It looks as if we're in for some lovely winter weather tomorrow. If the trend continues, though, Yankton will get little to nothing. Everything seems to stay up north for the most part. I hope it does, too, so Cory doesn't have problems traveling to or from work.

Speaking of Cory, he took today off so I could see my doctor about my foot. What a nice guy. I took Tylan with me, of course, but the other kids stayed at home with Cory. A couple months ago I tripped backwards over a step stool and hurt my foot but figured it was just twisted pretty bad. I think I just ignored it or put it to the back of my mind until a couple weeks ago when I realized my foot was still bothering me. It turns out I broke a bone in my foot, but since it's not hindering me from doing much there's nothing the doctor will do. Gosh, I was looking forward to wearing a fancy boot, too! My doctor said it could take six months for a bone to properly heal, but I hope it won't be that long.

In other news of the week, we gave Tylan her first taste of solids on Sunday, and she seemed rather intrigued by the mashed banana. Actually, she was probably more interested in sitting in the high chair and chewing on a spoon, so I don't think she's very interested in solids yet. Not a problem for me!

I should try to get to bed earlier tonight since Ella fell asleep early and will probably be up early. Not sure if I'll be successful, though.

Brr! This weekend has been so cold compared with the mild temps we've had for the past week or so. I think we've been a little spoiled for February and have been having trouble getting back into wintery weather. We haven't had a lot going on - just the regular things of hanging out at home, Cory delivering pizzas, etc. Quite exciting.

Today the kids and I took a drive around the lakes and river to see what birds we could spot. We haven't had much luck lately with seeing the bald eagles in trees, but today we saw one soaring overhead as we drove along the Missouri. We also saw large flocks of geese and ducks on Lake Yankton. That's always neat to see and hear when the large flocks take off from the water. We'll probably go down closer to the water and actually get out of the van to observe when it's a little warmer. Cole was hoping we could see mountain lion tracks along the river since I had just shown him a picture in the paper of mountain lion tracks along the river near Yankton, but I explained we'd actually have to be walking right along the shore to see anything like that.

The kids and I are definitely getting excited about the approaching spring. One of the things we want to do this year is plant milkweed so we can attract more monarch butterflies - Cole's favorite. I found an organization - the Live Monarch Foundation - that will send free milkweed seeds (donations are appreciated, though) with a SASE, and I think we'll be doing that.

We have a couple extra things going on this week. Accalia and Ella are getting haircuts on Thursday, and this will be Ella's first haircut. I'm having it chopped off - definitely above the shoulders and possibly just below the chin - because her curly hair gets so easily tangled and Ella is not a fan of even having her hair brushed. As long as she has no attachment to her hair length, I'm going to do this and avoid any unnecessary hair battles. On Wednesday, I'm going to the doctor to have my foot looked at because it's been bothering me since I tripped over that step stool while holding Tylan a couple months ago. It hit me last week that it's possible I could have broken a small bone or done something serious if it's still bothering me, so I thought I should just take care of it.

Now I should go ahead and try to get a few other things done while Tylan is sleeping.

This morning I took Tylan in for her six month checkup (she turns six months on the 19th), and Ella came along. Cory was home today, and Accalia and Cole thought it would be more fun to stay with him and play Wii. All is well. Tylan weighs 15 lbs. 13 oz., which puts her in the 50th percentile, and is 27 inches tall, which puts her in the 90th percentile. She's gained nearly 3 pounds and grown 2 inches in the past two months, so it's pretty much what I was expecting.

Cory did have a few counseling appointments tonight, and even though it was me alone with the four kids, I managed to have a very quiet and relaxing time. Accalia and Cole were watching a new movie on tv, Ella was at the computer, and Tylan was sleeping in my arms, and I just sat and read for about an hour with absolutely no interruption. I'm not sure that's happened since Tylan was born. It was so refreshing!

I have a list of errands for tomorrow, though, so life will have to get busy once again. Yee haw.

Oh, my poor neglected blog! Everyone and everything seems to conspire against me every time I sit down to write. LIke now, Tylan has just woken up and filled her diaper. Good timing, little lady!

I hope that everyone who is celebrating Valentine's Day is enjoying themselves. Cory's working right now, but for lunch we had our traditional fettucine alfredo and then cheesecake for dessert. Cory and I were able to just sit and relax and linger while the kids played all around us. Very nice. And apparently we're all in the mood for ice cream treats today. Cole wanted push pops, Accalia and Ella wanted popsicles, and Cory and I wanted our fave Ben and Jerry flavors (karamal sutra for Cory and cherry garcia for moi).

I can't believe it's been a week already since we went to Bald Eagle Days. That was a lot of fun for the kids, and the presentation was packed. We were able to see four live birds: a red tailed hawk, a deer falcon, an Eastern screech owl, and a bald eagle. Accalia and Cole thought it was hilarious that the bald eagle pooped on the ground. I actually only saw the hawk and the bald eagle because I spent most of the time wandering around the visitor's center with Ella and Tylan. Neither was able to be as quiet as was preferred for when the birds were out - Ella tends to talk a lot and Tylan started in with squealing.

Okay, gotta wrap this up. Ella has just been cranky and practicing her most annoying behaviors on the other kids today. I think she's tired. Looking forward to having Cory home on Monday. Tylan will have her six month check up that day and already turns six months on the 19th. Can't believe it's already been half a year!

Gorgeous day today. It's around 50 and tomorrow will probably be warmer. Gotta love a little preview of spring in the midst of winter. Thankfully it's great weather for travel, and Cory's doing a bit of that later on today. He's going from work up to Mitchell to watch our niece Mariah's basketball game. That means he won't be home until 9:30 at the earliest, but I know he'll have fun hanging out with his brother and family. Accalia and I are looking forward to snuggling up and watching the new Bones episode tonight.

So, it's been roughly 5 1/2 months since Tylan was born. I still have that 15 pounds to lose to get back to prepregnancy weight, and I'd love to do that before the summer and swimsuit season. I don't know that it's very realistic, though. I just don't want to have it be two years down the road and still be talking about losing the last of that baby weight!

What's new this time around is that this is the first child where we've decided this will be the last, and we're not at all conflicted with that decision. No second thoughts yet, although I'm sure somewhere down the line I'll yearn for another little baby. Or maybe I'll just yearn to hold someone else's little baby! I'm excited about getting rid of a lot of the baby stuff we'll no longer need, stuff that has been in and out of storage for nearly the past decade. I think we're going to try to have a garage sale in the spring or summer. We'll be getting rid of all of the boy stuff and all of the too small girl stuff. Oh, I know we'll save a few items that have sentimental value, but we'll definitely open up a lot of space in the basement. I'll also be getting rid of maternity clothes. It's sad that I still have maternity clothes hanging up and in my drawers. Tells you how good a job I've done storing things away.

Perhaps the hardest decision, though, is what pregnancy/birth books I'm keeping and giving away. There are just a few I'm keeping, and I'm keeping those because I want to be able to save them for my daughters if they one day give birth. The ones I'm saving are timeless and empowering. I'm also saving the children's books we have since those are something the kids like to hear/read whether or not there's actually a baby on the way. Then there are a few books I'm donating to LLL when I pass along all of the Yankton group supplies to the next nearest group hopefully in the near future.

Okay, I have two children climbing over me right now, so I'm going to have to wrap this up. Enjoy the day!