Until I get my grandparent photos in order...

The week before last, it was all we could do to contain ourselves while we awaited the arrival of the grammy and grandpa from NY.  We took a trip to the museum to pass the time.  And we genuinely enjoyed ourselves.  Benjamin and Eliza are playing together in new ways all the time--such a delight to see.  Eliza is interested in everything B does, and now she provokes him to laughter at every opportunity.  When he is lying down on the couch, she will often come over and laugh right in his face to get a reaction.  

And now this girl is getting to be a walker.  She is taking to it two months earlier, but also more gradually than Benjamin did, I think.  She took her first steps, as mom predicted, while they were visiting last week and now, just a few days later, she is getting herself up from the floor to walk by herself and was even trying to drag around a pull toy with her today.  Eliza may not be as easy-going as Benjamin was as a baby, but she knows what she wants and will do what it takes to accomplish it.  She was working with that pull toy for a good 10 minutes before the fussing got too much for me and I made her give it up.  

And here we are at the opposite end of the grandparents' visit on another day out at the World Hunger Relief Farm.  I made it with the kids to listen to JB and Jeff play the opening set.  Benjamin had his mind set on the hayride, but Eliza was in her bliss, dancing and clapping along with the music.  

More to come...

"Call your parents" and other Spring break fun

Found this great mural on a walk through the neighborhood.
 Painted on the back of a tire shop or some such.
I plan on giving this photo to each of them when they move out many years from now.  

Everyone else in my life was looking forward to spring break.  Spring break means not getting up for work in the morning or having a spouse who stays home or going on a fun trip.  JB and I remembered too late this year that these are the reasons he usually takes off for that week.  Well, he didn't this year, and I have to say I wasn't looking forward to having the whole week of potentially very long days.  

Well, we managed to eek out some fun despite ourselves.  In fact, the end of the week, with Grandmommy and Uncle Richard here to visit, was positively delightful.  I even got to get a hair cut!  

Ready for spring break.  Thanks to Aunt Mary for finding this picnic table
in her house while doing spring cleaning.  

We tried to go on an outing every day, which is a challenge when one of them is either asleep or ready to sleep between the hours of 10 and 3pm.  (With Ben I was sad to lose the morning nap when he was about 15 months.  With E, I will be just as glad to see it go.  I think we'll have more freedom and maybe she'll sleep longer than 30 minutes!)  

Anyway, Benjamin really wanted to see Baylor, where I teach part time.  So we took a little snack picnic and strolled/ran around the near-empty grounds, played in fountains, and got to see mama's office and classroom.

The next three pics are from the zoo, which is THE place to be on spring break apparently.  I like it better in the middle of the "winter" when we have the place to ourselves.  

But then, when no one else is there, they don't have things like snow cones...

And I know this pic below is dark, but I like how the light all around Liza Jane kind of captures the wonder of the lights and colors for her little mind.  

Well, the pictures just keep coming.  Last morning before getting back to work, and JB is trying to teach the children the pleasures of a leisurely Sunday morning reading papers and magazines.  For Benjamin, this is only half a joke.  He can sit and look at his magazine for a while if EJ doesn't pull it out of his hands.   

One quick Benjamin story.  He has really taken an interest in learning the sounds of letters and other pre-reading activities.  JB has been making him drawings for each letter...the drawing for "B" has a scene made up entirely of things that begin with "B." He loves these drawings.  Last week I found him kind of clawing at and crumpling the "R" page that JB had made.  I asked what he was doing, and he pointed to the piece of cheese that JB had drawn next to a rat.  He said, with much upset in his voice, "I'm trying to take the cheese out of the picture because cheese doesn't start with R!"  

I agreed that he was quite right that cheese did not begin with R . . . but then did feel the need to explain to him that JB had written above the cheese "roquefort." 

And finally, but in the wrong order, the weekend before spring break, JB hosted a spanish-themed party with tapas and paella for my birthday and he really outdid himself this time.  I was worried that JB would be rushing around at the last minute a lot with so many different dishes to think about, however small they may be.  Rushing was not what I wanted for my birthday.  It didn't end up being rushed at al.  I think JB is really perfecting the paella party. . . Although maybe we'll have to try it a few more times to be really sure.  

The pictures here only capture courses one and five. It was truly a grand event...though also intimate and casual, as only a tapas party in one's living room can be.  

I don't get many pictures of me with both kids these days...this was a happy moment.  

Birthday gifts

I started this post back on my birthday when I was thinking how lucky I am to have these wonderful people in my life as I turn 33.  They are still wonderful, but some of these pictures are old news.  

There's Eliza Jane above, completely oblivious that free-standing like that is a developmental milestone.  She does this all the time now and can even get up to standing from sitting without support.  She seems to enjoy just balancing on her feet.  

And here's my valentine's date (above) on a rare (this winter anyway) balmy february day.  

And of course the sleeping children are always a gift.  I sat in the courtyard of this episcopal church near our house for a good 20 minutes before they woke up.  

And here's E just delighted to have ALL the toys to herself while B is napping.  The delight of teaching them about sharing, taking turns, etc. has only just begun, I'm sure.  The video below (if it works) was taken over a month ago, but I just love how Liza gets into the dancing in this one.  Maybe she'll be like cousin Jack and have a little dance whenever she can hear anything that sounds even remotely like music.  

Let's start over...

So I think my last two blog posts have set kind of a negative tone for the new year.   Let's start over.  First, we'll go back to Christmas and remember the wonderful time we had at Grammy and Grandpa's house.  Ben was old enough this year to really get into making a gingerbread house with Grammy.  

And he loved sledding and making a snowman in grammy and grandpa's yard.  

