Bananas!

"Look at me!"

Doesn't it look like she's taking a self-portrait?  : )

I err on the side of waiting longer before starting my babies on solid food.  Sarah is no exception.  She has been exclusively breastfed for 6 months and appears to be doing well.  She started taking interest in things that are going towards my mouth, so I figured it might be about time to start solids.

 I'd say, based on her grabbing the spoon and pulling it into her mouth, that she was ready to eat!   Mmmm... Aunt Sissy, she loved that mashed up banana!  Then Rebekah turned a little green & she wanted to eat mashed up banana also!  Time to pull out my baby food cookbook and the Baby Bullet!

Tiny Talk

David & I made snowball cookies tonight (aka Mexican wedding cookies).  I didn't get any pictures of the process, because they're kinda messy, but very easy to make.  This was our first time to make them.  

 

 

In the process I went to the bathroom.  I didn't stay long.  Rebekah was sitting on the couch playing with some q-tips I have no idea where she got.  When I got back, she was not on the couch.  She had the last of the powdered sugar, which was supposed to be enough to roll all the cookie balls in to make them powdery.  Grrrr!!!!  (That's why they're not very powdery in the photo and about half of them didn't get any powdered sugar at all!)

 

But then...

 

I got her cleaned up & ready for bed.  Just laid her down just now.  As I was walking out, I said, "Nite nite" and she replied

"Nite nite, Mama"

"I love you."

"I wu boo"

"Sweet dreams."

"Eat eams"

 

What was I mad about?  : )  #16

Grandpa's Surprise Party

 Next we celebrated GrandpaH's 80th birthday!

 Family managed to keep it a surprise!  

He thought he was going to someone else's party!

 Wow, Dad sure cleaned up nice!  : )

 Aunt Jana won Rebekah's "Aunt of the Day" award 

for feeding her chocolate cake and punch.

Rebekah spent the rest of the time entertaining herself...

Always check on suspicious noises!

You'd think that someone who is pregnant with #4 would have learned a few things... like when you hear a suspicious noise, always check it out.  Even when the other kids say there's nothing going on.

I heard the ting of a spoon on a glass bowl.  I was told Rebekah wasn't doing anything.  I assumed it was a chicken on the back porch.  Yes, as strange as that sounds, I thought that's what I heard.  That's what I get for reading email instead of looking for myself...

 Caught red... er... brown handed!

Notice the coy, "I'm so cute" grin.

Then she started to realize 

maybe this wasn't a good thing...

 But Mom was still taking pictures,

so she decided it was ok after all

and started to ham it up...

 Notice the bystander in the background?

She told me Rebekah wasn't doing anything.

And that...

was a bowl of homemade

chocolate milk powder

which had been on the kitchen counter.

She's getting too tall too fast.

And I will

always

check on suspicious noises

by the time #4 

is tall enough to reach the kitchen counters...

surely...

Tiny Talk Tuesday: Toothless Edition

There were several things Elizabeth said this week that made me think, "I'm gonna remember that for Tiny Talk Tuesday." You'll just have to trust me. She's cute.

Elizabeth and I went out to the barn to put the chickens up tonight. Rebekah was already asleep & in bed. I'm not even sure what David was doing. We came back inside to find David in the bathroom crying, blood on his face.

I was on the phone with Aunt Sissy, so I quickly said goodbye just as David started to exclaim in his distress, "Mom! I'm falling apart!!!"

Please don't think that we've never warned him that he would loose his baby teeth. Apparently that just slipped his mind.

After reminding him about his baby teeth and his grown up teeth, and reassuring him that this means he's turning into a big kid, he started to be ok with falling apart... I mean, loosing a tooth.

Upon further questioning, it seems that he was playing on the couch and hit his mouth, knocking the tooth out. It must have been starting to loosen without us noticing. Now that he's asleep, I guess it's time to put on my fairy wings...

15-months and 3 1/2 years!!!

Rebekah turned 15 months old on Wednesday. There she is with banana on her face (trying to rub some on my camera, too!). She loves her bananas!

At her check-up, she weighed in at 24 pounds, 4 oz (75th percentile) and measured 30.5 inches long (50th percentile). As soon as the dr took out her little flashlight, Rebekah started crying, and I mean wailing! She bawled the whole time as she had her eyes, noes, throat and ears checked. She blubbered through listening with the stethoscope. I don't know how dr heard anything! She stopped crying when the exam was done & I picked her up. Doctor said she looked great, though. She got 3 immunizations in 2 injections. As soon as I laid her down for the shots, she started blubbering again, so much that you couldn't even tell a difference when she actually got the shots! After getting in the car, she was asleep in less than 5 minutes!

Today, Friday, July 9, is Elizabeth's half birthday! Three and a half today! We will be celebrating in some fashion today. She has asked for cupcakes and since I like celebrations, too, I think we'll probably make some this afternoon. : ) This is an outfit she put together - all by herself - a few days ago. Her socks were red and pink, so I think that's how she tied the whole look together. Look out world!!!

Tiny Talk: Baby Edition

Trying to remember everything our tiniest talker, Rebekah, is saying! She has quite a loud household to learn from!

• horse - her stuffed horsey
• cow moo - Mr. Nick's cows in the pasture
• cat Fuff - Fluff
• bock - the chickens
• er! - the rooster crowing
  
• out - I wanna go outside!
• up
• eat
• cup
• juice
• baba - bottle
• nana - banana
• fish - Goldfish crackers
• Mama
• Dada
• Dadid

Teeth!

