Here we goooo for another blog   I know it's been a while.  I just kind of forgot about it I guess!  Lucas sits up so well now, he hardly ever falls over unless he's being passed by a tornado (Lily) that likes to bump into him   He can stand up while holding onto something for over a minute but I'm the one who puts him up in that position.  He hasn't quite mastered the pulling up to stand skill yet.  He is also skilled into moving a couple feet away without crawling.  It can be done....it's called butt scooting in circles 

Lily is so funny, the other day she was brushing her teeth and then Tommy and I noticed her brushing looked a little "off".  Upon closer inspection, she was found to be brushing her EYEBROWS!  She then graduated to brushing her hair with her toothbrush.  She has a flouride-free toothpaste called Fruit Splash so that's what her hair smelled like for the rest of the night!   Apparently she dislikes using the hairbrush but is fine with the toothbrush.  Too bad it doesn't work as well.  She hasn't done it since anyway.  Not that I'd like that to be a regular habit!

Another thing she did yesterday was she ran down ahead of me on the steps, stopped, looked up at me and said "wait for me!"  LOL  Sure, I'm the slowpoke.  I must say that a lot to her!

Lily has also started to not want to hold my hand while we cross the street.  I told her she had to then she thought about it and settled on holding my jacket pocket.  She does very well on crossing the street with me now.  If Lucas is in the sling, she likes to hold the sling tail.  All this without me giving her any ideas on alternatives to hand holding.

We went to the library today.  It was "groundhog day" theme and the first time I've been back during story hour since Fall.  I wanted to see if Lily was more interested this time around.  At first she kept wanting to leave and see the fish but then the librarian started playing some hand games so she was fascinated.  The only time she was fidgety and bored was when the librarian read a book.  We had an activity at the end of it, to color a picture of a groundhog then cut it out and tape it to a straw in a cup.  When the straw moves up or down the groundhog comes in and out of the hole that is the cup   Lucas had more fun with it than Lily, she kept wanting to go and play with the felt board.  It was an activity putting together snowmen and most kids had a chance to go up and put on a part of the snowman but Lily didn't get to do it.    Today was also the first time Lily played with scissors, she didn't want to color the groundhog, she wanted to cut it up!  She figured it out quickly and was cutting stuff up still when people were leaving   I guess I'll get her some scissors and have a fun arts and crafts time at home.

We had to return a dvd to the library, a sesame street one and Lily put it in the slot when we entered.  When we left and she was buckled in her seat she started panicking and telling me "Mommy bear movie bear movie!  Go get bear movie!"  I guess she thought we forgot it.     First time we ever got a movie from there so it was a new concept that we're not keeping it.

Ok.  Time for a new entry. 

Lucas was sick for the first time EVER on Tuesday, 7 months old!  It's pretty minimal though, both kids have runny noses and a slight cough.  Good thing he's breastfed, keeps his immune system healthy    Went to target today to buy a cool mist humidifier, saline nose drops and nasal aspirator just in case.  The poor baby can't breathe sometimes while he's eating!  Lily enjoyed the nose drops (weird kid! )  Her nose had dried blood in it, so the nose drops helped loosen it up and get everything out so she can breathe easier.

Before the kids were sick, I was waiting for them to go to bed so I could work on Lily's dollhouse.  It was pretty dusty and faded when we bought it.  I cleaned it out with some natural cleaners and decided to give it a paint job.  That's what I've been busy with the past week!  It is mostly done, I decided to paint two rooms in color (green and purple) and do the rest of it in white.  When Lily is a little older we can redecorate it any way she wants.  It's a lot of work plus a second coat of paint on the wood.  I used painter's tape for the color rooms so the ceiling and floor remained white.  Still have two or three rooms to go.  I also have to do the outside, the roof is black shingles and the house is red speckles.  I'll be doing touch up on the roof but I'm not sure about the house.  I like how it looks, aged a bit.  Will probably only touch up the framing around the windows since it was a bad paint job!

We're going to New Jersey this weekend for the annual Christmas "Eve" dinner with Tommy's family.  Should be fun.

I've been trying to find some time to wrap presents so I don't have to do them so last minute but with the kids sick it's hard to find a moment to myself.  I don't want to do them while they're awake for obvious reasons  The only thing Lily has seen that is a present is the sling and cloth diapers I made for her but I don't think she remembers them.  I doubt she knows what the sling is for since I didn't "try" it out on her.  She'll like it hopefully, I'm always carrying Lucas in mine and I made hers out of the same material as his so they match . 

Christmas is next week, seems so soon.  I'm excited for Lily to see the dollhouse, she is always playing with her cousin's and the one at the ikea store whenever we go. 

My sister will be coming to visit me in January.  I can't wait!  I miss her a lot 

Oh...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMY!!!!!

I'm BAACCKKk

So what has been up....??

We went to New York last week for Thanksgiving with my family.  I miss everybody so it was nice to see them on Thursday!  Lily seemed to enjoy it too, she is always asking about people..especially Nate, Tammy and Tess!    I was watching her on Thursday at Grandma Parker's house and it seems that she is usually watching the other kids playing then in her own world playing with other toys   She seems more comfortable and independent now, previously she would just prefer to stay with Mommy or Daddy  for at least the beginning of visits but now she just goes straight for the kids and toys!  Hopefully she does well in preschool.  We went to Rochester to Tommy's side of the family for dessert and ended up playing a 3 1/2 hour super scrabble game!  We tried the hourglass to shorten players' reaction time but it was a 3 minute one not a 1 minute one so that didn't work out too well  (6 players!)  I think I was in last place, oh well!  I won the last time!