So did Eliza Jane.  We took turns pulling her around the yard and she just laughed and laughed.  I know it looks like the children are under-dressed but it was at least 60 degrees outside and the snow was gone by the next day.    

So this was not our finest moment of the trip.  I think I was the one who suggested a group picture at the END of what was otherwise a lovely day at Mohonk. For that I am truly sorry and I humbly repent.  So yes, only half the group and perhaps some forced smiles.  But there you go.  We really did have a wonderful visit and were sorry to leave...

We are already looking forward to a visit from Grammy and Grandpa at the end of March.  Until then, we are enjoying the start of a new semester for me, a new, more structured and pre-school-like classroom for Benjamin at school, and a lighter schedule overall.  I truly feel like a more sane person after letting go of some responsibilities that had just become too much with the arrival of Eliza jane.  JB is taking the semester off of teaching, I am only teaching one class, and I'm no longer editor of the newsletter I was doing.  

So with this new schedule, we are finally getting to things like potty training and exercise!  We've been half-heartedly trying to get Benjamin to use the potty for a long while now, but after holiday travels we finally faced the fact that he was going to need a a much stronger push.  Benjamin is doing great with it now, and I am so sick of talking about all-things-bathroom that I will not bore you with the details any further.  

Exercise is important for me right now in a different way than it's been before I was a mom (which is basically the last time I exercised on an consistent level).  I think I am very conscious now that it is for my emotional health as much as my physical.   Even walking with the kids a few times a week in between the little cold spells we've been having gets my endorphin levels up and helps me recover from the hormone roller coaster I've been on since E Jane was born.  Walking is, I hope, just a start before getting back into jogging by myself, which is what I would really like to do. 

And now a little update on the girl herself:  Liza is turning out to be a very independent minded little one at 8 months old.  She knows what she wants and when I don't get it right, she let's me know.  I feel that this will go better when she can communicate her needs and desires verbally, so I am working on signs with her already--she can't do them yet, but she recognizes them and Benjamin really enjoys helping me teach them to her.  (He even came up with a few of his own from hand gestures he remembers from books we've read.  For the hand gesture most people use to mean "I don't know," he said, "And this is the sign for Knuffle Bunny!").  

Liza is starting to crawl, but is most interested in pulling herself up on anything and everything.  The look of victory on her face when she pulls up to her feet is a pure delight.  One of my favorite things right now is watching her move.  She usually has a little burst of creative energy right before bed time.  She'll often do things then that I've never seen her do before, and I love it when I can just sit down with her during that time to play with her and watch her explore.  

A new era

Liza Jane loves the swing just as much as B always has.  If I need
a lift during the day, we have some swing time and her
laughter makes me happy again.  

We have entered a new era in so many ways here in the Smith household.  On a practical level, I need to figure out what I am doing with this blog all over again now that I am using google + to upload pics from a smartphone.  They are automatically uploaded to my account, and I can share them right away with the click of a button.  They are easy to pull onto this blog, but if I can share then on google +, then why do the blog, which has become mainly about pictures anyway?  

Well, I don't know if the blog will survive, but I do keep the blog for more than pictures.  For one thing, it's the only baby book I've managed to keep.  I have snippets and scraps of things from B and E in a basket somewhere waiting to be put into a book, but that probably won't get done until they are no longer children. 

Before Christmas front yard picnic and first cracker snack 

So for now, until I figure out what I'm doing, if you want to see more pics, add me on google+ and I'll add you back.  I have de-activated my account on facebook (one step from permanently deleting it, which will probably happen soon), but that's another story, which I will be happy to share with anyone who wants to know. It's not really a story, but I have many reasons.  The advantage of google+ for pictures, it seems to me, is that I can have circles with whom I can share them rather than with all 200 of my friends. 

I have Christmas pictures from our big camera that I still need to share.  I'll get to them just in time for us to enjoy feeling nostalgic about the Christmas holiday!  Until then, here are a few more recent ones.  

Our almost 8 month girl in a sweet little shrug made by a friend.  

Playing together at the park.  Dream come true.

I love how this picture perfectly captures our
plane ride to (and from) NY this Christmas. 

The other newish thing around here is that Eliza Jane is sleeping much better and has been for some time.  Her day time sleep is still stressful for me because she always cries before she falls asleep (Benjamin never did).  But she goes to bed at around 6pm and doesn't wake until 5:30 or 6 most mornings.  And then she usually sleeps in bed with me another hour after that!  I am a happier person.  

Eliza at 6 months

Yesterday I looked back at some of the old posts I wrote about Benjamin when he was 6 months old.  That was depressing.  I wrote something about Benjamin being an easy-going baby, not fussy unless he wants something, etc.  Huh.  Eliza is often a delight and we love her dearly, but she is still a mystery to me in ways that I don't think Benjamin was at this age.  Mostly, it has to do with sleep:  her sleeping patterns are starting to become somewhat predictable, but they are not convenient.  

And she seems to have been teething for the last two months but no teeth in sight.  That has to be why she is waking up so much at night.  In fact, JB and I are spending this lovely Thanksgiving morning trading off catching up on sleep that we did not get much of last night.  So reflections on the first 6 months of E Jane's life will have to wait until this period is over.  I'm sure I will be more generous when we have some distance.  

And thankfulness will have to wait too.  Of course we are profoundly thankful for this life and our children and many other things. But sometimes my feelings and willingness to write about them do not exactly align with the holiday itself.  Here are some images of what we are thankful for when I don't quite have the words.

At least Benjamin seems to be over the awful stomach virus he's had the last few days.  Thankful.  

E Jane is eager.  She is downing her solid food like she's been waiting
for it her whole life.  Which I guess she has.  

All Eliza ... almost

what about me?  Am I still cute?