Elizabeth takes a bottle

Thursday 8.27.15

My biggest success of the day is that I can say that Elizabeth really takes a bottle now! She's always been hit and cold about it... Mostly cold... But I figured she would get better over time. Well, she only got worse. After a stressful night of leaving her with a babysitter (and hoping she slept the whole time... She didn't... I came home half way through to nurse her and leave again) I realized that this whole no bottle thing was just not going to be an option I was going to accept very willingly. So for the next ten days, I gave her a bottle at least once a day. At first she was really fighting it. It would take 30-45 minutes just to get her to take half an ounce. And even then, it was probably only because I was squirting it into her mouth. Well, I kept at it. I'd just hand express and ounce or two and then try to get her to take as much as I could. It was at least 45 minutes those first days. Well, she's gotten better with the consistency and I've had the best luck feeding her first thing in the morning when she's super hungry and doesn't care as much what she's sucking. She was getting better but still not great. She wouldn't take a bottle from Christopher (let's be honest, he's kinda lazy about it and doesn't put in the effort to sitting up straight and cradling a baby correctly, etc) so I knew I still had work to do. But this morning... She took a bottle in her car seat without anyone cradling her. And she wasn't fighting it and spitting it out or chewing it... Evidenced by the fact that she was pretty self sufficiently feeding herself with a propped bottle! 

No hands! 

She even kind grabbed it back a time or two when it fell out of her mouth. That's a pretty big deal. With Abigail and Brady, 5-7 days was enough to keep up the habit, but it seems like I'll need to stick to every other day with Elizabeth for a while. I neeeeeed to be able to leave her before she's six months old. Totally worth the effort. 

A happy accident... Somehow we all were wearing matching shirts. 

Also, Brady is the cutest. He loves pictures. 

Just not as much as he loves Elizabeth. So obsessed. These two have such a special bond. 

He's been really into socks lately. And made up this game where he slides off the chair onto the floor.

It seems like it'd be more painful than enjoyable but whatever. The kid is a mystery to me. 

Also, he's hilarious. 

Our smoothies time. Brady is my smoothie buddy. I always make a big smoothie and he gets a fully sippy of it and I get the rest. 

Elizabeth is 11.5 lbs of adorable. 

Brady seems to have a knack for sports. He likes sports, but he's also naturally good at them. So I was confused for quite a while that he seemed to have so much trouble hitting the ball off of his t ball set. 

Well I figured out the problem. He thought you were supposed to hit the red part. Once I explained to him that the bat was only supposed to hit the ball, he was golden. So now he's awesome at baseball too. 

Natalie came to play for a few hours. I just watched the kids outside the whole time. Outside with kids is so much better than inside. 

Then honey came home by 4:30! Woohoo!  So we hung out for a bit and decided to do early dine at Texas Roadhouse. 

While we were giving Elizabeth another 30 minutes to sleep before heading out, Brady curled up and fell asleep. He's sooo not ready to be giving up naps. If he was my only child, I'd totally sit with him and help him take an 11am nap or something. But, he's just one of three and I don't have the time or motivation for that. So if he wants a nap badly enough, he just snuggles up and takes one. 

So sleepy. 

So then we woke up Brady and woke up Elizabeth and got the kids all in the car to go. It seemed like a pain and it was, but I really wanted Texas Roadhouse. Honey offered to bring it back for us. But it's never as good as eating it there, right when it comes out piping hot. Well, it was soooooo worth it. The rolls were some of the best I've ever had... A little underdone and so soft and I asked for tons of extra honey butter so there was no skimping on that. We got the grilled shrimp for appetizer and it was amazing and the half roll that's toasted with garlic butter or something that comes with it was also the best I've had. My steak was good and so was my sweet potato. Everything just tasted amazing and it was 100% worth it waking up two kids to go. For the record, the kids all loved it too... So I'm not entirely selfish in that. 

These two. So cute. 

As far as Brady's sleep goes, it's been working best to move him to Abigail's sofa after they're both asleep. If he wakes up during the night while he's in Abigail's room, then he doesn't come downstairs crying, he just stays put. I wish I'd tried this sooner but part of me thought he wouldn't transfer well (he transfers beautifully because he's so exhausted), and part of me just hoped he would phase out the night waking (HA... Maybe someday). 

So this is how we end our days. 

Smoothies and Nate

Friday 8.28.15

Remember this is where Brady was at 9:30pm...

And this is how I found him at 7:15am. I'm not sure what really happened in there. 

Brady found some chocolate in honey's suitcase. He sniffs out food like a bloodhound. Seriously.

