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...

This evening

John and Kristine very graciously lent us one of their digital cameras to use until we get a new one. This means I can once again take tons of pictures... even "unimportant" pictures that turn out badly and get deleted before they even hit the computer. Ah, the freedom.

So, here are some "unimportant" pictures of a very ordinary evening at our house.

I thought if I made Elisa's dinner into a face she might eat more of it. But she took three bites and then kept insisting on "fruit snacks" (which are a recent addition at our house and since they are pretty much just sugar, Elisa LOVES them.) So we bribed her to take 10 more bites so that she could get dessert. Her choices for dessert were ice cream, vanilla wafers, or fruit snacks. And yes, she chose fruit snacks.

After dinner Elisa started playing with her stickers, and before we knew it she had stuck one on Jonathan's head. He went along with it at first...

...but eventually he didn't think it was too funny.

We went on a short walk after dinner. Elisa didn't want me to take any pictures of her. But she was so cute that I snuck one anyway.

Here's Jonathan showing off his new tongue smile. He sure loves his dad. I don't know who he likes more, Greg or Elisa, but I feel like I come in third on the list... which is funny considering that I'm the food supply.

Elisa kept hopping down the stairs saying, "boing!" She is such a big girl now.

So that was our ordinary (and yet extraordinary) evening. Each day I feel so thankful for my beautiful family. I love the ages of our kids. And I love each new age and stage that comes. I love seeing them interact with each other and with Greg. I think of all the older people who tell me, "I miss the days when my kids were little; those days go by so fast. Cherish them." And I can already feel these days slipping through my fingers.

This is not to say that life is perfect (or even close to it). We still have moments during the day full of whining, crying, and fits. And some days it seems that bad moods are the norm and the lovely moments are the exception. But it's all worth it when I see two little faces smiling up at me... and I turn to meet Greg's eyes, and we shake our heads in wonder and say, "so cute."

Diamond Digging!

So it's Spring Break here. My brother and sister-in-law came down to visit us and we all took a trip down to Murfreesboro Arkansas for a little diamond digging!

Arkansas is home to the only diamond-producing site that is open to the public, Crater of Diamonds State Park. My brother learned this as a little kid, and has always wanted to visit. So, now that we live in Arkansas, this was his opportunity.

This is what it looks like... a field of dirt. It had rained quite heavily the day before we arrived, and so the ground was sticky mud. I had worn slip on shoes which threatened to suck off of my feet with each step. Greg was a little more prepared with water-proof boots. And Elisa chose to wear her pretty pink shoes. The clay-mud built up on our shoes with each step resulting in hilariously heavy feet.

John and Kristine were the serious diamond hunters... wet sifting through the dirt. Greg and Elisa helped them a little, while I walked around with Jonathan and tried to make sure my shoes stayed on my feet. In the end we didn't find any diamonds, but we had a memorable time at an Arkansas landmark. And we made fun memories with John and Kristine. Thanks guys, for coming all this way to be with us!

Diaper Deal

So, right now I have two kids in diapers. Elisa was SUPER into potty training right around the time that she turned two. For a couple weeks she used the potty, wore big girl underwear, and was very self-motivated. She could totally do it, and I was ecstatic. But then for some reason she decided that she'd rather just wear diapers. I have decided not to push her just yet, but let her lead the way for now. So once again, I have two in diapers.

Now as most of you know I have done both cloth and disposable diapers (See this post and this post to read more on this). Right now Jonathan wears both cloth and disposables, and Elisa is exclusively in disposables. (She needed new diaper covers and we decided not to replace them since she was "so close" to potty training).

Anyway, I guess I bring all this up to say that diapers are expensive. And diapering two children (even one that often wears cloth) is really expensive. So I wanted to tell anyone who is in the same boat as me about a great deal at Diapers.com.

If you are a new customer they will give you $10 off your first order (of $49 or more) when you use the referral code CARX1546 (this also gives me a $5 credit). Then print off this form and follow the instructions on the bottom to get a $14.97 rebate from Parenting Early Years magazine. I did this about a month ago and received my rebate check last week, so it really works! I ended up paying about 11 cents per diaper... which is such a great deal! Cheaper even than buying the big case of store brand diapers at Sam's Club (which are about 17 cents per diaper). So give them a try if you haven't yet!