It's been a while - Ocean is 9 months!!  Koral is a very smart 2.5 and talking more and more.  Senthil has adopted the task of reading her a bedtime storybook after bath and tonight reported that when reading the book with the little mirror on each page, when it said "Donald Duck has a boo boo - can you show your boo boo, too?" Instead of mimicking the thumb like donald, she took her foot out of the covers to show a little scrape that I put a bandaid on.  Sweet smart girl.  Also, she is starting to parrot all the shows and us.  The best is when she is really feeling it singing along to something or even just her own song - she sways dramatically and either yells loud or using she "singing voice" and closes her eyes and gets really into it.  So precious.  Her hair is all curls right now and she does not like a pony tail, even though it's just long enough for pig tails.

Ocean is SO close to walking.  He is so different from Koral - more cuddly as a baby, more social and less independent - and omg, the boy has a love for food like she did not.  I think he's in a growth spurt but he's foraging and begging for food all day long and eats more than Koral does already - at 9 months he is eating more solids than her.  He is ready to tackle it all.  He ate half a veggie burger two days in a row for lunch with sides of veggies and fruit.

I am amazed at how well they play together and I hope it continues.  They are two peas in a pod, and Koral is realizing he is changing and plays differently with him.  She really can't wait for him to be able to stand up and take her hands and dance in a circle.  I recently hurt my lower back and it is taking its time getting better, so I haven't been wild with her and she misses that wildness, always asking me to dance and give her rides.  However, in a way, maybe it's been good because she isn't relying on me for all her fun - she has invented a game of pulling Ocean's socks off and teasing him to chase her for them, and he will laugh and crawl after her.  Sometimes it's his whole pants!

Right now they have a ball pit set up in her bedroom that they both periodically love playing in, and that has been great on the colder days and mornings.

On my side, I'm currently reading The Magnolia Story and my long-time love of Fixer Upper has only grown.  Also, I'm working on a project that I might be able to sell - after my surprise success with selling orders of felt play christmas trees in early December, I was thinking of offering another creative play item.  Perhaps I'll try to do one every few months.  Also, the corporate tax season for HealthPlotter is here, so getting that going, and then personal tax season.  I DID get behind totaling our finances for three months.  That feels yucky.  I LOVE knowing exactly where we stand.  I usually do it every Sunday.  But, there has been a huge lack of time and energy with sickness and cold after sickness and cold.  Ocean cut his first tooth on his 9 month birthday, and has been teething badly since so he's up often and unpredictably at night.  I'm so often torn between letting him cry so I can be rested and getting up with him or giving him tylenol.

These kids are amazing - I can't even believe how wonderful they both are.  That said, my goodness, I have never been more tired as this last year.  It's unbelieveable how much work, how many tiny tasks every minute holds - not just diapers but picking up things that are constantly moving, dirty, clean and need put away, attention being desired, shopping for them, preparing things, changing bedding - it simply does not end.  If we stay home as we have done lately because they got runny noses and then I got a GI track bug, things just keep getting behind even though I'm always working on it.  It's much better to get out for a while and come home and then tackle it for a bit.  I can't wait for the cold season to sort of fizzle out and for people to no longer be scared of being social again.  It's such a gamble right now.

Senthil and I have changed so much since our beginning.  Technically, we started dating 9 years ago.  We have been married for 5.5 years.  It's been rocky.  He really pivoted in every way.  I don't write about that side of things much as it's just not what I want a record of - the kids, my goals, that's what most of my posts will feature.  I have hope with him, but it certainly has not been anything like what I would have thought or dreamed.  This is something I struggle with, but try to have optimism about.  Everyone has their battle.