Another Week

I’ve had one of those weeks where there never seemed like enough time to get much of anything done, but where I’ve felt pulled in about 20 directions. Which then makes me feel like kind of a lousy mom because I was so busy and dragging Eli and Charlie all over the place. Oh well, next week is going to be better.

I have tried to convince myself that I can’t be that bad if I found a few minutes to take some pictures of my sweet little boys, right? :)

Eli loves playing with this little wooden animals set that my parents gave him for Christmas. He’s already accidentally broken two of the animals (the elephant and the kangaroo), but I’m confident that I can glue them back together with a little wood glue. These somehow fall on the floor quite a bit, which is hard on these wooden pieces.

Eli is a boy of routine. Every morning, he wakes up sometime between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and plays for a little bit in his crib. Then he yells, “OH MAMAAAAAAAA!” and after a few “Oh MAMAAAAAAs” I go in, get him dressed, and we talk about the day. On Thursday morning as I was changing his clothes, I asked him, “What do you want to do today, Eli?”

Eli: “Go downstairs!”

So we did. Eli eats breakfast as soon as we go downstairs, and recently has added a new favorite to his usual bowl of Cheerios, saying repeatedly through the meal -

“More gramoma please!” (Translation – “More granola please!”) Eli loves Cheerios with granola on top (really on the bottom of the bowl since the granola sinks).

Eli’s night time routine is also very specific. Around 7:15 or so, Ben takes him upstairs, helps him brush and floss his teeth while standing on the white stool in the bathroom. Then Ben helps Eli pick out and put on his pjs, and then Eli calls from the top of the stairs,

“OH MAMAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

and I come upstairs, sometimes with Charlie or sometimes without (often Charlie goes to bed before Eli).

We sit together on the floor of Eli’s room and read one book. Then one of us helps Eli say a prayer, reads one more book, and Eli’s off to bed in his crib, usually without a fight since he’s exhausted from not napping during the day. Eli snuggles with his prized froggy and green fuzzy blanket, and expects to have the sound machine turned on (tonight we forgot and he started crying as soon as we closed the door). The latest addition is to turn on the fan in his room; we’re trying not to add anything else to the process though!



Oh Charlie. He is SO happy when he wakes up in the morning. Full of big smiles and you can do no wrong when you go get him, often early in the day. He is my “chunkamunka” or “chunky monkey.” Every part of him is soft and I kiss him constantly.

This week he started doing this funny worm move, where he rolls a little while on his stomach, pulls his knees in and under him, tries to lunge forward but usually just drops his head on the floor, then slinks around, trying to move somewhere new. He is very persistent and already aware of Eli’s favorite toys, like one of his puzzles that we do about 10 times a day. Now we’re to the point where we can only put the puzzle together when Charlie is asleep, because otherwise Charlie will try to hold and eat the puzzle pieces. Eli’s not a fan when that happens.

I love when I catch them in a moment where Eli isn’t telling Charlie no :) Eli is very good at making Charlie laugh!

And Eli is obsessed with kitchen utensils that scoop – the ice cream scoops, cookie dough scoops, etc. and I keep finding them in the strangest places.

I love these boys so much!