Self Portraits...

The weather is so nice here right now! We've been spending our afternoons outside. I brought my camera out today and decided to take some self portraits of me and the kids. I tried to get one of all 3 of us, but you-know-who wouldn't participate. :) I'm actually surprised he agreed to the ones I got! These are some of my favorites!

She loves those fingers!

"Cheese!!!"

Oliver wanted in on this action!

Swingin'

I love my happy girl!

Big girl!

Trying out her new seat....she's getting so big!

Happy &hearts Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We made cookies yesterday and Bobby 'helped' me ice them. They turned out pretty yummy! Bobby had his first Valentine's Day party at school today. I felt like such a 'mom' for putting together his Valentine's for his friends.

I hope everyone had a great day filled with the ones you love! I know I did!

They look less than thrilled. I was trying to get a picture of them together before Bobby went to school this morning.

Bobby really liked the sprinkles.

MMMMM!

Ta Da! The finished products.

4 months old!

I can't believe Lily is 4 months old! Time really does fly by. Lily is such a happy baby. I am loving watching her grow and learn. All with a smile on her face!

4 month accomplishments:

* Rolling over from tummy to back, in both directions. She only does this in her bed, though, all the time! Never in public, where anyone can see. :)

*Doing really well in her car seat!

*Remember this issue? She has started to go to bed much easier. Something about turning 4 months old. She's a big girl now and doesn't need me to nurse her twice before bed time! Thanks for all your mommy advice!

*She sleeps about 10 hours straight at night. She gets up about 5-6:30 or so, and I nurse her, then she falls back to sleep until 8 or 9am.

*Learning to lift her head up real high during tummy time!

*She is tough! She took a shoe to the face (compliments of her big brother) and didn't even cry. I was the one freaking out. :)

She's starting to get nice and pudgy. That double chin reminds me of my baby pictures!

Seriously. So. Happy.

Pretty girl.

Checking out her colorful outfit. Thanks Aunt Casey!

Yep...we're potty training...

It's that time folks!! I was really nervous about training a boy. But to my surprise, Bobby is catching on pretty well! He just turned 2 in October, so I wasn't sure if we should wait a little longer or not. Since he was 18 months old, I have been taking him to the potty off and on, I didn't make a big deal, I just wanted him to get used to the idea. Sometimes he would go potty, sometimes not. Well, for the last few weeks or so, we've been going more often, and he's been telling me when he is going. So I took the plunge and said 'Let's do this!'.

Bobby is doing so well! We've been going commando during the day, and pull ups during naps and at night. If he doesn't have anything on, he makes it to the potty 99% of the time. Even for #2!! (Well, we had 2 #2 accidents on the 2nd day, but after that, he's been doing really well!) I'm so proud of my big boy. Next step: training him to go even with underwear on! Speaking of...

...how cute is he??

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

Today little B stayed home from MDO. He has been fighting a cough for a good month now, but it got a little worse and he had a small fever. Poor guy. He is acting normal though, so that is good. Lily took an extra long nap so we got to hang out, just me and B. I don't think he has ever actually eaten an orange before (no special reason, we just don't buy oranges that much), so I gave him a little lesson in orange eating.

Testing it out...

Getting a good bite...

He's actually saying 'mmm', although his face doesn't show it!

An orange eating lesson wouldn't be complete without the 'ole 'orange peel for a mouth' trick.

He loved them!

Mama advice needed!!

Moms, experienced and new, I need your advice.

Here is the situation: Lily is 3 mos old, almost 3.5 mos. She is a great sleeper for her naps and does great at night also (11-12 hours!). I semi-sleep trained her to stay asleep once I put her in her bed, and then I semi-trained her again to put herself to sleep when I put her in her bed drowsy. She does great with her naps, it is very rare that I need to go into her room to soothe her during nap time.

Bed time is another story. For some reason, Lily doesn't like going to bed! Once she is asleep, she does great, but getting her to stay asleep is difficult. I usually nurse her to sleep (only for bed time), then put her into bed. Five-ten minutes later, she is crying. I then try to soothe her back to sleep, but end up nursing her again, then she is fine.

You may say: have you tried...? Or what about....? Yes, friends, I've tried it.

I've tried:

*Not nursing her to sleep. I nurse her 30 min before I put her in bed. She still woke up.

*Early bed time/Later bed time...doesn't seem to matter, she still wakes up.

*Prayer-I pray over her while I am nursing her, she still wakes up!

*Letting her cry. I actually let her cry for 30 minutes tonight, then went in and ended up nursing her.

*I thought she wasn't eating enough because she was falling asleep, so one night I kept waking her up to finish nursing, but that didn't work either!!

Should I even be stressing about this? Is it even that big of a deal? Is she still too young and I should just stop worrying about it? I just get frustrated because this wasn't a problem with Bobby, and I know she can do it. She does it just fine during the day. I know I shouldn't really complain. She sleeps through the night and sometimes sleeps until 9-9:30. It could be so much worse!

I just thought I would ask if y'all had any tips for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!