Every Day with Eli: April 1

I confess: I have been a lazy homeschooler this week. I alternate between feeling very guilty about it, and feeling awesome about it. Next week will be better.

In the meantime, today Caleb read several books, I sewed two ring slings for MOPS friends, we did some school, and I felt relaxed and enjoyed a laid-back day.

Lily tested out one of the ring slings I made, and she approved. In fact, she got really upset when a few minutes later I tried to put her down. The girl may be nearly three, but she still loves to be worn!

This is what Eli looks like when I have nursed him to sleep. Sweet, isn't it? Unfortunately, about 1/4 of the time he wakes up when I lay him in his crib. Then I have to choose whether to start all over, or just give it up. Today, I gave it up. The kid's only morning nap was while he slept in my arms.

Lunch time was interesting, because the Easter holiday meant I somehow forgot to buy a lot of the groceries I normally get. Our fridge is looking pretty bare, but I scrounged up sausage, cheese, and baby carrots for the kids to have for lunch. Daisy refused to eat it, but when I got out the heart-shaped cookie cutter, she changed her mind.

When I showed her how we could put cheese hearts inside sausage circles, and arrange it all into a person, she was pumped about lunch.

Boom. #momwin

Caleb wasn't about to let Daisy have all the fun, so he made his own little person.

It has a belly button.

I have been ~~stalking~~ perusing various Facebook pages lately, itching to buy a new wrap. I haven't found the one perfect wrap yet, and I'm a little trigger shy, so instead I decided to try a thirty-day wrap challenge, in which I try a different carry every day.

Day 1 was pretty basic: Front Wrap Cross Carry.

I pulled out my size 6 wrap for this one, which surprised me. I used to be able to do it in a size 5, but now Eli is so big that I can barely tie it with a 5.

Daisy took this picture for me.

Then we finally decided to do a little school. Daisy and Lily worked on coloring sheets while Caleb and I did some work from Story of the World (he learned about Genghis Khan).

Eli was not content to be wrapped; he wanted to color like the big kids!

Such a big boy!

(I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog post that the cause of his sleeplessness the other night was... A NEW TOOTH! That's right: my 14-month-old just got his third tooth. It's nuts.)

Caleb decided he wanted to make a booby trap to surprise Chris when he got home, so around 5:00 I let him go to work. He used string and tape and was really proud of himself!

I love how Eli wanted to be right up in there.

Look at how curious Eli is!

Unfortunately, it didn't really work and Caleb was disappointed. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, Lily found Caleb's baseball cap and glove and decided she was a baseball player.

This girl is hilarious and adorable, but in the past week I have seen more of that "terrible twos"/"threenager" behavior from her. I have a feeling her days as the easy child are coming to an end.

At least she's cute.

We waited outside for Chris to come home, and I noticed one of my favorite parts of spring at our house:

The fern fronds are unfurling! I love how they unroll in to leafy ferns, and how the bright green life comes out of what looks entirely brown and dead. Welcome back, ferns!

When Chris got home, I left him to get dinner warmed up while Caleb and I did training run #5. The last three have been not-so-great, but this one was fabulous. I think the big difference was that we left the little ones at home, and it was special Mommy/Caleb time. We chatted as we ran, and he had a lot more energy and enthusiasm than he has on previous runs. In fact, he barely complained! But I know this run was a success because our post-run selfie (now a tradition!) looks like this: