January

Oh my gosh.  This blog is such a chore!  Ok, enough complaining.  This month we did our usual stuff and then took a break from the nasty cold and went to California!

Harper:

- She is in full-on "why" mode.  Every single time I say something she says, "why?" and follows my answer with, "why?" until I say, "no more why's" and she says, "why no more whys?" and I say, "aaahdskfhasdfh!!!!"

- She is amazing at playing make believe and comes up with all kinds of creative pretend stuff, songs, scenarios, etc.

- She cracks us up constantly.

- One of my favorite funny Harper moments this month was when we were all sitting in the living room and she was wearing this purple Princess Sophia (kid's show) dress.  Well, the theme song goes, "I've got the shoes...I've got the dress...that makes me a princess...I guess..." So, she goes over and puts on Tom's black work shoes, which is an awesome image already, then she turns around and with great inflection and dramatic pause she goes, "I've got the shoes...I've got the dress...that makes me a princess...I guess."  You probably had to be there, but it was just perfect and funnier with each line.  Tom and I were dying.

Emerson:

- He's gotten much much better at weight-bearing.

- Learned how to sit!  Can do it for as long as he likes, but hasn't figured out yet that falling hurts, so he still does sometimes.

- Still doesn't eat solid foods but have gotten him to at least accept willingly one or two bites of food and suck on a thing or two.

- Have I mentioned that he likes to pray?  He's does it for a long time, but I'm not sure I ever mentioned it.  What I mean is that pretty much anytime he puts his binky in his mouth (which he can do all on his own now) he compulsively puts his hands together and up to his face, like he's praying.  It's suuuuper cute.  He also does it when he's startled or upset.

- Can handle toys better, but still loses them really easily.

- Have heard him babble with consonants, but doesn't do it often.

- He's just a cute little pumpkin.

That one time we caught Harper on video trying to put a tack in his forehead...:

Harper LOVES sledding:

Right at the beginning of learning to sit.  Still pretty wobbly:

Hahaha.  He was sitting next to me while I sewed and would startle each time I started the pedal.  It was so cute and funny:

Tom's favorite outfit

Waiting at the ophthalmologist's waiting room.  We had his eyes checked.  He's farsighted too, but isn't crossing yet and isn't near as farsighted as Harp, so he'll probably get glasses at some point, but not yet.

New sitter:

Baba needed help with some roof snow removal one day, so she watched the kids while I did the removal.  They had so much fun with her.  Harper was SO happy to have her own shovel and help Baba shovel off the steps.  Can you find E?

When I was done I came back to the front, expecting them to be inside but found them like this.  I guess Harp hadn't wanted to go inside yet.

Her new thing is that she loves to get all snuggled up in Tom's new Jazz blanket after a bath.

This one night she had missed her nap and was SO tired and it was cracking us up:

That one time when Tom made mashed sweet potatoes and I couldn't find them til a couple days later...

Got stir crazy and went for a cold walk:

Harp spent quite a long time stomping in the nasty gutter:

Showing off her dirty gloves and face.

Straight to the bath.

Just playing make-believe with her toys:

Harp coloring and singing:

E trying to grab anything he can and Harp eating a messy treat:

Such a cute video:

Sibs

Stickers

Just E pulling some funky moves:

The girls having fun with Uncle Allen:

Harp and Sophia playing super nicely during coop, as usual:

E. in the baby area at the Children's Museum:

Harp was sitting at the top of the slide cheering on each kid as they went down.  "Yay!  Good job! [clapping]"  Haha, so cute.

Had fun at Melody Makers at the Children's Museum:

Sometimes I try to keep E awake while we're driving home so he'll take a better nap at home.  He can be a pretty tough cookie though.  Sometimes, it doesn't matter if I'm moving his head all around, flinging his arms up and down and tickling him, this still happens:

They took a bath together during coop and snuggled up in the blanket together afterward.

Perfect toy for little man.

Sneaking up on Harp playing by herself after I woke up from my nap:

She was wearing her cupcake jammies and just happened to decide to wear this hat that came with her cupcake Halloween costume.  It was perfect.

 And it continued for a few days:

Sibs

Sleeping with her cupcake hat under her arm, her "handle" (a plastic bandaid from her doctor kit) in her hand and her bear in her other hand.  Gotta have her things.

