Of course I know spring will eventually come, and to be honest we’ve actually had a few days of fairly warm weather lately, but I’m getting mighty sick of the snow and the clouds and the constant dreary greyness that is winter in the Okanagan. My cabin fever isn’t as bad this year as it has been in the past (for two of the last three Februarys I was heavily pregnant) but I’m still longing for the time when we don’t need coats and boots and gloves and so on every time we leave the house. Sigh.

My winter blahs were not helped recently when both boys came down with some sort of stomach bug. Justin bounced back after a day or two, but it took Brayden a week to get his appetite back (miraculously, he never fussed or cried or even looked uncomfortable, even when he threw up — kids are weird). But everyone seems to be healthy now, just in time for the free swim at the rec centre tonight, so that’s good. For a while there I thought I was coming down with something too, and it made me realize that as much as you worry about your kids when they’re sick, life is actually a lot harder when you’re sick and they’re not. But that’s all behind us now.

We’re looking forward to (yet another) visit from my parents this week. We actually just had a round of company: my grandma and my aunt were here for a few days to play with the boys right before they got sick. Justin seems to have forgotten that he was ever shy and now befriends anyone who’s willing to throw a ball around with him. Brayden doesn’t seem to care who’s around so long as they don’t get in the way of his crawling and climbing and exploring…that boy is trouble. But he’s forever smiling and happy, so that sometimes makes up for the fact that you have to pull him away from danger every 15 seconds. He just started making “da da da da” sounds — too cute.

So how long until spring?

Things didn’t work out quite the way they were supposed to for my birthday this past weekend, but it ended up being fun nonetheless. Most of my friends bailed on the celebrations due to lack of babysitters, which was tough, but we had a good dinner with the one person who did show up (you rock Teri!) We ended up back at the house playing ‘80s trivia with her and our own babysitter once the kids were in bed. (Apparently Chris spent the better part of the ‘80s watching TV…how else could he know so many pop culture answers?) A good night overall.

Justin is so engrossed with the alphabet that he spells out every sign he sees, which was cute the first few times but is increasingly becoming annoying. He also seems to have an impressive memory – we read him a short book two or three times and he can then recite it back to us. He can count up to 40, he knows all his colors and shapes…and it makes me wonder if he’ll be bored in preschool or kindergarten. (Not that he’s heading for preschool anytime soon, as we are exactly nowhere with potty training, but still.) In the last few weeks he’s become a lot more social with the kids in his play group, which is good to see, and he rarely plays shy with new people for long anymore. Our baby is growing up!

Our other baby is doing well too. He’s amazing us with his ability to feed himself with a spoon. I put some food on the spoon and put the spoon on Brayden’s tray, and he picks it up and uses it exactly the way it’s supposed to be used. I just can’t get over that. Brayden’s had some challenging nights lately, where he wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m. and has to be rocked back to sleep, but hey: this too shall pass, right?

The neat freak in me is completely opposed to letting my kids make a mess, but I know it’s important for Brayden to learn to feed himself, so I’ve been handing him a spoon and letting him do what he will. He’s actually not too bad about getting the food into his mouth, and he’s just so darn proud of himself when he can do it all on his own. For me, it’s painful but strangely liberating to sit back and watch him learn. (This didn’t happen with His Highness Prince Justin, who even now is totally content to have someone else do the work for him.) At age eight months, Brayden can even drink from a cup independently, which amazes us because Justin absolutely refused to hold his own cup until he was about 14 months old. To each his own, I guess.

We always knew Brayden was anxious to get moving, but we never really thought he’d figure it out so fast: he started crawling and pulling up a few days before Christmas, and less than two weeks later he was beginning to cruise around the living room holding on to tables and chairs. Fortunately, he can now pull up to see out the front windows, and that keeps him occupied for half an hour or so at a stretch, so that works out well for me. He’s had some sleeping issues on and off for the past month or so, but those seem to have worked themselves out now and I can once again say that both my boys are good sleepers. Hallelujah!

Christmas is over, the family is gone and Chris is back to work, so it seems the holidays have ended early this year. I’ve spent two days cleaning up the aftermath and I still have more to do, but by this time tomorrow all should be back to normal.

There were lots of comments from the group about how much better this Christmas was than last year, but that wasn’t hard: last year almost everyone came down with stomach flu. Even newly-pregnant Janette stayed healthy this time around (although she did need a steady supply of pickles). Justin warmed up to the company very quickly and was actually pretty good about dividing his attention amongst the crowd, and Brayden was happy with anybody. Brayden started crawling just before Christmas, so he had to be watched every second (no wonder no one had time to take many pictures!) Overall, a good time was had by all.

