Look what I made!

These are to hang on the wall in Rowan's room, and they match his room theme. I painted them all by hand! I did look at someone else's painted letters online to get an idea of what patterns to use, but I drew and painted them all myself. Now I have the motivation to get his room put together :)

Rowan started sucking his thumb. We'll see if it sticks, because Ellie sucked her thumb for a couple of weeks, but then dropped it. However, Ellie used pacifiers and Rowan doesn't. So, we'll see. He is still sleeping well. He usually sleeps about a 10 hour stretch, eats, and then sleeps for a couple more hours. A couple nights ago he slept for 12 hours straight! I swear this boy is turning out to be just like Bryson (sleeps well, super-mellow, sucks his thumb). Maybe Tara's baby girl will be just like Ellie.

Ellie is so stinkin' smart. The things she says just amaze me. Yesterday she was saying "juice, juice" over and over. Then she came up to me and says "Juice starts with J." We work with her on what sounds letters make and how words are spelled, but we never told her that one, she figured it out on her own. She'll be reading before she's 3; I just know it! The thing is, learning is fun for her. Oh, she's also very tricky. This is a conversation we had recently:

Ellie: I'm going to have trail mix when we get home

Me: Ooh, that sounds yummy

Ellie: I will share with you mommy

Me: Thanks Ellie! Will you give me a white chocolate chip?

Ellie: I won't. But you can have a raisin!

Me: Gee, thanks Ellie.

Ellie: Mommy, I will give you TWO raisins!

She's so nice to share the healthy part and keep the yummy part to herself.

Video

I just watched this video on a friend's myspace page, and it made me get all teary! I wanted to share with all of you.

My 100th post!

First of all, I would like to make a public apology for not being good at keeping in touch with people. I'm horrible at emails and phone calls, and I don't even blog as often as I should. So, sorry to everyone!

Rowan had his 2 month check-up yesterday. It was a couple weeks late with us moving and getting new insurance. Oh, by the way, we get great insurance with Jason being a graduate "employee." It's only thirty-something dollars a month for all four of us, and just about everything is free! So, the doctor billed Rowan as perfectly healthy - 12 1/2 lbs, 24 1/2 inches long. He's just about average in weight and head circumference, but above average in length. I thought he was above average chunky, but I guess not! Although he does wear 6-9 month clothes now. He still sleeps a good part of the day, and can usually only stay awake for about 1 1/2 hours at a time. And a 8-10 hour stretch at night, a quick feeding, and then another 3 hours or so! Boy, if we could be guaranteed that future babies would be as happy as Rowan and sleep as well, we might have a couple more!

Now Ellie, well I guess you could say she is a two-year-old. She definitely has her defiant moments, and it's getting worse with the influence of her new playmate. The two-year-old that I watch has quite the attitude, and Ellie is starting to imitate. I'm hoping that it's just a phase, but for now we are working on "talking nicely" around the house. I'm sick of hearing "Stop it mommy, I don't want to do that!" But 80% of the time, she is as sweet as can be. "Oh, thank you Daddy for making me these cheerios!" And no more shyness around strangers! She is quite outgoing with all of our neighbors. Whenever anyone asks her what her name is, she never says "Ellie," she always says "Elizabeth." I have no idea why, because we never call her Elizabeth. But it works, because everyone understands Elizabeth, but hardly anyone understands when she says Ellie.

Jason has had 2 weeks of classes so far and he likes them. His at-school schedule is great, being at the university for only about 6 hours total, since one of his classes is on-line. So he is here about half of the time I watch the other girls, which is good because the 3-month-old girl is not too keen on being away from mommy! There is a great bike path he takes that goes from our apartments, along the lake, to the university. Jason also found a group on campus that meets on Saturdays to practice Arabic, and our apartment community center has basketball on Sundays.

We have attended the same church for the past two weeks, and so far we like it. We put both kids in the nursery (yes, even Rowan *sniff*) and they seem to like it. The first time we went, Ellie walked right into her classroom, turned around and said, "Mommy, you're coming right back, right?" and when I said yes, she happily went off to play. Amazing!

Oh goodness, I have to go to bed! Rowan stays up late and Ellie wakes up early, which is not a good combination for me. If Rowan was our only, I could sleep in until 9 or 10, but Ellie likes to wake up with the sun.