It's been a while

It has been brought to my attention that my blog has not been updated recently. Yes, I agree, it has suffered a bit recently. It is not that our life isn't crazy, its certainly is, it just seems to be so crazy busy that when I have a minute to sit all I want to do is sleep. So my late new years resolution is to provide consistent updates on our crazy life for all to enjoy. So if you will allow, I'll provide a brief overview since the last update!

So the last time you visited for an update I was locked in Ander's room while talking on the phone and changing his diaper. Elsie is learning new things daily, actually hourly! It is so amazing how quickly she learns things and changes from day to day. Some of her latest accomplishments include eating in a booster seat at the table- she does so well; ring around the rosie- the pocket full of posies part is still a bit garbled, but she has the rest, including the fall down part; shake-ah-booty- thanks to Aunt Cheenie we may have a career in dance (ugh); and my favorite swim lessons!

I enrolled Elsie in a tiny tots swim class where she and I go to the therapy pool (so nice and warm) and learn the beginnings of swim strokes and play with other kids her age. She loves it. Pictures to come later! Classes will continue through Feb. Another activity mommy will be tackling soon is potty training, so look forward to some crazy stories related to that in the near future!



Ander's Mohawk



Ander is growing like a weed. At his last appointment he was 16 1/2 pounds and 26 1/4 inches long. He has recently enjoyed his johnny jump up and exersaucer. He also loves swatting at Elsie and laughing at her. He is quite the little man and although he isn't getting into trouble or being crazy we enjoy watching him grow and learn new things every day! Solid foods have been on board for a few weeks and in the next couple we'll add some fruits and veggies! Sleeping is improving- mommy is getting some good long stretches!

Daddy is depressed after the Patriots lost their play off game recently and Mommy is continuing to keep the house in order, mouthes feed, and butts clean!

Until next time...

Trapped!

Multi-tasking- something all moms do. This morning I was chatting on the phone and changing a nasty diaper. All the while Elsie was running around upstairs "cook suppah" (cooking supper). All of a sudden I found myself trapped. I went to leave the room and found that I had been locked in. Elsie had locked me in! I had no idea she could use the lock. As she happily banged on the glass I tried to convince her to unlock the door. I tried to point to the lock, and with a little bit of fiddling around she got the door unlocked, I grabbed Ander and we scooted to prevent another mishap! I don't think she understood what she did, so I'm praying it won't happen again.

On a more positive note, Elsie started swim lessons yesterday. It is a Tiny Tots class with about 6 other kids and their moms. The begin teaching the kids the beginnings of each a couple strokes, sing songs and play with pool toys at the end. She has SO much fun, but she was a very tired girl once we got into the car. I know she is looking forward to swimming next week!

ANDER UPDATE:
Ander had his 4 month appointment last week and what a big boy we have. He is about 16.5 pounds now which puts him in the 80th percentile. It is weird to see such numbers since Elsie has never been in those areas on the growth chart, with the exception of head circumference! He is growing well, and I look forward to his next visit to see how much he has grown!

Help-Ah-Me Christmas



 

Last years Christmas was just three of us, Ryan, Elsie and myself. Elsie was almost a year old and enjoyed the noise of the wrapping paper and playing with the boxes more than the gift that was inside. A year later we have expanded to a family of four, Elsie is almost two years old, and Ander is 4 months. Ander practically slept through our Christmas morning at the house, and napped through all the present opening at the Buzzell christmas, but while awake he enjoyed jamming along with Rockin' Elmo (loud gift #1 from Uncle Chapin). Elsie was on the move this Christmas looking for presents to open and toys to play with!



Rockin' Elmo



I like to refer to this Christmas as Elsie's Help-Ah-Me Christmas! Any present that Elsie saw she wanted to open. She had difficulty getting it started so she would grab the present and say "help-ah-me"! I was thankful that we had both Elsie and Ander presents to open, so when Elsie ran out she could open Ander's and not get into anyone else's presents! Once the present was unwrapped we heard another "help-ah-me", at this point the toy was suppose to come out of the package!

Elsie started with a haul of gifts from her Aunt Cheenie and Uncle Richard and Chappy. This year they were very proud of their purchases. Cheenie, for her tradition of supplying my kids with stylish shoes- Richard for his incredible bargins, and Chappy for his obnoxious, noisy toys! I appreciated Chena and Richard's gifts, shoes and clothes are a necessity. Chapin on the other hand provided Elsie with Rockin' Elmo as well as a drum, tamborine, maracas, clicky clacky clam looking things, trumpet, a whistle and cymbals (noisy toys #2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8) Thank you Uncle Chappy for all my headaches!

Ryan and I spent the day making room for all the new toys and clothes and getting our lives back in order. I can only imagine what next Christmas will be like when Ander is on the move and we have two crazy kids to chase after!

The Bell family had a wonderful Christmas full of many great memories! We are looking forward to 2011 and all that it has to offer our crazy family!





Tattoos by Elsie

Elsie loves to color. She has tons of crayons (most of which are broken, biten into, and have the paper peeled off) and color books. Each page is scribbled on in a different way, she is quite particular about what she colors and has a great time drawing circles. 99% of the time she colors in her high chair. I could care less if she scribble on her tray or her seat, and every once in a while she finds a pen and scribbles on a piece of furniture. Today she had a pen while in her chair. I was busy in the kitchen preparing for the week ahead, and I turned around to this...

We have a new tattoo artist in the family...who'd a thunk it! So we washed it off, and Elsie was a little mad, but got over it! Pen's are off limits from now on I guess since the concept of colors are for paper isn't quite understood yet!

