Still no computer...or pictures.

I've missed my blog! I'm sorry to say that there is, once again, no pictures. Ho hum.

My Husband's computer is currently still my connection to the wide world of webs (is that right?) and sometimes not even then. This is two fold. One: his computer is not exactly reliable. Two: our internet is not exactly reliable.

Then of course there's the daily grind whirlwind of Hurricane Emily and Tornado Elijah.

And Earthtastic! Speaking of Earthtastic! My Mom is my biggest fan. Not gonna lie; I love it! She put in an order of two hundred lip balms last week and needed them by tonight. I've pretty much been going a million miles an hour making sure the order would be completed in time. It was my biggest order yet and I feel pumped for more orders!

I've had the privilege of attending two local farmer's markets in my area and am anxious to go again. Everyone is excited and curious about my lip balms and lotions, which in turn gets me excited because I'm getting my face out there and answering questions about myself and my business. The thought has crossed my mind a number of times to expand my product base to include candles, soaps, and body scrubs. It's all in the works and I'm doing what I can given both my hands are quite closely full of cheerful, noisy children.

Elijah has started reading! He's made his way through the first four of the Bob Books. He started doing while he was in school, lost interest for a short while, but then decided to plow right through them! He can also read (with minimal help) Dr. Seuss's (erm, I mean Theo. LeSieg's) The Eye Book. I'm the proudest Mommy, ever.

I also have learned that Elijah is shockingly good at T-ball. Our neighbors have a daughter named N, who just turned three, and is Elijah's BFF bestie. Anyway, N has a T-ball stand and naturally Elijah wanted to have a go. While Elijah is left handed, he apparently bats right handed. He slammed that ball and it shot across the back yard. N's Mom commented that he must like playing T-ball and I, after having picked my jaw off the ground, told her that was Elijah's first time hitting a ball with a bat. It was then N's Mom's turn to pick her jaw off the ground. We have to wait for him to be five before we can put him in T-ball, but after trying out a trial class for soccer -which he also loved and was fabulous at- he will be starting those classes soon.

Emily has officially entered the jibber-jabber stage. She will talk your ear off; I can hardly ever get a word in! The girl knows what she's saying, as our roommate J put it earlier today, if you don't respond to her, she'll repeat back what she said and most of it will sound the same as it did the first time. She's just so smart, too. While she isn't enunciating, I don't have too difficult of a time figuring out what she's talking about. Em likes to share when she's thrown something away, needs a diaper change, wants something to eat or drink-complete with excited gestures and rapid jibbering. It has been such a delight experiencing her personality emerge. I didn't have any baby dolls lying around because Elijah wasn't ever into it and I didn't want to push it on Emily in case she wasn't either. Well, there are baby dolls everywhere at N's house and Emily is just taken with them. She carries them around, gives them hugs, walks them in strollers... It's just so different from Elijah! I love to watch them play, grow, and change, while fighting back tears of it all happening so fast.

This feeling, however, rapidly disintegrates and morphs into an ugly, hair frazzling fury, leaving me pulling the skin off of my own face out of frustration when I take them into public.

But that's for next time ;)

Ok, seriously.

I will be better about updating! Perhaps it'll be easier to commit if I can compile all things remotely related to being a mother in this blog. So, from here on out, this is no longer child-specific reading, folks! We're talking all things parenting, crafting, at-home business, and children.

Moving on.

No more do I have to stress about functioning in a 200 sq ft apartment above my mom's garage. For those not up to speed, this is was my living situation during the time of my husband's deployment. However, he's now home and it's no longer necessary. Enter: new living space!!! *confetti*

We just signed the lease, like, less than 48 hours ago, and are slowly moving our stuff into it. I went to the local consignment store to drop off a few items of clothing and some toys and stumbled upon some toddler beds! Hey! I needed two toddler beds! With the store credit I had accumulated from consigning at this place, we scored two toddler beds for a pretty descent price. Space was a mild concern, but! - this worked out just perfectly.

Sneak peek of their room. And Husband.

No, the beds won't actually stay like that. And of course Elijah will have a mattress! But, you get the idea.

