Snow Day

Today is Sunday and the high is expected to be 64 degrees. This past Wednesday we had a day off from school because of snow. That's Ohio for you.

The kids were watching the neighbors out playing in the snow.

I was bound and determined to get Xander and Josie outside to play. There were a few snowfalls this winter but I usually stayed in with Hannah. So I gathered up our snow clothes and we played inside until Hannah went down for a nap. Then we suited up!

Xander really enjoyed making snowballs. I'm not sure if he was really aiming or just throwing but he seemed to hit a lot of things. In this picture, he is showing where his snowball had hit the cross bar on the clubhouse.

Josie had been saying for weeks that she wanted to build a snowman. This snow was perfect for it, wet and sticky. Of course, Josie did not build it, she just watched me. Then we added a carrot nose (Josie was adamant about it being a carrot), leaves for eyes and sedum for a mustache  I added the sticks for arms and Josie brought over another stick and started to put it in next to one arm. Xander became all bent out of shape because a snowman can't have 3 arms. I said it could be an alien snowman. With that thought, he gleefully ran off and came back to attach another arm.

Xander also excitedly asked to knock over the snowman. I told him to wait until we were done and had taken pictures. When I gave him the signal, he went at it like he'd been tackling all his life. Then he'd back up and tackle again. Then he took a few flying leaps to land on the defeated snowman like a pro wrestler.

Seriously, you couldn't even tell a snowman had been there by the time Xander was done.

Meanwhile, Josie must have missed the conversation about destroying the snowman because she became very sad.

So I talked with Josie and asked her if she'd like to make another snowman, maybe a miniature snowman? She instead asked for a snow buggie. Huh? So I asked if she meant a ladybug and Josie became super excited. I just made a ball for the body and Josie made one for the head. It wasn't big enough at first, but after some more rolling, they were just the right size. 

Then I had to explain to Josie that the snow ladybug might melt pretty quickly, probably by the next day. She made the sad face again and spent the next two days randomly running to check if the ladybug was still in the back yard. Fortunately by this weekend she was so happy to have the nice weather that she hasn't missed it at all.

1st Birthday Party

The thing about having a birthday girl in February is that it is cold outside here. So while our June and September birthday parties can spill into the back yard, no one really wants to wander outside now. So Hannah's invite list was a little smaller than previous 1st birthday parties. Add on to that the surprising fact that some people don't like to travel  in the cold weather and our small list became even smaller. So Hannah's birthday was a nice little affair with some friends and some family.

That didn't stop me from getting all fancy with her birthday cake! The giant cupcake was white with candy melt to make the 'wrapper' and buttercream icing. The smaller cupcakes were all chocolate with buttercream. And they were all fabulous, oh I want more just looking at the picture.

The birthday girl was having none of it though. I mentioned in a previous post that she had been sick the week before. Fortunately, she managed to kick the fever a couple days before the party. However, she was not recovered completely. Or at all. Okay, she was grumpy and tired and clingy. 

And she wanted nothing to do with cake. Seriously, whose child is this? Turning down cake!

But then....then came the presents. I recruited Xander, Josie and a neighbor to help with opening the gifts and, one-by-one, they were presented to the birthday girl. And slowly her demeanor changed. "What is this offering that has pretty sounds and twinkling lights?" you could all but hear her say.

Then it happened. A final gift that had one piece of jewelry. Her godmother slid it on her arm and it was as if the clouds parted. The birthday girl was finally happy. (Chris, on the other hand, had to deal with realizing he had another girlie-girl for a daughter.)

Easing into One

Hannah turned 1 last week! It's amazing how much she has grown and changed in the year since she has joined us. You would think that by the third child we would be used to how quickly a baby grows, but no. I think that chasing two older siblings around means that Hannah can sneak the growing in faster.

Unfortunately, she could not sneak into turning one. She spent the week before it sick, sick, sick. On Super Bowl Sunday I noticed she was shivering. I chalked it up to sitting on the cold tile in our bathroom and put a hoodie on her. As I put her to bed I thought she felt a little warm but absently thought it was probably from teething.

I stayed home on Monday with Xander because he inexplicably threw up repeatedly during the night. He was fine Monday but Hannah developed a full fledged fever and became super-clingy. I realized that night that she hadn't eaten much and was even refusing to nurse. During the night she was up repeatedly and had to be held to keep her calm. By the morning I was ready to call the doctor just to rule out anything dire.

Fortunately the doctor was able to rule out the flu (they swabbed for a test as soon as we arrived), strep throat, Fifth Disease and Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Hannah's lungs and heart sounded fine. Her nose, throat and ears all appeared healthy. The doctor said he thought it was a viral infection that would take some time to run it's course and to give ibuprofen or acetaminophen as needed.

