Smiles & Giggles

The last 2 weeks have flown by but I'm excited for March and a much slimmer schedule! The majority of the team finished up their season a week ago with amazing swims! We still have 2 girls with chances for Nationals. One is a swimmer who unfortunately is swimming the one stroke that is talent full in Division 3 this year and one diver who won both the 1-Meter and 3-Meter events at Conference. We'll find out this week if they make it into Nationals and if they do we'll be making plans for a trip to Tennessee at the end of March.

To reward myself for a long month filled with busy work days and long weekends of rental meets I took a few days off this week and spent 7+ hours for two days at Archiver's with my mom. I'm happy to announce that Robert and Izzy's scrapbooks are caught up and that our family album is just 2 pages short of being current. I also was able to finish both of the scrapbooks for my senior swimmers this weekend while working a rental meet. So 5 scrapbooks in 5 days isn't too shabby! Of course now as the new week is coming closer I'm thinking a few more days off would be wonderful but unfortunately that will have to wait.

Eric's real estate is picking up with the thought of Spring getting closer so it is a good time for my hours to be easing up. We're hoping to find a time later this month or in early April to sneak away for some children free time but haven't made any definite plans yet.

Robert continues to get into anything and everything! His curiosity is at an all time high but luckily one of the things he's becoming more curious about is the potty! So slowly we're introducing it but won't rush anything...no matter how tempting it is to only have 1 child in diapers. He is still a great big brother and loves to "help" with any of Izzy's needs.

Izzy is growing up way too quickly, well for my liking anyway! She is a lot more talkative and giggly now which always puts a smile on our faces. She is definitely a daddy's girl and whenever I'm holding/playing with her she's always trying to find daddy. Iz is also a big fan of Robert and her latest trick is to try and grab his face whenever she is near. Luckily Robert's interpretting this as tickling and it usually results in lots of giggles from both kids. She's also getting quite good at moving around the house. She can scoot on her back and tummy around the house and I have a feeling that as soon as she learns to tuck her knees up she'll catch on to crawling pretty quick.

This week brings lots of phone calls for Eric to make, meetings and the start of summer swim registration at work for me, and more bonding time between brother and sister. Oh and our 4th anniversary also falls in there somewhere! Have a good week everyone!

Izzy is slowly getting the hang of her walker

but until she fully grasps it Robert loves

playing train and helps take her on a tour!

Some videos of our little giggler!

Lots to catch up on!

The biggest event to catch up on is that our little girl (not so little in the picture above) turned 6 months old a couple of weeks ago! Her doctor check-up went well, besides a having a really bad nurse, and she now weighs 16lbs 2oz (54 percentile) and is 2feet 2.5inches long (78 percentile). It is always reassuring to go to the doctor often during the first year just to make sure thing are on track. Izzy's current favorites are playing with her brother and eating her toes (as seen in the picture below)! She is getting close to sitting up by herself and is finally embracing spending time on her tummy. We went through a short spell of her wanting to get up in the middle of the night again but luckily we seem to have already gotten over that stage and she is back to sleeping 10-12 hours at night. She definitely beats her brother in sleeping at night but he still, even at almost 2 1/2 years old, is the better napper during the day.

Robert had been getting the winter blues and was in need of some new entertainment...so what better than play-doh and a cool machine?! He sat at the table for almost an hour playing with his new toy and it was definitely worth the $8 investment at Target!

"Amazing!" (Robert's new favorite word to say)
That's enough pictures Dad!!!

About a week ago I came home to a beautiful
surprise from Eric...both the flowers and CLEAN
house were a wonderful! Thanks Honey!

This past weekend I turned 29 (well to be fair it was the 4th year of turning 29) and it was a great birthday. I took most of the day off of work and spent the day in my pajamas playing with the kids and taking a nap. It was perfect! Then I went in to work for practice where the team made me feel extra special and I even got to eat dinner with them in the cafeteria...okay not as good as dinner at the Olive Garden the night before with Eric and the kids but the company was good! That night was the first night of my weekend college class and I really had not been looking forward to it. I like teaching the class but Friday nights combined with it being my birthday didn't make me the most excited to be at St. Kate's late. I was pleasantly surprised to get an amazing group of students who all know how to swim (makes teaching a lot easier and we can get through a lot more activities) and have a great sense of humor. I left work that night feeling great and enjoyed my 32nd birthday.

On Saturday my mom and Nick came over and we headed to Buca Di Beppo for a late lunch. It was so yummy but I think we could have passed on the Colossal Brownie Sundae...or would've preferred it come in a smaller size.

Izzy playing in the booth while we were eating!

The Sundae!

Robert going for more since eating his lunch
didn't seem to interest him and he was the
only one with a lot of room left in his tummy!

Izzy didn't want to miss out on the yummy treat!

After a great meal Robert spent time snuggling with Uncle Nick!

And the best part of the weekend was the warm temps. It hit 48 today and it was, as Robert would say, AMAZING! We had a great time playing outdoors, building a snowman on the deck...the yard is still a little too deep for little boys!, and getting fresh air. The only downside to this nice, warm weather is that it is going to be very depressing when it gets cold or worse snows again. Maybe the groundhog got it wrong...spring will come early but earlier than the 6 week wait!

Grandma taught Robert the skills in snowman building!

Izzy also enjoyed the outdoors!

Want some snow? Quick get it before it all melts away!

And after a successful snowman was built we knew
it was naptime when Robert had a tantrum and
threw himself down on the deck and wouldn't
take a picture. Izzy was a little confused!