PARK VISIT

SLEEPING BEAUTY

I'm exhausted.

My little Sleeping Beauty hasn't exactly lived up to her name this week. Of course, she's still a beauty, but ... let's just say I'm exhausted (have I mentioned that yet?).

AA is an absolute pro at flipping from her back to her belly. She has yet to master flipping from her belly to her back. She sleeps on her back. She grows frustrated ... really frustrated ... when she cannot roll to her back to fall asleep. Yet she loves to flip. So rather than sleeping blissfully through the nights, I tend to awake every other hour to loud grunting ... and eventually crying (if I don't act soon enough). I enter her nursery and see my sweet pea on her belly with her head perched nearly above the crib railing. She is wide awake by this time, smiles at me and begins cooing. I tell her it isn't morning and she needs to go back to sleep. I flip her over. She flips back. I flip her over. She flips back and laughs. I suddenly vision how my life will be when she's a teenager. I rock her until she is drowsy, put her on her back and fall back asleep. I do this same routine two hours later.

Tomorrow is my day off ... we will definitely be working on 360 degree rollovers during her wake times!

EASTER WEEKEND

Indeed we are blessed again this Easter season!JP really enjoyed coloring Easter eggs.
(And I tried to relax and surrender control as I watched him throw the eggs from one cup to another without patiently waiting for the brilliant colors to appear!)

Grandma K was surely entertained!

After our not-so-joyous encounter with Santa Claus in December, I was a little apprehensive to visit the "Eastaw Bunny." Thankfully, there was nothing but smiles.

Although I'm certain the kids liked seeing Boppa A even more than the bunny.

The kids participated in Easter crafts and games at the mall.

JP was so excited to see his basket (and AA's too!).

He quickly figured out how to hunt for Easter eggs ...

but he needed some help finding out what was inside.

JP tried his first (and only!) Easter peep (ew!)

After spending the weekend up north, we stopped in St. Cloud to see more family ... like Uncle J:

and Miss K:

and Boppa T:

Busy weekend!

EARS

Happy Easter from my two under two!

One of these days I'll get a new hobby!

TOES

She found 'em!

ANTIBIOTICS

I'm a horrible mother. Last weekend JP started acting irritable. I did a quick assessment ... looked in his ears and mouth, took his temp, gave him some tylenol, and blamed his c-r-a-b-b-y temperament on his loose cough and emerging teeth. As the week went by, three new teeth made an appearance and his cough went away. But the tears and tantrums continued. I didn't reassess the etiology of his sudden change in mood until Friday afternoon. I looked in his ears and saw a raging ear infection. Double ear infection, actually. Adam whisked him away to the walk in clinic and within an hour the two were back with a big pink bottle of Amoxicillin in hand. I'm just so horrible ... I should have looked much sooner! Other than his well child exams, JP has only visited the doctor on one other occasion. He's never had an ear infection before. He's never been on antibiotics. My mind just wasn't thinking down this path ... here he probably went the whole week in pain and I didn't do anything! After just a few doses of the medicine, JP is back to his sweet self.

SATURDAY

We started out our day with an impromptu photo shoot. Which, well, didn't go so well. It's next to impossible to capture my kids sitting still and smiling at the same time.

We then spent the day celebrating cousin Andrew's First Communion. JP was in absolute heaven playing with all of cousin Evan's toys. Evan was such a great kid ... he let JP play with everything. At one point in the afternoon, Evan came out to tell the adults "my room is destroyed by that baby!". Evan also told us "ugghh ... somebody get me a plug for my nose ... that boy stiiiinkks!" (Sure enough, dirty diaper!)

AA had a good time too ... she bonded with her Godfather!

FOUR MONTHS OLD

Weighing in at 15.5 pounds (70th percentile) and measuring 26 inches (90th percentile), my sweet baby AA is already FOUR months old! She has mastered the back-to-belly rollover and is working on the belly-to-back. She loves to stand when being held and is determined to sit on her own soon! AA is always kicking her legs and moving (as evidenced by her lovely bald spot on the back of her head!) She reaches for anything in sight and is already starting to chew on toys ... and, yes, the drool is coming (though she has HUGE shoes to fill if she wants to take after her brother!).

She sleeps from 7 pm until 7 am (or until I need to wake her to get going in the morning). AA normally takes four 1-2 hours naps during the day. She eats six times a day ... it's hard to believe that we can start rice cereal in a few weeks!

AA is a thumb sucker when she's tired. She's normally very content and full and smiles. She fusses if we leave her alone or hold her on her back.

And ... she just LOVES watching her big brother!

HAPPY MAMMA!

Last year on my birthday, I was in the peak of my first trimester with AA and felt extremely nauseous. Two years ago on my birthday, I was 30 weeks pregnant with JP and felt extremely huge. This year on my birthday... I'm a mom of two under two and feel extremely blessed! JP is really getting into birthday celebrations these days. He doesn't quite understand the need to say "birthday" when making his well wishes though ... all weekend long he kept shouting "Happy Mamma!" to me. Despite his c-r-a-b-b-y temperment over the weekend (due to a cough and emerging three teeth), these two words made my heart burst with joy each time he said them.

He helped me blow out the birthday candles (although he did a much better job at helping me eat the cake!).

JP helped me open birthday gifts (and signed "more" to A when I was finished!)

He even went shopping with A and picked out my very first "Mom" balloon (although I'm told he really wanted to buy the car one!). I'm so lucky!

WATER TOTS

JP started swimming lessons again today ... as a 21 month old babe, he's now a student of Water Tots instead of Water Babies! Although he LOVES taking baths and swimming in the tub, he's never been too fond of the big pool. He didn't necessarily hate the water or cry before, but he never seemed to enjoy it. We didn't know what to expect today as it's been over four months since he's seen a pool. We talked about it all morning long ... and JP loved it! He was the bravest little boy ever!