Yum Yum

With Natalie, I decided to hold off on giving her any cereal until 6 months.  I hoped for her just to get breast milk.  However, there for a while, she seemed to be hungry all the time, so we thought we should try to give her some cereal.  Of course her first time, she didn't know what to do, so her bib got most of it.  Once there was a time she even kicked the whole bowl out of my hand in protest.  Every time I fed her cereal, it seemed she got mad.  I still continued to try and feed her some every now and then.  Here is a picture of her first time having cereal....

I am happy to report that as of today (July 23 --- as this may be pre dated to go along with her first feeding...this is my baby book/scrapbook after all)  that Natalie officially learned how to eat cereal. It was like a revelation to her. After she finished the little bit that I fixed her...sucking it down, I fixed her a little more to encourage her.  I don't want her to forget how to do it.  Then later in the day, I caught her sucking on her lips like she was trying to eat from a spoon. I am so happy she figured this out.  She made me one happy momma.

Dylanisms

I need to jot down the things that Dylan says that makes me chuckle so that he can look back on them when he is older. This week....

As we are looking at Natalie who is asleep. I say, "isn't she cute". Dylan says "yes she is" I reply "let's keep her" to which he replies " then we can put her in a basket, put her in the river and a whale will swallow her"  ---at least he's listening the stories. Just a little confused that they all go together.

Later that day, Dylan asks if he can walk on my legs. I say no. He then says Jesus can walk on your legs (guess it's just not water he can walk on) to which I reply, Jesus can do whatever he wants because he's Jesus.

Gotta love what kids come up with.

3 Years Later

Three years ago, Dylan, Ellie and Cole first met. Dylan was due first, but came last. His friend Cole was born first on April 30th. Ellie was born 2nd on May 1st. Then came Dylan on May 10th. 

Three years later, they are still friends.  Hopefully there are many more.

Birthday Fun

We have been hitting up a lot of birthday parties in the past month. It seems like everyone we know has had a birthday. That may be a bit of a stretch but seriously. It's been fun and exhausting.  I think one weekend, we had 3 birthday parties, whew.  We went to a really unique, kid friendly one last weekend for a very special little, big boy.  I say little, big boy because "B" just turned 2 but he's about the same size as Dylan.  You would never know by looking at "B" that he has had heart surgery as a baby.  He's a tough guy, a fighter, that's for sure.  We were honored to have celebrated your 2nd birthday "B".

The party was kid friendly, most are, who am I kidding, but this was a really fun one as their were live animals...yes it was like a petting zoo.  Here are a few pictures from the party.

 Dylan with the birthday boy and his sister...see he's almost as tall as Dylan

 I will add a picture of me and Natalie or me for that matter to any post that I can to prove that I was around.  Even though this is not a good picture of me, it is of Natalie as she dressed for the theme "farm".

 Dylan loves snakes.  He talks about them all the time and just the other night he insisted that he had to have 3 of his snakes to take to bed since he was 3 years old.  At this party, the guy had 3 snakes but Dylan only met this one. When he brought the other two out, that were bigger than this one, the guy went to put it around his neck and Dylan screamed and ran. Now when Dylan says he's not afraid of anything, I remind him that he screamed and ran away from the big snakes.

We had a blast. Thanks for inviting us.

VBS - The Big Apple

At the beginning of June, our campus held it's very first VBS. We did the Big Apple (Lifeway curriculum) theme.  I was asked to do the bible story/ praise time for the preschool aged kids (basically what I do every Sunday).  I was nervous at first about how Natalie would do, but God really covered it all. Our schedules synced up perfectly and she basically just napped while we were there.  

Dylan really enjoyed VBS.  He was such a sweet kid all week and I think that can be chalked up to the extra stimulation throughout the week.  He was a little reluctant to go into his class at first, but then by the time he came to bible story, he was in a good mood and then when I would go to pick him up "I am not ready to go yet" was what I heard.  

Before VBS, I was listening to the CD that went with the curriculum and Dylan started singing along in the car. It was the sweetest thing. He doesn't come to Wee Connect yet (that's my Sunday morning class) but he caught on real quick.  He was answering questions about the story and singing along with everyone.  However he did learn that most answers were "Jesus and God"...smart booger...so he would belt that answer out each time.  

