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!

Hangin' Around

The craziness of the holidays has dissipated and we enjoyed a pretty quiet January.  Lukas has been working on his big baby muscles and GG enjoyed the first real snowfall of the season.  

the bumbo as seen before genevieve took her pen with a plume (a la Fancy Nancy) to it

still not a fan of tummy time, but less of a lunk than a few weeks ago

hey blue eyes!

"mommy, i look like a pink marshmallow!"

ready to play!

we love how tired she gets after playing in the snow, but dragging around this giant sack of potatoes is no easy task for mom and dad either.  ralph, when will you learn to mush???

snow angel

could his melon look any bigger?  love it!

boo boo at about 11 weeks

squishy at about 9 weeks

dad's lovely assistant installing a new potty in the kid's bathroom.  just one small installation-related flood to report which matt actually blames on genevieve. "i swear i closed that water valve.  she must have opened it".

The quiet is about to come to a screeching halt as we anxiously await the arrival of our friends for the annual Super Bowl get together.  Eight adults, two of whom are 6 1/2 months pregnant, seven kids, 72 hours-o-crazy.  More to come!!

Bedtime Silliness (with a dash of Beyonce...)

Little Red

Despite our agreement to not get each other anything for Christmas, Matt surprised me with a beautiful red cashmere scarf.  Here is what happens when you combine a 3 year old, a red scarf, and two grandparents who wish Sam the Sham was still a big name.

Two Months!

Luke is already two months old.  With all the anticipation of the events of the last two months of 2011, that they've already come and gone and we're full on into 2012 is a little shocking.  Our little man is getting bigger by the second, and over the last two weeks or so has become a lot more chatty and animated.  Kindof coming out of that newborn sleep coma.  He h.a.t.e.s. tummy time and will kick and flail his arms like a turtle stuck on its back doing kung-fu.  The other day Matt told me, "he is so responsive to you," which - after weeks of narrating your life to basically a brick wall - was about the best thing a new mama can hear.  His broad vocabulary includes "guh", "argh", and most often, "goo".  So much so that we have nicknamed him Mr. Goo.  Besides goo-ing, Lukas's hobbies include 3 a.m. pants explosions, watching whatever Sister is doing, and preferring to be held approximately 100% of the time.   

Luke's two month appointment confirmed a few things that we already know.  1 - the kid has seriously dry skin.  Not the full body eczema that G had (poor kitten!), but dry enough that our 2x/day Aquaphor applications soak right in.  Hopefully this just goes away as his baby skin matures, but until then it's tons-o-lotion and a warm bath every night (which is so inconvenient considering G needs to not be a dirt ball either).  2 - his little tear ducts are still blocked.  He gets warm washcloth rubs every morning and night to try to keep them open and keep his little eyes from crusting over, and antibacterial drops for when we need them.  Which he just loves.  Mmmhmmm.  Again, hopefully this will fix itself as he grows.  3 - speaking of growing we're all good in the weight and height departments.  He is 13 lbs 4 oz and 24.5".  93% for height, 90% for weight.  He's gotten a lot more accustomed to the bottle in the last week and even though it means an extra pumping for moi, it's nice to let Matt take over feeding once or twice a day.  He continues to have no tolerance for pacifiers which makes us 2/2 in the anit-paci kid zone.  A pain now, but perhaps a little relief in the braces department??   

Also with his advanced age is coming a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle light at the end of the sleepless-night tunnel.  Lukas goes to bed between 8-9 and is giving me about a 5-hour stretch of sleep, followed by a quick feed and another 3-4 hour stretch before he's up around 7.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Actually the last two nights he's given us 7 hours but now that I've written that down surely I've jinxed it.  Also it would be helpful if Genevieve would sleep through the night.  She continues to wake once a night with nightmares ("there's a ________________ in my room".  Culprits include a dinosaur, an orange piggie, and Rudolph).  At least she goes right back down but still, it's obvious that the two enjoy tag-teaming us in the wee hours.  Stinkers!

Here are pics of Mr. Goo at 2 months!

basically a happy go lucky little guy!

chillaxin with mr. bear

hey dude, let's hold hands

how YOU doin'?

mid "goo"

rockin' out to a little baby mozart

i'm curious mother, how many times are you going to flash that camera?

lazy lunker happily licking the blanket instead of picking up that melon

he he, i got mom to pick me up

why am i back here?

what if i trick mommy into thinking i'm so sleepy?

zzzzzzzzzz

HA!  fooled you

whoa, have you happened to see these five little wiggly things at the end of my hand?

mr. goo and his still blue eyes

a little warm water in all the right places...whee!

making sure we're soaked from cradle cap head to dry skin toe

hey, where's sissy?

there she is!  two clean kiddos ready for story time