Beautiful Day!

It has been a wonderful couple of days here at the Weber house. Despite my horrible cold (I really am sick, but I am trying to convince myself that I am not and still doing things as if I weren't), we have been out and about.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It was in the high 80's here. In the evening the weather was SOOOO perfect that we had to spend some time outdoors. Luckily, we have a backyard that allows us to enjoy outside without having to take a hike. We got some great pictures of the kids and even got some video (yes, we found our power cord).

My two handsome men. Yesterday was the first day Owen wore shorts. He has these chubby old woman legs. They are pretty cute.

Ellie was really enjoying picking the dandelions out of the backyard. She was also throwing a baseball around. She has a pretty good arm! I like to think that is from me :)!

Have you ever seen a cuter face?

I love this picture!! You can't tell but Daniel was actually in pain squatting down like that.

Have to include a picture of myself I guess. Though this one is not real flattering, I am usually the photographer. Give me a break, it is 5:30 in the morning! This is a picture of two mamas and their two babies. Just recently Ellie has gotten back into her baby. She tried to hold her baby doll up to my chest the other day and I had to explain to her that her baby is bottle fed.

Today is going to be a fairly busy day. We are going to go to the library today for pre-school story time. We went yesterday to our old library for story time and craft time and Ellie was way more intelligent than those kids (I am not joking, most those kids have never colored before, couldn't hardly speak and Ellie was the only one who cleaned up the toys!) so we are taking her to preschool time instead. This will be our first visit to the Pflugerville library.

We will probably make a trip to Walmart today for some new hubcaps (ours have been flying off since we had the tires changed). Hopefully we will make it to Gymboree's open play time later this afternoon. When dad gets home I think we are going to wash the cars!! Ellie will really love that!

Things are going great with us. Now that things have settled down, we are much more able to go out and be social and show Elise more things that she can learn.

Loving You Is Easy Cause You're Beautiful

I am convinced that God made my children cute to help me forgive them for all the messy stuff they do. I just can't stay mad at these two, whether they spit up and poop on themselves within the same hour (Owen), or they get hold of the spaghetti sauce and smear it all over their face and clothes (Ellie).

This picture was taken around 7 a.m. this morning. By that time, we had already been up for 2 hours.

Ellie likes to snack on 100 calorie packs while she watches her "toons." She likes "Wiggles", "Miska"(Mickey Mouse), and (Doodle)"bops."
Owen is only three months old, but he's already a pro at the "Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful" look.

Maybe he learned it from his sister.

Ellie was a little jealous when Owen tried to use her toy...

...but they made up afterwards.

We sure are lucky to have these two gorgeous babes.

School, Babies, Pictures and Life!

It has been a pretty good couple of days for us. I did my visiting teaching the other day and it has definitely gotten to be a little bit more work now that I have to cart around two kids, but it isn't so bad. Luckily I visit sisters with kids so they don't mind my two year old screaming or my 3 month old (3 months today!) crying. My visiting teaching has turned into quite a production. We now are visiting our sisters for like an hour and half each or more! It has gotten a little out of hand. I think it is mostly because I have a bit of a chatty Cathy partner. She is moving out of the ward this month so my route will likely change anyway. It is just taking forever to get it done each month.

The kids are doing great. Ellie, who is forever my helper, has been really thriving lately. She is such a little sponge that I have been feeling particularly guilty for not doing more things with her. I think the guilt of thinking I am not spending enough time with each child is something that I am going to have to fight with all of my children though. I think it has been particularly difficult this time because I, at one time, gave her all of my attention.

So, to help a little bit with giving her more one-on-one time, we re-enrolled Elise in Gymboree. Daniel took her on Saturday and she seemed to enjoy the play time and attention from dad. We are going to alternate weekly on who takes her. I think this summer we will probably enroll her in the gymboree art classes-- she sure likes to color!

