Sunshine

Only in Georgia could we be snowed in for a week and then 2 weeks later, be outside playing in the beautiful 60+ degree weather.  Craziness!  But we loved it!  Saturday I took Ethie and his friends to the park and we had so much fun playing baseball, tag, swings.  It didn't matter that everyone else in Marietta had the same idea and the park was packed! 

Yesterday after church, we came home, changed clothes, and had a picnic at the park!  Heaven with my family!!!  Then we got to go spend quality time with more family in Carrollton.  Such a beautiful day!

*Side note--today is rainy and yucky.  But I'm sitting here blogging with a cup o' tea and my baby and it is still a beautiful day.

Plus I have to add my favorite recent pic of my sweet kiddos...

Oh, little sleepy girl

Last night was the first night in over 5 months that I have gotten a full, uninterrupted night's sleep.  Well, it wasn't completely uninterrupted, since I kept waking up in a panic to check her breathing (when will I ever stop doing that?).  But she slept 9 hours straight, all on her own!  Thank you, my Lilah love!

My parental musings:

I decided before Lilah was born that I was going to try to follow her lead as much as possible.  With Ethie, I had read many books and talked to many people and I tried hard to do what everyone said was best.  That meant that I put him in his crib awake at night and let him cry it out while I listened to him and cried in my bedroom.  I was trying to train him to sleep on his own, which worked.  It was not, however, pleasant for either of us.

This time, I decided to not read so many books and we've been trying hard to do what works best for our family.  I guess it's more like attachment-style parenting, which tends to follow the baby's lead rather than the parents'.  I knew it was worth it to me to get up with Lilah as many times as she needed me to be there for her.  I also felt better about her being in bed with us so I could be more immediately available to her.  It's been wonderful and I actually look forward to being with her in the night!

This week, it's seemed that she was waking up more in our bed and more restless and none of us were getting much sleep.  So I tried putting her to sleep in her crib and then bringing her in bed with us when she wakes up.  I guess last night her little body was just tired enough to stay asleep all night!  I love feeling so flexible and free to try different things to do what's best for her.  I love trying to read her cues and letting her know that we are there for her, no matter what.  It's different for every parent, but this is working great for us!   

The helicopter

Ethie brought home a model helicopter from Ohio.  He was very excited to put it together and we know James loves all things helicopter, so it was perfect!  They assembled it quickly and then decided it needed color.  So Ethie used his allowance money to buy some paint, and they went to town.  Yay for helicopter bonding :)

5 months ago...

our lovely little Lilah was born! 

5 months later, she:

• weighs about 15 pounds and is 25 inches long (chubba, chubba, we love her chunk)
• wears 3-6 month clothes (oh, and it's fun to dress her up!)
• still wakes up at least twice a night (more time to snuggle, I don't really mind)
• is getting used to her crib (snuggling in our bed is much more fun, for both of us)

• loves to put anything/everything in her mouth (especially fingers, her own or another's)
• has 2 little teeth on the bottom (sharp on fingers!)
• loves food as much as her daddy (she just sucked on a pickle for 5 minutes) 
  *side note-I was going to wait until 6 months to give her solids because of articles I've read.  However, Lilah apparently hasn't read those articles and she decided she wants food now.  She will grab it out of our hands.  So we've let her try sweet potatoes, broccoli, bananas, and yes, a pickle.  She is her daddy's girl! 

• loves her brother (making her smile is his favorite game!)

• loves, loves, loves to be held and snuggled (who wants to wash dishes anyway?)
• loves to be sung and read to (the Leapfrog book is her favorite toy)
• makes the cutest noises in the world (we have to work for her laugh, but it's so worth it!)
• is thrilled that she has toes (her other favorite toy)

• can roll over from tummy to back (but she prefers sitting up or being held)
• still has lots of hair and beautiful eyelashes (it's reddish-brownish, for now)
• has pretty dark eyes (blue or brown, we can't decide) 

• Oh, and she loves her tongue

(We love our little Lilah!!!)

