See ya later Sucker!!!

Can I tell you how happy I am to see January go? I do believe on January 2nd I told Cody how awful January is. I don’t like it in the least. And really, I don’t think I hated January until I became a mother.  Is it because the January holiday is the very first day of the month and so there is nothing to look forward to?

Is it because it’s cold and it’s just a slow month after just experiencing the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years? I’m not really sure what causes so much distaste for the month that should mean New Beginnings and Fresh Starts. Either way. I’m always happy to see January go!

PLUS, who DOESN’T love February. Our February wont be our “normal” February due to the ciaos this month will bring our family, but even so we are going to start it off right with a Valentines project this weekend. What screams love more than spending some good quality project time together!?!  (My sweet husband has brought it to my attention that every Holiday in our house is almost as grand as Christmas. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but my Children are super-d-duper excited for the big day of LOVE, because they get a special LOVE gift, and even more than that, they are counting down the days until ST. Patrick’s day, will Lenny the Leprechaun return? Will we catch him? Will he have new tricks up his sleeve? Will he fill our shoes with silly treats? And Julia’s biggest concern… she grew out of her St. Patrick’s Day shirt…Will the Leprechaun bring her a new one?!?!  I swear kids make everything more fun!)

Another lovely thing about January being gone, we are in the beginning of our last 10 day trip with no Daddy! We are taking this one with stride… heck it’s day one and Julia has some funky mysterious rash, inflammation of the feet/hands and Lacey’s torso is covered in a totally different rash. REALLY? The last 10 day trip we were at the doctor’s office with a sick baby girl, Kevin was on breathing treatments the whole time and Julia suffered from a cold. Woooweee, we need our Dad, that’s for dang sure.

Our sweet Lacey baby is totally distraught by the sudden disappearance of her dear old Dad. The days since returning from house hunting she has been a clingy, needy, monster. (although very sweet, I just can’t be out of sight, or out of arms length for that matter!) I spend most of my day holding her or trying to get something done quickly with her holding onto my pant leg and looking at me with pleading eyes and the sweetest, “hold you, hold you, hold you!” coming from her lips. (She may have walked super late, but this girl has a good 30 words, and she picks up things all the time, her newest today is button, which sounds like butta, but it means she wants to turn her toothbrush on, push a button on the microwave, or adjust the sound on the tv!)  Since dropping Cody off this morning her needy-ness has increased greatly. Which, I didn’t even think was possible!

Kevin, we still have him too! It appears most of my picture taking is happening in the morning while he is at school or in the evening when he is sleeping. Here’s proof of his existence. He is a train track building maniac. Every time I walk into the living room the track is in a different shape. He loves drawing his plans first and then building them. Kevin is also obsessed with Dirty Jobs (can’t blame him, Mike Rowe is something else! )  The Knife guy (Bear), and Power Rangers. He is my teasing machine. I swear if he looks out the window while we are running behind for the bus and says, “Oh Mom, the bus is already here!” ONE MORE TIME, he will get sent to the moon! He knows I don’t think it is one bit funny, but it still happens at least three times a week. (Oddly enough, his Dad does the same thing about locking the keys in the car, I fall for that every time too. It’s equally as unFUNNY!)

We had our appraisal done on our house this week. I’m assuming/hoping that since we haven’t heard anything all is well. I took the girls to Krispy Kreme for their first time (NEVER BUY THEIR HOT CHOCOLATE, EWW!) I thought it would be so entertaining and fun for Julia, but due to the fact her itching, rash, inflammation started right before we walked in… we lasted less than 10 minutes. We will have to try again when Kevin can go. I think he would be the most entertained. They did enjoy their pink milk and pink sprinkles though.

Last picture, Julia’s poor foot. She has no ankle…today it spread to her other foot and her hands. It’s weird, it’s mysterious, and I am hoping when we see the Doctor tomorrow that there will be something for her to look at it. The four times it has swelled up and been bad was at 8 am and 10 am yesterday and today. The whole rest of the day, both days, NOTHING… weird? WEIRD!!! When it is bad, it’s bad though, we had to run in Target after donuts to get an itch cream, she was in so much pain she was moaning and biting the handle of the shopping cart. (JUST an FYI on Julia, remember 9 months ago when her finger was shut in the door and she had a 3/4 amputation she never once cried… this girl can handle pain like it’s nothing. Now, take her toy or tell her NO, you will hear the high pitched scream and the tears will roll, but Pain, That’s a whole different thing!) It was awful and I had a hard time not crying in the store. We’ve been praying it either goes away or the doctors will be able to help us tomorrow.

And our last tid-bit of information…Our sweet baby has a name. Elena Joy. Elena is just a name we liked, (most people will think it is from Vampire Diaries because I’m slightly obsessed, but the name was put on the baby name list long before I ever watched an episode.) Kevin had a lot of input when it came to naming this little Princess. He really wanted her to have five letters because all the other kids do and well, it would only be “fair!” Any time we mentioned a name he would ask how many letters there would be. When we told him Elena Joy, he said, “Oh, I like it!” Joy, is Cody’s grandma. She is a sweet lady that we all love and admire and we are grateful Elena can carry her name. We are big into nicknames at this house… I wouldn’t really say we shorten names as Julia is most often referred to as Julia Gulia BaDulia, Kevin is Tio and Lacey is Lacey Baby. While we were driving to the airport this morning Kevin said, I think I’ll call Elena, Little Laney! and I think it is just perfect.

We are so excited to meet you little Laney. Your brother and sisters have felt you move and kick and they can’t wait to see you move and kick in 10 short weeks. Until then, sit tight and be good!