It has almost been a year since I started up my own business and really I've learned a lot of things! First and foremost, don't buy an Hp printer! Honestly! I bought that thing less than a year ago and already the ink-something-or-other had a system fail. "Pump Stall", it tells me. Hp couldn't even find that error message in their data base. Just my luck, right? I was only able to find out what exactly went wrong with the thing after trouble shooting on the phone with someone for roughly 45 minutes (after hanging up on the previous person I spoke with. The first guy sounded like he should have been on a surf board somewhere, had no idea what he was talking about, wasn't listening to a word I was saying, and just tried to sell me a new printer on the phone). The printer sits on top of the fridge, where it won't get baby-handled or toddler-stomped and still it breaks. I'm not excited about replacing this thing, but labels have to be printed!

Elijah is entering the name calling phase. Everything and everyone is a "baby butt". I get a kick out of gentle jesting, but we need some boundaries, here. Name calling, talking back, screaming in protest...it all came around a little over a month ago.

Something else he has been doing is expressing disappointment in the ever-so irritating sound of "AWwwwwwWWE!" You know, the loud to instant soft, gradual crescendo. Undoubtedly brought home from school. Not the worst thing, for sure, but still...

I have Emily asleep on my chest as I work out this blog and just now noticed she had a slipper on her head. How did I miss that? It was pressed against my cheek, even. Em is 13 months old and is a walking tornado. Everything gets opened, emptied, thrown, and pushed. She climbs. She stands on tiptoe to reach in drawers. Why put the blocks away? She turns the block box upside down as soon as they've been put away.

Don't be fooled by her delicate innocence.

Aside from being a complete momma's girl, Emily throws a fit when she can't have her way. We're talking serious tantrums. Collapsing to the floor, face first; pick herself up, throw her hands up and flop back down; using her feet to push herself along while her face is on the floor. If I take something from her or try to pick her up to remove her from a place she can't be, she goes limp noodle or arches her back and throws herself back hard enough that she's slipped through my hands once before. I'm afraid I'm going to hurt her but I really gotta hold on tight and lay her on a soft area so she can get the crazy fit out of her system.

More updates soon and hopefully some pictures of the new place as well!

Goodness.

I really want to be better about updating. It's easy to let the thought slip that my children won't be this small forever. Fascinating things happen everyday! I will be better about documenting it!

Ok, so Elijah turned three years old in October. I have a three year old! He is attending at a fantastic Montessori Preschool as of September 1st and absolutely loves it. Well, the first month he cried everyday I dropped him off, but really I think that happened mostly because he got in the habit of crying every day. When I pick him up, the first words out of his mouth are typically, "Momma, I had so much fun today!" Speaking of words, Elijah's speech has improved significantly and his vocabulary has expanded as well. His sentences are fluid and he is enunciating. I love that others are more easily able to understand him and that I only need to translate slightly more than half the time. While this means he's readily able to execute talking back, it's been enjoyable nonetheless. Though I will be more than relieved when he stops the "broken record" method of getting my attention:

"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy......."

Elijah was a pirate for Halloween. It was rather unfortunate; he came down with a horrendous chest cold the day of Halloween. I was still so eager to take him Trick-or-Treating, though. We had planned to go around the neighborhood my in laws live in and were thankfully able to stop by a few houses. Elijah did have a blast despite the cold. We warmed up by the fireplace and sorted the loot. But the cold came out of nowhere, no inkling of sickness the day before, and BAM- he woke up on Halloween with the ugliest cough I've heard in a long time. The cough was one of those, deep, heavy sounds in his chest. Not really even cough-like. Once it started breaking up it sounded more like a cough. Naturally it got passed around the entire family and now Emily is on the tail end of the lingering cough.

Mr. Potato Head, right? The resemblance is uncanny!

My little M&M is nine months old (already!) and not only crawling and pulling herself up, but cruising around at every moment's chance! This girl is amazing. A blast! What a sense of humor this one has. She loves to laugh, play peek-a-boo, dance, and play the talk back game. We take turns making noises at each other. And when we play peek-a-boo, she's the one that holds the dishcloth over her face, then yanks it off quickly with a smile on her face. When she dances, she sits straight up and does this rock on her butt with her hands above her head. It's the cutest thing, ever.

