Solid Food

We started little miss on solid food around 6.5 months.  She had been acting interested for quite a long time and we finally decided it was time to get our act together and let her try it out.  We should have known that little miss particular would not love the baby food.  Typically the moment you sit her in the chair and she sees what you are doing, she gets excited!  You load up your spoon and before you can even get it close to her mouth she has grabbed it.  You realize that you are going to need a second spoon because there is not a chance that you are getting the one she took back.  The second attempt at a bite of food hits her tongue.  She swirls it around in her mouth for a moment or two and then spits it out.  After a few minutes, her bib, her hands, her face, her outfit and the high chair are covered in blobs of spit out food.  She does like to feed herself Gerber puffs and Cheerios.  We have tried tiny dices of other foods (apples, bananas, sweet potatoes to name a few) and she spits those out too.  One day she will eat, for now it is more fun to spit and watch Mommy or Daddy clean.  

hello sweet baby toes! 

i don't think so

I love how she looks at her daddy.  So sweet! 

My Artist

This little boy loves art projects!  The messier the project, the better.  He loves to make paintings for people and loves it when we hang up one of his masterpieces on the wall or fridge.  

love the pudgy hands and arms!!

Backwards

Big Brother loves to dress himself now (finally)!!  Most days he comes downstairs dressed like this.   I typically do not make him fix his clothing until it is time to actually go somewhere.  Every article of clothing on him is backwards, some also inside out.  It took him so long to actually do this on his own though that I do not want him to feel like he isn't doing it right!

An Afternoon at the Park

This past weekend I was really hoping to get a few photos of the kids together.  Saturday was a beautiful day but we knew that there were big storms on the way.  We packed up the kids and headed to a nearby park to attempt the pictures.  Little Sister fell asleep in the car on the way there and she hadn't really gotten any kind of decent nap the entire day so we did not dare wake her.  She woke up a while later but the rains were about to start so we will have to save the pictures of all three kids for another day.  

I was hoping to try a few new things with the boys because I am toying with the idea of going back into my business on a part time basis, but my ideas didn't really pan out this time.   We had a great time and I got a few shots that I love that capture these two little guys so well.  

two smiles and one about to run off.  :) 

sharing a little treat.  love how sweet they can be at times

looking at the "torm" clouds coming in

I wonder what this profile will look like one day.
I will miss those super chubby cheeks. 

someone found a stick!

and a little spot to dig

and some treasure

sticks and rocks are treasures to my 2 year old

Tea Time

Little Sister got this tea set for Christmas and the boys love it!  They have played with it almost daily for the past month.  They like to have little tea parties and practice pouring their drinks.  It is fun to watch them interact with each other and absolutely impossible to turn down an invitation when one of these little men invite you to join them for a tea party.  Today I decided to put something special in real coffee cups for a change.  They thought it was such a treat and really enjoyed it!  Next time I will make them special little sandwiches and cookies.  :)  I think I might have to get little sis another tea pot since this one has been claimed by the boys! 

cheers - a toast between brothers

Here, have a treat.  Just don't ask for the triangle one with sprinkles.  That one is his and he doesn't like to share it.  Ever. 

handsome!

Little Mover

Ever since little sis figured out how to move, she has been on a mission.  She is a very determined little girl and her favorite thing to do is stand up.  She loves to get the boys toys, especially their cars.  In seconds she zooms to the table, pulls up and acts like she is ready to start taking steps.  Yikes!! I am hoping walking is still quite a while from now! 

look at those leg rolls!

Her next move after this is usually a step away from the table.  I might need to start wearing my running shoes around the house to keep up with her!

Roar!

the lion and Rufus - they love their towels! 

cracks me up with those closed eyes.  :) 

these two little boys love to run around in their hooded towel every night after bath.  Big Brother always likes to have the dog, Rufus.  It was given to him when he was just a few months old and has gotten lots and lots of use.  Little Brother will take any hooded towel we offer.  His favorite is the Elephante, no, not the elephant.  I never want to forget the sounds of their squeals, laughter and little feet running all around the house in these towels.  :)

Making Faces

Her new little faces crack me up!

