2 months of pictures

Since all of my pictures are stored on my mac, and since I haven't been well enough to sit up at the computer for any amount of time over the last 7 weeks or so, I haven't been able to post pictures for a while. Also, I haven't really taken many pictures over the last 7 weeks or so. But today I made myself load a few pictures every time I got up, and eventually they were done! And now I can type to my heart's content while I lie in my bed. So here are some pictures from late December/early January and then this last week.

Colin loves the tent aunt Hannah gave him for Christmas. This is him the day after Christmas. It was hard to convince him to come out of there.


Kate loves to put things on and take things off. Here she is sporting a new apron and chef's hat. These last few weeks she sneaks into my bedroom, climbs into the bins of laundry, and pulls anything she can over her head as a shirt. It's awesome. (Until she gets stuck in something and needs to be rescued.)


I wanted to do something nice for my older nieces for Christmas, so I (semi) planned a Fancy Grown-Up Dinner for them. Things did not go as planned due to morning sickness, Nate sickness, and a general lack of enthusiasm on my part. However, somehow I got food on the table and the girls had a good time. Here are the girls enjoying their salads and appetizers. (We did not make them eat all alone. Sam, Tia, Hannah and I joined them.)


I made the girls pose for a few princess pictures since they were all fancied up.


Kaylee showed us all the skills she learned in her 4-H Princess Club.



It looks like Hannah could use a few lessons from Princess Club.


That's much better.


And even one picture of me and the girls! (Yes, I went home and puked after this.)


And now we come to January 1st. This is Hannah and Colin saying good-bye to each other. There were like 5 pictures of them wrestling and laughing like this.


And now we skip ahead 4 weeks. This is a picture Colin took when he climbed on my bed and asked if he could take a picture.


Then we took this shot together. Not bad considering I just held the camera up and hoped for the best. (I'm glad none of me is in it. My head is right next to him on the pillow, but bedrest is not a good look for me.)


Welcome to February!

Happy, stripe-ed children sitting in the recliner to watch a show with mom. There has been a lot of that at our house the last few months, unfortunately. Kate doesn't really watch the show. She prefers to scamper around and get into mischief. She was really excited to sit in the chair with Colin though.


Kate was so hilarious trying to walk in Colin's boots that I made an effort to get out of bed and take a picture.


This is from just a few days ago. The kids loved playing in this box. They were so happy to have something to climb in slash destroy without consequences. Kate was being especially cute while talking on the phone and sitting in the box.


Her hair needs help.



Granny came over on Sunday to bring valentines for the kids. She was really excited about this shirt, can you tell?


Kate loved her new shirt and beads. The beads broke after about 2 minutes, but she loves them anyway.



Yesterday I was trying to take pictures of the kids and they weren't cooperating. Colin decided to lay down because that's what Kate was doing.


Kate was really mad at me for trying to fix her hair. Really mad. Taking pictures distracted her though.


This is her pouting. Like an ostrich.


One cheeser smile, one meltdown.


Later in the afternoon they played Legos nicely together. I was kind of shocked.



For pictures of cute Kate today, please see the following post.

Kate has been so fun to be around lately. She is starting to talk, and apparently she likes that. She can say mama, yes, nana, daddy, papa, bubba, hi, bye, boo, and various animal noises. She tries to say more, but I can't interpret the rest yet. She signs please, thank you, help, more, and all done. She loves to dance, play with her stuffed animals, read books, climb into ridiculous things, put on hats and accessories, and do anything that Colin is doing. She eats like a horse, but she is still a skinny little thing. Her smile lights up her entire face, and her eyes are still the most beautiful I've ever seen. Her hair is a fabulous mullet.

Colin has discovered he loves shows. As much as I wish he had no interest in the TV, alas, he does. And sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, and I have had to let him watch movies. He has been introduced to more than just the Toy Story trilogy now, and he loves Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King. Mostly we just watch the songs from each, although he also likes the "bad tiger cave" part from Aladdin. He also loves the songs in Enchanted, which he calls the "Giselle show." He still has more energy than his little body can contain. He loves to play "run" and "rawr," both of which consist of running around the house at full speed. He also enjoys looking for Scar and/or Belle, which also consists of running around the house at full speed. His imagination is incredible. It's fun to watch him play with the kitchen set or his blocks or trucks because he does so many things with them. I've been trying to think of some new learning activities to do with him because he already knows so much! Any suggestions? He already knows the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. He knows numbers. He knows animals. He knows shapes. He knows colors. Maybe it's time to start microbiology, European history, and philosophy? (I sure hope not, because I don't know those things.) Any suggestions on new ways to make old things fun again and not a chore? I'm not very good at the kid craft thing.

And as for me and my never-ending nausea, thankfully I am slowly getting better. I still feel terrible, but at least I can get up and function without throwing up everything I eat. Around dinner time I either have to retreat to my bed or puke. This is more how my previous pregnancies were, and I'm thankful to get to this point! This I can handle! Only 26-ish more weeks to go. Huzzah! I'm really enjoying playing with the kids (even though playing mostly consists of lying on the floor next to them) and doing little things like getting them dressed and feeding them snacks. I'm still getting a lot of help from my mom, mother-in-law, and wonderful Nate. Without them my house would be piled high with toys, dirty dishes, dirty clothes, etc, and we would have no food to eat. I told Nate that I'm really looking forward to cooking dinner again someday, and hopefully that someday will be soon. (He hopes so too.) We've had a lot of help from neighbors in the ward too, and I'm looking forward to being able to give back and pay it forward soon.