Totally Partied Out!

Lucas went to Blane's 3rd birthday party on Saturday morning and had an amazing time. It was at a local restaurant with a playground and Lucas thought it was so cool. I'll post pics on that soon. After the party we played outside and then went to Target. He hasn't been napping on the weekends, so we didn't stop for that. At about 5pm we let him watch some t.v. while we started dinner. We came out to sit with him after getting it started and found him sound asleep on the couch like a teenager! We debated on whether or not we should wake him up. We decided we'd let him rest and just not make an effort to be quiet, figuring he'd wake up in 30 min or so.

Here he is at 5pm...

6pm...

and 8pm...

At 8pm we finally carried him upstairs to his bed. He woke up while we put on his pj's, but then slept straight through to 7am! Wow, another first in the sleep department this week.

Loose Little Baby Muscles

A first time for everything...

LB fell asleep in his bed by himself last night and slept "until da sun came up"!! It wasn't intentional. I was rocking him to sleep when I heard Ellen wake up. I knew Jeff was in the shower, so I told him I was going to tend to Ellen and that I'd be right back to rock him some more. I took about 5 min with Ellen and when I went back to his room he was breathing his deep sleep breaths that are my sign that he's down for the night. Yay! AND, to make this post even better, Miss Ellen has fallen asleep in her crib by herself for both naps today! We had to go back in a couple of times to put in her pacy and wind her mobile, but eventually she drifted off. Now we just have to work on night time with her... I think she gets overly tired and fights it and we end up having to pick her up and rock/nurse her a few times before she finally goes to sleep. Maybe I'll try putting her down earlier...

A Train Party!

We are now in the midst of a birthday party extravaganza, with a birthday party just about every Saturday for the next two months. Charles kicked it off this weekend with his 3rd birthday party, which Mark and Wendy threw for him at Pullen Park. It was so much fun! Charles is a lucky boy... at 5pm the night before the party his parents realized that the train at Pullen Park was away for maintenance, so the train theme of the party was in jeopardy. They rushed around and were able to rent a little train for the party, which I think ended up making the party even better. The boys loved it and rode it for 3 hours, around and around the parking lot.

First things first, however, Blane and Lucas sat right down to have their pizza lunch....

And then Lucas planted himself right beside the birthday boy, as he always does so that he can be closest to the cake when it is served!

He and Blane really enjoyed the party favors...

An added bonus was that Ellen got to hang our with her baby friend, Karis...

Ellen was such a trooper. The party was during her nap, but she held out as long as she could and then laid her little head on my shoulder for a snooze...

Here is a close up of her asleep on my shoulder...

And here are three of the turkeys going for a ride on the train...

And here is Lucas with two of his friends that he's known since he was a baby. Naomi and he share the same birthday and so she was his very first friend : )

Lucas tooks this job very seriously!

And finally, sweet baby all snuggly and warm!

5 Months Old!

Dear Ellen,

My letter to you for your five month birthday isn't that different from your four month, or any other month for that matter. From the moment we met you five months ago you have been such pleasure to be around. If you knew how to smile as a newborn, I'm sure you would have been born with a big, wide open grin. This is the expression that we are most used to seeing on you and we make efforts to see these smiles all day long. You have a new smile this month that I love just as much. Your smile stretches across your face, your eyes sparkle and we can see your little gums. And you have a precious little giggle, but you reserve those mostly for Lucas. Your dada and I are around you all day and we only get giggles when we tickle you, but when Lucas gets home you giggle unprompted at his silliness. I look forward to the days ahead with you two - you clearly adore each other.

This past month you have continued to give us the gift of sleep, going down around 8pm and waking once before 8am. Sometimes, however, you don't want to miss the fun and wake up a couple of times before your dada and I go to bed. I used to nurse you back to sleep, but we realized this wknd that you like to suck to sleep more than actually consume milk, so we tried a pacifier and now putting you to bed is a little easier! I nurse you, give you the pacy before you fall asleep, put you in the crib with the mobile playing music , fan making noise and twilight ladybug shining stars on your ceiling. Most of the time you fall asleep, but either way, you are making great strides with sleep. For naps you usually fall to sleep easily on your own. You are still swaddled for sleep, but can now roll over onto your belly, so we're gradually removing the swaddle by just swaddling one arm now.

You still make high pitched bird sounds when you want our attention, which we think are so cute - you are still our Lady Bird. Your grasping skills have improved - you mostly reach for toys, plates, food, my hair and Tyson's ears! You are still enjoying only breastmilk, so we haven't introduced any other foods to you yet. But you're starting to look at my food and open your mouth, so I think you'll be tasting some fruits and veggies in the next few weeks.
You won't remember these sweet days, but I am cherishing every one of them.

