Looking forward to April Showers...

Winter reared its ugly little head once more here in Chicago.  While we had 50s and 60 degree weather a week or so ago, made some runs outside, and made our maiden voyage of the year to the playground it didn't last long.  We woke up this week to a bit of snow on the ground and just generally very cold temps.  Boo.  It coincided with some late season colds - Isla has bronchiolitis and is now on a nebulizer three times a day and I'm pretty sure Sawyer may have it too.  At the very least she's got one nasty cold and is up coughing much of the night.  Awesome.  What I forgot to mention a week ago was that Isla had started sleeping through the night, typically till 6:30 or 7am.  This has all been thrown out the window with her cold.  The lack of sleep has made her pretty disagreeable and she's been crying inconsolably a few times. 

Otherwise, Isla is growing up before our eyes - first and foremost, she loves to watch Sawyer.  Isla will "talk" to her and just laugh.  Several times we've asked Sawyer what Isla is saying to her.  She's told us that Isla wants a beer, that Isla wants some of her cookie, and that Isla loves her.  I think I've mentioned before Sawyer's newfound love of our IPhones.  She amazes me with her ability to work it, even without us showing her.  Flipping through photos is one thing, but she also opens up games and figures out how to work them.  She's a fan of YouTube, and watches videos of Berenstein Bears, and the "Charlie bit me" video.  She now frequently reenacts it with Isla, sticking her finger in Isla's mouth and saying Isla bit me.

On Monday, Mark and I both took off of work to do random errands.  It was nice being able to just run around town together.  In addition to hitting up the outlets to get Sawyer a summer wardrobe, we went and bought a table for the playroom.  We're all pretty happy with it, including Sawyer, who spends a good amount of her time there.

As for the playroom, I think I've alluded to the fact that I had a little home project going on there - I bought vinyl appliques of trees on Etsy.  While it took much longer than I thought to assemble - there are ~300 flowers which I put on individually - I like how it turned out.  Our playroom is connected to our family room via some french doors so it's very visible from our main living area.  Rather than have a big blank wall, I thought this would give us a little decor for the room.  Next home project is the Living Room.  Mark started painting today, and furniture will be arriving in May.

When I was finished our little poser saw the camera was out and ran in to her playroom to get in a shot.

 Hanging out with Dad...watching basketball.

For some reason all pictures taken on my phone end up sideways.  I snapped a quick one of Isla in her christening gown bonnet.  If all works according to plan, Isla will be baptized over Memorial Day when we're back in Buffalo.  The family gown arrived this weekend and we just have to make sure it fits.

As for Sawyer, she continues to be a goofy girl...albeit highly dramatic.  Her daycare sends a note home every day on what she did, how she ate, etc.  The other day her note said that Sawyer was a bit emotional - HA!  When we walk in every morning the other kids run over and scream her name.  I think she's usually one of the ringleaders in the class so I think they're just excited to see her, but she's not so much a morning person because this attention first thing freaks her out every time we walk in.  The other day she ran out of the class and it took me a few minutes to get her to walk back in.  Thankfully she loves her teacher Miss Stephanie so after giving me and Isla a hug and kiss she'll go hug Miss Stephanie for a few minutes before she gets in her groove.

Two random stories about Sawyer: 

• she's learned a joke from Yo Gabba Gabba and repeats it all the time: Knock Knock, Who's There?  Interrupting Cow - MOO!  She loves this joke.
• We drive a lot more living in the suburbs and Sawyer likes to point out the color of the traffing lights to me as I drive.  She'll tell me Green means Go, Red means Stop, and Yellow means SLOOOOOW down.  That's her emphasis, not mine.  When we're stopped at a light she'll have a conversation with herself telling me she wants to go, but we can't because the light is red - we have to wait till the light changes.

This weekend she asked to be put up on the mantle.  Mark had held Isla up there and so of course her sister needed to do it as well.  Don't be alarmed, Mark is just off to the side - I cropped the photo so you can't see him.  She thought she was so funny, and now tells us that the lion is up there.

And with that we head into another week...hoping for warmer weather and improved health soon.