in the throes of winter

here we are, mid-january and in a good old cold snap.
illness has run rampant in our house this winter. frances is involved with her second ear infection, ruby has had several mild colds, and i have had an ear infection, the flu and the vomit virus. amazingly, willie has stayed pretty healthy through all this.

whew.

everyone is relatively healthy for the moment.

the days are very cold and very sunny. quite beautiful. we have built the Shanty of Misfit Toys again this year. ruby is very excited about it. shantyofmisfittoys.blogspot.com/ and artshantyprojects.org

things the girls are doing:
ruby is asserting her fierce independence. she is working really hard on using the potty and even slept last night without a diaper! dry all night! her language skills are phenomenal.

frances is sitting up all alone now, playing with ruby in a way i did not expect at this young tender age of 7 months. she is tasting table food, but doesn't seem very interested and still not taking a bottle.

First Family Vacation to Florida

well, we're back. we've been home from florida for about a week, and came home to some glorious fall weather! it was very hot and humid in florida, but with the pool, ocean and the nice airconditioned beach house, we loved it.

ruby floated around the pool, lay in the waves of the ocean, picked up dead jelly fish and built many sand castles.


frances just hung out. (what else is a 3 1/2 month girl to do?!) we tried bringing her to the beach and putting her in a little tent, but it was too hot, windy and sandy. she did, however, like flying in the sky with the seagulls!

another great thing about where we stayed....a donut shop right across the street. ruby had her first donut with sprinkles, and the toothless frances watched in wonder.

yesterday and state fair pics

yesterday, my sister kelly came over with wyatt and gabriella. what fun we had! wyatt and ruby played very well together, and sat at the little kid table and had burritos for lunch. frances and gabriella stared at each other a little, and then cried.

here are some state fair pictures, and my favorite, ruby and her "mustache and beard"! she is so awesome.

september has come!

after a week of torrential rains, and another week of blistering heat, we FINALLY have sweet september weather.
(picture is of ruby with her best friend "bear bear")

the girls are both napping right now. how lucky am i?? they nap at the same time. actually, i hear frances laughing and talking in her little bed. she is so happy! this is how she wakes up most of the time. chatting to the ceiling fan.

ruby and i were playing today and she was making me icecream cake with her play kitchen. she was "raina" (one of her babysitters) and i was "jenna" (her cousin). ruby would narrate the whole thing like this; "do you want some more cake?, said raina". and i was expected to reply in the same way. it really cracked me up.

owen, from across the street, came over this morning to play, and ruby screamed "MINE" everytime he touched one of her toys. and if he could actually get one, she would chase him around the house screaming. she was quite the bully. it was all very traumatic for her, poor little bossy cow.

we went to the state fair, and as we drove there we were telling ruby about all the stuff at the fair. when we got in the gates, we asked her what she wanted to do first, and quickly flipping through all that we had told her, she decided "visit the cows". so we did. then she wanted to see bunnies, which we couldn't find. when we asked her what her first thing she wanted to eat at the fair was, she declared "icecream!" that's my girl.

another rainy day

another rainy day. we are afloat. the flooding is not near us, luckily. the rain has made our grass green again, and filled up our little creek.

the girls are napping right now, and i'm trying to catch up on some stuff. (well, one of them is napping...the other is singing)

ruby played with "bear bear" (her best friend) at the neighbors house early this afternoon, and came home smelling of sugar and acting a little sassy.

she had a great morning at home drawing on her feet. i was upstairs getting dressed, and thought it was too quiet downstairs. i was right. it cracked me up.

frances is such a dream! we deserve her, after ruby. no offense at ruby, but she was and still is a tough sleeper. always resisting it. i lay frances in her crib this afternoon, and she talked to, laughed at and smiled at the ceiling fan before falling asleep ON HER OWN. ah, we SO deserve her. my tiny baby is 8 weeks old as of 4 this morning.

ground-hog day

the days are so much the same....i'm feeling a little foggy.

ruby has had a rough day so far. she played this morning, helped me make a chocolate cake for grandpa's birthday, and then neighbor boy, O, came over, and her meltdowns began. guess she didn't feel like being social. i can understand that. plus, she woke up THREE times last night! i think she has been having bad dreams. her 2 month old sister sleeps better than she does. sigh.

frances has slept the morning away. from 8am -1pm, she slept. she got up to eat and poop and puke and smile, and now she is resting again.

not much else. a break in the terribly hot weather, so we're cool and happy.

happy days are here again

ruby's virus is gone! yippee!!! she is her delightful little self again, although much skinnier. that girl couldn't afford to lose weight, so now she looks like iggy pop (and she says iggy pop, which is pretty funny). poor bean. we're giving her anything she wants to eat in an effort to fatten her up. she has now had her first icecream cone. raspberry.

frances is the opposite of skinny. she has gotten so nice and juicy FAT! she's growing fast, and is very very strong. she's only 6 weeks old, and her head is still wobbly, but she wants to stand up all the time.

cute things: the creek near our house is completely dried up from the drought. we were walking in the creek bed and ruby said "maybe we could fill it up. we could bring our watering can and fill it up". my honey.

frances makes our hearts light. she takes time to lock eyes with us several times a day, just to give us some smiles, coos and goos and gurgles, and even some laughs. AND.....she sleeps for 4-7 hours IN A ROW, every night. we are happy parents (well, most of the time)