March 3

Chris had to visit some properties for work today; they just happened to be six hours away. He left at 6 this morning and got home at 8 this evening, so it ended up being a very long day for both of us. I realize that for some moms, long days like ours today are no big deal. But I'm one of the lucky ones who has a husband who works banker's hours and loves to be with his kids, so when Chris isn't around, I notice it.

Luckily, we had a very good day.

When Lily woke up, I got her dressed and fed her bananas. She was only mildly interested in the bananas.

When I realized she was only playing and not eating, I cleaned her up and put her on the floor. Then, sweet Miss Lily looked at me, looked at her hand, and signed "milk". 

They say that now is a good time to introduce sign language to babies, but that they aren't capable of actually signing until closer to 10 or 11 months. Not my baby, though. She's clearly a prodigy, and already signing at not quite seven and a half months old!

Once Lily went down for her nap, I decided that the kids and I should make a modified version of these cookies for lunch. We were about to start baking when I realized that the kids had no aprons. Luckily, my wonderful mother-in-law has given me all kinds of lovely tea towels that are just the right size for aprons for my children. Caleb and Daisy each picked their favorite towel, I grabbed some ribbon, and after five minutes at my sewing machine, they each had their own apron.

I'm not sure you can tell from this photo, but Caleb loved his Eiffel Tower apron. It was a bit long, so I folded it up so that it had a little pocket, in which he tucked one of his cars. Daisy didn't want to be photographed, but she chose an apron with a bird on it.

My mom came over to watch the kids eat cookies, which broke up our morning nicely. After naps, the loneliest part of the day came around: dinner without Daddy. Eventually, I got my camera out so that I'd have something to do while I waited for my slow-poke eaters to finish their dinner. 

(Who am I kidding? They came nowhere near finishing their dinner. Amber, I envy you and your turkey leg-eating daughters!)

Lily wasn't lonely; she was too busy smearing food all over the place.

This cracks me up! Caleb is a master winker.

Then he wanted to pretend that he didn't want his picture taken and wanted me to take a picture of him pretending to not want his picture taken. Are you confused yet? I still am.

This is Daisy's "no pictures!" face.

I swear we brushed her hair today.

I'm not sure if she looks cute, or if she looks like a middle-aged homeless man.

Let's go with cute.