Where have we been???

Oh my.  It would seem that, as soon as I realized that Maddie really "got" Christmas this year, I started a maniacal quest to create some sort of insane June Cleaver-esque winter wonderland Christmas fantasyland "experience" for her.  So I just couldn't find time to blog in December, even though so much was going on.  Sue and Dave came for Christmas, and the next week our friend Cedar visited for New Year's.  Then I needed the first part of January to "recover", which sounds just neurotic/histrionic enough to be...accurate.  So then we started doing a bunch of home improvement projects.  By "we," I of course mean "Luke".  But since he has been busy putting in new closet systems (3 of them!), getting rid of some old furniture (Goodbye, green futon that was supposed to substitute for a couch "for a few weeks") to make room for some new stuff (Hello, pretty brown sectional that Maddie specifically asked to write on today with my pen, i.e. not pretty for long brown sectional), getting our (literally) ancient floors worked on (no, they really don't look any better than they did.  Sigh.), I have been spending more time taking care of the kids, and spending WAY to much time on Overstock.com trying to find some rugs to cover up above-mentioned floors, so the blogging just hasn't happened, despite the best of intentions.  Man that was a long sentence:)

We also had to cancel/reschedule our long-awaited trip to Maine because of yet another New England blizzard that closed the aiport in Boston, but on the bright side we ended up in San Anotonio (where it snowed for the first time in 50 years while we were there.  No kidding.) to visit Scott, Jeni, Kyle, and Caroline, who had never met Lucy, and who we hadn't seen in over a year.  It was a really just the *most* fun trip, and there are lots of pictures of that coming up!  Next week Luke is meeting Sue, Dave, and lots of his aunts and uncles in Florida for a golf trip.  3 days of freedom.  If I weren't so excited for him I would be green with envy and feeling horribly bitchy.  But since I am a) never bitchy and b) he totally deserves it after our first year of 2 kids and all that he does for all of us, I'm just so excited for him.  Luke loves to golf with his dad and his uncles.  He is of course excited, but also nervous about being away from the girls for so long, which I think is very cute. 

My mom is coming to help me next weekend while Luke is gone, which Maddie is very excited about.  Lucy keeps having a lot of expectant looks, which could mean she is excited, or could also mean that she planning her next "Surprise!  I'm going to vomit in a TOTALLY UNEXPECTED and innovative way today!" (perhaps later I will share the tale of how Lucy found the combination of cheddar bunnies and milk to be, well, totally nauseating, while flying at 30,000 feet on the way to San Antonio.  The old guy behind me was super helpful, taking the time to tap me on the shoulder and let me know that some of the vomit had gotten on the floor.  The flight attendant really took it to a whole new level when she brought me...a can of soda water.  Exciting times!  We have been skiing a ton this year with our friend Dawn, which has been great.  Luke went to Breckenridge today, and I have been to both Keystone and Breck this year.  I haven't been skiing in 4 years because of pregnancies and that whole "episode" we had living in South Carolina for 7 months:), so we have really enjoyed it.  Things were so hard with the two kids at first that we really didn't think we would get to go this year, so that has been so nice.  In a few weeks we are going on a 4 day trip with Sue and Dave to Frisco, and Luke and I will get THREE WHOLE DAYS to ski together.  We are crazy excited for this, and Maddie is excited to see her Grammy and Pops. 

Maddie and Lucy continue to do better and better.  Maddie is excited to announce that she is transitioning from the "easier than we thought-two's" to the "what the hell is going on here-three's".  That's right, she's engaging in some exciting new behaviors, such as:

• Responding to all HORRIBLE, UNREASONABLE parental requests, such  as, "Hey Maddie, can you come here so I can put your socks on?" with awesome replies like, "I don't *have* to." or "I don't *like* it."
• Responding to any correction to her behavior on my part, like, "Hey Maddie, don't throw the toy at Lucy, ok?" (no matter how nicely I say it, seriously.  Like, if I'm not even mad/annoyed at all, just making a simple request)...wait for it...with, "Don't yell at me, Mom."
• Going limp on the floor and laying there listless, staring off into space, when she's feeling *particularly* maligned by me or Luke.  Try and move her when she's like this.  Go ahead.  Try.