It's interesting the amount of sass Emily has. It is not hard to figure out what this girl wants. Spoons get smacked out of my hand met with irritated cries, bread bits get swept off the highchair tray with one sweep. When we got shopping I know when she's eager for more attention because she'll take the toy she's playing with, hold it outside the stroller with her right hand, look me straight in the eye and drop it on the floor. Give it back to her enough times and she starts chucking it out. She's also gotten into the habit of tossing her pacifier out. I believe that to be her boldest statement. Emily loves her pacifier so I know she's fed up when that green soothie goes flying into the aisle of the grocery store and bounces against the shoe of some stranger. I've had to start carrying more than one nuk with me lest I have to run to the bathroom every few minutes to wash the flippin' thing. Regardless, I very much enjoy taking Emily shopping with me while Elijah is at preschool; it gives me a chance to get some one on one with her while taking care of errands.

I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra over the weekend and took my Mom and the kids with me. I'm glad I decided to go; I wasn't able last year and (regrettably) relinquished my tickets after a schedule conflict arose. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is incredible and I strongly encourage everyone to experience them at least once! They tour every year during winter for the holidays. I wasn't going to let the fact that I couldn't have free hands hold me back. My husband was in Pittsburgh over the weekend so I couldn't ask him to sit the kids. In any case, Emily and Elijah had a great time. It's a long show (three hours) and at one point Elijah actually fell asleep for a little over an hour. Emily, being the trooper she is [insert eye roll here] only dozed for a mere 20 minutes. However, when both awake, they were enthusiastic and throughly entertained.

...Fine, we'll go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. If we have to...

"Mmmah!"

That's what Emily is saying as she looks deliberately into my eyes. No joke, the girl is calling me! I was hesitant to assume that was the case until both Mom and Josh confirmed that was in fact what they were hearing as well. It's so exciting. I wanted Elijah to talk so badly when he was Emily's age; alas, he was not interested for a long, long while. Another wild difference between the two of them is how curious Elijah was with his toys. He was fascinated with the workings of his toys and didn't play with them per se, but investigated how they functioned. Emily is more interested in testing out her toys via her mouth, and then pounding them on the floor or at other toys - much like a typical baby would.

Someone loves to swing!

Ok, yes that is Elijah's hat.

Emily loves to observe though, much like Elijah did (does). She is much more interested in being on the move and catching up with Elijah. When Emily is having tummy time, I try to get her to crawl by putting a toy just out of reach. She'll get this determined look on her face, pull her lips in, grunt, reach with an out stretched hand.... and then go limp knowing that she's not quite ready to crawl. She puts her face on the floor and whines with an arm still stretched out in front of her. It's cute how quickly she gets frustrated; "If only I could crawl!" I know that once she's ready to crawl that she's going to just go. There won't be any practice/test crawls. It'll be more like next thing I know I'm racing after her because she's out of the room.

Elijah's third birthday is coming up (okay, not 'til October, but still!) and I've been shopping! I bought him a Toy Story bed tent, and a scooter, that is also Toy Story. He had his first experience on a scooter when he went camping with Josh and, from what I heard, wouldn't get off the thing. This has the handle bars complete with a zipper bag on the front. He saw me grab it at Target today and was all, "Momma! Momma! Momma! What is that? Let me see? We can play it outside?" There were only two left and I knew that if I came back later for it they'd be out of stock. Thankfully I was able to sidetrack him with a water gun from the $1 bin! My Mom and I found one of those huge floor pianos at Toys R Us, so that's what Elijah's getting from Grandma.

Elijah also got his hands on a number of those hand held touch screen gaming systems that are designed for children. There was one from Leapster that he did better with (ages 4-9, I might add). It was fun to watch him with the educational games - he rocked! I sent that bit of information along to my Mother-in-Law because I wasn't sure if she had an idea for him or not for his birthday.

He's going to have an awesome birthday. I want to have a pinata, also. My Mom took him to a birthday party a few months ago where there was a pinata and it was reported back to me that Elijah was just ecstatic over it.

Time to catch some ZZZZZs. I'm exhausted after going to the chiropractor, the post office, Target, and the post office again (the first post office had a sign up inside that said their credit/debit machines were down and I never carry cash on me) with the kids in tow.

Motherhood: The Musical

Motherhood can be so clever sometimes. I have come up with some a number of songs to help [successfully] divert stressful situations with both of my children. I thought it might be a good idea to share them, lest I forget them!

The Night-Night Song. I came up with this when Elijah was less than a year old. Using the word "difficult" is an understatement in what it took to get him to sleep. He nursed, and then he had to be tightly swaddled, rocked, bounced, sung to, etc... before he would sleep. I got pretty bored with all the lullaby's I knew off hand, so I started making stuff up.

