Spring Break

Me and the kids sat outside for lunch today and I got a little sun on my arms and neck.....it felt so great and I can't wait until we can go to the pool everyday. I have a million things on my to do list this week but I thought I should hurry and get pictures of our trip up before it doesn't happen. We had such a great time with Nolan and Ashley(my brother and his wife) and their kids. We stayed in a nice hotel in Alexandria which is such a cute town . We did just some of the basic DC things and also just hung out at the hotel and swam. The kids loved it and Matthew thinks we are going back to visit Thomas. Sadly, they only have a few more weeks there so we feel lucky to have been able to see them.

Matthew enjoyed riding the metro as much as we did, Taylor not so much.

Our last night there we walked down king street to the water and rode the trolley and got ice cream. I think we had ice cream every night we were there....now that's a vacation.

We showed up a little early to get into the air and space museum. It was a little cold and you can see Taylor was not enjoying that part of it. Luckily it never poured on us while we were there and we got two beautiful sunny days.

Taylor smelling the cherry blossoms at the park.

We went to the zoo one day which was fun and so neat to see the panda. He was sitting there ating bamboo with his huge belly hanging. It was fun!

You can't really tell that there is a T-Rex behind us....hence the faces.

What a trip!! We loved it and can't thank Nolan and Ashley enough.

Spring is here!!

This morning for playgroup we had an Easter egg hunt. I took a picture of the kids before we left so I could get one of them together. I asked them if they were excited and this is the reaction I got......I love these two.

Here is the group at the park where we have walking group during the week. The kids had a lot of fun running around looking for eggs and playing on the playground.

This is Matthew and his buddy Sam. It is going to be a sad day when Sam moves in a few months. I told Matthew about it the other day and he almost started crying so we don't talk about it anymore. Two other boys who are Matthew's good friends and really close in age are also moving this summer. Luckily there are a few other kids pretty close in age to Matthew that will be here that Matthew likes to play with too.

The other day it rained and rained so we made Easter sugar cookies which I planned on sharing with some friends but I had two great helpers who stuck their fingers into everything while we made them.

Each month we get Matthew's nebulizer equipment sent to our house and this month was quite a surprise. Bubbles the fish was delivered as Matthew's new masks. The kids did not want to take them off; it was so funny. This would have been helpful a year and a half ago when we first started doing this.

On that rainy day we also tried to get some wash done which I have to say we are still doing. We had a huge pile and before the kids helped me sort it they decided it would be fun to jump into the pile (something Matthew has done in the past). I turned over the laundry basket for Taylor to jump off of but she decided she liked the kitchen chair better. She is pretty brave and I love her face in these pictures, pure happiness.

What we have been up to

-Enjoying 38 degree weather, of course we had to go play outside yesterday
The snow is slowly melting as you can see
-Taking Taylor's baby to the hospital. Matthew told me that she needed some albuterol so I pulled out a mask for him. Matthew knows his medicines very well, it is pretty cute.

-So happy to have Daddy home from his month long rotation in Lima, OH

-The kids were cold after getting out of the tub so I bundled them up. They thought it was pretty fun. These two love taking a bath.

-Looking and playing with a lady bug. They really have found themselves a home in our house. They usually are upstairs in the kids room which they love. It's a lot better then having spiders, mice, or cockroaches I guess. I just wonder where they are coming from.

In the middle of cold and snowy February I had to just give it another try to rearrange our furniture. I know it just really doesn't work with the shape of our room but Matthew wanted to clean under the couches so it ended up being great. It felt so good to clean under them and vacuum. I left it like this for a little while but it drove me crazy. Matthew loved the running room.

-Glen was getting his workout in for the day
-This is what February looked like the whole month outside my window. At least our apartment management is so good about shoveling our sidewalks and driveways. We did get stuck once in our driveway and Glen and I spent forever trying to get out.
What else do you do to keep kids busy in the winter? Let them rip up phone books; we get so many of them so what better way to keep a 3 year old busy and happy for a good 15 minutes. Matthew and Taylor did help pick it all up too. Matthew has been our recycling man since we now have a big recycling and garbage bin. Matthew likes to take all the paper and things to be recycled out to our garage and put them in the big blue bin.
-Cuddling up on the couch, these two really do love each other. Taylor can not go to bed very well without Matthew in the room. Sometimes it is the other way around though if they both just want to play.

