Michael had been doing such a great job eating his rice cereal that it was time to start veggies! I made up some peas one evening and gave him a sampling. Do you think he liked them?
Before
During
After: Processing
After: Contemplating
After: Reacting
I love the one eyed "Are you serious?"
"I don't like those mom."
They made him shiver! Despite the reaction, he opened his mouth for more so I fed him a full serving (about 2 TBS) alternating bites with rice cereal. :) Keep them guessing! They won't know what's next. Haha!
Well, he didn't LOVE them but maybe he will by the time all this is gone...
(insert "evil" mom laugh)
And because pictures can't communicate sound, here is a video of Michael eating Peas (taken about a week after his first try). The sound he makes is hilarious!
Alternate title for this post: "All Excitement for America's birthday gone. Apathy remains."
No this post is not about the fourth time I failed... but instead an account of our Family Picture Failure that happened on the Fourth of July.
As is tradition in the Kidder family, we all got dressed up and prepared to take a picture of our family on the 4th of July. Here we are the past two years:
Ok, I'm back. A few things played into the failure.... wind, bad timing, squirmy kiddos, wind, bright sunlight and did I mention wind? Oh well, we made a memory - I thought to myself, I can at least get a good picture of the kids right?
Wrong....
They. Would. Not. Smile.
They were so apathetic.
Here is the closest thing to a smile I got from Lucy, but her legs are up, showing off her diaper cover..... ugh.
(Maybe I can crop it and use it as a Facebook cover photo... hm, good idea!)
Michael's expression! So funny! "Can I please go take a nap now mom?" This from my boy who usually lights up for the camera!
I asked Lucy to hold Michael's hand, he would have nothing of it.... You can see both their dark brown eyes here really well here though. :)
We went to dinner at our friends Dan and Eden's house and then went to see Pampa's fireworks, celebrating Pampa's 100th birthday! We didn't go to the rodeo grounds, but parked with about 50 other cars along the road a good distance away. We were very surprised at the length of the show, we kept anticipating the finale, but it kept going! For a good 45 minutes! Both kids enjoyed the display - there were no tears (very surprising considering it started 2 hours past their bed time!).
We got home and had to give Ellie an emergency bath, she had enjoyed the firework show from the dirt with Lucy. :-/ But we had fun reading books and cuddling with Lucy while we waited.
So America's birthday ended well - I'm glad our earlier flop didn't define the whole day. :)
Have you ever had a family tradition fall apart into failure? Please do tell so I don't feel alone.
Michael can now sit up! He still needs a bit of help from his stable friend, Mr. Boppy, but he is doing great!
When I put his basket of toys in front of him, it helps him sit up a bit longer. I think it's because of 1) the extra stability and 2) the interesting toys! :)
This post is about two of our daughter's birthday gifts, a Chef Hat and Kitchen. :)
S: Who are you?
L: I'm a Chef-Man.
S: You're not a Chef-Woman or a Chef-Girl?
L: No, I'm a Chef-Man
The Chef Hat was one of her momma-made gifts. It didn't cost me any money, the green polka-dot is left over from the back of her baby quilt and the blue is remnants from the binding on Michael's quilt! :) I love projects that I can make with what I have - especially when they are so stinking cute! I still can't believe how well the fabrics match her apron! (Lucy got her apron as a baby gift from our good friend in Chicago, Jenny - it's from Anthropology!)
Side Note: This is the second chef hat I've made,
to see the first and for a link to the tutorial I used, click here.
Here is a video of the first time Lucy saw her new kitchen:
The kitchen has already filled many hours with creative, imaginative play.
Birthday cakes are a specialty of our "Chef-man"
She uses her scrub brush to wash her dishes and makes "beeping" sounds for the microwave.
(Here is a mini interview I did with Lucy while looking at these pictures with her)
S: Lucy, what's your favorite thing to do in your kitchen?
L: Cook. I like to cook donuts.
S: What are you doing in this picture?
L: Toast is in the toaster.
(It is.... the green thing on the hearth is a toaster. :) )
S: What about this picture? What are you doing here?
L: I'm playing with my silverware.
S: What kinds of silverware do you have?
L: Kinds of silverware.
Her kitchen is well stocked, thanks to the generosity of grandparents and friends.
I had to include this picture - mostly because of her hair! I was pretty proud of her side braid that day. It is rare when she holds still long enough for me to do her hair. I can't remember specifically, but if I had to bet - a TV show helped her sit still this day. :)
I have no idea how I captured this picture but I love it - the blurred action around Lu and the fact she is in focus.
How her table looks most days - all the guests attending her parties get silverware, a treat and a drink (in a mug/tea cup or a bottle). :)
Looking for a candle for the cake. It is not uncommon for me to hear, "I need help finding a candle for my cake!" :)
There - she found it! Throwing a well thought out party takes concentration! :)
I had an interesting conversation with Lucy last Saturday.
L: (putting her spoon in her big girl water glass) "My spoon go here?"
S: No Lu, your spoon doesn't go in your cup - you can put it in your bowl or on the table.
L: Oh
Honestly I don't remember what I said next, but I knew in that moment that this wouldn't be the first time Lucy pointed out an inconsistency in my parenting.
Things have been quiet around this here blog for about three months now. This has not been intentionally, it has just happened. Life has been a bit busy, Grandma Buning (Brad's mom's mom) lets me know that she misses updates on the blog, but understands I've got more on my plate with two little ones now. I miss updating the blog too! And I really hope to be better at this whole blogging thing - but honestly... I will probably continue to "blog binge" as Brad calls it - posting a TON in a short period of time. :)
I've been asked by a few people why I don't just post fun things as they happen and then go back and post things from the past. It's a good question and my response is always this: I hope to someday have my blog published into a book for our family - I see it as a sort of modern-scrappbook - and I really want to have everything in chronological order for that reason. :)
I got a fun (very early) birthday present though, that is hopefully going to help me be a bit more consistent with this hobby of mine.
Isn't she pretty?
My computer is full of unpublished pictures and I've been keeping pretty good notes to recount our memories from the past few months. So get ready friends, we are going to take a trip back to July over the next few days and work our way toward the present. :)
Sometimes, when the kids are being super cute, I just need to put down my current activity and pick up the camera. :) It helps me live in the moment and enjoy the simple things of life.
And when it happens that the pictures are too cute not to share immediately I post them to Facebook! This doesn't happen very often - I try to save my uploading-picture time for the blog - but I just had to share these! :) So some of you have already seen these, but for those of you who haven't here you go!
Michael Bradley, aka. Cutie Pie :)
Oh those cute little teethers! :)
His eyes are SO reflective! Are all babies eyes like that?
I believe this is the funniest picture of Michael to date. :)
Jumpy Seat: Michael loves to hang out (literally) in his jumpy seat - his seat is located in the archway between the living room and dining room, a nice central location where he can watch whats going on and pretend to be a froggy as he jumps around. :)
Eating Champ: Feeding Michael his rice cereal no longer takes 15 minutes, he has gotten so much better and can down his dinner in less than 5 minutes. He is still nursing full time (usually once/night but sometimes less, sometimes more) and eating cereal once a day.
Comfort Objects and Sleepy Position: Michael still sleep swaddled (chest down), on his back and need his "Lovie" (burp cloth) to be put on his right sholder and Baby Moose to be put on his left side within reach. He pulls his Lovie close to his face and sucks his left thumb when in bed - he doesn't suck his thumb outside of his crib unless he is super tired. His schedule has evened out a lot more, he takes two longer naps a day and one short one. :)
