Usually the problem with group pictures is the kids not looking at the camera or them closing their eyes. With this batch though the most common issue was Phoebe's hair blocking Bella's face.

A Chalkboard

Bella decided sidewalk chalk looks much cooler on the backdoor than it does on the actual sidewalk. I should probably be mad but I really like it.

Quote of the Week

Bella: When I'm big I can have big boobies with mommy milk too.

Me: Who's gonna drink the mommy milk?

Bella: Well I really think I want another Phoebe, like your Phoebe.

My favorite time of the day

Right now is my favorite part of the day. Everyone has already gone to bed for the night and it's just me and Phoebe up now. I get her pajamas on and put her in her overnight diaper and then we sit on the couch and she nurses. When she's finished she pops off and smiles and it is definitely the time of day that she's the cutest. I love my late night baby snuggles. Plus I have a basket full of clean diapers that need to be folded up and I love doing that.

Baby Kisses

It's so cute when little babies start to give kisses. You know with their mouth open and all slobbery. So we were very excited when Phoebe started doing this about a week ago. Though after some time we realized she's not giving us kisses she is in fact trying to eat us. She even bit my nose.

Seriously this child is just crazy with food. She tries to eat ANYTHING within her reach. And she thinks she's way above eating babyfood. She even eats pizza now when we go on Mondays. And she doesn't gag or anything just eats it. She's gotten ahold of several things she shouldn't have. She's like a dog really, you turn your back for a second and it's gone.

It's so different than the other two, we spoon fed them for a long time. Bella will still eat babyfood now if you let her and I'm sure she'd even let me spoon feed it to her if I tried.

Quote of the Week

Me: Bella, what do you want for dinner?

Bella: Well... the zoo has food.

Smile

Flowers

Quote of the Week

Bella, after getting a muscle spasm in her foot:

"Help Mommy, my foot is turning on."

How to date without a babysitter

We have nobody to babysit for us around here so going out on dates without the kids never ever happens. In emergencies, like when I went into labor and when Phoebe had her surgery, we have been able to find someone to watch them for us. I did spend a large part of my pregnancy worrying though that I'd end up delivering the baby alone while Corey stood out in the hall with the kids.

So anyway we've had to get creative with dates. Putting the kids to bed and watching a movie works but it gets boring and it's not the same as going out. So our new date location has become Ikea. Now that John in potty trained (or was, more on that later) he can go to the playroom with Bella. That gives us an hour of free babysitting and having Phoebe with us is no problem at all (she's still the best baby ever.)

We now take our weekly trip to Ikea, drop the kids off and head upstairs to eat there. It's not exactly fine dining but it's cheap and yummy. And we actually have time to talk to each other. Plus John and Bella love playing there.

More wool

I have definitely found the wool love. When I just had recycled wool pants I didn't quite get what all the hype was about. However since learning to crochet them I can now say I totally understand it. It's now the only diaper covers we use and I love making them so it's a nice hobby too. Here's the latest in our growing stash of wool.





These turned out kind of funky and I'm not in love with the colors but they still fit and work.


And these I just need to add the legs to.

Fresh out of the tub

Our poor van

As Corey drove to work today he heard a loud bang from the van so he pulled over. He found the side window shattered. We're still not sure exactly what happened to it, he didn't see anything and the window guy said this kind of glass normally only breaks in accidents or vandalism. It's weird but at least it's not anything more serious and either way it's fixed now.

Flowers Update

Well our seeds are starting to sprout, we may actually end up with flowers.

A big jumpy

This is how you get all the extra energy out of little kids.

9 Months

Phoebe is 9 months old today. Nothing new or exciting to post really. She still doesn't sit up on her own and is nowhere near crawling. But she LOVES food (real food, not baby food) and eats like crazy. She had an appointment scheduled for a check-up for Friday but they canceled it so I'm not sure what she weighs right now.

I don't even have any new pictures of her, so one of Bella will have to do for now.

Flowers

Bella has been saying for weeks "when it gets hot out we can plant flowers." So today we took a trip to The Home Depot (tee-po tee-po) and bought seeds. I don't exactly have a green thumb, I usually just plant the seeds and then if they grow that's cool and if not then I'm not too surprised. So anyway we got some little peat pots and seeds and now we'll see if we can get flowers from them. The kids will have fun with the process regardless.

Spring Cleaning part 1

The ice cream truck just drove by for the first time this year. The kids love watching it drive by when they hear the music.

So we are having more great weather today. Starting our spring cleaning. First off we pulled some weeds out in the backyard. I hate those stinking dandelions, pulled up about 4 buckets worth and you can even tell a difference.

