or six new ones) will be out any minute.  your blonde hair is turning into a little bit of a mullet, but i will seriously never cut it because i just love it.  

likes: you're obsessed with music - playing it and dancing to it non-stop.  you love emme and are fascinated with trying to do anything she's doing.  bath time is fun time.  you got a nice pile of toys/work for christmas and your birthday, and you really love all of them - especially your workbench and your dog guitar.  

dislikes: being denied anything you want to do.  sleeping past 5:30 a.m.  

biggest achievement of the month: saying mama is my favorite of the things you've started doing.  you're also pointing non-stop, consistently responding with "so BIG", and waving bye-bye at the appropriate times.   

biggest challenge of the month: transitioning off bottles - we're doing cow's milk for you at school and it's been fine, except you really loved bottle time.  this has also meant a certain degree of weaning for me, and that's just been hard (more from an emotional standpoint than anything else).  we're still nursing morning and night, but i no longer pump, and i try to only offer you milk in a cup at home.  it just breaks my heart that you're this big already.  

nicknames: i can't believe i haven't mentioned: brosef, brochacho, na-bro-leon, anything with bro integrated.  

sleep: well, i think you're pretty consistently sleeping through the night now.  that is, you're down from 6:30/7-5:30 or so.  so, not quite as long (or as late) as i'd like, but we'll take it!  we will work on keeping you up a little later and hope to get you to sleep a little later in the morning, but so far you're having none of it.  you're trying to drop your second nap, but this is a tough transition for you my bug.  

temperament/personality: you are really a laid-back, independent, happy baby.  you escalate and de-escalate quickly.  you're non-stop fun.  

eating: i can't fully express how thankful i am for another good eater.  the other day i made cauliflower and broccoli with lemon zest and i am pretty sure you put down at least a full cup serving.  you're awesome.   

motor development: you're on the path to walking but not there yet.  you're really content at being a fast and dynamic crawler, so we'll see what happens over the course of this month...

happy birthday my darling boy.  please slow time down just a little bit so i can relish this incredible time.  

privatization.

i've decided to make our blog private.  i've been thinking about it for a while, and it seems like the safe/smart choice.  i originally hoped this would be a discussion forum, where i could get advice and suggestions from other parents/people.  but, mostly i post and i see that people read it, but no one comments and it's starting to just make me feel a little weird about it all.  so.

i think i can add people to the list that i can "allow" to read it, if you're so inclined.  so just let me know, either via email or in the comments.

oh, and happy new year!

a barrage of pictures.

we have not been great at photographing lately.  i'd say for like a year.  which is unfortunate, since this is the first year hollis has existed out in the elements.  we've done ok with the monthly photo shoots, but the day-to-days have not really happened with frequency.  another thing to add to the list of resolutions for 2014.  

i have tried to take some photos with my iphone over the last month or so.  jb and i went to san francisco on a little getaway sans kidlets for a weekend, and i will aggregate those with the ones on the big camera and post about that weekend eventually.  below are about a zillion other pictures from thanksgiving in wichita, to random dinners out, to closing day on the new house, to whatever else has been around.  

pre-bedtime party on daddy's lap.

new hat.

cold swinging in kansas.

baby in a box.

cold day pre-thanksgiving.

$65 to mail this guy.

ek's car sorting exercise.

another baby, another box.

i'm not the only one justin sasses.

emme decorated her sneakies.

thanksgiving dinner.

hungry dudes.

on the way to see santa.

a boy and (one of) his dog.

outside of pinthouse pizza.

our elf, nemo, made his first appearance at our new house.

it runs in the family.

apparently, when you buy a new house you get to drink your favorite dark beer.  that is, if your realtor is awesome.  

dogs' first night in the new house.  

emme pre-first slide on her new playscape - it was about 26 degrees.  

not the tree we ended up with.

babies, haystack.

doors tied shut.

more haystack.

decorating the tree.

beans & rice.

baby plumbing.

cow's milk.

no ornament is safe.

merry christmas!

old house/new house.

