Things have looked up a bit since January's slog. I decided I needed things to look forward to so I planned a little Valentine's Princess Tea Party for Emery and oh my goodness it was the cutest thing! She and I went to thrift stores and found some cheap china teacups and saucers and teapot and sugar bowl and I let her pick out fresh flowers for the table. We invited 7 of her cute little friends to come dressed as their favorite princesses and surprisingly all of them could make it! I made cucumber sandwiches that the girls, to my surprise, actually ate and it turns out that Emery LOVES peach tea and drank everyone's leftovers after they left while I was feeding Isla. (She came into my room while I was nursing and proudly announced it Haha).
Isla was a little less than thrilled to be held by cousin Maren after the tea party haha.
Our family also made a big deal of Valentine's Day this year and celebrated as a family. I made a special dinner with a delicious sparkling fruit punch and heart-shaped pizzas that I let the kids decorate themselves and an absolutely amazing red velvet brownie with oreo frosting. Then, after dinner, we exchanged Valentine's gifts and told each other things we loved about each other. I had gotten Levi a 500 piece Pokemon puzzle that he loves and we have been working on it together as a family.
Levi insisted on having Chubchub on his plate for the picture. He loves that little beanie and regularly sneaks it to school in his pocket even though he isn't supposed to take toys or stuffed animals to school.
We've also been enjoying watching the Olympics together. There was scandal in the ice skating world with a doping incident of the Russian rising star 15-year-old Valieva that ended tragically with her being allowed to compete but then totally buckling under all the pressure and negative attention. I really feel like the Olympics should be for adult competitors only. Children shouldn't have to be under that kind of pressure. I've become more aware recently of how I dislike the media's spotlights on athletes. Like when the American skiers won the mixed relay and the announcers said their ages like a million times like "can you believe that they're winning with how old they are??" I mean, yes, it's definitely impressive that they are competing at that level at their ages but do you have to say their ages 20+ times in 5 minutes? And every time an athlete fell or performed poorly, I just wanted the cameramen to get out of their faces! Like gosh give them a second can't you? But in spite of all of this, I still find it really fun to watch the Olympics just because they're so amazing. The winter Olympics especially. I mean, in Summer you can kind of imagine doing the sport: like ok, they're running fast or swimming fast or whatever. But winter Olympics are like, "let's get on this tiny board and throw ourselves down a mountain head first at 60 mph" or "let's strap knives on our feet and then race right next to each other on a slippery surface." It's as if people were trying to come up with really inventive ways to almost die haha. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be the parent of the 17-year-old ski jumper for example. I just feel like I would not be able to watch them without feeling like they were about to die at any minute! As I'm typing this, Levi asked what I was writing and when I said the Olympics he said his favorite sport was the snowboarding. Emery's favorite was also snowboarding apparently and they wanted to share that haha.
It's appropriate that as we've been enjoying the winter Olympics we've had our own wintery weather here. For Isla's 4 month birthday we got a snow and ice storm! It meant even more missed school for the kids and more juggling on Eric and my part (*sigh*) but the kids had a great time playing together and with Dad while he took the day off to watch them while I worked. The ice looked so cool and Levi and I had fun playing out in the snow together. Emery didn't last long outside though because she doesn't have any waterproof gloves so she quickly retreated back inside saying her hands hurt.
Loved the icicles hanging off the pergola and the frozen rain chains!
You can barely see it but Levi used a little icicle for the snowman's nose.
Anyway, that's what's been going on here.Isla started daycare and thankfully has been doing really well there. She always drinks her bottles like a champ, takes short but regular naps and her teachers say she giggles a lot watching the other kids. And after a little regression right when she turned 4 months, she has started sleeping amazingly (knock on wood!).We've been putting her down at 8 and she will sleep until 5 or 5:30 am when I feed her and then back to sleep till 7:30 or later! It's sooo nice. I feel like all our efforts to teach her how to self-soothe and go to sleep on her own in her crib are paying off although I'm paranoid that she will regress again. But until then, I will be relishing in the peaceful nights!
