Mother's Day

Yesterday I was reminded of how lucky I am to be mom to these sweet little boys. It was the best Mother's Day yet.

The day started out early. I had been up with Charlie at 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., and Ben got up with Charlie when he decided to be up for the day at 5 a.m. (not surprising since Charlie went to bed on Saturday night at 4 p.m. the day before!! We couldn't believe it.) Charlie has regressed with his night sleeping, so I have been getting up a few times now every night for the last few days. I don't think this big baby needs to eat in the night, but he thinks he does. I'm gearing up to sleep train him once he's 4 months old. We'll see how that goes.

But back to Mother's Day - somehow Ben was able to make these delicious applesauce and oats homemade muffins (yes, from scratch - I'm a tough customer) all while taking care of Charlie and Eli, who woke up at 7:30. I was sleeping peacefully until 9 a.m., when I was greeted with breakfast in bed - Ben and the kids brought up a wonderful plate with yummy fruit and the muffins. I loved it! I'm still in awe that he was able to accomplish this with both kids in their demanding morning mode - I know it's not easy. Eli and Ben both made homemade cards that were really cute, and Ben's gift was a certificate for a massage, which I redeemed tonight at a nearby massage place. I feel SO relaxed - every mom (especially one with an infant who has to carry the beast of an infant car seat) should have one of these.

Anyway, we had afternoon church, and then came home and hosted my family for dinner that night. Here's Davey holding Charlie (who was in his first set of pjs - he blew out of them before actually making it into bed. I'm still squeezing him into the too-small diapers that we have a million of and paying the consequences for it):

I love these little boys
(by the way - in the corner you can sort of see my rummage sale finds - two funky vintage chairs that match the gold walls and brown couch perfectly):

Here's Gram having a conversation with Charlie:

Charlie liked her stories and her songs. My mom sewed and gave this beautiful apron to Gram for Mother's Day - isn't it pretty? Gram has been doing the glycemic diet with my parents too - I think she looks really good.

Here's my mom with Charlie - I think she's lost 24 pounds now! I am so impressed. I really need to jump on the bandwagon and lose the last bit, darn it.

the boys love their Grandma

the three moms:

My parents needed a new picture for their facebook pages, so I took a bunch of pictures for them. My dad looks great too! I think he's pretty close to his goal with the weight loss.

Charlie's Baby Blessing

Charlie had his baby blessing at church on Sunday. Ben gave him a wonderful blessing, to have a healthy mind, strong conscience, and to have a heart full of compassion and charity. He was also blessed with courage in these turbulent times. Charlie was perfect during the blessing and was awake, but didn't cry.

Here he is in his onesie before getting dressed (I love his chubby rolls)

Charlie loves getting his diaper changed - he coos and smiles and is very interactive

Charlie was blessed in the same outfit that Eli was blessed in - we were hoping for nice spring weather, but we woke up to snow on Sunday. So Charlie wasn't really dressed for the weather, but that's okay :)
Here we are with both Ben's parents and my family after church. Eli having fun with Ben's dad:
My dad talking to Charlie
My mom and Charlie (She's lost 17 pounds now! My dad has lost a lot as well but I don't know his official total as of this week. Good job to both of you!!)
Eli being crazy on the couch with Ben before we attempted to take a family picture

Eli was not in the mood to sit still :)

Oh well, we tried, right? :)

We had a yummy dinner with green salad, fruit salad, lemon garlic chicken, brown rice, and broccoli.

Here's Charlie in Ben's arms during dinner being mellow

My Gram turned 84 last week, so we celebrated her birthday on Sunday as well. Eli wanted to blow out a candle too, so we stuck one in a muffin:

My mom made a chocolate cake out of her low glycemic diet cookbook, so it was a very healthy version. Gram insisted on 85 candles on the cake :) (she always has one to grow on)

She blew them all out in just a few puffs. Thankfully the smoke alarm didn't go off!

Ben's mom with Charlie

Our family room isn't well insulated, so Ben is always wrapped up in a blanket

Gram tried on Ben's snuggie, which kept her warm :) She loves to tie bows and ribbons around her head when she opens presents.

And finally, a picture of me and Ben with Charlie. He was crying and tired by this point, but I still think it's cute!

Progress

We've had two days with big sleeping accomplishments - yesterday Charlie took a 2-hour morning nap, and today he took a 2-hour afternoon nap. The amazing part of this is that he was sleeping in the bassinet (the mattress was on an incline), not in the bouncy seat or car seat! He's still waking up quite a bit at night, but I keep hoping it will get better soon.

Other random news - Eli let me put Charlie on his prized Spiderman couch with him for a few minutes without too much protesting. This is progress from last time. It helped that Eli was distracted with the Laurie Berkner Band DVD :) He loves the music.

My family came over last night to visit. My parents and Gram are all doing the low glycemic diet and are losing weight. I'm really impressed with their dedication and think they look great! I wish I had more willpower right now to do something similar to lose the last of the baby weight, but I went to Trader Joe's last week and bought my favorite Almond in the Coconut chocolates... that's not exactly low glycemic.

Here's Eli on our new couch! We finally have a place to sit in our living room. It will still be a while before the room feels put together, but we're happy to make progress a little bit at a time.
Poor Eli had a night terror last night, or something like it. He woke up around 9 p.m. screaming and pretty out of it, and it took a long time for him to calm down and go back to sleep. Apparently it's more likely to happen when kids are overtired, and Eli was totally wiped out after not napping (since we have afternoon church this year). Today he slept until 8:45 a.m. and still took a 3 1/2 hour nap! I was able to take a 2-hour nap while Charlie was also napping, and then even took a shower, dried my hair, and wrote this blog post while Eli slept. Amazing!

Conversation with Uncle Munkle

Here is a quick clip of Eli talking on the phone with my brother Davey (Uncle Munkle). Davey tends to ask Eli some random questions, and their conversation was so typical that I had to grab the camera. Here is just a little taste of what they talked about... (I took this video with our compact camera - Eli thought I was trying to take his picture - and posing with a very cheesy "cheese" face, which made me laugh). Also, Davey works part-time at Dick's Sporting Goods, which is why he was referring to the store in the video.

Happy Birthday Uncle Munkle!

Today my brother Davey turns 24. I'm waiting for Eli to wake up from his nap so we can call and sing happy birthday to his "Uncle Munkle."

Eli has always had a bond with Davey - he lives the closest to us (about 30 minutes away) and Eli will actually sometimes talk to him on the phone. Here are some reasons why Eli loves Davey:

• Davey is funny and makes Eli smile
• They both love soft stuffed animals
• They both love animated characters (I'm sure in the future, Eli will have fun seeing movies w/ Davey)
• They are both picky eaters and have particular foods that they like
• They both love animals
• Davey loves children and is always kind and friendly to them, but he doesn't try too hard either, which Eli appreciates

Eli was NOT in a good mood this morning (he seriously cried/threw fits through most of playgroup, which we were hosting at our house today - it was lovely), but I'm hoping he'll give Davey a big hug tonight when we meet up for dinner. We've lucked out and it's another beautiful day - I can't remember the last time we had a few 70-degree days in Chicago in November! We're supposed to drop to 40 degrees with snow by this weekend though, so we're savoring every bit of sunshine while we can...

Hope you're having a great birthday so far Davey!

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

My brother Davey spent the weekend with us last weekend, and our Aunt Babz sent Davey and Eli matching Beverly Hills Chihuahua t-shirts and movie posters (she works for Disney).

Eli's shirt is a little roomy for now, but he loves having a shirt with a "dog dog" on it :) Thanks Babz!