Bit of a Break

So I took a bit of an unplanned break from blogging.  Just realized it had been about two weeks since the last update.  I am pretty sure it's because last weekend we had stuff planned Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and it just never really got fit in.  This weekend was the complete opposite with not a thing planned.

But I'll backtrack.  So Friday night wasn't exactly anything fun - we were just closing on our refinance, but give that a little checkmark because it's officially done.  Wasn't without drama but I'll spare you the details.  On Saturday, I had some time to myself and headed downtown to meet some ladies for tea at the Peninsula.  This was my first official afternoon tea experience.  Brunch is very much my thing, but this was a new experience.  It was quite fun, although certainly not an every week thing.  You each get your own pot of tea and a tower of finger foods and desserts.  Plus we added some rose champagne which was super.  On Sunday, the whole family got in on the action and we headed out to the north shore suburbs to Jeff & Julie's friends house for brunch and playing.  Was super fun - Aimee and Jon were there with their kids, and Sawyer was very excited to see Reese.  She's such a stinker though b/c she talked about her for two days before we went, and then took awhile to warm up.  Don't worry she adjusted and was then quite sad to go home.

This was the scene in our car within about three minutes, so Mark and I took advantage and drove ourselves around the North Shore to look at all the amazing houses.  Loved them.

This just can't be comfortable, but no matter how many times I pushed her back she kept flopping back over.

This weekend was total opposite.  We had nothing planned and just relaxed, did some cooking, and random errands.  This picture should give you a pretty good idea:

Actually, the weekend had a bit of an auspicious start.  We played musical beds on Friday night.  We all started in our own, but Isla woke up several times Friday night.  She was so loud she woke Sawyer up, who made her way into my spot in bed while I was rocking Isla.  Super - she would not even make a space for me when I tried to push her over, so I hit up Sawyer's bed.  Isla woke up a few more times and eventually ended up in Sawyer's bed with me.  Mark somehow slept through this all, so he woke up with Sawyer next to him, and found Isla and I sharing a twin bed in Sawyer's room.  Ha - atleast we all slept in a little.

Sawyer and I had a nice little afternoon together on Saturday despite all that.  She's had a bit of a growth spurt and most of her pants are now floods and her shirts are just getting a bit on the small side.  So she needed a shopping spree and I have to say, I envision many fun future shopping trips - especially because any time you ask her if we should buy something she says yes, let's buy that.  In fact, anything she sees that she likes she tells me to buy.  Thankfully, I'm quite particular about what I buy for her so she didn't get everything she wanted.  She had so much to say throughout the day, and had me laughing quite a bit.  She was hungry almost immediately upon arriving at the mall, and so we split a pretzel and a lemonade.  By the time we got to the last store she was also tired and laid herself out on the floor of Macy's kids department, so I bribed her with a stop at Macy's candy counter, where she appropriately selected the swedish fish, just like her momma would have.  Even though she made me carry her the whole way out, she kept singing "potbelly's" over and over again because she wanted to go there for lunch, and so I pretty much giggled along the way.

Not too much to write home about other than that.  A few random thoughts - Sawyer is in a super imaginative stage right now.  She makes up words, songs, stories.  Tonight she decided her name was Mr John, and John was in kindergarden, and she got some bags together to go away to school, and kept calling me John's mom.  She also pretty much didn't stop talking for 2 hours straight.  Isla, on the other hand, is extremely goofy.  Any question you ask her she responds no to, she communicates all sorts of silly things with her eyes, and is starting to speak more and more.  She now can hug and kiss us - even patting your back when she hugs you.  It melts my heart. 

Cousins

We had a fun-filled weekend with Ann, Ted, Charlie and Ben in town for a quick visit.  It had been too long since we'd all gotten together, and the kids especially seemed to enjoy the weekend.  They were all in the backyard within about 10 minutes of arrival, were in the basement, the playroom, Sawyer's room, you name it.  They made their way around the house.  Luckily all four kids still take naps so that was on the agenda for the day too.  Ben resisted, but we did get the other three.  Sawyer and Charlie both slept in her room in the twin beds.  They did talk quite a bit but after some final warnings fell into some pretty deep sleep.  Ann and I even got in a quick trip to the mall while the kids were asleep.

Afterwards, we hit up the playground which is where most of my pics are coming from.  They were all loving being outside, and the weather was relatively mild for us which was nice.  It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine though - we ended up leaving in a bit of a rush because Charlie fell off the climbing wall and hit his head.  It immediately started bleeding quite a bit so we knew a trip to the emergency room was in his future, where he ended up with three staples in his head to close the gash.  Poor guy was very brave though.  As Ted said afterwards, we think he may have been a bit upset because he had to leave the playground, not because he was in a ton of pain - he kept asking if we were going to go back.