red house blue house.  not really.  our old house was pink brick and this new one is like grey stone and some green siding with brown trim.  anyway.  we are in the new house!  yay.

as i'm sure i've mentioned, we have been looking for another house off and on for almost a year.  mostly on, though we took a little hiatus when jb was without employment.  the real estate market in austin has been bonkers and we wanted to be more central and we wanted to be in a neighborhood where we'd be able to send the kidlets to public school, SO...hence the onus for moving now.  we were scared that if we held out until closer to kinder-time, we wouldn't be able to afford to live central anymore.  also, it's hard to live in a great house (which our last house really was) knowing that you're not going to be there for very long, and not being able to fully settle because you will probably be moving.

so.  at the end of october, we saw a house list on a wednesday.  it is in a neighborhood we love, near jb's work, good size, good layout, no mandatory right-away projects, and no pool (turns out tiny kids + pool = neurosis for me).  we saw it within two hours of it listing, put in an offer right away, and got accepted!  this was a small miracle, as we've put in a few other offers that we've lost over the last several months.

anyway....everything has really fallen into place and gone incredibly smoothly with this whole process.  of course, moving at any time is a beast.  moving during the holidays with two small humans is a super beast unbeknownst to me before this endeavor.  we listed our old house on ek's birthday and got an offer right away.  we closed on that house wednesday (dec. 11), nine days after closing on our new house.  so, timing-wise, this was really incredible.

a word about the old house.  i really loved that house.  i think we all did.  it is where emme learned to walk, where hollis was born.  it was spacious and comfortable and served so well as our little slice of existence for two and a half years.  this was our first time selling a house, and i have not been without nostalgia about it.  we had lots of fun with the pool, in the kitchen, sitting on the front porch waiting for daddy to get home.  we made it our home in every sense of the word for the time we were there.

and now here we are.  a new place, a new normal.  we will build our lives here, make new memories.  we are grateful for this house - nestled in a place where we can (hopefully) find a community, a sense of belonging.  so, once we get out of all the boxes and chaos, we are excited to begin!

emmeline at age three.

emme turned three almost a month ago and i haven't posted anything about her, really, in an eternity.  it's easier with babies - there are specific, huge leaps and bounds each month, whereas the nuances of ek's development are harder to capture and articulate.  but i will try.

ek is a curious little chatterbox these days.  we went through a pretty intense month or so in there where i was really scared we'd be dealing with the "terrible threes" in a major way.  she can still get mega-crazy, especially when she's tired or has been eating super crappy food, but for the most part she has settled down a ton.  maybe i have also lightened up a little tiny bit.  ha.  one of her teachers and parent/teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago suggested trying to turn battle areas (bath time, meal time, any time she doesn't get to exclusively dictate her own agenda) into a game.  this has been surprisingly effective, even though i felt like i was sort of doing it already.

anyway...also at parent/teacher conferences, her teacher described emme as very sympathetic - when other children/people get upset or sad, she is right there ready to comfort them and offer support.  she's learning boundaries...namely that people don't always want to be soothed and that personal space is important.  that's a tough lesson for littles.

emme is extremely helpful and always wants to be involved in whatever activity is going on.  she is obsessed with her babies (how is it possible that we've accrued this many stuffed animals?  they must go!) and loves to build "cozy little nests" that take over whole areas of real estate and are essentially just piles of animals, blankets, pillows, and whatever other random things have struck her fancy of late (examples include: remote controls, stickers, a spoon, one of my bras, anything hollis likes to play with).

academically, ek is in a good place i think.  she is starting to learn her beginning sounds and is loving that.  she's good at counting, especially when you can get her to slow down for a minute.  she loves to sing and dance and make up rhymes and can collapse into silliness at any moment.

she's still a thumb-sucker.  we pushed her to quit a little bit after her first dentist's appointment in august, but with the move and all the other insanity, we kind of let it drop.  now she's in a bit of a rebellious phase, so it's going to take some intense carrot and/or stick to break it.  i'm trying not to be too concerned - i know plenty of thumb-suckers, and there's no guarantee that she would avoid orthodontia even if she DID quit now (i had plenty and i never sucked my thumb; jb had none and he held on to his thumb until kinder).  so...another thing to work on...at some point.

