Snowpocalyps

 The girls and I are spending our third snow day (out of the last 4 school days) together cooped up in the house.  Lilly is bored and wants to be out in the snow, I am craving some adult time, and Lucy is refusing to nap nicely.  What next!? Oh yeah, it's substate basketball week and John is scheduled to ref every day this week.

Luckily, it looks like the storms are over and tomorrow we will return to the routine we haven't seen much of lately.  Last week, when we got the first foot or so of snow, John made a point of being home to get Lilly out to play.  She loved it and had to be drug in after an hour and a half each day! She refers to herself as Hello Lilly when she is all geared up in her hat and snowsuit!

She is so very proud of her first snowman! He is a bit scary if you ask me! His scarf actually has dog heads on the ends of each tail.  Creepy, and yes, it was a Christmas gift to me several years ago, and no, I have never worn it!

Over the weekend we went with John to the Kansas City Western Farm Show at Kemper. Lilly loved climbing on the tractors with Uncle Grant and getting to play in the snow with him and Jack at his house. I am so glad Lilly has such big tough men around to play in the snow with her; as I am quite happy to stay inside with Lucy where it is warm!

Never a Dull Moment

 Between work, dance, daycare, reffing, and traveling, there never seems to be a quiet or slow paced moment around the Stous House.  John was reffing who-knows-where last week and I was working on dinner.  The girls like to sit at the back door and watch the cats on the back porch.  Lilly told me that we had a new pet but it wasn't a cat.  I asked if it was a dog. Nope.  Was it a bird? Nope.  Was it super ugly with a long tail? Yep.  I think I knew all along what it was but am so totally disgusted by opossums that I didn't want to say it! Bleghhhhh, didn't bother her in the least though.  

Bedtimes have become a bit of a challenge when John is gone.  Two kids and story time are just not my thing. There are nights I seriously want to pull my hair out.  I have given up the fight and let Lilly fall asleep where ever she wants.  It is so much easier to move her once she falls asleep. 

 Lilly and I took the healthy and homemade route for her valentines this year.  

 And to tope off an already busy week, baby Lucy got sick.  She came home from daycare just fine on Wednesday.  Apparently had been somewhat sleepy during the day, but fine overall.  She ate a nice supper, ate her bottle, and went on her way.  About 10 minutes later she fell asleep on the floor in the playroom. Lilly was known for doing this, but never Lucy.  

I let her sleep for 30 minutes or so and she woke up crying.  John knew she felt hot, but who would have guessed she would wake up with a 103.5 temp!  Turned out to be nothing more than a 24 hour bug and we made it to Kansas City by the weekend for Savi, Avery, and Adam's birthday parties!

3/4 of 1

 My crazy little lady is NINE MONTHS OLD!  How is this possible!  And have I mentioned that she might just be the funniest baby ever!

At nine months, Lucy:
*eats everything put in front of her!  She has had homemade baby muffins with pureed fruit, homemade applesauce, pears, squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, peaches, carrots, toast, bran muffins, and today had Yobaby yogurt and spaghetti!  Miss Karen, the girls' amazing daytime mom, is a bit more trusting than I am with my child's ability to eat, which is fine because she knows babies far better than I ever will!
*chatters mama all day long.  Not complaining in the least!
*weighs 19 lbs 12 oz and is 26 inches long, 65th %ile for both.
* is mostly out of sixth months clothes and fits perfectly in size three diapers.
*loves to hold onto and walk behind Lilly's baby stroller.  I fear she will be all out walking sooner than Lilly did (at 10 months).
*is trying so hard to wave and clap!
*gets so mad when I have to put the baby gate up to keep her in one part of the house!  She has discovered that toilets have water in them and that you can splash your hands in the water!  Yuck!
*is up to four teeth and I keep thinking I can see two more!
* still loves loves loves her wubanub (giraffe paci)!  She isn't one of those babies who can't do anything with out it, but it definitely keeps her entertained in the car!

Happy Valentine's Day

Baby Muffins

I slaved away in a hot kitchen and made more food for Lucy.  Actually, these little muffins were quite simple, and 100% baby friendly.

Here is what I did:

*1 cup pureed fruit: I used banana and peaches

*1/3 cup of whatever kind of milk the baby is on (breast milk only for us).

*1 cup dry baby oatmeal cereal

*1 cup flour

*1/4 cup brown sugar

*1 egg yolk

*2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix it all up and drop into a muffin tin.  I used my little tin just because I figured it would be closer to the right size for Lucy.  Bake at 350 for 17 minutes.  

I kept 10 or so out for the week and froze the rest (20 ish).  Lucy snarfed two down at dinner tonight.  I think they were a hit!  

On a totally unrelated side note, John and I celebrated out 6th wedding anniversary today.  He got me flowers, nice guy right, but somehow got ripped off.  He got whatever the opposite of a baker's dozen is......11 instead of 13.  It's the thought that counts right?!

Always a Winner

 Winter is tough.  It's cold, wet, and not good for kids who want to be outside!  Weekends are equally tough.  John is gone a lot, leaving me to clean, wash, and entertain.  When all else fails, I open the blinds and let Lucy talk to her buddy Won,

and get out something for Lilly to bake.  Brownies are always my first choice because they have 4 ingredients and can't really be messed up! Lilly has recently figured out how to turn on the over light and "watch them bake."  One of these days she will also figure out that the batter tastes good.  Until then, it is all mine!

I am only about a week behind on blogging, but who's counting anyway! Last weekend I woke up to Lucy jabbering about 8:00.  I usually let her go for a bit and get her up after she starts to sound fussy. Somehow I managed to fall back asleep and woke up at 9:00 to two little voices coming through the monitor.  

Little Miss Lilly had taken it upon herself to climb into the crib with Lucy.  She also thought it necessary to teach her to pull open the blinds (see the totally dangerous string hanging into the crib).  Note to self.....put the string out of reach! 

I watched from the door for a while.  When Lilly finally saw me she demanded I get her out of the crib.   Somehow she never figured out how to climb out on her own.  Maybe she will start doing this every Saturday morning so momma can sleep in!