Mom's Mistake

A few weeks ago I made a pretty big mistake. Eli was happily watching the Incredibles on TV while I cooked. Stupidly I thought, hey, why not involve him in the cooking process?? I had seen such cute photos of the twins "helping" mom cook. Plus, it's better than watching TV, right?

Mom's big mistake, plus Eli's "MINE" have been a very bad combination!!! EVERY time now, and I really do mean every single time, I am in the kitchen doing anything, Eli comes running in chanting "Me" over and over and pushes his chair (a wooden chair he has claimed as "mine") over to the counter so he can "help" and by "help" he really means he wants to do every single thing. He wants to add all the ingredients, including cracking the eggs. He wants to stir. He wants to flip the french toast (I am thinking of this morning). But when I am making soup or something, he wants to cut up the veggies. ANYTHING that needs to be done, he wants to do.

What's his favorite thing, you wonder? Pushing down the toast and cracking the eggs. He loves those. We have way more toast than anyone wants in our house because he loves to make it. Also, Whit made a little mistake and put ice in his water once. Now he wants ice in his water all the time--and he can reach it since the freezer is on the bottom.

Why, oh why, didn't I just let him watch the Incredibles in peace!?

Live and learn!

Uncle Golden, New Teeth and Zoo Trip

Eli is learning 5-10 words a day right now--so many I can't keep up with him! He says things over and over that I know I should understand, but I can't! He is so impressive with his explosion of words all of a sudden. He learned the word "Uncle" in anticipation of Uncle Golden coming to visit, and since he left, he has been asking for Uncle every hour or so. Poor Eli! We had a great time with Uncle Golden!

Here's a photo of Eli snuggling up to him. He almost never does this--not since he did this to Golden at Christmas!



The day Golden left, we went to the Zoo with Nana (my sister Emma). Here's Eli on Dad's shoulders in front of the alligators. Whit's mimicking Eli's fake smile.

I love this new hat my mom got for Dora! So cute! She still puts her feet up every time we put her in the stroller!

I got a new sweatshirt and shoes on Monday night, so Whit insisted on taking some photos of me, sneakily.

Here's Isadora--a future Cougar! Look how close that cougar is! There was some DUMB lady there explaining to her kids that both the lions were female--"Remember, the males have a big mane." THESE ARE MOUNTAIN LIONS, LADY! Duh!

Here Emma and I were, looking at the buffalo. I have lost 3 pounds on Weight Watchers already--just 9 to go!! I love Weight Watchers!

Here's Eli, looking at the Buffalo. His sweater says, "Wait for me" with a snail. It's ironic because that little guy darts around and sprints everywhere. We are always telling him to wait for us. His favorite word this week is walk. He wants to walk everywhere--in the grocery store (NO WAY) and on our walks (he used to always go in the stroller, but now Dora grabs him and it upsets him!)

Whit got new shoes, too. Fancy, eh?

Here's mom and Dora. I love this little bean. She's so cute! She had shoes on--she just kicked them off so many times we finally stopped putting them back on.

Here is Eli and his beloved Nana!

Eli loves to feed the ducks and these were really eager.

Here's the cutest baby ever--she has had some rough nights because she just got her two top teeth in! WOW! I can't believe how big she is!

She is also pulling up on everything (she's a hazard) and now she's walking when she holds your hands, too!!! Oh and did I mention that she's crawling!? WOW! I can't believe how old she is!! Almost 8 months!!!

Shank Park!

Whit has been working evenings (3 pm-1 am). Luckily I have had Emma to keep me company most nights. What a rock star sister. She and Dora had some fun when Dora woke up from her nap yesterday...

In case you can't tell, Dora is "Boo-tiful"!

We decided to go to the park for a bit before bath time. Dora loved the handicap swing! The kids swing there is still broken. Doh!

Emma and Eli had fun on the slides.

AND Emma took a few of me and the angel on the swing. Dora liked being swung. Pay no attention to the fact that her pants have a pink cupcake and her shoes are pink. See, I realized after buying her a cute Halloween shirt and sweatshirt that she has NO pants or jeans that don't "go" with some outfit. They all have little embelishments on them. Oh well! They matched my shirt, at least.

Okay and here is where I had a tiny heart attack. Eli climbs up this ladder on his own now. (With an adult hovering near at all times.) What a little monkey! Is your heart skipping a beat too!? He's so LITTLE!

Here is where Emma totally pushed Eli into crashing! HA!

Call CPS!

One last terrifying shot. He did this like 4 dozen times. By the time we left he was almost a pro.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkin (and set up my little Fall display) last week. I know, I know. I am really late blogging it. Things have been crazy around here!

Eli and Dora both helped, but Daddy did almost all the work.



Dora was a little angel, as always!

Eli hated the guts. He shuddered when he touched them. And he loved them! He couldn't leave them alone!

See?

Nice work, dad. Now, let's get some poses with the kids...

Dora was very interested in touching it!

Here is Eli in the Halloween jammies Lerdle-luh sent.

I will never...

say "I will never" again. Seriously, since having kids, I think I have done almost every single thing I said I would never do.

Never let my kid watch TV on vacation--that's family time. (I never leave home without my DVD player now.)

Never let my kids have gross snotty noses. (Umm, hello, HOW does their nose make snot that fast?)

Never let my kids run around all dirty. (Boys seem to be attracted to dirt like a moth to the flame.)

