Big fun, big ick, and big girl work

Well, the long holiday weekend was a busy one for us.

On Friday we met with Sophie and Emily's cousins CJ and Madee for an awesome trip to The Franklin Institute where Sophie conquered her fear of the giant heart and actually went through it (though came out with Judi holding her but STILL big progress, right?). On Saturday Jim and I took the girls to the Academy of Natural Sciences for an awesome family time viewing the dinosaurs and walking through the amazing butterfly exhibit. Emily LOVED LOVED LOVED it! She made the funniest sounds when in the live butterfly exhibit. Even the staff were looking at her funny because they had never seen such an animated or enthusiastic reaction to it! She sort of made this guttural grunting that reached ever higher ever time she looked in a new direction. I think she was just overwhelmed by the flowers and the misty water and all the beauitful butterflies flying around. If you haven't seen the exhibit, it truly is something not to be missed! Sophie, of course, didn't really love it so much. She was nervous about how loud it was and probably by how crowded it was. I remember taking her last year and she was basically the same way. She wanted to leave way before I did (I could stay in there forever). But it was a fun trip overall and the fun didn't stop there. On Monday, I took the girls to meet up with a friend from work and her daughter that I hadn't seen in a long time who were off because of the MLK holiday. Well, guess what??? We weren't the only ones with the idea to go to The Little Treehouse in Chestnut Hill for some hands-on kid fun. Sophie absolutely loved it there, crowds and all. And, it was really wonderful but I think I don't need to go back for a while and DEFINITELY not on a major holiday in winter where everyone else is looking for fun things to do indoors with kids.

And, of course, after all that fun and exposure to any multitude of germs and icks, I started hacking on Tuesday night. Got a little worse on Wed. Got really bad on Thurs. And, by Friday I was a trainwreck. I was driving around with the girls, stopping when they fell asleep so I could snooze for a few minutes and then waking up when they woke up to keep driving until they fell asleep again. I took the girls to the grocery store and pushed them through the store while in four layers of heavy sweaters and clothes and yet still shivering and shaking from chills. When Jim came home a little early for me Friday night so I could go to bed, I gratefully took him up on the offer and went straight upstairs and didn't move for a few hours. Stupidly, on Saturday I felt a little better so I (wait for it....) went to the King of Prussia Mall with Jim and the girls to kill some time. Brilliant idea, huh? Well, I paid the price for that and by the time I got home from our mall adventure I felt like death warmed over again. Yesterday was also bad and thankfully Jim packed up the girls and took a road trip out to Pottstown to do some visiting so I could rest some more. This was very helpful and I slept most of the afternoon which had to do me some good. Today, so far, I feel better. Let's hope that trend continues and I pray that the girls don't get it. (Poor Jim already had it a week or two ago himself.)

So, here we are starting a new week. Already the end of January. Things are in such disarray around here you wouldn't believe it. I was behind before the big ick hit and now it's even worse. I haven't put up our new 2011 calendar. The laundry piles are now bigger than our bed. There is laundry in the washer that hasn't moved in, I don't know, days. Jim is exhausted from all the extra childcare duty he's willingly been taking on and now has to go back to work. But, look... aren't these girls too cute for words? Yes, they're mine and I'm bragging but give me that, will ya?









In "other" news, Sophie is doing a really great job using the potty. She wears big girl panties almost all the time that we are home except for her nap and at nighttime. She tells us when she needs to use the potty (mostly) and she sits on it and does her "thing" and then we flush, wash and jump around like maniacs and then get a treat. Next step will be to transition from the nap/bedtime to panties and to get her wearing panties to school and out and about. I wasn't sure I was ready for that next step yet but maybe in the coming days we'll start working on that, too. We are so very proud of her and all the big girl work she is going!!