Our Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend. It started out on Friday with me hanging out with both kids. I am getting more of a routine when I have them both and also learning how to go with the flow when that schedule just doesn't work out. Hailey still spends a lot of time napping which helps me give Eli the attention he wants and needs. It is great that around noon they both take naps, and I can get a few things done. This was how things looked in our house at noon on Friday...

My two babies sleeping. So peaceful. :) I am still trying to get Hailey to take naps in her crib. She sleeps great in her bassinet at night by our bed and is only waking up once but she has not taken very well to her crib during the day. She prefers to sleep in her swing (even when it is not swinging) or her bouncer. I am hoping that will get better soon, but I will probably have to wait until all our travels are over in the next few weeks to become more consistent with where I put her down to nap.

On Saturday Marc decided to take care of the leaves in the yard. He prefers to mow and mulch the leaves a little every few weeks instead of raking them. It was a really pretty day so while he was mowing I decided to play with Eli in the leaves (Hailey was asleep in her bouncer on the porch). We piled up leaves at the bottom of his slide and he had a blast sliding down into them!

Saturday night Marc and I went out for a really nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. We tried out a new babysitter for Eli and took Hailey with us. Hailey was great! She fell asleep on the way there and didn't make a peep the entire time. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant with a child so I am glad she didn't disrupt anyone's dinner! When we got home we asked the babysitter how Eli did for her and she said he was "crazy all night." Ha! Hopefully we paid her well enough that she will come back! I later told Eli that is not really the kind of report I want to be getting from his babysitters. :) He is full of energy for sure.

On Sunday, Marc and I were scheduled to work in the nursery during church. Eli loves going to the nursery now. He used to get sad when we would leave him but now he runs into the room as soon as we open the gate. He really loves playing with this toy kitchen so Marc and I are going to get him one for our basement for Christmas.

Well, tomorrow is the start of the week. It will be a short one for Marc since he is only working until noon on Tuesday! We are planning on leaving for Illinois some time after that for Thanksgiving. We are hoping for easy travels with the kids but I think our 10 hr. drive to Illinois will probably take us a little longer. :) We are going to turn Eli's car seat around for the first time for this long trip so he can enjoy the DVD player. I am hoping it keeps him entertained and that Hailey sleeps most of the time. We'll see how everything really plays out! I will update when we get back. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Mama's Little Helper

Eli is getting to the age where he understands us more and can do small little tasks we give him like picking up his books and putting his clothes in his hamper after his bath. He also helps me with Hailey since he can fetch a diaper from her diaper drawer and throw diapers away in the trash. It is really the cutest thing watching him follow instructions. Since he now understands that things have "homes" I have found some random things in random places. Here are a few pictures I have captured over the past month.

This is my baby food grinder that I asked Eli to put away one day after he was done carrying it around like a purse. Ha! This is where I later found it. Sometimes I ask him to put my shoes away (great, huh?) and he must have gotten confused. :)

This is where I found one of his race cars that we had been looking for... in the oven mitt drawer.

And my favorite was when I found my hairbrushes in my trash can!

He is too funny! The other day I was folding clothes and I saw him take something out of the clothes pile. He then went and threw it in the kitchen trash can so I ran to see what it was. He had remembered from the last time we folded clothes that we throw away the dryer sheets so he had pulled that out of the pile to throw away. What a smart boy! I was just glad it wasn't a sock or something. :) I really love this age (even though it is certainly trying as well!). He is getting such a personality and brings so much joy to our household. We love you Eli!

Loving Fall

Today is very much a Fall day around here. It is cool and cloudy and makes me only think about staying inside warm and cozy with a good cup of cider. Mmmm. People have been so kind to bring us meals over the past several weeks but they are starting to slow down. So, this morning I ran to the store to get the ingredients for one of Marc's favorites, turkey chili. When I was about to start cooking around lunch Marc called and said we had a meal coming for dinner. So, I am GLADLY staying out of the kitchen for another night and will put the chili off until next week. But, I thought I would go ahead and share this recipe with you in case you are feeling in a Fall mood and decide to try a new chili recipe. This recipe is SO easy you can do it all in less than 30 minutes.

