Park, Picnic, Playing, Pretty

Nice alliterations eh? 
Park:

We all went over to a park on Memorial day and had a nice BBQ.  That evening we went to some friends house to make smores over their fire pit. I love fire pits even if I do smell like smoke after. Jared was really happy that we all went to the park  together since normally I just take him.  Often when Mark and I are sitting by each other with Lydia he will come over and say "Our family" with a huge smile. It just about melts my heart.  I just love this sweet kid.

Picnic:
We also cleaned our carpets Memorial Day weekend,. I love it when Mark cleans our carpets.  We did it Saturday night so we needed to keep Jared upstairs while it dried so Sunday morning I made pancakes and we had a pancake picnic upstairs.  Jared thought it was pretty awesome. He loves picnics indoor or out and we had never had one in Mark and mines bedroom before.  And then I spilt his milk all over our carpet.  Luckily we had not cleaned the upstairs yet.

Playing:
We do this all the time but this time I took pictures of it.  While we were at Lydia's appointment there was an article on the bulletin board in the examination room that talked about how little time kids spent playing each day. I am all about structure and learning time but really? Let kids run around and use their imagination. Let them play!

 Look at that sweet smile!

I LOVE the above pictures. I love how happy Lydia looks when Jared is near her and how sweet he is with her.  And as I mentioned before I really want them to be best friends. Maybe I will show them all the pictures I take of them playing nicely together when they don't want to be friends when they are older.

Pretty:
No explaination needed.



Liquid Oatmeal

At Lydia's doctor appointment last week we got the go ahead to start feeding her oatmeal. She still wakes up a few nights a week to eat in the middle of the night so I wanted to try to get more calories in her.  I hope it helps!

Sometimes she looks like this:

And other times she looks like this:

I am not sure if this face is the oatmeal though or getting her fingers in her mouth which we were trying hard to avoid since we didn't want oatmeal everywhere. Just look at those cute rosy cheeks!

What to do when your child wakes up too early.

I love these pictures.  I love this kid; even if he does wake up way earlier then I would prefer. Jared has always been an early riser.  Fortunately he does an awesome job staying in his bed until we get him.  Lately he has been waking up even earlier though,* like befor 6:00 and I feel bad making him stay in bed till its time to get up.  So I started putting a pile of books by his bed when I go to bed so he can read them once he wakes up.  Each night before we leave the room he says "Mommy put books by my bed?" he also often asks to hold them before I leave the room silly yet sweet kid.  I hope that besides just giving him something to do while he waits in the morning he grows to love books/reading as much as I do.

**I think it is because his room gets so bright at least that is part of the reason.  His curtains are blackout curtains but it is still really bright in there.  I think we are going to go buy him some blinds tomorrow.  We have told him to cover his head with his blanket if its too bright so sometimes he does and sleeps longer but not often.
** Jared loves looking at our blog and any pictures on the computer.  He is gong to be really excited to see this post because his blanket is in it.  He always says "My white blanket!"

4

months! Here are some cute pictures of our sweet little 4 month old (crazy it's been 4 months).  Lydia is getting stronger and sweeter each day.  She is getting really good at lifting her head up and often when we go get her up from a nap she has moved into the corner of her crib by scooting back because she loves to kick up her feet. She hasn't rolled over but is getting closer and closer.  She coos and babbles all the time excpet when I try to record her and then she becomes silent. The past week or so she has decided that her fingers are great for entertaining her and sucking on. Anytime she wears a dress she loves to play with the skirt part and pull it up.  It makes me so happy that she is such a content little girl. She plays nicely and loves watching her brother run around.  Jared loves Lydia so much.   That also makes me really happy!

April 23rd, exactly 4 months!

12.9 pounds

24.5 inches

 

Just like a little doll.
♥

Happy Mothers Day!

"There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one"

Jill Churchill

 

I am so very blessed to have these two cute, happy, healthy kids and to GET to stay at home with them.  I am also so very blessed to have an incredibly generous and loving mother of my own.

As much as I enjoy being a mom I sometimes have a hard time being at home all the time. I just feel unproductive. I have a major need to be busy and productive so when I wake up in the morning and don't have any set plans except little things like feeding kids and playing with them (still important I know) I get a little anxious. I have never been very good at just being at home having a "pajama day". I will never question the importance of staying home with my kids and the blessing that it is to be able to do so, I just like to be out and doing things with my kids. Just simple things like walks and trips to the park.  I know as Lydia gets a little bit older and can stay awake longer we will go out and do these little things again and that will help me.  I just love structure not empty time. No matter what, I know that being Jared and Lydia's mom is the most important job I will ever have and am so grateful for the opportunity to raise them and learn from them.

One of my biggest hopes is that Jared and Lydia will be the best of friends.  Of course they will have up and down times but I hope they can build a strong relationship.  So far we are off to a strong start. Jared is so sweet with Lydia. He loves to hold her and "play" with her.  Often as she is laying down or playing in her bouncer he will go over and say "I keep company" or "I share my blanket with her". It's fun to see. I love to put little headbands on Lydia and they occasionally fall in her eyes and Jared is always quick to go over and move it out of her eyes. I am glad he is looking out for her.  I also hope that I can build a strong loving relationsihp with each of them.  I want my kids to be want to be around me and to trust me.  I think if I can achieve that it will be one of my greatest accomplishments.

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made Mothers,"

old Jewish Proverb