I don’t love bloggers who do tons of videos because I am often scanning blogs on my phone in the middle of the night while nursing a baby, and although reading is silent, videos are not. For some reason, YouTube plays sound even when the phone is on silent so I can’t even watch your kid be adorable with the sound off unless I manage to mute the video on the YouTube frame itself before it blares through the room.

But I’m making today a video day, because in the clip below you will experience:
1. Amazing toddler energy
2. A very confused dog
3. E encouraging yelling
4. Cute plaid pants
5. Shoddy housekeeping
6. Terrible parents who laugh when their kid falls down
7. My incredible iPhone video skills that may give you motion sickness

How can you turn that down? The really good stuff starts right around the 1 minute mark.

Our week started super well and ended very, very badly. I was sick (probably kidney related) on Friday and horribly terribly sick on Saturday, the kind of sick where you cannot function beyond breathing and even that seems like maybe too much work. It doesn’t help that ALL of us are snotty and coughing too – but at least kidney infections aren’t contagious so I can be as sick as a dog and not worry about passing it to the baby.

Sunday:

Poke poke poke Hey Daddy do you like this? Poke poke poke

Retribution!!!

See that? That's as polished as my sink gets. I have to admit it feels good to come down to a clean sink in the morning.

Monday:

Stroller Strides was cancelled for a snow day so we stayed home and baked The Pioneer Woman's Angel Sugar cookies. DELICIOUS.

E had the day off too, so I had the chance to get some knitting done. My, Monday sure was domestic.

Tuesday:

Playtime after Stroller Strides. All the running in circles leads to a GREAT nap.

9 weeks old and she's already bored with me. Blah!

Little Evan thought maybe she wanted to call someone and report me for being so lame.

Wednesday:

Hey girl, I'll share my dope ride with you!

"Cat, not dog" is a concept lost on Little Evan. I put the poor kitty back in the basement for her own good.

I spent the evening putting together the favors for Little Evan's 2nd birthday. I figure if I do one thing a week for the next month I can throw a pretty good party even with a lot less free time than last year.

Thursday:

Someone thought maybe I should do some laundry.

It wasn't freezing cold so we spent a few minutes playing is the dirty dirty yard. Also, I think I know why the ends of his sippy cups keep falling off.

I ate way way way too many of these.

Friday:

Evan was feeling very loving today towards his sister...

...and towards his Brutus. (Taken with Instagram)

Little Evan eating his Trix. For lunch. At 3 pm. I felt too lousy to care.

E had to work late (of course) so we made it through the evening with lots of reading.

Saturday:

Yeah, wear whatever you want kid.

What, don't you use your baby carrier to tote around your laptop? If you look in the background you can see the house slowly deteriorating thanks to my inability to stand up.

Thank God sleepy baby was sleepy. We just curled up on the couch most of the day and nursed.

I’m feeling a little better today, well enough to look at my computer screen at least, and I’m loading up on the Motrin and fluids so hopefully by the time I’m back to solo-parenting tomorrow I can function. I think planning on Stroller Strides might be a little optimistic – but hey, a 104 degree fever combined with a constantly nursing baby means I’ve probably lost 5 pounds since Friday anyways. Uh, yay?

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s. It’s really fun!

Sunday:

We all spent some time on our laptops

And watched the Superbowl. Little Evan wasn't so sure about the half-time show. My (unpopular) opinion was it was way better than the last few years.

Monday:

We played a little 7 am pajama hockey

And we made it back to Stroller Strides for the first time since I had Caroline!

I had an OB appointment across from where I used to work. Doesn't it look super depressing? Makes me glad I don't have to go there anymore.

Tuesday:

We made it to Stroller Strides AGAIN! No one tell Little Evan these things move if you put money in, OK?

It wouldn't be a weekly round-up without a lying-on-the-dog picture.

Wednesday:

Stroller Strides! Aren't you totally in love with that blanket? It's Bird E Studios (@simplerika on Twitter). I won a credit to her shop & this is what I ordered.

3 days of Stroller Strides really wore me out, so we had a little lie-down during Evan's naptime.

At the yarn shop for Knit Night. I did almost no knitting because of a cranky baby but it was nice to socialize.

Thursday:

Skipped SS for some Target shopping for E's birthday present. That toy Evan is holding has enterained him for 3 full days.

Fuzzy hat!

I had a very productive nap time, making tutus...

...and doing a little knitting.

Friday:

Play time with Friend A after Stroller Strides.

Adorable onesie made by the adorable @lifeversiontwo

Sushi + antsy toddler = HUGE mess. It wasn't a very relaxing meal but it was delicious.

