A Hard Day in the Office

A half hour of my day... trying to make lunch

It's only 12:45... TWELVE FORTY FIVE... how is this possible?

Here's just a teeny tiny look at what lunch looks like for me today (11:30 am):

Me: Making lunch
Lee: Watching TV
LC: Nipping at my ankles

I put LC in her high chair and Lee's show ends.
I turn on a different show for him.
Go back to getting lunch together for both kids.
LC signals to me in sign that she wants milk.
I give her milk but she throws it on the floor.
Apparently she wanted something else.
I get out a cracker, but she not only wanted one cracker, she wanted the whole sleeve.
There's only 6 crackers left in the sleeve, so I let her have the wrapper.
Go back towards the kitchen and I hear Lee yell out that he pooped.
I go and help him with that situation and fight him to wash his hands.
He has decided that washing of hands is optional.
I get him washed up and out of the bathroom and LC is staring at the floor.
She dumped all her crackers out and they are now all on the floor.
I pick them up and give them back to her
(yes, I'm that kind of mom, sorry),
she takes a bite out of one and throws it on the floor.
It's a fun game.
I suggest everyone tonight at dinner try it!
I look at her and decide to ignore it.
Whatever she wants to do is fine with me.
Go back to making lunch.
Lee comes in he's thirsty.
He gets his milk but it's empty.
Fill that up.
Back to lunch.
LC saw Lee drinking and wanted her milk.
Go over and give her, her cup.
She drinks it and throws it back on the floor.
I know you're shocked... me too.
Lee asks if he can "cup up paper".
I tell him I'm almost done with lunch and that he can cut paper after.
He get his scissors to "put" them where the paper is.
Me not paying attention didn't see he went after my crocheted hat like Edward Scissorhands.
Fan-fricken-tastic.
Have Lee clean that up and get lunch on the table.
I sit down to eat with the kids and LC starts turning red in the face.
She's now pooping.
I say a quick prayer that 1:30 (nap time) comes quick so I can sit and stare at the wall.

I might need to run 97 errands when Steve gets home.

My Dear Sweet Baby Boy,

I absolutely love that when you want to talk to God, you will walk over to a window or door and look up at the sky. It must have clicked that we have told you God is in Heaven and Heaven is in the sky. I love the little boy you are becoming... well, most days ;)~

Love Them!

I love them when they get along and play together. Lee has always been amazing with LC and playing with, sharing with and helping her. I know my days are numbered before the bickering and fighting starts, so I'm enjoying every moment right now.

The other day they had a bath together. I took lots of sweet pictures of them like this...

Oh and then there was this picture... ;)

Happy Birthday Elsie!

You are officially 1 year old now.

You point to everything and say "this".  You started saying "kiyee ka" (kitty cat) when we were in Las Vegas over Christmas.  Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt have 2 cats and you found them highly amusing.  You are quite the drama queen.  You do not like to be told "no".  Just saying the word "no" to you will usually end up with you crying. 

You like to clap your hands.

You love to cluck your tongue.  You always are following what other people are doing.  You watch everything.  You also like to imitate everyone.  The other night at dinner, Papa went "mmm" after taking a bite of food, and next thing we know you are saying "mmm" to everything.  If I clap, you will clap.  If I squeal, you'll squeal.  If Lee laughs, you laugh too.

You love looking at pictures and point to all the people saying "this?"  meaning "who's this?" and we go through all the people.

You will lay down and snuggle on any blanket on any floor.  You will then follow it up with a "aww" in your cute teeny tiny voice.

 

Dr. update: 19.4lb   30" tall

We love you so much and can't believe it's already been a year.  Happy birthday El's.

Visiting Santa

Ha, ha, ha!  I love this picture.  There's a good story to this.  We were visiting Steve's family in Las Vegas (we stayed with Matt and Amy) and went to Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef one morning.  Santa just happened to be there, so we payed a visit.  Here's where the story begins.

For the whole month of December all Lee asked for was "star wars toys".  That's all he wanted from Santa.  Everyday was "star wars toys".  We go to see Santa, who happened to be at the shark reef, and Lee tells him "I want a telescope".  WHAT??  Santa = failed, because he brought... (drum roll) ... Star Wars toys.  Has not mentioned a telescope since visiting Santa however, so that worked out good!

Fast forward to this week (2 weeks after Christmas).  We're at a friends house that has a "red airplane".  Insert 3 continuous days of how Lee "has to have" this red airplane.  Steve and I are not buying anymore toys... for a long... long... time.  Lee then said he was going to ask the next person that came to our house for a gift card so he could buy the red airplane.  NO!  <-- our response.  Lee then was throwing a little fit over this "red airplane" and said "why couldn't Santa have brought me a red airplane?" 