About to be swallowed by snow.

Trying on costumes at the Children's Museum:

Rawr!!

She was loving this "Earthquake Table" until all these big boys descended.

"Mom, I'm making a sandcastle!"  How does she even know what that is?

E LOVED the water area!  He was sooo cute and delighted:

He also LOVED the mirror at the library.

This video below is so much better in slo-mo!

Sib bath

For at least 30 minutes she was giving her doll a checkup, then running around singing the "Doc McStuffins" themesong while looking at her reflection in the oven door:

Hipster baby.

She was just particularly cute this one Sunday, wearing one of my old dresses:

Bedtime stories with Daddy:

Japanese outfit from Jen (Tom's sister, who lives there):

Braved the cold and were glad we did:

E, in particular, is a lover of the outdoors.  A boy after my own heart.

She gave him a piece of her stethoscope (on his head) and her babydoll because she loves him.

Food bath!  It's one of the tactics we've been using to get him more into food.  He loves it, and so does Harp:

All snuggled up, post food-bath:

These next few are old.  I just got them off of Tom's phone:

Great Harvest

Detroit Lions!

The Zoo

 Back to recent photos.

Put E down and he became surrounded kids.

There's just something particularly cute, to me, about both my kids sitting side-by-side in the cart.

We braved the cold again right before leaving for California and had a blast.  Here's Harp singing the Frosty the Snowman song while spinning:

So, at the end of January we took a trip to California to see my family (sans Sarah :( ), go to Disneyland and just generally have a vacation.  We decided to drive through the night, while the kids were sleeping, to get there.  We got there around 5:15 am and E was awake.  We didn't want him to wake up Harp with his noises, so I took him inside and left Tom and Harp in the car.  I nursed him, then he fell back asleep on the bed.

I couldn't really go back to bed though, because he would stir anytime I moved (we don't normally co-sleep).  Tom didn't get to sleep either because Harp woke up at 5:30, despite our efforts, and hung out with her downstairs while everyone else was asleep.  Driving through the night was worth it, but it was still hard!

California mad up for our efforts with some absolutely beautiful weather though:

Later that day we checked into our hotel, which turned out to have a better layout than we'd thought it would.  We had a living room separated by a door from the bedroom.  So, we put Harper in the living room and Emerson in the closet in the bedroom and were able to move about relatively freely while they slept!  The hotel was pretty nice too and had free breakfast.  Plus, it was cheap!  I think we paid around $70/night.  Aaaaaand it was within walking distance to Disneyland.  What more could you ask for?  Yay for Hotwire!  In fact, since gas has been so cheap lately, we got into Dland for free and we got into the Children's Museum with our pass, the whole vacation only cost us around $350!

Couldn't resist some pictures of our dapper baby before church on Sunday.  I was happy to have weather warm enough to warrant whipping (tongue twister) out the shorts and suspenders again:

So, we got there Saturday and spend most of the day sleeping and visiting with relatives.  Then, Sunday was mostly spent going to church and hanging out with family.  Then, on Monday we went to Disneyland.  My sister had brought up this cute Princess Sophia dress for Harper and she LOVED it.  We let her wear it to Disneyland.

One of the first things we did just inside the gates was meet Cinderella.  The girls had fun twirling with her.

Harp was ADORED by her cousins the whole trip and here they are all holding hands as we walked down Main Street:

Waiting in line.

Harp fell asleep pretty easily in her stroller, but didn't stay asleep for very long.

She LOVED sitting on the fire engine in Toontown.

And she LOVED exploring Minnie's house.

 She was super cute when we were waiting to meet Minnie.  She was pretty excited and was drawing a picture of Minnie on her magna-doodle.  When we went up to meet her she gave her a hug and told her, "I love your work."

One of her favorite rides, hands down, was the "teacups."  I knew it would be.  Girl loooooves spinning.

We had a great day with lots of good moments.  Highlights were Space Mountain (Tom's crazy laugh comes out and it's the happiest thing ever), teacups, Minnie's house, and Dumbo.

Harp fell asleep in the stroller on the walk back to the hotel and was SO out.  She didn't wake up for anything!

