Comparing

People inevitably ask you who your baby looks like, which child, which side of the family, which Aunt, Uncle, etc.  I never have a good answer for this.  For some reason, I can’t see the similarities OR the differences very well at all unless I am looking at pictures.  So for fun, I went back and looked for Elijah and Elena’s First Bath pictures, and compared them to Irina’s.  I figure they are all close to the same age in these pictures.

Irina:

Elena:

Elijah:

Now that I see all 3 pictures in a row, I feel like they are all completely different looking! I actually hadn’t realized just how different they all looked until I did this.

What do you think?

Summer Fun

On Sunday we went to Oma and Opa’s for a birthday/goodbye party for Michaela. She is going to Rome for the semester! And of course, even though it was her party, she was the one behind the camera taking all these lovely photos.

Swimming:

She keeps her tongue out most of the time while swimming:

Elijah trying out the boogie board:

And then realizing he doesn’t like it if I’m not holding on:

Looking pretty in her dress:

Finding things in purses/the kitchen to have a make shift snorkel set:

Dress Up

Often I catch the fun, silly moments that happen during the day on my cell phone camera instead of our nice one. I would love to be able to run and get the nice camera and snap a picture, but having tried this many times and missed the moment, I usually just get the picture on my phone. Some of these moments are catching my children in odd clothing, things they found around the house and decided to put on. Sometimes this could be them trading clothes (Elijah wearing Elena’s pink pants, Elena wearing Elijah’s underwear), something out of the dress up box (capes, hats, etc), or even things that aren’t meant to be worn (such as that animal cracker bucket on Elijah’s head…).

Sleepy Smile

Steph captured this sleepy smile while we were over playing the other day… Irina loves falling asleep in Mommy’s arms.

Stop Making Me Look Bad!

There are 2 things Elijah says quite often, which I have a feeling he will say for years to come.  And then at that point, he will be old enough to make it into a running joke (along with the help of his Daddy).  And then at that point, I will never hear the end of it.  I just know.

1)     When I am cleaning up, Elijah will come over, see what I am doing, and promptly ask “Oh!  Who is coming over Mom?”

2)     When I ask Elijah to go pick out some clothes to wear, or to go put on his underwear, he responds with “Why?  Who is coming over Mom?”

I will admit that there was a time (when Elena was a little baby and I was getting used to having 2 kids) that I completely dropped the ball on cleaning and making sure Elijah was actually wearing clothes.

Having admitted that though, now that Elena is coming up on 2 years old, I really am getting tired of Elijah making me look so bad!  I mean, I clean up some part of the house every single day.  But the kid acts like he never sees me doing it!  I don’t only clean up for company!  He also gets dressed every single day.  So when in the world are these questions going to stop?

My guess?  Never.  My oldest child is only 3 1/2, and already there are things that have happened that I may never, ever, live down.

Dinosaurs and Dragons OH MY!

First off, Elena got a new bed this week! She loves it, and was so excited when Grandma dropped it off. This bed used to be Anna’s, it used to sit right in between my and Erin’s beds! Lizzy repainted it for Elena, thanks Lizzy!

With a new bed comes the thrill of playing on it, so Elijah and Elena lost no time in getting right to it. They apparently were able to see all sorts of new things from the vantage point of the bed, looking out the window.

My favorite part is the end, with Elena. Do you think my children might have a flair for the dramatic??

Getting Bigger!

Irina just had her 2 week check up today (even though she is pretty much 3 weeks old right now).  Everything is great, she is 10 pounds 10 ounces now and the nurse’s comment was “she looks more like a 2 month old!”.

Elena’s Friends: Peyton and … Elmo?

This post is for Erin… We realized after seeing you guys on Sunday that Elena is calling Mo-mo Elmo.  :)

Smile!

I don’t have a picture of it just quite yet, so you will just have to trust me.  Irina is smiling!  I really feel like today was her first genuine smile to me.  (I had thought there were a couple early, but no- they were followed by a fart or some such bodily function).  This smile, however, was definitely in response to me.  And it was oh so sweet!  I love baby smiles.  I love all smiles really, but I especially love newborn baby smiles.

This isn’t really related, but I thought I would just go ahead and mention how much she seems to love Elijah.  I will be talking/interacting with her… but if she hears Elijah’s voice, she will instantly turn her head and try and find him.  It is pretty cute.  Even though it might make me feel a little less loved.  (Just kidding, I know she loves me.  Really I do!)

Turn About

Elena is a good little girl.  She usually asks permission before she does something, or eats something.  She runs up, says what she wants to do, and then runs away happily when I tell her yes.

Recently however, she has been turning things around on me.  Our conversations go something like this:

Elena: Haz cookie?

Me: A cookie?

So far, so good.  But, because I ask a question in return in order to confirm what she is asking (because she is still hard to understand), Elena takes that as me asking her  if she would like a cookie.  This is how things end:

Elena: OK!  Thanks!  (As she runs away to get the cookie).

And I end up feeling tricked.