A lot of little things: January and February

So, January was a roller coaster month for us.  Both of the girls got SOOOO sick that I could hardly stand looking at either of them because it made me sad.  Luckily, Ellie and Daddy were getting over the worst of things as Mckayla came down with it, so I only had one extremely needy child at a time.  Unfortunately, our bug was viral, so we just had to wait it out, but at least it wasn't something much more sinister.  I will say though that this episode of illness made me appreciate our pediatrician all over again.  I lover our pediatrician, but she's so popular that I worry sometimes about her availability.  However, we got Mckayla in to see her no problem - she was doing so poorly that she made the nurse sad just to look at her.  After our appointment we just played the waiting to get better game for a number of days, and then right after Mckayla started turning around we got a call one night from our pediatrician.  She wanted to make sure Mckayla was doing better.  She told me she'd left her file on her desk all week so she would think of her and remember to check in.  Like I said, I love our pediatrician.

After everyone started to finally get healthy again, January saw Ellie beginning to love going to the pool with me to swim every once in a while.  She can already do kicks and arms simultaneously, although not very well, and as of a month or so ago was starting to put her face in the water all by herself (just like Lilo - from Lilo and Stitch).  Makes this swimming mama proud.  Honestly, Ellie is probably ready for swim lessons and we may try to put her in a class this summer and see how she does.  She's liking the water more and more and even tonight (April) she said she was thankful for pools in her personal bedtime prayers.

Another super fun development in January was that when we were at story time at the library (Ellie is also regularly thankful for story time and for Miss Carol  who is the librarian who reads and directs the crafts)  She suddenly wrote her name on her craft - by herself!  Steve and I were both so proud we were fit to burst.  Her name now is sometimes much worse than this, but still....  This was the first time she ever did it, and it's totally legible people!

Then into February.  At the very beginning of the month Mckayla figured out how to work her hands, which was a lot of fun.  Suddenly toys were worthwhile!  So nice for mom...

February also saw the end of my nursing Mckayla as I started to have some issues with my supply and Mckayla's reflux got worse on top of it, so she was throwing up the few times when I was nursing her and it all seemed like more trouble than benefit to keep up the fight.  The poor girl was obviously a lot more hungry than we knew because she was no longer napping during the day as she never got full.  As soon as we switched her to bottles she started napping and was much more pleasant.  Soon after we had to start adding rice cereal to her bottles so she'd slow down as she was eating 45+ ounces of formula a day.  Can you say expensive?  Glad we buy a generic form of formula out of Costco!  We still go through a LOT of formula and rice cereal.  Ellie really enjoyed the fact that she could feed her for the first time though.

As a result of eating a lot, our girl has chunked up, just like her sister did as a baby.  Only Mckayla makes our hugely tall 2 year old seem like a runt at the same age!  Mckayla had her 4 month check up at the end of February and was 16 lbs 2 oz and 26.75 inches tall.  She was 90% in weight, 96% in head size, and literally off the charts in height, putting her around 98-99%.  Yes, we make giant babies....  Oh, and she smiles and laughs now, but this girl is a tough crowd!

Mckayla was also VERY close to rolling over onto her front in February.  She could roll over onto her back, but obviously didn't like to or hadn't quite figured out how she managed to do it at times.

We also started getting spring weather in February, which brought us outside to start going on walks.  Ellie decided the stroller made a great TV perch one night when we got home.

Mostly we walk to or around parks, and it's started to be rock throwing and bird feeding weather around here, so Ellie has enjoyed parks a lot lately.

She especially likes feeding the birds.  Oh, and notice the poor man's french braid?  Her hair is getting sooo long!  I just forget because it's so much shorter curly.

I think she mostly likes feeding the birds because it allows her to snitch some for herself and snack right along with them.

Just a fun picture of Ellie "making jello" at her kitchen.  We did a lot of baking and making simple things with her the beginning of the year, and it was fun to see that transfer into her play.

February also brought Steve's 33rd birthday, which Ellie thoroughly enjoyed because it brought cake.

Our other main celebration in February was of course our traditional celebration of Valentines Day in.  We all got dressed up and had a delicious dinner of steak, crab legs (Steve and Ellie only thank you!), asparagus, and potatoes.  Soooo good!  And a fun way to celebrate our family and the holiday.

These are pictures of Ellie making Daddy a Valentine's Day card for the celebration.

So, that about wraps up those two months.  Like I said, we had some downs - you didn't want to talk to me about nursing or guilt in February, and that bug in January just about sank us all - but we also had a lot of fun times watching our girls and spending time as a family.

 You think these two are sisters?  Mckayla looks more and more like Ellie did as a baby - just bigger!