Yes! We are still alive!..... (I think)

Hello friends and family! We are still here, even though I haven't really posted (about our lives) in a long, long time. Things lately have been....hard. As in, vainly clutching the last tattered vestiges of my sanity in a futile attempt to prolong the inevitable kind of hard. I've mentioned before, two is harder than one, but it's harder in the same way that even a good marriage is hard sometimes. You love the other person like crazy and long to spend time with them, but the unexpected issues on "the outside" make life difficult to cope with in the context of marriage or children. At least for me. 

Paul started his new job the first of last month, which is a mixed blessing. Great job, but he's gone a lot and very tired when he gets home. Talking helps me deal with stress in a huge way, as do hugs, but when the kids go to bed at 7:30pm and he conks at 8pm (to be up at 4am), both are in short supply :( 

We also "bought" my parent's van, but had to replace the transmission (= lots of $)-this resulted in a hilarious video I will share if it ever loads. So in an attempt to help pay for it, we did not drive it, leaving me without a car for a month. I don't know how many of you have ever been trapped lived in an apartment with a high energy two year old and an infant-- it's a bit tough. Throw in an inability to eat "real" food, no insurance for a sick baby and mommy and a lack of date nights.

 The result.....a faaaairly large meltdown on my part, a realization that I'm not the "strong person" I thought I was, a much greater dependence on God, and an awesome talk/ time out together with my hubby figuring out how to make this work. Things are getting much better :)

Although this past month has been less than blissful, we have had some great times together.

Briella turned 3 months! She is such a sweet-spirited little girl, with a smile for everyone and SO much to say! She babbles at me all the time :)

 We added a leaf-canopy to Westly's bed :) I think it's fun with his jungle themed room- he only tolerates it because he is convinced it keeps the "hoo-hoo's" away. My son is terrified, not of monsters, but of owls.

 Westly loves cuddling his sister on the couch, and she adores anything associated with her big brother :)

 "Hey, look! I have thrush!" We couldn't see the doctor for this, but after about a month it went away on its own!

She's reaching for and grabbing things now

 What a snuggler! Napping with tired daddy

Sleepy Westly coloring in his fort. I love these pictures :)

Showing off his stickered his tummy :)

I just liked this outfit :) The lower one looks so much like Westly to me

Westly got his first major haircut. Which means my goldilocks is no more :( His new cut is rather uneven (try not to notice) as cutting a 2 year old boy's hair consists of crawling after him around the living room, and/or sitting on him.

 I've tried to find fun indoor games for my biggest monkey on rainy days, hence the fort in the above pics. This day it was "toddler bowling".

Goofy jammie time with sissy :)

Precious napper

Ok Thomas, you've got some explaining to do. See the look on my son's face? You getting your choo-choo-self covered in cocoa powder was an unparalleled tragedy in the Higgins household. 

.......until the day they towed the van away to fix it.

You may have noticed I was laughing so hard I could hardly explain why he was bawling. I'm such a bad mommy- but in my defense, I had spent the last 20 minutes explaining to him what the tow truck was doing.

Playing "keep-away" with sissy, she loved it :)

My cute little pumpkin

My other pumpkin, in the world's cutest jammies. Thank you Tara :)

Zonked

And I'll leave you with a little something special to think about......

Heh heh heh (evil chuckle)... and while you're fighting off the nightmares remember, it's ok. He's my child, not yours :)