my new mother...

my sweet little pumpkin...

he really wants to be crawling! he backs himself into corners all the time! and gets so frustrated.

someone, who will remain nameless, taught nora how to do this... awesome! she had so much fun!

she just looked so big... and only ate the frosting of her cookie.

still looking so big... thanks mom-mom for the awesome shirt!

umm... ready to go? yeah, those aren't her shoes. but she can walk AMAZINGLY WELL in them!!

my two babies! while i was making dinner the other night...

a boy and his dog. he's getting so big!!

snuggling with nora. she loves to kiss him!

dude, check me out. i can sit up! all by myself.

waiting for daddy to get home. both girls were quite excited!!! notice how she only puts stickers on her back... quite interesting!

how i found my boy when i went to get him up from a nap. just staring and waiting for me! he's so sweet. also, he got an OUTSTANDING report the other day from the orthopedic surgeon. his x-rays looked "impressive" and "like a normal foot". she was very pleased, and very happy we went ahead with the surgery. so, he's still in the shoes and bar 18 hours a day until december 11th, then just at night. NOT at naps, JUST at night!!

so, my new mother... i was standing on a chair this morning to get something off a high shelf. nora told me "do not stand on chairs. you will fall and get hurt". she routinely tells me "no shoes on my couch". also, i have been trying encourage that we sit down to eat our meals. even if we are eating at her table in the family room, she has to be sitting. i wasn't following that this morning and walking around with my bowl of oatmeal (since it's FREEZING here... 60* when i woke up... which means only 66* in the house!!!). she told me "we do not eat standing up. come sit down at the table. here, i'll get you a chair", and proceeded to pull me up a chair.

this week has been SO MUCH better obedience-wise. the last few weeks were incredibly frustrating, but we are having a better week. i am quite thankful. i felt like all i ever did was discipline. today, especially, we've had a TON of fun!

the kids woke up from their naps yesterday with fevers. kind of a bummer, since we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch with friends today. oh well. speaking of getting sick... one comment. i don't usually do this, but here you go. states were told in july to stop tracking the h1n1 cases. but, they still are. and anything that is flu-like is counted as h1n1/swine flu. so that means, if you have food poisoning and see a doctor, they will count it as the flu. but what about those early pregnant women... feeling flu-like is common. and the majority of them don't even have h1n1.

(Image from CBS News)

so, why are we so scared about this epidemic? don't get me wrong... i'm not saying it's not scary to get the flu, especially for little kids, and i know people can die from both this and the seasonal flu. but, seriously, the panic? for some false-positive tests? it's scary how the majority of the media isn't reporting on this, and when cbs went to do their story on this, got NO help from the cdc.

so, my kids have fevers. we'll use good handwashing, good nutrition, and stay away from other kids for a few days. no reason to spread what we have. and, hopefully, they'll feel better soon, and i won't get it!!!

that's all i have to say... thanks for listening!