Winter Break

We didn't do too much over Winter Break, I bought stuff to do crafts, but we never got the time. Leilani and Jeremy did a lot of working on the bed, I did a bit of cross-stitching, and Natalia became a fantastic crawler. There's NO stopping her now. She goes anywhere and everywhere. Watching her is a full time job!

Leilani's favorite thing is going out with Jeremy and working on the bed. Jeremy's had to work a few times the past few weeks, and as soon as he gets home, she's begging to go out and "chomp wood". The other day they were working on the hearts in the shutters. Nearly all the cutting is done, then Jeremy will assemble to make sure it all goes together as it should, disassemble, paint, then reassemble.

We've discovered a few new shows, so we're *finally* off Dora, Diego and Wonder Pets. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have stomached another episode of those. Now she watches Super Why!, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, and her newest find - Horseland.

Natalia has stood for a few seconds at a time, and taken a few steps while holding onto the couch. I can't believe she's eight months old already! She's crawling all over the place non-stop, anything she sees that she wants, she makes it over there in seconds flat. She's also not distractable anymore - if you try to switch out something she shouldn't have for a toy, she gets awfully mad and lets you know it.

New Years Eve, I was the only one who stayed up, not by my choice, I assure you. Leilani made it to 11:45, and Natalia made it to 11:59 (that's why I was awake, she was nursing). Jeremy conked out before any of us *grin*. We had homemade vegan pizza rolls, white pizza dip, whoopie pies and fudge

I made some nuggets and hot "wings"....I made cutlets, then cubed them, breaded them, then on some of them I brushed hot sauce. I made some vegan ranch dressing to dip them in, too. It was super delish, if I do say so myself.

Jeremy flew out to go to his grandmas funeral, and the girls and I stayed home. We went to the store to get groceries, then spent the weekend hanging out at home. Movies, dishes, playing together, cuddles, it was nice and relaxing. On Friday I did laundry and Natalia throrougly enjoyed watching the clothes tumble round and round. I think it was a bit over-stimulating, but it was so adorable, her amazement at the colors whirling around, unable to touch the water she saw. She stood there for a good 5 minutes, just watching, until she got tired and plopped down onto the floor.

Leilani has a new favorite hobby - vacuuming. Since I told her no vacuuming could be donw until the living room was cleaned, she now randomly picks all of Natalia's toys up so she can vacuum.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we cuddled a LOT. As we sat on the couch, all together under a blanket, Leilani leaned over and kissed Natalia on the cheek. So Natalia leaned over with an open mouth and touched Leilani on the cheek. So the girls had this adorable little "kissing game" going. Leilani would kiss Natalia on the cheek, so Natalia would "kiss" Leilani on the cheek. Then this morning we all cuddled in bed for a good twenty minutes, playing and talking, when Natalia leaned over me to Leilani and kissed her. It was so sweet. Leilani's been pretty spectacular this weekend - we've had much less yelling and toy pulling than usual. Instead of disciplining Leilani (timeout or consequence) I just started loving on her, so she started loving on Natalia. We had a bump this afternoon, when Leilani got mad at Natalia so took away a toy and I had to explain that Natalia's only 8 months and doesn't understand, now she's just sad you took away her toy. Leilani gave the toy back and we all moved back to our happy place. We're all much happier when we just be nice to each other, obviously.