Sweet and beautiful.

I had an awesome day with my sweet and beautiful children! It was finally beautiful on the weekend. For those of you who work during the week and live in this shit of a climate we call The Midwest, you all know how much is sucks when weather is shitty on the weekends. It's hard to spend all week inside, especially after this long winter we have had and the late, late, LATE start to spring (seriously, it snowed a couple weeks ago and was in the 30s as recent as this past week. Ridic).

Today we blew some bubbles (I got Andrew one of those bubble guns because for some reason he has trouble with the wands). He loved it. Elise played in some water I put into a bucket for her (she is obsessed with water in a way Andrew never was. For example, she is totally drawn to toilets like a dog is to meat. She cannot resist if it is left open and will run to it and dip her hands in. If you're not quick enough, she will actually bring her hands to her mouth! This is why we put a big, heavy book on top because she can't move it, yet Andrew can for when he has to go).

Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous too! Happy Mother's Day to all of my beautiful friends. I hope you have a great day.

Here are some pics from the past few days (I have a lot of Elise but Andrew would not cooperate). I will say that these photos are much more vibrant, but because of the large file size, Photobucket does degrade them and mute the colors some, so just picture them being a little better than they appear here:













Me yesterday (23 weeks and 4 days):


I also took some of our fruit trees today:
A peach tree, grown from a seedling:


A plum tree:

Eating habits, and a photo session

This was discussed on the board I am on, so I just wanted to blog about it as well, since I have been lacking in posts lately. :)

I have the best eater I have ever seen: my three-year-old son, Andrew. We eat very healthy: nothing that is pre-processed, and nothing containing GMOs, high-fructose corn syrup, or partially hydrogenated soybean oils.

He will eat everything: every kind of vegetable you can think of, including brussels sprouts (which he actually will request, out of the blue), fruit, any kind of meat, fish (including smoked and regular salmon), yogurt, any kind of dairy product, and whole grain noodles and breads. There isn't anything that he won't try or finish.

We aren't so restrictive that we don't allow treats: ice cream is a treat in our house at least once or twice a week, after supper or before bed.

I have had well-to-do friends inform me that by being restrictive with him, we are setting him up to binge someday, but I disagree. One of my husband's friends grew up in a similar house, and to this day, he still eats healthy and leads a healthy, active lifestyle as an adult.

As for me, I was raised to always clean my plate. I cannot leave a plate with food still on it. However, I am at a healthy weight for my height and I don't see anything wrong with continuing to clean my plate. It as as much a part of me as my eye color.

And now, for some pics. I took these 2 weeks ago of Elise for her 8 month photo session. She will be 9 months on Saturday -- it's so hard to believe! Enjoy.















As for Elise, she is hitting all of her milestones ahead of time. Lately, she's been letting go of the couch or me whenever she can, and standing alone for 5-10 seconds at a time. She seems to be unaware that she's doing it, and when I try to set her down on the floor and let her stand, she doesn't want to. I have mentioned that she is my independent girl, and she certainly holds true to that attribute. I have a feeling she will be taking her first steps by Christmastime, if not before.

I am still going home twice a day during my work day to feed her (and she breastfeeds on demand the rest of the time). She now has six teeth, and we started solids just after she turned 7 months. We started with 1 TBSP. and she now takes in about 1.5 TBSP. once a day. She is a little piggy and verbalizes this whenever she eats by saying, "m-NOM, m-NOM". It's very cute.

To you and yours, have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving! I really love this holiday: it's an excuse to eat anything and everything all day long!