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| No joke: We've gone from Portrait to Landscape for family pics. |
We're now playing zone defense, which can manifest itself in several ways. Typically Erin gets to handle it all while I'm at work, but when I arrive, coach puts me right in the game. Occasionally there's enough time to get my jersey on, other days I head straight into double or triple coverage. On good days, Elia is gently playing with Ezra on his playmat in the living room and making him giggle while Bay So reads silently to herself in the front room while Erin and I talk calmly about boring grown-up things. On exciting days, all three are crying simultaneously and I referee the prize fight and rescue a crying baby while Erin cooks.
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| To be fair to Ezra, we were all crying a little on the inside. Hashtag outdoor Christmas pictures in OH. |
No matter the score, gameplay is always fun. We've made many awesome family memories since my last post, even amid Midwest winter! There was a birth day, then three more birthdays to celebrate! Bay now knows she's two, and is on the verge of being able to show it with fingers (she figured out thumbs-up just last week), and Elia is four and says soon she'll be five (hope not), and of course old men get older. The girls have a developed a small appreciation for carrot cake, but find great joy in baking!
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| Really Dad? You had to ruin cake too? |
We've made a lot of our own fun what with snowmen named Buster, sled riding at Veteran's Park with Grandpap, having other Josephs for Thanksgiving and traveling for Christmas.
This was the first year we had our own home Christmas (our "3rd Christmas" says Elia), and the girls loved it all! They shredded wrapping paper into thousands of tiny pieces and then asked to have everything opened all at the same time, frantically rushing from one toy to the next every 2 minutes until all the puzzle pieces and plastic muffins and tiaras formed a big pile. We were smart to not unpackage gifts from Greensburg and Carlisle until we got home or they surely would not have made it!
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| "Bay let's fight about who opens Ezra's presents." "NO!" |
Elia has been a jovial character for all sorts of daddy-daughter dates (especially since she shed the portable restroom) including camping, bike rides, trips to the library, and playgrounding. In December when Erin was too ill to accompany me to the Shull's wedding reception, Elia become my +1, wore her best dress and shoes, and insisted on bacon, cupcakes, and dancing which we were all too pleased to provide her. As of late we've developed a new hobby together, wooden craft projects! Home Depot holds a Kid's workshop one Saturday every month, and so far we've built a block calendar, a periscope toy, and a birdhouse.
Each time Elia learns to take inventory, follow instructions, and use a hammer, screwdriver, and paint brush. We both love the time together and building projects, and she has developed a love for my favorite store, albeit for a different reason...
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| All good gifts come from the kitchen. |
...and she opens every door and drawer on every floor model cabinet and appliance. We've also started our Pinewood Derby car, which she helped design, color, and paint, and she watched and learned in my shop during the shaping process. Looking forward to many more kid projects!
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| After this pic, Mom quickly found out we were painting and changed her clothes. Safety glasses were a good call too. |
She sadly needed surgery a few weeks ago to remove her tonsils, adenoids, and get tubes in her ears, which made her a stinky-breath whiny cuddle bug for awhile, but she's back to the ravenous eater and happy kid we knew.
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| What are my adenoids and where did they go? |
Bay So still goes by Bay So, and usually if you ask her name, she'll tell you she's Bay So. We'll see how long that lasts. Probably forever if she goes into the rap industry. #BaySizzle. She is quiet and reserved and introverted, until the moment when she's not. Just like a volcano. But she's always just about the cutest and most hilarious kid ever without trying.
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| It's all nursery rhymes and stuffed animals until someone gets eaten by a lamb-monster. |
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| Clearly hasn't accepted the dangers of co-sleeping. |
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| Seeking help from static cling to make her hair into a tumbleweed. |
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| I Believe I Can Fly |
Lately Bay has picked up incredible diction and vocab, and her favorite thing to do is listen to audiobooks. She and Elia are still twins in everything they do, say, and enjoy.
Having Ezra was a large adjustment, much more so than having Sophia. It may have something to do with selling and buying houses at the same time, tough to say. But now we're happily settled into a new home in North Canton (again) and figuring things out. Things like, "Ezra can't sleep without a dehumidifier and having his brains (sinuses) sucked out with a Nose Frida on the regs." Ezra has been a joy to his sisters--they both love holding him, and he loves it too.
Elia tells people his name is "Ezra The Cheese Joseph" because she knows how serious nicknames are in this family. Ezra can roll around, really likes being held, and has yet to joyfully accept baby food. Thank goodness for Elia, his occasional third parent, for the moments when he cries and needs a face to smile at.
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| Napping with cousin Lily at TG |
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| Holister Baby |
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| Meeting great-grandpap at Christmas! |
Ezra got to spend a lot of time in the hospital this year when he came down with RSV and needed oxygen and IVs! I think God realized some of the nurses needed some encouragement because he just kept smiling.
Now he's bigger and better, ready to punch RSV in the face. He's ready for his crawling license, Mom's not quite there yet.
I'm excited for the weather to break (assuming it will) and play with the hooligans in our new backyard! Many more adventures to come with different streets and local parks, a big-girl training wheel bike for Elia, and new neighbor friends around the block!
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| Psyched for summer! |
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