Christmas Cards

I know for sure that the Christmas season is upon us when we have snow that actually stays on the ground, and my husband sleeps 98% of the time he is home. UPS has kept him very busy since Thanksgiving and I look forward to the season of online shopping and shipping to be over so we can get back on a normal schedule. So while he sleeps I attempt to accomplish some of the usual Christmas necessities. Christmas shopping is done and now just a little wrapping to finish up. Peanut butter balls have been rolled, dipped and spread to a couple families. And one of the most important tasks is to get out the Christmas cards. Last year we took a simple family picture, but this year I wanted to do something different. I thought I would take a little extra time to send out cards with wallet sized pictures inside. I would get a wicked cute pictures of the kids sitting all pretty in their Christmas outfits; pop it in the card, write a note and off to the post office they would go. Unforunately, it didn't go quite like that.

I set up an "appointment" with a friend. I have seen her capture so many cute moments of others kids I couldn't wait to see what she could do with my kids! A make shift studio in the basement, lots of toys, M&M's and screaming/giggling results in some precious pictures of my kids. I didn't get that perfect little picture of Elsie and Ander sitting all pretty and handsome looking straight at the camera...that would be too easy. We bribed with M&M's and photshopped colored drool and chocolate stains on the new white dress. We chased around and gots the kids yelling at each other to the point that they giggled. We went through a whole zoo of animal noises and "cheese"s. Laughing and crying...but she did it. Becky captured some beautiful and unique pictures of my kids. They weren't all perfect, but they were my kids. There personality was shining through like no other other photo has ever captured. So instead of that perfect little wallet sized photo I was going to use I changed directions back to the photo card with multiple pictures of the kids. It was impossible to choose just one.

I am not able to send Christmas cards to everyone, so her is a sampling of Becky's wonderful work!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season full of memories with family and friends! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cat Food Soup

I'm not quite sure what the fascination with cat food is, but Elsie seems to love it. Typically, our cat doesn't have water in her dish. She begs to drink water out of the faucet in the bathroom, and jumps in the tub after we get out to slurp up the last few drops before they escape down the drain. For once, Hobbies had water in her dish, and Elsie decided it was time to play. Not sure splashing in the water, but making a nice little soup. I would have posted a picture of her wonderful creation, but I'll spare you all. Once I had quarantined her from the area, put Ander in a safe place, and attempted to clean it up the food had absorbed all the water and made more of a slop. Nasty doesn't even begin to describe it!

Other than this nasty event, Elsie had a wonderful day. We have been learning how to say the different characters associated with Christmas...tree, Santa, Snowman, reindeer, etc. She is pretty good with them all. As we looked at the 3 stockings hanging in the entry (Ander's hasn't been delivered yet) Elsie looked at them and said "Santa". I then proceeded to say..Daddy, Mommy and Elsie, as I pointed to the various stockings. It was then that Elsie said her name for the first time. I pushed the envelope a little more the next day when we repeated this situation, and said..."What is your name?" and she responded by pointing to herself and saying "Its Elsie"! She knows who she is!

As most know Sesame Street is a huge favorite in this house. We have seen all the old episodes, the new ones, and tons of the movies. One of the newer episodes of Sesame Street has the dog Iggy, who steals the letter I from Telly and makes him chase him until he finally gets the "I" back. Elsie brought one of her foam letter, the "I", to me and said "Iggy". She is too smart! And it is so much fun watching her learn all these new things!

Ander is doing well as well. He will be four months soon, and has just recently started giving me a decent nights sleep. He also has begun to enjoy his exersaucer and Bumbo seat more than ever. He still is startled quite easily when Elsie comes around, but someday he'll be able to dish it back!

Looking forward to the Christmas season, we hope everyone else is as well!

Thanksgiving to Christmas...

Thanksgiving to me signals the end of my favorite season and the beginning of a cold, nasty, snowy winter. I like to hang on to my favorite season as long as possible, so decorating, or thinking about Christmas a moment before Thanksgiving is illegal in this household! This year it took an early morning trip to JoAnn Fabrics for a few doorbuster items to get me into the Christmas spirit. I drove the short ride home with the Christmas tunes on, and am ready to decorate the house and the tree next weekend!

We finished off our Thanksgiving weekend with a trip to the Parade of Lights in downtown! It was a little chilly, but we bundled up the kids and met up with Nanny, Pa, Uncle Ricard and Aunt Cheeny! Elsie had a great time watching all the floats go by, seeing "the nowman" and dancing to the Christmas tunes. The fire trucks weren't a favorite, but they were at the end so overall it was a happy experience for all! Ander took a quick cat nap before the parade and was quite alert to watch all the lights and people passing by. Although Elsie doesn't understand the idea of Santa we are very excited for this Christmas with her and Ander.

I typically spend Sunday afternoons up to my eyeballs in laundry and getting ready for the week ahead. This Sunday includes a little baking. Elsie loves to sit on the counter with me while I'm baking. Today was a very special day for both of us. Elsie realized that cookie batter tastes delicious! I then proceeded to teach her how to lick a beater. I remember when I was a kid and mom would make cookies. It was crucial to claim a beater before she put them in the sink or a sibling took them! She had a blast, making a nice little mess and I'm sure the next time I have the mixer going I'll have a little girl at my ankles begging of the beater! If you have ever been around Elsie for any length of time there is no doubt you have heard her "motor". We refer to it as her concentration noise, and pray that she outgrows it before she goes to school. In the picture you will notice her upper lip is up, as if she is doing an Elvis impersonation. That is not the case, she is just concentrating really hard, trying to get all the batter off the beater, and her motor is running!

So I am now officially in the Christmas spirit! Bring on the snowmen, Santas, peanut butter balls...but hold off on the snow until about Dec. 23rd please!!