Time Marches On

Has it really been over 10 days since I posted something?  Sheesh.  Time has been flying by around here.  Natalie had her feeding evaluation.  I have to thicken everything she drinks for a while.  I have lots of questions about this, and I'll ask them at her checkup on Wednesday.  She's also been experiencing separation anxiety any time I walk away from her.  She cries and gets really upset, even if I just walk to the trash can to throw a diaper away.  Kind of frustrating, but age appropriate.  She's also getting four more teeth, which will bring her up to twenty!

Lauren's been having lots of fun with soccer.  She likes practice more than the games because they are shorter.  She says her big games are too long, and she gets distracted once she starts getting tired.  She does well playing goalie, though.  She blocked two goals this Saturday.  Her ballet seems to be getting better, too.  I just went this morning and signed her up for her April class.  She sometimes gets a little bit too chatty in class, but last Friday was observation day and it looked like she was paying attention and didn't get the giggles too much.

Ben's night schedule is finally done.  It was more exhausting for me than I thought it would be.  He's off today and has been working on my car, something about a steering column bearing, I think.  I'm not trying to learn about it, I trust him to do it.  Besides, I'm much too busy staying warm in the house to go hang out in the garage.

I'm thinking I'm going to host a brunch for some new friends.  I'm not really sure what to make, though.  I've been browsing through the Martha Stewart website and Tasty Kitchen for recipes.  Any suggestions?  Hopefully I'll get to host it as a kid-free event and get some mommy alone time.

The daffodils in the front yard have bloomed!  I think spring is coming, and I'm very happy about it!

Soccer and New Foods and Springtime Gardening

Lauren started soccer two weeks ago.  It's so adorable.  The kids are all so motivated and active and have no idea whatsoever about what they're supposed to be doing.  I love it.  It's fun to watch and she gets to run around like crazy and wear herself out, and that's the whole point of it really.  She has two practices a week and her first game was last Saturday.  Her team is the Hurricanes and they won!

Natalie is crawling around EVERYWHERE now, pulling herself up to stand, and is starting to cruise the furniture with a purpose.  I asked her home therapist to start helping us work on baby sign language with her since she still only says "mama".  Her eating is great, though, she's been eating pretty much everything I've given her.  Bell peppers, beans, avocado, cantaloupe, even lasagna last night for dinner.  By the time she has her feeding evaluation on the 24th, she won't need it anymore.

I planted strawberry seeds and some flower seeds in little pots and put them in the kitchen window.  The strawberries sprouted, but now they aren't doing anything.  I'm not sure what went wrong there.  The flowers are doing well, though.  I wish I could remember which kind I planted.  Hahaha.  It feels nice to have a seed I planted actually grow into something.  My hydrangeas outside are starting to get new green life, and the daffodil and tulip bulbs I had Ben plant are all up and I think I see the start of a few blooms thinking about growing.

I haven't done much lately craft or sewing-wise, which is a shame.  It feels like we've suddenly become very busy with soccer, story time, ballet, and physical therapy.  Story time is taking a three week break, though so that's one more day a week we have off.  We are also getting over having mild colds and Natalie had a bad diaper rash/yeast infection that's finally clearing up thanks to a trip to urgent care and a prescription for some cream.  Ben's current schedule is throwing things off a bit, too, but we only have another ten days of that and then we can get back to normal.  And last night I ordered myself Cath Kidston's "Make" (that I mentioned in my last post) so I'm excited to get that and get inspired again.

Falling into a Routine

Lauren is settling into a bedtime routine which has her in bed by 8:30 and hopefully asleep by 9:30. She's been doing great with it, falling asleep last night at least 10 minutes before I came in to turn off her movie. Now I'd just like Natalie to be able to fall asleep not laying right up against me and then we'd really be getting somewhere.

I did get a good start on Natalie's dresser. I have two sides and all the drawer fronts decoupaged and have put on new drawer pulls. I need to get the one low face on the front finished, and the top, and then add another coat over them and I'll be done. I'm really excited with how that's coming along. Natalie's pillow is finished, and I have finished the applique for Lauren's pillow. Now I just need to piece it all together, which, once I get the chance, should only take me an hour or so. I'm not planning on doing anything particularly complicated with it. Dragging everything out and setting it all up takes up a chunk of the free time that I get to work on it. Once that's done the actual sewing goes pretty quickly.

I've already finished my first book of the year. Now I'm just waiting for an Amazon order to get here so I can get going on book number two. Ben has been working on the cars a lot lately. He found someone who was selling off parts of a Jetta with a busted transmission that was otherwise in really good shape. Ben got me some window seals and got himself heated seats, and a back seat with a fold down arm rest. He's been keeping himself busy with his new goodies.

Lauren is going to have her first ballet recital in late May or early June. They are starting to work on the routine this month. On Monday I need to call and enroll her in soccer. She's very excited about that. I'm looking forward to her getting a chance to run around and wear herself out three times a week. We don't know her schedule yet, but there are supposed to be two practices each week and one game each Saturday. I think the whole season is just February and March, but we have a parents meeting to go to at the end of this month and we'll find out more then.

I'm getting anxious for spring to come to the PNW. I just want the weather to get a *little* bit warmer so we can head out without having to be all bundled up. Hopefully the girls will be over their runny noses soon. Warmer weather would probably help with that, too. I'm looking forward to spring and summer shoes most of all. I want to get back to flip flops and cute ballet flats and - dare I dream?!- skirts and dresses. Plus, I'd love to be able to head out for a run without being soaked, but up here, the chances of that are low. If I'm going to be soaked, I at least want it to be warm.