"To solid food, or not to solid food."

Nummy.

                That, is the question.  A good question.  How on earth are you supposed to know when your infant is ready for, or wanting solid foods?!  To be honest, I can’t tell ya because I am still struggling with it myself.  However, I might have stumbled across a discovery- for me at least.  Lily has been super grumpy lately and she wants to eat all the time.  She eats till she is full to the brim.  Full to the brim equals a LOT of leakage … everywhere- not a single piece of furniture has not been spit up on.   Despite all of this she just keeps on eating!  Finally, it dawned on me.  Perhaps she wanted something a little heavier in her stomach, you know, something with a little bit of substance.  Maybe liquid just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  So, I pulled out a box of rice cereal and let her try it.  I was so surprised that she actually ate a full 2 teaspoons!  And it seems to have done the trick- she feels full.  YAY!! I love you rice cereal.  You made this Mamma happy.

First time trying solids- success.

Love those eyes!

Things I Love: Samuel Edition

10 Things I LOVE about Samuel

1. I love how he wakes AJ and me up in the morning by yelling, “Wake up!” and then he follows with, “Sleep’d good.  Morning.”  Translation:  “Wake up Mom and Dad!  I slept great so you must have too; now get out of bed because it is morning and time to party.”

2.       I love how he gives me, Lily, Daddy and himself kisses when we get hurt.

3.       I love it when he dances or makes funny sounds and faces to make Lily laugh.  And once the laughing starts they pass the laugh back and forth for a good 5 to 8 minutes- I love that sound.

4.       I love the way he laughs and screams while running in circles, trying to decide if he should find a place to hide to scare Daddy or not, when AJ is just about to walk in the front door. 

5.       I love how excited he gets when he realizes that we are going to Grandpa and Grandma’s.  I also love that he assumes we are headed to Grandpa and Grandma’s house if we have been driving for longer than 5 minutes.

6.       I love it when he puts his arm around Lily, smiles at me and says, “Friends.”

7.       I love the way his hair swirls around his head.

8.       I love to hear his innocent prayers, and it cracks me up that he will yell, “Prayer!” at anyone before or during a prayer that has broken “prayer form”.  Which are folded arms or clasped hands while kneeling.

9.       I love the way he pats the seat next to him as a command invitation for me to sit next to him and watch a movie with him.

10.   I love that if I sit down to read a book or have been reading for a short time he will either 1) attempt to replace my book mark and then shut my book and try to take it from me or 2) try to shut my book while repeating, “Wake up Mommy.  Wake up.”

Things I Love: Lily Edition

10 Things that I LOVE about Lily

1.       I love her adorable old, bald man hairline- a little hair on the sides and nape but nothing on top.

2.       I love her funny “swimmer arm” she does while she is nursing.

3.       I love the special laugh that she saves for Samuel when does something she thinks is hilarious.

4.       I love how her eyes light up when she sees me for the first time in the morning.

5.       I love the way she falls asleep cuddling me every night.

6.       I love her dimples when she cracks one of those ear to ear smiles I adore.

7.       I love her “baby stretch” she does when she wakes up in the morning and after a nap.

8.       I love how she always blows out her diaper when we aren’t home and/ or don’t have a backup outfit.

9.       I love the feel of her soft head against my cheek.

10.   I love the way she tries to suck on my lips when I give her kisses on her chubby cheeks.

4 months already?!

      1st month:

      2nd month:

      3rd month:

      4th month:

                Can you see how much my little girl has changed?!  She is growing up way too fast- she isn't a newborn anymore.   My Lily has the sweetest ear to ear grin you will ever see.  She can roll over both ways, and she can get up on her hands and knees.  Before I know it she will be crawling all over the place; although she can get herself most anywhere she wants to go already.  I love to hear Lily’s babbling- she is a talker.  And it melts my heart how much Samuel and Lily love each other.  Samuel can just look at Lily and she cracks up over and over again, AJ and I have to do backflips and stand on our heads.  Having these two precious children is an absolute joy!

See what I am talking about?  You can't not smile.

While Daddy is Gone

                I suddenly find myself with a lot of time where it is just me and the kiddos, with AJ at ASU so much now-a-days. We all wake up around 6:30 to 7 AM and AJ is gone by 7:10.  That doesn’t give us much time to anything more than eat and pray.  Then, I have 5 hours before lunch and nap time to fill in with activities. 5 hours is a long time when it is spent with a 2 year old who is done with something after 15 minutes!  That is 20, 15 minute, intervals till lunch. So I came up with a list of fun things to do to keep us busy.

• ·         Outside time (walk and playground)
• ·         Reading books together
• ·         Singing primary songs
• ·         Bath time
• ·         Coloring
• ·         Counting Games
• ·         Letter Games
• ·         Shapes and Color Games
• ·         Jesus Movies (Living Scriptures)
• ·         Snacks
• ·         PLAY time

Here are some fun pictures of our adventures yesterday morning:

Samuel put on his own shoes this morning and he is ready to GO!

This little Lily of mine is TOO cute!  (She is trying to eat the camera.)

                We went on a walk around our apartment complex ... well; I walked and carried Lily while Samuel rode his super cool Lightning McQueen buggy.  We also decided to stop by the playground in our apartment complex.  Samuel had a blast sliding down the slides while Lily and I played with the rocks and felt the grass with our feet. 

Off to Graduate School

 August 21, 2012 was a big day for the Smith family- AJ became an official going-to-ASU-graduate student!  This was the day we have all been waiting for.  ASU here we come.  

(Tip: To start your graduate experience off right, be sure to have squeaky clean teeth .)

Lily's own way of celebrating this momentous occasion for our family.

 Oh snap!  Here is the big moment, no turning back now!

Oh wait, hugs and kisses.

 There he goes!  My big boy graduate student- I am so proud.

Long time no see ...

                WOW!  It has been WAY TOO LONG since I posted anything on here.  But remember when I moved twice in 2 months … and then we were surprised with bed bugs and German cockroaches in our new apartment!!  GAHHH!!!  Nasty, nasty, nasty.  However, even with our new pets we are loving life.  Here are a few fun videos of us.  (Lily can roll over and laugh, and Samuel has some seriously fabulous dance moves.)