Yay me: I’ve officially lost all my baby weight! I’d like to think it’s because I’ve been jogging almost every day, but it could just as easily be from chasing two children, one of whom is just mobile enough to be a problem. However it happened, I feel good, I’m fitting into my old clothes — and I have to celebrate this now before I get into the Christmas munchies.

Brayden is starting to pull up, so nothing is safe anymore. We were cruising along for a while there cause Justin plays pretty well on his own and Brayden was happy to crawl around and explore, so I could usually find a few minutes to fold the laundry or unload the dishwasher without worrying too much (although I’d still have to keep watch so I could pull Brayden away from danger areas). But now Brayden’s at the stage where the only way for him to practise the skills he needs to learn (standing, pulling up) is with someone right there at his side helping him. This is when the really exhausting stuff starts. Let’s hope he’s an early walker!

More than once over the past week I was tempted to attach the soother to Brayden’s mouth via duct tape so we could try to get some sleep. For a few days there we were going into his room to find his soother for him seven or eight times in the course of a night. He was also kind of cranky during the day, and not napping well…and I was at the end of my rope. But then I made a slight change in his diet (no more cauliflower!) and things have improved dramatically. So we’re all friends again.

The snow is here and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it’s much prettier when everything is white than when it just looks dreary and grey. On the other hand, it’s doubling the time it takes to get the kids packed up and out the door.

I’m sure every mom has a story like this: when we went to Justin’s play group the other day, I had to get both kids into their winter coats, boots, gloves and hats. Then I had to pack shoes for me and Justin (there’s no carpet at the rec centre and I didn’t want him slipping on the floor) as well as a snack. Then I needed the stroller and a separate bag packed for Brayden cause I leave him with the babysitting service. Once we got there, I had to get both kids OUT of their coats, hats, boots and gloves, and since Justin’s play group changes rooms halfway through, I had to haul all that crap down the hall and into a new room. I don’t need to pump iron; I’m a mom.

I thought I’d be a good mom this morning and let the kids play in the snow in the backyard. So I got Justin all dressed in his snowsuit, and I got Brayden into his coat…and then realized Brayden had wet his pants. I couldn’t leave Justin in the backyard unsupervised, so he had to sit by the door (remarkably, he did exactly that — but he probably couldn’t move too well in all that stuff anyway) while I took Brayden upstairs. That of course involved stripping him down, changing his diaper and his clothes, and then bundling him all up again. By the time we made it outside we had about 15 minutes to play before it was time to come back inside and get all that stuff off so I could go feed Brayden and start lunch. You might say it’s hardly worth it, but since the alternative is being cooped up in this house all day every day, it is DEFINITELY worth it.

The sun is shining (a rare thing for the Okanagan in November) so I’m in a good mood. Of course, it helps that both kids slept well last night and are currently napping. We can’t seem to go for more than three or four weeks without both boys coming down with the sniffles, and Brayden was pretty miserable this time around, but the worst of it seems to be over now.

Brayden is seven months old now (how did that happen so fast?) and spends most of his time creeping around. He desperately wants to crawl. He gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth, but hasn’t quite figured out how to get in gear yet. I’m pleased to see he’ll eat anything at this point, but we’ll see how long that lasts. Justin is actually not as picky as he used to be but he’s still not big on trying new foods, unless of course I use the magic ingredient. He’ll eat almost anything (fish, chicken, steak, eggs, potatoes) if I put it in applesauce. Once upon a time that bothered me, but I’ve been a parent long enough to realize that anything you can do to get the food into him is just fine. And hey, applesauce beats ketchup.

We had a highly successful visit with the Kingwell grandparents this past weekend. Justin is inherently shy, even with people he knows well, but he warmed up to Grandma and Grandpa pretty fast once they offered to play ball with him. Brayden flirted with stranger anxiety a couple months ago but seems to be OK with just about anybody these days, so all was well. The grandparents swore they enjoyed their time here but admitted they looked forward to going home to a quiet house where they could get lots of rest — I don’t know if it would be any different if we had girls, but our boys seem to be always on the go (particularly Brayden, who never ever ever stops moving). Both kids had some unsettled nights while our guests were here, but last night they both crashed for upwards of 11 straight hours — you gotta love that.

Part of why Brayden had such a good snooze is probably the fact that he had his first swimming lessons last night. I wasn’t there, but Chris tells me the little guy had a blast splashing around in the pool. Justin still likes to play in the water, but he stopped enjoying swim lessons about a year ago. I guess he’ll learn to swim when he’s ready.