Then we cleaned the garage which was in desperate need of cleaning. Threw out a bunch of boxes, swept all the dirt up and hung the shovels and rakes up on hooks. Now there's actually room for the new lawn mower.

Then Bella wanted to take some pictures of her backyard for Nana to see.

Bella on her "Jumpy"


On the "big girl" swing


John trying to use the big swing


And Bella's scooter

Quote of the Week

From Bella

"When I'm big I can have mommy milk and big boobies too."

Spring

Everytime I think spring is here it snows again but now I think it might be here for real. Yesterday we pulled out the little kiddie pool for the first time this year and the kids played in the water. It's so nice to open up the doors and let them run in and out playing and get them and the dog out from under my feet.

Tonight after pizza we went to Home Depot and bought a lawn mower. After nearly two years in our house we finally got one. Then Bella helped me clean up the backyard and they played outside until 8:30pm. I love this weather. Soon it'll be too hot to play outside much during the day so I'm enjoying the in between weather.

Bella and John's dictionary (updated)

I originally posted this last July. This is a more up to date version. Most of these they don't say anymore.

The living room - the wee room
Cracker Barrel - Shacker Bear (bella used to call it crapper bearer)
Taco Bell - Shocko Bell
Burger King - Burger Came
Red lobster - red monster
Blockbuster - black monster
Golden Corral - Golden Crack
Macaroni and cheese - monkey and cheese
yogurt - eggert
Muffin - nuffin
alligators/lizards - diamond (I have no clue where this one came from)
grocery store - goshee store
Mine - Me's
Pick me up - pick my up
Granola bar - Grabola bar
panda bear - tampa bear
carrots - care-of-its
flip flops - slip slops
snow - ding dong
flag - hess's house
the sun - the fire
coffee table - rocking table
yesterday - lasternight
tomorrow - tomallow
Piano - plano
Piano bench - plano borch
scissors - sweezers
Home Depot - tee-po tee-po
Octopus - Octobus
TV - teh vee
elevator - alligator
scissors - sweezers
remote control - Oh-no-mote
pretending - tending

It's Sad

Really it's sad when I hear classical music and think to myself "oh Baby Einstein." I'm beginning to think I'm permanently scarred too because I haven't even watched Baby Einstein in over three years.

EEG Results

We heard back from the neurologist today, John's EEG was abnormal. He had seizure activity while awake and while sleeping (more while sleeping.) So his recommendation is that we start him on anti-seizure medication. Hopefully he'll react better to meds than Bella did.

Things I hate about facebook

I will admit to liking facebook, though I'm not nearly as addicted to it as some. Mostly I just like playing Tetris there and connecting with old friends. However there are some things that truly annoy me about it. I try not to put my complaints on here too much but since I've annoyed my husband enough lately I figure I will this time.

• If I don't know you I'm not going to add you as a friend, even if you are some long distant relative (sorry.)
• If you try to add me as a friend six times and I choose to not add you perhaps I don't want to have you on my "friend" list
• When I choose to ignore said requests they should be truly ignored (which I guess the site doesn't do because they just try to add me again)
• I hate when friends suggest people I don't know, just makes me feel stupid. Am I supposed to know these people?
• Facebook requests in general. I always seem to have hundreds of them. Really I don't need be offered every test, quiz and game you take or play.

Making Cookies

We made some chocolate chip cookies today which is always fun.











Cookies are an approved first food right?

yarn update

So here's my first attempt at handpainting yarn. Turned out better than I thought it would. I dyed another batch today but did it on the stove in a pot since that's a lot faster. Just waiting for that to dry.



And the shorties I'm currently working on

Finished

I finished my second pair of shorties. And added a little drawstring this time which I really like. I'll have to make one for the other pair too.

Stinky Wool

So I'm almost finished crocheting my second pair of shorts for Phoebe. I'm excited to do more but the selection of colors of wool yarn available at the local craft stores are not very good. And ordering handpainted yarn online is expensive. So tonight I tried handpainting yarn myself. It doesn't look too bad but I'm not sure at all what it'll look like when it's done and crocheted, I guess we'll see.

Anyway after you put the dye on you have to heat it to set the color. I did this in the microwave and I have to say wet microwaved wool does not smell very good. And as I'm doing this and the whole house stinks my husband walks into the kitchen and says "yum, what are you cooking?"

Swing Replaced

Earlier this week Phoebe rolled over in her swing and almost fell out. So we moved the swing out of the livingroom and brought in the pack-n-play. She's loved rolling around in it playing with all her toys.

Wool

I finished Phoebe's first pair of wool shorties. They fit great. I've got to get some more yarn to make her a few more pairs for summer.