E was super slap-happy when we got home and was just laughing like crazy when we were getting him ready for bed:

We spent the next day at California Adventure.  The weather was absolutely perfect on both days.

Meeting Pluto was great.  There was no line!

Last time we went to California Adventure Harper was just over a year old.  She LOVED the splash pad and it was probably the best part of the whole experience.  This time was no different!  It was HILARIOUS watching her play there.  Both last time and this time she ended up with a whole crowd of people watching her because she was just THAT cute and funny.  

Got to meet Doc!  I think she was a little confused that she couldn't talk.  Also, she wasn't allowed to give Harp a checkup.  Still fun though!

Tom is the best person to go on rides with!  He just gets this crazy awesome laugh and it's pure joy!

Do you see my mom and I in the back?  We always have to have a bonding experience and this was it!

Highlights for the day were the splash pad, the spinning ladybugs (they were so fast that I kept having to stop Harp from falling off the seat, but she LOVED it), the Grizzy rapids ride (not sure what it's called, but it was fun to ride and Harp enjoyed watching the rafts come down) and my amazing chocolate ice cream with chocolate and almond dipped cone from Ghiradelli.

Once again, Harp conked out on the way home and was OUT:

And, once again, E was slap-happy:

One of my Christmas gifts from Tom was a trip to a Korean spa while we were in California.  I've been to one before and I think it's a really interesting and relaxing experience.  The one bad thing about it was that I thought the only food there was this cafe right outside the spa, but inside the building.  They didn't have very good option, so I got some kind of curry soup thing that was really weird and not very good.  Then, when I went into the common area, I saw that they had a whole restaurant (with GOOD food) inside!  That was lame.  The rest of it was good though!  My favorite part was the red clay room.  It had a row of, like, miniature rooms.  They were just big enough for you to lay down and stretch out.  They kind of reminded me of little clay ovens, except I was the pizza.

The yucky curry soup.  That white stuff was cream...lots of it...plus curry.  My drink was good though!  Coconut milk shake.

On Wednesday (I think?) Tom, Harp, E and I just hung out at Downtown Disney.  Then, I think in the afternoon we just hung out with everyone at my parents' house.

On Thursday (I think?), we went to the La Habra Children's Museum:

Harp tried on a Kimono

Harp and Donny playing in the control room.

Harp's chosen costume plus baby.

When we were done with the museum, Harp, E, my mom and I went to have lunch by the playground.  I gave E a celery stick and he actually enjoyed gnawing on it!  It was the first or one of the first times he actually tried to gnaw on food instead of not liking it.

Harp + Elsa wig

Thursday night my sister and her family left and we checked out of our hotel and stayed at my parents' house.  On Friday morning I was watching the kids and I noticed they were extra sleepy.  I thought it was just because they'd gotten less sleep on vacation.  I took this picture of them being all sleepy on the couch because I thought it was sweet.

Little did I know, about a minute after I took this picture Harper would start vomiting!  Poor thing.  She threw up probably 5 or 6 times that morning and both kids started having coughs and runny noses.  We just snuggled and watched shows and did other low key activities.

By late morning/early afternoon though she started to feel better, so Tom, Harper, Grandpa and I went for stroller walk.  It was good for everyone, I think!

By that evening she seemed like her normal self and she had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa:

The next day we were going to leave around naptime.

First, we chilled in bed together. Ah, vacation.

Then, we all went and got donuts together and got some treats for the road at Trader Joe's.

Then, after we were all packed we headed to the park to tire Harp out before the drive.  

She fell asleep, but neither kid slept for long.

Less than an hour into our drive E threw up :( . Thankfully, it was the only time.  But it was the start of a sad, sad bout of sickness.  He ended up getting a fever and cough and just being really sad.

We thought it was funny that it looked like there were giant iPhones in the desert, in Nevada.  No idea what they really were.

Anyway, we drove to St. George the first day and stayed at my Grandma's house for the night.  It was a great setup and I'm so glad we did that instead of driving through the night again.  I'd brought lots of things to keep the kids entertained in the car, so the drive wasn't bad.  And Harp always loves seeing my Grandma and her husband Lee.  She still talks about "Grandma Verna" all the time.  The next day we finished the drive and were VERY happy to be home.  And that's January!