Me: Because you wanted Santa to bring you Star Wars toys. 
Lee: ACTUALLY... I asked Santa for a telescope and HE didn't bring me one. 
Me: Um... ahhh... ya.

Elsie is walking!

Look what my baby girl can do! She start to officially walk more than 3 steps on January 5th. She just gets so proud of herself, I love it! I love her smile.  She is such a sweetheart.

Happy almost 1st birthday.  Only 12 more days!

Our Christmas Tree...

Lasted 2 days.  TWO WHOLE DAYS!  I'm not going to name names on who did this awesome-ness to our tree, but his/her name rhymes with "Schlee". 

The first picture is the day we set it up.  You can see his "awe" of the tree.  You can see how he is plotting and planning to take it out.  You can also see, the lights did at some point work!

The second picture is what it looks like now.

Merry Christmas :)  Good thing we're spending the holidays with the M* family.  Any bets on how long it takes "Schlee" to take down theirs??

10 Months Old

I cannot for the life of me think where the last 10 months have gone.  Where on earth could they have gone?  Today for the 2nd time, you said "all done".  It sounds like this "ahh do".  But your hands are straight up in the air and you are kicking your feet ready to get down.

You still have no teeth... not a one.

You hate having your diapers changed.  It is a battle every.single.time.  

There are lots of first these past few weeks.  I'm not sure how much I've documented everything so let me start a few weeks ago:


Oct 11: Started saying "mama"
Oct 22: Growled at us for the first time (something you still love to do)
Oct 26: 9 month check up
Oct 27: Climbed the stairs for the first time.  This is something you are now scared to do, thank goodness.  
Nov 4: Said "dada" for the first time
Nov 8: Clapped your hands for the first time
Nov 17: Waived for the first time


You really like to give Daddy a hard time in the evenings.  For the first few months I put you to bed every night because Lee wanted Steve.  Ever since then, you have been a Mama's girl.  Daddy has the hardest time getting you to eat, sleep or to change you.  Maybe you can work on this a little bit.  He tries really super hard and does love you lots!  I feel bad for him.


You can cruise now crawling and walking along furniture.  You let go all the time now and just stand there clapping.  You love to stand by yourself.  Your pretty good at it too, but I don't think walking is in your near future, but I do think you will walk before Lee.


You have started stranger anxiety too.  You don't really scream when people come up to you, but you don't want to go to them either.  


Where ever I'm at, you follow me around.  If I'm sitting on the couch, you are right at me feet.  When I'm cooking dinner, you are right at my feet.  When I'm walking somewhere, you are usually right behind me.  It's pretty cute, but I am so scared I'm going to step on you sometime.  


You love to feed yourself.  You love finger foods that you can gnaw on and to lay down by yourself to drink your bottle.  


That's about all I can think of for right now. This month was just a blurr, I'm not really sure where it went to.  I love you and though I can wait to see what you are like as a little girl, I do wonder somedays what you are going to be like.

 

Lee is learning his days of the week.  So far we have:

Sunday

Monsday

Threesday

Friday

Saturday

DOWN!  Everyone's favorite days of the week has to be Threesday!  It's not Twosday (Tuesday)... It's Threesday!! 

Also, he know the difference between "yesterday" and "tomorrow" however, anything in the past is "jesterday" (yesterday).  Ex: Mommy, remember jesterday when we had Halloween and it was so fun?   

No more binks...

I know these pictures are old. They are from last year when we moved your room around and you got your new "blue" room before LC was born, but they show you with your bink. It has been one week since you have stopped taking it. November 9th was your last day with your bink and you gave it up.

why I don't take my kids pictures...

Lets recap my recent attempt at taking my wonderfully sweet little angel faces pictures.  Just look at all that adorableness that couldn't sit still for one... stinkin... picture.  I mean, there are just so many options to choose from, however will I decide???

Picture 1: Lee being cheesy, LC watching Lee to see what the heck he's doing.
Me: Lee, smile normal... LC... look at me!
Picture 2: Now THERE'S the smile I was hoping for (rolls eyes).
Me: Lee, um, not that smile.  LC, look at me, look a stick!
Lee: Ugh are we done yet?  
LC: looking at stick.
Picture 3: Lee sees 2 little kids running to the park that is 20 feet away.  This was his reward for taking a good picture.
Picture 4: ... (do I really need to recap what Lee is thinking in this picture??  Or LC for that matter...)
Picture 5 & 6: Lee telling me how unfair it is that he can't go to the park NOW and take pictures LATER.  He just doesn't understand.  Why we can't play first.  Blah, blah, blah... LC is really enjoying those fingers.
Picture 7 & 8: Lee giving LC a hug and squishing the daylights out of her... awesome!
Picture 9: (this is about 4 minutes in taking pictures) Lee was just watching the 2 kids at the park, and now LC wants nothing to do with Lee after the hug... she crawled away.

