Activities!

While this week has been for the most part laid back and minimal in the homework department, I still needed Lydia to be engaged in some fun activities as I did the rest of my homework (online stuff - boring). So most of you know that I asked for toddler approved indoor activities on facebook. It really helped get my creative juices flowing. BUT.. I didn't do anything you guys mentioned..haha not yet anyway. Don't worry, it wasn't all for naught. They were some really good suggestions, but here is what we did do, that was probably equally as fun!!

For a long time I've thought about growing a garden (which is near impossible at an apartment complex..and after our recent laundry theft I'm not taking any chances of putting any personal item outside of our home)..so instead I wanted to teach Lydia about faith and patience and waiting for the flowers to grow. She's never really seen a seed in action, so while I was at the store I picked up some potting soil and some flower seeds (and chalk, even those aren't related at all haha). When I got home I asked Lydia if she wanted to do an activity with me. She was super excited! Using the pot I painted and had glazed while we were in Nebraska in 2011 (about the one good thing that came from being there - besides befriending Mandy :) ), I had Lydia help me pour the dirt, poke little holes in it, plant the itsy bitsy seeds, cover them up and pour water on it. She was super impatient and thought that the flowers would immediately pop out, however she liked this "ah-ta-bee" (activity).

Not so happy we have to wait a few days (or weeks?) to see our flowers...

Haha yeah, I can't wait to see some... Phlox... (never heard of it in my life ;) )

You try explaining plant growth to a two and a half year old. Yeah.

She was kind of upset but I told her it would take a few days before we would see anything. Lemme tell you, I'm super excited! I really hope we don't kill this plant-child. When friends have asked me to babysit their plants in the past I could never figure out why they started wilting as soon as I took care of them. I really hope Lydia is excited by this planting process as I am..and who knows, we might try to do different kinds of flowers or perhaps small vegetables in the future if we can prove we're good plant-parents!!


After that I brought out the chalk and after about an hour of trying to convince her to wear pants so we could go outside, we ventured out to the side walk path of our apartment and colored all over the place. I drew the ABC's and she traced over most of them; we drew some flowers, a dog and cat, our family, and a note to the neighbors as they come down the stairs telling them to "have a good day!" We were out there for a good half hour or so, thanks to the sun and the not-so-usual-windy weather.
Even Elena enjoyed being outside (even though she dove for the chalk a few times). She liked sitting on the grass and crawling around. Summer will be so good for us :)

Right before she drew a vertical rainbow haha.. I had to demonstrate later how rainbows looked.

Elena trying to eat some grass lol

Lydia...scolding Elena for eating said grass hahahaha

Jumping on the "Tangled" flower haha ;)

When we came in Lydia told me, "I like da ah-ta-bee." :) I really love how she can't pronounce that word.. it makes my heart giggle. Since I had been up since 7:45 and the girls had woken up earlier at 9:45, we all agreed it was in our best interest to take a nap. That felt so nice.

 I love having fun and spending time with my girls.

Family Time Is Sacred Time. It Should Be Protected and Respected.

Pres. Boyd K. Packer

I Never Want to Forget: My 11 M/O

I can't believe in one month I will have a one year old! This year flew by so fast. I remember where I was last March. My grandmother had just passed away, and that allowed my mom to visit me since the funeral was in Utah. I remember feeling huge (and no doubt, probably was ;) ), attending school (taking science, sewing, intro to soc, online BOM, and American foundations - yes I'm surprised I remembered). I also remember finding out I was actually a week ahead than I thought I was (which kind of changes things if you think about it - at least for planning around your due date).

Yeah, I just can't believe how much has slipped by these 11 months! I still need to get started on Elena's scrapbook of her first year. With Lydia I had no school and only her and lots of time, yet I started at 9 months and it seemed like it took me a while to complete. Elena's birthday is next month and I haven't put a single thing in. Yikes! I guess my only redemption is that I have these "I Never Want to Forget"s here on my lil ol' bloggy blog that I can just print and find a way to cutely paste in, with some other fun notes, stats, and stickers to make it specialized for her. I think I'm going to make a scrapbook for all my kids of their first year as a birthday present. I know as a 2.5 year old Lydia loves looking at her "baby book." Hopefully this tradition continues!


Anyway, here is what I Never Want to Forget about my 11 month old!

I Never Want to Forget

Thanks Aunty Jamie for the jammies :)

How one of her favorite things to do now is pull her self up and stand against anything - your legs, body, chairs, the couch, and her crib. Last night I must've laid her down at least 5 times before taking her out of her crib because she would just stand up and start singing while Lydia was trying to sleep. 