My friend Sarah (the healthy, athletic one in my ward) told me I should be adding more veggies to my smoothies and said squash was a good one because of the light flavor. Lucky for me, I had three squash leftover in my fridge so I added one to try it. I love that with my blender, I can just slice off the ends and chop it in half and it gets liquified along with everything else. I also added Brady's partially eaten Apple that he lost interest in. Who likes that my iPhone just automatically made apple a proper noun that time?  Random. 

My smoothie... Because I'm not that into berry or fruit smoothies... Half cup or so of milk, three small (very ripe) bananas, a heaping spoonful of peanut butter, heaping half tablespoon of cocoa powder, a whole squash, and however much spinach Brady feels like putting in. Oh, and his discarded, partially eaten Apple... Just because. Dang that capital A. Anyways, then I added ice and hit the sauces button. Delish. It would taste better with honey but I ran out a while ago and haven't been adding it. I don't really miss it. Also, if I want to add even more, I'll put in flax and oats... But just sometimes because I definitely prefer the texture better without it. 

But seriously, you can't even taste the squash. All of my smoothies are green so it doesn't bother me, but at first, I used to put it in an opaque thermos type bottle so I couldn't see it. 

Abigail had her first field trip. To four mile park or something. She wore a pink skirt and her tie dye shirt and was most excited about getting to being home two pieces of gold. She normally gets out of school at 12, but with the field trip, didn't get done til 2... So Brady and Elizabeth and I went to the pool and invited friends. Sharon, Kristen, Sarah, Andrea, and Sarah's friend all came and brought their kids. It was a lot of fun. We stayed from 10-1:50 and changed at the pool so we could go straight to get Abigail. I'd emailed her teacher the night before about how she was doing and she offered for me to come in and meet with her so we did that. She said Abigail is doing great and is getting along so well with the rest of the class. 

The afternoon was making a few vt phone calls, Presley coming over, having the kids watch a show, jumping in the shower only to get out and realize the kids had turned on every single light in the house (and the fireplace too) and then hurrying to get myself and the kids all ready to go to nate's birthday dinner at 6. 

Nate is 17!!!!  That is so crazy to me because he was 7 when I first met him (Christopher and I started dating in 2006, which is practically a million years ago to someone that is freshly 17) and he was just a tiny little boy. I've always liked Nate pretty well but I've gotta say that he keeps getting exponentially more awesome with age. 

He picked out such a delicious birthday dinner that I felt like it was my own. Teriyaki salmon, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh watermelon, and Rice Krispie ice cream bars for dessert. I ate thirds on dinner and seconds on dessert. And I've gained about four lbs in the last week. I wish I cared. 

Bri and Kelsey took off but honey and I decided to torture our kids and stay for a long time. Nate tried on his new clothes (I have a new semi obsession with guys tennis clothes now... For playing and for casual) and we all hung out while our kids stumbled and tripped from exhaustion and Abigail eventually passed out next to Klaudette. Brady stayed awake only because he'd gotten a nap in the car on the way there. I had so much fun hanging out with mark. And my mil, as always. I forget the exact situation at dinner where Christopher was joking around with me and my mil and I were laughing at how obnoxious he was being (I think he wouldn't give my corn on the cob back) and I told him "I only married you because I wanted your mom to be my mother in law!"  We all laughed about it but then I thought about it for a bit... I'm glad I love honey so much because it would have been difficult for me to break up with a guy whose family I love so much. If that makes sense. I know I'm explaining it poorly. Anyway, I love the Hilliers. I forget that I married into that family because they feel like my own. 

Brady photography. 

He fell asleep instantly but I took this picture because I didn't know if he was asleep or just quiet. Ha. 

When you're at the top of a neighborhood and have to coast down to the main road for five minutes, you get really great gas mileage. It was actually at 47 for a bit but I didn't take a picture in time. Also, 10:30. We were so tired. 

All of us. 

Brady does it all

Wednesday 8.26.15

Who's loving the wipeable seats?!  It's so happy for me every single spill. 

School picture day. I thought they were a ripoff so I didn't order any. I snapped a few with my good camera be fire sending her to school. 

We got a little carefree posing for the iPhone though. 

Brady did baseball, then hockey, then bike riding. 

He went around the block three times. In his yellow helmet. 

And he had the red face to prove it. 

We shared a smoothie. 

And then hit Elizabeth up to join us. 

Brady uses this stroller to tote around his sports gear. 

Elizabeth was fascinated. 

Brady is still obsessed with her. I'm obsessed with his eye lashes. And beiber hair. 

At the pool. Brady is a go getter. Check him out... Photo bombing all these pics. Not drowning. 

She slept from our extra walk around the block at noon until we left the pool at 3. All strapped in her car seat. Infant carriers are the best. She's so happy. 

Then we did a show and baths and dinner and playing with honey and bedtime. And in there was Abigail and Brady playing hair salon after they hot home from the pool and went upstairs to get dressed. They're pretty funny.