Owen could not be any sweeter. Daniel and I say it about a hundred times a day, he is just a sweetheart! He is now able to follow us around the room with his eyes. He loves his exersaucer because he can move around and follow us with his body as well. He is really strong and stands up on our lap all the time and doesn't have any problem holding his head up at all. Owen is about to roll over. He has been close many times. Perhaps his favorite person these days is his sister. While he cringes a little whenever she is touching him, he sure likes to stare at her and laugh and smile. Daniel has been working hard at school. How long he has left changes each day, but his goal is to be done by the time he is 30... let's hope so! He is staying a little later each day so he can get more done. It hasn't been bad at all for us. I think when he starts staying past five it will really impact us a bit. We love waiting for him at the window when he comes home each day. Yesterday there were kids playing outside that Ellie was waving to and talking to. Daniel says while he doesn't mind school all that much, his highlight is definitely playing with his kiddies.I have finally gotten to that point that every mother gets to after having a child that I can handle it! I finally feel like I have things under control. I am not scared to go places with both kids anymore, I am getting all the household things that need doing done and I am able to play with my kids and feel relaxed about life! Basically it is that feeling that I could handle something else on my plate without having a major freak out, it's a good feeling. I think it is just that rhythm of day to day life and having a schedule that is finally working out for us.

ELMO!

It has been a wonderful weekend for us! We took lots of pictures and so I will just get on with showing you them!

This weekend was our Sesame Street Live weekend. Despite worrying whether or not Ellie's attention would be kept, we all had a wonderful time. Ellie LOVED IT! She was clapping and singing and shouting "ELLLLMMOOOO!!!!" every two seconds. It was cute.

Here is Ellie at the show. We bought her a t-shirt and a Zoe light up toy as well as an Elmo balloon. I know, I am spoiling her, but I have been feeling guilty since Owen was born that I am not giving her enough attention so I have been over-compensating.

Here are Daniel and Owen at the show. Owen was not real into it.

Here are my favorite people. This was right after the show.

This is our little Owen, smiling away, as always.

Here is Ellie helping to set the table. She is actually pretty good at it and usually puts the forks on the correct side! (this picture was an off day for fork setting)

Here is a picture of the kids together to give you an idea about how big they are with respect to each other.

This is Elise looking out the window for, yes, the garbage man.

More Owen smiling. I know, you can't get enough of it!

Owen kisses and the Garbage man

It has been a pretty good week for us here at the Weber house. Our new computer came last week and it is pretty awesome. I set it up and Daniel installed all the software and drivers. He has deemed it as pretty much my computer since he has his laptop that he primarily uses. I don't think it is really "mine" but it has some features that are good for what I like to do on the computer. We moved the desk and computer stuff into the master bedroom. There is plenty of room for it, which is nice, but the kids have more access to it since they spend a lot of time in our room, especially in the mornings. But the computer has a nice "lock" feature which is super easy and quick to activate. It will make it so kiddies can't mess stuff up!

Owen is giving us kisses (well, I like to think he knows what he is doing). Basically, when I put my lips or cheek up to lips he opens his mouth for a sloppy kiss. Owen is starting to settle into a nice routine of taking two or three long naps during the day. It is really nice because I can get more done and it is a whole lot better than waking up every fifteen minutes. Yesterday we had a photographer come to the house to get the kids pictures done. Owen smiled in just about every picture. I am eager to see them when they're ready!

Elise is busier than ever. She is ALWAYS into something. Despite being a little difficult at times, she really is more fun than ever. She is saying all sorts of things and we even have songs we sing in the car. She is forming short sentences and pretty much knows what most things are called around the house. The picture to the right is of Ellie waiting for the garbage truck to come and pick up our trash. It is one of her favorite things so almost every day when we hear the garbage truck engine, we are both yelling wildly, "GARBAGE MAN!" and we (all three of us) dart to the window to watch him pick up ours and our neighbors' trash.

The new bed situation went much better last night. She woke up twice in the middle of the night but I have implemented a new strategy where I just keep putting her in her bed and walking out the door without saying a word. I had to do this about 8 times before she went to bed last night but I thought that was pretty good. Hopefully this is progress!

I have been pretty busy with (kids and cleaning of course) a project for spring break. My family rented a house down in Surfside over spring break. I wish I could go into more detail, but since it is a surprise, I can't! But, it is keeping me busy every spare minute I can get!

Daniel has been busy with school. He is working a lot more than last semester. Last semester was kind of unproductive for him I think. Dan said that he feels much better about the progress of research, he is at least doing stuff on it!

This week we are looking forward to Sesame Street Live! I also hope it warms up a little bit because I really want to take the kids to the park tomorrow. We shall see!

