Our Little Bean(s): Feb!

This guy:

11 months! -champion- He got RSV in January and we had to postpone his surgery. Then, the surgeon had to reschedule and it got pushed back again and now will be the day before his first birthday. I was dissapointed at first - when his surgery was in january we were going to celebrate his recovery/birthday together in an epic Victory Party - but now I'm growing into the idea that his first birthday will be spent rocking in a hospital room - just like when he was born. Since the surgery is the day before it actually lines up with exactly a year after I was in labor all day with him. Now it seems symbolic almost - a figurative (and literal) close of the madness of year one. I am so, so, so proud of Ben for how he has fought through the hard stuff and made his own "normal." He does well drinking from a cup, can eat -anything- in small pieces and spends most of the day laughing and practicing his ever growing bag of tricks. This now includes standing solo/with no support (the girls get SO excited when this happens), using a nod or head shake to answer a question with accuracy, saying mama and ana (im not sure he means either one to mean the person), clapping, playing in the toilet water at any and every opportunity, basically taking only one nap a day and drinking whole milk instead of formula.

My Ana girl is getting taller and taller and taller! She is a giant and I can really notice a change in the way she looks. While Z is really skinny and Ana is too - Ana is so solid - like she is built just like a gymanist. She still loves listenning to her nursery rhythm cd/book and loves to dance around and pretend to be other people: Diego, Aurora, Rapunzel, Dora, Backyardigans... basically any one she is familiar with in show or print, she likes to pretend to sing/dance/be silly like them. Her two year oldness seems pretty solid as well, but I am praying that she finds words/outlets for her emotions in the coming year. She is still sooooo cuddly and constantly wants to be held or sit next to us. In describing her to someone recently I said that she is our "lover" - so cuddy/cute/loving. Don't get me wrong - you defintely don't want to cross her, or take her toys, or make her sit on the potty if she doesn't want to - but underneath all that two year need to figure out life ness - she is still my sweet ana doll.

And chick is acting so grown up these days, we went ahead and married her off.

...

just kidding! This was a very strange thing her prek did that Matt and I had nervous feelings about but ended up being not so strange as we thought it may be.

The class every year has a week when they talk about family and kids bring in pictures of their famillies, etc. They do a pretend wedding and Zoe was chosen out of a hat to be the bride. Which REALLY made us uncomfortable ha but it ended up being just like a play or example of a wedding and the minister man just talked about how God made famillies and he asked all the boys if they promised to grow up and have homes where Jesus is welcome and he asked all the girls the same questions. It was mostly an excuse to see little children playing out an extra cute scenario. And basically that is the only day of prek Z has had lately because of all the "ice" that has been "accumalating" on the "roads" ;)

I think her schedule being off has started to bother z and the fact that with all the cold and our van needing to be fixed we were totally stranded inside our house for like, 4 days. we were going CRRRRRRAAAZY! We should probably just move to Hawaii - stat. For the improvement of our intrafamily relations. But overall I think everyone did very well and still found ways to be loving to each other. most of the time. or at least half. (i think.)

Other than that we've just been resting up

Preparing for Ben's big day soon. He doesn't even know what is coming and part of that is heart breaking to me. Like, I hope he still trusts me afterwards. I've been the queen of attendance at cos school lately saving up my time so I can be with him 24/7 for his recovery. I can't believe I've already finished almost 6 months of it (6 months on his birthday). 1/3 of the way done and it is playing out just like I thought it would - like something kinda crazy that I am doing that is mangeable, not the way I'd want to live forever, but able to maintain for a brief amount of time to invest in our future as a family. Loving it!