Getting back to blogging with some photos!

I would really like to get back into blogging more regularly. Sometimes I forget that a post can be a quick story or a few photos instead of an inner-thoughts type of sentimental rambling. So here are some photos--a lot of photos taken over the past several months. We love our new camera, although we are still getting the hang of it, as you can probably tell.

Parenting fail

One of our very worst habits as parents is that Bill and I curse. A lot. In front of the kids. I know, not good. I always try to switch out a bad word for a less bad word or spelling out the curse word, but then I drive somewhere and somebody cuts me off or pulls some crazy move and there I am, dropping the F-bomb with my kids in the back. Bill curses 100 times more than me--sometimes multiple curses in a sentence. Its like he is in college! Boys curse in the operating room, but he is one of the worst offenders. I wonder what those nurses think--hmm. Anyway, we know its a bad habit and Lana is aware of the cursing and that its not good. She even made a curse jar for us, but Bill never pays up. I have told her that there are some words that adults are allowed to say in certain situations, but kids are never allowed to say and its unfair, but too bad. Luckily, she has experimented very little with the bad words and she has never embarrassed me with them in public.

So the other night I am in the shower with Lana and she is always drawing on the walls of the shower door when it gets all steamy. And then she writes out (in very nice handwriting): S-H-I-T. Nice. Four years old and she writes shit on the shower door. Oops. I guess the whole spelling out the curse word backfired on me.

Still here and a bit of randomness/updating

Geez, February just blew past me and here we are in March! How did that happen? I can't say I have anything profound to report, other than just life and me being too tired and lazy to blog in the evenings. February did kind of suck because of the plague we all had that sucked 3 weeks away from us. I seriously hope next year's flu vaccine gets it right because I never want to have influenza again. Even after we were all well again, it took another week for us to regain our energy, appetite and not to have bags under our eyes. But we recovered just in time for a little travel, winter break with a little winter weather and BOOM--its March.

Our life for the past 6 weeks or so in a nutshell:

Lacey started Little Gym and she loves it, especially the singing and the balls and bubbles. I was worried she might be clingy, but she is actually very social, well, as social as 17 month olds can be.

Lana went on her very first ski weekend with Bill. Lacey and I stayed home b/c I didn't think Lacey could handle a long car ride. I started a lengthy post about this, but who am I kidding, I may never get to it. Lana took a ski lesson and she rocked it! She is not really into physical pursuits, but with her, new experiences are mostly mental and if she decides she is going to have fun, then she will. She did great and apparently was very confident for her first time and even though she fell a bunch, she didn't get discouraged. Bill took a video of her skiing with the instructor and I had to laugh b/c you see her skiing and then you hear her talking incessantly to the teacher--constant chatter about who knows what! Totally Lana.

Lana has been super duper high energy lately. What I mean is that she is bouncing off the walls. Literally. Maybe she has winter doldrums. I am constantly telling her to calm down. She also does this thing where she will ask a question and before you even inhale to answer it, she is asking it again and again and again. Holy crap kid, you have to be quiet for like 2 seconds so I can answer. I think its b/c she is wrangling for attention with her sister, but it drives me nuts. She is such a great kid and I enjoy her so much, but I often feel like I am constantly telling her to reign it in.

Lacey is doing so many cute things. She is obsessed with Curious George and has a stuffy she sleeps with (she rubs his ears). When she sees George on TV or in a book she yells, "EEORGE, eeorgie, eeorgie!" Its hilarious. She also is talking a ton and is so very affectionate, giving kisses and hugs and snuggles. Oh yeah, I love it. On the down side, she is really clingy and does not want me in the kitchen at all, not even for a minute. She cries and fusses and pushes me away from the counter or sink. She cries, "UP!" anytime another adult is in the room b/c she is afraid that I may bolt if I am not holding her. I can't wait for that phase to pass. I have such a strong right arm from carrying her on my hip.

We had a lovely weekend getaway (Bill had a conference) and we all had a great time. The kids were both remarkably well-behaved and happy. Bill and I both got to visit with friends and colleagues from our past. It was very satisfying and it got me thinking, not only about the past, but about the future. I know that I am being kind of vague, but suffice it to say that I was feeling more than a little introspective about my career--where I have been, where I want to go (maybe). A topic for another time for sure.

Things have been good. We spend a lot of time with our parents on the weekends. We have Sunday dinners with Bill's parents and my mom. We go to birthday parties, Costco, out to lunch. Nothing truly earth-shattering, but I like things this way--stable, happy, safe. Bill and I even went on a few dates recently, which were really fun. Its been good. The only thing I would like to change is that I would like to have a little bit of time to myself. I haven't figured out how to make this happen, but I think it would be afford me a little extra patience and would recharge my batteries. I would also love to socialize with friends and tackle To Do lists and organize cabinets, hang photos on the walls, but really these things are just the icing on the cake and we are busy enjoying the cake right now.