We are in North Carolina for Easter, and it is sooo cold!! I think it would have been warmer in Utah;-) We went to church, which was a total waste. We ended up sitting outside the whole time, and the kids were wild. Then we went to Easter brunch at the The Carolina Hotel. It was a really nice spread, but I was disappointed they didn’t have eggs. They just had one station set up with made to order eggs. I thought they should have had a dish with scrambled eggs. I was also really hoping for eggs benedict and blintzes! Nora was extremely fussy all through brunch. She cried almost the whole time, and I really didn’t get to enjoy eating. I guess that is life with little kids

This morning when the kids woke up there were eggs hidden all over for an egg hunt. Ian kept going around picking them up saying “cascaroon”. I thought it was one of the funny words that he makes up. He kept saying it every time he found an egg. I finally decided to look it up on the internet. Cascaron is the spanish word for decorated egg! I couldn’t believe that he knew that. I guess the Spanish lessons are paying off

At church he said some more funny things. He was sitting by a statue in the foyer of the church. He stood up and bumped his head. He came over crying and said “I hit my head on the glass lady.” I felt bad that he was crying, but I had all I could do not to start laughing when he said “glass lady”. Outside he went to the playground with Scott and Emma. When they were leaving he said to Scott “Hey Dad, we had fun churching!” He is such a funny little guy. He is always making up words and saying funny things.

Nora turned 6 months today. We celebrated by giving her solid food for the first time. I tried bananas. At first she just wanted to grab the spoon. After she got over that, she seemed to enjoy them. She kept opening her mouth and acting like she wanted more. After a few more spoons she started making the funniest faces. I couldn’t really tell if she liked it or not. Once she shuddered, like maybe it was sour. I think we will keep trying for a few days, and see how it goes.

This last month has been so much fun. This past week Nora learned to sit up on her own. She is still wobbly, and I wouldn’t let her sit by herself for long. But, she can do it for short bursts of time. She has also started babbling a lot more. She has started saying ba-ba-ba-ba, and she will copy me when I do it. Today I started noticing her babbling na-na-na sounds too. She has gotten so much better with her hands. She can reach out with both hands and grab things. She immediately brings them to her mouth

She has been sleeping pretty well, but kind of sporadically. One night she will sleep all night, and the next she will wake up 4 times. She is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room, and I am not in a hurry to move her out. She is getting kind of big for the bassinet. I am thinking it is either time to move her to her room, or move the crib into our room. I am just not ready to move my baby to her own room

Nora started sitting up sometime last week, at about 5 months 3 weeks. She is still pretty wobbly, but after I prop her up she can stay that way for a few moments.

Long time no post…..

We are in North Carolina again. We had a great day today. Scott, Dad, and I all played 9 holes. Then we went by the house and picked up Mom and the kids. We all went out on the course together I took Nora in her car seat, and we had 2 other carts. Ian had a great time. He loved being out there hitting the ball and running around. Emma wasn’t too interested in golf, but she had fun riding around in the cart.

Yesterday we were out on the deck in the back. A man hit his drive into the leaves near the end of the backyard grass. Emma and Ian were running around being really noisy on the deck. I kept shushing them trying to get them to be quiet. The guy hit his shot and started to get into his cart. Emma looked out at him and said “You know, my Daddy is a better golfer than you.” I almost fell over! Luckily, he was a good sport. He laughed and said “You know, I bet he is”. Out of the mouths of babes! I sat down after and explained to her that it isn’t nice to say that to people. She had a hard time understanding, and kept saying, “But it is true!”

Yesterday I made chili. I put the pot in the sink last night and filled it with water to soak. When we got up this morning it was sitting in the sink, all red. Ian climbed up onto his seat at the counter and looked in the sink. He yelled out “Hey Mom! Is that lava?” It was so cute

It has been quite awhile since I have posted. I am trying to limit my computer time, and spend more time playing with my kids I moved the computer out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. Now in order to use it, I have to turn it on every time. Just not seeing it helps me to not “jump on just for a minute” which turns into an hour

The weather has been so nice lately! Yesterday we took the kids over to Jeremy Ranch Elementary and they rode their bikes and played on the playground. I took Nora in my new Ball Baby Overall Mei Tai It is the Galaxy black reversible to black waves. It might be the prettiest carrier I have ever seen It was super comfortable too. I think that may be our summer carrier The kids had a great time. Emma was so funny. When we got there she was scared and didn’t want to ride her bike. But by the end, she was riding all around and doing great. Her bike is really too small for her, but I don’t think we are going to get her a new one this year. It should work until she is ready to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. It is too bad we bought the pink Barbie one, or we could pass it down to Ian. Oh well, at least Nora will be able to use it

We also talked about buying a minivan again yesterday. I really want to buy one so badly! I keep thinking about it, but I know that I should just stick with my Pilot. We will lose so much money on the new van, because we are so upside down on the Pilot loan. I was thinking maybe we could get them to pay off the Pilot without rolling over the negative equity, but I looked to see how much I owe, and I just don’t see that happening. I think that I need to make the right financial decision, and not the emotional one Maybe in a another year or so!

We had our annual St. Patrick’s Day party on Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and we had a huge turn out! I made corned beef and cabbage, as usual. It was delicious!

We are loving the warm weather and can’t wait for summer. North Carolina is going to feel great!

