Right now.

Oh, hey.

Yep, I'm alive. Remember how January was supposed to be all slow and uneventful and I was supposed to have oodles of time to clean my house and organize my life and I was supposed to be able to sleep and relax and enjoy my family and blog and I wasn't supposed to constantly feel like I had a million things to do? Remember that?

This is not that January. This January is busy and crazy and no one sleeps and nothing is organized and my house looks like an episode of Hoarders. This is the first chance, seriously the first one, I've had to put some effort into a blog post. And I hate that because, as I've said before, this blog acts as my kids' baby books. So the fact that I haven't updated it enough the last 2 months makes me sad. So rather than spend time blogging about the events that have recently happened (Disney, Christmas, Birthday) and aren't going anywhere, I'm going to hurry up and blog about what is happening right this second. Because these kids are changing rapidly and I'm missing it. So, here's our family right now, as of 1/19/12:

Joe
...sits up on his own! Hooray! If he has something to hold/concentrate on, he can sit by himself for a long time. It's when something to his side or behind him catches his attention and he turns to look that he topples over. It's ridiculous that he can already do this at 4 months, though not surprising as his big sister did the same thing. Let's hear it for big babies, eh?
...has forgotten how to poop, and I blame Mickey Mouse. Before Disney, we had ourselves a few-times-a-day boy, delightfully regular. Then, we come home and BAM! Boy can't poop on his own anymore. Pooping on 2 plane rides must have traumatized him. Every 5 or 6 days I've had to *help* the boy go. Ah, motherhood is so glamorous, isn't it? So, no pooping here...UNTIL we started oatmeal cereal 2 weeks ago (a recommendation at his 4-month appt.) It seems to be helping, though he's still anything but regular.
...has also forgotten how lovely it is to sleep through the night. After it took us 14 months to get Brooke to sleep through the night (and even now she wakes up about 50% of the time), God blessed us with a great sleeper. At first. Now that Joe's digestive system is on strike, the little man is plagued with gas pains that wake him up. Between that and the itchy eczema covering his body, he's up a hundred times a night. OK, maybe not a hundred. But a bunch. And it's wearing me down, kids.
...has developed this terrible habit of only napping longer than 30 minutes if he's being held. And, like idiots, we're enabling this behavior because, well, sometimes we just need a break from the fussiness and constant attention-seeking. Plus, snuggling with a baby is pretty awesome.
...sits in the high chair now like the big boy he is! And gobbles up baby oatmeal like nobody's business. He'd eat 2nd and 3rd helpings if we let him. His mind is going to be blown by actual foods. Fruits and veggies will be on the menu in a few weeks!

Brooke
...is two. (Need I go on?)
...has entered the most exhausting boundary-testing phase to date. And it's KILLING us. She spends a good portion of her day in Time Out. We're trying to really crack down and be consistent with the discipline - we ask nicely 2 or 3 times, then we warn her that she'll go to TO if she doesn't do it, then off she goes to the steps (our TO spot). A few times she has even put herself on the steps instead of just doing what we asked. It's a battle of wills and the husband and I usually win.
...thinks getting out of bed and making us chase her back into it is the funnest game around. She's very stealthy about it, too. We'll think she's fast asleep up there and then we'll hear her trying to open the gate at the top of the stairs or hear the floor in our bedroom creak. She walks around with her pacifier and stays very quiet. She then laughs when we come up to get her because she just thinks it's terribly amusing. Well, it's fun until I shut her door. Then she flips out because she can't get out. After trying to turn the handle for about 2 minutes yesterday, I heard mid-sobs "1, 2, 3, 4, open the door!" as if rhyming would magically open the door. (Seriously, imagine a sobbing 2-year-old saying that and try not to laugh. I about died.) I went in after about 5 minutes and she was so exhausted from crying that she didn't put up a fight to get back in bed and stay there. For now, threatening to shut her door is what is keeping her in bed. That is, until she learns how to open doors, which I'm honestly surprised hasn't happened yet. It'll probably happen, like, tomorrow, because that's just my luck.
...is in LOVE with her kitchen and all the kitchen-y things she got for Christmas and her birthday. She comes and takes our order and then goes into her kitchen to make it. And as she takes your order, she'll ask appropriate questions: "Do you want sauce with that?" Her specialties are "regular soup" and cookies. She also makes a mean cup of coffee with chocolate frosting in it.
...successfully potty trained for 2 days back in December and has wanted nothing to do with the bathroom ever since. She got Big Girl undies for Christmas and talks about wearing them all the time, but won't try to go. I'm debating whether I push it now or give it another month or two (the pediatrician said girls don't typically start until 2 & a half.)
...now sits at the table with us like a Big Girl so Joe can have the high chair. And she loves it, even though her view of the TV is a bit blocked (Yes, we watch cartoons while we eat. Only during breakfast. Mama needs some proper wake up time & a few episodes of Bubble Guppies seems to do the trick!) It's so funny for me to look over from across the table and see her sitting next to the husband. She looks so little next to him! (That's a popsicle she's eating in this pic, btw. It's what she always picks for dessert when we let her have it. Even over cupcakes and cookies - silly girl!)

The husband
...has been stepping up in major ways lately. And probably thinks I haven't noticed. But I have. And I'm grateful.
...has an even better understanding and appreciation for what I do each day after spending an incredible amount of time off over Christmas. He even got another dose of it Monday for MLK Day, at which time he threatened to go into work even though it was a company holiday (8 trips to Time Out before noon will do that to a person.)
...is the best Duplo Lego tower maker around! He builds, Brooke tears them apart. Over and over again. He's a trooper.
...doesn't know it yet but is going to take his wife out to dinner on Saturday night sans-children. And then drive her home after the one glass of wine she's going to have makes her tipsy because, let's face it, her tolerance is embarrassing right now. (Don't worry, I'm working on it. One of my NY Resolutions is to drink more!)

I
...am now the proud owner of an iPhone. And a Twitter account. And just paid 2 of our bills online. Hello, 21st century!
...worked out last night for the first time since getting pregnant...with Brooke. And I lived to tell about it. Excuse me while I go pat myself on the back (and then wince in pain from moving...) I might just make this a weekly thing, because even though Boot Camp kicked my ass for an hour, it was an hour I was out of the house doing something for myself (a RARE occurrence.)
...am starting to decorate our house. Nope, not redecorate, because that would imply we decorated in the first place. We've lived here 4+ years; it's about damn time we start putting stuff on the walls, am I right? First up - the playroom!
...am trying very hard to be more hands-on with the kiddos during play time each day (another NY Resolution.) I'm trying to give each of them some undivided attention each day to just play with me. Sounds so simple to actually sit and play with your kids, right? But, far too often, laundry or dishes or something gets in the way. Joe's play time involves a lot of pat-a-cake and being bounced around and tickled. With Brooke it might be playing a game (she got Hi-Ho-Cherry-O & Memory for Xmas) or mixing up something fabulous in her kitchen. I'm hopeful I can keep this up. I might even start setting a timer to remind me to stop what I'm doing and sit down & play!
...will continue to count my blessings. Though the days have been trying lately, my life is for my kids right now, and that's exactly how it should be. Even if I need a few glasses of wine to survive it all.