So yeah.  Maddie remains so flexible with change, big or small, and is her same sunny self about 75% of the time.  I'm just saying that this 3 year old stuff makes me a little nervous about the teen years:)  She still takes great naps, and still amazes me (seriously) every single day with what a loving big sister she is to her little shadow, Lucy.  They have truly become inseparable and Luke and I are so happy to report that after the incredibly difficult last year and a half, what with my glorious 70 pound pregnancy that went on FOREVER and Lucy's colic and tummy issues that took up her first 10 months or so, we have finally found our "new normal" and can see that what people have told us all along really is true--it's harder to have them so close together at first, but it pays off because they play together all the time.  Despite Lucy's little "episode" on the plane, she only throws up about once every few weeks these days.  This is an enormous relief.  More than anything because Lucy feels so much better and doesn't seem to be uncomfortable at all anymore.  She is even eating dairy like yogurt and cheese without a problem, and she never gags on food anymore.  Ok I'm lying.  We're so happy our little Moose feels better, but we're even happier that we're not getting puked on 3 times a day:) 

Both girls still love going to Dee Dee's house two days a week, we are so lucky to have such amazing childcare.  Since I'm usually home with them their two days out are just a nice break in their routine for them.  Lucy loves being around other kids and oh my goodness, Lucy LOVES a baby!  Sit a baby on the floor with Moosie and you will see one happy kid!  It's so funny how being around other little kids so much has made Lucy such a social creature.  I did go ahead and drop back to 2 days a week at work, I was working a few hours on Wednesday nights, but we decided that was just too much.  The two day a week schedule is heaven for me, and much nicer for Luke since he doesn't have the girls 3 nights a week. 

My last big news (if any of the above qualifies as "big news") is that Maddie got in to her little preschool we applied to.  That's right, she's a prodigy.  Ah, just kidding (although I'm sure they were taken in by her amazing intelligence.  I'm mostly serious here;)), their count is based on the age range of the kids they have, but they do have really limited space and a long waitlist, so we were really excited.  Check out their website if you want, it's the Washington Park Early Learning Center, http:\\wpelc.org.  It's been around since the 70's, and is a cooperative school which I am so excited about!  It's very relaxed, all about play-based learning through experience for the kids, no pressure, which to me is really important because in reading this sentence it would appear that I am a total hippie flake:)!  In all seriousness we would love for Maddie to be able to just enjoy "being a kid" for as long as she can...seems like there is so much pressure on kids these days and we're in no rush for all that.  Plus she is just so smart, we know she'll do great no matter what!  So we are as excited as we can be about this whole "play-based" learning thing.

Ok, so that is our big update.  Here are some cute pics I've taken of the girls this week with my fun new camera, excluding Christmas and San Antonio, which I am planning to post on later tonight.  I stole yet another idea from Jessica and bought her very same camera and am trying to learn how to take pictures like hers with it (did anyone else notice how AMAZING the little photo of the cupcake with Ross in the background was on his 1 year old card?  Seriously Jessica I *loved* that.  I was really impressed!).  Mine are...not as good:)  But I am excited in the difference I can already see in the photos I am taking.  I already posted these on Facebook for the most part, so for a lot of you they won't be too exciting! 

They are so funny in the bath.  Lucy is really much more of a daredevil than Maddie was at this age (and much more "into" everything.  I seriously cannot turn my back for a second with her!), so she just swims all around like a little fish, and laughs at everything Maddie does. 

Kyle is such a talented drummer, and he was so nice about sharing his drums with Maddie.  She LOVED it.  She sat in his room with him for an hour at a time, playing the drums while he played guitar hero.  She loved being in the band!  Kyle was so patient with both girls and spent more time with them than any other 17 year olds I know would have.  Somehow I only have a few pictures of him from our trip, and I am really annoyed with myself!

I took these photos of Lucy in her crib right when she woke up from her nap...went in to get her with my camera.  She is so sweet when she wakes up like this, so chubby and cuddly in her jammies!  She has so much personality now and shows a little more of it every day.  Now that she is crawling she is loving her mobility and is the most easygoing, low-maintenance baby you ever saw!

Lucy is such a little imp!

Expressing her readiness to stop our photosession and get out of the crib.

Looking like a weird combination of Luke and my dad:)

They are so funny in Lucy's crib before bathtime.

Lucy gets SO worked up.

I love these photos I took of Maddie. 

So sweet.

Pretty girl!

Such a ham for the camera.

Lucy making some calls.

Lucy loves face shots.  She totally gets into it.  It's her favorite part of baby modeling.

I was messing around with the new camera in the kitchen while Maddie and I "did the dishes" during Lucy's nap.  This is such a funny photo to me and I think it captures her silly personality these days!

Lucy was really funny with her french fries at Cheesy Jane's in San Antonio.  They were really, really good fries.  She ate about a million.

I mean, she *really* liked them!

So there you go!  We'll see how motivated I'm feeling later on to post the rest of what I have:)