The Things She Eats

I was trying to think of a creative way to start this post, and after sitting here for 10 precious minutes that I won't ever get back, I've decided to forgo creativity and just jump right in: we cannot believe what Jane eats these days. For the girl that would have nothing to do with nursing, bottles, or even her sippy cup until lately, she certainly makes up for her disinterest in drinking with her love of food. And not just any food, some of the most bizarre things that I never would have imagined her to enjoy. We sort of subscribe to the mentality of letting her try anything despite what our opinion or preference of certain foods might be. Because I find this so fascinating, and more importantly because I love lists, I thought I would detail for you what she loves these days....

- Tomatoes
- Guacamole (eaten by the spoonful)
- Garbanzo beans
- Green Chiles
- Mustard (new discovery this week - licks it off her fingers like icing!)
- Black olives (taking after her cousins!)
- Cottage Cheese
- Asparagus (eaten twice already this week)
- Pumpernickel toast
- Anything spicy

And the most unbelievable thing she ate for the first time: SAUERKRAUT! (Did I even spell that correctly?!) Not only did she eat it, she would pick up a strand, tilt her head back, open her mouth, and dangle it in her mouth, smiling.

Who knows what else will be next.....

Luke

Luke just surpassed the 4-month mark, and I find myself asking the age-old question, "where has the time gone". He continues to be such a good baby, smiling nearly all the time, and only fussy right before sleeping. He still tolerates Jane's "loving" and you can see it in his eyes that he thinks his big sister is pretty cool. He started rolling over a couple of weeks ago, and also begun "moving" in a semi-crawling fashion. He is very motivated to be mobile, and has the muscle strength and control to possibly accomplish it in the very near future. We've settled into somewhat of a routine and looking forward to many fun outings in the future!

Check out this big boy. He is so LOOONNNGGG! Luke meeting his Great-Grandma for the 1st time.

If I had to show Luke's personality in a picture, this would be it. We set him in this chair, sitted upright and feet off the edge. Within 1.75 seconds, he re-shifted himself into this more suitable position. Not a single thing in this picture was posed. I love it.

Getting ready to try cereal for the 1st time. He loves to eat and can't seem to get enough.

Still working on eating from a spoon. He didn't seem to mind though.

Jane

Here are some recent pictures of Jane being Jane. She is a ball of energy and loves to be playing constantly. She has started to play more independently, including dragging her toy castle around the house and trying to sit on it; wrapping her teddy up in her blanket and pretending to put him to sleep (in her rocking chair nonetheless); and still obsessing with putting her socks on her hands at all times.

Here she is sitting on the couch, clutching a new Counting Purse Book, wearing pj's that are much too large for her (3T mind you). She loves the way the feel and wanted to put them on.

Still loves wearing anything with the Cubs logo on it

I don't even know what to say about this picture.

After "being nice" (strangling - see above pic) she doesn't want her brother in her chair anymore.
On Mother's Day playing with Great-Grandpa. I can't believe how grown up she looks in this picture.

Mommy-hood

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I find myself thinking a lot about how much my life has changed in just 2 years! I have 2 wonderful children and could never have imagined how much I love being a mom, even during those times when I read the same book 27 times in one sitting, or clean oatmeal out of someone's eye/ear/nose. I am so thankful for my family.

I will cherish this picture forever. Me with my blue-eyed, blondish-haired kiddos. My heart overflows with love for this little gal. This picture was taken on my blackberry and I probably look at it, on average, 12 times a day.

Ah-Dorable

I love these pictures of Jane - she is so stinkin precious to us. Her and Evan have a ball doing silly things and she loves making him put on all his hats (one at a time) and then take them off. Here, she picked this Cubs one and loved having it on!

"Go, Cubs, Go!"

I mean, how cute.

Easter

We had a wonderful time last weekend celebrating Easter. The weather was cooperative and it was nice to see the sun for a little bit. Here are some Easter pictures....finally!

The morning started with Jane getting a fat lip. You can sort of see it here.

The only picture with the 2 of them looking at the camera and kinda smiliing
Luke playing with his Easter bunny!

A halfway decent family photo. At least 2 of the 4 members are looking at the camera. Apparently I missed the memo about wearing blue and green combo; which is interesting because I thought I was the memo-sender....

On the steps at church.

Happy 1st Easter, Luke!
Jane getting a taste of her 1st jelly bean, blueberry, of course.

Jane starting her Easter egg hunt. She was SO good and fast at finding the eggs!

Jane with all her loot. What a ladylike pose.

Jane discovered this rock to sit on and it was all over after that. She treated it like her very own special chair

Her new look these days is a smile and scrunched up nose, seen here.

This was the scene only minutes into the car ride. If you look closely, you can kind of see the yellow Peep dust (sugar) across her mouth. A very wonderful day!

Miscellaneous

Here are some random pictures that I wanted to post. Hope to get our Easter pictures, and possibly a video, up soon!

Grandma with Luke

Such an innocent look. Her eyes are SO blue!

Jane with Papa. If you look closely, their eyes almost look identical.

Jane hanging out by the fort her cousins and Aunt Leslie built in the woods. She did not scavenge the trash that is sitting beside her, but don't put it past her to do so in another year or so. Check out the fort! Evan, myself, and Franz just jumped in for the picture, but the real architects were Katie, Maddie, and Leslie. And Jane supervised.


Ok, so we have established numerous times that our kids love to read. This was such a cute day. Luke was laying on the blanket and I told Jane to go sit by him and I'd read a book. Apparently Jane heard "sit on him" and I quickly needed to move her into a laying position near him. They both just laid there and let me read the fan favorite book to them - so adorable! And both are actually looking at the camera here! (A rarity) And yes, Luke. Is. Huge.

I put this picture up too only because Evan and I could not believe how much we think Luke looks like my dad in this picture. Maybe it's just the way his face is looking, but we both said it as soon as we saw the picture. What do you guys think?