Check these moves out!

I took this video a month ago maybe. It just cracks me up. Where did Matthew get these akward hip shaking moves? He was just so proud to show me his dance the day i took this video. Sadly, I have not seen these dance moves for quite awhile.

Untitled from Jill Lau on Vimeo.

Spotlight: Matthew

After giving Matthew a bath awhile ago we had a few meltdowns. First of all I had his blue beach towel in the wash, how dare I. He eventually got over that but then he tried to put shorts on for bed. This was the biggest meltdown by far (Matthew is just a little picky and stubborn sometimes). He cried "I want it to be the summertime." I went on to tell him that I wish it was the summertime too. He FINALLY calmed down and very seriously said "Mom, Let's pour some hot chocolate on the clouds to make them go away, that will make it warm. Laughing I told him that was a great idea. He then said, "Do you think we need a rocket to get up there to the clouds?" Days later while driving he said "Mom, we forgot to pour hot chocolate in the sky." If only it was that easy to make it springtime. Matthew is always saying funny things that just crack us up. 3 year olds are the best, sometimes they can be the hardest but overall it is such a fun age.

Matthew is such a sweet boy. He will tell me at least daily, "Mom, you are cute and pretty and the best mommy in the whole world and I love you." Lately he has said let's lay on the couch and watch Olympics. He likes to snuggle up with a blanket with me. So fun! Matthew LOVES to jump......on the couch, on his trampoline, off the couch onto his trampoline, and the other day he called for me to come watch and as I came into the room I see him jumping off the fourth stair and it scared me half to death, mostly because I thought he would hit our bookshelf. He still loves to play pretend and likes building caves out of the furniture. He does like to build tall towers with his blocks but mostly likes to play with me or Taylor. Him and Taylor love to just run together from one end of the house to another. He is very picky about a lot of things; what he wears, what color of cup he gets, and even cares what Taylor wears and does. He will come home and change into his pajamas or will find a short sleeved shirt and shorts somewhere. I am excited for the summer because he won't want to change his clothes so much because he likes his summer clothes a LOT! Matthew loves playing with his friends and hid Dad. He is enjoying primary a lot and loves singing time especially. He likes to play baseball in our kitchen which is fairly safe except that he can hit the ball pretty hard sometimes so I have to watch my head. Matthew also loves preschool which has been so fun. Matthew is silly, happy, active, and sweet. We sure love him!

Matthew really wanted to try on Taylor's snow suit awhile ago. He thought it was pretty funny.

I know I have been slacking on the blog lately. I actually had this post half ready for about a month now. March should be a little less crazy at our house.

SPOTLIGHT: Taylor

Taylor talking-16 months from Jill Lau on Vimeo.

AKA: Taylor Buggy

Chunky Monkey

My sweety (Matthew calls her this)

dolly

Taylor is now 16 months old and is full of life. She is such a joy to our family and seems to be growing up so much these days. Taylor is....

silly, happy, energetic, into everything, smiley, playful, loud, determined, giggly, a tease, and always on the go. She loves Matthew so much. They are either driving each other crazy or playing so well together. They will just run back and forth from end to end of the house just laughing. Sometimes I can't get them to eat dinner because they just are silly together and make each other laugh.

Taylor is talking a lot lately. My favorite is how she says Matthew; it is just so cute.

Taylor is going through a little separation anxiety right now but most of the time at home she will not let me hold her. She is a mover and always going....not a cuddle bug.

She is such a girl in certain ways........she already tries to put clothes on and my shoes, things Matthew did not do this early. She does love her balls and cars though. She plays with cars better than Matthew did.

Taylor climbs EVERYTHING and it drives me crazy. She moves those chairs in the picture below and gets on the table and walks up onto the counter. She climbs on top of the toilet and on our end tables. I can not safely leave her alone these days.