Punch, punch, duck

We just signed Ethie up for martial arts.  I had kinda sworn that I would never do that because I hate violence and don't think it's a solution to anything.  However, I've had many people (friends, his teacher, his doctor) tell me that martial arts is great for helping kids with focus, self-discipline, following directions, respect for authority, etc.  Ethie has struggled a bit with those things in the past and even though he is doing much better lately (yay, Ethie!), I thought it would still be worth a try.  

And he loves it!  I guess I didn't know much about the martial arts, but it's not violent.  There is a lot of yelling, kicking, and punching going on, but it's so controlled and focused and personal.  I can see how it would help Ethie feel some control over his own little body and its actions.  And it's good exercise!   He was so into it and I could see how hard he was concentrating to get every move right.  

He even got the best effort award yesterday!  He was extremely proud and I was so happy for him!

Green smoothies

I've been craving these lately and haven't made them in a long time, so last night I made green smoothies.  I've discovered that people are much more willing to try them if you call them that instead of spinach smoothies.  And they are very delicious!   

I just filled the blender with fresh spinach, some o.j., bananas, pineapple, strawberries, vanilla yogurt and ice.  Blend together and you have a healthy, yummy green smoothie!

Ethie looked at it and made a face.  I told him to try one sip and after he did he said, "Just kidding, it's good."  James was a fan and obviously Lilah is too!  She was watching us drink it and kept opening her mouth for a bite, so we let her try a little bit.  That little girl loves food and she will kick and grab our spoons until she gets some!

Going on day 5

Yes, we are stir crazy.  Since the "snowpocalypse" happened five days ago, there has been no school and no leaving our little apartment.  Well, we went out to eat a block away the other night and James, sadly, had to return to school/work yesterday.  I am a little frightened of driving my little car on the ice with two kiddos, but I think today will be the day we venture out.  Maybe to Chick-a-play or somewhere crazy like that.

In the meantime, we have had a ton of quality family time!  We have played in the snow, played games, played with friends (Ethie), made cupcakes and pretzels, Just Dance(ed) for kids, cooked, put away the Christmas stuff, taken naps, practiced reading and math (Ethie), discovered toes (Lilah) and gotten along very nicely for the most part.  

It's been fun to cozy up together in our warm little apartment (thankful for heat and hot chocolate!), but I will be happy when life returns to normal next Tuesday.  I wonder what everyone else has been doing...

No business like snow business

So everyone was talking about this "storm of the century" that was supposed to be coming to Georgia.  People were going mad stocking up on milk, bread, etc.  Luckily we did run out and get some t.p. because last Sunday night it started snowing and Monday morning we woke up to this!

I don't know exactly, but I think we got about 4-5 inches!  For GA, this is a big deal!  Plus the top layer was total ice, so everything shut down.  Schools were closed so James and Ethie got to stay home and hang out with us!  Yay for a snow day!!!  We had lots of fun playing in the snow.

Lilah even liked it!  She smiled when I put her down in the snow!  Little snowbaby!

I told James that we needed to make a snowman, so of course he went all out.  He spent about 2 hours (with a little help from me and Ethie and his buddies) making a perfect, Texas-sized snowman!  

 



On the forth day of Christmas

Our Ethie-man is finally back!  We missed him so much!  He had a great time in Ohio, but we were definitely ready to have him back here!  And since he still had presents to open from us, he had a very fun homecoming!

After taking a little break to puke (delayed motion-sickness?) and take a bath, he resumed present-opening.  James went crazy picking out transformers, battling spiders, a remote-controlled helicopter... lots of fun things for them to play with together!

Just can't get enough

Two more things we love about our Lilah:

She's started making the funniest little old lady face lately.  She will even try to make noises through her lips and it's hilarious.  What a silly baby!

And she loves to suck on her fingers backwards.  It looks very difficult, but it's very cute!