Sing Over Me: Jackson 2 1/2 & Ellie 7 Months

Ellie turns 7 months tomorrow (July 12), and Jackson will be 2 1/2 at the end of July. My how time is flying!

I've heard every family has a messy eater. I think we have a winner right here.

First time in the swing. Not too impressed. Chillin'. Tired.

"Helping" mama make a cake. This is a very rare and fun treat.

This fun mess is quite a trip. He is sweet and kind most of the time, definitely a first born people pleaser. He's funny and fun and laughs alot, has very serious facial expressions, still plays amazingly well by himself. He loves to organize his toys "just so," and when some other child comes and messes up his arrangement, the pushing and shoving ensues. This is a newer thing...pushing...but I'm working on dealing with that. I'm also seeing all kids his age do it, and all will cry and act the victim, even if they are the initiators. No one ever said parenting was easy :) But I truly am grateful and thankful that the Lord bestowed this kind-hearted child for us to parent. He truly is so fun, so sweet, such a helper (when he wants to be), and he loves his "didturh" (sister).

Oh, and don't mess with his "ta-ta" (paci), and his "oh-me" (lovey). He hoards them like Smeagle hoards "my precious" in Lord of the Rings. We have daily reminders that his paci and lovey have to stay in his crib, and every day he puts on this hysterical pout (an Andy face for sure! I promise..it's all in his baby pics), and sometimes willfully disobeys, and sometimes resignedly obeys.

Andy has been taking Jackson to the zoo a good bit on the weekends, and I love their father/son time, as well as my mother/daughter time with Ellie at home. (And I often wonder how I thought life with one child was hard...but it was a hard adjustment, having one child, so you mamas out there give yourself lots of grace.)

Miss Ellie is going to be our diva. I knew it from the minute she was born with her tumultuous and dramatic delivery. While she is always such a happy and smiley baby, flapping her arms, "tripod" sitting, giggling at Jackson, observing everything just like her big brother does, babbling "DaDaDa" (and I'm working on MaMaMa)... come nighttime...the little beast emerges out of this precious chunk, and her lungs belt out some crazy wails. I do go back and forth between letting her cry it out and rocking her to sleep. And not every night is crazy screaming, but as Andy said last night, "She will be my nemesis."

But oh how we love her, and I know everyone says they can't imagine their family without a specific family member, but I really couldn't imagine life without sweet Ellie. (Actually, I can imagine...those were the days I got more sleep and Miss Diva didn't wake me up at 2 a.m. with lots of giggles and smiles, ready to party. If you see me out and about town, please don't tell me how tired you are because this extremely sleep-deprived mama ~~will~~ might let you have it. But oh how I do love a giggling 2 a.m. partier, bleary- eyed and all).

For my own record, thus far Ellie has "eaten" (or really spit out, talking while eating...such a little lady) avocado, a teeny bit of banana, cauliflower (first food!), green beans, squash, apples, and rice cereal. She still nurses about every 3 hours during the day, and is in bed around 5:45 pm, up at 4/4:45 am (that is, when she doesn't feel like a crazed wake-up in the wee hours of the morning); Jackson goes to bed between 6-6:45 pm and wakes up some mornings at 4:45, and a rare morning at 6:30 am.

We were in Memphis for July 4th, celebrating YaYa's birthday (with 8 of her 9 grandkids below), and celebrating my youngest sister-in-law getting engaged to Les, a fabulous man whom we all adore and are so excited to welcome to the family!