Meet Alex.

After much discussion (okay, not that much discussion, but a little), Jason and I have decided tocall Alexandra 'Alex' instead of 'Lexi'. It won't keep us from ever calling them each other's name, but we're hoping it will cut down on the number of incidents.

It's been sort of an uneventful week for us - Lily and Alex and I have been sharing a head cold, so between that and the ungodly amount of snowfall this week, we've spent most of our time indoors. Lily has been helping Jason shovel, though, and I managed to snap a few pictures of that.

Alex is not at all enamored of the snow and cold weather, which has made winter not as much fun as it could be. Now that Jason's schedule is a bit less frenetic, we are able to split our focus and take turns playing outside with Lily. I admit to volunteering for more of the indoor sessions - I'm not a huge fan of winter either.

When we do get Alex outside in the weather, we put her in this fleece jumper. Why? Because dressing your kid up as a duck is a parental privilege with a limited shelf life, and one should take advantage of it as often as one can.

Why yes, it was a boring snow day. Why do you ask?

I did not encourage this.

I did not go to Lily and say, "Hey put these panties on your head and demand that I take a picture."

This was all Lily. I'm just sharing.

We went to Boston for five days in January - Jason was done with White Christmas, and wasn't back at In The Heights yet, so we decided it was a good time to visit all those folks who live just a bit north of us, but we somehow never manage to see. And do you know what else? We didn't take a single picture. It was enough to just schlep our two kids and the astonishing amount of crap involved in taking the four of us out of the house.

It took seven hours to drive the four hours to Boston. Here is an example of why: we had crossed the state line from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and decided to just power through the last hour to Boston. Then Lily announced that she had to use the bathroom. While Lily was in the bathroom, Lexi woke up and needed to eat. Then she needed a diaper change. Then Lily wanted a snack. Then Jason needed a snack. Then I needed the bathroom. Then Jason needed the bathroom, and by then, enough time had passed that we took Lily back to the bathroom just in case. An hour and forty-five minutes after we pulled into the rest area, we were back on the road!

Since then we have been settling ( a bit) back into routine - Jason is back to his usual job. and Lily and I are back to waiting for Spring. Lexi is understandably not a fan of winter yet, so we're not doing a lot of playing outside as a group. I'm a pretty creative Mommy - we have had tea parties, spa days, cooking parties, and all manner of arts and crafts, but Lily and I are both ready for a good run around the park without ten minutes of coats, scarves, and mittens.

Lexi is sleeping a little more at night, so I am trying get some sleep myself - trying to bank a few extra hours before she starts teething!