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.

Happy Boy Cheered Me Up

I woke up this morning in kind of a crummy mood. The garbage man woke up my child at 6:15 a.m. It was LOUD. Eli's room faces the building's courtyard, which connects to the alley where the garbage truck picks up the trash. Darn garbage truck.
But I'm in a better mood now because Eli has been so cute this morning. We did laundry last night and the basket was still out in the living room. He had a great time sitting in it.
I love capturing the moments when he's playing happily. It helps me get out of my silly bad mood. Besides waking up early, I was bummed because the couple we showed our condo to over the weekend expressed a lot of interest two days ago and sounded like they would make an offer, but yesterday decided on very different long-term plans and are no longer interested. The search continues for a buyer...
In the meantime, Eli's just happy cuddling with his sheep rug and throwing balls around the living room. I love him so much!

"Aarahhhhh"

It's official. For now, my name is "Aarah" to my sweet little boy.

Eli was saying "ma" sounds a few months ago, but more recently was constantly saying "da da da da" and it was clear he knew that was Ben. At the same time, he was making a lot of "AH!" sounds that were practicing the final result - Aarah! Ben and I thought we thought him saying Aarah for the last week or so, but it's so hard to tell if that's what they really mean.

But this morning at the lovely hour of 5:45 a.m., we could hear him saying "Da da?" and then "Aarah?" over and over from his room. I think it's so funny (but hope he'll call me ma ma someday).

I've been busy getting ready for a trip this week, so I haven't taken any pictures!! Shocking, I know. :) Here is a picture of Eli at two weeks old. I can't believe that was almost a year ago!

Eli the Light Sleeper, Part 2

I am still frustrated with Eli's random sleeping patterns. He is still waking up around 5:45 a.m. every morning. Last night I met some friends for dinner in a suburb north of here, so it took a while to get out there, have dinner, and come back home. I put Eli to bed at 8:30 p.m. (he's normally in bed by 7:30 at the latest) and really hoped he would sleep at least until 6:30 a.m.! But no. He was up at 5:45, crying and fussing, wanting to get out of his crib and eat.

And to backtrack - yesterday morning, he was up early, then took more than a 3-hour morning nap, and then wouldn't take an afternoon nap. He fell asleep on our long drive to the restaurant, but he didn't get the same amount of sleep that he normally would in one day.

This morning, he was down for his morning nap, so I had the regular phones turned off and my cell was on vibrate, sitting next to the t.v. My mom called to ask for directions, and my vibrating cell phone woke Eli up. Even with the sound machine going in his room! He is the LIGHTEST sleeper!

Here we are at 6 a.m. this morning - I had to use my flash because it was still DARK outside.
On a totally different note... I am having Nikon withdrawal! These pictures were taken w/ my compact dig. camera because I am getting my camera cleaned - it still had tiny sand particles in there from our Florida trip...

I'm sad b/c the guy at Ritz initially told me it would only take 2 weeks (they send it out to a lab for cleaning), but then the manager just told me it could be up to 6 weeks!! This is all covered in my warranty, but that's a long time to be without the camera.

*I promise my next post won't be such a downer :)