Blogging FAIL

Oh my.

My last blog post was in November. And the one before that... Ugh. I'm really pretty upset with myself. I'd intended to use this blog as a baby book of sorts, a place to note the firsts, the funny stunts, and all that jazz that comes along with adding new people to the world, and it's just been a massive fail lately.

My usual habit when I get behind like this was to do some SBDP's (sneaky back-dated posts), but even that is just too daunting at this point so I won't even try. I'll just post some highlights, and we'll call it square. Okay?

Let's see... It's been so long that even highlights are kinda hard. In early December Joseph had surgery. His adenoids were removed, and he had ear tubes put in. The gunk that was finally out of his ears meant that he had a language explosion soon thereafter. I knew his hearing was being affected but don't think I realized how much it was holding him back because suddenly his interest in books and learning new words took off. I have no idea how many words he has now, but I find it endlessly fascinating to see him assimilate all this new information so quickly after having a somewhat slow start. He has a real & earnest interest in learning, and I love it.

Then shortly after, we had a 3-week visit from Greg's mom over Christmas and New Year. The boys took to her immediately and had a great time playing & reading books with her, and they got and gave endless hugs and kisses. The Polish word for grandma is babcia (pronounced bob-shia), which was a little too complicated for the boys so they shortened it to baba. Baba, as it turns out, means something not too nice in Polish, but we'll let it slide since they're, ya know, 21 months. Our favorite night time routine during Babcia's visit was the night-night one that involved first a hug & kiss, then waves and bye-byes from the foot of the stairs, then more waves & byes-byes from about midway to the top of the stairs, followed by a quick intermission that included teeth-brushing and stories, but concluding again with persistent top-of-the-stairs bye-byes and kiss blowing. What a production! But adorable. After Babcia left, it took quite a while for the boys to stop trying to find her for bye-bye kisses before bedtime.

After seeing Joseph's immediate improvement from his surgery, we decided to also get ear tubes for Luke, who did not have the same snot issues but whose ears always seemed a little worse off than his brother's. His vocabulary has also improved, as well as his love of books, but we are still waiting for the follow-up exam to see if they're helping with drainage. Ew, right. Poor boys.

I celebrated a birthday, first with girlfriends who I adore, next with my dashing husband, and most recently with one of my best friends in the whole wide world. That was part of my birthday present, a trip out to L.A. to go visit her & her husband & her growing baby bump. I had a super-fantastic time and a much-needed break. It also meant my first real time away from the boys, almost 4 whole days! I'm happy to report that they were complete angels while I was gone! Well, as much as you can expect any 20-month olds to be complete angels.

The first morning they saw me after my absence, I got some extra smiles and cuddles from both, but the drama level was lower than I had anticipated. I'm going to chalk that up to how much fun they had with Daddy & Mimi while I was away - and not to how little they seem to have missed me. :) It made my vacation time that much more relaxing knowing in what good hands I'd left them.

Since then we've pretty much gotten back to normal. I'll probably post some pics from my blogging hiatus just because I can't resist, but other than that I'm going to consider myself caught up.

Done and done. And I'll try to be better. I promise.