Boppy

Uses for a Boppy pillow:

1. Feeding

2. Propping up

3. Tummy time

4. Learning to sit up

5. Pillow for falling asleep at 4:00 p.m. in front of the TV when you're a 2-year-old who didn't take a nap earlier in the afternoon like you really needed to.

Bubbles

I realized that we hadn't done a post in over a week, and since we don't want to be blog slackers, I figured I'd better put something on here!

During spring break we had a fun time relaxing, spending time with friends, and having Daddy home for 2 extra days since he took a couple vacation days. Mommy got to join the crew for Donut Day, which was a special treat. Esther and Peter also had a sleepover with Grandpa and Grandma W. and Aunt Karen, which was a treat for everyone! While they were gone, Casey and I spent a very romantic afternoon cleaning out our basement storage room. We did also get take-out for dinner and watch a movie, so we did have some fun while they were gone.

We are absolutely loving this beautiful weather! We are spending hours playing outside in the backyard and going for walks and bike rides. It's so wonderful to be out again, and Esther and Peter actually sleep well at night because they're so tired! Tonight we were blowing bubbles, so I thought I'd post a couple pictures...

Esther the expert bubble-blower

Poor Peter doesn't quite have the technique down yet

Miriam loved watching the bubbles float by her face

3-Year-Old Theology

Tonight I was lying in Esther's bed with her and after we sang songs and prayed, she asked me where heaven is. I tried to explain that we don't really know where it is. She then asked how we get there, and wondered if we need to take a big plane. I again tried to explain that God can just take us there without us having to go in a plane or car or anything like that.

From there, she launched into about a 5 minute long explanation of how she thought that God and Jesus would drive their cars (Jesus' would be a van) to the house of the person who died and take the person to heaven. She also said that if they were driving and they saw a really cute bunny on the side of the road and got distracted (yes, her word) then they might crash. She said the plastic on the car would be fragile, so it might be in all little pieces. If this happened, they would just have to walk to the person's house.

I really wish I had a recording of it, because I can't do it justice trying to retell it. All I can think of is where does she come up with this stuff?

Rice Cereal

We gave Miriam her first taste of rice cereal last night. These before and after pictures pretty much sum up her opinion so far...

She is 4 months old already! Some of you are aware of the issues she's had in the last 6 weeks, which started when she had some blood in her stool. The first course of action was for me to cut dairy out of my diet since I'm nursing. That worked for a while, but then it started again. Miriam has endured stool cultures, blood draws, and a Meckel's scan which involved an IV injection. All the tests came back negative, so the doctors are assuming it is a food allergy/intolerance. Currently I am not eating dairy, soy, eggs or nuts, and everything has been clear for about 10 days. She has been a trooper through it all and continues to be our sweet, smiley girl!

Sign of Spring

Is spring finally here? We hope so! We are looking forward to more time playing in the sandbox and doing other things outside!

Alphabet Peter

Well, he's finally smarter than his Daddy....maybe he'll skip a grade and save us some tuition!



We realized tonight that the reason he shouts the letters is because he watches Wheel of Fortune with Daddy every night. Hmmmm, let's see, he watches TV with Daddy and as a result learns his letters....Mommy will have hard time winning the TV battle with Daddy from now on!

Saucer Time

Miriam is loving the Exersaucer! Amazingly, neither Esther or Peter have tried to climb into it and play yet.

Fun with Friends

I was able to spend some time today with 2 of my very good friends, Mary and Kristen. Mary lives in Minneapolis and she was in town with her kids, so Kristen, along with her husband Mark and their kids also came into town from Detroit. It was so much fun watching Mary's 3 girls, Kristen's 3 boys, and our kids all interact with each other since they don't see each other very often. We realized that we did get to have more adult conversation than the last time we were together several years ago because the kids (besides Miriam) are old enough to feed themselves and play pretty independently now! I'm so thankful that these friendships stay strong despite the distance that separates us.

Bumbo!

If you're not familiar with the Bumbo, it's a foam seat that allows babies to sit up. As far as I know, they weren't around when Esther and Peter were born, so we weren't really familiar with them before now. Casey's sister got one as a baby gift, but Tyler doesn't really like sitting in it right now, so Miriam is borrowing it. So far, she seems to be enjoying it!

Happy Easter!

Yesterday afternoon, Casey and Esther dyed Easter eggs, which is something she and I did last year as well. She was able to do much more herself this year, and especially enjoyed the "magic crayon" which allowed her to draw with a clear crayon on the eggs and then see the designs show up when they were dyed.

This morning we gave the kids small Easter baskets and then went to church to celebrate the REAL meaning of Easter. We had a beautiful service with wonderful singing, choir, and handbells. Then we headed to Casey's parents' house and had a delicious dinner.

One tool we've been using for the last few weeks to help Esther learn the story of Easter is the Resurrection Eggs. Each plastic egg contains an item to sybolize part of the passion week story. The items include a donkey, praying hands, a wine goblet, a crown of thorns, a stone, etc... Each night after dinner we would open a new egg and read the corresponding part of the story from the children's Bible. We would also review the previous eggs, so by the end of this week she was doing an excellent job of telling about most of the items. We were hoping she would share it with Casey's family for devotions after dinner, but she got a little shy on us. Maybe next year! It was a neat way for her to learn the story and have something concrete to remind her of it. Peter just liked playing with the little things in the eggs, but maybe next year he'll get it a little more too.