Oh No!!

The unthinkable has finally happened!!  The tip of Elijah's pacifier has come off!

 

The last week of school I noticed Elijah had chewed a hole in the end of his pacifier.  I was hoping it would last until school was out when I was planning on weaning him off.  We had been putting it away except at nap and bed time and he was doing well. 

 

This past weekend we went down to my parents house to celebrate birthdays.  By this time, he had chewed numerous holes and I was starting to worry about him swallowing it or choking on it.  We were in the middle of Sunday School and I had gone out with Madison (she was doing lots of squealing :) ).  The next thing I knew, Justin and Elijah were joining me.  The pacifier end had come off....

(Most Sundays in the middle of church we could give him his pacifier and he would lay his head down on Justin's shoulder and fall asleep.)

 

I was rather worried about the service.  We had several tense moments, but we made it!  Afterward we decided to check out a couple of Veggie Tales DVD's for Elijah to watch before he goes to bed.  He held those DVD's the entire 2 hour trip home.  That night he slept with them and has insisted on sleeping with them ever since.  Here he is clutching his DVD's!  

The poor little guy does not know how a library works and that he is going to have to return his DVD's.  I had an idea the other night and ordered him a stuffed Bob the Tomato. (He's the tomato off of Veggie Tales)  Bob has yet to arrive, but when he does, I'm hoping little Elijah forgets about his DVD's and starts snuggling Bob in his sleep.

She's on the move!!

Baby Madison is on the move!! She's been working so hard at crawling.  For the longest time she would push herself backward.  She finally figured out how to move her arms and legs to go forward.  Nothing is safe anymore!!  Poor Elijah has to get used to sharing his toys with little sister!

Picky Eaters

My little Elijah has become a picky eater.  He used to eat his veggies like a champ, but now that he feeds himself, he has decided he doesn't like them and boycotts them at every meal.  I've cooked them every possible way and he still just shakes his head and proceeds to eat around them.  I decided to get sneaky and hide them in foods I knew he loved.  The following is a muffin recipe I found on Pinterest. (Click here for the link)  As I type this he is sitting on my lap enjoying his second Veggie Muffin.  
The recipe works with husbands as well as kids.  My hubby eats his veggies, but he enjoys the muffins as well.  It's kind of fun to hide them to see what all I can get him to eat!!    

Veggie Muffins 
 
2 Cups All-purpose Flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 of a stick) softened butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup Prune or Apple juice
1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli (frozen or fresh)
1 to 1 1/2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup yogurt (vanilla, plain, strawberry, whatever flavor)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Start by mixing your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) in a small bowl. Set aside.
Mix the sugar, butter, and eggs in a separate bowl or mixer. Beat for a couple minutes till everything is combined.
Next, prepare your veggies. Grate the carrots, smash up the bananas, and prepare your broccoli puree.
This is my favorite part of the recipe. You need about 1/2 cup of puree when done, which takes about 1 1/2 cups of broccoli–frozen/thawed or fresh/steamed–and 1/4 cup of juice. I used prune juice but apple or grape works too.
Combine the broccoli cuts and prune juice in the food processor and pulse till finely mixed. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender or try to finely chop it up (but the chunks will be more visible to your kiddos).
Okay, throw the broccoli puree, carrots, bananas, yogurt, and vanilla into the butter mixture and beat for a minute. Finally, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined and wet.

Scoop the mixture into a prepared muffin pan (you can also use cupcake liners if you want them to feel like “cupcakes”. That word always makes my kids excited about food).

Depending on how much you fill in each cup, the recipe makes about 20-24 muffins.
Bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops are slightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Fun Age

Elijah is at a fun age where he is really enjoying more things.  We had some "Moon sand" at preschool I brought home for him to play with.

It's a sticky sand that he could build with.

He had it all over, but he really enjoyed it.

He has also been having fun with play dough

We moved him to a toddler bed and Madison has taken over the crib.  There have been several nights I have found him like this.

He LOVES playing outside and will stand at the door just waiting for an opportunity to go out.  Buddy was entertaining him from the other side.

We are anxiously awaiting summer when we can play outside every day!

Baby Babbles

Madison is really babbling, squealing, and shrieking these days!

He Speaks!

Elijah is starting to say more and more words! It's so fun to hear him try to say different things!

4 Months

Baby Madison is 4 months old already! (closer to 5 months these days but we will ignore that fact for the moment) She is really interacting and responding to us more and more.  It has been so much fun!  

We had several days of photo shoots...between her and her brother things got pretty interesting.  The quilt was so colorful she spent the entire first photo shoot in this position checking it out. 

Her brother loves to wrestle and believes that anytime someone is laying on the floor it's an invitation to jump on their back.  Every time I thought I was going to snap a good picture he'd jump, wiggle, or bump me making the image blurry. :)

Elijah loves taking pictures with Madison (or by himself for that matter) and was continually photo bombing the pictures as well.  I'm telling you it was a rodeo,

but so much fun though, I wouldn't change it for the world!

Miss Madison has been such a joy!  At 4 months old she has been:
-BABBLING-constantly babbling
-squealing and shrieking
-smiling-ALL THE TIME
-wanting someone to talk to her or pay attention to her
-batting at her toys hanging from her bouncer
-wanting to be upright so she doesn't miss a thing
-watching every move her brother makes
-consistently waking up once a night
-weighing in at around 16 lbs