You have to see it to believe it!

Penny just woke up from her nap and gave me quite the show. Luckily she did a repeat performance for the camera.

Enjoy!

Sister Serenade

I thought there was nothing sweeter in the world than Theo rocking out to his favorite songs. I was wrong. Theo playing his guitar for his sister is even sweeter. This is a small sampling, but this is what has been happening at our house for the last hour or so.

Enjoy!

Chicken Divan, beans, leftovers, pecans, cheerios, etc. etc. etc. (AKA Theo really likes eating)

Several wonderful friends made dinners for us this week. We are so blessed to be so well taken care of. My parents and brother, Daniel, came for a visit today, so we took the opportunity to clean out the refrigerator and eat some of the tasty meals that were piling up. The beans were delicious, the chicken divan had a tasty, spicy kick, and I was suprised how much wonderful food is left in our fridge. Here are a couple pics of Theo eating his 3rd bowlful of dinner. He sure does love to eat!

Our visit with my family was so fun and we had beautiful weather. We all took Theo to the park. His favorite part was walking around in the peagravel. We'll have to get some at home for him to play in.

Beauty Sleep

Suzanne and Asa came over for a playdate this morning. Sorry that I didn't take any pictures, but we were so busy having fun that I forgot!

Both Penny and Theo have been napping for the last hour and I've been wondering what to do with myself? I've done a bit of cleaning, but I don't want to do anything too loud (i.e. vacuuming, dishes, etc.) while they're asleep. Mostly I've been surfing the internet and drinking a nice, big glass of water.

Here's a picture of Penny getting some nice rest in her bouncy chair. I bought a swaddle blanket (couldn't find the 2 we had for Theo...they're somewhere in the attic) for the consignment store for $5 today and it is wonderful. She has taken 2 different naps today for at least 30 minutes without being held. I think she likes feeling all snuggled up.

Weekly weigh-in 2/20/08

I weighed Pen yesterday and she was 9 lbs. 8 oz. She's a grower!

The kids and I have had a good couple of days since Andy went back to work. We went to Toddler Time this morning and had fun playing with our friends. Here are a couple pictures of our cuties!

She did it!

Penelope took a bottle from her Daddy yesterday for the first time. I go back to teaching my dance classes tonight, so it is fairly important that Andy be able to feed her while I'm gone. Of course, Theo never took a bottle (with any kind of predictability), so Andy just had to deal with the cry fest while I taught.

Let's hope she does as well with the bottle tonight as she did yesterday!

The pictures are here!

The prints we ordered from Pavlina are here! She brought them over this morning!!

Now what do I do with them?? Hmm....

Sub-par mom syndrome

I've been talking a lot to friends with babies this week. I've been on playdates, gone to toddler time at the park, and checked in on a friend on the phone. The, what I'll call, "sub-par mom syndrome" came up during all of these conversations. So many friends talked about feeling like they don't do a good enough job with their kids. Maybe it's because their baby cries, their toddler bites, they don't make time to connect with their spouse, they are apprehensive about having more children, or they don't seem to have energy to get through the day. Why do we let ourselves get sucked into this mentality?? We are good enough....we are MORE than good enough. God has chosen us to care for His children and He is right here with us while we do it. Ok, I'll admit that not every day is a giant victory, but as a friend told me today, there are always small victories to celebrate. Every day! If you are a parent, please know that what you do doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Psalm 127:3 "Sons are a heritage from the Lord. Children are a reward from Him."

Weekly weigh-in 2/12/08

Penny, Theo and I all took a bath together tonight. Theo very gently poured water over Penny's toes and she was very relaxed in the warm water. I remember being nervous about bathing with Theo when he was a newborn and now I feel totally comfortable washing them both! Experience really does give you confidence.

Today was day 2 of our week with Andy. Penny and I went on a playdate to Suzanne and Asa's house. The babies both needed a diaper change at the same time and then they both whimpered to be fed at the same time. It was pretty cute.

Before our bath, we weighed the kids. Penny has gained 10 ounces this week and now weighs 8 lbs. 9 oz. She is finally bigger than Theo was at birth (8 lbs. 4 oz.). Theo has gained 2 oz. since Penny was born and is up to 25 lbs. 8 oz. When I hold him, he really does seem to weigh 17 lbs. more than she does. He is heavy! We just keep feeding them and they just keep growing!!

Sweet Siblings

Before my mom left yesterday, we took a picture of Theo "holding" Penelope. It looks like he's tenderly holding her in the picture, but if you look closely, you'll see that he's almost ready to shove her off of his lap! He did give her a nice hug and kiss before I swooped in to rescue her. I realized today how cool he is going to think she is once she can interact with him. He'll have a captive audience to smile and clap for all of his frequent shenanigans!!

What a mom is

*I love this poem and hope I can have a great relationship with my kids when they're grown up like I do now that they're small.

I love you not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you.
I love you not only for what you’ve made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me that you bring out.

I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart
And passing over all the foolish and frivolous and weak things
Which you cannot help dimly seeing there
And for drawing out into the light
All the beautiful, radiant belongings
That no one else had looked quite far enough to find.

I love you for ignoring the possibilities of
The fool and weakling in me
And for laying firm hold on the possibilities of good in me.
I love you for closing your eyes to the discord in me
And for adding to the music in me by listening.

I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good
And more than any fate could have done to make me happy.
You have done it just by being yourself.

Perhaps that is what being a mom means after all.

Recluses in training

Andy and Theo got up this morning at 8:30, but they let me and Penny sleep until 10:30. So, we didn't go to church. We actually haven't left the house all day. Maybe we are teaching our kids to be recluses! It's been a peaceful, restful day.

Go Giants!!

Alone again

Mom had a birthday party to go to in Port Orchard today, so she left this morning to drive home. She'll be back on Monday sometime. We all slept in a little bit later than usual (after Theo coming to bed with us at midnight and waking up for 45 minutes at 5am!) which was really nice. After we ate breakfast and got dressed, we went to a rummage sale at Bloedel Donovan (which was really disappointing) and then ran a couple of short errands. Basically, we've done a whole lot of nothing and are looking forward to an afternoon and evening of much of the same. It is great to have Andy home and I am excited that we don't have much planned for tomorrow either except for church and watching the Super Bowl and, of course, hanging out with the kiddos.

Gotta go get Theo down for a nap and feed Penelope!

Happy Saturday everyone :)