Anna is 5 months

Our little lady turns 5 months old today! She continues to get stronger every day and loves her bumbo, jumperoo, and chewing on anything she can get her hands on! She sleeps in her pack-n-play in our room for naps and at bedtime and soon we will drop the bassinet section down to the bottom. She will occasionally sleep in bed with me, and may start to do so more often as winter approaches...body heat, ya know! She continues her cat napping with an occasional 1-2 hour nap, but those are still rare. She naps every 2 hours for 30-45 minutes until bedtime which is between 7-8pm. She has adjusted her own bedtime to earlier which has worked well so that I can spend one-on-one time with Eli for his bedtime.



She continues to be a joy and is such a happy little girl. She is content literally ALL the time unless she is getting hungry or too tired, which can occasionally happen on longer car trips. Anna is one that you know wants something cause she is never upset just because!

Anna now rides in her stroller without the car seat and can sit up to see the world around her, which she loves:

Her tooth continues to poke through and I can almost guarantee more are on the way with the way she chews and drools. Her hair remains a beautiful strawberry-ish color and I look forward to see if it remains this color as she grows. It will be fun to have a girl to play with her hair!

Next month Anna turns 6 months and it just so happens to be Thanksgiving! How appropriate for Anna to try her first foods! I need to research again which foods to introduce and when as I have completely forgotten from Eli. Of course he didn't like food for quite awhile, so if Anna does, it will be new for me!

Now for Anna's 5 month pictures:

Happy 5 months sweet girl!

Just another post about our kiddos!! :)

This post doesn't have much besides PICTURES! But, there are a few funny Eli-isms to share:

1) Eli likes to say "I wanna show you something"
2) When Anna & I come out of the bedroom in the morning he says "Daddy look, we have visitors!"
3) Eli has to say this about a million times a day "I wanna ask you a question."
4) Eli will befriend anyone...I promise you. Everywhere we go, there are no strangers. He'll just join in on whatever other kids are doing, big or small, and will even ask THEIR parents questions about things he wants to do. Yes, stranger danger will have to be taught in the not to distant future...yikes!
5) Eli has become very interested in board games. Unfortunately we only have adult games so right now he plays Yahtzee, Trival Pursuit, and Scrabble. Which he actually enjoys! We plan to get him Candyland and Chutes & Ladders soon.


Oh, and my schedule has been changed AGAIN to all mornings. This is easier on everyone and works great as I have undivided time with Eli & Anna starting around noon each day. I am organizing our afternoons each week to include little field trips such as the library, park, running errands, mall play area, etc. Then some activities at home such as crafts, baking, and games. Library time has been wonderful as we get a bunch of books, a couple videos, and learn about borrowing, sharing, and taking care of books! So far it is working much better and I can a difference in Eli's behavior, too. While he is a pretty flexible kiddo, I think he does like structure to a certain degree. And we all know I like structure, so it is working well!

Okay, now for the pictures as I promised.

We got out the Jumperoo this week....Anna enjoys it!

Eli enjoying the Jumperoo around the same age!:

Bumbo time...and toy chewing time:

Brother Eli in bumbo around same age:

First time in the highchair...she looks so tiny!:

And Eli!:

Now just some photos of a cute girlie:

Outdoor photo shoot with daddy:

"See my tooth...better to eat you with!!":

Oh, how Eli loves to make Anna laugh....too adorable!:

Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend we attended a pumpkin patch that I got a great deal on Groupon for. If you don't know about Groupon, it is hit or miss on deals I actually will use, but when one comes across, it is usually an awesome deal!! Anyway, we had not been to this pumpkin patch before so it was good to try out a new one. It was really big and we were there for THREE hours and still did not do everything! It was perfect for Eli as most of the activities were for the little kids. Plus, because it was so big, there weren't any lines or crowds! So thumbs up to KC Pumpkin Patch! Now for the pictures!

Pumpin' water old school style:

One of the MANY slides. This one was in a barn that was very dusty AND had a tv up on the wall with one of the football games on...smart, very smart :)

Diggin for bones:

And of course feeding the goats:

Anna needed to check out the goats, too!:

Anna loved my shirt with strings on it...chomp, chomp, chomp:

Forget sand, in the country, we play in corn!:

Slide #11 :)

Just chillin' in the wooden train:

Umm, #15 maybe?:

A dragon made out of tires....who would have thought?:

Now, if you look closely at this picture, you can see a strange coincidence:

Do you see it?? Look in the hold of the man....it's Anna & I! I had NO idea and neither did Eric until we got home and looked at the pictures!

