RazNoggle

I had to get some photos of this because it hadn’t happened before, and I don’t think it’s really happened since, but on this day it did happen, and totally cracked me up!

Ella has a habit of leaving her half finished sippy cup of milk laying around wherever till later when she returns and finishes it. Unbelievably she prefers her milk on the warm side as opposed to icy-cold like me. Well, on this particular day, Myles discovered the “unfinished” milk and went to work to fix the situation. Ha ha!

Ah-done!

I think the faces my kids make when I have a camera in my hand (or glued to my face) are hilarious! I don’t know why they can’t just “act natural.” ha ha! Actually… maybe they are, now that I think of it.

Something that almost always gets them to stop being grumpy is when I start snapping shots of their “grumpy face.” At first they try to keep it up, and then they laugh even though they’re trying not too, and eventually they give up and start grinning followed by a request of, “I want to see!”

Remember the days of flim? You never heard kids begging to “see” the pictures of them the second after it was taking. Ha! Most of our video coverage of the kids has one or more of them trotting over to the camera holder asking to “see.”

Even Ella wants to see all the time now. She’ll park herself right in my lap and watch on the viewfinder as I flip through the photos. She believes it’s an unalienable right any more.

I love these faces! I think it’s hysterical how these kids can contort their features! The other day Stuart took Myles on a trip for his “special day” with Daddy, and said that he was cracking up as he’d watch Myles in the rearview mirror because Myles was apparently “practicing” all kinds of different faces. ha ha! One day, they’re future dates will get the biggest kick out of these kinds of photos! Bwwwwah, ha ha ha!

We’re raising a generation of robots! Ack!! Ha ha ha! I confess that I sometimes rely on the technology of our day to help me with restless kids. It’s amazing how quickly they can get quiet and calm once you plug them into the matrix give them a “game to play!

Ella just loves the concept of a phone, and she especially loves messing with mine! Here, if you look closely, you can see her calling my voicemail! Once she did call one of my contacts, but I don’t think they noticed, ha ha! One day I’ll get a bill for her call to Australia, I just know it!

She will even use the iPod as a “phone” when I give it to her. She’s not interested in the games, just wants to ‘talk’ to it.

Qade’s newest obsession is “Angry Birds.” I can totally understand why too because I get addicted to that game as well. Still, I make him and Myles trade devices so that he gets some of the “educational” games as well. One day he told me, in reference to a game, “This is teaching me my letters, Mom.” I think he felt it needed a little justification since I tell them that I don’t want them playing games ALL the time!

I try not to fall back on using these “tools” or the T.V. babysitter too often. But sometimes, a mom’s got to do what a mom’s got to do. And all of us end up happier….. until I try to take the phone away from Ella.

“Hello, Australia?”

All three munchkins are now into books. Ella doesn’t quite get the concept that they open and pages turn, but she does like to hold onto them and gaze at the covers. And woe be to any overzealous lad who tries to take a book away from her that she is not “done” with yet. Oh my! She has learned to hold her own when it comes to her “possessions” and that could be anything from a little bag of fruit snacks (not opened) that she’s crawling around with, or one of THEIR precious cars that she got ahold of.

But this moment is not about those sibling spats. It’s about all 3 of them calmly sitting on the floor entertaining themselves by looking at books. No movie on, no one trying to climb my pant legs, no one pushing, hitting, scratching or screaming. Ahhhhhhhhhh……

Lets enjoy this moment.

Here’s a short vid clip from Amy McCready.  She’s the name I couldn’t remember from the previous post.  This isn’t new information for me.  I’ve heard it multiple times before in various situations from education courses to preschool teacher training, but it was good for me to listen to it again.  It’s amazing how easy it is to forget this stuff!!!  The difference in the response from your kids when you just change a little something in the way you talk to them is amazing!!

Watch this!

Amy McCready – Do’s and Don’t’s | My Carolina Today.

Since Ella is going to be 11 months (what?!?!?!?) this weekend, I thought I’d better do their 10 month pictures. So hard to believe they grow up so quickly. I get misty eyed looking back on these early pics of the boys! Can’t believe how quickly time flies! (sigh)

Oh well, on to the fun! Don’t want to get too sentimental. LOL

Heres our Qade man at 10 months. I have to tell you that this lad was cruising like a pro at this age. He was also eating like a champ. In this particular photo he is discovering left over “munchies” under his high chair and having himself a lil snack! Oh my!!! Ha ha ha ha!! Funny little boy!

Myles had by 10 months recently perfected his “gimp” crawl! Remember? He always crawled on one foot and one knee! Ha ha ha! Loved to watch him. He still does it from time to time if he’s driving one of his cars. He wins the prize for the most teeth at this age. Look at those chompers!! Qade’s top 3rd and 4th were just through at this age, and Ella, has 3 on top. Love this grin!

‘de Bella. What a lil sweetie! Ella is still using her “mermaid” to get around, though she does get up on her knees and crawl about 3 crawls before hitting her belly again. She is plagued with teething, poor lass! Her 4th top tooth STILL hasn’t come in, and I can see where the 2 molars on bottom are working their way up. Awwww. Wish she could have that done. She’s still smiling. LOVES to rough house with her brothers, amazingly!!

She really wants to pull herself up on things, and succeeded on the boys little reading chair the other day. She was as proud as could be of that accomplishment! I have a feeling that her first birthday “cake smash” is going to be a flop since I’m still having a hard time getting that gal to eat anything solid! We are making progress though! Last night I was giving her those little “yogurt melts” and she would open her mouth when I brought one up to her on my finger. Before I had to sneak them in on a spoon because she would squirm and twist and absolutely NOT open up other wise. She get’s this HILARIOUS “sour” face whenever she has a solid bite. It’s so funny!! I’ll have to post one of those pictures too! You’d think I popped a lemon in her mouth by the way she looks. Anyway, she’s no where near close to feeding any of that stuff to herself, and not the least bit interested either. So birthday cake may just be a decoration.