It was fun while it lasted though, and the kids got more playtime in later that night and in the morning.  They all seemed pretty sad to see each other go, so we're already looking forward to our trip to Michigan for the boys' birthday parties in a couple weeks.  Some pics from the day:

Isla and I on the swings - we were both saying "weeeee" - this is the only way she will go on the swings.  She's terrified of the baby swing.

 Sawyer taking a breather

Isla and Ben on the slide.  I don't put pictures of Ben and Charlie on the blog b/c Ann and Ted prefer us not to...but I figured a back shot can't hurt.  For this reason, you'll notice most of my pictures are of Isla because Charlie and Sawyer were attached at the hip and usually together.

Our little monkey loves to climb...

 And ride motorcycles...

 But more than anything loves going on the slides...

We ended up having a much needed quiet day at home on Sunday.  All the kids were up early and so I found myself counting down till I could put them down for naps.  Both of them went down in a snap they were so tired and slept 3+ hours.  I needed a nap too but didn't take one, but did get some good relaxation time in which is good.  Isla was rocking a new shorts romper that she looked so cute in.  She was so goofy yesterday, I can barely believe how grown up she's getting.

Easter Weekend Fun

Lots of fun activities this weekend with Easter.  Isla and I were home on Friday again together but Sawyer went to school.  This was strategic in part - I needed to go get Easter baskets, candy, etc. and while Isla would have no clue, there's no fooling Sawyer.  I'm glad she went to school though because she came home looking like this.

I actually walked into the classroom and all the kids had these on and were getting a picture taken.  It was the cutest thing ever.  The good news is that Sawyer never caught Isla's virus and Isla was basically totally fine on Friday.  She had a few scabs on her hands but other than that I think she's fine.  It turns out Isla also likely has allergies.  When we were at the pediatrician she put her on Zyrtec due to some multi-week congestion...and I'm thinking the diagnosis was right because three days on Zyrtec and she's no longer a faucet.  Anyway, I digress. 

On Saturday, we played with bubbles from about the time we woke up, baked some soft pretzels, and dyed our Easter eggs.  Isla really just ended up watching, but Sawyer loved it and basically turned her hands blue.

She preferred to use her hands to dip all the eggs.  

We ended up going to our friends' house on Saturday afternoon to play in their new sandbox and ended up staying quite late.  It was really fun as the kids get along so well...and the adults do too!  We need Isla to get about 6 months older before she's fully in the mix with them, but she managed to keep herself occupied and stayed up 2 hours past her bedtime.

You might think this would cause her to sleep in - it did not.  She woke up bright and early though did wait for Sawyer before she dug into her Easter basket.  Each got bunny ears.  Isla totally dug her mini Reese's cups.  She kept bringing them to me and saying more so that I'd open them for her.  Sawyer finished most of her candy (thankfully I didn't buy that much) before about 11am.  I didn't even realize she'd ate her bunny.

At any rate, it was really nice in Chicago today so we wore some new dresses from Grandma, and even tried to snap a few pics out in the yard.  I tried to get one of both together but it just wasn't going to work, so I'll settle for separates.

Isla wasn't feeling it at all - she wouldn't look at me or give up her binky.

She much preferred playing with her bubbles on the deck.

The dresses didn't last too long.  Didn't make it to lunch even.  We started cleaning up the deck furniture and Sawyer insisted on helping.  I pretty much knew immediately that dress was going to get wet.  She did do a great job cleaning that chair though.  She kept telling us she's doing her cleaning project....our girl loves a "project".

Isla didn't want to sit on the sidelines so we used one of Grandma's tried and true activities and gave Isla a bucket of water with some measuring cups.  This occupied her for quite a while, though she too eventually soaked herself and needed a new outfit before lunch/nap.

Ultimately both girls needed a long nap due to our late night the evening before.  Sawyer went down perfectly because we told her the Easter bunny was coming back to deliver her eggs.  Several hours later she was racing around the backyard in search of eggs.  It was pretty comical as she was very excited with every egg she found - screaming what color she found.

Very happy about one of her finds.

Isla didn't totally get the exercise, but Mark and her walked around picking up a few eggs.  She was far more interested in finding one and then eating all of the M&M's out of it before proceeding. 

In fact, they both did.  All eggs were emptied and eaten before we even went inside.