our adventurous little eater is still pretty good.  we're seeing some random signs of finickiness, and preferences for all those toddler-ish foods like mac n cheese, quesadillas, chicken nuggets, etc.  i blame the slacking in her diet on the move and fully intend to get back to offering mostly healthy choices once we're a little tiny bit more settled and we have an actual refrigerator that belongs to us.  sigh.  but even still - i love what a great eater our girl is.  she's also still a great sleeper.  lots of kids her age are starting to give up naps, and thankfully we are not there yet.  she naps hard at home on the weekends - usually a good 2-3 hours, sometimes even longer.  she sleeps all night 99% of the time, and prefers to roll around in bed and take 30 minutes to wake up in the morning...she gets that from her daddy for sure.

she's about average in terms of height and weight.  i think at her 3-year appointment she was 36 inches and 31 pounds.  it's been a month or more, so i can't remember, but i definitely have it written down somewhere.  ha.  she had her first haircut right before her birthday and her hair is still wispy with a slight curl and about 2,000 cowlicks.  she loves to have her nails painted and she loves holiday decorations.  she wants to be outside as much as possible - especially if a slide or a swing are involved.  she's bossy and funny.  she's a great kid, all around.  i swear i'm not biased.

11 months.

well, here we are more than a month down the road and now my baby is less than a month away from being one year old.  it breaks my heart but i gotta say i love this little boy more every single day, if that's even possible.  is it bad to say that your own child is delightful?  is that too braggy?  because seriously.  this dude is pure joy.  

physical: pretty short, kinda chubby, big ol' head.  five teeth.  blonde hair getting thicker and longer - it's starting to curl a little bit at the base of his neck and i DIE over the cuteness.  he probably weighs about 23 lbs. and i bet he's on the brink of a height growth spurt.  he grows a lot like his big sis - chubs up then shoots up.  

likes: trying to stand/walk.  being able to get into anything and everything.  playing with his big sister, which includes pulling her hair, trying to eat her food, and generally being wherever she is (thank god for patient big sisters - ek has been amazing).  still loves baths, especially with emme.  is obsessed with dancing and playing music.  he has this little side-to-side head bop that is hilarious and makes him bust out laughing when you do it back at him.  the other night we were picking out paint colors for the kids' new bedrooms and justin played the "drums" on the paint cans and hollis freaked out trying to bang on them, too.  musical kid - his daddy is so proud.  

dislikes: not being allowed to eat tortilla chips.  not being allowed to drink what adults/his sister are drinking.  not being allowed to dive off of surfaces face first into the floor.  

biggest achievement of the month: we've got consistent clapping and waving!  we've also got some "so big" gestures going on, which i think is the cutest thing.  he's now making the "na" and "ma" sounds - one step closer to saying mama, which is all i want for christmas.  he is consistently saying da, like dog, and tetta for etta, so i suppose those are kind of first words?  in any case, home boy is loving on the pups these days and they are so sweet with that.  

biggest challenge of the month: i don't think this month has been too challenging.  i adore this time/age.  we are moving (this week), so that is a challenge, but that's not a hollis-specific challenge.  

nicknames: the duder has remained pretty consistent with nicknames.  no new ones come to mind this month. 

sleep: between traveling to kansas for thanksgiving and moving to a new house, we haven't seen much improvement in the sleep department.  BUT...it hasn't gotten any worse, so that's a small victory, right?  

temperament/personality: i think i've already gushed enough, but this kidlet is so easy-going.  

eating: all the things.  hollis especially wants to eat whatever emme is eating, which is occasionally stuff like chicken fingers, pizza, and tortilla chips (i will be the first to admit that the travel/house packing/move diet has been less than exemplary).  as a baby, i cannot allow these things to be consumed by him quite yet, so he gets a little mad.  

motor development: this month's quest has been independent standing.  he's close.  

i still owe ten month photos, and we need to take the 11 month photos AND our christmas card.  there's a lot going on right now.