(Sung to the chorus of "This Land is Your Land")

It's time to go night-night

And go to sleep

And rest your eyes

And have sweet dreams

And when you wake up

I will be right here

It's time to go night-night

Elijah's Marching Band. Elijah found a mini-flag I had from high school when I was in Color Guard. When I explained it was for marching in a band, he wanted to do it. While marching around the house, he wanted a song.This isn't sung to any particular song, I don't think.

It's Elijah's marching band

With this big colorful flag

We go march! march! march!

And stomp! stomp! stomp!

All through the house

It's Elijah's marching band

With his big color flag

We go march! march! march!

And stomp! stomp! stomp!

It's Eliiiijah's Maaarrching Baaaaaand

YAH YAH YAH

A song that I've sang to Emily since she was a newborn is simply just her name over and over again. I don't know the name of the tune, or if it even has one. But I repeat her name and then spell it at the end. It gets her to stop crying every time and she knows her name now! I also have a similar song for Elijah. It's more of a chant, really. I just spell his name to a specific rhythm. It's been a lot of fun because he's already learning how to spell his name. The last little song I have is repeating "Thank you, you're welcome" to another tune I've heard somewhere before I think. This has been helpful in getting Elijah more familiar with manners. He can be extremely polite.

That's all I can think of at this time, though I am sure there are more.

In other news, I've been looking at preschools for Elijah! I call it play school to Elijah, because that's what Caillou, his favorite cartoon, calls preschool. I really want him to attend a Montessori preschool. They're a little more expensive but I find comfort at the thought of him being taught in an environment by someone who is educated and qualified; not inexperienced and babysitting for the 3.5 hours he's there. The entire family went out today, dropped off some of Elijah's clothes that are too small at a consignment shop, and then found Elijah a backpack! It's a Toy Story backpack, go figure. Without having television as an influence, or before even knowing what Toy Story was, this little boy fell in love with Buzz Lightyear. The only television I let Elijah watch is the Sprout channel, and Nick Jr. Both of those channels do not show commercials, except for Sprout, which only shows commercials about insurance, cleaning supplies, and Your Baby Can Read! Guess it just goes to show that boys will be boys. And Elijah is so good at being a boy!

So the other day Elijah is getting frustrated because he can't get his underwear back on after going potty. He's slamming them on the floor and says, "Come on, god dammit!" I froze and stared at him. "Elijah just said his first swear word" I thought to myself. Great. Now what? I bend down and get eye level with him and explain to him that what he just said is called a Bad Word. We're not allowed to say bad words, I don't like bad words, and I don't want him to say bad words. Then of course I have to remind the rest of the house, no swearing, please. Other advancements in vocabulary include using the word "I" instead of "me". So now he says, "I want" rather than, "Me want".

Emily is six months old now! Sheesh, when did that even happen? This girl has a seriously vibrant personally. She's incredibly chatty, playful, and ticklish. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I can totally get her hair into a pony tail now. Time to go buy some adorable bows! That's Daddy's headset she has her hand. She's amazing with her hands. She can pass objects from hand to the next, pick up and put her nuk in her mouth, and finger at objects with her index finger and thumb. I just know she'll be crawling before too long. When sitting up she can lung forward, almost to her knees, but not quite yet. Still no teeth, but they'll be here any day! Emily's hair still sticks up, but it's starting to fall to one side. I'll miss those days of hair standing straight on top of her head!

Lavender, Raspberries, and Blueberries, Oh My!

It has been absolutely beautiful since July rolled around. A few typical Washington overcast days here and there, but mostly nice enough to spend a few hours outside each day. My Mom's yard is full of adventures; it's huge with multiple mature fruit trees and bushes. I've started making homemade soap and plan on using lavender buds in my recipes. With lavender being bountiful and plenty in my Mom's yard, I've been able to cut and dry my own! Elijah joined me in the yard when it was ready for the picking and looks at the "lam-en-er" with me.

Emily in tow, we then venture around the yard and check on all of the different foods growing. We planted cucumbers, beans, and lettuce two or three weeks ago and they're finally starting to sprout. The gardeners didn't seem to notice the markers in the dirt and trampled through the cucumbers and beans. Unfortunately the cucumbers didn't make it, but there were enough beans that we will still have three or four plants growing. After checking on our veggies we continue walking down to the raspberries (then the yellow plums, salmon berries, blue berries, apples, and another bush growing fruit though I'm not sure what it is). Oh the raspberries. Numerous raspberry bushes! We've gone on quite a few picking excursions already and every couple of days I go down to collect more. My Grandma and I made a batch of raspberry jam and I have been freezing the berries that I do collect to save for later. The sun has felt so nice during the days that I just want to be out there picking... well, almost. It'd be nice if the spiders took a mini vacation while I went picking. I know that gardening is something I want to do and the more I'm out there the easier it'll get being around bugs and spiders, but for now, preemptive slapping fits are in order.

