February

February has flown by and with the photo bonanza below you'll understand why.  In between all the fun and visitors we've been under a germy dark cloud, with GG having strep once twice (just confirmed an hour ago, good grief), me having strep twice three times, Matt having pink eye, and Boo having a nasty skin outbreak.  The pediatrician said he wished that schools would just close for a week so everyone could quarantine themselves.  I know we would all benefit from getting out of dodge and spending a week somewhere warm and sunny.  Alas that is not in the cards so we'll have to settle for a mass disinfection party.  How many gallons of Clorox does it take to fill a tub full of toys? 

Germs aside, the month started off on a high note with our annual Super Bowl get together with friends from across the upper Midwest.  The big kids are getting SO big, it's crazy.  Also crazy was that our house was able to contain seven kids under 4 and 8 adults (plus two .5's with preggo mamas).  Everyone landed on Friday night and on Saturday we took the kids to a nearby place called the Big Backyard.  It's a giant warehouse space which houses a playground-sized climbing toy, plus there are balls, trikes, scooters, and big wheels scattered about.  Basically you pay $9 to let your monkey children burn off steam.  Whether at the park or somewhere like the Big Backyard I always find it fascinating to watch other parents to see how they, well, parent.  There's the majority who are trying to keep an eye on their kid so they don't kill themselves or get in a scrap with another kid, but there's a whole other segment who is too busy checking their Facebook updates or Tweeting about how lame their day is to keep an eye on what their kids are doing.  There are entire studies and articles now regarding parents who are too busy on their phones to spend time with their kids, and what it's doing to their children.  I'm all for letting (forcing) your kid to learn to play on their own but when my kid is getting run over by some other tot whose mommy is totally MIA it makes me nuts.  All righty then, stepping off soap box now.  After Big Backyard we headed back for afternoon snoozes and on Saturday night the kids had a pajama party and all watched a movie.  Well, the 3 and 4 year olds watched the movie, the 2 year olds checked in and out, and Lukas was not interested. The dads headed out to the local watering hole to catch up on old times.  Sunday was the big game which none of the moms actually watched (me at halftime "wait, when did it start?").  As per usual there was no shortage of food.  It was interesting feeding so many kids three squares a day.  Hellllllllooooooooo disposable plates!  Everyone scattered on Monday morning and I sent Matt and the kids off to pick up Ralphie (who was vacationing at Grandma's) so I could give the house a much needed once-over.  I knew the clock was ticking and by the time they got home the place resembled the pit it was before our crazy weekend.

getting big enough to play games together

showing us his fine work

i'm SMILING already!

three ladies in a tub.  we have one of the three boys but i can't figure out how to put little stars over their man-parts

the group!

two tables set up for kiddo meal time.  a little post-meal swiffer and all was right with the world

In between taking all of our medication, the rest of the month has been filled with random moments of fun. The weekend after Super Bowl we decided to hang out as a family so we headed off to the Mitchell Park Domes to kill a chilly Saturday morning.

love the humid tropical dome

big fans of the updated train dome

when a creative 3 year old is not interested in napping, she is likely to build a curious george village

reading to boo boo

mmmmmmmmm, turtle toes

'sup mom

big grins in the swing

We finally got some sticky snow last weekend so there was a mad dash to build at least one snow man before spring comes.

team snow man displaying their work

matt would pretend to fall into this little ditch and g would laugh like it was the funniest thing she's ever seen

so close to finding those feet - my favorite!

the maio men playing ps move on a sunday afternoon

getting in some high flying adventures (pre-meal, of course)

This is the Face...

Of Strattec's newest Senior Engineering Manager. 

Congratulations honey, we're so proud of you!

Three Months

Little Boo has had a busy last few weeks.  He got to meet all of his buddies from across the upper Midwest, he had his first week of daycare, and he hit the three month mark!

Matt took last week off so I could get back to work without worrying about work and daycare.  What a dad!  So now we're one week into daycare and it seems to be going really well.  Matt and I l.o.v.e. their school and teachers, and it's pretty easy to feel confident that our precious babes are in terrific hands.  He gets lots of snuggles and affection.  The challenge we've been met with is sleeping.  He was getting thiiiiiiiiiiis close to having something resembling a routine, which the 6 a.m. wake up call and other kids at daycare have shattered.  This has translated to a solid week of restless and unpredictable sleep and a very, very tired mama.  Last night was easily the worst night he's had to date, including those first few precarious nights in the hospital.  This is why there should be two parents - 45 minutes of consecutive sleep is better than zero and when we collectively stumble downstairs it's nice for one person to watch the kids while the other makes a mega coffee run. 

Sleeping challenges aside, Lukas's cool and relaxed attitude has made his transition to daycare a pretty smooth one.  He's absolutely full of smiles and goofy grins these days, and we've heard a few laughs out of his big baby belly.  There's no trip to the pediatrician at three months so we're not sure what he weighs but I'm going out on a limb and suggesting that he's not starving.  I remember holding his tiny little head in my hands when I fed him in the hospital which now feels more like a giant softball.  He's started to notify us that he's hungry or tired not by crying or fussing, but bellowing.  Just long, loud, extended "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"s.  Once he gets to bellowing he also refuses to bend at the waist.  This can be a challenge when I'm trying to get ready to nurse him and instead of cradling a little baby I'm palming a brick.  His eyes have cleared up but his skin continues to be a moving target.  While the skin is super dry, the creases between those fat rolls have been really chapped and overly moist the last couple of days.  So before I dip him in Aquaphor I've been taking a hair dryer to the backs of his legs to dry out the chub.  It's a process, let me tell you.  But hopefully we'll continue to improve and be issue-free in the next few weeks. 

Here are shots of the three month old (actually taken a week ago when we were all home, Matt and Lukas on Daddy daycare, and me and G with strep.  What am I, 8?  She was running around like a maniac and I was like death warmed up.  I don't recommend it).  We are so lucky to have this chubby little dude in our family!

hoovering: during tummy time, we now flail out our arms and legs.  this is an impressive pilates move and causes a 1st class red face

when not hoovering, we're pretty happy during tummy time

giggles

and grins

rolls!

innocently flipping me off

ha ha mom, just kidding

eyes: still blue

sibs

yes, they're from the same gene pool

how many years until he's doing the headlock back?

a little big sister sugar

super dad!