All Croup-ed Up

Our household was finally hit with croup. Elena got it first, and luckily she only had the seal bark-sounding cough the first night, and then it just turned into a regular cold. The doctor said this is because she's older so her airways are larger. She's been sick for 6 days now, poor thing, with constant fevers, a relentless cough, and congestion. Today's the first day I haven't had to medicate her to bring down her fever. Samuel just got sick two days ago, and when I took him to the doctor they gave him one dose of a steroid to decrease the inflammation of his airways. I'm glad because the croup cough sounds so painful. He's doing better, just has a runny nose and a mild cough. He has the immune system of a champion. This is the first time he's really been sick; up to this point he's only had the sniffles a couple times. We're all tired of being stuck at home.

And I'm sick as well, which is no fun. Luckily, it seems like my body is fighting it off. Now I'm just hoping and praying that my babies get well very soon.

Love my Family

My mother-in-law came over to visit yesterday.  It's so funny because Samuel stares at her when he first sees her, I think because Jorge resembles her so much. 

Elena was excited for her to come.

This is not a great picture, but since I'm always the one behind the camera, most of the pictures of the kids don't have me in them. So here I am with Samuel.

I love when the kids play together, or at least close to each other.

 

My little guy, with a mouthful of goldfish.

 

Elena's such a beautiful little girl, inside and out. She's so loving and has a tender heart.

 

At the end of a long day I'm tired, but I get in bed and think about how sweet my babies are, and I'm very thankful.

Noah's Ark

I've been wanting to take the kids to the Noah's Ark Exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center for awhile now, and we finally went. It was awesome!

When we first got to the ark, Elena seemed pretty amazed.

She played with a miniature one for awhile.

The animals were neat.

 

Samuel loved the animals, especially the plush ones he could carry around and put in the little rooms.

 

 

I think this was my favorite part of the exhibit. By cranking the lever you make it rain and then the water level and ark rise up. Elena's doing it here, and Samuel was pretty mesmerized by it. He also liked looking at the lightning that was produced by turning a wheel. 

 

There's also a section where the kids can help build up the side of the ark, and Elena did that for awhile. It was a great afternoon and so much fun for the kids. We'll definitely be going back at some point.

Books, Cars, and Toddlers

The last few weeks have been nice. We've had some beautiful weather (sure it's mid-January, but luckily southern California gives us winter days in the 70s and 80s). I prefer our warm winter days to our ridiculously hot summer days. It's been perfect for playing outside and getting frozen yogurt.

Elena loves to go in her room and shut the door so she can play without Samuel messing up things she's set up. Sometimes, though, she actually wants him to go in there. He usually just empties the bookcase and takes each book onto her bed to "read" for a few seconds.

They even read together. Love these moments.

Her room's usually a disaster by the end of the day, but I really like that she enjoys playing in there.

Here's Elena playing with her figures (she carries around Little People figures, Little Mermaid figures, and a bunch of toy fish every day and plays with them nonstop).

She looks so different than she did when she was a baby, it's hard to believe how big she is now. 

 

She loves to go to "Daddy's bed." I don't know why it's called that since I sleep there, too.

 

And Samuel doesn't look so much like a baby anymore, either. He looks like a toddler. Where did my baby go?! And I love, love, love his chin! Both kids got Jorge's chin.

 

Getting ready to go out for frozen yogurt.

One of my favorite things to watch him do is play with cars.

 
And he's always trying to tell me something. He's going through the phase where I hear "EH, EH, EH!!!!" all day long.
 

And he's so lovable.
 

Elena is in a club at a nearby church. This is from their Crazy Hair Night. Although I have to say that her hair looked crazier after I took out the twists.

Most days I put makeup on when Samuel takes his first nap (on the days I actually put it on. Since having kids some days I just think it's not worth the trouble . . . ). Samuel's nap is getting later, though, so on this day I put it on while he was up. Most of the time he won't stay in one place, but he was totally amused by taking out all of Elena's hair ties and playing with them on the floor. And I was fine with that because I was able to get ready. It was kind of a pain to pick up all of the clear ones after . . . still worth it, though. And Elena joined in, too.

It's amazing to me how children can resemble their parents at different stages. Elena looked just like Jorge as a baby, and she's looking more like me now, even though she still looks like him. Samuel still looks just like his daddy to me, especially in Jorge's baby pictures.

So far, we've had a good start to the year. I can't believe the last year went by so fast, but I think every year will be like that with young children.

Kids Keeping Busy at Home

We've been at home a lot. Elena's preschool is on break right now and there's been so much going on with the holidays.

The kids dress up.

Samuel likes to play with his little vacuum, especially when he hears our vacuum going. 

Elena likes this little train set.

Here Samuel's trying to figure out how to make a little toy light up while Elena's setting up her "microphone" in the background.

Samuel likes playing with the toy kitchen now.

A lot of the time Samuel has a teddy bear in his arms, sometimes two. He sleeps and cuddles with them, and plays with them in the crib when he wakes up. He has the biggest eyes, I love this picture.

A lot of the time I'm just following Samuel from room to room. He's all over the place and doesn't like to be kept in one room. Elena plays a lot in her room now with all her little characters and blocks, and she doesn't like Samuel to mess up what she's playing with, so that's a little difficult to manage. Here are some pictures I've taken of her little people toys from her nativity set (her "Jesus toys").

 

Jorge dragged me outside at almost midnight one night to see this awesome halo around the moon. He knew I would love it, and I did.

 

Being a stay-at-home mom has many challenges, but I'm trying my best to meet them. Mostly I'm working on building my patience and managing to have enough quality time with Elena when I have to be so much more hands-on with Samuel. Luckily Samuel still takes 2 naps and goes to bed earlier than her, so we have some one-on-one time.