It took Tuesday and Wednesday for the fever to wind down. Those were some rough nights, even with the medicine. Thursday and Friday had a few fever spikes but Hannah finally began sleeping and eating better. Just in time too because Saturday was her birthday party. I'll write about that in another post.

We had Hannah's well check the next Tuesday, the day after her birthday. She was finally over the virus and seemed in great health according to the doctor. Her charts are off though due to weight loss from the week before.

Weight: 19 lbs. 12 oz. (29th percentile)
Height: 30.5 inches (90th percentile)

I mentioned that Hannah is teething. I think all four molars and one of the front teeth are coming in excruciatingly slowly. When she laughs (or yells) I can see all of the molars poking through and it makes me cringe a little. Hopefully they will all be through soon.

Winding Down

While I wouldn't describe our lives as hectic, there is definitely some weeks that are busier than others. This week it included a broken garage door, beginning the search for a new dentist only to find out we could keep our current dentist, dance class, tutoring, soccer, pizza and game night with neighbors, mom's night off and overtime for dad.

Despite all of that, it has been a surprisingly nice weekend. Time to share some pictures.

We've had the fireplace going for most of the weekend.
This is the first we've had it going this winter and the kids loved it.

Watching the Super Bowl after trying a dinner of appetizers.
Xander's favorite part of dinner was dipping cheese puffs in pizza sauce.

Josie was not very interested in the Super Bowl so played with her My Little Ponies,
making her bracelets into necklaces for them.

Xander is happy that his new cousin will be another boy.

This is Xander's 'to do' list from a couple weeks ago, since I had my own list. He accomplished 'have fun' and 'play with Josie' but was unable to get to 'wrctgether' (work together).

Hannah's hair has grown long enough to be in her eyes. I'm not a big fan of bangs so tried barrettes, which did not work out. Pulling her hair up into a Pebbles Flinstone 'do is working much better. I sent Chris a text with this picture and said "You said I could be anything I want, so I became a unicorn."

A Family Dinner Out

We do not go out to eat often, but when we do the kids eat for free.

Josie was unimpressed with the dinner conversation so read the book she brought along.

There was a football game on but Hannah's team wasn't playing.

Tripping Over Milestones

Hannah's first birthday is fast approaching and she is working hard on standing and cruising. I think her goal is to walk into her party. Wouldn't that be impressive? All of the guests would be standing around asking "Where is the birthday girl?" and in saunters Hannah. She would need theme music, though.

On Friday I caught Hannah experiencing several new firsts. She realized that the curio cabinet has a door that can open. Fortunately, I was there and she did not actually get into any of the breakables. I slid the couch over to block the door as a temporary solution. Chris made a slightly more permanent solution by tying a string around the curio cabinet.

Next, Hannah realized that she can take off her own bib. And she did so with much enthusiasm. Repeatedly. With velcro bibs and snap bibs. And would then quickly throw the bib on the floor. I was rather exasperated  at the time but have since figured out that if she is really hungry, she will be distracted with food. 

Also on Friday, Hannah figured out how to unzip jackets. Namely, the jacket she was wearing. I kept finding her with the jacket of her outfit hanging open. I hoped it was a fluke at first but finally caught her ripping it open. It's not a big deal over all, she was just so persistent with keeping it unzipped!

Today we had the fun of opening the file cabinets. Except it was followed by the agony of closing the cabinets on her little fingers. She never closed it hard, but it was still enough for her to get a look of surprise followed by a wilted expression and then tears and sobbing. The solution to that was to stick a dowel rod down through the handles. Which reminds me, we need about three more rods for other drawers that I am sure will catch her attention soon.

Finally, I realized today that she has more teeth than I thought. Hannah's front four teeth have been in for a while. The top and bottom to the left have come in. The ones on the right are popping through. But earlier I had to fish something out of her mouth (seriously, where does she find all of this dirt to eat?) and wondered what she had further back in her mouth. Yeah, it was a molar. No wonder she keeps trying to chew on all of her toys.

The Outtakes

We managed to salvage a couple decent pictures during our 'holiday shoot' for the children earlier in December. Besides the whole lighting and focus and composition problem, we were trying to organize three young children in nice clothes. I have no idea how professional photographers do it (you know, besides the years of training).

One thing that helped was taking a large, open box and wrapping paper around it. Hannah was able to sit and stand in that without getting away or grabbing her siblings. Though it wasn't perfect....

Chris tried making them laugh but I kept catching him in the shot.

The box didn't work so well on the bed. Hannah never actually fell over but it did not look good.