Good-bye, February

I'm not sad to see you go. You must be my least favorite month. This February was marked by almost three weeks of the sniffles, ear-infection, coughy-cough for Zane, followed by sniffy-sniffles for Kevin, Nora and I. Yuck! Fortunately I think everyone is all better now.

Nora decided she didn't like sleeping through the night and prefers to get up once or twice. If there's anything consistent about Nora, it's that she's unpredictable. I'm so glad we're out of the 0-3 month stage. It is a hard stage for me. When she is happy it is the sweetest thing, but when she isn't happy, well, there's just nothing anyone can do. She's also decided she hates her car seat and she will no longer take a bottle. I guess we won't be going on any dates without Nora or any long drives with her any time soon. However, she's decided she does like the bouncy seat (even more than before). She does like the mobile. She does like her play-mat, and as long as she's not tired she likes her Bumbo. Still, with all of that she is a lot of fun. She's becoming more alert, talkative and active. She is beginning to grab things and everything she grabs gets stuck in her mouth. Everyone has to pinch her cheeks or rub her hair.

Zane continues to love books, balls and cars. He is learning so many new words but he has most recently learned that the word "no!" can be a powerful word. It almost makes me shudder sometimes when he says it the way he says it. I don't have to ask where he learned that. He also really likes to say "uh-oh" over and over. His favorite books this month are all the "David" books "Go, Dog. Go!" (or "Go, Go" as Zane says) "Are You My Mother," and "The Tooth Book." He loves to watch himself on video and constantly says "a-key, pease" (again, please) each time a video clip finishes. He still enjoys going to the Children's Museum.

Zane, Nora and I enjoyed a trip to the new pool at the community center during "preschool" swim time. It was perfect. There were just a handful of pre-school age kids and their parents. The pool was fantastic. It has a large shallow area for the little ones with a little slide, a lazy river, a big tube-slide and of course a deep end. Zane was resistant at first. He's never quite sure of new things. So after I dragged him onto the pool deck, I just left him there and went and sat in the water with Nora. She LOVED it and eventually Zane decided that it looked like we were having fun. He especially wanted to try the little slide they had, so once he got in he had a blast and didn't want to leave.

I have become quite the book reciter. Who knew that becoming a mommy meant memorizing books without even trying. Just ask me, I can tell you "The Bike Lesson," "The Tooth Book," "Are You My Mother?" or any "David" book. That's about my greatest accomplishment of late. I have started training for my half-marathon and I am OUT OF SHAPE. I'm so glad I recruited Joey and Adrienne Peacock and Ariana Evensen to do it with me. Otherwise, I'm sure I would quit. Adrienne really pushes me and I'm so glad. Yesterday we ran four and a half miles.

Kevin found out he didn't have to take the class he was taking so he dumped it and got his tuition refunded and we've had him home a little more, yea!!!! He's started helping an undergrad with a project instead, and of course that's fun and easy for Kevin. He went on a camp-out with the scouts to the coast and they had a good time. He's always trying to think of another project to improve the house. He found another spot to add shelf storage in our garage so we can add 44 more #10 cans for food-storage. He enjoyed working on that and having Kevin help him.

So, with that I say goodbye to February. Good-bye long, dark, cold nights. Good-bye colds and illnesses. Good-bye 0-3 month old baby. Hello daylight savings time! Hello 3-6 month old baby! Hello pink blossoms on my trees and tulips budding out of the ground! Hello March, hello Spring!