Well, I don't know how, but February has literally FLOWN by. I can't believe it's almost March already! Jared has been traveling to Chicago every week all month and has needed to be gone even over the weekend. He's working so hard and so long, and seeing some positive feedback about it, so hopefully it's worth something! Poor guy has been absolutely freezing up there. We've been having our fair share of crazy weather here in Texas too. We've felt a little stir crazy as sickness has still been the theme of the month, but hopefully warm weather is coming.
This little lady has developed a severe case of separation anxiety. She's my first one to have that, but it makes sense. When Brody and Parker were babies we lived with our families and around a bunch of people that they saw and were left with frequently. She literally only sees me all the time because even Jared is only here 48 hours a week. She usually is super friendly and social as long as her momma is around. If she's uncomfortable then it's a slow meltdown. The bottom lip comes out and she starts to cry until I take her back. She loves her mom. The feeling is mutual so that's okay. Everything I've read says they just grow out of it eventually, so I'm hoping that's true. It's made going to the gym pretty impossible because they've had to come get me every time after about 20 minutes. I'm grateful warm weather is coming because it looks like the double stroller is the only way I'm going to get any exercise! I wouldn't trade it, though. I'm just hanging onto the fluff a little longer than I want to. Just doing the best I can around here while trying to treasure this time with my sweet baby.
We're trying to keep making friends here in Texas, so we invited some really sweet people over for dinner one Sunday. After I realized it was Super Bowl Sunday (silly me!) we changed the menu and decided to attempt football shaped pizza and cake balls. The boys loved it!
Capri is finally big enough for baths by herself in the big girl tub. She sits up so well and goes crazy! Watch out, because you'll get soaked! She loves to smack her arms and legs on the water in the tub. Brody thinks it's hilarious! I love this little rub-a-dub-dub-Capri-in-a-tub
Capri has this funny little habit of crawling out of her pants. One day in these pink pants it was worse than others. It kept cracking me up so I thought it should be documented. She has a little bum like her brother, Brody!
We had a checkup appointment with Capri's Orthopaedic Surgeon to see what her broken collarbone looks like. This is her updated X-ray. It looks pretty much exactly how they expected it to look. They said we're just going to keep watching it. She has another appointment in 6 months and then once a year after that unless it starts giving her problems. He reiterated that she shouldn't be doing gymnastics or even volleyball. He just said that he hopes she likes soccer! I don't love the idea of her not even being able to try something, so it's a journey we'll have to navigate as she gets older. He said to expect that part that's closer to her neck to stick out somewhat once her baby neck starts to go down. I hope she's able to know how beautiful she is regardless of any silly collarbone. :)
An example of the crazy weather we're having here! It actually snowed. And it stuck for a whole day! That pretty much never happens in Texas, so it was really fun. The boys were SO excited. In fact, that morning Brody told me we needed to get him new snow boots in case it snows so he can go out and play in it. Silly me said, "No, Brody, it doesn't snow in Texas!" haha Heavenly Father has a funny sense of humor. Parker and Brody have both told me lately that they really miss living in the snow and playing in it. They wanted a blizzard and were really disappointed that it was just a couple of inches. Funny little boys.
Capri's first snow!
This little girl loves her Daddy as much as her mom. She gets so excited every time he comes home and he gets the best Capri snuggles!
Parker has decided he likes to lay on Capri to watch TV or just to hang out with her. She usually laughs because she thinks anything Parker does is hilarious!
Capri all ready for Valentine's Day. I know I'm biased, but I think she's pretty cute.
We've also really loved watching the Olympics around here! Capri is going for gold. Even caught her eating her medal!
Soccer season has started back up again for Parker, and baseball season has started for Brody. That means Capri and I spend a lot of time watching the big boys. This is how she watches soccer in February. It's a little too cold!
These boys crack me up. We like to practice playing baseball in the backyard when the weather is nice. One day while we were playing an airplane flew over and captured both of the boys' attention. I just thought this sight was so funny. "Hey boys, I'm over here!"
With Parker's preschool group we took a trip to the Dallas Zoo for the first time. Capri rode in her stroller facing forward for the first time, and it was so fun to watch. It was like a whole new world opened up and she was loving every minute of it. Just look at these faces:
My cute Parker walked around the whole Zoo with his hands in his pockets. Look at this handsome boy! He continually makes me smile with his enthusiasm for life. He has really enjoyed his pre-school buddies and getting to hang out with his friends. He has such a sweet, tender heart and is always looking out for his friends. He likes to share his snacks and come up with plans for all of his friends to do together. Cute boy. :)
Loving the leg out action on Safari. Always livin' on the edge:
The 3 of us on the monorail ride. It was very strange to go on this kind of outing without Brody, but I know Parker and Capri deserve to have as much fun before Kindergarten as Brody did. These two make me smile so much.
One last picture of my sleepy monkey with a little ponytail. I really do wish it were possible to just freeze time and keep my kids the ages they are right now. It's busy, exhausting, but also delightful. I love their little conversations. Tonight at dinner it was discussed that robbers must live in another country because neither of them had ever seen one, that they were going to save their money for a car instead of missions and college (oh dear), that girls should be protected, and that they'd never make a bad choice at school because it would be TERRIBLE to have to eat lunch in the Principal's office. Never a dull moment!
This past week Capri also got to take her first airplane ride. Unfortunately it was for a terrible reason as we were attending the funeral of my Aunt Tracy in Indianapolis. Capri was such a good little traveler. She made friends the whole way. The flight attendant held her for quite a while and walked her around the airplane. Capri just smiled and waved her arms at everyone. It was too funny to watch.
The bittersweet part of any funeral is getting to get together with family you don't always see. I was really grateful to get to see my cousins, Uncle Miles, Grandma Burden, and my mom. I was very fortunate growing up to have close relationships with most of my cousins. These cousins lived right next to us for several years when we were growing up. We were also lucky enough to visit them multiple times when they lived in Vienna and Budapest. It's so hard to watch people you love struggle through trials, but I'm grateful I got to go. Capri brought some much needed smiles to everyone involved. She also discovered that she loves dogs. They have a dog Ruby who Capri thought was hilarious. Every time she pet her, Capri would laugh and squeal. When my cousin would throw potato chips into Ruby's mouth, Capri would belly laugh. My Uncle loved it and made the comment that Capri was the "epitome of sweet". I thought it was a very accurate description. She really is a little ray of sunshine.
I went through my old photos to find some photos of my Aunt Tracy to pass along. This was Tracy with my cousin Emily when we visited them when they lived in Vienna. Obviously very old as Emily is now 17, but I just loved her happy smile.
One more old photo of my mom with her baby brother, Miles, and Tracy.
With that, I think I'm finally caught up! Hooray!