She seriously has an appetite for everything! I've found that she even loves spicy food! It's kinda funny :)

On that note, she must be going through a growth spurt or something. Kind of later last night I gave her a 4oz bottle and tried to put her to sleep in which she kept crying. So I took her out thinking maybe she's teething since she's never grumpy like this and always falls asleep when I put her down, so I also gave her some baby snacks. Then we played and I thought she'd be tired and tried laying her down again. Nope, still grumpy, standing up in her crib and crying. So I took her out and tried cuddling and rocking her (tried nursing too, even though I'm completely dry now; it's kinda sad :( ) and she was still being a grump. So I made another 4oz (so that's 8oz - she's never had that much before) and I finally found my happy lil thang again. It's funny how much you notice is wrong when your child's attitude is always happy and then grumpy all of a sudden. You just know something is up.
Also, this morning she had 7oz of milk and two bowls of yogurt, strawberries and granola. She kept grunting and shaking when I wasn't fast enough! haha then when we were all done I made myself a salad and sat down and what do you know, she crawled over to me and starting staring and whining at my plate! What the heck lol. Yup. Growth spurt.

I saw that she has broken another bottom tooth through. I want to say it's one of her molars, but it's hard to tell. 

How she still chooses to cuddle with me when she's sleepy. I absolutely love it. 

She is learning to fight back against Lydia. Often times when Lyd's too close Elena will reach over and grab her hair and just yank at it. I feel kinda bad... but then I think about all the times Lydia pushed(pushes) her over and would bite her..and then I don't feel as bad anymore ;)

I Never Want to Forget

 

How she likes to sometimes copy tunes! A few weeks ago Jonathan randomly sang the line "ash-es, ash-es" (to Ring around the Rosie), and Elena copied the tune (mostly something along the lines of "ahh-yuh ahh-yuh" over and over haha). Sometimes she copies the tune/sound of "UH-ohh" or "THANK-youu" :) It's cute. And it makes Lydia laugh when she hears her "sing."

She likes playing the musical puppy piano toy we have and knows what button to push to hear it play songs (instead of words). Then she lays there and wiggles one arm back and forth (kinda like you're trying to elbow someone), while giggling. She loves music. And I love her dancing. :)

 She loves, LOVES seeing pictures of herself, or even me just holding the camera out taking a picture, she will smile for me. :) 

She has fun when I hold her hands and we walk across the room. Gotta get those legs working! We'll see if she starts walking around the same time Lydia did :)

How I love the back of her hair that is starting to curl. It makes my heart happy. I hope she has beautiful curly hair!

The way she smiles when I come pick her up at the babysitter's. It's like she's my biggest fan and it makes my heart so incredibly happy.

I Never Want to Forget

My friend was over interviewing me for a class and she must've thought it was incredibly boring haha. She fell asleep on my lap after this picture. Also, don't mind the mess. I cleaned up but the kids destroyed it while she was over haha.

When she's laying on her side, in her awesome modeling pose, she likes to grab her leg or foot and go up and down with her leg while holding on to it, kind of like she's stretching haha it makes us (and the babysitters!) laugh. :)

How when she picks something off the floor and puts it in her mouth, I put my hand up to her mouth and say spit it out and she does! On command! She knows she's not supposed to be eating that. But, at other times when I see her about to eat, she grabs the item and quickly sticks it in while smiling lol. Little goon.

How cute she was when we took her to a Sunday Class and she started waving at a friend's husband, right off the bat, not prompted. It made us all smile. :) 

She is picking up signing pretty well (although it takes a little prompting to get her to do it). But she knows "more" and shakes her hands around for "all done" along with waving "hi" haha. I know this isn't a sign, but this is what I've always associated with food; when she puts her one pointer finger in her mouth while crying, I know she's hungry. It's a good little cue, and kinda funny how we just kinda picked up on it haha. When I see her finger in her mouth, I know it's time to get her something to eat other than milk. 

Lately I've been finding her asleep in the morning with her arms under her tummy and her bum in the air haha (hopefully she's not too cold :( ) But I think it's kinda adorable. 

I Never Want to Forget

 

Her face as I pushed her on the swing for the very first time.

The fact that she sleeps all night (I'm actually getting sleep at night - since I've separated them). It's been so nice :) 

When some people see her for the first time that day, she does this cute, funny shy thing where she smiles and then puts her head down haha. Then she pops it back up, smiles, and then puts it back down, like she's super bashful to see you. :)

*I just asked Jonathan what his favorite thing about her was* He said that she's always happy. It's so true. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful happy infant. She really lights up my life!

I love all you are, Elena.

Sometimes it's good for the heart to

 remember someone so tiny, precious, and pure.