February fun!

A few more pictures that we've taken lately. My cute sister, Brittani, sent us these adorable matching jammies for Christmas. Aren't they adorable? LucyMae absolutely loves having matching jammies with Samantha! She gets this super excited look on her face whenever we ask if she wants to wear the matching jammies.
Doesn't LucyMae's hair look beautifully styled in the picture below? I think it looks so cute! Well, that's just the do after she gets out of the bath-tub!

Still full of kisses for her sister!

Grandma Clair sent this adorable little tutu for LucyMae for Valentine's Day....she twirls and dances in it all day. And the other day when LucyMae was watching Sesame Street she had it on, and one of the little puppets came on with a tutu on. LucyMae was ecstatic and started dancing and jumping with the puppet! It was so cute! I love watching this little girl as she figures the world out and is starting to talk so much. She is proving to be incredibly smart and quick.
Swimming is still one of her favorite activities. Another reason we love the benefits of Sam's job as a lifeguard. And isn't my husband getting ripped? He's been swimming a lot!

Just loving this little dress on her...had to take a bunch of pictures!

We've had a rough go of it around here for the past few weeks, but I think we are finally getting better. Everyone has been sick for like 4 weeks. I'd say since Samantha was born our household has only experienced full-health like 20% of the time. LucyMae had an awful cold and super runny nose for about 2 weeks, and of course Samantha got it too. And all the while Sam and I had sore throats that would come and go. Then LucyMae got better for like a day, and then started to get worse again. After a couple sleepless nights, between middle-of-the-night feedings and LucyMae coughing all night, we decided to take them to the doctor. So we went to the doctor, and they took a blood sample (which LucyMae did NOT like), and was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Luckily Samantha didn't have it too. So, we got an antibiotic and 6 days later, we are finally back to mostly health I think. Samantha has finally cleared up too. I will not miss the miserable bulb-suctioning of her nose, and I'm sure she won't either. The day we got the antibiotic, though, things got worse before they got better. LucyMae coughed til she threw up at nap-time...and it was A LOT of throw up. Not fun to clean up throw-up...but man, that girl loved getting out of her bed at nap-time to take a bath instead.

I was really starting to get sick of hibernating in our house (not wanting to expose everyone else to our illnesses). So, it has been nice to get out and go to the YMCA again, and maybe I'll make it to playgroup this next week. Let's just say that I am incredibly ready for winter to be over! I used to love winter...and I probably still do, if I lived in Utah. It's just that winters are very different here....they're longer, colder, windier, and all around more annoying. Living in Utah I was able to enjoy so many outdoor activities in the winter....whereas here those activities are not only much less accessible, but now we have kids in the mix....and I don't like worrying that my kids' extremeties are going to fall off every time we open the door. At least I know that kids grow up and learn to enjoy winter activities too...and at least I know that we won't be staying here forever.

I am totally ready for our trip to Utah in March. It will be such a nice break from the eternal winter here. And we'll get to ski on real mountains. Sam went skiing at the local ski resort the other day...and although he had fun, he was not super impressed. How can you compare the local ski hill to Snowbird? It's just not the same.

Sam is super busy with school this semester. Between school, his life-guarding job, and being the new Scout master I hardly see him. I am still teaching 11 students and loving it, but anxiously await the days when I can be the Suzuki mom for my kids, rather than the teacher. LucyMae is growing and developing so fast....she has a huge vocabulary, and will try to say anything we ask her to. She is a chatter-box! Samantha is growing WAY fast. She is probably about 13 lbs. by now...what happened to my little, tiny newborn? She is still pretty snuggly, and really learning how to use her voice lately...making all sorts of experimental noises. So...that's life around here in a nutshell these days.