Lillian putting on Mama's Boots

She wanted this so badly. It was delightful to watch....

Play date with Maddie/Vickie/Joseph and Auntie Weekend

Alan went to Boston for a long weekend so Auntie Colleen came to stay with us for a couple nights. We snuggled down at the house on the cold, rainy Saturday but Sunday was beautiful so we got to go to Vickie and Joseph's house and see Maddie and then Auntie Amy and her friend Dave and my friend Breanne came over on Sunday afternoon to play some baseball!

Rainy Saturday snuggles.

Serious Lincoln Log building

I took about 100 pictures of the three of them and this is the best one I got. 

Hugs all around as we left.

Snack outside.

Sunday afternoon backyard baseball.

Eating with his new construction silverware. 

Reading with Dave.

PBJ and popcorn

Because Alan was out of town I fed the kids Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for dinner two nights in a row. They loved it the first night and were way more interested with the side of popcorn the second night. 

Bagel breakfast

Simon, Lillian and I went out for breakfast before school on Friday. It was Fancy Outfit day and Simon was looking quite dapper. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the two kids together looking so night!

Lillian 18 month well visit (1.5 years)

It amazes me that Lillian has only been a part of our family for a year and a half! She is so fun and funny!

1. Lillian is so funny and fun. She loves to laugh and loves it when we laugh.
2. She has exceeded the 100 words that we planned to track. If you are curious about what words she has check out the Lillian Words and Stats page.
3. She says new words every day and will often surprise us with the words that she knows. She can string many words together. Her most frequent thing to say now is "No Hit Mama".
4. She has started saying no as a default - only a matter of time, I guess. We hear No-no-no pretty often.  When she says it she makes a super cute puckered face which makes it sort of hard not to smile when she says no.
5. She unfortunately has started hitting (and kicking). Mostly for attention or to test the waters as she will sometimes walk up to you and mock hit you until you pay attention to her. Though she definitely will not hesitate to really hit or kick you if you pick her up when she wants to be down.
6. She will make a buzz sound and lay on the ground laughing, waiting for the tickle bug to find her. 
7. She is not even a little bit shy. At her 1.5 year check up she walked right up to the nurse to see what she was doing. She gets a little coy about saying hi when we're walking down the street but has no problem screaming bye-bye at everyone or yelling run at the passing runner (they don't always love that_. 
8. She LOVES animals. She can spot a dog, cat, bird or squirrel from a mile away, and she tells you all about it! She is a bit hesitant around dogs (which I am glad of as I don't want her running up to random animals), but she loves them most. 
9. She has started playing more games with Simon. One of my favorites is when they pretend to be a cat family together. He is usually the mama cat, and Lillian is either the baby cat or a monster cat depending on her mood.
10. She has turned into quite the climber. She uses her toys as step stools to climb up the couch or reach light switches, she can scale her high chair and the chairs in the kitchen. It is both impressive and nerve wracking!
11. She eats three meals a day with us, takes one two hour nap from noonish to two and is in bed from 5:30pm to 6:30am (but probably asleep from 6pm to 6am). She sleeps with four animal: Bob the Dinosaur, Hop the Bunny, Hippo the Blanket, and (her favorite) Digit the Piglet. 
12. She still loves Simon more than anything and will do or eat anything he is doing or eating. 
13. Anything that is on someone else's plate is by definition better than what is on her plate.
14. She understands very complex sentences and pays attention to what people talk about over her head and responds to it. 
15. She loves shoes - tries on everyones all the time; she loves bubbles, she loves socks (oh my she loves socks). She also really enjoys coloring and dancing. She will sing songs to herself as she is playing (the ABCs and Snuggle Puppy are her two favorites). She also love to count with her daddy as her diaper is changed. 
16. She loves hugs and is an amazing hugger. She makes the kissing sound instead of giving a kiss. 

Sleepy kids

Dark pictures but sweet sleepers. 

Feeling better this weekend!

Now that he is better, Simon is back to his sweet self. He and Lillian are already getting along better.

Long week for a sick boy

It was a long and rough week while Simon recovered from his surgery. He really was a trooper but it was still tiring for everyone.  He was feeling pretty good after the first day or two, though still on pain meds around the clock - after that the biggest challenge was convincing him that he still needed to take it easy and not run around.  We managed to get him sick of TV, movies, books and video games. I think he's really looking forward to getting back to school and spending some time with people other than Mama and Daddy. 

Simon's Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy and Tubes

Poor Simon had to have yet another surgery. For the past four months his ears have been blocked with mucus which has impaired his hearing. During that time he has had a constant stuffy nose, so much so that mucus would come out the kids eyes. We took him in for pink eye twice and both times were told that it was just boogers coming out of his eyes because he was so stuffy. We took him to an ENT and he recommended a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy and tubes in his ears.

This is his 4th or 5th time going under anesthesia and the poor kid isn't even 4 yet.  (1) Toe at 3.5 years old, (2) tear ducts at 11 months, (3) spine at 7 months and maybe (4) if you count what they gave him to stay still through his MRI at 4 months, but it was not a surgery. He only remembers the toe surgery, so he kept referencing his toe.

Surgery wasn't until 2:30, so he had the whole day to get nervous and hungry (no food after midnight!). There was a lovely woman named Becca that came to visit us as soon as we walked into the prep room and her job was essentially to explain to kids what was going to happen (I think it was called Child Life Specialist). She had an ipad to show pictures of the operating room, and Simon loved talking to her. She brought a couple toys and really helped him calm down. He headed off to surgery happy.

Sadly this was the hardest surgery he has had so far. He was pretty dazed and kept asking for me even when I was holding him. He scratched up his own face pretty badly and in the pictures from the recovery it looks a little like he has a bloody nose, but it's just where he caught himself with his robot arm (they wrap his IV). We ended up staying in the hospital a little longer than expected. Luckily Auntie Amy and Auntie Colleen came to watch Lillian so we didn't feel rushed.

When we turned off the tv in the recovery room Simon became more himself. He kept saying he heard little sounds and when we went to the bathroom he just about jumped out of his skin because the flush was so loud.

Nervous start.

Becca explaining to Simon what is going to happen before the surgery.

Ready to go, but sort of hoping the tv would magically turn on before he left.

Jenn came to visit him in the hospital right after surgery.

Super dazed Simon.

Guess where the TV was?

Looking more himself after tv is off and before we head out.

Letting Auntie Colleen smell his chicken broth.

Auntie Amy can smell it too!

Simon loved his "chicken coffee"