Abby, Zoë and Enzo

The snow started falling slowly today, but it picked up later and we ended up getting 6-8 inches.  Chris was going to take one of the girls out with him to get some stuff before the snow got bad, but I didn't think that would be such a good idea, just in case either of the girls was still feeling the effects of the bug they'd caught.  I had had a 'slumber party' downstairs with Abby and Zoë last night, and they woke up nice and early this morning and played in their beds until we got them back upstairs with new sheets on them.

We had a whole day with no sickies though, so I think maybe we just got a '24 hour' thing and hopefully we're on the mend.  I think we may stay home from church tomorrow just to play it safe, but it seems we made it out of this with just two 'episodes' from both girls.

Our house has apparently been struck with some stomach bug that's going around.  When I called the pediatrician's office today, the nurse told me that it's been with or without fever, vomiting or having diarrhea.  Lucky parents that we are, we get it both ways.  Abby was up a little after midnight and a little after 4 a.m. vomitting.  The first time, it was all over so her and I hopped into the shower and I washed it out of her hair and rinsed her body off.  I put a bowl by her bed, and the next episode surprisingly mostly ended up in it.

This morning for breakfast I gave both girls plain scrambled eggs and toast.  Then for snack they had bananas and lunch was oatmeal with another banana for Zoë, who had a case of diarrhea shortly after snack... she didn't make it to the toilet.  Later in the day she had a bigger case, luckily all contained where those things should be contained.  So, with the luck of the draw we've got Abby with it coming out one end and Zoë with it coming out the other.  By the way, Mommy was lucky enough to start showing signs of having caught the bug later in the day... appearing the same as Zoë's case, with the added plus of a low grade fever.  (Neither of the girls have had a fever.)  So, I wouldn't suggest coming to visit us this weekend. : )

Our seedlings are growing and we're all quite excited!  We have the little case of seedling potters in Abby and Zoë's play area, as this is where they get the best light.  This also gives the girls a good chance to watch the sprouting all throughout the day.  We also have our spruce seedling, which we received and planted back in September, in the general area and it has sprouted some new growth.  This new part is bright green and growing daily.  Abby and Zoë love to remind us when it's time to water the plants and every time they go by our basil and tomato sprouts, they exlaim to us that one has grown more.

When the girls and I returned from story time, I ran in to get Chris and we went over to rumble tumble to get a few bags of hand-me-downs out of the back of Leann's Jeep.  We got home and Chris brought the bags in and dumped them out on the floor so we could sort through them.  Then the girls and I went into the kitchen to get out the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies.  I gave each of the girls two chocolate chips and then sent them into the living room to eat them while I went up to the bathroom.

While I was upstairs I heard Abby start crying about a yucky taste in her mouth.  Chris was trying to help her out, and had her go spit into the trash and then rinse her mouth and spit into the sink.  I heard Abby getting more and more upset and then she came upstairs.  We found out that she'd eaten her chocolate chips and then, in her area by the clothes piles, saw something on the floor that she thought was a chocolate chip.  Thinking she'd scored an extra chocolate chip, Abby picked it up and popped it into her mouth, quickly realizing it was not a tasty morsel after all.  Whatever it was, it was stuck in her back left top and bottom molars so we were scraping with the tooth scaler, brushing, rinsing and repeating the whole process.  We had her rinsing with diluted peroxide as well.  It was really tough to get her teeth all cleaned out.  We still haven't come to a definite conclusion as to what it was Abby popped into her mouth, but whatever it was did not smell good.  Luckily she didn't swallow any of it.

This morning after breakfast the girls and I put coats on over our jammies and our walking shoes on and went for a little walk.  We walked down to the end of the street and checked out the water in different areas.  First we went right, and noticed where the water wasn't super deep, then we went the other way and saw where the water was a little deeper.  While it had warmed up enough to be out walking, it was still chilly and there was still some ice on the parking spaces near the water.  We saw a seagull pecking at the ice, trying to get something out of it.  We also saw a neighborhood dog, Echo, also out for a walk.  The girls thought it was funny that the owner was holding one end of the leash, and Echo was holding the other end in her mouth.

We were very happy to be able to be outside for a calming walk, and noted that the sky was blue and we didn't see any clouds anywhere.  We were hoping this would mean better weather on the way.  However, we were very surprised to see later in the day that we had a passing snow flurry!

The nausea has been so bad.  With the girls I remember actually physically getting sick a lot.  This time around I haven't actually been sick, but I seem to always feel like I'm on the verge of it.  Sometimes later in the day I just feel slightly nauseas, but for a good part of the day I really feel like I'm going to get sick, but it just doesn't happen.

