A Face Only a Mother Would Kiss

Otis digs into his food, with GUSTO.  He loves to eat!  And now he knows how to play peek-a-boo, which is cute.  Except when he has food all over his hands, which means then he has food all over his face, his hair, his eyelashes.  Last night we had enchiladas.  This is what enchiladas look like after a game of peek-a-boo:

Ugh, good thing bathtime is right after dinner.  Geez.

So Dramatic

That's Ingrid.  Sooooo dramatic.  I don't know if it's because she's a girl, almost four, or just because, but she can be so emotional and the emotions are quick to change.  Sometimes it's hard to keep up with her...

Life Pictures

Random shots from everyday life. 

Daddy play time:

Fabulous boys:

Mama and her mini-me:

A dog says what?

We took Otis to his year checkup and found that Fat Man is now bigger than Ingrid was at this age.  He's almost 23 lbs and 31" long.  Big kid.

Play Time

We  went to a friend's house yesterday and hung out with their kids.  I used to nanny for the boys, they are so big now!!  We reminisced about how I used to take naps with Peter when I was pregnant with Ingrid.  That was by far the best part of being a nanny while being pregnant--nap time! 

But now the boys are huge and they have a baby sister added in the mix!  Greta and Otis are exactly a week apart! 

It's interesting talking with Sally about developmental differences in Down's kids.  Greta is getting her first tooth just now.  She is sitting but not crawling.  Just little things that I take for granted with Otis getting bigger and getting mobile!  But oh, she is the sweetest thing.  And her brothers just love her so much!  We had so much fun, I hope to see them again soon!

Big Stuff Happening!

First of all, look at this guy:

Standing like a pro!  He refuses to move his legs, but he's got the whole balance thing down pretty well.  I remember how strange it was with Ingrid to see her upright with no one holding her, and it's the same with Otis.  He doesn't seem big enough for this, but he's 13 months today, so I guess he is.  Some kids are honest to god walking at this age, so...I'm in for it.

Speaking of in for it, I got out of the shower the other day to find the roll of toilet paper shredded, a box of tampons strewn about, and a babbling baby doing this:

First the cat box, now this.  He is going to HATE me for these pictures later in life!

The other big thing around here is my new Etsy shop!  For awhile now I've been buying things when I find them and sending them to my pal Heather at 3Ring Circus.  But, she also finds a ton of stuff, and I'm not always the best at sending them out to her.  So, Toadstool Vintage was born!  I now have a vintage kid's clothes shop on Etsy, and I love it!  I've had it open two days and already sold three things, it's so fun.  There are so many supportive vintage sellers, I love it.  Instead of thinking of another shop as competition, all these lovely ladies have completely welcomed me into the fold.  I love it!

Gross.

Yesterday Brendan called out to me, "Honey, get your camera, NOW!"  I ran over to where he stood to find this:
















Ewww...

Besties

Ingrid and Otis have been having a lot of fun together.  I got some cute pictures of them over the past couple days and thought I'd share.

Not that she's always pleased, but they have fun.

Otis likes to climb.

ridiculously LOUD ball toy, they love it so I can't get rid of it.

Homeschooling After All

Ingrid is home right now, playing with fabric and her stuffed animals.  We just did puzzles together and read in bed while Otis is napping.  She's not sick, it's not a day off.  We just didn't send her back to school after the holiday break.  I couldn't be happier.

The past month or so has been very trying.  Lots of temper tantrums and crying, lots and lots of yelling on all of our parts.  I felt a real disconnect and was just not happy.  I didn't understand why my daughter was acting out, why our house felt so stressful, why my life felt like nothing was getting done. 

And then we had the holiday break, and after our travels to MI and the kids getting over sickness (more or less) things calmed down.  We had our nice slow mornings of coffee, breakfast, playing, reading, games, and happiness.  Otis' naptime was time for Ingrid and I to spend together, or for her to have rest time and me to get things done.  There was peace in the house, there were so few temper tantrums I've almost forgotten how horrible they were.  Tears are still there sometimes, but only when it's time to eat or rest. 

So when school started back up again, we just decided not to send her back.  Instead, we painted.

And then threw the kids in the bath with some shaving cream to "paint" with.

And did more puzzles.

And went to story time, which Otis LOVED!  He thought singing songs and clapping hands was pretty okay. 

We'll try again in the fall, but if it gets back to being that stressful, forget it.  I used to wonder if I could be a homeschooler, if I had the patience, or could follow through with it, but now I know I can do it if it's what's right for us.

New Year's Eve, Mom Style

We had such a great New Year's Eve this year, and we didn't leave our house!  The kids took naps until five pm, so they were ready to stay up and party.  I walked over to Walgreens to get snacks and came home with some noisemakers, carmel corn, Dots, Pringles, and chocolate covered peanuts.  Which we ate all of that night!  Ingrid thought it was so cool to be allowed to stay up, and she did so well, too.  Otis was in bed at the normal time, which gave us plenty of one on one time with the girl.  We had pjs on, sleeping bags and pillows all over the floor, and we just hung out.  Junk food, tv, games on the ipad, just hanging out together.  Much better than spending a ton of money at a bar getting drunk and then coming home to crash in your smelly clothes.  Seriously.