Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Balancing Act

Here's my kids on a Friday (October 19th, 2012) while Mommy works downstairs at the desk.
 
We are borrowing a seat called a Bumbo from my sister-in-law (Heather). It's purpose is for Elizabeth but Benjamin enjoys sitting in it too. Sometimes I will feed him his lunch in it on the desk next to me and face him towards the T.V. so I can continue to get work done. Other times like this instance Benjamin will just randomly sit in it wherever it might be located. Eventually I put Elizabeth in it and gave her a toy to play with. Of course she kept dropping the blue tiger but it was cute. The tiger if I remember correctly was given to Benjamin by my cousin Cassie.
When mommy is working and daddy doesn't have homework to do on the computer upstairs the family room is the hangout (my office is taking up a large portion of the room). The T.V. is usually on with various movies or shows to try to keep Benjamin's attention but daddy has to intervene a lot to keep Benjamin off of mommy. On this date that form of intervening was holding a large ball with his legs so that Benjamin could balance on it. Benjamin just continues to love to be on top of things and is always impressing us with his balancing skills. And yes daddy did get a leg workout balancing the ball himself for Benjamin.

Drenched in Syrup

I was trying to be more organized (emphasis on trying) and so I created a little menu planner for our fridge. I also had a new recipe to try (or this was the 2nd time using it) for pancakes. "Oatmeal Pancakes" found over on thepeacefulmom.com. It is interesting to use leftover oatmeal in the pancakes but they turned out delicious. I don't normally make oatmeal with much leftovers though. I typically make a batch of oatmeal for my families needs for the day but I have heard of people who make a batch for the week so it would make sense to have leftovers. Anyways to make these pancakes took a concerted amount of effort on my part as I had to make oatmeal earlier in the week.
 

So this Thursday morning (October 18th, 2012) I made Oatmeal Pancakes. I do love how big they are and moist. Pancakes at our house is always a big hit with Benjamin. He devours them. Getting him to eat is never a problem. The issue is getting him to wait long enough for them to cool. After breakfast Jared and I ran to our computers without thinking about much except making sure Benjamin's hands and face were syrup free. I was working in the living room at the time when I noticed Benjamin back up at the table. I got up quickly to see he had dumped most of the syrup I had left on the table onto the table and was happily playing in it. I tried to get a picture of my little boys fingers just drenched and dripping with syrup but it didn't turn out the best.
 
 
I cleaned up the syrup from the table and scolded myself for being so careless (though I am sure I huffed at my husband too).

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Elizabeth at 5 Months

5 Months (and then some) have passed already...Elizabeth turned 5 months on November 15th, 2012.
 
 My little Elizabeth is growing so fast! At 5 months she has great head control and great balance. She loves to sit up on her own. Her daddy helped her to learn how to sit up by sitting her between his legs on the floor so she could see everything going on. Once she caught on she has demanded to be sitting up. She can already sit up in a high chair out at restaurants which is nice.

She is still in love with her brother who sometimes can take her or leave her. She loves to watch what he is doing and gets really excited when he gets near her.
 
We thought we were through the majority of the screaming phase...we were wrong. She has gone back to high pitched yelps or yells. She will do it when excited or mad.
 
Just like it was with Benjamin mommy is for feeding and comfort and daddy is for playing. She absolutely refuses to take a bottle which makes leaving her difficult. I went to see a movie recently and when I got home Jared said I am no longer allowed to leave her unless it's right around 2 hours as that seems to be her max.

If Elizabeth is tired daddy can only get her to go to sleep if they lay down on the bed and watch some TV (she is taken with Curious George). She will enjoy watching TV for a minute or two and then knock out.
 
Elizabeth sleeps in her car seat next to our bed. I plan on transitioning her to her crib soon but that room is sooooo cold unless the door is open all day. She does enjoy hanging out her in crib though during the day when I work on putting laundry away or cleaning her room.
 
I'm doing my best to enjoy each stage that Elizabeth is in because she is growing so fast and I know she will be onto the next stage soon. I love that she will entertain herself for decent chunks of time while sitting up on the floor, or in her jumper, or in her exersaucer.
 
We love watching Elizabeth grow and are so grateful to have her in our family. She has such amazing sparkly blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Her hair depending on the light seems to have 3 different colors so I am excited to see if she goes blonde, darker blonde or red.