Insta Friday

I will forwarn you before you even start reading...I have not "unloaded" my iphone in a long time.  I was only going to include a few but...well...I didn't.  In other words...warning: long post. :)

We went to Great Wolf Lodge at the beginning of the month.  My child who never sleeps, fell asleep every time we walked into the water park.  We came home and bought the loudest sound machine we could find.  It isn't the same as the water park.  

Successful vacation =  2 crashed kids on the way home.

  Vacation equils spur the moment decisions.  Which I love.  We got to GWL early, and happened to see a Cracker Barrel.  Yum!

  I set her down to make dinner.  It was traumatizing.  She cried so hard she was gagging herself.  I brought my ergo in from my car.  She lives in it now, and I am ok with that.

  We fight over who gets to hold her while she sleeps on the weekends.  He won this time.

  I am 90% sure she is nocturnal.  He was up all night.  I finally had to wake her up at 10am.  Sleeping isn't ' her thing.

  She is her mother's daughter.  She loves chocolate just like me.
    She was doing "so big" until I got my phone out.  Stinker!
  His "Balentimes Day" Cake.

  She fell asleep on my, and I put her down to put my ergo on.  She stayed asleep.  Amazing.  Except I couldn't leave her there because she was on the couch.  Bummer.  
  Painting his Birthday Countdown.  
  Is it bad that my almost 3 year old can make me a cup of coffee by himself?

  Muffing tin breakfast. With black olives. My kid is goofy.

   This is the first time her crib has been in her room since her name has been up.  She is 10 1/2 months old. 

  My little Mini Me.

  Best. Idea. Ever. They were entertained for hours.

  Karson was trying to build his zoo.  Ella was trying to destroy his zoo.


9 more days!  Now there are only 7 :(


  Someone learned how to climb.  Bad news.

If you do not have an Ergo-go buy one.  She is sleeping in it as I type.


  Yes, that is my 10 month old sledding down the hill.  She LOVES it!
  Waiting at the airport for Nana's airplane to land.

  Smores over the fire.  Yes please!

  Family movie night & dinner in the livingroom.
  "Mama, sit with me at the toasty fire."

  She loves puzzles!
Linking up with Jeannett at Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday.

Karson & Ellary Updates

Oh this boy.  He has me laughing all.day.long.  And when I'm not laughing, it is because he has me so confused on how to discipline him.  He struggles sometimes to be a nice Big Brother.  He is learning.  He is almost three.  He gave up his nap the week before Christmas.  He goes to bed at 7:30 now.  He walks into my room at exactly 7am, and asks me to "hold tight" to him under the blanket to "keep warm my piggies."  I love the way he structures his sentences.  His favorite thing to do right now is play in the snow. He loves to play on the deck & help Daddy shovel.  We are counting down the days until his Birthday.  He is so excited for his Bumpa Truck Birthday Cake.  He asks me all the time "dis for my birfday?"  I love him.  Some funny 'Karson-isms' lately:

Karson is cracking me up lately with the things he says.  A few funny ones lately...

Me: "Karson Allen Craig, if you jump off my bed again you will be in time out. Do you understand?!"
Karson: "Mmm...maybe not."

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Karson: "Mama make 'mock-a-moli.'" (guacamole)

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Me: "Karson, are you supposed to jump off the couch?"

Karson: "Mmmm...maybe not." 

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"Mama Karson's finger leaking!!"

 (While Karson was taking a shower, he noticed the water running off his fingers. He immediately panicked and started crying.) 

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"No, Mommy. Stop, stop! Just pretend. It not a cookie, it just play doh."  

(He brought me a play doh cookie, and I pretended to eat it.)

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"Mommy! Me hear Santa's sleigh!!!"

(Said while putting out his reindeer food on Christmas Eve)  

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Me "Karson, do you want me to make pancakes for breakfast?"
Karson: "No thanks mama. Sarsa just chillin'"

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Friend: "Karson, why are you so skinny?" 

Karson: "Sarsa have no butt."

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  This girl.  I see those blue eyes at all hours of the night still.  She still hasn't figured out to sleep, and while I am usually OK and have learned to function on only a few hours of sleep,  I have struggled lately.  I am praying she figures it out soon because this Mama is tired!  While she hasn't figured out how to sleep, she has figured out how to walk.  All over the place.  Everywhere.  She rarely crawls anymore.  She can stand up on her own, but doesn't realize it and only does it on accident.  She loves her Mama, but is starting to trust others as well.  She loves her brother!  She also loves to pull her brother's hair.  Her brother doesn't love this.  She has absolutely no fear.  She loves chocolate, but that is about it.  She still doesn't eat a whole lot.  She signs 'more' and 'all done.'  She knows what she wants, and if she doesn't get it--watch out! 

