All Better.....

Well, as the title states it... we are all (finally) better. All the kiddos are done with their antibiotics and back to their old selves. The boys are back to not napping during the day (unnnghhh) tho I do put them in their rooms for "quiet time" most days just to have some "me" time and get things done around here (shower, clean etc). But we've been enjoying the GREAT weather and getting the boys outside a lot... they LOVE it out there. Nothing like some good fresh air and running around to wear them out for a good night's rest. :) Last week I even was adventurous enough to haul all three kids with me in to go shopping at Walmart (hate that place). Walmart has these new carts that work REALLY well for two kids, and we had a small list of things to get so Evie and her car seat fit nicely right in the main part of the cart. Everyone did really well so it was a positive experience ... must try it again sometime :) And just this last weekend Grandma Diane came up to visit and got her fill of her grandchildren - so that was a fun time for everyone.

Evie... poor little Evie. Though she is feeling better she is going straight from illness (ear infection) to teething. She is fine most of the time but nighttime is a little worse than normal. She has a hard time getting to sleep and wakes frequently and is obviously uncomfortable. I've given in and given her some motrin on a few occasions and that seems to help. So we're just waiting for her to pop through that 2nd tooth that seems to be bothering her. Now that she's feeling better she's gotten her appetite back too. She is just scarfing down the solids and back to drinking a decent portion of formula daily (still not the recommended amount, but if you look at her, she definitely isn't suffering and has quite a bit of chub). She's just such an easy and happy baby. When she does cry (which isn't often) it is usually something big .... she's hurt, very overtired or just REALLY wants that bottle that she sees in your hand. Otherwise she is just all content and smiles all day long which makes her such a breeze to care for. Lately she loves standing up too - she will grasp onto your fingers and pull herself up into a standing position and is just happy as can be standing there for a very long time. Even does some deep knee bends/ple-ays to show off her leg strength. She's just so very sturdy. Now we've just got to work on crawling with her ... tho she seems content to get around by "butt scooting" across the floor. Very often she will be feet from where I had originally put her just bouncing on her butt and smiling proudly at her accomplishments.

The boys... well they are LOVING being outside. Mainly they love putting on their new boots. While at Walmart last week I let the boys pick out a new pair of galoshes/rain boots to stomp around in outside. Our yard is SUCH a mess from last fall/winter's construction with dirt and much everywhere, so the boots are a must if we are going to spend any amount of time outside. They wanted to put their boots on right there in the store... but I was able to put them off until we got home. They wore them around for the rest of the day/night and refused to take them off. It has now been explained that they can only be worn outside cuz they are dirty and they seem to understand that.. but now just want to put them on all the time and romp around outside. You should see their face light up when I even MENTION going outside. MacKay was always more about digging up the remaining patches of snow (now it is all gone - bummer for him) and picking up and showing me rocks, while Oscar just loved going in the garage to look at "Daddy's Traaa-Ker" (riding lawn mower) and running to the edge of our yard to point at the school bus parked just a couple houses down from us. Just obsessed with buses and tractors lately. I've had fun snapping pictures of their outside fun though.

The boys have also been little chatter boxes lately. They constantly want to show their knowledge of things and point things out and label them... and they keep repeating themselves over and over and over and over again until you FINALLY acknowledge it and say, for example, "Yes Oscar... that is a semi truck" :) Oscar is obsessed with ownership as well..... in this last week I have found out that it is "Daddy's Traaa-Ker", "Daddy's Shower" and "Daddy's Vacuum" .... but it is "Mommy's Garbage" and "Mommy's Sink". Interesting..... :) But they are very inquisitive asking what things are, loving to be read to ... or should I say loving to look through pages and point everything out that they know. They know most of their colors now and can count to 10 with me pretty well.... but a lot of the times they will get distracted and the numbers don't go in order anymore. It's so fun to see them learning all of this new stuff.

Well here are some of their newest pictures.... again, sans the nice camera. Which I can give an update on. We received it back from Nikon late last week, only to immediately run it into Best Buy for service and find out it will be yet ANOTHER 3 weeks before I see it. Good news is that they will know in the first 7-10 days if it is able to be fixed or if they will junk it.

Oscar sucking on a grape freezy pop - this was when he was sick and had a raging temperature. He really liked this treat, tho MacKay didn't want anything to do with it.

Evie during one of her baths... and a picture of Evie wearing her first pair of jeans. I know I know, weird that it has taken this long, but I just love sticking to onesies and sleepers for the first 6 months - so much easier.

Oscar and MacKay (not feeling well) sorta cuddling up on the couch watching "Up" together one morning

Oscar and MacKay sporting their new boots .... and Oscar with his new set of golf clubs. He thought the golf bag was a vacuum...

Goofy MacKay with his bud Angus. First picture he was leaning over and pointing out his eyes and counting them "One.. Two.. Eyes"..... and the second picture he just decided to go lay down on Angus and cover up with his blanket saying "Angus sleeping"

Next is just a ton of pictures shot of the boys playing outside.

Oscar with his prized possession, "Okar's Traa-Ker" .... love the picture of him in his hat. He's the only one I can get to wear hats like these just for the fun of it - MacKay will only wear his winter hat when it is cold.

MacKay running around and playing in the last bits of remaining snow we had ... and lastly showing me one of the MANY rocks he found and wanted to save (putting in the back of Okar's Traa-Ker)

MacKay and Oscar trying their best to figure out how their Schwinn Low Rider trikes work - they haven't quite gotten the concept of pedaling yet.

Just a few cute pictures I was able to snap of the boys together.. even working together to scoop snow into the trailer of Okar's Traa-Ker

MacKay worked diligently for about 20 minutes scooping snow and putting it into the trailer of Okar's Traa-Ker .... I couldn't believe how that kept his attention.

Oscar on his Thomas the Train trike and with his hoe. Love the last couple picture with the bus in the background... can just hear his sweet little voice repeatedly saying "Skoo Bus, Mommy..... Look Skoo Bus ..... Daddy's Bus" - love that he thinks that is Daddy's bus. :)

Lastly, just a happy picture of our smiley little girl. If you look close enough you can even see a hint of that little protruding tooth on the bottom.

Geez.... I look at these pictures and I just want my Nikon D40x back ..... soon hopefully.

Until next time...