I love you,

Mama

You're talking a lot these days!

And always smiling...

And rolling over...

Fair skinned like your Dada...

Jump, Jump, Jump-a-roo!

We had a play date with Blane and Baby Karis this weekend and Ellen got to try out Karis's jumparoo. I didn't think she had good enough head control, but she's growing like a weed and I hadn't realized that she's gotten pretty strong. She had skipped her nap and I figured she wouldn't like it, but she seemed to love it and stayed in for a long time. Look at those tiny feet on the ground!

So, of course, as soon as I could I checked Craigslist to see if one was available. We got lucky and made arrangements to get one the next day. Here is the little lady in her new toy...

She likes it, but isn't thrilled with it like she was at Karis's house. She hardly ever makes frowny faces, so I had to snap a picture of her this afternoon. She kept making this face and then when I'd smile at her she'd grin back at me. (I took her out right after this pic was taken!)

And finally, Ellen wasn't the only one that wanted to try it out : )

Rain, Rain Go Away! We're ready for Spring!

Food

We have a strange child - he prefers salad over pizza. Now granted, there has to be some Ranch dressing nearby for dunking, but still. When we go out for pizza we ask him if he want some and he says, "No, just salad!" Fine with me. Now when we go out to dinner I immediately order him a side salad and save my $5 on the kid's meal. He doesn't get much variety at home though. Just about every night he has lettuce/spinach, carrots, cucumbers and pasta. His teachers are great about offering a variety of foods at school, so I don't worry about it. And just to be clear, he would eat cookies, ice cream or marshmallows every night if we let him. Here is the turkey with all of his bowls the other night... he keeps the dishwasher full!

Toy Giraffe

This little toy is just one more example of how different Lucas and Ellen are! Lucas got this as a gift when he was a baby and didn't play with it at all. I was flipping through a magazine the other night and saw an ad for what looked like the same toy... for $22! I got it out for Ellen the next day thinking that if it's so expensive that there must be something to it... and there is in Ellen's opinion. She has never taken a pacifier, but her hands and this giraffe are just as good. We now make sure we have this toy when we go out of the house or when we need her to sit in her chair while we cook dinner. Lucas never had a toy that we HAD to have with us. I was always his toy : )

Still some baby left in him...

On Saturday I convinced Lucas to take a stroller ride while I got in a quick jog. He has never been a fan of the stroller, but sat quietly and ate his snack for most of the ride. We did have to stop several times, however, to pick dandelions! He is so sweet. This is what I kept hearing: "Mommy, dere's anudder flower for you!" and then we'd have to stop, pick it and he'd watch me put it behind my ear... except for the one that you can see by his hand in the 2nd picture...

Little Baby on a Big Rug

Fun in the Snow AND the Sun!

On March 1st it snowed a few inches and on March 7th it was 84 degrees! I much prefer the warmer weather. I am really loving the time change and that it stays lighter longer. We played outside last night until 7:30. I just have to plan ahead and make dinner before Lucas comes home from school so that we can play hard and then come in and eat right away... hmm, I have to figure out how to do this.

Oh yeah, March 7th was Ellen's first day at the park! We played there on her birthday, October 18th, so it was kind of neat see her rolling around there. Both kids slept all night that night, so we are definitely going to stay outside a lot this spring...

Logical thoughts...

Lucas at a little after 9pm last night: "Mama, see (pointing to the clock) it is 9. Time to go to bed. When dee sun comes up it be 1!"

Makes sense to me that we start at the beginning when we wake up!

Our Birdhouse

We now have a birdhouse in our backyard! Holly came over to meet Ellen and brought tons of gifts, one of them being this little birdhouse that Lucas got to paint and put together. I think it looks great - it brightens up our backyard! He is very proud of it : )

My Babies in Motion

I went a year without posting any videos and now I am posting a lot in one week. Ellen has inspired me because I realize again how fast babies change and a lot of our family hasn't met her yet... so enjoy!

This video is from earlier this week when it snowed. I like this video because it shows our house, my two-toned Ford Explorer, and you can hear Lucas's sweet voice.

This is a video of Ellen's WONDERFUL smiley, happy face that we get to see all day long. We love the way she opens her mouth and smiles with her eyes when she is happy to see us!

This is a close up of her sweet, chubby cheeks!

And finally, this one is a quick one of her rolling over. She's a pro now.

Conforming...

Until yesterday I thought LB's favorite colors were pink and black because he always chooses these colors. It had crossed my mind to tell Lucas that boys don't usually like pink, but decided that there was no reason why he shouldn't be able to like pink and kept my mouth shut. Well somebody else told him because yesterday when I asked him what flavor ice cream he was going to get me he said, "You get pink! Pink is for grirls!"