July 23

Almost-six-months is such a fun age! It seems like Eli is doing something new every day.

Today I caught him smiling and cooing at that cute baby in the mirror. I tried - and failed - to capture that on video.

What I do have for you to see today is one of Eli's first times in the Bumbo chair.

I also gave him a spoon to play with  for the very first time. 

Sorry kiddo, no food for you!

We do Baby-Led Solids, which means that instead of looking at Baby's age to determine when to introduce solids, I look at his developmental readiness.  Sitting unassisted is one of the major indicators of readiness for solids, and Eli is definitely not doing that. Really, Eli is showing very few signs of readiness, and he's not even interested in food yet. Maybe in a month or two, but not now.

For now, a spoon is enough to make this little man happy!

July 22

Today was library day, and for once it wasn't unreasonably hot. Feeling bold, I loaded Eli and Lily into the BOB, and we all began walking to the library. Caleb has made the trek (a hilly mile each way) twice before, but Daisy has always rode in the stroller. After the falling incident last time, I decided the girl needed to walk. I saw that she had put on her "high heeled" sandals and suggested that running shoes might be more comfortable, but Daisy's mind was made up. So off we went.

The whining started before we had even left our street. That girl can whine with the best of them! I stuck to my guns, though, reminded her that she had chosen to wear those shoes, and we kept walking. Though Daisy fussed and complained most of the way, she made the whole mile walk! Caleb, of course, rocked it. He's been working on his conditioning all summer.

After a break at the library to choose books, we headed back home. At first I was feeling merciful and offered to let Daisy ride on the BOB. I warned her, though, that the moment she started whining, she had to walk.

She made it about 1/4 mile.

But now I know that she can make the walk to the library. It's much easier to only push two little ones in the BOB, instead of two little ones and a four year old!

But really, the library trip was just an aside. Something REALLY IMPORTANT happened today:

Eli discovered his feet!

I know, I know. It's a normal developmental milestone. But he's hitting it just about when he should! Yay, Eli!

He seemed kind of surprised to find the little wiggly things at the end of his legs.

Ad when I told him they had been there all along? The child was shocked.

(I think he's still figuring out what to do with his toes, now that he's found them. Right now, he's mostly clubbing them with his fist. I'm sure he'll expand his repertoire soon.)

Good job, cutie pie! Maybe you are a normally-developing almost-six-month-old, after all! 

July 21

It was Botanical Garden Tuesday, and of course I didn't take any pictures. This time, my friend Sheila and her boys joined us. The weather was perfect and it was lovely.

Eli cried the whole way home. Poor kid - the last two Tuesdays have been like that; perhaps I need to find a different strategy for feeding him while we're out. He's definitely reached the "distractible nurser" phase, which is always challenging. Next week, I will plan ahead so the poor child doesn't have to cry for twenty straight minutes while we drive home.

However, once I got him home and got him fed, he proceeded to nap from 12:50 to 4:50. So there's that.

Also, Eli likes Elmo.

Look at that happy baby.

I'm pretty sure all of our babies have liked Elmo.

Daisy definitely did.

She was three months old when this picture was taken. I can't believe my sweet girl was ever that little!

(In unrelated news, Chris removed the majority of Daisy's big toenail tonight. She ripped it from its nailbed a few weeks ago, and it has been gradually loosening and dangling. Finally we decided that tonight was the night, and she now has almost  no big toenail at all. On the bright side, she is looking forward to growing a shiny new toenail. On the down side, she doesn't have any idea exactly how long that takes. I took a picture of it, but it is too gross to share. Trust me.)

July 20

On this Do-Nothing Monday, something rather wonderful happened:

I disassembled the crib in Lily's room, since she is officially sleeping in her Big Girl Bed now.

Then I moved the crib into what was Daisy's room, and what will now be Eli's room.

There, I reassembled it, and Eli took his very first nap in his own crib, in his own room!

I nursed him to sleep, laid him in the crib, and two hours later he woke up like this:

Hi there, handsome! I was so excited - would it really be that easy? 

But nap #2 didn't go so well. Eli spent twenty minutes looking around, not falling asleep despite my best attempts to subdue him. Finally I  brought him into my bed, where he went right to sleep. Stinker. So this sleeping in the crib thing may take some practice, but just having a crib for him is a step in the right direction.

During nap #2, I let rice burn on the stove while I tried to take Lily's 2-year pictures. My results? Less than stellar.

They were all a variation of this: 

I call it "Screaming Toddler, Running Away from Camera."

Oh! Almost a smile?

Nope. Just a scream.

How about "Screaming Toddler with Chair"?

Or maybe "Screaming Toddler with Smiling, Helpful Sister"?

Maybe Lily will cooperate another day. Or maybe this is just what two looks like.

