Doctor Boyfriend

(Ryan, you have to read this post considering you are likely the only person who will get it. I think Tim's occasional girly scream only adds to the humor).

Self Buttered Bread Anyone?

Ah, the buttery buttery taste of independence.

(i think her overall strategy was to keep using butter until the container was empty~a goal which she achieved. you go girl!).

Where is My Mother?

Somebody obviously forgot to tell these poor children's mother how essential a Consistent Naptime is to a child's overall Growth and Development.

First Time Swimming

Okay, obviously this is not a swimming picture, but it is a "super cute in little girl's swimming suit" picture. It is amazingly and surprisingly hard to take essential first time pictures when you are the one holding and supervising the first time participant.

Eleanor is also shockingly lacking in "first time bath" pictures as well. She doesn't even have the faked first time bath picture that Gillian had.

Far Out Man!

I grew up in an awesome little town called New Paltz. They never really made it out of the 60's. My best friend Lia (also a New Paltz native) bought this for James when he was born as a reminder of his heritage.

I have passed the sacred Tie Dye on to all my children so they could feel the weight of the non conformists who have gone before.

(of course the tradition and even the "art" of Tie Dye itself belies the non-conformity not unlike the classic conundrum of whether anarchists assemble).

James: 1 month
Gillian: two months

(doesn't her head look like one of those cut and paste Jib Jab jobs?)

(it's not.)

Eleanor: 5 months

(poor little third. don't worry the enthusiasm is still there, just a little slow.)

Five Months

Although I have very chubby babies, they never grow out of their clothes until about a month or two after the sizing, which is fabulous because it means I get to see these adorable sleepers for two or so extra months.

This is what Anne of Green Gables must have meant with her "delicious babies."

I love seeing her little neck. I don't often get to see my babies necks underneath all those chins.

Primary Caregiver

We gave this past Saturday to Tim to play xbox all day (Civilization Revolution). I figured he deserved it; he never gets time to just do something for him. I did take advantage of Tim being home however and grabbed a short nap with Eleanor, during which Tim learned what moms everywhere know: you can never really have "time to yourself" when you have children.

Gillian kept pestering Tim for an apple to which Tim would reply, "Just a minute." (Gamers out there understand there is never really a good moment to stop.) Then James started in with "Could you get me some bread and butter please?" Tim just kept putting off their requests.

Concerned at being ignored, James came up to Tim and said in an earnest voice, "Timmy, you have to take care of us." He apparently decided the problem was that Tim just didn't understand the job requirements of the primary caregiver.

Self Dresser

Gillian loves wearing clothes and changes her clothes often. James however, can't get them off fast enough. We had preschool at our house today and as soon as his last friend was gone, and I do mean the second the door closed, his clothes were off.* But Gillian is the opposite. Ever since she started dressing herself we have more and more of these "double layer" ensemble.

*we have a very flexible clothing policy when in the house with just family. But when we have company or are outside the house--we are always fully dressed. James, apparently, understands the limits of this distinction perfect.

Sleeping Girl

Bedtime Routine

I often read about the importance of having a bedtime ritual, especially with babies. I have largely ignored such advice in favor of just throwing them in bed. But Eleanor is such a touchy sleeper and would sleep okay for naps, but at night would be getting up every hour. So I started a routine.

First, I give her a baby massage with olive oil. I tried doing baby massages on my other children when they were young, but both of them would get all angry about it. Eleanor however will stop mid cry as soon as she realizes that is where we are headed. It is terribly cute how much she loves them.

I also started swaddling her again (one armed) on Melanie's advice. Then I nurse her and put her in bed and she just falls right asleep (occasionally she will cry for a couple minutes), and she will sleep at least 3 -4 hours all night.

So over all, much improved. I couldn't resist sharing some pictures of the massage. Naked babies are just so cute and rolly.

Pretty, Pretty, Princess

My sister-in-law Melanie taught me how she makes Kate's hair look so cute. Well, she tried to explain it, but my brain really doesn't grasp things like well, so she did Gillian's hair for me while I watched. She did it all around her head so it looked like a little crown and then we just spiraled the end hair around in in the middle. I think it looks adorable and it stays in forever. Thanks Melanie.

North Carolina Jiggity Jig

Tim had two days off in a row this week, (generally, he just gets one), so we took advantage of it and drove to NC to visit his family. We also spent a day with my family since Chauncey and Melanie were visiting and we can't pass up seeing them whenever they are willing to make the 10 hour trip.

Trying out Nanna's new juicer and having a marvelous time.
On Friday night I dragged Tim out with James and I to the midnight launch of the new Star Wars toys at Toys R Us. From the advertisement, I assumed they were having a big party, much like Harry Potter. But no, they were just selling toys. So not worth being up at midnight for. But James did have a good time and loves he new Lego ship. We caved and spent more money than originally planned and got a bigger ship than pictured. Ahh--Toys R Us's evil plan works again. But Legos really are cool.

Nanna and Grandpa Jim took Gillian out with them grocery shopping and couldn't resist coming home with many new toys for the farm. One of the purchases was glitter "make-up" for Gillian.
James had a great time playing ball with Jim. The rules seemed to change every couple minutes or so, whenever a change would favor James' overall outcome.

Gillian sulking because she didn't want to pose for a cute picture on the cute bench in front of the pretty lake.

Picking Blueberries

Nanna and Grandpa Jim have a couple rows of blueberry bushes that they let fill up for us to pick when we got there. James was thrilled but Gillian seemed only interested in picking the pink ones. I guess she was looking for color preference vs. taste.

