First month of resolutions success: check!

Ha! I got three blog posts in for January. Month one: done.

Now to think back on what actually happened in January...hmm. It's a blur. Well for one thing, Chason and I actually went on quite a few dates this month, which is rare for us since (a) we are homebodies, and (b) it requires enough advanced planning to request someone to babysit. But we had a few events worth braving the cold this month, and my dad was able and willing to watch the kids for all of them (thanks again, Dad!), so a dating we did go. We saw my friend James's band, The Robinson Caruso Organization, perform at their CD release show (for those who don't know James personally but were at my wedding, he sang and DJed. Check out some of his tracks here: http://www.myspace.com/rcotwincities/music). The following week, we bowled with The Bakken folks for our New Year party (Chason and I discovered we are equally bad at bowling), and then we saw a semi-staged production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" at the MN Orchestra. Good times. I think we will follow up all of this dating by totally staying home in February, including on Valentine's Day.

Also, I'm sure this is news to no one, but the weather in MN has been crazy sucky. Too much snow mixed with lots of painfully cold days. Romelie was actually able to play outside with her dad this weekend for the first time in over a month. I'm ready for that "early spring" groundhog prediction to come true. It has to; it's science, folks.

We were also fortunate to have my mom in town for the last week helping out while Jen's family was on vacation. Romelie seemed to enjoy staying home for a few days tearing the house apart. One bad-but-okay thing was that our basement flooded a bit on Friday (damn you, lint trap!), but that motivated me to clean the heck out of our laundry room, something we haven't done since we moved in. We now have incredibly clean, organized shelves, a more concealed litter box area, and a big open area that has been thoroughly mopped. It makes our basement look a lot less cluttered, which makes doing laundry less of a chore. Now if only all of the shelves in my linen closet would collapse, maybe that might actually get organized, too.

On to kid news! Cori just turned 3 months old yesterday. She likes sucking on her hands (not her thumb; her entire hand), grabbing and holding on to things like plastic rings, blankets, and rattles, and kicking her legs around in the air. She also is finally over her cold; she'd had crap in her lungs for about 3 weeks, but I haven't heard any coughing or raspiness for a couple of days now, so I think she's finally healthy. Of course, she wouldn't be my daughter if there wasn't something odd happening to concern me, so her new trick is not pooping. Some might argue this is a good thing, but since Romelie was always very regular with one or two poopy diapers each day, and since Cori is also a breastfed baby, and since this is a change that's only been happening in the last couple of weeks, it's very disconcerting to have a baby who only poops once or twice a week. But nothing else seems off, so I figure it's normal. Weird, but normal.

Romelie has been learning a few non-poop-related tricks of her own. She can now get undressed and dressed on her own. She puts on her winter gear (excepting snowpants) on her own, too, which makes getting the kids out the door significantly easier. She plays pretend with her toys, which is adorable to watch. She's learning our expectations, though of course she still doesn't always follow them; she's still 3, after all. She dances in an absolutely adorable way - lots of hip shaking. She makes up songs as well; behold:

Those lyrics were "Yee-haw, yap yap yap," by the way. She made sure to correct me when I sang it wrong.

And we have some fun times to look forward to. Super Bowl Sunday is coming up (though I pretty much despise both teams and don't really have anyone to root for, I'll still watch the game for the spectacle). Diane is going to be coming into town sometime in February (yay grandmommy time!). Paul is also hoping to come up for a few days. And then we are going to Houston for an extended vacation of 9 days in March. I am counting the days already.

I'll try to take more pictures for February's blogs...gotta keep that resolution going strong...

Romelie performs the classics

I had mentioned that Romelie's favorite book was This Little Piggy which we'd borrowed from the library and then bought for her for her birthday. It's a collection of songs and nursery rhymes that have some sort of movement associated with them. This weekend, Romelie was singing songs from the book. I got 9 of them on film.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...Romelie Ann Dancer, performing the classic song, Where Is Thumkin? (And yes, she is trying to say "Thumkin" in the beginning despite how it sounds.)

Next up, I hope you will enjoy "The Wheels On the Bus." I particularly like halfway through when she starts to sing the wrong verse and corrects herself. Because order is clearly important for this song.

Our third selection is the perennial favorite, Five Little Monkeys. Note the voice of the doctor and how it gets increasingly agitated as the rhyme progresses.

I hope these delightful songs are helping you all to feel happy...and if you're happy and you know it...well, you know the drill.