I will say that this is definitely what four looks like.

What a goof.

Even Caleb tried to coerce Lily into having her picture taken. He gamely sat in the chair and gave me a cheerfully blank stare, but Lily would have none of it. So it goes. My rice was burning.

After I started over with the rice, I realized it was about time for Chris to get home. I corralled the kids to wait on the front porch for Daddy, but just as I was about to let them out there, he pulled into the driveway. So instead of waiting for Daddy to arrive, I turned them loose with instructions to tackle Daddy with hugs and kisses.

I'd say they did their job very well. Chris was surprised and happy.

That girl. Refused to let me put her hair up, refused to have her picture taken, but goodness, isn't she sweet in that new dress from Grandmother?

And Caleb, rocking his new tie-dyed shirt from - of course - Aunt Jenny.

And Daisy, who is just Daisy. Love that girl.

July 19

Two years ago today, we welcomed sweet Lily into our family.

She seems like such a big girl now, and it feels like she's been a part of our family forever, but when I look at that sentence, I realize that two years is hardly anything. The girl is really still a baby, but she got booted from her babyhood much too soon when Eli arrived. Still, she has handled the situation with grace and charm.

Caleb is quiet and generally cooperative, Daisy is our unpredictable spitfire, and Lily is our sunshine. At least once a day, Chris and I look at each other with puffy red hearts in our eyes and say in shock, "She is so cute!"

Lily is the one who says, "No, nake yoo" instead of just plain no. 

Her little grin lights up the room, and her laughter is infectious. 

She is full of big, big loves. 

Of course she has her toddler moments, but for the most part, she is our sunny little sweetheart. 

Goodness, we love her.

Though I thought she might still be a bit young for the tradition, I decided to hang balloons from her doorway while she slept last night. I'm glad I did - she loved it!

To celebrate her birthday, we took the day off from church and went to Grant's Farm. It was our first time taking the kids there, and, aside from a work event when I was pregnant with Caleb, the first time we had been there since we were children. And best of all, Grace agreed to come with us! 

Our favorite part was the Animal Encounters show. In the picture above, you can see Caleb clapping, Lily avoiding looking directly at the animals, a hint of Grace's smile, and a happy Daisy sitting on her auntie's lap.

Lily had this solemn look on her face most of the morning. I think she was a bit overwhelmed, and taking everything in.

Daisy bonded with a giant tortoise.

We are normally cheapskates who pay for nothing extra at free places like this. But Chris and I agreed to spend big for Lily's birthday, so each kid got a cone to feed to the goats.

Lily carried her naked baby doll with her the entire morning.

Later, I tried to imagine how the goats must have seemed to a two-year-old. They were taller than her and totally unpredictable, but really funny.

Then we moved on to the baby goat pen, and we shelled out for bottles for all of the kids. Lily needed specific guidance because she kept trying to drink her bottle. 

I kept track of Caleb while Eli snoozed on my back, Chris handled Lily, and Grace took care of Daisy. It was a good thing we had a one-to-one ratio for the big kids, because the baby goats freaked them out. There was a sign at the entrance that warned us that the baby goats could be aggressive; honestly, I don't know what I was thinking when I took Caleb into the pen. Of course he was going to be afraid!

The goats swarmed and pushed and Caleb was terrified. We gave it our best go, but the boy just lost it, so we swiftly left the pen. 

He was much happier once we were able to feed the goats through the fence, but he was definitely still scared.

Once the crisis with Caleb had been averted, I looked back to see how the rest of my family was faring with those big, scary baby goats.

Lily was content as long as Daddy was holding her, and Daisy was desperately clinging to Grace. Poor kids. Grace, however, was in her element. She loves animals!

Honestly, as a nursing mom, I found the baby goats terrifying. The way they attacked those bottles so aggressively with their mouths full of teeth... I could just imagine the pain the poor mama goats experience! Maybe they aren't so aggressive when they're nursing from a mama goat and not a bottle. But still. Yikes!

Then we saw the kangaroos and the lemurs. Lily still has her baby doll, and Daisy is wearing a new dress that Grandmother gave her for Lily's birthday.

Then the elephants!

In these pictures Lily is down, but she actually spent a good portion of the morning in the Ergo on Chris' back. That thing was seriously the best investment ever.

In the Bier Garten! Chris and I were both reminded of fond memories of our trip to Europe, a lifetime ago before children.

I know. I look puffy and sleepy and weird. But I am enjoying a free beer while Eli sleeps on my chest and other people keep track of my children, so I am very happy.

Sweet sleeping baby.

I love babywearing; I have no idea why more people don't do it!

It was so nice to have Grace with us! Not only did it make things easier, but the kids were so happy!

Our happy family!

