Today, while Eli was napping I had some "girl time" with Ansleigh, Sophia, and Alyssa. We fixed our hair, put on make up (just a little powder, blush and lip gloss for them) and we got all dressed up. They were really excited because I told them they could each pick out a pair of my high heels to wear. It seems like every time I turn around one of them is clunking through the house in them, so i thought this would be fun. Then we went out in the playroom and had a pretend "fancy" meal at their little table. It was a lot of fun just spending some time with them and talking. They have so much to say these days!! Then, of course, we played photo shoot so I would have some pictures to share with you all :)
Trying to get a picture of all 3 of them, Ansleigh
wasn't cooperating and Sophia got upset.
Then Ansleigh got a little too excited
and Alyssa got upset.
This was as good as i could get before
someone else got upset.
My sister Michelle sent a couple of boxes FULL of stuff for the girls yesterday. Inside were nightgowns, play cell phones, zhu-zhu pets (from her neighbor Irene), suckers and much more. They were so excited when they woke up from their naps to see that presents had arrived from Aunt Chelle. I took a video of them opening it so that Michelle could see the how excited they were.
After they looked through everything they wanted to play with the Zhu-Zhu Pets and have suckers for snack. I took some pictures of them playing with all of their new toys.
Showing off their new skirts
I'm pretty sure Sophia thinks Jinx
(her Zhu-Zhu Pet) is real
My favorite part about the Zhu-Zhu Pets
is that they drive Willie crazy :)
And Eli thinks they are hilarious!
suckers for snack
they all got their phones out and
pretended to call each other
We also got a box from Grandmama (my grandmother) yesterday full of Barbies and Barbie clothes. The girls are really into Barbies right now, so they were super excited about that! Here's is a picture of them playing with their new Barbie stuff.
Today was FINALLY the first day of dance for Sophia and Ansleigh!! They were soooo excited to finally get to wear their new outfits and go to an actual dance class, and I was pretty excited for them. I remember taking dance when I was little and it was so much fun. I'm so thankful to my mom (Gram-Gram) for giving them the opportunity to participate in dance this year. Here are a few pictures I took of them before their very first dance class.
Had to do a "ballerina pose"
This is Ansleigh's ballerina pose
With their dance bags
When we got there, the moms got to go in the class for a minute to meet the teacher (Miss Tot) and hear a few things about the class. I didn't want to be "that mom" with my huge camera, so I discreetly snapped some pictures on my iPhone :)
Meeting Miss Tot
Checking attendance
Anxiously waiting to get started
I was a little worried that ALyssa would throw a fit when she realized that she wouldn't be joining the "big girls" for class, but she waved and said "bye sissys" and was happy to come with me and Eli. When I picked them up I wanted to hear all about it, but they weren't in the mood to share details, just said that they had a lot of fun, and they "tap-tap-tapped." Here is a picture after class though:
Alyssa wanted in on the photo action
We aren't allowed to be in the studio during class, but later on in the year they will have a parents visitation day and we will get to sit in on a class, so I will be able to get some pictures of them actually dancing.
These monthly updates on Eli are coming way to close together! I seriously feel like I JUST did one for 6 months! If only there were a way to slow down the time and keep him like he is just a little while longer..... I'm really going to miss having a baby around when he is older :(
Anyway, enough sappy-ness and more updating :) Eli is officially mobile!!! He's not quite crawling with his belly off the ground, but he is definitely getting the "Army crawl" down. Especially when there is something fun (like a cell phone) to go after. He fist started doing this a few days ago when we were at the library and of course I got a video of it:
We've been going to the library a lot lately. They have a really nice area where all of the kids can play. There are a lot of mats and big mirrors so Eli is entertained as well. Here is a video of him on the first day, laughing at himself in the mirror:
Although he isn't "crawling" yet, he sure does try! He gets up on his hands and knees all the time, but just can't figure out how to get going yet....