END.OF.SESSION!!

My Dear Sweet Baby Boy,

I'm not sure this is what God is looking for when we pray for dinner.

Lee: Dear God..
(insert giggle)
Me: (getting Lee back on track) Thank you...
Lee: for Daddies tools, that I broke 
Me: (getting him back on track again) and for our food
Lee: and for our food, and for my star wars space ship and for blasters and for all the (making sounds) pichoo, cachow, bams and boooms!
Me: (thinking that I should probably review with Lee what God really wants us to be grateful for) (cutting Lee off) AMEN!

Lee asked the other night if God was his friend.  I told him that God is everyone's friend.  Lee then said "ya, I know.  I love him."

Lee goes to Daycare!

A few months ago my friends Crystal and Steph told me about this book "Raising Your Spirited Child" and said that a lot of my frustrations with Lee are addressed in this book.  I kinda brushed it off and stayed frustrated for awhile till one day they had had enough and Steph said that I just needed to read it.  I don't have a lot of time these days, so although I haven't finished the book (I'm on chapter 4 I think), I noticed right away that this book didn't just describe Lee a LITTLE, but this book was written about my child!  All except, he's not a major temper tantrum thrower.  He doesn't really have long meltdowns.  They are 5 minutes tops and I can usually stop them pretty quickly.


This book helped me realize that although I knew Lee was a social butterfly, I didn't realize the importance of him getting out of the house multiple times a week so he could "socialize" with other people besides me.

When we're at the grocery store, he will say hello to just about everyone we pass.  He asks random people what they are making for dinner.  He asks them what they are buying.  He.is.a.people.person!

So, one evening I am out to dinner with two other friends (this is after I started reading this book) and I am explaining to them what it said and my frustrations and they suggested bringing Lee by their daycare.  They both work for daycare/preschools.  That next night I talked to Steve about it.  I had him read the chapter about a extroverted child and ways to help them.  He completely agreed with me 100%.  This was something we needed to look into.

Over the summer I put him in swimming and tumbling.  They were both horrible.  He hated doing both.  He also derailed both classes and goofed off so much that other kids were not listening too.  I was scared to start another thing that he could potentially influence other kids to misbehave.  However, after visiting the daycare and talking with Lee, Steve and I thought it was worth a shot.

The first day wasn't so good.  I had to fight him to get dressed.  Fight him to brush his teeth.  Fight him to eat.  Fight him to get in the car.  Fight him to go into the building.  I explained to his teacher that this was his 1st time ever in a daycare setting, just so she had some background.  When I went to pick him up, his teacher said "he doesn't like to follow rules does he?"  Ya, exactly why we're here.  Not a good start.

Day 2: Not as bad to get him dressed and ready.  I talked so much about how we follow rules and listen and we have to do projects and listen to stories too.  Yes, you get time to play, but you have to follow the rules as well.  He actually rolled his eyes at me.  I talked that much.  Teacher notes when I picked up, "today was better".

Day 3: Lee was excited to go to school.  Excited about his friends.  Didn't roll his eyes as much as we talked about learning and following rules.  And his teacher said "this was his best day yet!  He did really, really good!" 

So, today was Lee's 4th day at daycare.  Today I was told that Lee is the most polite boy.  Today he was able to pick a "prize" for being such a good boy and listening so well.  I could not be more proud of him.  He loves his school!  He loves his teacher!  He loves tattling on the one boy who doesn't listen and gets in trouble all the time and how he's (Lee) not naughty, the OTHER boy is naughty.   

He just goes part-time (8am-noon), 2 days a week.  That's just enough so that he can get out of the house and away from me and be a big kid by himself.  Steve and I were talking tonight because we have noticed a pretty big difference in Lee already.  He listens SO much better, it's pretty crazy how only 4 days at school can make a difference.  But it did and I am so thankful to have such amazing friends that read great books.  


Thank you Steph, Crystal, Emmy & Katie!!

A little unsure...

I am taking this picture of LC.  However, what you don't see, is for Halloween I painted my face to look like a kitty cat to match LC and she now doesn't recognize who I am.  This is her "Oh I completely trust you" face.  Ya... this is what look most people get when she first sees you.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Kelly & Aunt Jackie!  A few houses tried to scare Lee, but he didn't really get too scared.  It was a bit chilly, so Elsie and I came home earlier and Lee stayed out with everyone else treating.  It was a great night and lots of fun!

