Ellie's First Easter!!

Today was Ellie's First Easter! I made a dress for her (my first one ever from scratch!) and put James in a matching bow tie. We went to church, where Ellie slept on Daddy in the Ergo and James did really well in the kid's area... he told one of adults watching him that he had to go to the bathroom, this our 4th day of potty training! Granted, he didn't go, but still...

We celebrated James's achievement by letting him have a rare happy meal from McDonalds and Ellie had some sweet potato and applesauce for lunch.

Then the day went a bit downhill... the kids didn't nap. I was exhausted because Ellie is going through her growth spurt and up every few hours at night, and James was so cranky from not napping and being up early that he couldn't get it together for potty training. Oh well...

Eliot and I put the kids to bed early and tried to salvage the day with some chicken and salad. It was maybe not the best Easter ever, but Ellie was darn cute and James really loved his Easter basket toys (some Monsters Inc figures/plate, bubbles, and a Toy Story car...Ellie got a bunny and a fuzzy critter that giggles when you shake it).

Here are some of my favorite pics from all our Easter activities, including a hunt in the back yard (back when Mimi was here) and the mEGGa Easter Egg hunt we took the kids to this year!

Here is a link to an album with all my favorite Easter pics!

Easter 2013

And a short video of Ellie in her first Easter Sunday dress!

Ellie is 6 months old!!

My baby is 6 months old today!! Half a year! Time is just flying by. She surprises me everyday by her laughter, her mobility, and her desire to explore the world around her.

Ellie has been eating solid foods for a few weeks now. She loves most everything she eats, but her favorites so far are oatmeal and applesauce (homemade, of course!). She has also had sweet potatoes, carrots, and banana. No teeth yet, but she does love to chew on everything! She also sits up very well (supported) and rolls to get to objects she wants. I have to be extra vigilant these day that James's small toys aren't anywhere near her!

James is doing well... Potty training is a journey, he had two accidents today and stayed dry most of the day, which makes me hopeful we will be able to leave the house again someday. He obviously ready to train, though, and I'm glad we are making this transition no matter how hard it is.

And for some cute things...
James says "I keep Mommy" instead of "I love mommy" because he has a hard time pronouncing his Ls. It's so wonderful to hear him say it particularly because we didn't teach him to say it... He just figure out his own way to communicate love. <3

He also tries to pull down his short shirt sleeves and short pant legs because he's not used to wearing them (only remembers clothes with long sleeves, most likely). It's funny to watch him try to pull them down. :-)

We spent most of the day today in the backyard... The kids played while Eliot and I put up supports for the sugar snap peas in the garden. It was wonderful to be outside in the beautiful weather, though I was pretty tired from being up all night with Ellie (probably her 6 mo growth spurt).

Anyway, happy 6 months to my baby girl!!!

Here are a few pics I happen to have on my phone...

Pirate Potty Party!

Today we had a Pirate Potty Party for James to celebrate his graduation from diapers to undies! James started off the day discovering a present in the bathroom... a wrapped plush Captain Hook who talks and wears underwear! James also woke up to balloons, streamers, decorations, and a ton of fun food. He kept saying "WOW!!!" over and over, he couldn't believe it.

We spent the morning with him still in diapers and him teaching Hook how to use the potty correctly. By noon, James could tell me where he should go, well, you know, and was, gosh darn it, HAPPY when he talked about it! He got to share Hook's treats and stickers all morning when he was dry or had a potty success, and this layed the groundwork for the afternoon.

After his nap is when he got to unwrap pirate undies and put them on and try the potty himself. We had limited success at first, but it got better in the afternoon. A few accidents and a few successes... baby steps. We will be working intensely on this for the next few days (or weeks, whatever he needs). He was SO proud of himself when he got it right though. And we were darn near giddy that he actually did it.

In the evening we hosted a Google hangout with the family and had a blast opening some small pirate gifts and tossing away his old diapers (well, really just giving them to Ellie, and he probably could have cared less about them because he wanted to play with his Pirate toys). We had a Cake Boss cake and pizza (Eliot and I ate while sitting in the bathroom with him... as parents you have to make some sacrifices) and celebrated James becoming a big boy.

I know this is just the beginning, but I am so glad he is not resistant to the process and is instead quite excited about it. He still has a long way to go, but we've made great strides today.

Yo ho, Way to Go James!!

Ellie's First St. Patrick's Day!

It's Eleanore's first St. Patrick's Day today! Eliot played at a church worship service at New Hope this morning with our friend Glen, and I dragged the kids out to hear him... James liked playing in the childcare area, but Ellie HATED the loud music and wouldn't stop crying so we had to leave. We made a short detour to Best Buy (had some rewards points about to expire) and went home to try to get the kids down for a nap (didn't go well, lots of crying).

James rounded out the afternoon by dumping his dirty diapers all over his room, making a sort of dirty diaper/stuffed animal/book/bedding soup in the middle of the floor. It was truly awful. I sent him out front to watch the Veggietales St. Patrick's day video while I cleaned it up. Eliot had printed out a rainbow/shamrock coloring page for him and I made some chocolate marshmallow oreo Leprechaun hats, which James did NOT get to enjoy because he was so very very bad today. :-(

BUT, then we took some pics outside, which is always a challenge with James running around these days. He was falling apart by 4pm, so he had a quick dinner (as did Ellie) and we put them both in a bath and in to bed by 6:30pm. Ellie seemed pretty happy after the initial loud music scare in the morning... I think she had a pretty good day. She liked chewing on the tutu I made her. :-)

Ellie's first solid food!

Ellie is sitting up (supported) very well and keeps reaching for my food, so I decided that she may be ready to try some solids. Today was the day (At 5 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day)! She tried some oatmeal baby cereal mixed with breastmilk and she LOVED it. I only gave her about a tablespoon and a half, but she probably would have eaten more if I had given her more. She didn't spit much out, she opened here mouth most of the time, and she gobbled it all up in minutes! I'm not too surprised... I've been watching her take big developmental leaps (almost getting on hands and knees, almost army crawling) and I could just tell she was ready. My pediatrician mentioned she may be ok to start solids sooner than 6mo because of her growing really well... I think she was right.

Anyway, my little girl is starting to eat FOOD. Lord help me, I'm not ready for this!












P.S. Sorry about the wonky pic sizes... I don't have time to go back and fix it!

Here is a video of her enjoying her first solid food!


And I added a couple more pics to the Spring 2013 album. :-)

Spring 2013