February love

February has gone by so fast for me. It doesn't feel like it is just about through. I think this month I have realized more than ever that I am ready for winter to be over! With all of the sicknesses going around I have tried to keep Liam away from most public places. But I just can't stay inside all day every day. So we of course go see family and friends or to the grocery store etc. But it seems every time we go anywhere and a lot of times even when we don't, we are all getting sick. But fortunately it has been nothing too bad, usually just little colds.



I just feel so bad for little Clara and Liam. I think Liam has been totally healthy a total of two maybe three weeks of his life. He is a little trooper though, it doesn't seem to get to him much. Clara has been sick a bunch too. (feel free to skip the next part if you don't want some kind of gross details). It wouldn't be a big deal but we have found that when Clara is sick, even with a little cold, she throws up. Let me tell you, I HATE throw up! Hate it hate it hate it! I can't even handle it when I throw up, I would rather be in so much pain. So cleaning up throw up that is not mine is hard! It takes total concentration to concentrate on not throwing up myself. Especially when Clara has actually thrown up on me. I think the only reason I can do it is because I love her so much, and it makes me sad to see her throw up. I figure the reason she throws up is the drainage from a runny nose. I don't think her stomach handles it very well. I have to say that I blame her weak stomach and overactive gag reflex on her father.



Other than being sick it has been a fun month. The past few weeks Liam seems to be improving. He doesn't usually cry all day every day now. Usually he just has his fussy times, mostly in the evening. That alone has made life much more pleasant in our home. The fact that Liam is such a cheerful, smiley little boy when he is not crying helps a lot too.



We were able to take Clara on trax again. She was so excited to be riding on a train. We went from Murray clear to downtown at the Gateway mall. I think riding that long filled her train craving.



Chris and I also ran a 5k this month. Our friends were holding a fundraiser 5k run and we wanted to pitch in and wanted to get some exercise as well. I had run on the treadmill a few times and struggled even running a mile. So I figured I would mostly walk the 5k but do my best. I ended up running almost the entire thing. I was so glad Chris stayed next to me because he easily could have run it much faster than I did. But I was rather proud of myself that I did as well as I did. Now I am stressing about training for the Ragnar. A 5k isn't even one leg of the race and we have to run three legs! We did get some new running shoes and gear so I hope that helps. We went to a store that watches you run and finds the right shoe with proper support for you. I had to have quite a supportive shoe so I am glad we ended up going there, I just hope it helps my not hurt so much when I run.



Well those are the main events of February I guess. Here are some pictures.

Clara just loves Liam so very much! She always wants to hold him, love him, and kiss him. She is getting to be such a big helper to me as well. She loves to help, and I love having her.

I told Chris to take a picture while I was holding him so he could one day see that I DID hold him and cuddle with him. I am just usually the one behind the camera.

Here is Liam all bundled up.

Clara's new favorite thing to do is help me cook or bake. Mostly she just likes to sit on the counter and stir. But if I am making something in the kitchen you can almost bet Clara is there helping me.

She also loves to dress up.

One night after FHE we decided to grab a smoothie. Clara loved it. Here is the before, below is the after.

More dress ups.

I swear I rotated these pictures but as soon as they uploaded on the blog they rotated right back . I always find myself with my head turned to the side trying to get a better look at turned photos. But at least they are here I guess.

Clara has extremely sensitive skin. She also has eczema. She breaks out in rashes quite often. This picture really barely touches what this rash actually looked like. She just kept telling me she was "itchy" and "owie, it hotes" (hurts).

I think this particular break out was an allergic reaction, my guess is to aloe since I tried baby oil with aloe for the first time.

My happy boy!

Here is Clara trying to get a good look at her little brother. It always surprises me how much she absolutely adores Liam.

For the life of me I could not get her to smile for the camera, so I got a bunch of silly faces. Usually she will at least give me a fake smile, but not this day.

But she finally did think it was funny that I was trying to get her to smile and I caught this.

This was another day during our FHE. I love that Clara has no shirt and Liam looks like a little turtle poking his head out from his shell. They both love their Daddy!

Liam's smile melts my heart!


He is such a little stud!


I don't think I ever got this many pictures of Clara smiling when she was a baby.


I can't believe she is getting so big! She is not a baby at all anymore she is a little girl!!!

This was Valentine's Day. We made pink heart shaped pancakes.


She taste tested some of the pancake batter that spilled. Yuck. But she liked it!

These roses were waiting for me on the counter when I woke up. Such a sweet husband!

Valentine's Day was pretty fair weather so we decided to go outside. Actually we went to the store and Clara instead of going inside grabbed her bike and just started riding. So I went along with it. I am so glad she was able to because she had a blast. And we also drew a giant Valentine on the driveway with chalk for Daddy.



She has improved so much compared to last year on her bike. She was going so fast! She went clear down the street all by herself and couldn't have cared less that I was still in our drieveway. I eventually had to chase her down because she was not going to turn around.

That night Chris had a bunch of work to do, so Clara and I made some delicious sugar cookies. She loves to make cookies..and eat the cookie dough...and play in the flour. It was THE cutest thing in the world when it was time to cut the cookies out into shapes, I would press the cookie cutter down and then kind of wiggle it to seperate it from the rest of the dough for easy removal. So when it was Clara's turn, she was very observant as usual, and she pressed and then wiggled. But she didn't wiggle the cookie cutter, instead she wiggled her little bum. I couldn't stop laughing as she did it time after time. She knew why I was laughing and being the little clown she is exaggerated even more and started saying "widdle, widdle" (wiggle, wiggle). It was the cutest thing!!!!



February was fun, but bring on spring and warm weather!!!