Friday, December 30, 2011

The rest of our holiday weekend went something like this

Matt, Loula, and the boys arrived late on Thursday before Christmas. We ended up spending most of Friday hanging out at home with the kids since all of the guys were going to the Redskins game on Christmas Eve. Sunday we hosted Christmas dinner at our house and got a TON of family pictures. We spent Monday in Winchester at Pete and Tiffany's house and then went to the Air and Space museum on Tuesday before heading over to Tom's parents' house for a birthday celebration for Alex.

Prepare yourselves for the cuteness and silliness.




















38 Weeks Old

And we all had a very merry Christmas

This Christmas with kids was the best so far. Stasa really got it. We were woken up by her running into our room, announcing, "SANTA BROUGHT ME PRESENTS!!" She then ran down the hall to wake up her cousins, Andreas and Alex, and then they all ran to Matt and Loula's room to wake them up AND THEN all the kids stood at the gate at the top of the stairs panting to be let downstairs. I'm pretty sure this face sums up how all of the kids felt upon seeing the presents:

Stasa LOVES her doll house and was so excited when we unveiled it.

Then there was the opening of stockings and presents. I think the kids had everything opened within 30 minutes. It was a whirlwind of tearing paper and excited screaming.

Seriously, this doll house is amazing. I love how big it is and that it was made by family members (me and Vince) and that she thinks all of her "little guys" belong in the house no matter their size.

And that's all she wrote. I'll post more later about our family-filled weekend. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Red Suited Fat Man

We dressed in our finest (even Baby), waited in line for an hour, and there were no tears. Santa success.

The Sick Attacks...aka why we've been MIA

It's been a little chaotic around here the past week or so. Stasa woke up one night coughing so hard she puked so I took her in to see the doctor the next day. And let me note - she had no other symptoms beyond a slight runny nose that just started and the cough. No fever. No whining. No appetite loss. Nothing.

She tested positive for RSV.

So she stayed home and we started nebulizer treatments every 4 hours during the day and every 6 at night and were told to come back in a couple of days so they could check her lungs. We were also told to monitor Lexi since RSV spreads fast and that we shouldn't be surprised if she ended up with it. Which she did. Between both kids, we've gone to the doctor for follow-ups every other day. Seriously. So many visits to check their lungs. And we're finally getting out of the woods. Both girls were cleared for daycare this week and we're weaning them off of the nebulizer. Just in time for Christmas.

Needless to say, it's been a looooooong week home with both girls. Thankfully Tom and I were able to tag team so we could both get some work done, too. And during that week, Lexi mastered a new trick. Standing Baby. She can stand all by herself for about half a minute and she's cruising like it's her job. Little sister is FAST.

I'll leave you with these pictures as I have to frantically clean the house before guests start arriving. Oh yeah, and wrap presents.





TEETH!



"I'm workin, Mommy. I work with Daddy."


Baby cruisin':




It's looked like Christmas for quite some time...




Homemade stockings:


35, 36, 37 Weeks Old



Monday, December 12, 2011

Conversations with Stasa (are they called conversations when only one person is doing all of the talking?)

Sitting in the car:
Mommy, I'm bigger now. I can go to the Redskins game. Mommy stay at Mommy's house and only Stasa will go. No. Stasa go to the game and Avery too and sometimes Lexi. We'll wear shoes and pants and a hat. Avery and Stasa. Stasa go and Avery go.

Looking at a picture of her Halloween pumpkin on my iPad:
Oh. My. God. Look at *that*.

Getting herself dressed in footed pajamas:
Mommy, mommy! These go on my arms? No. Let's think about it. These are tails? No, they're my feets.

Watching The Little Mermaid and Ursela comes on the screen:
Oh wow. She's BEAUTIFUL.

Telling me how it is:
"Mommy, listen. I wake up, I eat all my dinner. I get a freat. A candy cane freat."

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Can you tell it's been bananas around here?

Work is a bit busy for me right now. Okay, not just a bit - a lot. I've been focused on getting our course content finished and ready for the launch in January and things are sliding a bit at home, which just makes me stress a bit more. I can't stand piles of laundry and messy floors and yet here I am with Mt Laundry and floors in desperate need of cleaning. Ah well, at least the kids are happy, right? And by the time I get home I have zero interest in picking up my camera, so I've been relying on my iPhone's camera, which isn't half bad. We did manage to get our Christmas tree yesterday and I'm working on making a tree skirt for it, so there will be pictures of that. Promise. For now, here are some of the shots I've taken on my phone.

Stasa has her own tree. And it's pink. Of course.


I made new stockings for everyone so they would all match. I really wanted jingle bells on them, but I wasn't really liking the way they looked with bells. But you better believe I have plans for those bells - oh have I got plans.


While Tom was at the Redskins game, we hung out and the Lexi made a mess, which Stasa then tried to clean.


Yesterday was picture day at daycare - the one day I got to pick out both of their outfits. I really hope there's at least one cute shot of both girls - and yes, I know I take a gajillion pictures of them all of the time, but I *had* to get school pictures, too. Necessity.


And to wrap up - just a few random shots from the past week or so.
(btw, how awesome is this? Taken with my PHONE!)