This morning Chris sent me up to lie down in bed for a while.  I didn't get to sleep but I did feel better lying down.  Later on, when the girls were finishing lunch, I started to feel pretty lousy again.  I set up quiet area's for Zoë and Abby and then went to bed again.  This time I actually slept, on and off, for about an hour.  I made pasta with pesto and garlic toast for dinner, but couldn't bare to eat it.  I could barely stand to be in the kitchen cooking it.  I had cream of wheat instead.  I haven't really had cravings as much as I've just been repulsed by different things.  It is so different dealing with this feeling when there's a household of four to take care of.  Luckily Chris is able to pick up a lot of my slack.

Today warmed up a good bit, but since it was raining, we still couldn't get out to enjoy it anyway.  This morning Zoë and Abby made pancakes with Chris and devoured the majority of them.  After breakfast we played Old Maid, Strawberry Shortcake board game, and Hungry Hippos.

After rest and a little video, the girls helped Daddy tighten up the chair legs for the set Uncle Matt and Caitlin just brought us.  They've always loved helping their Daddy fix things, from the time they could hold a screwdriver . 

Abby has been singing the songs from kids choir practice all week.  She's even made up her own songs, throwing in a 'praise God' here and a 'forevermore' there.  So, when it was time for practice again this morning, Abby made sure she had an up front seat.  Zoë had a second row seat at first, but after I came back from hanging up coats, all five girls were sharing the front three seats.  Zoë was at one end, and Abby and the other.  Abby was super focused on Ms. Barbara and on getting the words right.  Whenever she saw Ms. Barbara get one of the music books out, she'd go and get the same music book, to get on the same page and 'read' along too... every single time, she made sure she got a book for Zoë and would walk around to specifically hand the book to Zoë.  Even one time when Maran, who was sharing a seat with Zoë, took the book, Abby said "Could you hand that to Zoë please?"

Abby and Zoë are just loving the "Rainbow Fairy" series we've been reading.  Yesterday, when Reanna stopped by for a quick visit, she read a couple of chapters of one of them.  Later on the girls and I finished that book.  Today, Reanna was over and read the entire last book in the series in one sitting.  It's so neat to watch Abby and Zoë be so excited about reading, and so excited that they just can't wait to find out what happens next in their chapter books.

Luckily, there are other books of this type.  At the library they have the "Jewel Fairies" series.  At the end of these books we've been reading we saw that there's also "Weather Fairies", but we didn't notice the library having those.  We'll have to check into the possibility of the library getting that series too.

This is what happens daily in our house these days.  And not because Abby and Zoë won't sleep longer than that, but because I have to be sure I wake them after 20 minutes.  Abby and Zoë still very much need some nap during the day, but if they get more than 20 minutes, they just will not go to sleep for the longest time at night.  Also, 20 minutes seems to give them the rest they need to get through the rest of the day.  Here's the routine:

After lunch they go potty, idealy we brush teeth, but this doesn't always happen, then they get a pillow and snuggly (either from their room or from the quiet area downstairs) and then get in their rest spots.  Normally Abby goes in the quiet area and Zoë sets herself up on the mat.  I get them a blanket and turn on some music (lately it's been the 'floppy sleep game') and within 10 minutes or so both girls are sleeping.  Some days they wake up in better moods than others, but always after 5 minutes or so they're fine and ready for games and a snack.

We had one of those days where we didn't get out of our pj's.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  Abby and Zoë had worn pajama pants under their nightgowns to bed, and they did manage to change their pj pants into fleece pants when they changed their underwear this morning, but they wanted to keep their nightgowns on, and since we weren't going to be going anywhere today, I let them.  And hey, if the kids aren't getting out of their pj's, why should I, right?  The weather was really yucky, with snow having been dumped on us overnight, then freezing rain on top of it.  So, even though we really should have gone grocery shopping (we've needed to go for a couple of days now) we decided to just stay put.

I did manage to get some housework done, and the girls helped with the dishes.  We played the clock puzzles and addititon/subraction puzzles, plus Hi Ho Cherry-O and the Strawberry Shortcake board game.  After their 20 minute nap they got to watch a leap frog video.  The aforementioned bad weather and no grocery shopping trip lead to a very unhealthy dinner of chilli cheese fries.  But it got a thumbs up and a wink from Abby, so I guess it wasn't all bad.  The other good news is that, now that it's time to get ready for bed, we're ahead in the game since the girls are already in their pj's!

Today was national pancake day and I.H.O.P. was once again giving away a free short stack of pancakes per costumer.  Last year we went with Grampy and Uncle Tommy, getting there the same time as Auntie Reanna and her Kindergarten class. 

This year we didn't go to I.H.O.P., as Daddy has decided to boycot the restaurant for a little while.  Don't ask him why, most of the time he can't remember, and no, it's not the food.  He suggested we make pancakes, but being out of eggs, we had to find an eggless recipe.  So we made some pancakes this morning (I'm not going to post the recipe, because they didn't taste like much until you put the syrup on) and the girls were very pleased.

