“You are the best Mommy I know. And Daddy is the best Daddy I know.”
“I am so happy to have my mommy and daddy”.
(Both quotes unprompted – I promise!!)
“I already have a harmonica so I needed a guitar” (x5) I response to the Minnie guitar that Nana gave her as Christmas present. (We celebrated an early Christmas because they are leaving for FL soon)
I think we found a new fav exhibit at the Children’s Museum!
Happy 8 Months, Elliott!
Hey there… I’m looking pretty cool in these hand-me-down jeans!
Nicknames: E-Buddy, E-Man, Chunk Heavy, Little Brudha
My big sister also rocked the Snoot Face. By the way, these rasberries are delicious!!
Fav Foods: Everything! This boy will eat everything. Oddly enough, baby cereal isn’t one of his favs. As for food that he can grab, he seems to like O’s, puffs and peas the most. And Grandma’s lasagna noodles. He’s also eaten black beans, carrots, avocado, bananas, etc.
Doctor Elliott here…
Favorite Activities: Definitely getting into his sister’s things! Don’t tell Natalie, but when she was with Grandma this past weekend, Elliott and I played with her doctor kit. He also loves her dollhouse. More age appropriate activities include: chomping on everything, playing with wood puzzle pieces, chasing cars, crawling.
Have you met my buddy, Mr. Penguin? He’s delicious too!
Personality: As sweet and easy going as ever! I’m not sure how I ever thought caring for just one 8-mo-old was tiring – its a lot more work to be the mom of an almost 3-yr-old, constantly negotiating, compromising, attending to potty needs, playing referee etc (I still love that though too!) He doesn’t really like to cuddle much (unless, of course, you’ll hold him while standing), but does crawl over to say “hi”. Which I love. And he still lets me kiss him all the time (unlike his big sister, who “wipes away” or “eats” my kisses).
Don’t mind my sis – she is anti-pictures these days. She always hugs and kisses all over me when the camera is not around, so that’s all right.
Developmental Milestones: Scooting all over the place – mostly army-style. He can get up on all fours. He doesn’t like “walking” (with assistance) as much as his sister did, but has shown a little interest in figuring out how to pull to standing. And this guy is talking a lot – usually when his sister is gone or busy eating, it seems to me.
Oh boy… ignore the pink bib. This really is a guy’s dinner!
Schedule: Elliott has 2 naps a day – one around 9am and another around 1pm. The morning nap is usually longer 1.5-2.5 hours and the afternoon nap is closer to 1 hour. He shouldn’t be getting up in the middle of the night, but he does. Last night, 3 times, but I’ll blame that on him getting over sickness (recovering from an ear ache and rash) and being a bit spoiled as a result.
Photo credit: Natalie.
Yes, Mom, I totally agree and you are 100% right about everything.
We feel so fortunate to have this little guy in our lives! (And for some reason – maybe its b/c Becky and a lot of close friends are prego, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I’m glad I’m not waddling around with 40 extra pounds – god bless not being pregnant, though the fruits of the labor are worth it!!)
Happy 60th Birthday! Bill planed a fantastic birthday weekend for Kathy. We participated in Friday morning cake (flourless and made by Natalie the best 2-yr-old baker in the Midwest).
And an adults-only dinner in Saturday.
We are thankful for a happy and healthy Nana! May this be your best year yet! Filled with lots of hugs and kisses from the 3 and under crowd.
Ok. I am up on all fours. What’s next?
Hey. Wanna come with me???
On a different note, Poor E-man has a fever, cold and ear infection. This is really the first time illness has dampered his spirits. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery. Filled with lots of sleep for little E and me!
Meanwhile, his older sis is a potty champ!! No pee accidents since Day 1 – last Saturday!
See my Minnie tatto? One of many fun trinkets of the past week!
One of my first and dearest friends from
College, Daniele, and her husband Nick spent the afternoon with us on their way between South Bend and O’Hare.
Lets go to the grocery store!
I knew Daniele and Natalie would be fast friends. Daniele got more hugs in a couple hours than I have had all weekend – maybe week.
Pumpkin muffin baking party
After baking, we had a dance party to La La Bamba (who knew Red headed Nick was half Latino???), Bob Marley and Lion King.
Come again soon!!!