Big Girl Bed

Owen has his own room and Ellie has a new bed. After some hectic furniture rearrangement Friday afternoon, the first night with the kids in their own rooms went fairly well. Ellie slept in until 5:15 (about normal for her) and Owen didn't have any problems. Saturday night, however, was a different story. Owen woke up three or four times and Ellie was up at 3:00 am and decided it was time to play. So this new arrangement may take a little more getting used to than we originally thought. And here are some pictures:

Owen and I were rooting for the Bears on Superbowl Sunday...

But this Austin native is really a Texas fan at heart (Hook 'em Horns!)

Moving the bedrooms around required some disassembly and reassembly.

Ellie's new bed (Coincidentally our old bed)

Owen's new crib (proof that I got it back into one piece)

This week in review

It has been a pretty good week for us. The kids and I went down to Katy for a couple of days. Daniel was really busy with a conference and meetings he had going on at school so was going to have a few late nights. My dad is out of town for almost 6 weeks straight so it was a perfect time to go down for a couple of days. It was productive for me. I was able to buy a few shirts and a couple pairs of shoes that I desperately needed (I don't think I have bought shoes in years). It was definitely an adventure taking the kids to the mall-- they both had simultaneous freak outs and even with my mom and I double teaming, it was a little stressful.

The picture to the right is of Elise and Owen playing with Owen's toys. Ellie is pretty cute in that she shows him how it works and then pries his little fists open to stick the toy in his hand so he can do it.

Owen has stopped taking a bottle all together. There just weren't tons of opportunities to give Owen a bottle and he is just pretty particular. I don't think I am going to force it on him, but I am unsure about how I will wean him now. With Ellie, I just phased out nursing and put her on a bottle. I might have to go directly to a sippy cup with Owen. Anyway, his not taking a bottle makes going out a bit tricky. I have to time it accordingly or either nurse in the car or find a bathroom. VERY inconvenient!

Our new computer is being delivered today. We are pretty excited about it since we desperately need a new one. Our current one has just gotten old and has really slowed down significantly. It makes it really annoying to do much of anything on it. Plus it just isn't set up for what we use it for the most. We mostly do pictures and some video and then just every day stuff.

Not this weekend but next weekend we are taking Ellie to Sesame Street Live. It is only an hour and a half long so I think she will be fine to sit through it. She has really gotten into cartoons and loves puppets and what not. We are all going. From the website it really sounded like kids of all ages (including babies) are there. Tickets were relatively cheap, so we are looking forward to it. They allow cameras there so I will have to get lots of pictures. The picture to the right here is of Elise and Owen watching some cartoons the other morning. Doesn't Owen look older than 2 months!!!!????

Ellie has been helping me out more than ever (well, I don't know if it is really helping me out, but she enjoys helping). She now helps set the table. She even knows how to set the silverware properly! It is pretty impressive!

Like I mentioned before, Daniel has been pretty busy at school. He has been pretty wiped, but I think things have slowed down a bit. It seems like he is feeling more pressure to do more on the research he is doing. I imagine that is what he will primarily work on all summer. For him it is just a matter of sticking to his self-set schedule.

She's lucky she's cute!

Hello family and friends. It has been a fairly busy week for us here in Pflugerville. This past weekend we went down to Katy for a weekend visit. It was a really relaxing visit. We mostly just hung out, which was really nice. My dad is going to be out of town and I knew if we didn't go down and visit last weekend that we probably wouldn't see him again until March.

I have been busy with lots of cleaning (my little girl is a little tornado!). The bigger space you have the more cleaning that needs to be done!! Every day it is like I have to start all over again! I always have to do things like cleaning the bathrooms and mopping the floors when both kids are sleeping (which is rare). Plus it is really amazing how much more laundry there is with each additional child. You think it won't be much because they are pretty small, but they get changed like 3 times a day, plus blankets and sheets need washing at least once a week, plus burp rags and car seats always need washing. It is crazy. I am sure all the moms reading this are probably laughing because they know just what I am talking about.

