A February Check-in

Well, look at that, it's been almost a month since I have even thought about blogging - and probably that long since we've taken a picture.  The past few weeks have flown by in a blur of ear infections (six total, three for each girl), bronchitis/chest colds (one for me, one for Josie), pinkeye, big projects at work, marathon training, potty training, Valentine's day, President's day, and all the list-making and middle-of-the-night stressing that goes with preparing for a cross country move.  In fact, I find myself awake right now at 5 a.m. again for no apparent reason.  We have been fueling up for it all with the 14 boxes of girl scout cookies Josh purchased from our lucky neighbor girl.

The girls have powered through it all in typical two-year-old fashion.  It seems unoriginal and cliche to say they're "into everything" but I don't know how else to describe it.   They recently discovered they can pull out one of the top drawers from the kitchen and hang from it.  I glanced over to see both girls hanging from the drawer, feet lifted and touching their hands in gymnast fashion, the drawer bending dangerously, the girls yelling "sawwiiiiinging!".  Something we'll have to add to our list of house repairs, I'm sure.  A recent trip to the park featured some older kids going down the slide head first on their tummies and you better believe the girls have adopted that method for themselves - down the big slide, no little slide for them. 

Their independence streak knows no bounds.  I think the theme for the age of two for Josie and Piper will forever be "my do it!"  A list of things they want to do for themselves: buckle their carseat, climb up into their carseat, buckle their booster chairs, brush their hair, clip their fingernails, feed the dog, push the button (any buttons), put on their shoes, open the door, shut the door, etc, etc.  This is amusing because when they were tiny babies and it took forever to get out of the house or do anything at all, I used to think "oh, this will be so much easier when they're a little more independent".  Eh, not so much.  Now we accommodate this independence or face an epic meltdown. 

They both still have their separate interests.  Piper has become mildly obsessed with matchbox cars - and particularly one specific yellow matchbox car.  She will randomly look at us and say, with the most hopeful look on her face, "yeyow car?", which prompts Josh and I to go into an immediate panic looking for it.  One of us runs out to the car to look under all the seats, the other one starts dumping out the bins in the playroom until we find it.  There is no replacement for the yeyow car.  She has used her matchbox cars to learn her colors and knows yellow, blue, orange, green, white, etc.  While riding in her car, she loves to point out trucks and can usually get their color right.

Josie still loves music and asks for - every single time we get in the car - "Shake it out" by Florence + the Machine.  She has a knack for picking up lyrics to songs and hours after listening to a song I'll hear her singing a line or two from a song we were listening to.  She also has her own version of the ABCs and is pretty close to knowing all of them.  Her personality has really emerged over the past few months and she is one jokester of a girl.  She will do anything to make us laugh - smear food on her face, show us her chewed up food, take off her socks and put them on her hands, pull up her shirt over her face.  She makes us laugh and makes us crazy!  I tell Josh that I blame the Jones genes for this personality trait.  Her teachers at preschool just shake their heads and smile when I ask them what kind of day she had. 

There are a million things I could write about these girls.  I only hope I can capture one percent of who they are and what they do. I think I have finally realized that each age has challenges, so I am really trying to embrace the craziness of our lives rather than thinking about when things will be easier.  There is nothing like Josie asking me for a "tight hug" or Piper finding one of her favorite books and crawling up in my lap to read together. 

As our move to Utah comes closer, we've been thinking a lot about the things we'll miss about New Bern: our house, our friends, the simplicity of living in a small town.  We are thrilled and excited to be moving home, but the past five years of living here have been eventful and full and it is a little bittersweet to be leaving.

I will (hopefully) be back soon with more updates and some pictures.  In the meantime, it's now 6:15 and its time to let the dog out, make smoothies, unload the dishwasher, pack the girls up for school, and sneak in a little work before they're awake at 7.