I was looking at photos of the kids tonight and I hadn't realized how DIFFERENT they look at the same age. These aren't the best photos to compare, but I am too tired to sift through hundreds of photos. Aside from the obvious SIZE difference, their heads and faces are shaped differently, Jordan's eyes are darker, Ben's hair is fuzzier and shorter, and their smiles are completely different. Ben already has two teeth, whereas Jordan kept her gummy smile for longer.
I wonder what other differences there will be in the years to come. I can't wait to find out and enjoy my children for their similarities and differences, whatever they may be!
My cats love to drink water out of the tub.... but nothing like this! I'm not sure how to efficiently link youtube videos to my blog yet, so if you know how, please tell me!!
I'm sorry Steve Irwin, but you were nothing when compared to my mad skills. No, I'm not risking my life multiple times a day... but changing an 8 month old baby boy's diaper could be just as difficult!
So maybe I am exaggerating just a tiny bit. TINY bit. But things have gotten quite difficult over here. Three things recently occurred to make changing baby boy diapers a big pain in my butt.
1. Poop is thick and sticks everywhere. Gotta love what eating purees and finger foods does to poop. YUCK.
2. Squirming. Ben actually fell off the changing pad a few weeks ago. Scared the crap out of me. I now have to do the "hold this tube of diaper creme" technique to try and distract him and keep him still. If he doesn't have anything new and exciting to play with that is not a toy, then he tries to wiggle himself off the table.
3. He grabs at his junk. Seriously people, is this ingrained into men at this early of an age? The second that diaper is off his hand is down there grabbing away.
Now, combine all 3 factors... poop all over, squirmy baby, and junk grabbing. If one of these is not taken care of immediately, there is no way the diaper will be changed without chaos. And this happens multiple times a day. JOY.
I love Autumn. Not just because the weather turns cooler and the leaves are really pretty, but also because of the recipes. I love cooking and baking with apples. Here's a new recipe i found and adapted to make it a little bit healthier (ha!!). I didn't realize until AFTER we started making it that the recipe makes two loaves, so I froze the other. It tastes super good toasted with some butter!
Bread: 2-3 Large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped 4 large eggs 1 cup applesauce 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp salt 2 tsp cinnamon 3 cups whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup light brown sugar
Topping: 1 cup all purpose flour 1/4 cup white sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two bread loaf pans. In a large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. Add applesauce. Add vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until mixed. Add flour and sugar until well blended. Turn mixer to high and beat mixture is smooth and thick. Add apple pieces and mix by hand so the apple pieces do not break. Spoon batter into the pans. Combine topping ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing with fork or hands. Spread over each loaf. Bake for an hour or until middle of the loaf is firm.
I haven't been a very good blogger lately, just posting lots of photos (which isn't necessarily bad...right??). So I thought I would tell you all what is going on currently in our lives.
Mr. Man (aka, Ben) - Is the proud owner of two bottom baby teeth. They have made him fairly crabby, but he's a trooper! He still does not sleep through the night, but will go to bed at 6pm and wake 2x before morning. He seems to think 5am is a great time to start the morning, I have been trying to convince him otherwise. Still no crawling, though he has discovered how to get onto his hand and knees for brief moments. Ben likes to eat... mostly purees that are orange or white. He's not a fan of green. He can now eat bananas and carrots with his fingers, instead of pureed. He'll jump through hoops to get some Puffs.
Jordan - growing and talking more every day. I love hearing the new things she says every day. She is such a sponge. She still refuses any form of potty training. It makes me sad and frustrated, but she is a stubborn girl. No idea where she got that from!! She ate broccoli tonight at dinner... without us making her. GASP! She still loves her trains, and now also loves her animal figurines, especially her new turtle. Thank you Grandma Luisa!!
Hubby - same as usual. He has a promotional exam next week. Fingers crossed!!!
Me - Now that everyone's cold is gone I'm much happier. Work is going well, just a few hours a week seems to be all I can handle! I am still cooking and baking, trying new recipes. I found a recipe for apple bread today I am dying to try but Dave won't let me (he has to lose some weight for work). WAAAAAAAAH!
My mom will be here next week and is staying for a week. I am so excited!!! Can't wait to see you, mom!
Last Saturday I SWORE I saw evidence of two teeth coming in, but so far only one has cut through the gum this far. I suspect the mate is on it's way. After a week of him working on it, I now feel the tooth when nursing. I hope he doesn't start to bite!
I'm so NOT a computer game/video game person. I rarely win at Mario Kart. I cannot understand the controls enough to play any video game except tetris. Once I bought a Spongebob CD-Rom thinking I would be able to play the game since it was geared towards children... Dave had to win it for me because I got stuck near the beginning. Gosh darn if my children will have my same handicap!
During a seemingly innocent trip to Office Depot for a desk calendar Wednesday, we found a game geared toward our precious toddler. As if it were engrained in her from her dad's genes, she was immediately drawn to it and insisted on having it, she was even willing to put the HUGE Dora coloring pad back on the shelf so long as she could get this game.
This is our daughter playing her new Sesame Street "Learn, Play, & Grow" game. I think she *might* like it...
We officially all got sick. It is bizarre how this cold affected all of us differently. Here are the kids sitting watching tv because mommy is too tired to do anything else. Jordan has been wearing those pjs for 2 days now. Ben has new pjs only because he seems to like to pee out of his diaper almost every morning.
Poor Ben. This is him AFTER I cleaned the snot off his face this morning. He's still quite drooly because he can't breathe well out of his nose.
