Food Lover

I love food. I love to look at it, talk about it, shop for it, cook it, and of course eat it! And it looks like someone else might love food too...

We started rice cereal this past weekend and Peyton devoured it! There was never a sour face and she acted like she had been eating all her life. We let Bailey be the first person to feed her and she thought that was pretty neat. Until about 5 minutes in and then she was ready to go play.

With the rice cereal being so successful, it makes me even more excited to start real baby food. We're hitting up the farmer's market this weekend to see what we can buy to go ahead and make and freeze. I'm really excited to be making her food. Not only will I know everything that's in it, there are so many different possibilities with combining foods that she will have a large variety of flavors!

"Here mom, let me help you."

"I got this!"

Chores can be Fun!

At least Bailey thinks so! She's been helping do little things around the house for a while now, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that we made her official chore chart.

These aren't any major tasks, and most of them were things she was doing any way (picking up her toys and putting her dirty clothes in her hamper), but she thinks her chore chart is the coolest thing. She loves the fact that she gets to feed the dog. Every morning she asks if it's time to go check his food bowl, and in the beginning anyone who came to the house had to watch her feed him.

I think the reason we didn't do a chore chart ealier was because we weren't sure about the whole reward aspect of weekly chores. I knew I didn't want to give her money or any certain reward on a weekly basis, because I didn't want her to expect a prize just for helping out. Which is one of the reasons I included the phrase "How I Help My Family" on the chart. We explained to her that as a family we have to work together, and that includes working together around the house. What we finally decided to do about the reward was just randomly get her a prize when she's doing a good job. We told her she would never know when exactly she might get something, so she always had to make sure to keep up with her chores. So far she's never once asked when she would be getting something. We've gotten her two new coloring books for her good work and she was beyond thrilled to get them.

About the chart: I googled "chore charts" to get some ideas on what to include and how I wanted to make it. I mixed a little of what I already had in mind with some of the ideas I found online. I created the chart in Microsoft Publisher, printed it out and then took it to the UPS store to get it laminated.

Here she was after her first week of completing all her chores. She was so proud of herself! And I am so proud of how well she has done too!

Just the Girls

Cloudy Saturday, daddy playing in a 3v3 soccer tournament, what were the Maxwell girls to do? Head to the Explorium!

We had only been once before, on Bailey's 2nd birthday, but I thought she would enjoy it more now that she was older and could play with more things. I also found on their website that they offer drop-in activities on Saturdays during the summer, and this particular day it was going to be thumbprint caterpillars. A little finger painting makes everything more fun! I was a little nervous about heading there by myself, but we loaded up and headed out and I hoped for the best.

We painted.

Had a puppet show.

Had some fun in the water.

Blew lots of bubbles.

Played a little drum.

And of course, played with some food.

Some of us napped.

And we all had a great time! Both of the girls were so good while we were there. Bailey's favorite things were the bubble room and the finger painting. She's already asking when we can go back. Peyton never made a peep. She hung out in the sling the whole time and even took a little nap. I'd call our trip a success!



Dear Peyton

Dear Peyton,

Hello sweet girl. You are four months old today. I'm not really sure how that is even possible. Time went fast with your big sister, but somehow it is going even faster with you.

You are changing and growing every day. I love to watch you take in the world around you. You get so fascinated by everything. Especially your big sister. You love to watch her. She makes you smile bigger than anyone else. You also like to pull her hair, but I'm sure this isn't a sign of things to come, right?

You love rolling over! We'll lay you on your mat to play and the next thing we know you're off the mat and half way across the floor. You have wanted to be able to move on your own since we brought you home. Rolling does make you happy, but I can tell it's not enough for you. In your own way, you try to crawl. You can actually scoot yourself with your legs when you get good and mad about being stationary. But it's not a good thing, you end up with dog hair and whatever else is on the carpet, all over your face. We'll lay you down in one direction at one end of your crib and when we go to get you, you're at the opposite end of the bed in a completely different direction.

And yes, you are sleeping in your crib now, in your room. I'm still a little sad about this. I miss being able to roll over and see you sleeping in your bassinet next to me. This is just another reminder about how fast you're growing. You love your bed though! The very first night we laid you down for the night in your crib, you went straight to sleep with no problem. Here lately you've been going to sleep around 9:30 or 10:00 and you sleep until 7:30 or 8:00. Such a good sleeper! Your naps are getting better too. You take your afternoon nap in your crib, and it's anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. We never know how long you're going to sleep. You still take a morning nap after your first bottle and then you usually take little cat naps on your play mat during the day.

You love to talk to us, and you love when we talk to you. Bailey always says that you're talking to her, even if she's no where near you when you start to babble. You have the cutest laugh and I'm always trying to find a way to coax it out of you.

I love you sweet girl. I love that your crazy hair that still stands up in a mowhawk (although I've noticed there seems to be a slight rat tail now, and we'll have to take care of that!), I love the sound of your sweet voice, I love the big grin you get when you see me, I love the big grin you get when you're watching your sister. I pretty much love every little thing about you. Happy four month birthday Peyton Kei!

Love,

Mommy

Blueberry Pickin'

I was so excited when I read on my favorite orchard's website that they were offering u-pick blueberries! I'm not sure if this is something they always offer and I've just missed it or if this was the first year. Either way, I couldn't wait to get out there and get my own berries. We made a girl's day out of it and I loaded up the girls and my friend Shana joined in on the fun.





Shana showing Bailey the ripe berries.



Bailey decided her job was to find the "monster" (aka - big) blueberries.

Showing off one of the "monster" berries!

And this is how I did most of my picking, with a sleeping baby in my arms.

A close up of the sleeping cutie.

My beautiful blueberry picker, who may or may not have been sneaking a fresh blueberry right off the bush.


We had a great time, and I'm already looking forward to the fall when we get to pick our own apples!