Just a swingin'

lil sis loves the swing!!!

Science Experiments

I came across a few ideas a while ago that I wanted to try with the boys.  The first one was home made lava lamps and the second was mini volcanoes.  I knew that the boys would be really interested in both things and that it would help pass the time on a day when we didn't have any other fun things planned.  

The lava lamps had about a 1/3 of the bottle of water, then the rest was oil.  You can use either baby oil or vegetable oil (I am sure you could use just about any cooking oil really).  Then you add a few drops of food coloring to the bottle.  Next, you break up Alka Seltzer tablets and put the pieces into the bottle and watch what happens.  We found that the baby oil didn't work quite as well as the vegetable oil in our experiment.  We also took this experiment into the dark bathroom and lit up our lava lamp with a flashlight..very cool!!!

For the mini volcanoes, I gave the boys a cup about 1/2 full of vinegar and food coloring and a small container of baking soda and a spoon.  They got to see what happened when they put tiny amounts of baking soda into the solution and what happened when they put lots of baking soda into the solution.  They had fun with both experiments! :)

Seven!

Sweet little girl, you are seven months old!  This past month was a big month for you.  HUGE!  This month you got your first two teeth.  I was shocked when they popped up.  Your brothers got their teeth around 1 year and I wasn't expecting you to get any teeth for quite a while.  Then one morning you bit my thumb and I noticed a little tooth sprouting.  A few days later a second tooth started working its way in.

little lamb, I love you so..

Another big thing for you this past month was crawling.  Baby girl you love to move!!!  You started off with a worm move and that quickly progressed into army crawling.  You learned how to get around the room to just about anything in a flash.  I love watching the look of focus and determination on your face as you try to get to a different thing or person across the room.  Typically you are trying to crawl towards a ball.  You love, love to play with balls.  If you aren't focusing in on a ball then you are focusing on a stuffed animal or baby.  You love your babies!  






































We finally got around to starting you on solid food this past month, too.  I will say you are not a fan.  We started with rice cereal, you spit it out.  Then we tried bananas, you spit them out too.  Next up, sweet potatoes and yes, you spit them out too!  After a few more failed attempts I decided to put away the solids and try again in a couple weeks.  We will see if you decide you like them a little more next time.  While you may not be too interested in solid food yet, you love spoons and you love putting just about everything else in the world into your mouth!









Next up, sleep.  Your schedule became more predictable this month.  You took three naps a day (with the last one being just a tiny cat nap).  Night time became more challenging this month.  You started a not-so-fun habit of waking up every 2-3 hours and the only thing that will make you stop crying and go back to sleep is nursing.  You didn't even wake up that much at night as a newborn.  We are working on the sleep thing and will get it all figured out soon enough!!

your sweet little pouty face..

love baby toes!!!!!

Your little personality is such a wonderful addition to our family!  When you are awake, you are usually the happiest little girl around.  You love your brothers so much and you are always very interested in anything they are doing.  Sweet girl, you are so blessed with two brothers who love you so much!  Every single day they shower you with hugs and kisses.  They bring you toys, they run to your side if you let out the slightest little whimper.  They treat you like a little princess and it fills my heart with joy to watch the three of you together.  You are content to sit and play with an animal or ball for the longest time. You light up when your brothers talk to you and you get so very excited each day when Daddy walks in the front door.


Your smile is infectious sweet girl.  I love that your right eye squints more than your left when you get really excited.  I love that I see two tiny little baby teeth in your big, huge grin.  I love how you always manage to work your tongue into your smiles.  I love your sweet little chuckle and treasure every laugh you give us.  You are not really a laugher and we have to really work to get those big belly laughs out of you Little Miss.