17 Months & 17 Weeks

Well, once again it's been a while since I've gotten to post anything (if that tells you anything about how busy we've been lately). So we've got some catching up to do! Let's see...the girls are 17 months old now and since the last post the girls have been sick most of the time- Surprise! They got more ear infections, had ear tubes placed on the 19th of January, were okay for 2 days and then began developing fevers yet again. This turned into a really nasty respiratory virus, which I caught too and it lasted about 2 weeks. But thankfully this time it didn't travel to their ears and cause infections there too :) I am so relieved to finally have the tubes in and not have to be so concerned with their ears all of the time. And since getting the tubes Charlotte has begun talking all of the time and she has really become a little parrot repeating everything she hears. Her favorite things to say are basically anything that begins with the letter "B". Baby, bellybutton, blueberries, bear, bath, bye-bye, banana (pronounced "anana"), and a few other words like sissie, all done, mama, and dada. Hannah Kate is just so glued to that paci that we can't get her to actually pronounce many words but she kind of hums all of the words instead...we get what she means though ;)

Patrick left to go underway about 2 weeks ago for 3 weeks total so he will be back in another week and we can't wait! I finally hung some pictures on our walls and there are 2 of him and the girls want me to pick them up multiple times a day to see dada and talk about him. We are all so ready for him to come back for a bit before deploying at the end of March. He recorded his voice on a couple of those recordable storybooks and tonight as I was reading the girls their bedtime stories they were both fussing so much. When I looked at what they were trying to reach it was one of his books and they wouldn't calm down until I put down the other books and just let him read to them through the book- it was really so sweet.

I am also 17 weeks pregnant now and feeling much better. The nausea usually only rears its nasty self if I forget to take my meds, but as long as I take my little anti-nausea cocktail it stays mostly away. I can't tell you how good I feel this pregnancy overall compared to my last one. I realized earlier this week that there are times that I just forget I'm pregnant so that says a lot about how I'm feeling! And we have decided we are going to find out the gender, but that appointment won't be for a couple more weeks. I have also started back work and I'm really enjoying it! This may sound awful to some, but I find when I leave my children for a short while and then get to come back to them I am actually excited to see them and get to play with them. So I really think work does my mental health a world of good and I also really enjoying getting to reclaim a part of myself I had to let go of for a while when the girls were first born. Kids and nursing are 2 things I really enjoy so I get to combine them and it's the best of both worlds for me as far as work goes :) I think that's about all for now...enjoy the pics!




Enjoying some swing time in the back yard on a cold day. HK (L) & Char (R)

Loving homemade mashed potatoes and ravioli (for about a day). HK (top) & Char (below). I think anyone could tell who's who just by looking at the amount of food all over the face. Char continues to be my clean little eater and she takes her time at the table (just like her mom and dad) whereas HK shoves it in by the handfuls and eats very quickly.

The girls thought it was so funny to put these little shoe boxes on their heads and walk around like this. HK (L) & Char (R)

Post-bathtime fun! After the bath tonight both girls took off running through the house with only diapers on and I couldn't help but laugh at how silly they are! Hannah Kate (top pic). Bottom pic= HK (L) & Char (R) with the CRAZY hair!