Santa Fe Skillet Chili
1 lb. 93% lean ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic (or two cloves)
1 Tbs. chili powder
1 Tbs. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1 can chili beans in spicy sauce, undrained (I use mild sauce and it is plenty potent still for me)
1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (4 oz.) of chopped green chilies, undrained

Spray large deep skillet with cooking spray. Cook turkey, onion, and garlic over medium high heat, breaking meat apart with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle chili powder, cumin, and red pepper evenly over turkey mixture. Cook and stir for 3 minutes or until turkey is cooked and no longer pink. Stir in beans with sauce, tomatoes with juice, and chilies with liquid. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

I put our stewed tomatoes in the food processor first to chop them up a bit but some people like them chunky. I serve this with cornbread and it is a great dish!

Hailey is 4 weeks old today. The month has gone by so quickly and she is changing each and every week. Just this past week she started smiling at me. I love it and have pulled out the baby talk in full force to squeeze every smile I can out of her. Ha! She is starting to get newborn acne and losing her hair just like Eli did. Eli had the WORST case of newborn acne ever. Seriously, he could have had his picture in a dermatology textbook. Hailey's isn't as bad yet and it certainly doesn't bother her a bit. She is sleeping so well at night. She is feeding usually between 9 and 10 and then doesn't wake me up again until about 3am. I would love to know how much she weighs right now but our doctor said she didn't need to see us back until 2 months since she was doing so well at 2 weeks so we will have to wait another month to see. I played dress up today with my doll...

 

 Poor girl was not a fan of this headband and bow so I swapped it out and she was much happier.

Eli is still a great big brother. We went to a friend's house last weekend for a get together and took Hailey and Eli with us. They have a little girl, Emma, who is almost two and is the cutest thing ever. She has blond curly hair that is to die for! At one point, Emma was peeking in the car seat at Hailey and Eli came running from across the room and pushed her back, stretched his arms out across the car seat, and told her "No!" He is very protective of Hailey which is sweet. She is kind of like his favorite toy right now and he is not too inclined to share her with other kids. Ha! I think they are going to be so close and good playmates when they get a little bigger. Fun times are ahead. :)

Surviving the First 24

Marc was on call last night for the first time since Hailey was born, and it was my first time to have both kids by myself all day and night. Although Marc was only gone for 24 hours, he usually sleeps when he comes home so I think I had the kids for 30 hours by myself (but who's counting!). It went REALLY well. It helped getting a great night of sleep on Thursday night. Hailey slept for 5 hours straight (Yeah!!) and Eli slept in until 8 am on Friday morning.

Eli and I ate breakfast together while Hailey was still sleeping. Eli is getting really good with his spoon. He hardly spills any of his cereal and milk now when he eats. :)

After breakfast we went in to check on sister. I love our Arm's Reach mini co-sleeper. We used this in our room for the first 2 months with Eli and it is one of my favorite baby purchases we made. It is so convenient because it pulls right up beside our bed at the height of the bed so I don't even get up at night to feed her! We bought it at Babies R Us and you can find it here. Eli always wants to give Hailey some sort of toy so today he took in one of his stackable cups for her. 

Look how happy she was to get that cup!

It was a great day and we even managed to run a few errands in the afternoon after Eli's nap. I am getting more comfortable managing both kids when we are out but still have a hard time if Eli isn't cooperating (ie. when he decides he is done walking and takes a seat in the middle of the parking lot!).

Hailey is growing a little each day and becoming more alert. She looks different to me in these pictures from when Eli was a baby so it will be interesting to see her change in the coming months and see who she looks like!

Overall, I really feel like I am thriving more than just surviving. I love being a mom and having two is twice as nice. :) However, tomorrow Marc is going to watch the kids for a little while. I plan on running around town for a few hours for some time by myself so that I continue to have these warm and fuzzy feelings about my children. Ha! I am so glad we are a team in this adventure!

Trick-or-Treat

This was Eli's second Halloween but his first time to go trick or treating. We went with some friends to a neighborhood near our house for about an hour and he LOVED it. It didn't take him long to figure out the game. :) He became very protective of his candy by the end of the night and didn't want Marc to take anything out!

Eli held this tootsie roll sucker the entire time and Marc finally opened it for him on the way back to the car. It was a big hit and a BIG mess! :)

 Hailey was our orange pumpkin this year! Her color is looking much better this week and she is beginning to match the rest of her pale skinned family members. Ha!

We had so much fun! It is great to get to do more and more things with Eli as he gets bigger.