I want to lay by Eva

Luke has started to play with his sister a little. He asks to have her propped in a bumbo while he plays by her. He also asks to lay by her when she is laying on the couch. He informs her when he burps and blesses her when she sneezes. He likes to rock her in her car seat and he likes to turn her sound machine on and off. He talks all about her pretty outfits with flowers and her small feet. I am glad he likes her. What would I ever do without them?

Operation Bottle

Well, aside from Eva smiling all the time and sleeping though the night she has one little issue. She will not drink from a bottle. She has gone 16 hours without eating on Sunday and she goes up to 5 1/2 hours between feedings while I am at work. I leave work twice to nurse her. We have tried 9 different bottles. We have tried formula. My mom has tried cheer leading for 1 hour straight. Dave has tried marching with her singing "The Saints Go Marching In" while feeding her. Since I returned to work I thought her day care provider might have some luck. She is known as the "baby whisper." She told me on Thursday that she feels like a failure. I am still deciding how to proceed with this situation. Here is Eva on her 16 hour fast. She would cry with the bottle in her mouth and was much happier with no bottle.

Here is Dave feeding her with a silver spoon. It worked better than the eye dropper, syringe, and tippi cup.

Luke's First Week of School

Well, this week started out rough. Luke cried violently for 30 minutes on his first day of school. That episode made me feel so bad that I decided that I would never leave Luke again... no more church, working out at the health club, working as a physical therapist, etc. Luke had enjoyed three and one half solid weeks of time at home with me and extra time with Dave at the holidays so the only thing he wanted to do was, "Stay at Luke's house."

Fast forward to the end of the week.... Now Luke has a special glow in his eye when I pick him up from school. He is so proud and he talks about how much fun he had. He is already applying many of the things he is learning. He has gone from basket case (that may be a word only my family uses) to marching in straight lines and saying "more brusselsprouts!"

I was a little worried about Luke having to conform to too many rules and standards with the Montessori process. It is a amazing way of learning however they are very particular. For instance, when doing an activity you must lay out a work matt, then take the activity off of the shelf with two hands and place it down, then get on your knees, and then use three fingers to remove the pegs. If you sat instead or used two fingers you would be corrected. (It is a wonder that these teachers never say no. They can influence children by modeling instead.) There are other things I was worried about also. Could he go three hours without running or being silly? Can he carry glass plates and dishes without dropping them? Can he stay dry when he is in a new enviornment? Can he say, "Good morning Mrs. Smyczck" and shake her hand as they must do as they come in the room? Can he even say Mrs. Smyczck and Mrs. Ashwini Manjul?

I think that Luke may have the best teacher he will ever have until he gets to college. Here is her bio:

Mrs. Laura Smyczek, Lead Teacher.Mrs. Smyczek received her Elementary (ages 6-12) AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) Diploma from the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee in 1994, followed by her Primary (ages 3-6) AMI Diploma from the Midwest Montessori Institute, in 2000.She taught in a Lower Elementary class at Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and during that time, she was featured in Paula Polk Lillard's book, Montessori Today, and was invited to be a speaker at an AMI/USA National Conference on grace and courtesy.She has lived in France and Italy and has studied and played the piano her entire life. She also earned her B.A. in Art History from the University of Dallas. She brings her love of art and music, and her appreciation of beauty, to all she does.

Eva's pictures at 28 days

Below is a photo of Luke at 28 days.

I took Luke for photos at 28 days and I have cherished those pictures ever since. So I took Eva for her own matching set at 28 days. I was so amazed with both children that there eyes were open, that they were not crying, and that they actually looked at the camera that I was a great Sears customer for each of the photo sessions.

She is already growing way too fast so I have these pictures to never forget her first days. She is so sweet and loving.

Merry Christmas

The entire time I was pregnant I looked forward to having a baby by Christmas. It made the end date seem real.
I love having kids plural for the holidays. It was fun to watch twice the presents being opened. Luke loved his school bus, puzzles, leap pad, and toboggan. I enjoyed opening all of Eva's presents which included rattles, cute new outfits, and some clothing that my sister and I wore when we were Eva's age. There were two things sewn by Eva's great-great grandmother and two things sewn by Nana. These outfits were accompanied by a trendy outfit from Aunt Jackie that called her "Daddy's Honey Bunny."

This is the first picture of the four of us on our camera! We couldn't even get the four of us captured together for our Christmas card so we did the 2 photo collage.

Luke liked being pulled in his new toboggan both indoors and outdoors. It is quite an upgrade from his rummage sale toddler sled.

This is Christmas morning. Luke is still young enough that he has to be told to open his presents on Christmas morning so we had time for a picture before presents.

Luke with his cousins and great-grandy. Bennett, Andrew, Boden, Grandy, Aaron, Ethan, Eva, Luke, and Sam in front.