Pulling Out The High Chair

Eva really didn't think the high chair was the best idea ever. Not the worst, but definately not the best.

Cawood, on the other hand, thought the high chair was the best idea! "You mean this chair is so I can sit and eat with you?!!?!"

Lord help us, Eva is figuring out the stairs. I was really hoping we'd have a few more months knowing she was secure (and trapped) when placed downstairs but she's just about to break free and have the whole house to explore. Time to pull out the baby gates.

Cawood? Nah. Leave him in the family room and you can pretty much bet you'll find him chewing on the table leg.

Twins in matching Halloween PJ's from Nana. *************************************************
On a different note: I'm totally bummed out today. Long story short: A few weeks ago I caught Faith playing with the crystal basket Mary Ashley (flower girl) carried in our wedding. Feeling a surge of panic, I took that basket and placed it high on a shelf in my bedroom where Faith wouldn't be able to reach it.

DJ's been wanting some new windows and we had one installed in our bedroom yesterday (the old one didn't open). . . they broke my crystal basket. It's absolutely irreplacable. DJ doesn't like stuff so I hardly have any things. The few things I do have mean something to me and the crystal basket from my wedding was at the top of the list. But it's gone and now we have a window that opens in our bedroom instead.

I'd rather have the basket.

More Kisses

Eva was playing on the floor last night when Cawood army-crawled over to her.

DJ drew my attention to the situation by saying, "look, he's chewing on her head."

"DJ!" I exclaimed, "that's how little babies give kisses. He's *kissing* her!"

This twin thing surprises me with sweetness every single day.

To A Stand

I gave the twins their nightly bath as usual tonight, dressed them in some fresh PJ's and put them on the floor of the family room to play. Eva Marie absolutely sprinted (via crawl) to the bathroom to sit and watch Faith finish her bath.

She sat on the floor for a few minutes but soon decided she needed a better view: that little girl crawled to the edge of the tub and reached her little hands up and over the edge before pulling herself to a stand. Just like that, Eva can stand.

Bedtime Prayers

Not perfect, but so very sweet! God knows what she means.

(I should drill her harder on memorizing prayers but I'm enjoying these innocent, sweet, imperfect versions.)

Volume Up.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
To angels watch me through the night
Until I wake in morning light. Amen

First Kisses

Tonight, for the very first time, little Eva crawled over to me where I was lying on the floor and planted a big, wet, open-mouthed, baby kiss smack on my forehead.

Is there anything sweeter?

Feet In The Night

My Little Gourmet In The Making

I was lying on the couch in our living room talking to my mom when Faith came down the stairs. From my position I could see the stairs but not the kitchen. I heard her move into the kitchen, open a drawer, rummage around, and close the drawer. I then watched her come through the doorway from the kitchen and move back upstairs. She was hiding something behind her back and went to move it quickly to her chest as she changed directions heading back up the stairs. When she moved that something, I saw she had a wooden spoon.

I called to her and said, "Faith, it's OK. You can play with the wooden spoon." She pulled the spoon from hiding and confirmed, "I can make celery tea with this?"

"Of course," I told her. I thought she was playing pretend, or I was talking with my mom and not really paying 100% attention. . . whatever. I didn't care what she did with that wooden spoon.

So I came upstairs chucking to myself, to blog about how Faith is really not so sneaky. . . HA! She thought she could outwit me. . . wooden spoon indeed.

And suddenly she presented me with "celery tea." It looks like there are some grapes thrown in for good measure. Maybe some string cheese. And this, my dear friends, is Faith's very first chef-created meal. Just like Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Mommy, Faith likes intuitive cooking.

We all start somewhere.

How Fun!

Just a little video of Cawood laughing at Faith:

The Last Beautiful Day

DJ warned me on Tuesday night that Wednesday was likely to be the last nice day until spring. Heeding his advice, I took the kids to the park.

First things first, all three kids went for a swing:

Faith scampered off to play on the slides while the babies and I took some more pictures. . .

Loading the kids in the car to go home I grabbed some trash and took it to the park's can. This sweet lady who had been watching us play stopped me and said simply, "You are amazing." Most days I feel very blessed, but amazing. . . I don't know. But it was a nice little compliment regardless and made my afternoon a little better.

Oh, and that picture at the very top of the page? I LOVE IT! I'm going to fix the upper left corner and have an 11x13 in black and white printed.

Thank You God

As Faith came to me for a quick snuggle I said, "I love you so much. Thank you God, for Faith."

To which Faith replied, "Thank you God for Mommy."