Eleanor and Grandparents

Just Plum Tuckered

...and the hair pulling starts.

The New Adventures of Spider Man and Spider Girl

This is James and Gillian in their "secret identities." They have their spidey suits hidden under their clothes, ready for whatever comes their way.

I just thought this was a cute picture of Tim and Eleanor. They both just have such sweet smiles.

Nicknames

We are still searching for an Eleanor nickname. We do call her Ellie Ellie Eleanor, but that, obviously, is not much of a nickname. Just Ellie doesn't seem to fit her and besides, I still associate it too much with me.** Nora or Nory just seem too much like their own names rather than nicknames. But we did stumble on two possibilities. Gillian calls her Elna now (she use to call her Ellen-a) and just Leanor is another possibility. I always wondered where Lenore derived from in Poe's The Raven and perhaps it was a shortened from Eleanor. Makes sense.

Any ideas?

**I went by either Ellie or Buffy in college and completely dropped the Elizabeth

First Time Rolling

Ellie Eleanor has completed her first roll over. We sleep her on her belly and several times today when we go in to pick her up after her naps, we find her on her back just smiling up at us.

Normally I'm a distracted enough mother that my baby's milestones pass me by without me even noticing (except for first steps, that is normally just too cute to miss) but this one is a big deal to me because it assuages my mother guilt just a little bit, about putting her on her belly in the first place.

Jumper

Eleanor's first time in the Johnny Jumper a few weeks ago. She took to it immediately. She is a baby who LOVES standing up. Just in the past couple days she has even started taking little jumps with it. Gillian just loves to play with her in it, swinging her around and making it do little jumps. Both Eleanor and Gillian just laugh and laugh (Gillian more than Eleanor).

Needless to say, it has freed up a lot of my time.

Tiiiimberrrrrr!

Ellie Ellie Eleanor

Eleanor just had her 2 months appointment (yes, I know she is almost 4 months, but you do the best you can). She actually handled the immunizations very badly and woke up from her nap crying inconsolably. It is the first time she just cried like that. I went immediately to the Pharmacy and got her some Tylenol and she did much better after that.

"Is it eeeevil medical school?"

That is one sleeply looking Tim

yay!

Gillian on her first day "dry and clean all day." She got a pretty bracelet that we made together the week before. Not a fabulous picture of her with her face all messy and the serious lack of clothes. But it was actually the best I could get from her--she was extremely unwilling to take direction.

Finally!

I have long wanted to make a quilt out of our old jeans and after much plotting and planning I moved from making a family quilt to making one just for Gigi because I loved the way the vintage strawberry shortcake material looked with the denim and it seemed to fit Gillian's personality so well--such an interesting mix of ultra girly and yet so not, all at the same time (I can't describe the difference--those of you who know Gillian probably know what I am talking about).

So October 2006 I started this quilt and I finally finished it just last month. I also made the pillow case and the two little throw pillows.

If I could start over, I would have researched quilt patterns more. I just made the pattern up and I regret it. I have seen a couple patterns since that I liked so much more and would have fit what I wanted even better. But oh well, I was completely unwilling to start over :-).

The back is the red flannel. My absolute favorite part are the pink and red triangles. I just copied it from the Lissa Melissa Ashby made for James. At first I was thinking a ruffle, but I think the triangles match the quilt so much better.

Plus, I love pink and red together. Best combo ever.
The little pillows were my first attempt at embroidery too--I thought they turned out cute although there are tons of things I would do differently next time. For one thing, the pink is see-through, so you can see all the back stitches and the green is too dark to see the cute strawberry leaves and vines climbing up the letters. But still, it was fun. (I like the little pom-pom embellishment.)
After two years of work I am relieved and please to say that Gillian took to the quilt immediately. I actually asked my mom to make the PJs to match the quilt, but my mom obviously finished the PJs a lot sooner than I finished the quilt.

Cooking Kids

I taught James how to make pancakes. He poured the Bisquick, mixed in the milk, stirred it all up, poured out the batter, flipped them, and then we all ate them.
I am actually hoping to make aprons for the kids and a cute little cookbook of easy recipes with pictures next to each of the ingredients so they can use it even before they can read it all.

So any suggestions on easy things for kids to cook. I'm not sure how I feel about actual heat involved (pans, sauces, anything that can spill and scar for life). But then again Ramen is a great thing for kids to cook. Maybe it just depends on the kid and if I think they can remember the rules. It's just that James is always begging for me to let him cook. What do you think? Too soon?

Bonnetts, Bonnetts, Everywhere!

Our dearest friends Ryan and Emily (who also happens to be my cousin) came to visit us with their two beautiful boys. We had such an amazing time with just the perfect amount of everything. We played tons of games, we went on lots of fun outings, we talked, and talked and talked, slept very little, had delicious food and a different delectable dessert every night. We went to Virginia Beach twice, the botanical gardens, Tim's art studio, out to eat, Tim's tissue preservation lab, Raleigh to see my parents, and Winston-Salem to see Tim's parents. Everyone stayed healthy, everyone got along. James and Jonas had an amazingly fun time together and I was just so impressed with how well they treated each other.

I just can't emphasize what a fabulous time I personally had. I love having such good friends. I love that we all talk so well together. I love what amazing people Emily and Ryan are. They are each individually so generous and kind. I count myself very, very lucky to have such a great friend in my husband, to have such delightful children, and to have friends like Ryan and Emily.