On top of becoming more and more like an independent toddler, Elijah is acting out more from the emotional adjustment of having Daddy home. It's nothing too horrendous, but it is even more challenging to stay calm. He whines just about every time he opens his mouth, mouths off, is bossy and demanding. When he does something that warrants disciplinary action, a scream and waving hand usually compete with my telling him why he can't do what he's doing. This little tantrum in the picture is because the granola bar he was eating broke in half.

With Emily getting more alert and requiring more attention in different ways, and Josh being home and also taking more of my attention, it's understandable that Elijah is having these emotional outbursts for attention.

Yesterday we went to the store to get some fun summer time toys. Among those toys included a golf set, horse shoes, and gardening/beach shovels. Josh also bought a pool a few days ago when it was in the 90s outside. Never mind if the water is freezing, Elijah loves this thing. I'm glad it's been so nice outside because I want to be able to make fun things happen for Elijah; let him around and do boy things. I want to participate fully with him but it's not so easy with a 16 pound ham in one arm.

Speaking of Emily, she is five months old now, sitting up by herself, and getting more verbal! She looks me right in the eye and says with deliberation, "Mmmah mah mah mmbah". She can roll over both directions, reach for objects, pick up objects, pass objects to each hand, and of course, put them in her mouth as a reward for the fruits of her labor. She's such a momma's girl, too. If she cries while someone else is holding her, she looks at me when she is crying. She will spot me out in the room even if I don't say anything and will initiate eye contact with me. Smiling and laughing happen many times during the day and she thinks Elijah is the funniest thing ever. Even when he is doing something not so nice, like pushing his face into hers when she's trying to sit up, she will laugh when I pull him away and he starts shrieking in protest. Perhaps it's a taunting laugh.

My Chunky Monkey

I'm starting to look at preschools for Elijah now. With him 95% potty trained (working on staying dry at night), I feel that he is ready for the atmosphere preschool provides. He will be three years old in October (gosh, already?), so it is about that time! I told him he would be going to preschool soon and he asked me if would be able to ride the school bus. Nearly made me cry! He's growing up too fast. One night a few weeks ago I was holding up and rocking him we had this small exchange:

Elijah: Momma?

Me: Yes, Elijah?

Elijah: You love me?

Me: I love you more than anything, Elijah.

Elijah: That's good, Mommy.

He really is talking so much more now. His sentences are structured with more grammatical consistency as well. He comes up with the silliest things to say. I'll have to start writing them down!

Me hide it...

...has become one of Elijah's most frequently used phrases. The little sneakster is quite swift and the next thing I know, my phone, yarn, measuring tape, lip balm (you get the idea) is missing. While I'm left scratching my head and talking irritatedly to myself Elijah declares that he has hid whatever it is I've "lost". Parent with love, parent with love. I'm learning to embrace these happenings; they won't always be this way and I know I'll look back and smile at the memories. Might as well not spend the time being angry that Elijah is developing such a creative personality. He is honest, after all.

Earlier this week it was nice enough to play outside. Emily fell asleep in her playpen, which was next to my Grandma who on the back deck on her laptop. Since Emily was in good hands, Elijah and I ventured out into my Mom's big back yard. We started by kicking a ball around, but after it was retrieved from under a blackberry bush, we both agreed it was time to do something else. Further down into the back yard is a cleared out area that's mostly just dried dirt, with a bunch of weeds growing all around. Elijah wanted to dig in the dirt. There's a fire pit in this little cleared area and in the dirt is a bunch of dried twigs and small pieces of broken, dry wood.

Like most two year olds, Elijah was not bothered by these conditions and plunged his finger tips directly into the dirt, raking it towards him. Fearing of splinters and whatever else being pushed under his fingernails, I decided we would pull weeds. We'd still be able to "dig" around, but it could be a game. Who could find the longest roots? Loki joined us, like he does in most of our outdoor excursions. It's so sweet to watch them together. The fact that Loki follows us around is just pleasing all on its own. Such a loyal feline.