This was actually taken at 6 months, but
it's the only picture I had of him doing it
Every few weeks he comes up with a new sound to make and then makes that sound over and over again as much as possible. For a while it was a gasping noise. He did it so much that I had people stopping me in public to ask if he was ok, and tell me that I should probably take him to the doctor because it sounded like he was having trouble breathing. Then it was this weird noise that sounded like he was trying to clear his throat or something. He did that for a couple of weeks straight, and has now moved on to the most. annoying. sound. EVER! There really are no words to explain this, so I took a video:
I'm REALLY hoping this phase will be over soon and the next sound he learns isn't quite so "nails down a chalkboard" sounding.
Today I let him try out some Puffs. For all of you non-mom readers out there, Puffs are like little pieces of cereal that dissolve really fast (so they don't choke on it). He did pretty good picking up handfuls and dropping them everywhere, but I had to help him actually get them in his mouth. I also gave him a sippy cup to play with so he can start learning how to use one. He's still nursing and rarely gets to feed himself with a bottle, so I want to make sure he will know what to do when he is done breastfeeding. Here are some pictures of him trying to figure it all out:
He mostly just chewed on the cup,
but I think he will figure it out soon
Concentrating really hard on picking up a Puff
Not sure what to do with it once
it's in his mouth. lol
He is still a "Mama's Boy" but he's really warming up to his Daddy now. They had some time to bond on vacation :) He does really well when I'm not around, But if he sees me come into the room he wants me to hold him.
He's overall a happy baby, laughing a lot more and ready to explore the world around him! I'm sure the next update will be all about baby-proofing because he's getting into everything!!
I've been meaning to write this blog for a while now; it's not one of my typical "what we've been up to" blogs, but something I've been thinking about for a long time, and now that I have two more little girls living in my house, I've been even more aware of the subject of beauty, and how our self esteem affects our daughters.
I first began thinking about this when I was very pregnant with Eli. I would often (jokingly) say "I'm too fat to do that", and then one day I asked Sophia (2 years old at the time) to clean up her blocks and she replied "I can't, I'm too fat." At the time I sort of laughed it off, thinking, "she's too young to know what that means, she's just copying me." But then I realized.... she is copying me! She hears what I say and then repeats it in the same way. If she constantly hears me put myself down, what is that teaching her to do to herself???
Then, on Wednesday, Pastor Thomas spoke about strongholds in our lives, and how we can accidentally pass these strongholds on to our children. Our culture puts so much emphasis on physical beauty, and (as hard as it may be) it's important to raise our girls with a high self esteem. God made each of us special, with no exception to the way we look. I can't imagine how He feels when He hears us say "I'm too fat" "I'm too ugly" "I'm too wrinkly".... I can only compare it to the way I would feel if I heard one of my precious children say these words... heartbroken.
So here's to looking at myself through God's eyes today and saying "I AM BEAUTIFUL!!" :)
For this post, I decided to find a picture where I like the way I look. For a lot of women, including myself, this is a HUGE challenge... so today, I challenge you to look in the mirror, or find a photo, and recognize your beauty. Show our little girls what high self esteem looks like! We can tell them about it all day, but if they don't have an example of it, the talk is wasted.
It's finally cooling off here, and I am soooo ready for fall!! It's my favorite season :) Yesterday was a beautiful day! We went to the park with Ben and Sarah and then came home and let the girls play in the yard. Ansleigh got a princess castle (from some friends at church) for her birthday, so Derek is set it up in the yard along with the camping tent for them to play in. They had a blast!
I borrowed Sarah's 55-200mm zoom lens to play around with, and used playtime as an opportunity to take some pictures with it. I'm in love with this lens, and it is definitely at the top of my wish list for camera equipment! Here are some of my favorite pictures:
They weren't allowed to get in until they finished their popsicles.
He LOVES to watch them play!
"Ansleigh, will you please not push the tent?"
haha!
Telling me that there were 3 tents... there were 2, lol
Derek turned the air compressor on and this is the face Eli made
