Brrrr....

It's cold!! We had our first snowfall last week and Kate loved it. She would have stayed outside all day if we had let her. All she wanted to do was build a snowman and throw snowballs.
Kate and Brody in their winter wear



I bought Kate a new bed sheet set for her big girl bed and probably didn't need to. She will not sleep with the sheet and comforter on her, she just kicks it off. The only blanket she wants is the one she has had since she was a baby. Because of that, I bought an extra one, in case something happens to one of them.

This is how I found Kate when I went to get her up from her nap.

Kate and Brody watching t.v.

Pictures

I have nothing new to post so I thought I would post some new pictures of Kate and Brody.

Kate and Daddy

Since I posted my favorite picture of Brody and Justin, I thought it was only fair to post one of Kate and Justin.
Some of my favorite pictures are walking pictures. This one was taken in a park in Perth.

Kate at 18 months. This is still my favorite picture of Kate. I just love her chubby cheecks.

This picture makes me laugh. Kate is wearing her butterfly hat from her Halloween costume.


Over the past couple weeks Kate has started the "I won" phase. I dont know where she picked it up but she says it for everything. Eating her food-I won, walking to the car/bedroom/school/living room/bathroom-I won, playing Candyland-I won. Of course we let her win, if we didnt she would make us start over until she "won".
Here is a recent conversation between Kate and me.
Me-"Kate come to the kitchen and eat".
Kate-"Coming mother". "Here I am mother".
I couldnt stop laughing when she said it and I had to ask Justin where she got it from. Turns out she picked it up from Cinderella II. That silly girl!!

Smoothie

No matter how hard we try, we still can not get Kate to eat fruit. She is one stubborn little girl. But, what she does like is the protein shakes that Justin and I make. So, I started making them without the protein for her. I even told her I put bananas and strawberries in it but she didnt believe me.
Now, I just need to figure out how to get her to eat vegetables.

Silly Kate

Kate has been saying some pretty funny things lately. I have no clue where she learns these things. I was holding her and started to swing and dip her, and she says "Mommy, you cant play with me, I'm not a toy". Really, did she just say that to me.
Here is a conversation between Kate and Justin.
Justin-"Kate, you need to clean your room"
Kate-"Daddy, stop being bossy"
Justin-"Kate you need to eat"
Kate-"No, I'm busy"
Lately, Kate has been in the mood of not wanting to wear jeans. Any chance she gets, she strips them off. She was upstairs in her room playing and yelled that she had to go potty. So, I go upstairs and she comes out of her room with only her panties and socks on. I felt like I was watching Tom Cruise in Risky Business. I couldn't stop laughing. As funny as it is sometimes, it is really starting annoy us, that she isn't listening.
If you notice, Kate is not wearing jeans but p.j.'s bottoms. P.j. bottoms are the only thing she will actually keep on.


Nap/bed time has become a challenge as Kate is refusing to stay in her bed and take a nap. She has always been good about going to bed when it is time, she would even tell us when she was ready for bed. Now all of a sudden she doesn't want listen when we tell her to stay in bed. I think it is her way of acting out for attention. I'm hoping when she goes back to school, things will change as she will be around lots of kids and not stuck with me and Brody all day.
Brody, is doing so much better now that he isn't sick anymore. He has been waking up only once to eat at night. I'm hoping we are on the road to sleeping through the night. As long as he is being held he is happy, which makes it pretty hard to get things done. He only likes sitting in his vibrating chair when someone is taking a shower, which I like bc I love taking long hot showers. His play mat and swing are limited to maybe 10-15 minutes, after that he is done and wants someone to pick him up. Hopefully, he will start liking them more.
Brody at 2 months. I cant believe how fast it is going.


Date night for Justin and me

My 2 favorite boys

This is my new favorite picture. I just think it is the cutest.


Turns out Brody has Bronchitis and not Croup. We took him to the Dr. on Saturday and they started him on breathing treatments and steroids. We saw improvements immediately. We took him back today for a follow up and the Dr. said he sounded alot better, he also had another breathing treatment. We go back tomorrow for his last breathing treatment and I'm hoping he will finally be all better.
I am happy to say, Kate is over her jet lag, she slept through the night both Friday and Saturday.

Back in Baku

We made it back to Baku all in one piece. Brody was absolutely GREAT on both flights. Slept most of the time and didn't cry at all during take off or landing. Kate on the other hand wasn't as good as she normally is. Out of all the flights we have taken(at least 25) I would say she behaved the worst. She threw a fit when she had to wear her seat belt or when she had to have a pillow behind her back during take off. I was so surprised by the way she was acting b/c she always does so good on airplanes. BP paid for all of our flights back so we flew Business Class-which is really nice. I love watching other Business Class passengers faces when they see 2 kids in the same section as them. They have the "oh crap" look on their faces and some even ask the flight attendant if they can move to a different section. I cant blame them as I'm sure I had the "oh crap" look as well before I had kids.
It seems as if something always goes wrong with our flight. Either we are delayed or our luggage is lost. Case in point-we got all of our bags except one. The one bag we didn't get it, has my makeup, straightener, bottles and the one pair of jeans that fit me in it. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, b/c one guy was missing 6 of his bags. As we continue waiting for our last bag, Kate is crying b/c she is so tired and doesn't know what else to do. In the states, when you lose a bag you file a claim, everyone waits their turn in a line. Not so here, there was 1 guy handling all the claims and there wasn't a line. Everyone was crowded around him trying to be next. At this point both Kate and Brody are crying and my patience is wearing. Finally, another passenger speaks up and says to let Justin go next b/c he has 2 kids crying. So, Justin filed a claim and they say we should get our luggage on the next flight in which is Sunday-we landed in Baku on Tuesday. Not only are we missing one bag but on the flight to Germany we left Kate's DVD case on the plane, it has over 20 movies in it. I cried when we realized we left it. We filed a claim with lost and found but I'm pretty sure we wont get them back.
We get home around 10 pm Tuesday night, I put Kate and Brody to bed and them Justin and I go to bed. Around 12 we hear Kate walking around in the hallway, so we get up and tell her to go back to bed. She goes back to her room only to continue to come out in the hallway. I take her back to her room and lay with her, she is not tired at all. I on the other hand probably had 2 hours of sleep in 24 hours, I'm exhausted and have no patience. After threatening to take away all her toys, she finally lays down and goes to sleep at 3 am. This routine continues for 3 nights. I am praying she is finally over her jet lag tonight.
From the time we left Houston to when we landed in Baku, Brody ended up getting Croup. My poor baby, I feel so bad for him. I have the humidifier on at night in his room, but it doesn't seem to help very much. They say Croup can last anywhere from 3-5 days, we are on day 3. If it doesn't get better by Monday, I am taking him to the doctor. If anyone knows anything else I can do, please email me or post in the comment section.
After everything we went through, I am seriously considering my summer trip back to the states. Two kids, 17 hours all by myself, it's not looking too good.