Visit from Parents

A couple weeks ago, my parents came to visit for a long weekend.  It was nice to not have any big house projects to work on or worry about while they were here!  

Here is a picture my mother took before they came to visit.  She took a picture of her computer while skyping.  I just love the expression on Karina's face while eating her cantaloupe. 

Despite us having focused on gender-neutral toys throughout Karina's life, she has very girly interests.  She likes to take care of her stuffed animals, keeping them 'warm and cozy', helping them fall asleep, and feeding them.  Her lovey beagle named Li-Li was hungry, so Karina strapped her into a seat and was feeding her some yummy soup.  

Karina is always eager to help take care of Lydia too (when she isn't having a tantrum because Lydia is playing with 'her' toys).  She likes to feed Lydia little puffs and when Lydia gets water after eating solids, Karina insists on holding the bottle.  

Here we are watching the Muppets 'Mahna Mahna' on YouTube.  Nate remembered this skit from the Muppet Show when he was little and was desperate to calm the girls down one day, so he pulled it up on YouTube.  Naturally, they both thought it was hilarious, so now it is in our regular rotation of funny videos.  I don't really get it, but if it makes Lydia and Karina happy, I'm not going to complain.

Mormor and Morfar had fun spending time with the girls.

Karina loves to belt out her favorite songs while playing piano and Lydia thinks banging the keys is exciting too.

We got a sprinkling of snow while my parents were here.  We lucked out (mostly) with the weather while my parents were here, but this winter has been awful.  We've gotten snowstorm after snowstorm and the temperatures have been way below average. 

Karina started to get a nasty cold towards the end of the visit.  She just wanted to cuddle and had no energy.  After my parents left, her cold got worse and we had a very lethargic 2 year old on our hands. Then by the time she was starting to feel better, Lydia got sick.  And now that Lydia is getting over her cold, Nate and I have gotten sore throats:-( 

Lydia also had several days of nursing strikes (refusal to eat/drink anything really), crankiness, and sleeping too much.  We finally took her to the doctor yesterday, only to be told there is nothing 'wrong' with her, other than being on the verge of needing to go to the ER for an IV for dehydration. We were told we would need to take her to the ER if she didn't drink a certain amount and pee within 2 hours after the doctor appointment.  Apparently it was all caused by a new tooth, albeit an incredibly painful one. She seems to feel better now, which we are grateful for.   Lydia is the proud owner of her 5th tooth, a top front one.  I'm a little sad she won't have fangs anymore though - I love her vampire smile:-)  We are also worried that if getting a front tooth can cause so much pain, that it will be even worse when she gets her molars later on.