I will share. And pacifiers.

Monday's lesson for Family Night was on sharing. Carson, our lover of anything he can memorize (have you heard him sing the 50 states song??) , of course wanted to repeat what the lesson was about and practice sharing like the lesson encouraged him to do. I asked him if he would share his pacifier with me, and he agreed. I clipped it to my shirt just like he clips it on for bed. As the lesson continued, he sneakily slipped the pacifier into his mouth. He reminded us that he was still sharing because it was clipped to mom.

Sometimes I think it's time to get rid of that pacifier (only used for bedtime), but then I remind myself how hard life must be at times for a 2-year-old: testing limits, learning to control so many strong emotions, feeling determined to do some things that you just physically aren't able to do and getting so frustrated that you're not there yet, dealing with fears, having a little brother who inhibits mom from reading you books for 8 hours a day like you would prefer, etc. etc. etc. And when I think about how fast he's growing and learning and changing, I have some sympathy. If sucking on a little rubber thing is what comforts him during one of the most dramatically changing times of his life, I'll keep clipping that thing to his shirt every night. :)

Speaking of sharing, I do not like sharing my husband with the hospital at 6 a.m. every day, and sometimes until 10:30 at night. The first two years of med school were really not stressful on our family, except during board study. I have a sad feeling that third year will not be so easy!

Sickie pictures.

Just had to document the sickness.






This is at 2:30 a.m. He wanted a Saltine cracker so bad.

I missed this kid!

After throwing up for five straight days, causing some pretty intense dehydration, he is finally back to his normal self.

We had the most wonderful day today, just happy to be healthy and able to go do our normal things. Monday's library day, doing the laundry together, and following along with Carson's imaginative games were especially delightful. (For most of the day, Carson was Tyrone. He called me Tasha and Everett Pablo. He has actually only seen 5 minutes of the Backyardigans show. He got scared when Tyrone fell off his horse and refuses to watch it again.)

Last week when Carson was sick was one of the most exhausting of my life! I spent one night laying beside him to give him sips of Pedialyte every half hour. I carried him around all day when he was too weak to walk. I had to withhold food from him even when he was begging me for it, because I knew he would throw it right back up. The worst was all the cleaning up... I finally broke down and cried while taking apart his car seat and cleaning out the back of the car after one particular throwing up episode. Maybe I am a wimp, but I am so glad it's over.

Anyway, I had so much fun just talking with him all day today! Carson is my favorite little conversationalist.

Some pics from our day:




"Look, mom, my apple is a letter C!" My other favorite thing that Carson said today, bringing me a library book, was "Mom, teach me everything that's in here."

Easter 2010.

We left for Chile on Easter Sunday, so sadly we didn't really get to do much with the kids to celebrate. Luckily they're little enough they won't remember that we skipped an Easter. :)

We did go to the church's activity which included a little egg hunt.

I thought Carson's sweet expression while he listened to the Easter story was so cute. And when Everett gets tired in the car, he leans his head back, revealing his super double chin. He looks just like a little piggy with those chubs and those little legs sticking straight out!

Sweet Little Ev.

He's ONE!

And I would say something like, "my, how he's grown," except that he's actually fallen to the 10th percentile for height and weight. Still chubby and healthy, just small!

When I was expecting Everett, strangers and friends who had children around 16 months apart would say something like, "the first year is miserable, but then when they can play together life gets a lot better." Well, thanks to sweet Everett, I can honestly say that I have loved this first year of mothering two little ones. He has been an amazing sleeper and nurser, a very tolerant (although fearful) little brother, and just has a sweetness that makes him so easy to love.

At one, Everett...

...jabbers dramatically. Most frequent words are ball, hi, more, and Dad. When Rick gets home, he gets a "Hi, Da!!" and a big hug from Everett.

...has absolutely no interest in walking. His speedy bum scoot serves him well enough and keeps everyone around him laughing.

...knows what "no" means. When he gets close to the fireplace or other forbidden things, he sits down, gets a real serious look on his face, and vigorously makes the sign for "NO." And he's still young enough that he obeys!

...is a super picky eater. One day he loves scrambled eggs, the next day he shovels in a mouthful and then spits them all out and throws them on the floor. This drives me a little bit crazy.

...loves to make toy cars go vrooming down the hallway, and appropriately makes the toy helicopters and airplanes fly up in the air. When he hears the hospital's helicopter go by, he gets super excited, jabbers loudly, and points to the window. Wonder where he learned this...

...still sucks him thumb and holds his ear when he's tired.

...loved Grandma GJ when we left him for a week, and even went right back to nursing upon our return. What a good boy!


We had a tiny birthday celebration for him the day before we left for Chile. True to his picky self, he ate a tiny bit of the cake and signed, "all done."

Where have we been?

The gals en la playa.

Oh, just celebrating Everett's first birthday, welcoming Grandma for a week-long babysitting stint, traveling to Chile and back, and now trying to get caught up with all the work we left behind!

Tons of pictures and stories to post but, ahem, it's April 15th and I've neglected something that's due today.