I'll post more pictures soon.  

How to feed your baby doll!

 Please refer to the picture above.

Box 1: Seems like a perfectly normal situation.  Elsie chewing on a toy.  That happens to be a baby bottle.

Box 2: Elsie trying to feed the baby doll.
 

Box 3: When baby starts drinking, poke her in the eye.

Box 4: Hmm, I wonder what this baby's milk tastes like.

Box 5: Let's try it.

Box 6: I'm not getting anything, poke baby in the eye again.

Box 7: Still drinking, what did you get out of this bottle?

Box 8: Still nothing...

Box 9: That's it, I'm leaving.  I'm taking the milk with me!

Elsie, I could watch you play all day long. You are usually so quiet that I forget that you're there. Then, you start "talking" and you are SO loud. You have two volume's. Loud and silent.

Today you were playing with Lee's baby doll. This is the baby doll that you got him when you were born. Do you remember it? You were fascinated with feeding her today.  See this baby doll will make drinking sounds when you put the bottle up by its lips.  It will also giggle when you touch her belly.  You liked both these features.

However, I'm not sure stealing other babies milk and poking them in the eye is the way to make friends.  You might want to reconsidering this.

Love, 

Mommy

LC is 9 Months Old!

  El's you're 9 months old now.  How fast the time is flying by.  You have brought so much sunshine and laughter to our house, I am so thankful every day to have you.  You and Lee get along so well together.  He is starting to realize you're growing up and is not put up with you as much anymore.  However, he is still the first person you see every morning because he loves going into your room to "wake" you up.

 I haven't written in here for awhile, so I'm going to catch everything up to date hopefully. 

August 4th - Sat up for the first time by yourself.  You really didn't know how to "sit", but you could sit yourself up, try balancing for a few moments and then finally topple over to do it all over again.

August 22nd - Start army crawling.  You have the perfect army crawl down!  You are fast too.  You can get across a room in just a few seconds.

You officially started crawling just last week.  Now that is mostly what you use to get from point A to point B.

August 31st - Started eating puffs and got the hang of it.  You would put a puff in your mouth and spit it out because it was different.  This day, you really started taking them in your mouth and chewing them. 

Although as of today, you still don't have any teeth.  You can eat quite a bit of food though. You tried cottage cheese today for the first time and loved it!

September 6th - crawled 4 crawls on your hands and knees for the first time.

Shortly after this is when you started pulling up on furniture.  I don't have the exact date :(

September 27th - Started walking along the couch.

Your first word was "Mama".  You started whining quite a bit when we were feeding you.  So I started teaching you sign language so you could maybe start telling us what you want.  It took only a few times and you got "more" and "all done" down.  So now when you want more of something, you will sign "more".  When it's not the right thing, you will shake your head "no" at us until we get it right.  When you're done and ready to get down, you'll throw your hands in the air and sign "all done".  I'm shocked that at 8 months old, you had this concept down.  The whining while eating has for the most part, stopped.

During meal times, you will drink from a sippy cup.  You haven't really started giving kisses yet.  However, M'Liz taught you how to do bonks, so you ever so gently bonk us on occasion and start laughing.  You think it's hysterical.

Dr. Update:
Height 28 1/4"    Weight 18lb 4oz    Head 44cm

Happy 9 month birthday my sweet beautiful girl.  I love you :)

First 3-D Movie

Lee and I went and saw Shrek 4 last night.  We were waiting for our power to come back on and got tired of the heat.  Steve and Elsie joined us for dinner, but Elsie was being a crab, so Steve took her home.  The best part about this was it was 3-D.  I recommend seeing all movies this way if you can!

I wasn't sure if 3-D was a good idea because Lee keeps sunglasses on for all of 3 minutes, but he did awesome!  He kept the glasses on the whole time and was shocked when stuff started popping off the screen.  I was laughing when he would reach out to try to touch something or look to his left/right when things would fly off the screen and then they disappeared.  He kept asking "where'd it go?"  He was so cute.

He also looked like a miniature Buddy Holly in his 3-D glasses ;)  SO FUN!

Next up: Steve is going to take Lee to see Toy Story 3.  He really wants to take him to see that movie himself.  So they might be going in a few weeks.

3 Years Old!

Lee from June 2009 to June 2010. 

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

I'll do his actual party post soon.  I can't believe how much you've changed in one year.  M'Liz says years 2 to 3 are the biggest change and I have to agree with her.  You just seem HUGE from one year ago.  I love you buddy!