Yesterday I went to the dentist. It was a long visit. It was my first time to this dentist and they are really thorough. They took like 20 x-rays (and I am not exaggerating). Unfortunately I have 1 cavity. I am so bummed because it is only my second and it was one of those "Well, I don't really need to fill this but let's just do it anyway to be safe". Super annoying. I don't numb at all in my back teeth so I am pretty mortified to go back and get it done. It hurt so bad last time that I almost passed out. They were going to give me Valium (I think that is how it is spelled) but since I am nursing I can't take it. So, I will have to settle with just the laughing gas.

Daniel has been busy with school this week. I can really tell that his load is bigger this semester. I can't really complain because I was REALLY spoiled last semester and he does usually make it home by 4 everyday or at least 4:30. He has a couple of later nights next week though. Daniel has also been doing his home teaching this week so has been out until 9 yesterday and then again tonight. Not so fun for either of us, but I am glad it is getting done and I know he feels good about it too.

Elise is.... is.... LOUD!! She has definitely gotten louder. Unfortunately, she spends most her day whining or screaming. She is pretty lucky that she is so cute when she is not doing those things because otherwise I would go crazy. She has also learned to unstrap herself in her car seat-- this is, of course, unacceptable. I have had to pull the car over a couple times to get her repositioned correctly. She was also doing this with her high chair so we have moved her to a booster seat which is working out much better. ---- On the cuter end of things... she has just been adorable with Owen. She loves to play with him and talk to him and kiss him. It is a little cuter every day. Plus, she is talking so much. She repeats anything we say. It is fun because we sing songs together and finish the lyrics for each other.

Owen is a cutie pie. His face is thinning out a bit... not too thin, he is still big. But he is doing like Ellie did where about 3 months or so they start looking like babies and not newborns. I personally think that is when my kids are getting to their cutest stages. With Ellie I thought she was the cutest thing ever when she was about 5 months, which is funny since that is when she was waking up every night on the half hour! We will see my favorite time with Owen. He really does love smiling. His dad gets him to smile quite a bit. Our little Owen is like a baby koala the way he hangs on his daddy. SO CUTE.

In the past week I have braved two stores with both kids... both times pretty disastrous. They both seem to have meltdowns simultaneously. So, I make the outings brief. Daniel says I need to be braver and take them both out more, but I say he should give it a try. I had to go out and do a little shopping though. We are about going broke dressing two kids. Thank goodness Ellie's growing is slowing a little bit, but Owen is faster than ever. I am now getting him 6-12 month stuff because he is fitting perfectly into 3-6 right now so I give it 3 weeks before he is out of it.

Doctor's visit

Quick blog entry (at least for me). We went to the doctor's on Monday. Owen weighs a whopping 15 lbs 7 oz. To put that into perspective for you, Ellie weighed 15 lbs 4 oz at 6 months old. That put Owen off the charts in weight and he is at about the 96th percentile in height. So he is proportionate, just big. Ellie weighs 23 lbs 4 oz, she is still kind of a shrimp in the weight department. Owen's shots were pretty traumatic for me. The first ones are the hardest. He didn't cry too bad at all, but he has been recovering these past 2 days. He has basically been sleeping almost non stop. Poor little guy.

Ellie helped me make brownies for FHE tonight (we forgot last night so we made up tonight -oops!). Usually making brownies or cookies means Ellie eats the batter. Wonder where she gets that from.....

Cutest Kids EVER!

Can you believe it!! We finally got a GOOD picture of Owen smiling. And I must say, he is one studly looking little man. Owen turned 2 months on Saturday so we are heading to the doctor on Monday. I am very eager to see how much he weighs. I am guessing at least 15 pounds which would put him over Ellie's weight at 6 months. He really has turned into the most fun little baby!! He smiles all the time, SO cute. He also talks a lot (coos). He reacts to our voices and follows us around with his eyes. Owen has definitely gotten into that stage where he only has eyes for his mom. I love it. His favorite place to sleep is on his dad though.

Our little Elise is looking pretty darn cute this Sunday. I am not going to lie, this little sweetheart has been testing my patience as of lately. She is usually screaming or being really cute. There is no in the middle. I still love her like crazy though. She is lucky. Ellie is learning her letters and colors. So far she knows A, B, C, Y and I. Y and I she kind of learned on her own. She knows Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and I think Brown too.

HONK! Here is Ellie honking Owen's nose and the two of them together below. Owen looks funny. What a little man!