Saturday:

Westerly, RI. I took Caroline down for some photos with Kade (who did our family maternity shoot) but she screamed the WHOLE time.

Car window shot of Foxwoods Casino - I drive past on my way to RI. I miss the days when we were cool enough to go there.

McDonald's made their milkshakes all fancy. But they taste the same.

E enjoying his new Kinect. It takes pictures of you while you play. That you can put online, say, perhaps on a blog.

Did you count? That was FOUR days at Stroller Strides. I could barely walk by the evenings but felt good enough to go again the mornings. I WILL be able to do more than zero sit-ups by the end of March.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s. It’s really fun!

Hello, I like to speak to whoever is in charge of turning my little baby boy into this GIANT PERSON. I am dissatisfied with the speed at which it is happening and would like it to slow down immediately. Thank you.

There’s nothing like bringing home a new baby to make your old baby seem, well, old. Although some of it isn’t just in my head – I ask Little Evan to help out a lot more than I used to and so he’s learning responsibility pretty fast. I know “go throw this diaper away” or “bring mommy her iPhone” isn’t rocket science but it’s still cool to see him understand and follow through. Most of the time. Sometimes he gets weirdly possessive of the dirty diapers and cries when we throw them away. And sometimes he throws them at my face. Oh, toddlers.

In “things I really dislike” news, we’ve officially reached a point where I can’t help comparing my kid to other kids and worry about his development. Why doesn’t he talk more? Should he be saying more words? Why doesn’t he know his letters or numbers? Which of course leads to mountains of Mommy Guilt – although some of it might be just a little bit deserved. If I haven’t really been teaching him letters and numbers how is he supposed to learn them? I’ve been so focused on words (and words that actually SOUND like the words they’re meant to be) I totally skipped the alphabet. I guess I thought we had some time before I needed to start on that sort of learning, but based on my Twitter/internet friends we’re now way behind. And although I love his babbling gibberish I’m starting to feel like people are judging me in public because he doesn’t speak more clearly or say more words. One of my goals this month is to write down a list of all the words he DOES say so at his 24 month check-up I can ask the doctor if he thinks we should look into speech therapy.

Luckily the BabyCenter milestones for this month don’t include language skills so I can try to stop worrying for a little while longer. Oh! Although I have news on the block-stacking front! The other day I caught him making HUGE towers of blocks upstairs in the playroom, so I guess I no longer have to be bitter that he missed all those previous block-stacking milestones. TAKE THAT BABYCENTER.

22 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Kicks ball forward – He’s a soccer player in the making.
• Follows two-step requests (e.g., “Get your doll and bring it here”) – Yes! He could probably follow a three or four step request. Understanding language is not our problem.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Does simple puzzles – Does this mean the wood cut-out ones? Because we’re working on those and he’s getting there but he loses interest pretty fast.
• Draws a straight line – Maybe accidentally. He likes coloring in theory a lot more than coloring in practice.
• Names several body parts – Yes. Especially my boobs.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Puts on loose-fitting clothes – Sometimes, although he has a problem understanding pants and shirts are not the same. Also that pants are not hats.
• Might be ready for a big bed – I’m planning to make the switch for his 2nd birthday. The problem is it involves a lot more than just switching the crib for a bed because the room isn’t very childproof and if he got up to play he could ruin a LOT of stuff before I noticed. But I’m hopeful that the actual transition to the bed will go well.
• Understands opposites (e.g., tall vs. short) – I don’t know? He understand enough differences that I can ask him to bring me one of two similar things and he gets the right one but I’m not sure we encounter a lot of opposites.

This morning in a desperate attempt to calm a temper tantrum I let him try out the piano for the first time and he loved it. He clearly heard the differences in the notes and loved sliding down to press the lowest ones and then reaching up to the highest ones. He also taught himself that pressing one key at a time made a different noise than smashing down a whole bunch. I’m not saying he’s an OMG MUSICAL GENIUS or anything, but it’s nice that he enjoys it.

Hmmm...time to write my materpiece!

Definitely need some of these notes up here

Brilliance has struck!

Stop bothering me while I'm composing!!

Now for the BIG FINISH

That's it! I shall touch it no more. My work is perfect.

We are not a big sports family, so I have absolutely no explanation for why my 20 month old is IN LOVE with football. Besides dancing to the music in commercials, it’s pretty much the only thing that holds his attention on TV. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean he grows up to actually want to PLAY football though, since I don’t think I can handle watching him get trampled and the only other option seems to be Douchebag Quarterback. YEAH I’M LOOKING AT YOU TOM. CUT YOUR HAIR.

Evan’s a little hard to understand with the sippy cup in his mouth, but I assure you those words are “football” and “touchdown.”