(clearly, i need to get out more)

Robbie and Ellie have been sick since late last week with what I think is the worst version of upper respiratory infections/colds paired with double ear infections.  It is challenging for both kids to be so sick at the same time, but this isn't a pity party.  I took them in to the doctor on Tuesday night because they were so miserable, and Tylenol wasn't doing the trick.  

We left with prescriptions for 2 bottles of Amoxicillin, and if it weren't neon pink I'd call it liquid gold.  (You thought breastmilk was given that nickname, didn't you?  No.  It's this stuff.)

Both kids woke up on Wednesday with completely different dispositions, and although they are still hacking away like they are coughing up a lung, they aren't miserable anymore.

So you can imagine how awesome it was this morning when I dumped Ellie's bottle of happiness all over the kitchen floor.  

Contrary to what you're thinking, I did not take this picture for blogging's sake.  I took it as evidence (no joke) of my spill, in case the pediatrician's office questioned my story when I called them to ask for a replacement bottle.  You never know what kind of crazies are out there, trying to hoard bubble gum medicine!  Do people do that?  I'm not one of them, I promise.  See?  Proof.

 

Thankfully they were happy to replace the prescription without giving me the 3rd degree.

So we're trying to be creative with our shut-in status.  Ellie has developed a LOVE for her babydolls, and even when she's sick-crabby, being handed one of her dolls instantly makes her squeal and pump her legs and arms with delight!  It is so precious.  While Robbie and I do things together at the kitchen table, I give her a doll and she plays happily with it until we move on.

(*Sidenote: this picture is making me nuts.  She has cut her bottom two teeth, but here I think I can detect the bud of a new tooth on the bottom... do you see it?  I can't wait to stick my finger in her mouth tomorrow morning and investigate.)

This morning I introduced Robbie to Play-Doh for the first time.  I've been saving it from Christmas for a situation just like this - stuck inside with nothing new to do!  He loved it, of course.  He looked at me like I was a miracle worker when I made little round balls and lined them up for him.  

And when I whipped up a mini version of his favorite Monster, Sully?  I could have sworn I heard him promise to make me breakfast in bed for the rest of my life.  We kept things monochromatic today, but I'll have my camera ready when I bust out the pink, yellow, and blue tubs at the same time.  It's going to blow his mind.

Kind of like when he gets to have an ice cube in his sippy cup at snack time.  

(AN ICE CUBE!!)

You knew it was coming

A little Valentine's Day picture and wish from Robbie and Ellie...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

These 2 crack me up.  When they're not driving me crazy as I try to get a decent picture of them together, of course.  What do I have to do to get him to sling an arm around his little sister!?

Sublime Saturday

Aunt Megan-an (as Robbie calls her!) came out to spend some quality time with our family this weekend.  The kids love her just as much as we do, and it was the perfect way to spend the beginning of a long holiday weekend.  We had a lazy breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs, and of course coffee since the adults stayed up way too late the night before watching a movie.  After lounging around in our pj's for a few hours while the kids took turns napping, we cleaned up and headed out for some fine dining at Two Toots.  This is the only restaurant we go to anymore, for obvious reasons.  It was buckets of fun, and Robbie even got a cupcake this time complete with 5 cent whistle.  Little boy heaven.

Megan with the babes... yes, Robbie is smitten.

Aunt Megan reads to me!!  I love her!

These two girls are so cute I couldn't resist another...

Sweet Maria met us for lunch.  Grilled cheese all around...

I thought you might enjoy a peek inside our van.  It's getting cramped in there, with 2 toddler seats!

Check me out - I'm a big girl and I love it!

Sweet as sugar...

...and just as edible, don't you think?!

Click for a closer look!

"Does God play trains?"

Robbie has gone from being verbal to mimicking everything we say to making specific demands and asking questions.  Most of the time it's cute, sometimes it's trying ("applejuice! applejuice! APPLEJUICE!"), but it seems to always be progressing.

This morning he woke up in a very sweet, contemplative mood, and over his favorite breakfast of mini blueberry muffins ("cake!") and scrambled eggs, he let me in on what was going in his little head.

Robbie:  Mommy?  God HERE?... {pointing up to the sky}

Me:  Yes, God lives in heaven.  But remember, he also lives in our hearts?

Robbie:  Yeah, ok!  {nodding}

...silence as he thoughtfully eats his muffin...

Robbie:  Mommy?  God sleep?

Me:  No, the Bible says that God never sleeps!  He is always watching over us.

Robbie:  See God?  Front window!?

Me:  No, we can't see him out the front window.  Remember we can't see him yet, but we WILL see him in heaven!

Robbie:  Yeah.  {nodding again}

...stares at the table for a few minutes while he chews his muffin...

Robbie:  God play toys?  Play TRAINS!  {convinced that God shares his love of playing trains}

Me:  Well, God is with you when you play, so I guess in a way, yes!

Robbie:  {smiles, happy that God is playing trains with him today}

Me:  {worried that I just totally screwed up his theology because I told him God plays trains with him!  How do you answer that?!}

How in the world do you answer these incredibly thoughtful questions on a level that a 22 month old can comprehend?!  It's hard.  I know and am confident about my theology, enough so to not be afraid to train my children in 'the way they should go'.  Mostly because God promises His Spirit to us to help us, and I'm learning a lot right now about what it means to live in the Spirit.  But to get my beliefs packaged into smaller, easy-to-understand concepts that make sense to my little guy... I've got my work cut out for me. 

I have a book called "Big Truths for Young Hearts" by Bruce A. Ware that I should probably start reading now.  I sort of thought I had a little more time until we got to this point... haha! The book was reviewed by Moody's radio program, which my mom heard and thought was very good.  I also noticed that our church (Wheaton Bible) carries the book in their bookstore.

