Yard work

Today was a beautiful day! We spent the morning
at our local hardware store stocking up on yard work stuff
(wheelbarrow, rakes, etc.) and the afternoon working outside.
We have soooo many leaves and sticks in our yard. Last fall I
spent some time racking up the leaves and dragging them across
the street on a tarp. Our neighbor is nice enough to let us
toss the yard waste into the ravine behind their house. The
tarp method took forever! The wheelbarrow method today went so
much faster! Of course, having Alan outside helped too :) Lex
took the world’s longest nap, about three and a half hours, and
Eve napped in the stroller for awhile, nursed, then napped in
the belly pack. Rough life for the kiddies, huh? :)

By the end of the afternoon we had about 1/4
of the yard done, but maybe closer to 1/3 of the total work
(the leaves aren’t evenly dispersed on the lawn). We are
planning to spend most of tomorrow outside as well (assuming
good weather) and hopefully we’ll get all of the leaves and
sticks cleared away. Then maybe we’ll get some grass growing!
We have great flower gardens that the previous owners planted.
I’ve been raking them out and finding lots of little buds
peeking through the dirt. I can’t wait to see what grows
:)

I’m also going to try a small veggie
garden this year, so we bought a shovel and trowel and the like
(expensive day at the hardware store!) Once we get the yard
raked up I’m going to start digging a square (over the next few
weeks) and plant some stuff in May. We’ll see how it goes. I’m
not much of a gardener, but I’d like to be :) I have fond
memories of my mom’s veggie garden when I was growing up. I’d
like to share those with Lex and Eve as well.

Survived my first day

I survived my first day home alone with
the kids! So proud. The morning was easy because Eve slept most
of the time and Lex was in a great mood. Afternoon was a bit
more challenging because she was awake and just wanted to be
held, and his fever came back a bit so he was cranky. He also
kept asking to go outside but the weather was so crappy I
couldn’t take them out. He even woke up from his nap and
announced that he wanted to go grocery shopping! I think he is
a bit stir-crazy… as am I. I’m going to attempt to get them
out of the house and to a playgroup tomorrow. Then my mom is
coming, so I get a reprieve for the rest of the week. Next week
I seriously have to go it alone :) Wish me luck!

All better

Lex, thankfully, is all better today. His
fever seems to have broken early this morning. He woke up at
1am so I went in and took his temp (101.9) and gave him more
Tylenol. Then he sat in his bed and talked to himself for an
hour and a half!! Between him and Eve I was awake from midnight
to 2:30am. Time to hit the caffeine this morning! The weather
today is really awful, cold, windy, rainy. We have lots of tree
branches down again too. Hopefully the nice weather will be
back soon!

Slow Sunday

We had a slow day today. We made it out
grocery shopping in the morning, then just stories and TV for
the rest of the day. The weather was awful (started out cloudy,
moved to heavy rain/sleet, and ended in a wet, heavy snow
that’s still falling now). Lex also woke up with a fever that
worsened in the afternoon. When we took his temperature just
before lunch it was 102. Poor boy! So we spent the afternoon
cuddling and resting. He felt so bad he even resisted the
medicine, which normally he likes and frequently even asks
for… “want little bit medicine.” Hopefully he feels better in
the morning and hopefully Eve doesn’t catch what ever he’s
got!

Playtime

My friend Michelle brought us dinner
tonight (yummy!!) and tonight was the first time Lex and Dylan
really played together. Normally they play independently
(parallel play, as it’s called), but tonight they chased each
other around the house and played hide-and-seek, toddler style.
It was so funny and they were both laughing so hard.

Lex has become a big fan of hide-and-seek. He
and Alan play a lot. He is very good at the counting and
seeking part, but not so good at the hiding. He’ll put his head
down and count to twenty, then run around the house saying
“Where’s daddy?” He’ll look under and behind things, narrating
the whole way “Not under the table,” “Not behind the chair,”
“Not under the ball.” Yeah, he looks in fairly unlikely places
sometimes :) Then, when he sees Alan, he gets all excited and
says “THERE’S DADDY!!” Very cute. When it’s his turn to hide
he’ll tell Alan where’s he is going to hide and then get very
concerned if Alan doesn’t find him right away. Or else he’ll
hide somewhere, like in the closet, then start counting and
come out when he gets to ten or twenty. I don’t think he fully
gets the concept of hiding :) Needless to say, Alan does most
of the hiding and Lex does most of the seeking when they
play.

So perfect

We have the cutest little family! Look at these
kids (I have kids!! Plural!) Aren’t they adorable? :) Right now
Eve is sleeping on my shoulder (after being awake all morning!)
and Alan and Lex are at storytime at the library. I’m going to
miss Alan when he goes back to work. So is Lex!

On a milestone (kinda) note, at ten days old Eve
has a belly button! Her umbilical cord nubby fell off this
morning, leaving sticky-outtie belly button that looks like a
smile :) Now we can give her a proper bath instead of the
sponge bathes that she hates so much.

Hello Fish

Lex had crackers with dinner tonight. When
one ended up in the rough shape of a fish he announced “there’s
a fish” and began swimming it around the edge of his plate.
Then he swam it right up to his face and said “hello fish, how
are you today?” Then it swam around his plate a few more times
and right into his mouth!

Eve’s first checkup

We took Eve to our new pedi for her first
real checkup. It’s actually the same woman who saw her at the
hospital. When we got there Alan looked at a picture on the
wall and said “Hey, that’s my boss!” Turns out they are married
:) Small world, huh? Anyway, Eve is up to 8lbs 10oz, far
exceeding the “regain birth weight by 2 weeks” goal, and 20.5″
long. She’s a champ! Everyone keeps commenting on what a big
girl she is and she just looks so tiny to me — compared to Lex
anyway. I swear he doubled in size over the weekend. It’s
especially noticeable when he’s on the changing table because
he is as long as the table is and I think his thighs are almost
as big as her belly :) He has been having a rough day today. I
think it’s a combination of the cold and being overtired from
the weekend. He cried off and on all morning, for no real
reason, and pretty much passed out when we put him down for
nap. Hopefully he wakes up feeling a little better.

Pink

We had a great “welcome baby” party for Eve on
Saturday. It was actually a “welcome baby/1week/Dad’s bday”
party. Lots of people and food and presents. Lex took awhile to
warm up to everyone then had a great time running around, and
Eve slept through the whole thing. She didn’t even help open
presents! We are now fully stocked on pink stuff. I did the
pinkest load of laundry ever today. The lint trap looked like a
fluffy pink cloud :)