Never let my kids pester other people just so I get a 5 minute break. (HA! I will let my kids pester anyone and everyone now.)

Never do a "diet." I mean, who can't just exercise a little control over what they eat and keep their weight down? (HAHAHAHA! I have now done South Beach and am on Weight Watchers.)

Never let Eli eat candy. (Today he got Emma's tin of mints and screamed for 10 minutes at the top of his lungs when I took it away--both times. Yeah, I gave in the first time. Don't judge me.)

Never buy expensive Gymboree clothes they will puke on and grow out of in 5 minutes. (I don't think I have bought anything else in the last year. This is because I had a girl. It broke me!)

Never let my kid eat (or wear) whatever they want. (Yeah, Eli picks out his lunch every day. Seriously, he goes to the fridge and pulls out what he wants--corn dog, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc. Pathetic, I know.)

Never yell at my kid unreasonably. (Umm, I would still NEVER do that... Unless you have seen me do it and then I only did it that ONCE.)

Never let my kid watch show after show after show on TV. (Blues Clues, Baby Einstein, Disney and other affiliated Cartoons--I LOVE you and will until the day I die.)

Never let my kid sleep with me (which I stuck to my guns on until very recently, but now Eli sleeps in a bed and I can't just stuff him in his crib! Gah!)

Never buy EZ mac. That's what prompted this post. I recall saying, WHO would ever buy that? I mean, who is too LAZY to make a box of mac n cheese?? Who needs a single serving microwave variety!? It's like microwave pancakes or something. Sheesh.

I bought a box today at Sam's. I found out who buys them--moms who don't want to eat mac and cheese (because they are on Weight Watchers because of the baby weight-ha) with kids who won't eat leftovers and who are too impatient to wait for water in a pot to boil.

Yep, that's me. LAZY and impatient. So, what things have you said you'd never do and then done?

PS- I will NEVER lose this last 10 pounds. (There, hopefully that will do the trick.)

Twins

Today I took the kids to Sam's club with me while Whit was working. That may not sound like a big deal, but it's a ZOO! Eli is a pretty high maintenance kid. He usually makes that kind of thing pretty miserable, and today was no exception. In his defense, he wasn't feeling very well and didn't take a nap today. ICK.

So onto the Twins, title. While we were there, dozens of people stopped to gawk, or coo at the two kids I have--maybe because they are SO cute, but probably because they are shocked anyone was stupid enough to have them so close together. This is actually my second time to get this comment--someone "Congratulated me" on my twins. Umm, Eli was TWO in July and Dora is not even eight months yet. They are also 15 pounds apart and one of them is bald--NOT the boy! Ha. I thought it was funny.

When we go to Sam's, we always get a pretzel. Eli loves them. Dora hates food--she won't eat anything other than taking a bottle. She hates everything I have given her (other than Nilla wafers!) So, today I handed her a peice of the pretzel. (They are soft pretzels). When I got her out, this is what I found...

I think it's safe to say she likes pretzels, but she made a HUGE mess! Yikes. This photo actually doesn't show the glory that was Dora when I got her. She was literally burbling pretzel chunks with glee when I pulled her from the car. GROSS!

Risser Marvel Farms

Yesterday we went to Risser Marvel farms. We went with lots of lovely families from church. It was a great outing Camie planned. Thanks Camie! We went on a hayride to a pumpkin patch where Eli got to pick out a pumpkin. We were pulled by a tractor (which was pretty exciting for Eli). Then we went on a walk in a cornmaze, and then we drank some cider and played in their pretty pumpkin displays.

Here is Eli, picking his pumpkin.



He actually was having a great time, but I couldn't get any photos of him smiling. He just made this face all day! I think he is trying to look like a rock star--no idea why. ;)

A photo with the tractor in the background...

Proof Dora and I were there--Emma came along and SAVED me with the two babies. Eli still wants to sit in my lap all the time, so it is hard to take them both somewhere without two laps.

Since Emma was there we got a few shots of the family all picking a pumpkin.

Dora was tired and cold, but she managed to have fun anyway. I don't really have any warm weather outfits in her current size. She is still in 6-12 months (she's almost 8 months old!) and by this point, Eli was moving into 18-24 months, so I guessed a little off on sizes. I had to put her into this 12-18 month outfit so she would be warm--it's a little large!

Also, her feet are TINY, so she's still in a size 2 shoe. I only have one pair and they are Sunday shoes. Whoops. I keep thinking she will be in size 3 anytime now...

Proof Emma was there--She has Eli's dirty pumpkin!

Cider isn't fun unless you can pour it back and forth from cup to cup, right? Stinker!

Thanks for the fur lined sweatshirt for Dora, lerdle-luh. She loved it!

I couldn't get either kid to pose for photos, so we will have to try this another time.

Eli is excited to go pick out a pumpkin tonight when Daddy gets off work, so we may have more photos up soon of carving Eli's first pumpkin. (I didn't even try last year!) And yes, I know Dora was losing a sock. She was pretty much losing a sock every minute from when I first put them on. I pulled them up like 20 times. She's really annoying to hold now that she scoots around and pulls up because she wants down so she is CONSTANTLY pushing away from you and arching her back. It's exhausting!

Here's my angsty rock star. Looks the part, doesn't he!? He did his own hair yesterday. *sigh*

One shot of Dora in her cute shirt--Pink is the New Black. Or it SHOULD be!