Who Needs Baby Food?

Not Carter, that's for sure.

After cutting his first tooth and then having a cold, I could understand why he wasn't particularly excited to eat, but when he finally got well and still wouldn't eat from a spoon, I got a little nervous.  I know that babies this age get their calories from milk, and that food is still just "play," but he was he was completely refusing to play!

I had been thinking about baby led weaning for a while, so this just gave me a reason to abandon the spoon and baby food.  At first, I squished up some bananas and set them on his tray.  He loved it!

As he got (a little) better at getting the food in his mouth, we tried peaches, pears, peas, green beans, avocado (the messiest!), apples, mango, and carrots.  Now, he is eating cheerios, which I soak for a few minutes in his milk so they're soggy, and pasta.  (Oh, and pizza crust.  He loves to gnaw on pizza crust, and I feel like such a responsible mom giving my 8 month old pizza crust, haha!)

Last week, we had a dish that had pasta, cannellini beans, and spinach, so I diced that really finely, and he thought it was great.  The boy loooves his pasta!

One of the tenants of baby-led weaning is that baby eats what you eat.  With one tooth, it's hard to truly eat what we're eating, but I've been trying to make meals where he can eat the veggie or the fruit.  I think he feels like he's doing what we're doing, and I can appreciate his independent streak.

We should, however, consider a dog, because this is a really, really messy endeavor!

Spring Evening

Last night was a gorgeous spring evening.  We all went outside as soon as dinner was finished, and Frank and Jacob went "off-roading."  Off-roading is when Jacob rides his tryke to the end of the sidewalk and then they run into the field behind the house.  Jacob loves to walk through the grassy area and to the edge of where the plowed field starts.  Of course, he picks up every little rock, stick, and interesting-looking weed along the way.  He was an absolute dirt-ball when he came inside!

The view was so pretty, I grabbed the camera and caught some really memorable shots of the two of them.  So... (unedited) picture overload!

Celebrate!

It has been a week of celebrations, both big and small, beginning with....

Easter!

We went to Christopher for the weekend and had a blast!  On Saturday, the kids had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Each of the three kids had a designated egg design so we knew whose eggs were whose.

Jacob has egg-hunting down to a science.  Hopefully, he will give Carter some pointers next year!

And we opened some Easter gifts  (Yes, more phones.)

We also celebrated Brett's birthday and my birthday, which are less than two weeks apart.  My niece Jenna has become quite the baker, and she and Grandma Anna made cupcakes for us!

Later in the week we celebrated the Cardinal's opening day.   (Well, I probably would have been celebrating even more if I could have gotten both kids to look at the camera.)

Then, on April 4, I noticed... my baby has a tooth!!

Have you ever seen anything cuter?!

We Colored Easter Eggs... While It Snowed Outside

Last Sunday as all four of us were recovering from some kind of cough/respiratory infection, a crazy late snowstorm hit, giving us about 8 inches of snow.  Between our coughing and watching the snow, it felt more like Christmas than Easter!

Since we were stuck in the house anyway, I decided it would be a good time to bring some Easter cheer (Christmas cheer?) to our day by decorating eggs.

You may remember that coloring Easter eggs, carving pumpkins, and decorating Christmas cookies are three of Frank's favorite activities, (that was sarcasm), but he's actually becoming quite a pro at all three.

I wasn't really sure if Jacob had the dexterity yet to handle using a dipper and putting the egg in the dye, but he surprised me.  No eggs were cracked, although I did yell, "GENTLE!" about 523 times during the process.

Then he realized if he didn't use the dipper, he could turn his hands different colors, too.  It was hands-in-the-dye from then on out.

I think Carter was kind of annoyed that he was in his high chair and no one was feeding him, so he was a very loud little supervisor throughout the activity.

The eggs turned out really pretty this year.  Now if only the weather would cooperate and warm up, we would be all set for Easter!

13 Random Facts

Oh my.  It's been a while.  Lots going on, but none of it too much fun, and I'd rather write about fun and fluffy. So in the spirit of Courtney's post a few weeks ago, I'll jump back into the blog with a "13 Things About Me" post.

How have I never done one of these before?!

1.  I've gotten a little obsessive about keeping my fingernails painted.  This is going to be a problem when the weather gets warmer and I'm finally get to do some gardening.

2.  I think anything is better with cheese.  I'd probably eat the cat if you topped her with some warm, melty cheddar.  Yum.

3.  My hair is my Achilles' Heel... I never think it looks right.

4.  The worst summer job I ever had was during the summer after eighth grade.  I babysit for a second grade boy whom I didn't really like (one of the few kids I've ever not liked), and we spent long, nine-hour days together at their house in the country.  It was just the two of us and their brand-new yellow lab puppy that I had to house-break. Oh, and on the second day of summer, the little boy came down with chicken pox.  I was bored, isolated, and annoyed.  I didn't last the whole summer.

5.  I would love to be able to do home-improvement/home repair projects.

6.  I did refinish my grandma's porch swing once, though.

7.  My favorite color is blue... or red... depending on my mood.

8. I like being with Frank even more than I like being alone, and I really like to be alone.

9.  If I wasn't in healthcare, I would be a florist or gardener.

10.  I've lost the twin boys I was babysitting while taking cover from a tornado.  I tell this story a lot, so if you haven't heard it, ask me.

11.   My favorite book is Anne of Green Gables.

12.  Rodents, especially mice, freak me out.  (It is probably best that I don't pursue that gardening career!)  I'm actually a little scared of the ground squirrels in the backyard.

13.  Every summer I say I'm going to take golf lessons.  One summer, I actually will.

Way Back Wednesday

The first picture is Jacob from April 2010.

The second picture is Carter from Sunday.

Healthy Hermits

I think I speak for both boys when I say that we officially have cabin fever.  We have purposely avoided some of the traditional hot spots like the Children's Museum because the germs have been so nasty this year.  We've managed to stay well *knock on wood* but we're bored.  Healthy hermits, in other words.

 We've done some fun stuff, though.  Like building a fort...

and going to the Amtrak station to watch the trains.

We (well, okay, Frank and Jacob) built a snowman.

(Notice that it has a Cardinals hat and is carrying a bat :)

And last week, we went to the mall for an event to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Jacob got his own striped hat for donating a book, and the Cat in the Hat was there!  He wasn't quite sure what to think about that...

Other than that, we've just been hanging out at home and playing with toys.  

You knew I had to figure out a way to get another shot of the baby into this post!