Sleepover (v2)

Claire had her first out-of-home sleepover last Saturday. We were gathered at Lucian's parents' house for dinner that evening when Claire and her cousin Lydia devised the plan. Everyone agreed and so a cousins' sleepover at Nana and Papa's was born.

They watched a movie and had popcorn before bed. After deciding that one sleeping bag was too small for the both of them, Claire and Lyds settled in for the night.

They snuggled in under blankets in the morning.

And enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes (courtesy of Auntie Blanca) for breakfast.

Lucian and I were a little reserved about the whole thing, mostly expecting Claire to want to come home once she was trying to go to sleep. However, once Nana said yes to staying over, Claire told us bye and ushered us out the door. I love that she was so excited about it and had no trouble sleeping at another house. She asked if we missed her and dreamt about her while she was gone. I said of course and asked the same. She said she dreamt of Lydia. Funny girl.

We had a relatively quiet house Sunday morning with just Kyle up and about. It was great to have some one-on-one time with the little guy.

Kyle's '1-Year' Photos

We have been meaning to get Kyle into the studio to do some "1 year" photos. We finally had some time on Sunday. He is usually our go with the flow guy, so I expected it to be pretty easy. He was skipping his morning nap, however, so he was anything but. Claire to the rescue. For someone who talks about not liking to take photos, she really stepped up. We asked her to help keep Kyle on the set and to make him smile. She did amazing and had fun hamming it up herself.

Winter & Green Beans

We got outside for a bit on Saturday to play in the snow. It stuck to everything, which looked beautiful, but didn't make for great packing. Spen joined us as Claire played on the swingset and made snow angels. We also attempted a snowball fight, but it was impossible to make a snowball.
 

Lucian finally came down with a bug and was recovering over the weekend. I needed him to get better quickly because he is flying solo for part of the week. I'm in Green Bay, WI for three days shooting photos for a client. I haven't had to leave the kids overnight for work before and I had mixed emotions about the whole thing. I waffled between knowing everything/everyone would be fine to having pretty high anxiety about it. It's Tuesday night now, my second night away, and in fact everyone is doing fine. A few phone calls to Claire as well as video chats have quelled both of our anxieties. I look forward to heading home tomorrow.

On a side note, Claire asked me if there were green beans on top of it, meaning on top of the city I was going to. She thought it was called Green Beans.

This gorgeous guy loves to play peek-a-boo behind the chair. 

Claire was taking care of all these babies. Sometimes she is their mom, other times she runs a daycare. Her play imagination has really advanced. She acts out scenarios much more elaborately and really puts herself into role play.

Kyle is getting so big. He is walking everywhere and is also at a dangerous stage where he climbs onto everything with no fear. There are many moments where we dart across a room to save him from taking a spill.

Sick

Both of the babes were fighting pretty fierce colds last week. However, when Claire started crying on Thursday night that her ear hurt, I was certain she had an ear infection. Lucian stayed home with both kids on Friday and got Claire into see the doc. Sure enough, a double ear infection, her first.

They stayed in PJs all day and rested up.

Kyle seemed to be getting worse over the weekend. We decided to take him to immediate care on Sunday, hoping they had some recommendation to get him on the mend. He too was dealing with a double ear infection, so we made yet another trip to the pharmacy. Poor guy.

The waiting room Sunday was super packed. All the kids got freeze pops at one point to keep them (and us) sane. We waited about two and half hours:(

Kyle is uttering his first 'real' word; cheese. Not because he loves to eat the stuff, rather because we take his photo so often! When I took out my phone to snap this shot, he gave me a big toothy grin and said "cheese." And speaking of teeth, he's cutting 3 new molars.

Claire and Kyle are starting to play together more. Kyle loves to have/do anything Claire does. Sometimes she doesn't mind.

We signed Claire up for gymnastics again this session. It is now on Monday nights, which is a little challenging, but we're making it work. Claire loves the class.

Kyle and I roam the halls to stay occupied for the half hour. He is walking all the time now. Hoping to capture a good video soon.