Four Months!

Dear Ellie,

Once you were four months old.  You were darling and precious and I loved you to pieces.... and that's about all I can remember since I am writing this post 3 days before you were 5 months old.  I feel like everything I could say now applies to 5 months, and not to 4.  So here are some pictures of you at 4 months.

You swung...

And played with trains...

 

 

And hung out in your high chair with an awesome case with bed head.

 



We love you Elle belle!

New Rule

I have felt convicted about my iPhone for some time. I, like so many with smart phones, have become addicted to information. At the drop of a hat I can check up on friends, read about foreign policy, and pin that nights dinner.

I look at my phone at night to wind down. I need it when I am feeding Ellie. Drew squeals with delight when he gets his hands on mine, and regularly calls the sound machine iPod "Drews phone." So. Not. Good.

I justified having it with me by saying that I would miss so many great pictures if I didn't have it, and that's true. But I am missing out on playing and interacting with my kids.

So, starting right now, the iPhone is going to stay on the kitchen counter when I am in the house. Every hour I will check for text messages and voicemails (let's be honest- I do nothing that is time sensitive- I could probably check at the end of each day and be fine, but this is a weaning process). But it will remain on the counter the other 59 minutes in that hour.

So I won't answer your phone call- but I will call you back. Non-urgent emails will be returned at the end of the day or at nap time (which is happening right now, if you are wondering). Texts might get returned every hour.

I wouldn't get to play on my phone 8 hours a day if I worked at a desk job. My job right now is to raise two little people to be kind, compassionate and contributing members of society... Probably well worth giving my full attention! ;)

Confessional

1. Apparently I only blog about confessions these days. I swear I will do E's 4 month post before she hits 5 months.

2. Drew is putting together sentences, which is great. Today I heard "mama- look!- a blue truck!" Unfortunately in his speech it comes out "mama- wook!- a boo f$@k!" I laugh every time.

3. 9 out of 10 times the truck color is NOT blue. It's just the only color name he knows. Fail.

4. While in a state of hyper today, Drew whirled around and ran straight into the corner of the door jam. He cried, but recovered quickly. I just looked at him and he has a giant blue bump on the side of his head and may have given himself a black eye. This is excellent timing with his school meet-the-teacher tomorrow. But it will be a nice addition to the cut on his chin.

5. While driving back from Houston today, Ellie screamed, squealed and hollered from Bastrop to our house. I pulled over at one point to console her-- it happened to be a Goodwill parking lot. I may or may not have considered donating her.

Confessional

1. Earlier this week I served Drew left over grilled balsamic flank steak for dinner.  He grabbed it all off his plate and handed it back to me saying "no meat, mama."  Later that night I caught him eating dog food.

2. That was not the first time this week I caught him eating dog food.

3. I took my mattress topper to the laundromat to be washed-- it had been YEARS (Gross).  Technically it said not to wash, but I decided it was cheaper to try to wash it and find out it didn't work rather than just go buy a new one.  It turned out TERRIBLY and is lumpy like you wouldn't believe.  Rob said to put it back on the bed because he thought it would calm down.  I sort of feel like I'm in the 1700's, sleeping on a mattress filled with straw.

4. Drew seems to have a blood sugar dip around 9-10 in the morning.  He gets super cranky until he has a snack.  The other day I was racing home at 10.  Ellie was crying in the back seat because she wanted to eat.  Drew needed a snack.  I ran through Shipley's on the edge of my neighborhood and got him a donut because I figured he needed the sugar spike.  Awesome parenting.

5. I've been trying to be better about cooking and eating healthy.  This week I made 100% whole wheat graham crackers for a snack.  Drew could take them or leave them, but since I have banned all sweets from our house, I am eating them by the handfuls.  Even if they are only mildly sweet and carb-y. 

6. I have had  "write Ellie's 4 month post" on my to-do list ever day since her 4 month birthday (August 5th). My computer is such a piece of junk at the moment that dealing with pictures just about shuts it down.  I think I'm going to buckle down and do it tonight.

Wednesday Confessional

Some of my friends have started posting confessions on Wednesdays and I liked the idea, so I am jumping on board. I would link to the other posts but....

1. I never get on my computer anymore, and linking back to other blogs or commenting on blogs is a pain in the rear. So I just don't do it. That is also why my last several posts have been short with just one picture-- I do it from my iPhone.

2. I consider getting chick-fil-a for lunch every single day. It works out to me actually getting it once a week. Any time a bag gets handed through my window, Drew immediately begins asking for French fries.

3. Ellie gets bathed once, maybe twice, a week. With Drew we bathed him every other day. I now realize she doesn't get that dirty and out nighttime routine is busy enough without superfluous baths. I can't wait until they can bathe together.

4. Drew burned himself on a pan fresh from the oven yesterday. To his credit, he did announce that it was "hot" first. Once he touched it he knew we weren't kidding (also, he is fine now).

5. My house is filthy. Every time I say I need to clean it, Rob tells me to get a maid. I like that idea better, so I don't clean. But I am making slow progress on the maid.

6. I have several unexplained bruises. You would think I remember what I did, but I have no idea. I probably walked into something... That seems to be a pretty regular occurrence.

Ok, 6 seems like a good start. I will start storing them up for next week!

Blessed Tacos

We ate as a family of four last night. As I told Rob, it was the first time that he have eaten when Ellie was awake that one of us wasn't holding her!

Drew enjoyed his dinner, especially the part where we held hands and prayed. About every 3 minutes he would hold out his hands and we would stop and pray again (I mean really, can you say no to a boy who wants to pray?). We might have prayed for the tortilla, the meat, the cheese, and the lettuce all in different prayers. :)

Those were some blessed tacos.

And I am one blessed mama.

Olympic Fever

Tumbling class + Olympic gymnastics = monkey