Cheese Heads

OK, this time I'm WAY overdue, so it's going to be long. We've been recovering for quite some time.

Two Wednesdays ago we left for a lovely drive up to Wisconsin for Aunt Shannon's 40th birthday. 15 hours or so later, we arrived. There and back we drove through the night, or should I say Buck drove through the night. That and the DVD player coupled with the fact that our children are amazing made the drive almost easy. It wasn't really any tougher than if we were making the drive alone. John and Eve were both amazingly great in the car. We borrowed Mom's van (WHEW! That was nice!) and they were such troopers. The only little bit of fussing or complaining was about an hour before we got to Wisconsin, and I was pretty antsy too.

We spent 3 days with family, managed to see them all, and had a blast! John was particularly fond of Cousin David's room and all of his cool toys. He was so excited about all the toys that even though he'd only slept 6 or 7 hours the previous night in the car (compared to the normal 11 or 12), he didn't even nap the next day! He really enjoyed being with family and playing with his cousins, David in particular. When we were psyching him up for the trip he got so very excited. We were going to "Miss Consin" to go swimming and see Cousin David. He told everybody he saw, and woke up each morning and after each nap asking if we could go right then. Little did he know it was such a long trip to go swimming! At any rate, it was such a great time with family. Unfortunately John spiked a fever while we were there and things started to go downhill. Looking back on it, I should've seen it, but didn't. The night before we left he was crying in bed. I went to check on him and he was crying in his sleep. I thought it was a nightmare and finally managed to calm him down. Mom said the day we left he put his hand on his head and said his boo boo hurt, but he hadn't fallen. Both John and Eve really started to unravel as the visit went on, but I kind of thought it was just being in a different place with so much excitement and no schedule. Come to find out when we got home that Eve was starting an ear infection and both of John's ears were badly infected with blisters in them. They were both put on antibiotics for their ears. They both had nasty noses and coughs, too. Needless to say, last week was just about recovering and getting back to schedule...and about blowout diapers. We put stinky diapers in grocery bags before we throw them in the trash. We usually have a huge pile of them. This is the only time I've ever run out! John seems to be feeling better; although, even when his ears were really bad only half the time did he say they hurt. It's hard to tell. Eve seems to be feeling well for part of the day and pretty cruddy other parts of the day.

As far as what they're doing these days...

John cracks us up more and more with what he says and does. It's so fun to watch his little mind work. He's constantly correcting us for saying "yep" since we decided we didn't want him saying that. We haven't figured a way to explain casual situations versus formal questions, so it's just turned into "don't say yep, Mom" and we just concede that we're wrong. I know that's only going to get worse. John has been going through a nasty tantrum phase. Today was actually really good, I don't think we had any. It's been so hard for me to tell if it's attitude or not feeling well. I think it's probably been a combination, but it's been one long one (pushing an hour or so) after another. Eventually he'll sit in one place and finally calm down and is able to calmly say "Mama, I'm calm". The frustration of the tantrum lasting so long and still not getting what he wanted doesn't seem to ward off any future tantrums, though. Surely he'll figure it out. On a more positive note, though, he did the sweetest thing ever ever ever last night. Eve was super tired in the car and fussing and fussing. He started singing in the sweetest high voice (I've never heard him do this) a mixture of Silent Night and Away in a Manger to her, then he kept telling her we were almost home. I still can't get over how sweet that was. Today he was pulling her around in the wagon. He really is so sweet to her, and in general. Oh, and he's started to test out different fake laughs. I wish I could describe them adequately, but I just can't. Suffice it to say, it's hilarious.

Eve has gotten to be very fast. She plays around a lot on her own, but has started to develop a little bit of an attitude and makes it well known when she's ready for someone to pay attention to her or when she's frustrated. She refuses to lay on her back when being changed and hates getting dressed, but she's pretty much always hated that. She blows more raspberries than anyone I've ever known. She just started snooting and shaking her head back and forth (not to say no, just to be cute), and even does it in response to someone else doing it. Both of those are very very cute. She's becoming much more independent with play and eating, but on the flip side she's started to snuggle more. She still likes to sit with me, but not for as long. She's much too busy. Unfortunately she hasn't been sleeping well lately, but I'm hoping that has to do with her not feeling well. She has also seemed to turn into a picky eater lately, but I think that may be because we haven't figured out the best schedule for feeding her. Oh, one of the cutest things, she's started to wave. I don't think she actually means to. I think she just thinks it's cool that her hand can open and close like that, but she does it pretty often, and John never has waved much, so it's really cute to me.