This is the last place I go to update, I present my lack of update since Carter's birthday as evidence. The whole uploading pictures thing seems so tedious at times and then I've been overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of catching everyone up on the past months. However, today it reached critical point so here I am.
We visited Wisconsin Rapids in January. Carter and Oz loved playing with their Grandma and Grandpa. Oz was a bit sick (it got worse when we got home), but Carter loved playing in the ridiculous amount of snow they had. Oz was not so much a fan of the snow.
Home and sick.
Carter discovered that he liked to take self portraits.
You'll notice in this picture he has a rash on his face. We've now identified that he has
Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) to all melons, kiwi, bananas and pickles. Carter's allergist said it shouldn't get any worse than it is now, but I'm a bit worried about the banana allergy because he used to have no reaction and I've heard banana allergies can get pretty severe. The biggest bummer of it all is that he loves all those foods.
Hell froze over and Andrew started seeing a chiropractor (Oz, Carter and I have been going for since before Oz was born) and he discovered one leg was shorter than the other. Apparently it runs in the family.
Andrew's parents stopped by on their way to Florida.
Andrew is growing his hair out. I'm not fond of it, but he likes it. I think he looks a bit like one of the
Gallagher brothers (But is not Oasis the greatest British band since the Beatles? Can we not vote on this?!).
In a worst mom moment I let Oz fall off the changing table at swim lessons and he got a fat lip.
He retaliated a few days later by head butting me and splitting my lip open.
Carter helped Andrew change the oil on the car.
We started teaching Carter how to ice skate. After months of waiting for Andrew to procure ice skates for Carter I went over his head and found a pair (for free nonetheless) and we took him. He liked it okay, lasted about 25 minutes the first time. Didn't like it so much the second time, but was able to take a few strides on his own.
Then he got sick, which caused him to actually SIT STILL (which just goes to show Hell must be in an ice age). He sat still enough that the cat actually came and laid down on him.
He also curled up with Andrew (Carter, not the Stuart).
We celebrated
Purim with a most fun party. The boys dressed up as potato heads and we had some friends over. We put potato chips, temporary tattoos and fake mustaches in buckets for our mishloach manot and everyone brought a dish to share.
Oz is getting awfully big. Here's Carter at 10 months and Oz at 10 months.
He's cruising around all the furniture, using his walker and he just started standing without holding on.
Carter is not at all a toddler anymore, he's all preschooler. He's starting to really pick up on things and the talking is nonstop. He usually has pretty good things to say, but sometimes it wears on my nerves. He's very protective of Oz and is constantly telling him what to do "Use gentle hands with the cat or he'll bite you", "That's not for eating Oz", "No, you're too little, you'll choke", "The toilet is icky Oz". Sometimes he'll call him 'Little Fella' which just makes me want to die of the cuteness. And just recently he's started pulling Oz into his lap when Oz does something that Carter doesn't like. He'll hold Oz in his lap and tell him to use his listening ears and follow the rules because they keep him safe. This is what we do with Carter. I didn't believe it was sinking in, but now that I'm seeing it played back to me it obviously is. It makes me very glad that we don't yell at, ridicule or hit the kids because then that's what Carter would be doing to Oz. Maybe this good parenting moment cancels out my previous bad mom moment with Oz. Now only if I could get Carter to understand that it's my job to discipline Oz, not his.
Apparently Andrew's but is a good place to sleep because I've found both kids there, and funnily enough, they were both about 11 months old at the time. (Carter then Oz)
We figured out that we can stick Mickey Mouse potato head hands on our heads.
In February I attended
doula training. Having a doula at my birth really made a world of difference in my ability to work through the pain and birth Oz. I'm excited to have the chance to empower women in the same way. I already have a few clients lined up and am working on getting my full certification from
DONA.
Andrew is safe from layoffs at the moment, he is lucky enough to be working on a pretty good project in a pretty good building. I'm still working on the
store, working with the
AP group and watching kids here and there.
Phew.