My little Em&Em is seriously rocking the head strength. She can keep her head and shoulders lifted off the floor for close to a minute before she gets tired. She hasn't shown much interest in rolling over while on her belly, but she does put beautiful effort into making sure she can still be a part of what is happening around her during her tummy time. However, when she's on her back having naked time in between diapers, she really is on the move. The girl can almost scoot herself in a full circle. She can also roll onto her side from her back. From what I've read, rolling over typically starts from tummy to back first. I can't remember now if Elijah rolled tummy to back, or back to tummy first. I'm inclined to say back to tummy, like Emily is leaning towards. I suppose we will find out soon enough!

I can't get over Emily's hair. It's getting longer, but not heavier, that's for certain. It just stands straight up. And you know what? It actually flips backward! It's the craziest thing! The very tips of her hair flip back, instead of forward. It'll be a while before I can get bows into her hair. Speaking of bows, I've been brainstorming homecoming outfits for the kids since Daddy is going to be home soon. This is what I have picked out for Emily:

I bought it on Etsy at this shop. It came in the mail a few days ago and it looks sooo cute. I haven't been much for the "girlie" stuff with Emily thus far, but you better believe I squealed something awful when I put this headband on Emily's head. I'm planning on having her wear a white spaghetti strap summer dress I bought from Old Navy with this headband for homecoming, weather permitting!

And for Elijah, I am going to be ordering this soon:

I just need to figure out what I'll be wearing and everyone will be set!

On second thought, if Emily keeps doing this while wearing dresses, she may not be wearing them that much longer.

Success!

Elijah has been peeing and pooping in the potty for roughly a week now! And he's going on his FIFTH night with out a cloth diaper!!! AND he has been sleeping in his own bed!!!!!

enter copious amounts of confetti, trumpet sounds, balloons, applause, cheering, and those little string pull-em-pop-it-thingees here>

When I ran out of disposable diapers last, I decided I was done buying them and if that meant him having to pee and poop in his underwear, so be it. Thankfully that hasn't happened too much. His first night without any diaper at all, was his idea. He made it through that first night completely dry! He actually had an accident last night, but it was the first one. I'm so completely proud of him. He has started stirring a few times and when he does I usually wake up (our beds are in the same room) and gently let him know it's time go potty. We're getting into the habit enough now where he doesn't protest and plops down, swaying sleepily with his eyes rolling back while he pees in his potty next to his bed. I get his pants up and put him back in bed without him hardly noticing. I have to be on constant alert, though, because he isn't quite to the point where he will tell me he has to go pee; he will just go if I'm not putting him on a potty every hour or so. With poop, he's great at telling me. I'm glad for that.

At least the floor is clean, right?

In other non-poop related news, Emily is trying her hardest to sit up whenever possible and is just thrilled whenever she is sitting up. Propping her up with pillows doesn't tickle her fancy usually; she has to be sitting while holding someone's hands so she can get a nice good glimpse of what is around her. Isn't her hair hilarious? Evidently mine used to do the same thing. I sent this picture to my Mom and when she showed it to someone they asked if I had rubbed a balloon on Emily's head to make her hair stand up like that. In case you're wondering, I did not do that. Her hair is just so feathery and fine that it simply won't lay against her head unless it is wet. Gosh, she is just so bright eyed and alert. She has to be facing outward when she's being held lest she miss something of visual interest. There is a big light fixture above the dining table that she will stare at for as long as anyone will hold her in front of it. And let's not forget her beloved cow that hangs in her car seat. She'll talk, smile, and laugh at the thing if she's content in her car seat.

Tomorrow we are going to an International Festival in the city. I know Elijah will have a great time because there will be so much directed at his age group for him to enjoy. Pictures to follow!

How Come?