InstaFriday

Happy Friday! Linking up with Jeannett at Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday.     If i wanted to get anything done on Sunday, this is how it was going to happen.  I love my Ergo. ...and also, I should have known what was to come when my clingy little girl was even more clingy than usual.       Monday Morning. I knew the second I picked up her hot little body that she had a fever. The problem with fevers...all she wanted to do was snuggle. The more we snuggled, the higher her fever got. Ellary does not sleep unless she is being held. Ever.       Insert genius Mommy idea to nurse her to sleep on a blanket on the floor. She actually took a nap. On a blanket. In our hallway. For 45 minutes. Seriously amazing if you know my girl.       I love him. He is going to be 3 in one month from today. I can not believe that was 3 years ago...     The plus side to Sissy being sick, and needing all of Mommy's attention: mac and cheese dinner & Mickey Mouse at his special table in the living room.     This started as a waterfall to jump over. Mommy nixed that idea. A ramp for his food was a much better idea. Love his imagination.       "Mama, don't you dare even think about putting me down."     Sad little girl, who was burning up.   Blurry picture, yes. Muffin Tin Lunch idea...genius! He actually ate all of it, and was so so so excited!     Tippy Toes. Love. A little girl who felt well enough to play for a few minutes before coming back for snuggles. Love.       Coffee. Playtime in Brother's room. Happy kids. Happy Mama. ...until all Hockey Sticks broke loose when Ellary touched Karson's train tracks.       Oh Molly. She looked so comfy sleeping on Ellary's huge bear. Too bad she drools so bad when she sleeps, we didn't let her stay there. Sorry Moll.       Looking through the Hanna Andersson Spring Catalog. Important stuff. Much more important than sleeping. He insisted on his special lunch again yesterday. He sat for an hour and grazed. He ate it all. I seriously love this idea.   "Hey Mama, there is a baby in the mirror." He needed a special treat last night. He needed something to keep his tired self occupied until bed time. Making Chocolate Chip Muffins with Mommy and waiting for them to be done was just the ticket. They are so yummy!


This would not bake Brother happy. Notice her polka dotted forehead? She has a roseola rash.  A roseola rash that isn't supposed to itch. Doctors lie.  Poor girl is miserable. She can't sleep because her forehead and eyes itch so bad. She looked horrible at 1am. She still looked horrible at 3am. Long night. Hoping for a happier baby today. With no rash. And no fever.

Enjoy your Weekend!

Mommy & Ellary

I am the only Sister, to 3 brothers.  Needless to say, I was in pink.  Always.  Not just pink, but always a pink dress.  In the rare event I wasn't in pink, I was in a dress.  A fancy smocked dress.  My Mom kept every one of them.  I have a cedar chest in my basement full of dresses from when I was little.  Dresses in perfect condition.  Dresses I can not wait for Ellary to fit into.  

Ellary in my Coming Home From the Hospital outfit.

Her baby pictures and my baby pictures are identical.  Except I had more hair.

 

 Ellary in my smocked baby dresses.

My favorite...the blue dress.  I love the blue dress.  There has always been a picture of me in the blue dress hanging up in my parents house.  It is still a little big on Ellary, but I wanted to make sure I got a picture of her in it before it got too cold.  I started writing this post in November, right after I took this picture.  

 Ellary in my blue dress & a picture of me in it.

You can see her rosy cheeks, because it was cold out.  And she was drooling like crazy.  And I didn't take the glass out of the picture frame of me, so it is hard to see.   But, I love it.  

InstaFriday

Happy Friday! Linking up with Jeannett at Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday!       Karson likes to bring every one of Ellary's toys into the living room and dump them out.  Then try to barricade her from getting into the kitchen.  Basically, he is saying "Here Baby Ella, play with your toys...and don' t you dare touch my choo-choo tacks." ps...it doesn't work  

Ellary tried to pull an all nighter, on a night we had to get up early the next morning to take Nana to the airport.  After only sleeping a few hours, I woke her up to nurse her before we left.  She made it very clear she wasn't going to wake up.
  So I took her into the living room to nurse her.  She is a fan of nursing.  We do it often. Especially at all hours of the night. I laid her on the ground...she stayed asleep.  My daughter does not sleep unless she is being held.  Little girl was O.U.T.


Look they are playing together...and no one is crying.  Happy Happy Mama!


  Goin' for a stroller ride.  While Mama ran.  Pushing a stroller.  Hard work!

  Apparently listening to Mommy yell at the guy on the Couch to 5K app who says "begin running" and takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to say "begin walking" is also hard work.  Two minutes into our run and she was in dream land.
  The upside to having a baby that does not sleep unless she is being held...mandatory break from cleaning for baby snuggles on the couch.  (and no-she really does not sleep unless she is being held-not kidding)
  Karson begs to go play outside the second he wakes up in the morning.  I finally gave in at 10, and bundled him to to go outside.  I later realized it was a whole 2 degrees outside.  Oops. 

  New walker-walk: funny!
  The cure for the crabbies-bath time!  Karson spent 2 hours in there.  He went through 3 tubes of bath paint, and an entire tank of hot water.  He came out a happy...pruny...boy.  Well worth it!

  Mama's girl!
  "Ella, give Mama a kiss." I love baby tricks!
  He needed a special treat one night this week.  The hardest part of homemade ice cream is waiting for it to be ready to eat.  He stood there for a half hour telling me "almost done mommy...almost ready!"