Week-end update

We had a great week-end! I can't believe it's already March and spring is on the way. Spring tends to come late to Seattle, but there flowers beginning to bloom and we've had a few warmer days. The kids are so excited for summer already.

We just had a blast this week-end, although the kids were wiped out tonight. Friday night we had dinner with several friends (three other couples) and all of the kids (except Taylor and another baby) stayed down the street at one of the other homes with babysitters. We didn't pick them up until 10:30 - very rare for us - but we had a great time and they did too. David actually wondered if Jacob might fall asleep, but of course when we got there, he was the most wired of the bunch. He was literally vibrating with energy. On the way home, I asked him how many treats he had and he honestally answered 6 cookies and a bowl of ice cream. The boy was in absolute heaven. Lauren - the rule follower - said she only had 4 cookies. We try to limit sugar to a degree, so they couldn't even believe it. They had a great time, but unfortunately were up at 6:30 the next morning. Taylor is our easy sleeper on the go - she slept in a playpen from 8pm until we left, barely woke up and went back to sleep in her crib. Good baby!

Saturday morning, their Grandma Mary came over to watch them for a few hours while David and I went to a funeral (one of his best friend's from high school lost his mom). Aunt Shannon and the cousins came over too, so more fun was had by all. Taylor has finally progressed from her clingy, separation anxiety phase and it's so nice. It's much easier to leave her and much easier on the caretaker too! Of course, nothing like a funeral to make you feel so sorry for the pain and sadness of others, and to count your blessings. We're so grateful that we have all of our parents and know what a gift it is. Saturday night, I went to a baby shower for our dear friends that are expecting identical twin girls! David manned the troops at home - I thought for sure he would have them in bed at 7pm, but nope -he had 2 other dad's over and their kids (their wives were also out on the town). 3 dads, 8 kids - sounds like a movie waiting to happen, doesn't it? Needless to say, the kids played, played and played some more this week-end. Taylor also had a friend Saturday night - another little girl about her age came to play and Taylor had fun watching Fiona walk and share her toys. I so can't wait for Taylor to be able to join in too, but I trust that they'll be chasing each other someday.

Today was a rest day - we went to church and I didn't teach Sunday school today and was able to enjoy the service. We relaxed this afternoon and just had a nice time. Jacob was craving some mommy time so we had a date late this afternoon. He loves to get dressed up, choose an outfit for me, and have a date - just like daddy. Today he chose black pants, a pink sweater, and enough large costume jewelry to outfit a Christmas tree. I wear it all with pride - I know he won't be content with me as a date forever, so I'm soaking it up while I can.

Unfortunately poor Taylor has another ear infection - sigh. Like our other two kids, I've gotten good at noticing her ear infection signs. Lauren would wake up many times at night, Jacob would get a fever, and Taylor stops eating - food and the bottle. So we went to the doctor Friday morning and double ear infection. She's back on the hard-core medicine that wrecks her stomach so she's had bad tummy troubles all week-end. She's been in reasonably good spirits though and will be A-OK. We'll go back in 3 weeks to get her ears checked - hopefully we're not in the ear tube category yet. As much as we don't like the ear infections and medicine for her, we really don't want to have to do surgery on her. Jacob has had them twice, but was much bigger. Taylor is still a peanut - at eighteen months, she is only 18 pounds. We're not supposed to work on fattening her up because she's proportional height and weight. But she's not on the chart unfortunately. I have an appointment scheduled for May with the endocrinologist to get her hormonal levels checked. I unpacked the next storage bin of Lauren's clothes for her (18-24 months) and they look absolutely huge. Some of her current stuff is getting tight, but these clothes look really big. Her style is largely leggings/shirts with all of her therapy, so I think I need to stock up on these for her (not a lot of time for cute outfits - but she can wear a bow barrette in her hair now!).

We're grateful for a great week-end together. Lots of great family time and we're happy campers!