VBS was a success  and I can't wait until next year. 

Watch Natalie Grow - 4 months

Seems like yesterday that we brought Natalie home from the hospital, so it's hard to believe that she is now 4 months old.  We went to the doctor earlier in the week and her stats were:  12 lbs 4 oz and 24 inches.  She is a little peanut.  For weight, she is in the 24th percentile and for height, she is in the 50th percentile.

At 4 months she has rolled over a few times but not consistently.  She sleeps about 5 or 6 hours at night, but she is still in our room in her little upright bed contraption (which by the way is my favorite baby purchase ever. It's a must have for any new mom.) Some nights she will sleep up to 7 hours straight.  She is starting to laugh out loud now which is adorable, not to mention cooing.

It's been kind of hard for me not to compare her milestones to Dylan's. I know I shouldn't because all babies are different, especially Dylan who was an advanced little guy. Right at 3 months, he was rolling over non stop. We couldn't keep him off his belly.  At 5 months, he was crawling and at 8 months, he was walking. I know I can't compare Nattie Cakes to him. She's no where close to crawling or sitting up.  Dr. L did tell me to get her off her back more because her head is still rather flat, but the girl is not a fan of tummy time and I just don't have the heart to let her lay there and cry. I try to do it in little spurts every few hours.  Dr. L did assure me that her head lifting skills on her tummy is right were she would expect it to me.  whew.  I almost wish there was no such thing is the internet when it comes to babies. We read way to much and expect our kids to do the same things, but they will all learn at their own pace.  That's what I have to tell myself.  Like the kids in Africa, they spend most of their infancy on their mother's back while they work, they reach those milestones just like any other child...maybe later than the average but it happens.

Visit from T.K.

It seems like such a short time ago, that I saw T.K. but after talking with him, it had been almost a year...really?  I guess when you feel so close to someone, you feel like you just saw them.  T.K. is from Nigeria originally and has lived in Malawi for several years. I met him during my first trip to Malawai and got reacquainted with him when he came to the U.S. about 6 months later.  When we found out we were pregnant with Natalie, T.K. was the first person that we told...on skype none the less (sorry Mom you weren't the first). While in Malawi last year, T.K. was responsible for making sure I was safe..seeing I was preggers with Natalie and all.  He did just that. When he was here just a few weeks ago, he came by our house for a visit.  Dylan was quite the bashful one and the picture portrays reality, that's for sure.

We can't wait to see you next time T.K.

Wordless Wednesday

School's Out for Summer

This is a bit old....I am behind on blogging.  One day I will be able to post the same week the event happens, but until then....everything will be old news.  The reason I blog anyway is to have a scrapbook for the kids when they get older (I convert my blog into a hard back book) so when they read it, it will be really old news. Now onto the real post....

Dylan had a great year at school.  I can't believe it was 9 months ago that he had his first day. At first, he was reluctant to go to class. Then there were days that I had to peel him off my leg and make a mad dash for the door.  We were fortunate to have several days were he kissed me good bye and like a big boy, went into his class room all on his own after dropping off his lunch at their table.  I must say, I wasn't thrilled that we had to do the Monday/Wednesday class, as all of Dylan's friends were in Tues/Thurs programs..what would we do on these days if they are all in school???  It came to a point where one of the kids dropped out of the Tues/Thurs program. This meant Dylan could have jumped over and been with one of his best buds, J, but I felt like God had put him in the Mon/Wed program for a reason, so we hung in there.  We came out with some really good friends, a few of which we still do stuff with today.  Not to mention that he had 2 really special teachers. Thank you so much Mrs. Lindsay and Mrs. Ann for teaching our little ones.  We were blessed by you and your love for the kids.

We can't wait until next year.  Especially for mommy to get a break and not to mention the car rider line...woo hoo.  No more walking in and out to drop them off and pick them up.

Checking out his goodies

 Mrs. Ann

 Mrs. Lindsay

 You can come back next year Dylan, don't be sad