Me: and for Eva and Cawood.

Faith: and for Daddy.

Amen.

Just Like Grandma. . .

. . . Eva wakes up smiling.
She gets it honest:

And for good measure, a picture of Cawood:

I'm glad to see it comes so natural for Eva, just like Grandma! I've had to work long and hard at having a (almost) continual positive outlook.

A New Bed For Eva

These past few days/weeks Cawood has been sleeping between DJ and me, mostly because he pesters Eva while they are sleeping. One night I even found Cawood lying flat on top of Eva and Eva screaming her fool head off.

Uncle Todd and Aunt Barb had the perfect solution to the problem: Emma's old crib! They brought it down on Saturday and Uncle Todd set it up in the twins room/office. Yay! Saturday night they both slept fabulously well in their very own crib. Excellent. Last night wasn't as great, but we'll take what we can get.

So here's Uncle Todd finishing up the crib. Side by side so the sweet little things can reach out and touch one another but they can't roll on top of each other.

Sweet Eva. She can now pop her little butt right out of the Bumbo. Off she goes to explore. Sigh. I really liked when they were stuck in there. This kid can G-O.
Eva and Maui:
Uncle Todd and Eva (wow, look at that displeasure):
Mr. Personality and Mr. Personality:
Aunt Barb gave Faith a snazzy new helmet to wear when riding her . . .
NEW (used) BIKE! YAY!!!
Hey, I thought she wasn't allowed to play with my iPod anymore. Hmm. . . I took this picture and didn't even realize she had it in her hand. Lordy I'm too busy. Too much going on and I don't even see what's smack in front of my face.

Thank You

I get little developmental emails regularly on Faith and the twins. I found this in my email this afternoon: Three-year-olds specialize in blurting embarassing questions in public, ("Why is that lady so fat?")

It reminded me of what happened just a few hours ago at Wal-Mart. We stopped in to pick up some fruit and cereal for the twins. After I checked out the cashier handed me my bags. I said, "Thank you."

The cashier did not respond. Faith followed up with, "Thank you, old lady."

Little Girls and Baby Dolls

Did everyone see Barb's comment on the most recent Cawood video, the one where he was making boy noises?

She wrote: They are monster, or dinosaur, or truck, or car, or bad guy sounds. Boys just know how to make them like girls just know to be gentle with baby dolls. I've got a lot of teaching to do with you!

Anyway, The very day I took that video I also took this picture of Faith and her doll. She came and asked me for a towel and bottle of water and then went ahead and fed her baby. Why a towel? Really, that tells you how lazy I am. . . rather than use a bib, most of the time I'll just use a towel under the babies chins to collect milk dribbles. It's easier.

Don't worry Grandma. DJ still uses bibs so all that work you put into making them is appreciated.

Who's That Good Looking Kid?

How funny is Cawood playing with that other little boy in the mirror?

And Eva, napping in her carseat at home after running errands. . .
Yes, Grandma. I loosened the harness.

Nice Try

We've been having trouble lateley getting Faith to eat well. It's been going on a few weeks or maybe even months, but she really only wants to eat what she wants to eat.

Last night before dinner she pulled a package of break and bake cookies from the fridge and asked if we could make them. I agreed, thinking they could be dessert.

An hour later we all sat down to chicken and dumplings. Faith declared it "yucky" and refused to take even a single bite, begging instead for cookies. Battle ensued. Finally Faith walked away from the table, upon which was perched a bowl of the cookies.

Three or more minutes passed and she was back.
Faith: Mommy, Daddy, go upstairs.
Mommy: No. We are eating. You need to take three bites of dinner.
Faith: No. It's yucky. Go upstairs!
Mommy: Faith, if I go upstairs I'm taking the cookies with me.
Faith: (long pause. . .thinking). Just leave the cookies on the table and go upstairs.

Scrub A Dub Dub

As I prepared the kids bath last night the twins started down the hallway. . . they knew what time it was! Look at that smile on Eva's face: "BATHTIME!"

Eva first. . .

. . . then Cawood.

You can hear Eva crying in the background of the video. That's because Faith, Cawood and I were having a little party in the bathroom while she was left (abandoned) in the family room with Daddy. She was crawling down the hallway trying to get to the rest of us as I took this video.

Cawood making boy noises:

I am always amazed at how different Cawood is from his sisters. The girls NEVER made noises like this. He is just being a boy. "WWAAAHHH"

Food, Real Food . . . Cawood Likey

We had Mike and Trish over Saturday night for Trish's birthday. I made some baked ziti and I am not exaggerating one bit when I tell you Cawood ate my *entire* serving. Honest to goodness, every bite I had initially put on my plate for myself went into that little seven-and-a-half-month-old boy's belly. Lumps of Italian sausage and all. Everything.

