Sick January and Eleanor Texts

January has been a bit of a bummer so far with a lot of sick kiddos. Patrick had the worst cold any of our kids has ever had and sleeping and being able to breathe while nursing were an issue for the boy for a few days. Luckily he had some fat stores to live off of and Nathan and I took shifts with him sleeping on us.

 Bright pink nose for a sad little congested guy.

Patrick remains the perfect baby and was remarkably cheerful through the ordeal, all things considered. 

There have been a few bright spots this month, it hit 57 degrees one day so we had a blast going out to the park! (This was about a week before everyone got colds)

Bradley was in charge of feeding Patrick snacks and took it upon himself to shield the baby's eyes from bright sunlight. It's no wonder that Patrick is nuts about his big brother!

 Swings remain everyone's favorite park activity.

Helpful Eleanor gave Patrick some pushes on the swing.

And everyone was so glad that Bradley finally found a stick big enough to be worth playing with ...

But mostly it has been just a little bit snowy outside. Perfect for Bradley and Eleanor, kind of a bummer for Patrick. Crawling in the snow is pretty much the worst.

We've been trying to get out of the house as much as possible for everyone's sanity and Eleanor and Patrick thoroughly enjoyed going to the Johnson County Museum with our mommy group. 

I also took the younger to to a giant indoor playground for the Rainbow Play Systems

And we plan on spending a lot of time at our favorite bouncy house place in Belton, MO.

Being a princess with light up heels at a friend's house.

Getting out has been so necessary for everyone so there can be happiness and cuddles when we're stuck at home.

Could these boys be any sweeter? (Please note Patrick is happily sitting on the Candyland board. This is is sole goal and purpose in life anytime he's around anyone playing the game.)

Daddy cuddles!

Sometimes Eleanor cuddles are not always optional.

Patrick only occasionally makes a nuisance of himself these days. 

Here Bradley is making sure Eleanor is wrapped up properly in the blanket they're sharing. 

 Cuddles. These sweet boys.

Bradley and Eleanor playtime is perfection sometimes.

The kids are in a tricky age where they desperately want to play with each other at all times but each child has their own unique way of annoying the others and causing conflict. It's sweet that all three are so inseparable but it's also a bit ridiculous at times. Like when Bradley's entourage follows him into the bathroom for potty time. Eleanor will sit on a stool and tell Bradley stories and Patrick will flail with delight in my arms because Bradley is looking at him.

New snack containers. We're lucky the little penguins came in three colors. 

I can't wait until Patrick will watch shows with the big kids because the number of times I can sit and cuddle with Bradley and Eleanor are few and far between these days and show cuddles are soooo cute and sweet.

Both Eleanor and Patrick are just beyond sweet with Patrick. 

This photo perfectly sums up my boys' relationship. 

And this pretty perfectly sums up me and the "big kids" right now. 

These guys. Our bedtime is pretty awesome. Lots of books and cuddles, who wouldn't love that?

Bradley and Eleanor are quite the inseparable duo. When they aren't running around together looking for a "snow monster" all over the house, or playing princess and dinosaurs together (a very real game), Bradley is telling Eleanor to open her mouth as wide as she can and then walking over and trying to stuff a handful of cheerios in it. Spoiler alert - my floor had a lot of cheerios all over it soon after this photo was taken. 

Patrick is obsessed with Bradley. This happens every time Bradley is sitting and watching a show. Bradley watched show, Patrick watches Bradley.

The kids are starting to get pretty sweet around the kitties. It helps that the kitties' favorite places to sleep are their beds. 

Eleanor and Bradley have fun new bedroom decals thanks to Grandma Kati and Grandpa Dan. Thanks a lot guys ... Eleanor's naps were ruined for a week because her room was too exciting. Not kidding. 

Bradley was super excited about his solar system decals as well, but he still napped like a champion. Good boy. 

We had a crazy time the other day when a walrus got into the house and we couldn't find Bradley anywhere. (Bradley thought of this all on his own and was beyond delighted to be called a walrus and have his picture taken.)

And this is what Eleanor does when I tell her to smile when we play Candyland together. 

Anything Bradley does, Eleanor must do as well and Candyland has been a big hit for the past few weeks. Watch out for the sticky spots!

In addition to a lot of sickness in January, we took Bradley to the optometrist because he had been having some issues with his right eye when he was focusing on items up close and discovered that he has binocular vision and we need to take him a specialist. It shouldn't be that big of a deal in the long run but we're not sure if he'll need an eye patch, glasses, or vision therapy, or some combination of the three in the immediate future. Luckily Bradley loved having his eyes examined, it didn't hurt that our optometrist is a friend and lives in our neighborhood. 

Bradley in particular has been having a rough January. The eye stuff, we may do some speech therapy for the guy, and he's has a constant runny nose and then threw up on Monday.

Prior to throw up. Sad boy.

Speech isn't horrible, just needs assistance with articulation. Has no problem talking about important things like hakuna matata.

Also he learned about whale sharks from a favorite show and somehow thought his quesadilla looked like one and obviously couldn't eat it after that and was worried that I would eat it if he wouldn't eat it. Isn't that what we all fear?

He's so lucky he has a sister and brother who adore him and watch out for him.

Patrick, on the other hand, has had an amazing January besides the horrible cold at the beginning of the month.

 He's crawling like a champ and is into everything.

 His bum needs to be pinched on a regular basis and good news, I'm on it.

But sometimes I know we live in a cruel world because I have to wake this up for a family trip to Costco. Why???

He also sleeps like this upon occasion. I don't even know what sleep position to categorize this under.

He's feeding himself like a champ. At 9 months old and 23 lbs there's a certain dedication to food one would assume. One would assume correctly. 

Stair climbing has made progress lately. Nathan looked away for a minute while they were playing in the basement and turned and found this.

We have a new favorite pastime at the house where we do eenie miny moe for a lot of decisions. Okay, most our decisions. Shows, books, who gets their yogurt opened at lunch first. Everything.

Eleanor lives to send text messages right now. No joke. "I want to send a message" is the first thing I've heard from her when she gets up in the morning and after naps every day for the last week or so. If you want 30 emoticon texts over the course of 5 minutes just let us know, we'll put you on Eleanor's list.

So far my parents and Daddy get the majority of the Eleanor texts.

Text messages and chocolate. Does anything else really matter?

And these sweet kids have spent most evenings this past week playing new games with Daddy. We're getting to a good place with these sweethearts, just have to make it through this winter.