What We've Been Up To

We've really just been building a lot of train tracks and playing trains.  And baking some.  And staying warm.  Oh, and most of my days are consumed by feeding children.  Why does it feel that way once you start baby food?  There are at least 3 elements to each meal.

1) Get Emerson some food.  (Included in here would be hounding him to eat and once again telling him he can't have a cookie/cake/candy until AFTER he finishes breakfast.  Oh dear...a sugar junkie at 9:30 in the morning.)

2) Nurse Sammi/Murder her with her sippy cup.  I've been trying to get her to get good at drinking from a sippy cup since she won't take a bottle.  Unfortunately she acts as though I am torturing her, though less than with a bottle.  I've tried offering it to her right when she wakes up, or after I nurse her, or in the middle of a feeding.  So far that's what has worked.  The girl likes flesh, so I feed her just enough that she's not hysterical and then she'll almost happily drink from a sippy.  What can I say?  I don't like being bitten by my vampire child.  When I flick her chin whilst she has me in a death bite, all she does is beam at me.  Like she thinks I'm hilarious as I'm wincing and shrieking.  Besides the biting, I'm also worried she isn't getting enough from me. Oh, the joys and worries of motherhood.

3) Shovel in some baby food.  It sounds like there would be large quantities consumed here, but that would be incorrect.  I actually just shovel the same spoonful in over and over as it progressively gets more watery.  The volume decreases eventually not because she's actually swallowing, but really because it's seeping into her neck folds.  We make real progress when she gags and her mouth is wide open...wide enough to fit that wimpy spoon inside.  She has one of the most overactive gag reflexes I've ever encountered.  Except perhaps my sister Stephanie who gagged when she put on a turtleneck one morning as she was getting ready for preschool.  Anytime you give Sammi something besides mother's fleshy milk receptacle, she gags and her eyes get all red-rimmed.  She's such a silly girl.  I think we may be steering clear of turtlenecks for awhile though.

Anywho, that's what we're been doing.  And now, the pictures of the kids:

I was so proud of E for building this train track all by himself.  Sammi seems to think she helped by the look of pride on her face.

Sweet girl with wispy hair.  Lots of people have been commenting on how funny her hair is lately.  I guess it is pretty wild and ragamuffiny looking.  It's so feathery though, there's not much I can do.  She now promptly removes headbands and eats the flowers.

Big brother let her play trains too.  She has been getting pretty good at scooting around and she scooted herself right into the roundhouse.

She can also sit!  She was in heaven when she was sitting there, watching E play trains while HOLDING a train of her very own.  And our one girl train, no less.  Lucky duck.