He did it again this afternoon, only this time with Faith's Kraft mac 'n cheese. Eva still eats the puréed meals, but Cawood's moving onward and upward.

Quietly

No fussing, no pain, no complaints. Eva sprouted her second tooth today.

Just One Today

I took Faith to Cookie Cutters this afternoon for a haircut. Nothing major, she wants to grow her hair long like Barbie so it was just a little trim to clean the ends.

DJ was sleepy so I left him home with sleeping Eva. I took a wide-awake Cawood with us so DJ could nap.

Everyone's seen a picture of Cawood recently, right? I walked in to Cookie Cutters holding Cawood on one hip and Faith's hand on the opposite side. We approached the counter and the man eyed us and said, "How many kids cuts today?"

Made me chuckle.

Self-Feeding

OK, so our lives are potentially getting a little easier. . . the babies can (somewhat) feed themselves. Yes, I totally let the twins eat puffs off the floor.

Well, the story is: Faith LOVES these puffs and we keep them around for her all the time. They are actually by Gerber and made for kids around the twins age. No harm, no foul if the twins eat them. Faith left the container on the floor where Cawood found it. Cawood spilled the puffs and Eva came to investigate. . . the rest you can see.

I didn't realize the twins could self-feed, but obviously they can. Good news for me!

Seriously? Anyone care to notice how filthy Eva's shirt is? This is about two hours after dinner and yes, I completely let her wear this shirt until bath time. *SHE* is clean; it's just her shirt that's dirty. If you've never raised twins and a pre-schooler simultaneously, no judgement. Some days are tougher than others. She looks happy, right? That's the important thing.

Last night I had two screaming, hungry babies on my hands. I put them both down on the floor and held a bottle for each of them. Eva reached up and grabbed hers with both hands. GREAT! You want to feed yourself? Go to it. It simply makes things easier for me.

Sleeping Prince

Faith and I have been playing with her Cinderella castle all afternoon. She had all of her little princes and princesses lined up inside the castle standing at attention. During our game Cawood came over and knocked down the figures. Attempting to replace them, I told Faith to help me. We started putting all the little princes and princesses back in the castle, but one prince was being especially stubborn and we couldn't get him to stand again.

Faith, quick little girl that she is, told me, "He's tired." She laid him down in the castle and asked me to continue playing castle. So it's back to castle games I go. . .

Target

I told Faith this morning that we need batteries for Eva's swing. "Don't forget batteries at Target, OK? Oh and also shampoo and conditioner."

To which Faith promptly replied, "I think we are out of dolls. We need a new Belle doll at Target."

Cawood Eats

I know I've told you before, but wow does that little man of ours eat! So much so that I can't keep up with him. This past week he's been waking in the night screaming for food. It's not milk the boy wants either; he wants FOOD. Last night I fed him his regular dinner and then just before bed fed him a FULL teacup (6-8 oz) of heavy oatmeal. He ate every last bite and then slept all night. Granted he still wanted to sleep by my side but at least he wasn't screaming for food at 2am, which is the norm right now.

More please!

(spoon just off camera) Cawood says, "I love me some oatmeal!"

Because Cawood has been doing well with texture I think I'm going to buy him some Quaker oatmeal. I'll see how he does with that over the Beach Nut flakes. Whatever I can do to fill up that boy. Those of you out there only with daughters: I'm telling you - boys are different. In lots of ways, but this food thing is throwing me off.

Play Time

Yesterday was a rough day. Faith woke early for Church and CCD, none of the kids have been napping very well lately, and by 6pm everyone was just GROUCHY! Including me. Exasperated, I packed the kids in the car and drove them to the park across from our Church for some play-time. It worked, sort-of. The kids were happy while we were playing but once we arrived home they were back to being grouchy - not as grouchy, but it was absolutely obvious we were coming up on bedtime.

I put the twins back-to-back in a swing:

This should be obvious, but I was surprised to feel that the twins are heavier to push than Faith. I did some quick math in my head: roughly 18 pounds + roughly 16 pounds is absolutely more than 30 pounds. Yup. I could feel it.

And this. . . this is one of my all-time favorite Eva photos. Faith, collecting leaves. During the summer she collected flowers and it's looking like she's going to collect leaves in the fall. Whatever makes her happy.