You can tell what's most important to her - animals, food, and family!

Tiny Talk & Bluebonnets

Saturday before last, David went to a birthday party where they watched the new dragon movie in 3-D! Doesn't he look cool in his glasses? That was really interesting to see & hear all the 5 & 6 year old kids jumping and exclaiming about the 3-D action!

Dad took us on a fun outing that evening, too! Right off the bat a ladybug landed on Elizabeth!

transferring the bug...

Dad got in a little fishing and I got to take some pictures.

I've determined that I will never get all my kids to look at the camera at the same time...

Now for some tiny talk while you enjoy the bluebonnets...

Rebekah can say Fluff (the cat's name). It sounds like FUF!!!!!!!

Elizabeth sat in my lap as I checked on facebook and said: Mom, I want to play the Aunt Jana game.
Mom: What's the Aunt Jana game?
Elizabeth: Bunnies and no cows! No bunnies! There's bunnies in her yard!
I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about! Does that have anything to do with Farm Town???

The most exciting tiny talk of the week was this - After bedtime prayers, David turned to me and said: Mom? I'm fixin' to ask Jesus into my heart.
It took me off guard, but I asked him what that meant and what he believed about God & Jesus.
He answered my questions, then rolled over & said: Dear God, please let Jesus come into my heart. Amen.

In an effort to delay bedtime, David quickly figured out that I'll spend time to answer certain questions. Last night he said: So, Mom, let's talk some more about heaven and hell.

We read something about China recently & he's been fascinated by it. During his bedtime prayers he prayed: And help everyone to have good dreams, even the Chinese people.

Yet another delay in falling asleep, David got up & came to me saying: Mom! There's a mosquito in my room!
Mom: Well, swat at it! (because I know there's not much you can do to actually get rid of a mosquito in your room at night)
David, with a horrified look on his face: But I might get bug inside on my hand! I don't like bug inside on my hand.

And have you heard the news? Tiny #4 is now on his/her way!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

When David was almost 1-year old, I would lay down on the couch with him every afternoon and read to him. I figured it might as well be something that would entertain me as well, so I started reading him the Eddie books by Carolyn Haywood. My sister helped me collect a good stash of Haywood's books from library sales and I enjoyed reading them to him. When a recent read-aloud that Sonlight suggested didn't suit David's interest, I pulled out Eddie and the Fire Engine, which was written in 1949. He didn't remember the books from his babyhood, and he has enjoyed hearing the story.

(yes, this is typical)

All that to preface this week's Tiny Talk! Last night while reading, David heard a new usage for a word.
David: What does 'swell' mean?
Mom, thinking of a word he would understand: It means 'cool'.
David: Well, then - Mom, I think you're pretty swell.

Definition understood. Compliment accepted!
Now I wonder how such a sweet little boy ends up looking so grumpy in photos?

Elizabeth: Look, Movher, I made a E!!!

And she did! All by herself she made that E!!! I am so proud! She is 3-years old! For 2 days, she has called me "Movher"... for the last day every time she said it I've asked her to call me Mama or Mommy. For some reason, I don't really care for being called Mother.

Sneak preview to the first birthday photos that I'll try to get up by tomorrow, which is when Rebekah turns 1-year old!!! My, how it flies...

Baby's First Christmas

Look what I found in our Christmas decorations! Perfect! I just realized today that I haven't bought anything that says, "Baby's First Christmas" this year, except an ornament with the year on it.

Looking beautiful in her first bow!

She
really wants
the tree and has
been crawling across the
room to get to it! Yes, that
Christmas tree was her motivation
to start crawling...
her SS teacher said last Sunday,
"I bet she's crawling by Christmas!"

David thought her bib was cool.
She was making eyes at Dad in this picture.

Rebekah has, by far, been my most active "baby's first Christmas" but it has been fun to see her mesmerized by the lights,
full of laughter at her siblings,
bouncing her body to the carols,
shoveling cookie crumbs into her mouth,
and making tracks for the tree.

Just wait 'till you see her.

Tiny Talk Tuesday Welcomes the Newcomer

Tiny Talk Tuesday welcomes newcomer,
Rebekah!

Rebekah: Mama! Mama! Mama! and repeat...
Sweet, sweet sound to my ears! : ) She says it so much now and it's very obvious that she knows what it means, too! She also says Ba Ba, which I think is what she's calling herself.

Mom: Guess who's on your shirt.

Elizabeth: Guess?

Mom: Yeah, guess who's on the front of your shirt.

I turn shirt around and she replies: OH! That's not Guess! That's Cookie Monster!

Elizabeth, while playing with a little Mary doll: This Mary is wearing a blue dress of God.

Elizabeth: Mom, what's this?

Mom: That's a piece of coral.

Elizabeth: Can we eat it?

Mom: No, it's like a rock.

Elizabeth: Oh. Did you get this when you were swimming under the sea?

Mom: Yep.

Elizabeth: Were you scared swimming under the sea?

Mom: No, it was beautiful under the sea.

Elizabeth: Ariel swims under the sea. Mom, I want to watch a princess movie.

David has really enjoyed singing Christmas carols this year:
Frosty, the snowman,

in a one-horse open sleigh

with a corn cob pipe

and a button nose

and two eyes made out of coal.