Little Things

January was filled with chores, being sick, and little things like that.  Here are the kids showing off their Lego skills (this was Elise's first time really building something from her imagination.)
   

   

      Corinne finally learned to sleep without being swaddled.  She just fell asleep all splayed out one night and never looked back.  Elise spent lots more time treating her like a dolly and taking pictures of her.
   

  

  

    

    Elise and Connor did their "show day" performances in their gymnastics classes.  I had the flu, so I missed Connor's, but our friend Claire got pictures.
    

  

    

I measured the kids on our growth chart, just like every January.  I had to lay Corinne down on top of it on the table :).  It's amazing how much they change without me noticing.
    

   

      Ryan and Elise both broke out in hives in late January.  It wasn't at exactly the same time, but I have to assume it was related.  Ryan pulled all the poison oak off our hill one morning, and that evening, Elise started itching on her hand.  Two days later it had spread to her whole body.  We just assumed it was poison oak, and at first the pediatrician and a dermatologist agreed.  But it kept coming and going, even weeks later.  The poor girl was too embarrassed by her scabby, itchy arms to wear short sleeves, especially to school, so I had to go buy her some long sleeve t-shirts to wear under her uniforms.  Ryan, on the other hand, started to puff up about a week later.  He woke up one morning looking like he'd been attacked by bees, and had to go to urgent care for antihistamines and a shot of prednisone.  He also broke out in hives which lasted about a week.  Anyway, we took both of them to an allergist, who didn't really have any good answers.  They may have been allergic to something on the hill, or it could have been a reaction to a respiratory virus they'd both had.  They both got scheduled for allergy testing a month later.
   

Itchy

Aaaaaaah!  The kids were kinda freaked out.

   This is what my kids do for fun.  They make messes.
    

   

      A few weeks after learning to sleep unwrapped, Corinne learned to roll over!  I walked into my room to check on her during a nap, and the first thing to come into view were her upside-down feet (I haven't left her on the bed since then, just f.y.i.)   I think she's always wanted to be a stomach sleeper, but we wouldn't let her.  Now she gets stuck in the corners of her crib at night and howls to be rescued.  I'm not sleeping much.