Massive Catch-Up Post #2

We went to Grammy and Papa's for the weekend before Christmas and I forgot my camera! We spent Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa's in SLC.

 

 

 

 

Our attempt at a Family Christmas Photo. Fail. When we look bad, the kids look good. When we looked ok, the kids look bad. Grrrr... Thus, the lack of Christmas cards this year.

I took this picture of Lily the day after Christmas when we went shopping. To keep herself occupied while I bargain-hunted, she unstacked all of the chairs and stools and then sat down to read a good book.

Good times in the Schmitt Family.

Last week Henry had his first solid food! Avocado and breastmilk goodness. He was really excited and almost ate the spoon. But then he got tired of sitting in the Bumbo and was ready to be done. He was about 5 1/2 months old and we've since then fed him homemade baked yams and avocados. It's not a daily thing yet and I'm convinced this time around I will do homemade babyfood and I'm not in a huge hurry because he's really healthy exclusively nursing right now.

Lily doing dishes. A daily "help" she gives me. Never gets old for her. She loves the water, soap and the scrubber equally. I try to encourage her so that in a few years she'll still want to help with the dishes.

Henry and Lily LOVE each other. And I love them.

 

 

Big Boy! Almost sitting up! At this point, he eats one to two times at night. He smiles, he coos and ahhs. He said "maaaaa" last week and I'm counting it as his first word since he was definitely talking about me. He's strong and starting to learn to sit up. His muscle tone is normal, which is a relief since Lily was slower. I love his rolls!

Swimming at Grandma's pool! Henry was a champ although his first time swimming was not the same as Lil's. She was SO into it. And even now, she wanted me to dunk her and she was excited to learn how to move along the side by herself like her cousin, Madi. Henry was more chill. He was content but less enthusiastic. We'll see how he feels when summer comes along.

Thank you to all who helped me figure out the best way to keep posting. Right now I'm using Picasa Web Albums. When I run out of room there, I'll probably do Flickr or something else. And I'll have to start shrinking my files before posting. Thanks to everyone!

Massive Catch-Up Post #1

We've been doing pre-school super informally eith our wonderful and amazing neighbors, the Sorensens. We've had a blast learning about our bodies, families, neighborhood, gratitude, foods and more!

 

 

Halloween was super fun. Henry's costume started the whole thing. He's Kanga and Little Roo. So, I bought Lily was Pooh Bear costume on KSL and made myself an Eeyore headband and tail out of felt and James was Christopher Robin. Lily discovered candy and has never gone back. Bummer.

Henry continues to grow and eats very well. He's really big for his age. He's a much better eater and sleeper than Lily and I'm so glad.

Lily continues to grow up and speaks much more.She is getting more independent and actually plays a lot more by herself. Her imagination is great. It seems like every time I come in on her playing, one of the dolls or stuffed animals is falling off of something (the couch, the printer) and the other one is saving them. It's hilarious.

This is the first snow. Lily really wanted to go out and I had Henry and it was cold so she went out on her own. She just wandered around and enjoyed it.

 

 For Thanksgiving, we went to Oklahoma to visit Joe and Marcia family. It was awesome. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few of the girls wearing each other's clothes.

Happy 31st Birthday, James! Tucanos with the other Schmitts. Good times.

I took these pics cause cousin Kye has pictures in this outfit and they are both adorable in it.

Lily is very crafty. She loves glue, construction paper and anything that she can tape, cut or stick together. I didn't have anything for her to glue to this paper so I gave her almonds and sprinkles. She ate the sprinkles and all the almonds fell off. Fail.

 

This is an example of her cutting skills. I gave her a piece of wrapping paper.

 

So, we decided this year not to spend money on a Christmas tree. I googled how to make a homemade tree and saw some cute ones that were made out of an upside down tomato cage. We made it for FHE and this is how it turned out. I thought it was so ugly and crazy.

But when we turned the lights off and lighted the tree, Lily's awe and joy was tangible.

She literally couldn't stop looking at it. She made the experience so happy and I had an epiphany of  why parents work so hard on Christmas for their kids. I wanted to see that amazement on her face an much as possible.

 

Henry also liked the joys of Christmas.

 

This is Lily's first Santa encounter. She tried really hard to be nice and like it, but she was super uncomfortable and didn't get it. It probably doesn't help that I'm semi against the whole Santa thing.

More on Christmas to come!