But I don’t want to think too much about her birthday yet. I want her to stay my baby even though I can’t make it happen.

I’ve been trying… and trying…. trying some more (remember that little mouse pushing the elephant up the hill?) to get a picture of my 3 munchkins that I can print as a gallery wrap. *sigh* I need to have an octopus for an assistant to help get them all pointed in the same direction AND make them look at the camera, AND have them all with a pleasant expression on their little faces! I haven’t given up hope that I will succeed yet, but the next time I try… I’m going to have Stuart help at least. He may not be an octopus, but any extra hands will be helpful!!

The lads have been eating lunch al fresco lately. It saves having to scrub down the ENTIRE dining room after every meal.:-) They have also been attempting to “out do” each other on how “long” they pray for meals. I have to laugh as I see them peeking out through squinted eyes as they pray for each piece of food on their plate AND for Daddy’s foot (which has been well for quite some time) to feel better. They get this long-windedness from their father, I just want you to know.

Well today while I was holding their hands around the little picnic table outside, it was Qade’s turn to pray. I confess I had a hard time figuring out just what he was saying because we were all rather distracted by a large fly that was plaguing us. Myles kept swatting at it with his free hand. First it was on the toy, then the table. Myles kept trying to swat it. Eventually it happened to land smack in the middle of Myles PB&J sandwich. Not missing a beat his chubby little hand came down “smash” right on top of the fly ON the sandwich! Ack!!! I nearly lost it at this point, but the prayer was STILL going on so I fought for control while trying to flick the flopping fly off the table! Yes, it was still alive, so no bug guts on the food. I know I should have been a good mom and confiscated the “tainted” sandwich, but I know the kind of stuff that goes into Myles mouth, and quite honestly, this was mild.

Eventually Qade said “amen” and they got busy devouring the lunch before them. I on the other hand ran into the house as fast as I could and started laughing hysterically! My abs already hurt so bad from trying to contain it! After a time, I brushed the laughing tears from my eyes and took drinks out to the boys. Qade piped up, “Mom, what are you laughing at?” Ha ha ha!! That’s all it took for a new bout of laughing!

Ahhhhh, these kids keep me humored. I needed the diversion today too since they both have been extra whiney all morning. Who would have thought that a poor fly experiencing “death by peanut butter and jelly” would help relieve a build up of parenthood stress?

Good times!

Here they are, our 3 at 8 months! Can you believe how fast this first year for Ella is flying!!!? I sure can’t! I love looking through their pictures each month though. It reminds me of their differences and similarities, and is just so fun!

Qade at 8 months now boggles my mind. I probably didn’t appreciate it while we were in the midst of it, just how “advanced” he was in his motor skills. Since he is the first we didn’t have anyone to compare him to, so it just was normal. But the fact that he was doing THIS at 8 months now makes me think, “Wow!”

In some of his other pics, he was already cruising around furniture, and “helping” me pull laundry out of the basket. Yep…. I didn’t realize it then, but I do now! What a big boy! Not that I mind that the other 2 weren’t as mobile so fast, oh no!

Here’s my Myles! I love this picture of him. I think it was just SO cute the way he thought thumbsucking was a 2 hand event! So so cute!!! It morphed later on. I told you how he’d tap on his nose and lip with his “free” hand. Then it progressed to him pushing his earlobe on his “free” side into his ear. He’d go back and forth between the lip-tapping and the ear lobe pushing. LOL! I’m glad that he has given up his thumb so that it’s one less battle that we have to fight together, but in a way I miss it too.

LOOK at all that hair!!! Ella would be jealous if she knew enough to care! Can’t believe how much hair this little lad had! He still does! It’s so thick that it’s hard for me to cut it to look right. Hmmm….. I’m contemplating just giving them a close buzz for summer time anyway!

Ella girl! She’s such a sweetie. This little girl is SO content. I need to take some lessons from her, really. Not much rocks her boat, and crying and tears are rare with her. She’s gotten so much better about smiling at and going to other people. She still likes Mommy best though, and I’m treasuring those moments now to cherish later when I may not always be her favorite person. LOVE my little girl! I think that she is actually giving kisses now from time to time. Very sweet! She still wants nothing to do with food. I can get about 3 bites into her before the jaws clamp shut and it’s just not going to happen. I’m working on it though. We have a little practice each day and I know eventually she’ll decide to like food too. Ha! She’s sitting up better this month, and I’ve been letting her practice that more as well. She loves her exercauser, especially the couple times I’ve taken it outside for her. She’ll be an outside lover just like her bros, I can tell! Ella is sleeping in her own room and doing a fantastic job. She has become a bit more flexible with her schedule and doesn’t melt down if it’s “messed” with for at least a couple of days. She now has 2 top teeth to match the bottom and has learned to grind them! Ugh!!! That sound just makes my spine tingle! The boys both did that when they were first discovering their teeth as well. I just hope it’s short lived! Ella still does not suck any fingers and is even reluctant to put toys in her mouth. One day she had a little ball with rubber knobby things on it and she slowly brought it to her lips with this look on her face that seemed to say, “Is this okay?” ha ha ha! She didn’t open her mouth for it, but she did feel it on her face. Such a funny cutie pie! She doesn’t have a problem opening up for her bottle though. She thinks she’s pretty big stuff holding it all on her own as well. Funny girl!

So there ya have it. My 2 Monkeys and my Punky Munkin’. Love em!