MONSTER TRICYCLES!!:

A Pumpkin Pillow!



Enjoying this fall weather...hope you are too!

3 years, 1 month & 2 weeks....4 months & 2 weeks

The title to this post are the current ages of our kiddos and time is seemingly going fast again. I don't know about everyone else, but I go back and forth between feeling like time is like the speed of light or it is standing still. I guess it depends on how my day is going or how busy I am. Or maybe it is just the times I stop, take in what is going on in that moment, and try to take a mental picture to store away. Those times often make me cry, but it feels good to have those moments to remind me of how precious our time is. Regardless, I'm recently in awe of how big my little tykes are! Counting my blessings that is for sure!!

Anna had her 4 month well check last week and here are her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs. 14 oz. 90th% (Eli weighed 18 lbs. 3 oz.!)
Height: 27 in. (Eli was 26 3/4 in.) OFF THE CHARTS
Head: 17 in. 90th%

She checked out awesome and she continues to be a happy, healthy little lady!


Our sniffles, coughs, & sneezes continue on around here, but we are almost certain they are allergies. Both kiddos checked out fine at the doctor (after a nice $60 copay...yikes!) with clear ears, throats, and lungs. So, we are officially a family of allergies...*sigh* BUT, I can probably attribute some of Anna's nose ickiness on teething as a tooth is beginning to emerge on the bottom!! I was really shocked by this but she has been drooly and munchy for awhile. One day she just took my finger and shoved it in her mouth as if to say "Hey mom, this thing kinda hurts, see?". So, we'll see how fast or slow it comes in and if others are on the way but it seems a little early to me!! Eli's didn't come until 7 months!

As for our man Eli, he is in LOVE with preschool. Due to some moving around of my schedule, Eli now attends 3 mornings a week (Tuesday, Thursday & Friday) and is doing well. According to his teacher, him and some of the other boys in his class, have to sit in time out or be redirected on occasion, but overall he is doing just fine. On Friday when I picked him up, his teacher told me that during circle time he was twirling the hair of one of the girls in his class. How.cute.is.that. Last month they focused on apples and on themselves and this month is about careers. They have adorable artwork hanging up in their room and at least one paper is sent home a day. I got the idea from a friend of mine to simply string ribbon and use clothespins to display his work. I rearranged the kitchen some to give Eli his preschool work wall:

Eli continues to chat most of the day and sometimes he makes up words and will tell you a whole sentence that only HE understands. But then his next sentence will sound so grown up! One time in the bath I was encouraging him to try to use the toilet when he got out of the tub and said that he would earn an M & M if he did. He told me he didn't want to go (oh potty training, yet another story) and then proceeded to say as clear as day "M & M's are special for me and my tummy!". Ha!! He's quite the hoot for sure. He also is getting really good at correcting his own sentence structure. We don't correct him, we just model in our every day conversations, but he often will mix up "me" and "I" and other words of the sort along with verb usage. Lately he has corrected himself mid sentence which is too cute to hear. His favorite word right now is "why" and he can become quite distraught if ALL his "why" questions are not answered. Here's an example:
Me: "We are going to go home and lunch, okay?"
Eli: "Why?"
Me: "Because it is lunch time and our tummies are hungry."
Eli: "Why?"
Me: "Because he have to eat to make our bodies healthy and happy and ready to play the rest of today."
Eli: "Why?"
Need I go on?!

Oh, and speaking of the bath tub, Eli surprised me one night last week and got into the tub WITH his clothes on. I was changing Anna's diaper and asked him to come to me to help get his clothes off. He was taking awhile so I called his name and he said "I'm here...come check me out, mom!" and I just knew at that point where he was. Sadly, I did not get a picture but some cute cell phone footage. All I could do was laugh!

Thankfully I am now able to work 4 mornings and 1 afternoon. This always me more time with Eli & Anna and gives less time for my mom to watch both. I am coming up with ideas for activities we can do in the afternoon and hope to have a tentative plan of special activities and daily activities. Eli thrives on engagement and seems to enjoy the schedule of preschool. His behavior improves so much when he is involved and included. Here's hoping the new schedule and activities help!

Now for the pictures!

Gotta love the baby legs:

Daddy's little princess:

Lots of time in the Bumbo lately...she's doing great!:

Eric took this afternoon....love the sequence pictures:

One of my favorites EVER!!:

Tomorrow we attend the pumpkin patch so be looking for a post about our adventure....oh and Iowa pics soon to come, too!