For our fifth selection, Romelie performs "I'm a Little Teapot." Apparently her teapot's handle and spout are reversed.

Pattycake Pattycake...you know this one...

Can you believe all of these songs were sung before 8 am on a Saturday? Here's the Isty Bitsy Spider.

Next, we present to you the lesser-known but still entertaining Round and Round the Garden.

And for the big finale, please enjoy Row Row Row Your Boat. Twice.

I hope you enjoyed the concert. Now get back to work.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy new year, friends and family! Before I update you all on the last month, it's time to share the annual new year's resolutions.

For myself, I resolve to write blog updates 3 times per month. I have two other resolutions that are a bit more personal, but I figured I'd share this one so I'd be more likely to do it. For Romelie, she resolves to eat three meals a day with only a couple of snacks, rather than snacking constantly throughout the day and picking at her lunch and dinner. For Cori, she resolves to sleep in her bassinet instead of in bed with me, thus ending our co-sleeping arrangements. So far, Cori's winning on the follow through; she's been sleeping in her bassinet for the past 4 nights. Good job, baby girl!

On to updates. It's been a while, so I'll try to remember everything. First, we continue to introduce Cori to wonderful friends. Lauren got to meet her while I was on maternity leave, and I got to hang out with my old friend from college, Alex, who was in MN for work. It was awesome to see him and made me ridiculously nostalgic for college as my closest college friends are very far away on the map. Molly and Erika, I know you both read this thing...love and miss you both daily.

As you may have figured out, I'm back at work full time. However, I did take a little mini-break a few days before Christmas to fly out to Chicago with my mom and the girls to visit Paul and Carrie. We were able to stay at the apartment of some friends of theirs who were out of town, so we didn't have to pay for a hotel. We saw Carrie's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and Paul's production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" while we were there. Excellent plays, both, and lots of fun to see them both in leading roles.

Because we were there through Christmas Eve day, we also got to celebrate Christmas with them, albeit a day early, which we weren't expecting to be able to do. And of course Paul got to see Cori and spend a little more time with her than he did in her first 24 hours of life, so that was another bonus.

We flew back on the 24th and went to Christmas Eve services at my church. It's been probably 12 years since I went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service. I love it. I love the candles, I love the music, I love the hugging and the "Merry Christmas"ing. Good times.

Then came Christmas day! Romelie totally gets the concept of presents, by the way. No question about it. She clearly wanted to tear into every single present as quickly as possible, but she exercised enough self-control that we did, in fact, open gifts one by one. Romelie got some fantastic toys, clothes, books, blankets & pillows, etc., and Cori got a few similar things as well. Since I'm terrible at sending Thank You cards (my dad has encouraged me to do this since I was a kid, and I'm still lazy about it), please know that we are very grateful to all of you, even when we don't get to spend the holidays together in person.

We then did the whirlwind Christmas of visiting family, stopping over at my Uncle Larry's, my Uncle Mike's, and my dad's home to eat some delicious food and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I was especially grateful to my cousin Michael, a ninth grader who kept Romelie entertained for about an hour playing Lego's (he's a big brother, and a good one!), and to my dad who kept Romelie overnight so she wouldn't have to spend any more time in the car and we could get the house organized post-presents.

To finish off the new year...I had my post-baby appointment with Dr. McEvoy, and I'm all healed and back to normal. Well, not counting the 40 pounds I still need to lose...but all healed up from childbirth, at any rate. I have also (overshare! Don't read if you don't want to hear about birth control from me!) had a copper IUD implanted. Apparently they are a 99.9% effective, non-hormonal birth control method that last for 10 years. I wanted to avoid anything hormonal like the pill since I had breastmilk supply issues with Romelie and my doctor indicated they could be related, and I wanted something incredibly effective since at this point in my life, I do not want to have any more kids, and I don't really see that changing in the future. Yes, family and friends, I'm sad that I won't get to have any sons, but even if I had a third kid, that wouldn't be a guarantee, and the girls I have are pretty adorable (see picture), so I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

And finally, we had a nice, quiet New Year's Eve at home. Romelie slept soundly in her big girl bed, Cori slept her first night alone in her bassinet peacefully, and Chason and I relaxed in the basement. I forced my lazy self to stay up until midnight, after which I promptly went to sleep.

Happy New Year everyone. Let's make it a good one, with enough sleep for everyone.