I did make a pretty good meal for Easter dinner (if I do say so myself) but it's always too much food!  I bought a small ham this year and I still have a plate leftover, in addition to a plate of potatoes, and deviled eggs.  Oh well, guess that'll be lunch for tomorrow...and every day this week.  Despite the cute looking pictures I think I got over the course of the weekend, these girls can definitely test our wits, and were not making it easy on me while I was making dinner.  Therefore, no pictures of our Easter feast.  I often think I should snap a few of my many creations, but usually I get so frustrated with them that those last five minutes are highly stressful and I'm just trying to get everyone sitting with food in front of them at the table.  Someday I'll get that mastered.  For now, it's time for bed.

Infected

The house has been infected.  I got a call from daycare on Wednesday that someone in Isla's class had been out for the hand, foot, and mouth virus and Isla was showing symptoms...i.e. gross little sores on her hands, feet, and inside her mouth.  I heard and immediately felt the heebie jeebies all over my body.  So I picked up both girls early, hit up the pediatrician, and came home for an afternoon of playing.

We played with silly putty and play doe...

Played with bubbles outside...

Isla got into the action too - she kind of looks like she's about to huff and puff and blow the house down

But ended up just sputtering...

She doesn't really look sick, in fact I'm not sure she knows she is.  It doesn't seem to bother her at all.  I think because she seems to have a minor case - her mouth is largely unaffected.  So she's really just been running around here playing.

I love these two pictures because in one Sawyer is down, and in the other Isla is.  They were running back and forth between Mark and I.

Because these sores take about 4-5 days to go away, I was home with the girls again today.  This does not mean that my work has gone away.  In fact, I'm up against a deadline next Tuesday so I've primarily been dealing with emails over my phone, and working at night from 9-1am.  I know, not great, but it also means I'm wired right now, and hence a mid-week post. 

Sawyer with her pony in....her hair is getting thicker and longer...

We took a walk around town, went to the bank, picked up some bunny cookies from the bakery, played, read lots of books, went out for dinner.  It was a pretty busy day actually considering the "illness".  But when you have a girl that won't even sit down when she eats, you have to keep her moving just to entertain her.

As for me, I suppose it's time to head off to bed.  I thought we'd all sleep in this morning but of course Isla woke up just as Mark was leaving for an early train.  They went to bed slightly later than normal tonight so I'm crossing my fingers for an 8am wakeup.  We don't have anything planned for tomorrow, though I realized today that we have no food for Easter dinner, Isla doesn't have an Easter basket, we have no eggs/dye, and we ate half the candy I did buy already (which wasn't much).  So perhaps we have a little shopping trip to do in the morning.  On a side note, I ran 4.25 miles today.  I'm working my way up to a 10 mile race in about two months.  Afterwards, Sawyer and I did some yoga and stretching.  She is so funny and insisted on showing me her "moves" which she learned from Bobby Bear, who goes to her school.  She kept telling me to reach for the sun, and then bring it back down to earth...got a little chuckle out of that from our budding aerobics instructor.

Just Hanging Around

Was it really only a week ago that we were in Florida?  Feels like longer than that.  It definitely took the whole week for the family to get back on track and as a result we've had a lot of down time.  Isla was struggling not just with some post-vacation blues, but she FINALLY got one of her front bottom teeth.  The pediatrician wasn't lying when she said this was an "extremely unusual" sequence to get teeth.  Her top teeth are all in, including molars.  She has one bottom molar already, but up until this week had nothing else on the bottom.  What can I say - Isla, you are the cutest jack-o-lantern I've ever seen.  That said, I think the bottom four are all on their way because her gums are super swollen and she's drooling up a storm, and the girl was just having trouble sleeping all week.  She did get back on track with sleeping this weekend and gave us two 12+ hour nights, and two ~4 hour naps...I was loving it!

The weather hasn't been great since we've been home - it got a bit chilly here in Chicago again, but despite that our tulips have bloomed.  Hopefully the chill won't kill them b/c I may just cut a few for Easter dinner.  When it is nice out the girls usually want to be outside.  I can't say it enough that Isla LOVES to be outdoors.  She gets her sneakers out of the basket and brings them to us multiple times a day, and then grabs your fingers and drags you to the door.  Subtlety isn't her thing.  It's good though because it doesn't allow us to waste away the day inside.  Today, her and I took a walk on our own which was nice.

We do our best to corral them in the backyard (with the help of the fence) but both seem to prefer playing out in the front where Isla usually makes a break for the street numerous times.  This weekend they played pretty well together.  At the very least I see glimpses of how it could be. 

Almost angelic looking it seems...

However, Sawyer often gets a little too clingy with her sister which typically ends this way...