A few weeks ago Elijah and I were having some lunch when I noticed an eyelash on his face. I told him to hold still while I carefully removed the eyelash and held it on my finger tip for him to see. "Think about Daddy" I told him; he paused for a moment and then smiled. "Now blow the eyelash off my finger!" He did so audibly by puffing out his cheeks and blowing out a huge rush of air with a few strings of spit. Elijah was very delighted upon the realization that he could "wish" on eyelashes and wanted to do it again. The next time an eyelash was discovered, it accidently fell from his finger and he became very upset. He quickly remedied this dilemma by picking his nose and wishing upon a booger. So now whenever there is an eyelash or a booger in question, he gets very quiet and whispers that he is thinking about Daddy before blowing it off his finger. Not that boogers come off of fingers easily, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Elijah has begun asking "Why", only he says "How come?" instead. I always knew that kids enjoyed playing the
Why Game, but now I realize that, for now, Elijah doesn't really expect an intelligent answer most of the time. Sometimes I know that he is actually interested in why he shouldn't do something, but other times I know he is just trying to get some wiggle room in which he can change my mind on the subject so he can get his way. Now the answer "Because I said so!" has quite a bit more meaning for me. I don't say that to him... yet. In other news, the potty strike rages on. Occasionally the potty has the privilege of experiencing Elijah's bodily functions, but not nearly as often as I'd like. Aren't those olive hands impressive? I didn't even tell him to do that; I think it's just part of being a child to put olives on the ends of fingers. Better than sticking his fingers in cat poop. Which he did do. He was digging around in the yard and unfortunately discovered some buried "treasure". This resulted in me telling him to extend his arm out in front of him as we marched inside to the nearest sink.

Speaking of treasure, Elijah had his first experience in a candy store.

His mouth was hanging open half the time as he hesitantly opened each plastic lid with thumb and forefinger, peering inside. I could practically hear his thoughts; "So this is where candy comes from. He was in awe of the gigantic suckers, and thankfully settled for one of the smaller 60 cent versions.

There is a small play area for children in the mall. I've always avoided it in the past because it's typically a madhouse. Not just madhouse in the sense that there are too many children there. More like, there are kids in there that are clearly too old to be running around in said area, knocking down the younger kids who are attempting to build confidence in their walking and climbing abilities. I met up with a friend who has a 19 month old daughter and thankfully all the little ones were age appropriate, so Elijah had a nice time warming up at his own pace. He's shy at first and isn't pushy like other younger children. He likes to explore with me with him. I love that.

Emily is pushing 15 pounds and she'll be three months old soon! She's a big 'un, for sure. My little love lump. She's got the biggest thighs and I can't keep my hands off of them. And I can't keep diapers over them. I use 100% unbleached cotton prefold cloth diapers on Emily, and started with size small. (I also use the snap fitted diapers, but as of now they're too small. At $70 for six diapers, I'm going to just wait until she thins out a bit instead of buying a bigger size.) The diapers I use quilts over each time that its dried, so buying a bigger size would result in difficulty with pinning. I had to buy the next size up and decided to buy cloth wipes as well. Why use disposable when I'm already washing cloth diapers anyway? I absolutely love these wipes. They are luxuriously soft to the touch and I look forward to wiping my little Em&Em's tush, no joke. I know that these wipes are gentle on her skin and chemical free. I purchased some bum cleaner and the ingredients are all natural. Guilt-free diapering, people. Do it! If you have kids, that is...

Emily is quite the curious little girl, and always has to be facing the action. I believe she'll be quite the social butterfly. She already is, as a matter of fact. Emily is extremely verbal and is constantly engaging her onlookers in conversation.

Her little noises have worked themselves into various vowel sounds. She works her mouth and tongue in different ways to produce different sounds. It's just adorable and fascinating. She is adorable and fascinating. She just wants to sit up and can even withstand her own weight on her feet. I love watching her wake up. She's just all smiles. It's inspiring, really. Waking up smiling, and ready for all of the experiences? Definitely something to be learned from that.

Nothing Bubbles Can't Fix

I love hearing Elijah say his and Emily's name. It comes out as "Ya-ya" and "Emmy". Elijah is pretty much speaking full sentences now. It's incredible how he went from 2-3 word sentence to 5+ word sentences in just a few short weeks. His personality is developing at full speed now and a sense of humor is working its way out. He loves to be silly, tell jokes (well, more like say things that he thinks are funny, like, "Mommy's mouth smells stinky" and then proceed to crack himself up), dance, and help out with anything and everything. One thing that he likes to help with is to call the cats in. There are three cats that live in my Mom's house; Tigger and Unjuy (pronounced yoon-jee) belong to my Mom, and Loki is mine. A few days ago Elijah was trying to call Unjuy in from outside.

"Yoooo-neeeeee!!"