We went shopping (Barb and I (with baby attached ) met up with Terri and the girls at Kohl's for the Black Friday sales and then went shopping at other places too.  It's a relief to get most of it done!  We went to Horseheads on Saturday to have a thanksgiving dinner with Grandma S.  It's good to see her.  It feels strange to not have Grandpa there though, we all miss him.  Lily asked me about Grandpa but seemed to accept he wasn't there.

Sunday we went next door to Grandma's (Mom, me and Lucas)  Dad took the van to take Lily to the store and ended up taking her to the farm too to look at cows so we went over anyway.  I wanted to search for fabric to make Lily's doll some cloth diapers and a sling to match Mommy's.  Lily and her Grandpop ended up sitting in manure   Mom had to run over home to get extra clothes!

Speaking of preschool, I need to get moving and start looking them up.  I'm pretty sure there are waiting lists since Mac was on lists for a while before she got in one.  I'm not looking forward to it though  I don't like the idea of leaving the kids with strangers all day!  Lucas is easygoing up to a point then he wants to be back with Mommy. 

I wanted to try to give him some food last week so my parents could watch  but with all the activities we never got around to it!  We don't have the high chair in the kitchen right now, once we bring that up and make room for it then we will try the baby food.  He's growing so well!

Lucas is sitting up for a few minutes at a time by himself now so yay on that!  He laughs and laughs at Lily all the time.  Lily tends to play with him such as going boo or giving him toys under the guise of "sharing" but really she just wants what he has and replaces it with something she doesn't want   He doesn't mind in any case and is just happy to watch Lily!

For those who don't know, he has FOUR teeth now, the top two are slowly coming in.  Last night he was rolling around on the bed before falling asleep and he thought my shoulder was food so he leaned over and tried to suck on it.  OUCH!   I have a red circle mark on it now!

The sink is in now!  I think Grandpop NJ just needs to attach the doors and it is done.  Next is the mirror I believe.  We still need to get a seat for the toilet plus a toilet paper roll holder and the basics are done.

Last night I cut out the pattern for the diapers and cut up two different fabrics for it.  I will try to sew them today with the machine and see how it works out.  I bought some velcro at Joann's yesterday so hopefully it looks ok.  Haven't used a machine in like 5 years! (sorry Grandma)   I did look for stocking material for Lucas and saw one I liked, it was dark green with yellow/gold stars BUT it was not quilt material   I'm not entirely sold on the one we got for him last week but it'll be fine I'm sure.  I did see a cute quilt one that was red with white outlines of like a house and background stuff I think the type is called toile but I don't know if it was good for a boy.  I want a greenish one anyway, Lily's is dark blue.  I like the dark colors :)

Ok, I'm done typing

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of weeks.  Last weekend we had Hattie's surprise birthday party (Nov. 13).  Everybody here drove up to New Jersey and went to the airport where they have a nice restaurant that Joe reserved.  Barb and Keith's families went too.  Hattie saw Mya first since Mya walked toward the door so it was fun to see the surprise on her face when she saw us all there.  That was on Friday night.  We stayed until Sunday.  On Saturday morning we went shopping since no tax on clothes in New Jersey and Lucas needed new clothes.  He is on size 12 months already!  Some jackets are 18m!!   My baby is getting so big. 

Joe and Hattie came down here to VA again on Thursday and have been here since.  They are leaving tomorrow (Tuesday).  Joe worked on the bathroom all weekend!  He installed the toilet (we need to go buy the seat), the drywall, the pipes for the sink, the vent and the electricity.  THe sink and the paint still need to be done but he is retired from the job for now   We are doing the paint anyway, he only needs to come back one more time to do the sink.  Perhaps first week of December.  We are also going to be moving the old door to the new doorway and put drywall up over the old doorway but that is another project, another time!  The door to the bathroom needs a doorknob otherwise it's a peephole  LOL 

Lucas had his 6 month doctor appointment today.  He is 17lb 4 oz and 27 1/2 inches long.  He has been perfectly healthy and happy since birth.  He had two shots though, poor baby.  I rubbed his legs some and put some pressure on them before the shots.  I read that was a trick to get the blood away from the area so it doesn't hurt as much.  I don't know if it works but if it helps that's good   I think he cries for like 15 seconds then he's happy again. 

A few days ago he sat up on his own for 30 seconds.  He still flips backwards or to his side but he's improving second by second   He LOVES his rubber baby doll and those plastic Easter eggs leftover from Lily's easter basket.  Those are his favorite toys, his face lights up when he sees either objects!

Lily is too cute, the other day she was counting and she went from 32....to 39 then says thirty-ten and looks at me then goes....no no No thirty ten?  She also has this little game where I let her play with something like a diaper wipe for her doll and tell her that's it, no more wipes she will say "One more?"  I say no, she says one more?  I say no, then she says two more?  Occasionally she adds "Please?" 

Got to go, baby calls.

Miss you all.