Earlier this week I took the kids to have their pictures taken for Easter. My mom saw a photographer next to her dry cleaners. She was taking kids pictures with little chicks and a bunny. I thought it sounded like fun, so I called to see if she had any appointments left. She did! I got the kids really cute coordinating outfits from Gymboree, and they all looked adorable. The chicks were so cute–they were only 3 days old. First she set up the 3 kids, with Emma holding Nora, and Ian next to them. Nora kept slumping over, because Emma was so excited about the chicks that she kept forgetting that she was holding Nora. They put the bunny in Ian’s arms and spread the chicks around and started snapping pictures. All of a sudden Ian started crying and saying that the bunny had pinched him! I looked down at his arm and the bunny bit Ian. He started crying and then they were all terrified of the bunny So, I don’t think we got any bunny pictures. When they took Nora’s picture we laid her down on her tummy, and put the chicks on her back and all around her. She kept flailing her arms trying to grab them. Every time she banged her hands down the chicks scattered. I was afraid that she was going to hurt them I can’t wait to see how the pictures turned out. Aside from the killer bunny, it was probably the easiest photo shoot we have ever had.

I know I say this every month, but where did the time go? I can’t believe how big you have gotten. You are definitely not a newborn anymore. You have already changed so much, and I miss that you aren’t “truly little” anymore. I liked it when we went places and you were the youngest baby…now you seem huge compared to the tiny newborns. You are my last baby, and I am truly trying to enjoy and savor every moment.

This month you have gotten so much more interested in toys. You can see them and reach out and grab them now. I watch you look at things and struggle to pick them up. The other day you were in your swing, and you had the little frog rattle. You were holding it and looking at it, and of course putting it in your mouth. You dropped it, just right by your side. You could still see it, and you were working those little fingers so hard trying to pick it up. You kept grabbing the seatbelt instead, but you finally did it and your eyes just lit up.

You still have the most beautiful big blue eyes. Everywhere we go people comment on your eyes, and how bright and alert you are. You are such a sweet, mellow baby, but you are looking around and taking it all in.

You are still rolling from your back to your front. I lay you down on your activity mat and you reach up and bat at the toys. Then you roll over onto your stomach. You are happy that way for a few minutes. You pick your head up and look around. You are starting to rock back and forth on your knees. But, you get tired of it quickly, and end up trying to eat the rug and crying. You haven’t really tried to sit up yet, but I don’t think it will be long. You can sit on my lap and balance for a few seconds before I have to catch you.

You still love your hands and your feet. You especially love them in your mouth. You still love your thumb, but maybe not quite as much as last month. You are really into your feet. Last night when I was getting you ready for bed you were sucking on your big toe!

Everyday I look at you and think about how thankful I am to have you in my life! Happy 5 months sweet Nora.

Today was the Successful Mothering Convention. I went with Vicky again this year, and we had a good time. I brought Nora with me, and she was great. I never had to get up and leave any of the classes. She was great! I wore her in my Mei Tai for the first half, and then got the stroller when she wanted to sleep.

I just wanted to write a bit about what I learned to kind of “download”. I think the biggest thing that I took away from today was that I need to really do a better job of involving my kids. One of the speakers talked a lot about how kids develop feelings of value and self worth by doing things for themselves. When we do everything for our kids we are teaching them that they are not capeable of doing the things themselves, and therefor they must not be very valuable. That is NOT the lesson I want to teach my kids.

So many times it is just easier for me to do things. It seems like we are always in a hurry to get out the door. It is so much easier for me to just grab Ian’s coat and shoes and put them on him. I know that at this point, he is capeable of doing it, it just takes him so looong! One of the things I am really going to try to work on it to have them do more things for themselves. I think over the last few months I have gotten better at this, but I have a long way to go.

One of my favorite sessions was the one on Positive Discipline. This is really my ideal parenting method. I say ideal, because I don’t always do it. But this is what I strive for. I want to teach my kids to do things because they want to, and they are the right things to do. I don’t want them to do things because they get rewards or because I want them to. She talked about giving hugs when kids are having tantrums. I tried it with Ian tonight when I got home, and it really worked. It makes so much sense. When they are crying and upset, what could feel better than a hug from someone who loves them? I bought a couple of her books, and I am really going to try to incorporate more of her principles into my discipline.

My other favorite was on the Utah Mama’s Handbook. I learned about a bunch of fun things to do with the kids. Rebecca talked about planning out your schedule at the beginning of every month. I think I am going to try that. I will look at what is available that month, and then plan a weekly or bi-weekly activity. There are some symphony things and some plays that I really want to take the kids to.

It was a really valuable day! I think that I learned a lot, and it is great to just get those tips and ideas to incorporate into my parenting. I think it helps just to hear about the parenting methods and to just get back to doing the things that I really believe work, and try to get away from the things that I don’t think work, but that I do when I am frustrated…like time outs

Katie from Peekaboo Photos does it again

I meant to post this a few days ago, but life has been so busy!!

I can’t believe that my first born turned 5! Where has the time gone? I am so proud of her. She is developing into such a nice little person. She is really doing well at Little Miners Montessori. She makes friends easily and is very social. She is really a turning into a little artist. She loves to sit and draw, and can occupy herself for hours that way.

One of her favorite things to do is to write cards to people. She takes a little note card and writes on it, and seals it in an envelope. She asks me how to spell the words she wants to write. I love looking at them afterwards and seeing the order of the words. It is priceless. She is getting much better at writing lately, the letters are all uniform shape, and in a straight line.

Emma was thrilled about her birthday this year. We had a party a couple of weeks before her birthday, and it was like she had two birthdays this year. The day before her birthday she started telling everyone she saw “Tomorrow is my birthday!”. She told the checker at Albertson’s and he gave her a huge heart box filled with chocolates! She had school on her birthday and she was thrilled. She wasn’t allowed to bring cake, so I made little heart shaped melon pieces, and put them on popsicle sticks. Then I made a yogurt dip with orange juice and honey in it. They were a big hit at school. The day of her birthday she kept going up to strangers and asking “Have you heard the good news? Today is my birthday!” Everyone got a big kick out of her