The joys of feeding kids....

Jenna and a silly face, rice cereal makes you do funny things...

I finally decided that Jenna needed to start some solids - maybe motivated by the woes of feeding a 2.5 year old that is super picky he won't even touch mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and all the other food staples of the terrible twos... I think I am determined to succeed in Jenna's eating habits, in hope she can show her brother how it is done.... Who knows! But so far we have had some rice cereal and sweet potatoes, She was not too keen on the potatoes but we will keep pushing it, we get some cute faces and expressions, which make it fun and I tell Ethan to tell her "good job" so she will smile and think it is fun even if the texture and taste are foreign. It at least gives us a new thing to do together:)

This look translated = "Seriously mom, what is this stuff?!"

First batch of egg-free Chocolate Chip cookies - but where is Cookie #12?

Here it is!!!! So Ethan having an egg allergy has been a rough go, especially for mommy. I don't know if it is just laziness or a hope that Ethan would eventually grow out of it, but this week I finally caved, bought an egg replacer and made cookies that Ethan can eat. Sad, that I have let too much time - 2 years and 8 months to be exact, pass that Ethan has never had the taste of a home made cookie. He loved it! I can't get him to try healthy food, aka veggies, even though I make it look fun, but he will try and consume a cookie.... Although this evening, Ethan did eat about 3cm of a green bean, which was very encouraging, but it soon turned into a train that chugged the grooved edge of the table and eventually ended up on my plate. Progress is progress when it comes to food in this house. Let's just say that my least favorite thing to do as a parent is get kids to eat, it is a lot of work and barley touched meals give very little encouragement that we are getting it all in, but I will push forward. Here's to more baking and cooking without eggs, oats, nuts, peanuts and of course cat and dog;)

Ethan has discovered the joys of wearing a baseball cap and playing baseball indoors(weather is not letting us out much these days, so rules must be bent for sanity's sake), he enjoys a good pitch and loves it when you pitch it right to the bat which doesn't swing yet... or at least not until 2 seconds after the ball passes by. We are working on that.

This picture makes me realize how much Ethan is looking like a little boy and not so little anymore.

Such a handsome little dude.

Jenna in the swing:)

Swinging for the first time....

Testing...

Just making sure my email can post a sentence:)

Brittany:)

May days...

Ethan insisted Jenna eat dinner with everyone....

Looking through the rocks with Papa Holley

Getting some Papa love!

Our patriotic Shark Boy...

So this time the cars didn't come through under the door during quiet time....

Jenna just being content and cute:)

So May days are here, and we thought that only April brought showers but that is not the case. We have had some teaser days of spring time warm days but they have for the mean time been quite gray. Some of my Favorite Ethan moments have occurred these past 10 days...

Ethan was eating his hot cereal when some dribbled out onto the table, which he decided to make a mess with...

"Ethan, please don't make a mess."

"It's my choice."

"What?"

"It's my choice mom." So matter of fact, that I was left speechless and confused at what to say to that coming out of my 2.5 year old....

Another favorite moment - Ethan came into the living room wrapped in a tan blanket...

"I look like a Pretzel!"

A few other things Ethan has picked up on are phrases that are in the interest of knowing how we are doing... aka... "How's it goin'?", "Are you happy?", "How's work going mom?"....

He also has a new favorite game called "OK?" - So we have the futon mattress up in the living room since Scott's dad came for a visit.... Now Ethan and I wrestle around it, pretending to fall and pick each other up - usually it turns into a let's tackle mommy while I scream fest.... it is quite silly.

So as I mentioned last month, we got rid of the bink, and replaced it with a Toy Story Woody Doll, well Woody has been beheaded and I am beginning to wonder if Ethan Errs more on the Sid side of the fence rather than the Andy side. Woody took quite a beating when Ethan decided that to make his hat come off he wouldn't just take it off, he had to throw Woody across the room. I promised him we would get some super glue to try and mend him but not even gorilla glue super glue could fix poor, lifeless, beheaded Woody. We might have to lay him to rest....

Jenna on the other hand has become quite the little gal. Her favorite things are "playing with Ethan" Which en tales Ethan getting in her face and ripping his glasses off squealing in delight and then getting them dirty before I can confiscate the expensive "toy". She also loves when you sing "Old McDonald", "Wheels on the bus", and "Patty Cake". She also loves to grab my arm and eat it during diaper changes, with a little growl to boot. I decided today that we should try some Rice cereal and it went well, but it will take some getting used to. He we go again! She is lot's of fun to snuggle these days and I love the big silent smiles!

Scott has become a Gardening maniac. Our apartment had some serious weed overgrowth and a not so attractive back yard. He has, in even pouring rain, weeded, potted flowers and rolled up the fake Astroturf/green carpet in the backyard(yeah you read that right, low maintenance for you know who), and begun preparing it for sod. He is bound and determined that we have some grass to play soccer on with Ethan, as it is getting a little hard to play indoors without fearing some calamity with the decor.

I have been keeping up with the kids and entertaining them and just making sure the basics are met. It is my job. I am learning to love it. Is has been a rough road getting here but I feel that since I have made better efforts to work on my spiritual side, I think the blessings of patience are starting to arrive. Maturing as a mom has been a journey that is not over yet but I feel I am in a good place today, we will see tomorrow.....