Taylor does not love to read books. Sometimes she will sit still for awhile if the books are short. So different from Matthew; he would sit forever and read books and still today I can read him tons of books in one sitting. I keep trying but this girl is just on the go. Just this morning I was reading them books and she was climbing all over me and trying to grab the book. Taylor can be loud and very stubborn or determined (whatever you want to call it) She is really good at saying no and mine and throwing fits.

Taylor can be a really good eater sometimes and sometimes be very picky. She usually eats more than Matthew these days.

Will when I ever be able to keep my house clean? As long as their happy and entertained I guess.

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago and Taylor fell asleep in the car. I came in the house and put her on the floor and she stayed asleep. CRAZY!! She has now done this a few times and Matthew usually wakes her up within 10 seconds. Oh well, it is usually lunch time anyway. Taylor loves her bed and will usually only sleep in her bed. Getting this girl to sleep on an airplane.....forget it.

Taylor is a sweetie; she gives us all hugs and kisses and wants to be right in the middle of all of us. We love you Taylor!

UPDATE: dancing, goals, February, health

We like to have dance parties at our house often. Whose invited? Usually the four of us but we sure have fun. I came home from a quick trip to the store to find this. I love these 3!!

January has flown by and I am optimistic about a quick February. I am not one to really wish for life to hurry on; I usually try to enjoy the everyday but I am already antsy for spring. Glen will be doing part of his surgery rotation in Lima Ohio during February and will come home on the weekends. For you phychos out there....don't even think about it, I have a security system now and a can of wasp spray (apparently it blinds you for awhile if sprayed in the eyes) Anyways, I actually think the month is going to be a good one. It's not like I saw Glen a lot the month of January. I do have a lot of things I want to work on this month while I will have lots of time in the evenings to myself. I have really dug into the scrapbooks and am going to be completely caught up before the weather is nice. Goal #1.....haha. I get a lot of satisfaction out of cleaning cupboards, closets, and getting rid of stuff we don't use anymore. Goal #2 Clean all closets and cupboards. I am already off to a good start. Goal #3 is a fun one; I want to take the kids swimming once a week. They love it and I love it too. We will continue to stay busy with walking group, preschool, playgroup, and visits to the zoo's indoor animals (aquarium and polar bears and others)Goal #4 is to get to the gym to workout.

This has been something very frustrating for me with the health issues I have been having, health issues I haven't talked about on the blog yet. So quickly for those of you who don't know. The end of October I started having tingling in my hands, feet, and legs. I also have a lot of pain in my feet when I walk. I get tired easily and just feel easily fatigued, especially in my arms. Holding Taylor for very long makes me tired and curling my hair makes my arm ache instantly. My hands feel a little awkward like they cramp us just holding a book. For a awhile my eye was a little blurry and my back and neck always feel sore. It all started within 30 minutes after getting the H1N1 vaccine which I am not sure if I think that is what caused this or not and doctors aren't sure either. I have seen the family doctor and seen the neurologist many times. I have had nerve tests, an MRI, and lots of blood tests. What have we found out........NOTHING. The doctors really do not know what is going on and have left things like that for now. I have really tried to be positive and hopeful and most of the time I am but some days are hard and I get down about it. I just want to be able to walk without hurting and do all the things I want to do. I am grateful though that things are not worse. For the first two weeks after I got this we were worried sick. The symptoms were so similar to what my Mom got a couple of years ago, Gillian Barre (made her not be able to walk within a week). That was the hardest couple weeks of my life thinking I might be in the hospital and not being able to take care and be with my kids. SO, I am grateful everyday that I can be with my kids and still do things with them. So we get by, day by day, things are not getting better but we are dealing and I try to just trust in my Heavenly Father and his timing.

So enough of that. Back to my last goal, I want to try to bike or do the elliptical; both will be less weight on my feet. I walked a few weeks ago at walking group and decided that I would just go for it and stay with the girls going fast. My feet hurt but it was okay and I thought I can do this. I was very excited until I got horrible crampy sharp pains in my feet that really made it hurt to walk. It lasted a couple of weeks and is just now feeling better. I attribute it to just overdoing it. I was frustrated but I want to exercise so i will try something else and just be happy about it. Hopefully I can do it; I know I can, I hope my feet can.

Enough words I know...... Kid updates to come later! Life is good.