Packing

Today a moving company guy came and looked through our entire house in order to give us an estimate of how much they would charge to move us. When I think about packing all this up and moving it makes me wish I were a little more like Ghandi, whose possessions at the time of his death were as follows: His two dinner bowls, wooden fork and spoon, the famous porcelain monkeys, his diary, prayer book, watch, spittoon, letter openers and two pair of sandals. I carry more than that with me just to run to the grocery store with the kids.

A new camera

In case you don't know, our camera fell off of the stroller and broke a few months ago. Our budget has been really tight, so we haven't been able to buy a new one yet. Last week we received our tax refund, so now we finally have the money to buy a new digital camera! The one we had before was just a small point and shoot. We really liked it; it took great pictures and was small enough that we carried it everywhere. When it broke we went back to using our film camera, which is a large SLR. We've really noticed that with the SLR we're able to take much better quality pictures, and we have more control... but since it's so large we don't want to carry it around with us. So now that it's time to buy a new one we're really debating. Should we buy a point and shoot or an SLR? The point and shoot would be a much cheaper option (less than $200). If we decided to go with the digital SLR we would only have to buy the camera body since we already have a lens but it would still cost $400-$500. Any advice?

Jonathan at 6 months

Length: 28 inches

Weight: 18 lbs. 9.5 oz.

Jonathan continues to be such a happy boy. He's just the sweetest baby... so easy and such a smiler. In the past couple weeks he has started sitting on his own (for short amounts of time). And just yesterday he started rolling over (back to tummy). He did it a few times today too, and each time he got upset when he found himself on his tummy. He hates being on his tummy.

We have started feeding him cereal... which he doesn't really like and doesn't really eat. But today I felt like we were making some progress. I think he actually swallowed a couple tablespoons worth. We'll keep trying.

He sleeps about 8 hours at a stretch at night, and takes 3 naps during the day. I feel like he should be sleeping longer at night by now. But the doctor reminded me that every kid is different and 8 hours is just fine.

Overall, he is just a joy. He loves jumping in his Johnny-jump-up (or his "Jonathan jump-up") and he loves when people talk to him and pay attention to him. He smiles readily, even at strangers. I think he's going to be fairly social.

We are so thankful for our precious Jonathan. He lives up to his name, "God's gracious gift."

Little Talker

It's so fun to know what goes on in Elisa's head now that she is talking more. Today she told me, "I need my little IPod." I said, "You don't have an IPod." She said, "I'm just going to go running." And off she went, running down the sidewalk.

A little bit later I was feeding Jonathan and she was coloring at the table. She told me, "I colored the frog's toenails. I colored them black." I looked, and sure enough, she had colored his toenails.

A few days ago she was studying these flowers while eating her snack at the table. After awhile she said, "That fish is eating them." "What?" "That fish is eating the flowers." "Oh... you're right!"

None of these conversations are that extraordinary. It's just that for so long most of the things she says are things that she's heard us say. So now it's fun to see her original thoughts coming out.

She calls everything "little", and she doubles words... like, "I need my little milky-milk." I guess she gets this from me.

Another thing that's been fun lately is watching how much she loves Jonathan. She really likes him. This morning I asked her what she wanted to do today and she said, "Play with Jonathan." I think to a certain extent she wishes she could be the Momma. So she parents Itty. She always informs us what Itty needs. Among other things he needs: his paci, some tummy time, his diaper changed, to drink Leesi's milk, a little toy, and the other day (when I was taking pictures of Jonathan) she told me that Itty needed his picture taken. This is what we got...

What a sweet girl. Itty puts up with all this attention quite well... in fact I think he rather likes it. Jonathan loves Elisa too. But sometimes he needs a little space.

Already?

Jonathan is 6 months old today. Wow... how the time has flown. It didn't go nearly this fast with Elisa. I still feel like Jonathan was just born a few weeks ago.

No pictures or height/weight stats tonight. I'll post some soon (maybe after we go to the doctor). But I just had to mention that this is officially Jonathan's 1/2 year birthday.

Wow.

I still can't believe it.

Easter Weekend

Just a quick post to say Happy Easter and to show you all what we've been up to around here.

Yesterday Elisa helped me make these cute paper baskets and then fill them with goodies to give out to our guests today. I've made these little baskets for a few years now... so fun and easy. This tutorial gives the basic instructions for how to make these (though I'm never quite as precise in how I make them as they are).

This was the first year Elisa has dyed eggs. It was really fun, though I felt like we were teetering on disaster the entire time... you know, a two-year-old around permanent dye just makes me nervous. But no big catastrophes.

Greg and I also tried this project. Sorry no pictures. I think we blew our balloons up too big. So we decided to put the chocolate mousse that I made into wine glasses instead. Then today, we cut up strawberries and put them into our chocolate bowls with whipped cream on top. Yum.

We had fun with all of our projects yesterday. As my children get older I want to think about how I can make meaningful traditions with them. I love all the fun traditions we have around holidays. But I hope to also have some traditions that bring home the meaning of Easter to my kids. Any ideas?

Anyway, today we went to church and then had some friends over for Easter lunch. All in all, it was a really good Easter weekend (though Greg ended up having to work a ton). I feel like we made some fun memories, and we spent a lot of time outside in the fabulous spring weather. Most of all, it's good to be thankful for all that we have to celebrate:

Therefore, having been justified by faith,

we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)

Growing up

Both kids have started doing new and exciting things lately. Take a look...