(OK, Lily and Caleb don't look particularly happy. But trust me, they were.)

And the tram on the way back to our car. Caleb was so excited to ride on a tram for the first time! We asked Lily what her favorite part of the morning was, and she said, "Ride Daddy back."

Her favorite part was being in the Ergo. Funny girl.

We ate lunch in the van on the way home, said goodbye to Grace and dropped her off, and put the little ones down for naps. While they slept, Chris took Caleb to the Lego Store, where he got to spend his birthday money. The boy was in heaven!

After dinner (grain-free pancakes for Lily's birthday!), I took the traditional chalkboard birthday picture: 

Except Lily was trying to stick her fingers in the outlet. Oops! Let's try that again.

Happy 2nd birthday, Lily!

We had such a busy day today that I didn't get to take her official birthday pictures. Perhaps we'll try those tomorrow! Lily's last birthday treat was a bike ride with Daddy. She was a happy girl, who had a wonderful birthday!

July 18

Lily turns two years old tomorrow, but various scheduling factors meant that we chose to celebrate her birthday this morning. My parents are out of town, though, and Billy and Jenny had to work, so we had a smaller celebration than normal. Still, though our group was small, it was merry!

We intended to let the kids run around and splash in our baby pool and sprinkler, but somehow we never managed to turn the water on. Instead, the kids ran around with their cousins and the grown ups watched and laughed. It was lovely.

We spotted a deer in the back yard, so all the kiddos ran out to see. Max told me later that "the deer looked right at Ca-wub and me!"

Then a monarch butterfly stopped by for a visit. I love our back yard.

Chris' sister, Grace, was in town from Texas, and it was her first chance to meet Eli. I really wanted some pictures of the two of them together, but Eli was ready for his nap and therefore not very cooperative. 

I tried mightily to get him to smile, though, and ended up with this photo: 

Look at that scowl! He is clearly annoyed with me. "Ma, will you please stop taking pictures and put me to bed?"

Or maybe, "Don't you dare take me away from my Auntie Grace!"

I did what the boy wanted and put him down for his nap, and came out to find everyone playing on the swing set. 

They were having so much fun!

Except for this one, that is. The birthday girl just stared at me. She didn't want me to push her, and I couldn't figure out what was going on until she shouted, "Muffer!" and grinned when Gayle came over to push her. She didn't want Mommy to push her, she wanted Grandmother to push her!

Soon it was present time. 

We gave Lily a bean bag chair, just like Caleb and Daisy's, but I was too lazy to wrap the big box. Instead, I asked Caleb and Daisy to decorate it with their markers. On the side above, you can see where Daisy wrote "Lily" in purple (the second L is covered by the ribbon).

Caleb decorated the other side with space ships for each member of the family. He informed me that Daddy's was the smallest, and it was lagging behind.

Lily didn't smile much, but she was quite engaged with the present-opening. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by being the center of everyone's attention.

A baby carrier!

Grace brought birthday gifts for Caleb, too, including a giant Star Wars Lego set. That boy was so, so, SO happy.

Soon it was time for cake. Our neighbor Mary just happened to bake a cake for us the other day, so I saved it for Lily's birthday. Keeping it simple here!

As Chris started to light the candles, Lily blew them out right away. But once he got them all lit, she was a bit intimidated.

Goodness, isn't she cute? She gave a tiny whisp of a blow, but it didn't work.

After several tries, Chris and Gayle stepped in to help her.

After cake, the big boys had fun playing the game where they take turns putting each other in a box.

Doesn't it look like fun!

Around noon, everyone except Grace left. We put the little ones down for a nap, and Grace and Chris took Caleb to a nearby waterpark for an adventure.

When Lily woke up from her nap, I noticed that she had been doing some exploring before she fell asleep. Her baby carrier was in bed with her, and she had taken a plush kitty purse (a gift from Grandmother, I think?) and tried to wear it like a back pack. The straps were much too short, though, and so it was stuck. Apparently she grew exhausted trying to get it off and fell asleep with it on her back. Poor girl.

After dinner, Lily tried on one of her gifts: butterfly/fair wings. Her shirt was dirty from dinner (and the leftover ice cream cake she had afterward), so she wore just the wings and a pair of jeggings.

If it weren't for the wheelbarrow and trash can in the background, this would be my favorite picture ever.

These wings are so super cool! Gayle was smart and bought two pairs, so that Daisy could have one, too. What a good grandmother!

Once Lily was in her jammies, I tried my best to get a good "last picture as a one-year-old" photo. Lily, however, had other plans.

They involved running up and down the sidewalk with her daddy.

I think it's quite fitting that Lily's jammie shirt says, "Dad's little sweetheart."

She is definitely Daddy's girl!

Happy early birthday, Lulu!