My new favorite

We've started somewhat of a new tradition in our house.  

Sunday night's, we get in our pj's, brew a pot of decaf coffee and have a yummy 'breakfast-for-dinner' meal.  I don't know what it is, but something about this completely relaxes me and I love it!

This week, we were waiting for hurricane Sandy to hit and expected the power to go out at any time, so we lit the fire and roasted some marshmallows.

I just had to document the day that Alison let me put her hair in a ponytail.

She's starting to look so grown up!

Since starting school, she wants to wear jeans and put her hair up...just a little something to show me that peers aren't always a bad thing.

Eliot has fallen in love with playing Barbies.  He'll bring you a doll and say, "hey! let's dance!" and make the doll jump around.  Ben has already put G.I. Joe on his Christmas list :)

 

Pumpkin Carving

 Alison went to the pumpkin patch with her kindergarten class.  Each kid was allowed to pick one pumpkin and Alison was extra proud of the one she brought home.  She came home with all kinds of info about pumpkins and was ready to dig in and make a jack-o-lantern. 

Me and My Princess

Colin-4 Months Old

Honestly, 3-4 months was not my favorite.  Growth spurt, separation anxiety, colic...who knows.  All I know is this stinker went from sleeping through the night to up 2-3 times (more than he did when he was first born!).  The last few nights he's gone back to up only once and I hope soon our full nights rest will return.

He's now 12 lbs, 11 oz and 25 inches long.

I don't feel like much has changed in the last month, but he looks so different to me now.

Eliot James - 2.5

 

I confess I almost forgot Eliot's half birthday.  But thanks to my handy dandy birthday tracker on the side of the blog, I remembered just in time to snatch up some cupcakes at the grocery store.  I've been sick, but I didn't want to miss an opportunity to celebrate Eliot.

As we ventured to the grocery store to pick up his treat, Eliot sang along with a CD Ben made for the kids.  It melted my heart hearing him sing with his daddy.

When we got home, I set the cupcakes on the counter and went to lay Colin down.  When I came back, Eliot had already dug into the cupcakes.  I didn't know his little arms could reach that high and I started to give him the "we have to wait until after dinner" speech...but then I realized that sometimes it's important to spend time with just Eliot, no matter what time of day it is.

So we dug in, just me and my little man.

So here's a little about Eliot James at two and a half:

Potty trained.

Must sleep holding the tag of his blankie.

Gets very cranky when he has to go potty, but will tell you he doesn't have to go.

Has a strong passion for mini muffins, orange juice and trains.

Says "Come here!  Come with me!"  while waving his hand, all day long.

Loves playing the iPad.

 Loves to read books...

 Especially when there's destruction involved.

Speaking of which, loves destruction of all kinds.

Repeats everything Alison says and does.

 

He keeps us on our toes, but I love him to pieces.

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

My parents came for a short trip and my dad got to meet Colin for the first time.

It was nice to have some extra hands around the house for a few days and Ben and I were able to escape for a couple of runs together.

We asked my parents to bring the famous "grasshopper" home video (I'm about 4 years old, saying over and over "where is that grasshopper?" and sound just like Eliot), thinking the kids would think it was hilarious to see me as a kid.  My dad even showed them a real grasshopper before previewing the movie, but the kids were not amused in the least.  They sat there, waiting patiently, for the real movie to begin and gave a disappointed "oh" when we told them this was the real movie.

We did some shopping, had dinner at Abuelo's and my dad came to Hope for the first time.  Short and sweet and we look forward to them coming again soon!

First bites of food

I know, I know...he's only 3.5 months old.

But when a 3 month growth spurt is going on three weeks, our pediatrician recommended giving him a little cereal.  Colin went from sleeping 10-12 hours a night to up every 2-3!  I was so thankful that the cereal seemed to help and he was only up once last night.

He actually handled his first serving of food far better than Alison and Eliot ever did.  It seemed like he knew just what to do and didn't spit it back out.