Happy Halloween! Chicago’s Halloween was a wet one this year. Growing up, I remember occasional snow in WI, and I have to admit – I think I prefer snow to rain. Nonetheless, Dora the Explorer had a fabulous time! Her sidekick, Boots the Monkey, was less enthralled with Halloween – at 6pm, I was literally running home, pushing the double stroller, as he was a little wet, somewhat hungry and very tired. He was in a good mood before we left though!
Dora’s purple backpack is one of her most distinguishing features….
And, for those who aren’t sure who Dora and Boots are, here’s the “real” dynamic duo….
Natalie chose Dora – first, she wanted to be a blue (her favorite color) Dora. She clearly doesn’t quite have the haircut to go with Dora, but she won’t even wear barrettes in her hair, so I wasn’t going to spend money on a wig! Natalie and Elliott adore each other, as do Dora and Boots, so it was a prefect match. Plus, we were hoping that having Boots the Monkey close by would help people recognize Natalie as Dora. Yet, when I sent out Happy Halloween texts tonight, Elliott was mistaken for a hippo by Aunt Leah! Natalie promptly FaceTime’d her to correct her – and scare her with a scary growl.
The prior weekend, E-man was also a giraffe at a church Halloween party (Thanks Trevor!) Some giraffes munch on leaves…. Elliott preferred to devour his book. (I think tooth #3 is coming in.)
We were super proud of Natalie. I told her in advance that she could have two treats today – she ate them nearly immediately and didn’t ask for any more. In fact, after each treat she got, she said, “I promise I won’t eat it. I’ll safe it for tomorrow.” (Tomorrow just means ‘later’ in her book – not today, maybe legitimately tomorrow, but often next week.) She always said “trick or treat” and “thank you”. She didn’t whine about being wet and was “brave” even though it was really crowded.
We also stopped by Nana’s and Pop’s house – they are in a hot spot for trick-or-treating (we actually went to that street last year, before they even considered moving there). The pictures with Nana, Clayton and Jira are on a different camera, so sorry not to include them here. We’re looking forward to when Jira and Elliott can toddle along with Natalie next year…. and hoping to maybe do Halloween in Green Bay in 2 years, since it will be on a Saturday and that was one of our fav holidays growing up. We’d love to join Trevor and his little brother/sister (due date next April, I believe!)
Erin made a post last week after visiting South Bend for the ND vs. USC game, staying with our good friends the Kennedys, and seeing other great friends like the Busers and Martins.
But I wanted to add a few more awesome pics! We said we wouldn’t indoctrinate our kids with Notre Dame stuff from a young age….yet, here my 2 year old is as “Touchdown Natbug” in front of the dome. Oh well.
When reading Fancy Nancy Halloween or Bust, fancy nancy said she excels at dressing up. I explained that excel means something you are really good at. Convo:
Me: What are you really good at?
Natalie: I dunno
Me: What is Dad really good at?
Natalie: I dunno
Me: What am I really good at?
Natalie: Brushing teeth!
Me: Yes. Thank you. I am really good at brushing my teeth. I excel at brushing my teeth. What are you really good at?
Natalie: Cleaning up my toys!!!
Me: (Pause, tempted to say ‘I beg to differ’ while internally thinking of examples from 20 min prior when that was not the case) ok. Natalie is really good at cleaning up her toys. Natalie excels at cleaning up her toys.
Aw, who can disagree with that adorable face? In all honesty, although she still bats 50% when it comes to toy clean up, Natalie often impresses me with how well she listens, models our behavior back [ the way she tells me ‘thank you for asking so politely mommy’], and helps her brother. Getting so grown up!
Natalie lined up her family of bath toys this morning. In order… Daddy Duck, Big Sister Duck, Little Brother Duck and Mommy the Whale. Good improvising, given that we don’t have 4 ducks. Sometimes, I feel like the Mommy Whale – no not, for weight, but for the fact that everyone always tells me my kiddos look like their Dad. Shouldn’t I get a little more credit/resemblance after carrying them for 9+ months?!?
Also, last night, Natalie and I drew our family (and her prior music teacher Suzanna – perhaps b/c she likes the song). She did the faces and chose the people. The blue scribbles started out as Grandma’s long arms… given the family a lot of hugs. I just love how toddlers think!