I love my little guy's thoughtfulness about who God is and what He is up to, and how God might overlap with him.  It is so humbling to think about the responsibility we are given as parents for these precious little ones and their hearts!

Lately...

Nothing clever to say today... I think I'm spending all of my energy keeping up with the kids!  And I'm also in the greatest Beth Moore bible study at church (with an amazing, precious group of women), but it is literally taking all of my free time.  Blogging is first on the chopping block when something's got to give.

We've just been hanging out close to home, and had my parents and sister out for dinner last weekend.  I forget all the time to take pictures of people with Ellie, so I snapped one of my mom.  Ellie is proving to be a fairly sensitive little lady, and only prefers to be held by those she is familiar with.  Thankfully this includes my mom!  This picture also serves to show my mom's dear friend Mary that her baby gift for Ellie finally fits!!  Oh happy day.  And it's A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  Thank you!!  (I will be sick when she outgrows this cutie outfit.)

We got brave and hauled the kids out furniture shopping last weekend so that we could make some decisions about Robbie's new bed (twin bunk).  I am not one to pass up the opportunity to doll up my favorite girl when we go out.  You can tell she was thrilled.  Please note the child's jeans - I found them at a resale shop for 3 dollars.  Practically brand new DKNY SKINNY  JEANS!!  Ha - for a 6 month old baby.  Where do they even sell these things?!  I nearly died when I saw them, and then again when I put them on her.

Having a girl is so much fun.

Ellie cut her first 2 bottom teeth on Saturday!  True story, since I felt them coming through the gums Saturday afternoon, she has slept 12 hours in a row overnight every single night, dropping her usual 4am feeding!  Who knew that wake-up was caused by teething?  She continues to enjoy her oatmeal and steady stream of pureed fruits and veggies, often overeating and spitting up a little once she's laid down in her crib.  My theory is that she has never loved the taste of her 'special' formula, and now that she gets to eat real food, she's horsing it down!  Perhaps a little too eagerly.

The little lady and I went to the pediatrician for a follow up exam of her (big!) noggin as well as 2nd doses of flu and H1N1 shots.  All is well with her head growth, and we also discovered that Ellie is a very tall girl for her age right now.  Following in her brother's footsteps with those Livingston genes!

Robbie continues to display his ever-evolving personality with silly antics and attempts to make us laugh.  This usually happens at dinner time, when he's over-tired from the day.

He's surprised us lately with how much information he is able to absorb and regurgitate.  It's a little frightening when your 'baby' enters this phase.  Every word out of our mouths is tested out and repeated by him.  For some reason he is fixated on Taco Bell - one too many taco commercials during a football game one Sunday, and now anytime we're watching TV and it heads to commercial, he chants "TACOS! TACO BELL!".  The child has never eaten a taco in his life, nor have I ever taken him to this fine dining establishment.  You'd think we ate dinner there every day though, the way he goes on and on.

Other new additions to his repertoire:

"not bibix, CRISPIX!" = repeating our correction

"blue bullies" = blueberries

"oatmeal - blech!!" = when I feed Ellie her cereal, which makes him gag

"Okay, okay, okay" = what he says instead of a simple 'yes'

"tummy time!" = whenever I put Ellie on the ground and he gets down next to her

"donuts, coffee" = his breakfast request nearly every morning

"no waddah chai - dabucks!" = mommy's 'drink'. oops.

"Sa-mommy" = salami

"garage, daddy... front door, Mima" = explaining the point of entry for dad and grandma

"funky", "moto-moto", "bean boy" = words that instantly send him into fits of giggles, from his favorite videos

The words to the opening song for Veggie Tales (he sings along)

He 'reads' (has memorized?) the following books to us:

I love trucks

Baby's 100 first words

Yummy Yucky

Big Little

Airplanes

Ride along with thomas

Boo, Baby

And every night he asks us to read to him out of his Children's bible, saying "Read Jesus!".  Then he quietly hunches over his sweet folded little hands and puts his face an inch from the pages and listens intently for as long as you'll read to him.  I keep praying that this interest in the Bible is deeply rooted and continues to grow into a love for God's Word as he gets older.

The sweetest part about this phase has been teaching Robbie bible verses.  So far he knows John 3:16, Romans 3:23, and Psalm 34:13 by heart.  I start him off and give him the occasional filler word to keep him going, but he knows these verses really well.

He has recently shown an increased interest in using the potty, spontaneously requesting for his clothes and diaper to be removed so that he can "pee-pee in potty".  Rob and I agreed not to post 'potty pictures' for Robbie's privacy.  This is me displaying INCREDIBLE self control, because I have some great pictures of him testing out the potty.  They make me laugh so hard!

Although he seems interested, the attention span for actual training is not there yet.  Monday was an experiment in training, after many successful uses of the potty over the weekend at Robbie's request.  But all we ended up with on Monday were multiple wet training pants and a wet couch cushion.  For now we'll encourage him to use the potty whenever he wants, without pressure.  After talking with friends and even a nurse-friend at our pediatrician's office, it seems that it will be clear when he's ready to really make the transition.  Maybe in a few months!

If you're still reading this post, you must be either very bored at work or have a slow day at home with the kids.  Our lives right now are not very interesting... but I love these days and wouldn't trade them for anything!

Paparazzi

I heard you've been missing me...

I'm a pretty busy little boy, and my chauffeur doubles as the writer of this blog.  She also had to clean up after me today as I ran nakies through the house.  I'll leave the details to your imagination.

I'll try to give her a few minutes this week sometime to catch you up on things.

As long as she keeps making my juice the way I like it:  half water... shaken not stirred.