Paint, read, craft, shovel, repeat.

So there's lots going on and yet some days it feels like nothing is moving forward except Fiona's development and the depth of the snow.  My second vote is the same as my first: pregnancy is hard and not very fun.  My throat hurts from throwing up last night, my energy is still in the toilet, my muscles are cramping from overdoing the Tums (and being pregnant), and having a full-time job (or two jobs that add up to one) hasn't felt manageable for, say, 18 weeks.  

But DANG, life is good!  This little boy is moving a lot, has some nice-looking chromosomes and low risk for a neural tube defect, and we're almost half way there.  AND, that he is due in the summer helps me believe in my heart that summer will come.  And, in the mean time, it turns out there are a lot of good ways to parent which involve mostly sitting still.  I've been advocating for painting and reading lately which, fortunately, doesn't take much of a sell. 

"Smooooosh!"

Our tough kid.  Wearing her rugby smock, no less.  

But she's really nice after the game.  

Photo bomb courtesy of my growing double chin :))

Snuggling with Gramma CB and Tammy (the tamarind).

Cozy inside time with the Auroran grandparentals.  

Fiona and Tammy's icy view from the crib.  

Elliott's current home improvement task involves removing squirrel carcasses and abandoned penny collections in the attic eaves and replacing them with insulation.  Maybe next year the icicles won't reach below her windows.

Decorating valentines for her classmates on Friday, using the class picture as inspiration.

Naked reading with a (borrowed) friend (thanks, Saia!).

Clothed reading with shark shirt (thanks, Carter!).  Oh, that's Lowly Worm's foot in the background.  That looks a little odd.  And this Adirondack chair from Zach and Josh is now perfect.  

This week's toddler Sciencenter activity was making pink slime for Valentine's Day out of glue and corn starch.  

Even the big kids had a little trouble making it work.

In the afternoon when Elliott was working Fiona practiced being a big sister.  

Her hair is greasy from the cheesy toast toupé she wore at lunch at Ithaca Bakery to impress Rebekah Carpenter.  I think it worked.  

Then we painted some Valentines for Pop.

"That says, 'Pop'."

We love him very much.