Surviving the Winter Doldrums

This is the hardest time of the year for me. The fun and festivities of the holidays are over, but there are still two solid months of winter left. Even though spring comes mercifully early in the Pacific Northwest, January and February still feel like an eternity of short days, cold and rainy weather, nasty viruses, and cabin fever. I feel bad for January and February, though: they didn't ask to be the winter months that nobody likes (although in fairness, they get to be the summer months that everybody loves for 50% of the world...). So, we've done our best to "carpe diem," if for no other reason than to make January and February feel a little more loved and accepted.

We have at least one tea party every day at our house, but the invitation list seems to get longer every day. Madelyn is really into her stuffed animals and routinely incorporates them into her play. She also has to bring one with her everywhere we go. Well, she would bring all of them, but Mommy and Daddy cap it at one, much to her angst. She's very sweet with her stuffies. She shares her tea with them and wipes their noses and gives them kisses. She also takes at least one with her for every nap time and every bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime, this is how we found Madelyn one night around 10 p.m. just before Kurt and I went to bed. Ha! The crazy thing is that we remember when we used to lay her down this direction in her crib and there was at least five inches of room to spare on either side...

Madelyn has been drawn to Mommy's things lately. She likes using my make-up brushes to put pretend make-up on herself in the mornings, and evidently, she likes walking around in my shoes, although "walking" wasn't exactly what happened as "dainty" has never been an appropriate word to describe my shoe size.

We also celebrated Kurt's 29th birthday on the 17th of January, but we don't have any photos. What kind of wife am I?! We had a great day: breakfast out in the morning, motorcycle fix in the afternoon, and dinner and a movie out that evening while Madelyn played with cousin Caryn.



Lastly, here's a little video taste of our evening routine. Madelyn likes to wake us up from our pretend naps with kisses only to be "surprised" and chased around the room. Her laugh is just great. We'll gladly make fools of ourselves repeatedly just to hear that little giggle :)