No Unjuy. I told Elijah that Unjuy was probably upstairs sleeping in Grandma's room. Elijah thinks this over for a minute and then opens the door again and calls out:

"Mouuuse!!:

At this point me and my Grandma are laughing that Elijah was trying to call a mouse to the back door. But, unfortunately, Elijah knows that Unjuy brings mice home, frequently not alive. Elijah was getting frustrated at this point because there was no mouse coming to the door despite his efforts. My Grandma suggested he call for "Mickey". That wasn't such a good idea because Elijah proceeded to holler for Mickey Mouse before getting sad that Mickey Mouse wasn't coming to the door. Bless his heart.

It was nice enough one day last week that Elijah and I were able to go on the back deck to play with bubbles. He loves bubbles. Elijah does get rather aggravated at the lack of bubbles that emerge from his wand in his overly-excited attempts to blow the bubbles, so we bought a bubble machine. (Yes, his shirt is on backwards. Can't argue with a two year old when it comes to getting dressed.)

So with Emily sound asleep in her pack & play, Elijah and I danced, kicked, stomped, and clapped at bubbles. It quickly turned into a game of "I can get more bubbles than you", which was great fun. All I have to do to get Elijah to participate in anything is to compete with him. A simple "it's my turn" with a charge in the appropriate direction is usually enough. All of this being demonstrated brought on bouts of shrieking and laughing from Elijah. I think he knows how to "hi-ya" now after watching me karate chop a few bubbles. He found that amusing.

Emily has started giggling now. There were a few times that I was fairly sure that's what was happening but now I'm positive that's what's happening. I was able to record it on my phone so I do have some sort of documentation of it! Another amazing thing she has started doing is mimicking sounds! Sure, she was copying me when I raised my eyebrows, opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue, but when I (or anyone else) say's, "Hi" she will copy the sound back! Of course a smile, and/or gurgle of some sort will follow, too. Would it be safe to say that her first word was "Hi"?

She has bouts of excitement as well. Her legs get kicking and her arms flail as she takes a few sharp, excited, audible breaths. It's too cute. Emily was super excited over this little toy cow I was holding tonight. She wouldn't take her eyes off of it. Emily has some awesome focusing abilities. No matter which direction I moved this toy, she would follow it. She even knocked it out of my hand once. I know that she's too young to reach out and grab yet, but she certainly looked like she was trying! I love her hair. It's just too light weight to lay on her head, so it stands straight up. My hair did the same thing according to my baby pictures. I think it's pretty silly that both of our kids, as of now, have my hair (which is fine and thin, compared to my Husband's thick hair). Also, I have green eyes while my Husband has brown eyes. Elijah's eyes are starting to turn green (as opposed to the striking blue they were) I think, and Emily's are blue right now.

I can't believe she'll be two months on Sunday! She's such a big girl already. That's a six month outfit she's wearing in that picture. It is a little baggy on her, but not by much. Like I said, big girl. Big and healthy is how I do!

I think the potty strike might be lifted. The past few days Elijah has been using the potty. My Mother-in-law had an idea to give Elijah a "big boy" treat if he pooped in the potty at her house. Well, he did poop in the potty and Grandma Chris busted out some strawberry Pocky. Elijah had never seen nor tasted this before so he truly believes that only Big Boys can have this treat. He tried to share it with me, which was so sweet, but I told him I wasn't a big boy, so I couldn't have it. We have not used another diaper during the day since Sunday. And since he is determined to use the potty every time now, I stuck him back in cloth diapers at night without worrying about him pooping in them.

Elijah and I went to the store to get more big boy treats since the little box Grandma Chris gave to us wasn't going to last long and Elijah saw different flavors of Pocky and other delicious Japanese treats. So not only did we leave the store with more strawberry Pocky, we also had chocolate Pocky and Hello Kitty Strawberry Marshmallows. I didn't want to potty train using treats in the beginning because of the strange association with food as a reward. But I feel that it's different this time because Elijah knows now, compared to when he was first learning to use the potty, what he's doing when he decides to pee/poop in his diaper rather than the potty.

Plus I feel that this is a nice way to acknowledge him in "big boy" behaviors that are coinciding with him being a big brother. It allows me to give him positive reinforcement and attention in his big boy actions rather than giving him the same sort attention I give Emily when I'm changing her diaper. I think this is part of the reason he went on the potty strike in the first place. That and because Daddy had to go back to work.

In any case, way to go, Elijah! Rockin' the big boy status. (Though he'll always be my baby boy...)