Light at the end of the tunnel...

One week and school is out for two. I'm already dreading going back to work for some reason, the time always flies, but I'm so excited for the extra time with my babies, I could not be happier! 

Everett trying out the treadmill. He's always so willing to do whatever we ask of him, I'm one lucky mama. 

He's extra happy when he has his videos to watch while he works! 

Rushed to the playground for some Clara time. I give Everett a BIG push on his swing and I play a "freeze" game with Clara and climb up high and she has to come save me and unfreeze me with her magic touch! It motivates her to climb much higher than she normally would! 

Everett was so tired after his two sessions, Wednesday was tough. He has four teeth coming in and has not been sleeping the best and then had to wake and get very busy! He tolerates it so well! I put him down for a nap, he was sitting up, I heard him moaning like he does when he soothes himself to sleep. It got quiet fast. I looked at his monitor and he was folded in half. He fell asleep bent in half, he passed out and his head flopped right on top of his legs. Because of his low tone he is extremely flexible. I didn't have time to move him but Barbara was unable to leave him in this position so she moved him. I checked in on the monitor on my way to work and took this screen shot. You can see him bent in half. 

Friday, Andre needed to work on finishing the wine racks and so I took the kids to the park to get out of the house. Largo park is decorated for Christmas so nicely. hard to see it all in the daylight but Clara loved it anyway. We first played at the park and then walked it, it's a very big park, the one that we take the train rides. 

Clara found her "friends" 

The last day with the kids was a pajama day. This is Lisa and I with our assistant Joanna. She is amazing. She reads our minds and gets things done faster than I've ever seen in my life. She's almost 25 and has a 4 year old. She is organized and on top of everything. She is going to school full time so we're losing her. It's so sad, no one can replace her. We're going to miss her dearly. (We get an assistant because we have all of the low kids in third grade. Those that failed and those that technically shouldn't have passed but got pushed on since they don't retain kids anymore until they are in third grade...so dumb! Anyway, this class gets an assistant. That is what is also making me working part time possible because this person helps with grading and many other tasks that need to be done in school which allows me to leave on time, which I have to, so I'm very thankful for this position this year although it poses new challenges of its own.)

Barb's 70th Bday party, the only pic posted was these two cuties. 

Saturday am we went to Dylan's soccer game. Thankfully both kids want their daddy so I finally had time to down my coffee.

Festivus. "When I think about you, I touch my elf." Ha. It was a fun year, as always. Not as crazy as we usually get, which I was just fine with since I was ready for bed before we even got there! Yikes. 

6:15 wake up call after a night out. But he's just too cute to leave in his crib for more than a minute. Even though he was in bed before we left for the party, when we go out I miss them extra and can't wait for them to be up in the morning to spend QT with. 

Watching sissy's monitor, ready for her to wake up and play.

Barbara (our sitter) brought stickies to get Everett climbing the doors. That's the next step. He's relying a lot on leaning on his belly while cruising. we need him to hold his own. He's not quite ready for it, getting there. He was spending some time on his knees at the door playing with the pictures which is a really hard position to get him to stay in, so that was a great first step. 

Busy bees

Everett in his vest at OT. He hates this position with his legs, he wants to be in extension, this is pretty much as mad as he gets, you can tell he's not amused. He'll fight his way out of it easily so he really doesn't need to get to disgruntled. 

A visit to the library. I normally don't let Everett out of the stroller because of germs, especially this time of year. Clara was having so much fun and asked Everett to come play. He LOVED it, crawled all over the place. Thanks sissy for the motivation. They both have a bit of stuffiness they keep passing back and forth. I'm not sure if it's teeth or actual illness. Hopefully it doesn't get serious.

The slide in the back is Clara's favorite.

Our Class field trip to the FL orchestra. So much fun teaching this year with Lisa. It was SO windy and rainy I put my hair up on purpose. We got soaked on the way in AND an the way out. These are our cuties. 

Everyone got a towel in the bag of googies, perfect to make it to the bus in the downpour. 

Clara doing her workbook pages. She loves to learn! 

Mr. Independent. 

Kylie sent some cool stickers for Clara's bday. 

Oh to feel like Christmas! 

Fun in Aunt Lisa's wine room. Clara put on a show on the foot rest our feet are on, video coming! She is a party animal...uh oh! 

On our way to the boat parade at aunt Lisa's house.

Daddy took Clara to work so I could make an early apt with Everett, she was up late at the boat parade and I knew she'd sleep in a bit. Thanks daddy! 

Elwin, our elf has been quite mischievous as of late. Clara cannot wait to find him in the morning to see what shenanigans he's been up to! 

Mommy Daughter Date

This is the first formal one on one mommy daughter date for my sweetie and me. Clara has been very needy lately, struggling when I leave for work and when we're in therapy. I'm battling if it's me not giving her enough undevided attention or if it's her three year old phase that we just need to work through. I think every mom that has more than one child battles this feeling, I especially because so much of our time is spent working on Everett's needs. We have days where I wake and we rush out to therapy downtown, then rush back for the session at home and Clara is expected to behave, play by herself, listen to us talk about Everett day in and day out, cheer him on...and ask her to help and join in. She has had lots of trouble at our recent therapies, to the point where she sits in the stroller in time out screaming crying because she cannot have all my attention, she is fighting hard for it these days. This is a battle I'll never win, I want to give them both the world, but I don't have the means or the time. I never feel like I can give either child enough of me, I need a few clones. This undivided attention was perfect. We had a blast. She was so excited to get her nails painted. Yes, I could have saved $18.00 and done it myself, but it was the experience that made it fun. I think she held still better for someone else than she ever would have for me. We went out to dinner at Panera after, it was a PERFECT evening. It was a tough morning and this time together made a tough day into a perfect ending. We'll continue to work on waiting our turn to talk, being patient when mommy is on the phone or giving her attention elsewhere, I'll continue to do my best to find balance and make fair expectations. I want Clara to know how important she is, how much she is loved, and how very special she is to me. I will forever fight to make that known. 

We started with my toes, Clara did both nails and toes, I just had my toes painted. They have looked pathetic for months. Clara kept asking me, "Mama, is that a she or a he?" It was a he. Although I told her three times, she still struggled believing me. It was quite embarrassing. I hope he didn't understand her, if he did, he was still very nice to us. He didn't have hairy arms, he had longer hair to his ears and a gold chain on. She was very intrigued. 

She convinced Clara to have white dots on her purple nails. I didn't like it, I liked them plain purple. Clara went with it and in the car said, "I don't want the dots Mama." I convinced her it was perfect since we didn't have snow here, they were her snowflakes. I didn't let the woman put dots on her toes, thankfully! Clara did her best to sit still, I thought she did well. 

If these little feet could be little forever...

Dinner time when you still feel like your nails are wet. Haha.

Thursday mornings are our only mornings "off" of therapy. We typically have another appointment, some checkup, GI, Sleep, Nutrition, fittings for vests or braces, hearing, eyes, thyroid, or someone is sick. There's always something else I have to cram into our Thursday am. Today, nothing. To the park we go. I'm letting E crawl on the ground. He cannot be held anymore, his brain is begging him to run and play. He crawled right to the slide and stood up, whining to get in. I set him at the bottom and he crawled his way to the top. it's much steeper than the ramp Andre built, but the same concept so I shouldn't have been surprised that he would climb it non-stop racing his sissy. She would always wait for him a the top, calling him to hurry up, but would never let him win. It was just us at the park, we all had some fun!