Today all of the sudden, Chris and I noticed that Abby was speaking in an English accent while playing some game with Zoë.  It was so funny, the things she would say and how they came out of her mouth.  At first I wondered where in the world she would have heard it from, but then she said she was Wendy and it clicked... Peter Pan.  Though the kids don't speak with a strong English accent on the movie, it's more of like a proper high class accent.  It was funny that Abby picked up on it and copied it so well.

When the girls and I returned home from church today, Uncle Matt and Sage were here waiting for us.  Abby and Zoë were so excited, they knew that Uncle Matt had come to take them to Sake.  Daddy and Uncle Matt were doing some computer stuff, and Sake didn't open until 12:30 today, so the girls had some rest time before we got ready to go.

It was snowing when we left the house, and the girls were happy to watch the snow fall from our seat at the windows in the restaurant.  We were very dissapointed that they didn't have a lunch menu on Sundays, which meant that we weren't able to get the bento box deluxe.  Instead, Daddy and Uncle Matt both ordered the salmon terryaki meal, and I ordered the chicken kotsu.  I also got a seaweed salad, which Zoë was eager to share with me.  Everyone's meals came with a garden salad and miso soup, as well as rice, so we had some yummy things to taste even before the entreé arrived.  Abby and Zoë really liked the chicken with the dipping sauce (so did Daddy) and Zoë ate a bunch of Chris' salmon as well.  Abby had a little piece of Matt's salmon.  Both girls also made quick work of all the rice.  Thanks Uncle Matt for the treat!

After lunch we went back to the house and played the Strawberry Shortcake board game and a game of old maid before Uncle Matt and Sage had get going.  Uncle Matt also brought the table and chairs set that used to be at his house in Quincy, yay!

Yes, we were visited by the laundry fairy.  The dryer broke last night, on our second load of laundry, so when Abby and Zoë went to bed, the damp laundry was in the basket in the living room.  This morning Zoë was the first to come downstairs with Daddy.  She found laundry hung up all over the living room!  It was up on the cables, on the tea set, the play kitchen, the cleaning trolly... just everywhere!  She said, "It's like a wonderland!"

So, obviously, the laundry fairy had come to visit us and put our laundry all over the place.  Abby and Zoë were a big help cleaning up the mess that the laundry fairy made.  Daddy would pull something down, then Mommy or him would fold it and the girls put the items in the basket.  They folded the small items like washcloths too.  That laundry fairy sure did make a mess, but at least the clothes were dry.

A while ago Zoë and Abby were left unattended for a moment too long with the Hi Ho Cherry-O game and the pieces ended up all over the living room.  We found most of them, but there were still a couple missing, which we found here and there.  There was still a cherry missing and so we haven't played the game in a while.  Today Abby and Zoë were playing and Abby ran over to where some of Chris' computer cords are and triumphantly held up the missing cherry and proclaimed, "I found the cherry!  I've got good eyes!"

Needless to say, we played a couple games of Hi Ho Cherry-O today.

We told Abby and Zoë the good news about Mommy being pregnant once I took the second pregnancy test.  We contemplated waiting, but knew we couldn't hold out.  They were so excited, and since have been trying to come up with names for the baby.  Some of them stem from recent reading, such as "Biscuit" and "Mudge".  Other choices are just plain silly, like "Enzo.com toothbrush"

We didn't get an outrageous amount of snow, but enough that the plows were running back and forth all night doing a lot of scraping and sanding.  I had planned on taking Zoë and Abby to story time today, since I didn't get them there yesterday, but whenever the weather is bad enough for schools to be closed or delayed, story time gets canceled.  I was going to call to check if it was on or not, but the snow started getting steadier and big fat flakes were falling.  There was also a lot of heavy snow down first (since it started out as sleet and then very wet snow) that I didn't feel up to moving, so we stayed in and read books and did some valentines cards and watched a movie together.

Ah, yes, the nausea.  I won't be refering to it as "morning" sickness, because it surely does not confine itself to morning.  Today was a bad start, and it did happen to be the worst in the morning hours.  Abby and Zoë were good about playing nicely with each other.  Later in the day the girls were playing with the doll house and I heard Zoë say to Abby, "This is the Mommy, she needs to rest because she's preg-a-nant.  Mommy's need lots of rest when they're preg-a-nant."

This morning we had to go out for a follow-up appointment for Zoë, Abby and Daddy went too, but stayed in the car and drove around while they waited for us.  Then we stopped by my doctor's office to pick up a paper, but that ended up taking longer than it should have, so the girls and Daddy had to wait around in the car again.  By the time we got home there wasn't a lot of time for their learning activities, but we did get out two of their wipe off boards.  Zoë started with the numbers book and Abby with the letters.  We got through a few pages and then had to break for lunch.  Both of the girls were enjoying doing the different tracing and practicing in the books (and then wiping off the pages before they went on to the next one) that they were really bummed to learn that they had to have some rest time and that they'd have to wait to do more in the books.

Later on in the day they decided to switch books and did some independant practice writing.  The books have lots of fun little things to do, besides just the typical letter and number practice writing, so it kept it exciting for them... and me.