Mother's Day 2011

Well, this Mother's Day seemed rather hectic and a little laid back at the same time.

I woke up that morning, got the kids ready for church and myself. We went to church, then out to lunch. After lunch, Jon took the kids to the park then came home shortly thereafter so he could go into work. When he came back, I was in the process of finally converting the crib into a toddler bed for Nicholas. Ben & Ella were excited by this and eventually, so was Nicholas. After that was done, Jon took the kids shopping and brought me some chocolates - which they wanted to open right away. By this time, it was 9 p.m. and they had just had some ice cream at McDonald's (it looked like) so they didn't need it. They were not thrilled. Bedtime felt extremely rushed. Ella fell asleep right away since she didn't have a nap that day. The boys took a little more coaxing. You would think Nicholas would fall asleep right away since he didn't take a nap but he didn't. Benjamin had a nap but was only upset that we didn't keep the nightlight on so he could read his book. I want to encourage book reading, but they really needed to go to bed by this point.

So that was my day this year.

In other topics - Nicholas got up at 5 a.m. this morning and went out to the livingroom (he can open his bedroom door now) and said "where's papa? I do not know." You'll have to imagine the cuteness as he said this. He came into our room and I lifted him to our bed. He quickly fell back asleep.

The other day at the park, the twins were swinging (Nicholas hates the swing for some reason - did I put him in the swing too much as a baby?). A woman asked "what are your names? Ella yells out "I'm Ella!" Benjamin yells out "I'm Benjamin!...We're 3!!!.... and we're TWINS!!!" It was quite funny.

The favorite phrase for Nicholas to say these days is to announce "that's my mom!" So cute! And he comes running to me every time he sees me after I've been gone - even if I've only been gone for a couple minutes. So sweet!

Have I mentioned that I seemed to have had an ulcer? It seems to have mended itself a bit though I sometimes feel it every so often. I don't like those.

Questions & Answers & Cute Stories

To answer Faith's question, I think the first finger food we gave them were the Gerber puffs and then later, the Zwieback toast. We actually just gave them those mesh bags the other day for the first time. I had completely forgotten about them. We put a huge piece of watermelon in there, and they were like "what in the world? Can we just have the watermelon by itself?". I do like those though and will probably use them in the future for other things.

I have a question for those with older babies - how did you transition to using no bottles at all? When did you stop giving them formula? Did you transition to milk and only sippy cups all at the same time? Our 1 year checkup isn't until July 1, so I'll be giving them formula until then when I hope the doctor will say - yep, you can start giving them milk now.

What type of foods do you give your 1 year old? Ella still only has 2 teeth and Benjamin still doesn't have any.

And now onto cute stories:

Ella has started to point to things and talk about whatever she's pointing at (at least, I'm assuming that's what she's doing - I don't quite understand all of her words right now). She has become quite the talker lately. The words I do understand is "keh" for kitty, "ma" for mom, "dada", "uh oh". And, of course, I can't think of the others right now. She's really cute though with her talking. The cutest thing the other day was when I dropped something and she said "uh oh ma". :-D

Benjamin, ever since I can remember, has been a little singer. He will sing when he is getting his diaper changed or about a toy.

Lately, both of them have become fascinated with our ceiling fan in the dining area. We turned it on for the first time since last summer the other day, and it is just so interesting. If you need Benjamin to hang out while you go fix a bottle or feed the kitties, just sit him down underneath the fan and let him stare. Ella pointed at it the other day and we think she was telling us about the fan (which wasn't on at the time).

The other day, Ella said something to Benjamin and started to crawl away and he went crawling after her. I just can't even describe how cute it was to see both of them crawling together down the hallway. Just cute!

Ella has stood on her own a few times, but hasn't tried walking since last Saturday. Benjamin has gotten a lot better at pulling himself up, but hasn't quite mastered it. Once he does get himself up, he does a great job of cruising around the furniture. I thought for sure he was going to go from one end of the livingroom to the other using one couch, to the coffee table to the other couch, but he stopped midway through the coffee table.

I've been reading a book called Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (a sequel to Good in Bed), and after watching Dan in Real Life and reading this book, I have to say I'm not looking forward to the teenage years.

That's about it for now.

My first Mother's Day

It's my first Mother's Day. It's nice to finally be able to celebrate the day. I got to sleep in, got some chocolate chip pancakes my husband made, a few books to read and a puzzle card set. It's been a good day except Benjamin hasn't been feeling too well yesterday and today - poor guy. I may end up staying home with him tomorrow unless he starts to feel better.

Yesterday, we went to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We had a good day down there too.
:-)

Tomorrow, Benjamin & Ella will be 11 months old!

Great News

I heard some incredibly wonderful news this morning from a friend from my support group. She and her husband are pursuing adoption. They were selected along with a few other couples for a woman in KS to decide on who will be the parents to her unborn child. Well, my friend was chosen to the parents to this child, and I am so incredibly happy for her and her husband. Her e-mail this morning actually brought me to tears hearing her great news. And the baby is due in February! She will be a mom very, very soon! So excited for her.