Puppy love

Nico is in love with this stuffed dog that SuperNana sent for Christmas. I have no idea who it actually belongs to (Ella says she thinks it's Egan's), but it doesn't really matter, because Nico isn't giving it up. Even when he's really upset, we can just squeeze that dog's belly to make it squeak and Nico will smile while he's still crying.

The Es jumped in today when I was taking photos of N and I managed to get a couple of decent shots of all three of them. Enjoy!

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What is up with that tongue?

Every baby is different, and Nico is no exception. One of his latest tendencies is to stick out a very pointed tongue when he's happy. It's better in person, but just in case you don't have that option, here's a taste.

And here's another photo just because I liked it. Just in case you're wondering, this kid drools all the time, but no teeth yet, and he teases us by getting into this position all the time but never actually crawling. I'm constantly grabbing the camera thinking he's really going to do it this time. He likes to keep me on my toes.

If there's not much going on...

then why am I so busy every day?

I know, I'm neglecting the blog. I'll do better, I promise. I left my camera at home last weekend and didn't get any Easter pics (Becky did, so if you read this and want to see some posted, email her and tell her to send them to me--I'm sure she love to hear from you).

I do have a few other pics to share.

The egg hunt last Saturday was cancelled, so the kids hunted in our backyard and then played with the eggs and the ever-handy blower motor. Here's one of my favorites:

And here's what they were looking at:

And one of the other two kiddos from today...

Nico likes food now, pretty much everything we've tried but peas. Here's Ella's first attempt at feeding him bananas this morning. She opened her mouth like this everytime she gave him a bite.

It's been a busy week...

We started off the week with an emergency trip to the dentist's office after Egan knocked his tooth loose (on Ella's head--she was fine). They just pushed it back into place and said to keep an eye on it, and it doesn't seem to be bothering him much now, although he is always pushing it around with his tongue.



Except for the hair-in-the-eyes situation, I'm liking his long hair. I keep thinking if I just wait a little longer, it'll be long enough to tuck behind his ears. He's still scarred (well, emotionally, at least) from his last run-in with the shears and isn't interested in getting it cut again. (If you don't know that story, it will suffice to say that Dijar got a little close around the ears.) We'll see how he feels when the hot weather sets in this summer. Might be time for that buzz we talked about but never actually brought to fruition last year.



Ella and Nico had well-checks at the pediatrician this week. Both are doing wonderfully. Ella had her first sight and hearing screen and she loved it. She didn't even seem to mind the five (yes, five!) shots she had to get. She even volunteered to go before Nico and she barely flinched. She's really growing up. Her new thing lately is wanting to cut up her food herself with a knife and fork.

Nico is trying his hand at pulling himself up and wishing he could figure out how to crawl. He can get himself up onto his knees with his feet underneath, but so far he always ends up falling over face-first. Then he flails around and tries to get somewhere for awhile. If he can get ahold of something (like the table below), he'll pull himself over to it. It won't be long before we'll have to start babyproofing the house again.

We're doing an egg hunt tomorrow afternoon and the Es are very excited. They've been practicing hunting eggs at Mom's the last few times we've been out there. I'll try to remember to take the camera with me. Hope everyone has a great Easter.

More blower pics...

So I posted yesterday some pics of the fun we've had with the blower motor, but Dijar emailed me some more from his phone today I thought you guys might like. We spent some time seeing what floats and what doesn't when put in front of the fan and then we spent a lot more time with the kids taking turns in front of the fan themselves. (BTW, Nico and I tried it, but it really wasn't as great to us as Ella and Egan made it seem.)

D also sent some photos from last Sunday morning at the farm. There are new baby sheep this spring, Mocha and Latte, and they're getting more used to the kids each time we visit. Alex and Ella are holding Latte in this shot.

And I know this isn't the greatest picture (I am so bad at taking self-portraits--see how I cut off some of everyone's head here?), but I still like it--the sun, the hammock, the lazy Sunday feel.

What's going on this week?

Lately, Ella's really been treating Nico like her own personal baby doll. We have to remind her daily that she's not allowed to pick him up or carry him around without our permission (and supervision). Thankfully, he seems to enjoy her attention most of the time.

Egan's learning that not being nice and gentle with your little brother has consequences. For example, when you bite his finger because "he's tasty," you should be prepared to head straight for time-out. (Yes, this actually happened; no, I don't have photos.)

Nico is working on getting bigger by the day. Monday was his first experience with food (well, except for that cookie, Mom. ;o)) He was definitely more interested in the spoon than the pears.