A Blog Revival

I know, I know some of you are reading the title of this post, rolling your eyes and thinking...I've heard it before!  Well, I thought maybe if I deemed my jumping back onto the blogging wagon a "revival" that I would really stick with it.  I really do love having our memories documented and I hope that I can get back in the groove of posting on a regular (dare I say weekly?) basis.  We shall see!

Our little bookworms.  I find them together reading in this chair in Carter's room often. 

This past month has flown by much quicker than I anticipated.  Jan 1st marked the beginning of Derek's busy season at work which means late work nights and office hours on the weekends.  During the first month the kids and I have managed to keep very busy with activities and outings.  In early January Derek traveled for a week to Columbus, Ohio and Orlando, Florida for meetings.  Derek's mom came to visit during that week and we took the kids to IKEA on the Monday that Addy had off school for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  I had a list of a few things that I wanted to our house that will hopefully help me in achieving one of my New Year's Resolutions for the house--organization!  Later in that week Derek and I took the kids to the Illinois State vs. Indiana State men's basketball game.  This game has been on our calendar for a while because I went to both schools and Indiana State was a preseason favorite in their conference this year.  Addy proudly wore her Reggie Redbird kids' club shirt and I wore an IL State sweatshirt and an IN State t-shirt.  The Redbirds came out victorious and ran away with the game at the end.  We lasted most of the game and headed out with about eight minutes to go, which we considered a victory of our own! 

Working hard and a Valentine's Day craft

Addy, Reggie, and our friend Katie

Carter even took a picture with Reggie and he asked for a high five and fist bump.

I was a little nervous about  Addy beginning of the second semester of pre-K because it seemed as though she had become very comfortable with staying at home and sleeping until eight each morning.  Well, it turns out that she was super excited about going back to school and that I would be the only one sad about her going back.  She is really excited about this semester because they are focusing more on letter and their sounds, which is something that she is really interested in.  Her teacher also started a new format of show and tell that requires the students to give hints about their item and then their classmates try to guess what they brought to school.  It requires more practicing and preparation but Addy LOVES it and wants to make up hints for items around the house all the time.  It has become a new game around here.

We got to enjoy some unusually beautiful weather this month!

Carter loves getting wagon rides from his sister!

Addy continues to go to her gymnastics class at Jump Spot and also started taking swim lessons at the Four Seasons.  She really enjoys both classes and loves that she gets to go swimming in January. She is now floating on her back on her own and is practicing pushing off the side of the pool and floating to her instructor.  I am really amazed at how confident and comfortable she has become in the water.  I'm looking forward to taking her swimming this summer!

Carter's personality shines through more and more everyday.  He is still a basketball lovin' little boy and also loves playing with all of the new cars he received for Christmas.  Carter's talking has really taken off during this past month.  Some of his recent words and phrases are bee-ball (basketball), ooh-ahh (uh-oh), dud you (love you), and thank you.  He also jumped off the floor with two feet for the first time on Saturday (2/4/12) which is a big deal because he has been admiring the way Addy can jump for several months and desperately wanted to get some of his own air time.  Carter's sleeping habits have also changed drastically since Christmas.  During the month of January he has been waking up 3-4 times at night and won't put himself to sleep unless we're in the room.  I did a google search of sleep difficulties at 19 months and found a lot of info on the 18 month sleep regression.  I am not a fan of this stage in Carter's development and I am very ready for him to start sleeping normally again.  Carter has also been having difficulties with separation anxiety.  It plays a part in his sleeping difficulties and it also causes us to be paged by the nursery at church within ten minutes of dropping him off.  We're hoping that it is a stage that will pass quickly for him. As far as his eating habits go--well, they're really non existent.  He still won't touch most veggies and meats but continues his love for taco meat, spaghetti, and bananas.  Carter's pickyness makes it quite a challenging to cook for him.  I mean who doesn't like macaroni and cheese?  My kid, that's who!

Bball fanatic

Check out the hand in the "cookie jar"!  I'm so proud!

A boy and his basketball goal

Enjoying an ice cream treat

Carter has taken a liking to removing his shirt.  He even took it off in Wal-mart one day!

Cars and blocks have quickly become some of  his favorite things!

Derek gained two more clients at the beginning of January when someone left the firm which resulted in some unexpected travel. This definitely put even more on Derek's plate during his crazy time.  He seems to be handling the stress of the work load quite well (much better than I would!) and looks forward to spending quality time with us on weekends.  He has been going into the office for at least one day on the weekends and the firm works until eight on Monday evenings. The kids and I really miss him but we are so proud of all of his hard work.  We will be so excited when March 1st rolls around! He has really enjoyed watching Indiana basketball this season and loves it when his kids do the IU cheer. 

As for me, I feel like the month of January zipped by and left me with my head spinning and wondering where those days went.  I have been going to the gym on a fairly regular basis and have been reunited with my old friends--the elliptical and treadmill.  When I first began going they were happy to see me, but I certainly wasn't happy to see them.  As the weeks have gone on, I have grown to accept them although I don't think I'll ever love them.  I have also been working on my photography by attempting to learn more about my editing programs and taking more pictures.  Hopefully I can get behind the camera even more this month!

Delivering pizzas at the children's museum

Fun at Monkey Joe's

So with the publishing of this (very long) post, I deem our family blog officially revived!  Hopefully this will be the first post of many.  Be on the lookout for more frequent posts from us and thanks for sticking with me during my hiatus!  Hopefully I can also update the blog template as well.............stay tuned!!