Grandpa Honey

My Grandpa passed away a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking a lot about him. The things that stick out most in my mind are these:

His love and talent for music. Both of my grandparents (come to think of it, on both sides) are very musically talented. They passed this on to their children, and my dad's love for music (as well as my mother's) was passed to me. It's always been very much a part of our family's life, and this is due in large part to my Grandpa Honey. (I didn't get the talent so much, just the love:))

His love for Geneology. He was quite on top of things and very internet savvy. I was always impressed by his no-fear attitude about technology that is somewhat atypical of his generation.

His sense of humor. Grandpa could always make me laugh. Even if it was at his cheesiness. Guess he passed that to my dad too! (Love you, dad!)

He helped my grandma raise 8 wonderful kids! Sheesh that's a lot of kids. All of their children are such great people, my grandparents taught them well.

I love and will miss Grandpa a lot. I am sure he is somewhere beautiful now.

Phase 1: Remove wallpaper

We've been busy at work trying to get our house ready for us to move in. We have successfully removed all of the wall paper in the entire house. So we thought. I just saw a couple days ago that there is still one more border in the bathroom. Nooo!! It just keeps coming!!

It actually wasn't too bad. We had a little help from Ross' brother and family. But the kitchen was the worst. It came off in one inch little pieces. Ross did that one solo. He is such a hard worker!

Ross has now returned from over a week long trip to CA for some training. My mom came to stay with me for a couple of days while he was gone and we got a lot of painting done. My lovely sister-in-law watched the kids for a day while we went to town on those walls. Man, choosing paint colors is not easy. I thought it was, and I'm not a perfectionist, but now that it's MY house and I have to live with it for quite a while, it's important that I REALLY like it. And I do. I don't have pictures of the rooms painted yet.

Master bedroom: lovely purple with floral wallpaper

2nd bedroom: blue and green plaid with duck border

Hallway: vinyl stripey. (that one came of really easily)

Kitchen: removing old phone

Those names say Jennifer, 7-10-75, and Ashley 10-30-87

Always learning

So I feel kinda sheepish admitting this to the internet, but after a lot of thought, talking to friends, reading your comments, and after even more deliberating, I decided it was not worth it to take his binky away during naptime. AAggh. I know. I took it away and then I gave it back. But we didn't do a huge ceremonial binky boycott, we just said 'bye bye'. (That makes it better... right?) And really, why was I feeling like it was so important that he gets rid of it? I think the pressure came mostly from myself. Anyway, he now uses it for naps, and not for bedtime, and we put it high on a shelf where he can't get to it. And now, I have such a pleasant happy boy who takes naps!! And I think the 5 day stint without his binky has left him more independent and not nearly so attached. So there you have it. Ah, motherhood.

Such a cute little girl:

Look!! A candid picture of ME! With my babe.
(Cause I threw my camera at Ross)

My kids at their best. When their mouths are occupied.

Look are her just sitting up so pretty!

ONE WEEK UNTIL WE CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE!! I can't wait. But Ross has finals the next week, then he has to go to 'training' in San Diego the next, so we won't be moving in until the endish of May. But we can go run around in the empty rooms!

OH! and no headway yet on the solid food. She has tried all of her baby food multiple times. Today we tried pears with blueberries and it was the best response I've gotten yet, only one gag, and it was after successfully swallowing at least 5 bites!

Oh and thanks everyone for your comments! They were much appreciated.

Mothering woes

I've got a couple of questions. I'm writing right now with a little bit of desperation...

Parenting issue #1:

Ethan has had a binky for a long time. But when he turned a year or so it was only for nap time and bedtime. He's been fine with that, but he has now become very attached to it, and will go into his room, grab his binky and blanky, and lay down on his bed just so he can have his binky. He will also sneak around sucking on it at random times. On Thursday night we decided that we would tell him that binky's are for babies and big boys don't need them anymore, but that he can still sleep with his blanket and a favorite stuffed animal if he needed to. He didn't give us any problems. Friday nap time was a different story. We were out and about, so we didn't get back in time exactly for his nap, so we thought we just missed our window. He went to bed fine without it. Same story on Saturday. No nap, but went to bed fine. Sunday we have church at 11:30, missed his nap, then he screamed a lot Sunday night, but eventually fell asleep. Right now (Monday) it is nap time, and he is sitting in his room playing with his cars.

Do I have to sacrifice nap time in order to get rid of his binky??? Is it worth it? We are talking about a kid who has a regular 2-3 hour nap every single day. I KNOW he needs it, because he is a beast for the rest of the day without it. Maybe we can put him to bed at 6:30 or 7. Ugggh.

Parenting issue #2:

Leah doesn't like solid food! She doesn't like rice cereal, nor does she like other baby foods. I have tried bananas, peas, pears, applesauce. I've tried mashing up foods instead of the baby foods. She will NOT have it! This is totally the opposite of Ethan who loved everything and anything we gave him. I'm ready to drop a feeding or two of nursing, but because little Leah will not eat anything else I've got to nurse her. I'm not overly worried, just wondering if there's anything else I can try, or if I just have to keep at it, and eventually she'll give in.

If you have any advice, please share!

p.s. I really love my children most of the time. :)

Easter

We had a fun Easter. Spent some time with Ross' parents in Lincoln and his brother's family. I rarely get a picture of Ethan looking at the camera anymore.

Cousin Matthew:

Hiding with his loot under the table:

And we have the most beautiful trees
in our apartment complex. I am positive that Heaven will be full
of cherry/pear trees in full blossom.

Only 3 more weeks until we close on the house!! We are lucky and the sellers are paying for a chimney lining and a radon mitigation. Also I can't sleep at night sometimes cause I keep thinking of everything I want to do to that house and how I want to decorate it.

Leah is getting really good at sitting up! I need to document it. But poor girly is sick again. Grrr... *hopefully* it's the last time this season.

Cute kiddos

So we got Ethan this magna-doodle for Christmas and I cannot tell you how much he loves it. Best gift idea ever. No mess and hours of entertainment! So he has always loved balloons, and his favorite thing to ask me to draw is a balloon. The other day I found him sitting on the couch making his own 'boons'! It was so cute.




Also I made a headband for Leah, and I think she likes it. I always find so many cute things on etsy, but do not want to spend 15-30 dollars on a headband! I ended up combining a few ideas I saw online and made my own. It makes my little bald baby a wee bit more girly.

Ethan's alphabet

Ethan has become really interested in letters in the last few weeks. I saw these flashcards at target for a dollar and I thought he would have fun looking at the pictures and letters. It turns out he really likes them, and between them, Sesame Street, and Wheel of Fortune he has learned all of his letters. Pretty cute!