Harris House

Here are a few pictures of Drew and Ellie helping and hanging around the house- reading the newspaper, doing laundry, sorting the pantry, running the dishwasher and even a little baby-proofing ….. I’ve always said they were advanced for their age!

 We have had an exciting week! Becky and Mia visited over Valentine’s weekend.  They got to meet my church friends on Friday. We met at the mall for lunch and playing at the “frog play place” (Mia’s name);  Mia LOVED her new buddies. We walked to the park later that day, and then she played in the backyard with Uncle Jim-Jim.  They did all kinds of stuff like watched a pretend show, killed some monsters wearing super hero capes, and counted the tulip buds.  Saturday was Valentine’s Day and we started the day with heart shaped pancakes and PEZ dispensers for everyone!  We played at Barnes and Noble and Chik Fil A.  Drew and Ellie played in the play place for the first time and LOVED it.  

 Sunday Becky went home, but Mia recovered quickly because she got to play with Dawson and Grandma was on her way! My mom arrived on Monday and she and  Mia stayed for a fun filled week at Aunt Amy’s. Mia went to two gym classes and swimming with Dawson, we went to Chuck E Cheese, the “inside mall” and the ”outside mall” and Jump Zone. It was great week!  Drew and Ellie are starting to enjoy the little rides at Chuck E Cheese and Ellie even went down one of the slides at Jump Zone. She is a dare devil and gets so excited when she gets to do new stuff.

 It was great week. Thanks for coming Mom!

WARNING: lots of words! I’m writing this more for myself so I can remember these days in the future. And the lay out never seems to look how it’s supposed to look. Sorry!

Ellie and Drew are 9 months old today.  They are both such little people with opinions and personalities.  Since they can crawl, pull themselves up, and creep along furniture, they have become little explorers.  Their sweet smiles and new little tricks make me laugh, even on days when I change six poopy diapers before lunch.

A typical day in the life of D & E goes something like this:

5-5:30a  nurse quickly and then back to sleep.

7-7:30a Awake for the day. They are usually in great moods and will play together while I rub the sleep out of my eyes and make coffee.

8- We all eat breakfast. Some of their favorites are butter toast, peach pancakes and real bananas.  They can’t get enough! Most days breakfast is not so exciting and consists of oatmeal and fruit.  After breakfast, we play, get dressed (sometimes! ha!) and occasionally watch the Today show. They are usually still entertaining each other at this point and it is fun for me to just sit back and watch them play(aka check email and read blogs).

9ish- Morning nap- they love their morning nap and would sleep a loooong time if I would let them.  I’m trying to see if keeping this nap short helps them take a better nap in the afternoon when everybody is due for a break.

10:15ish  Up to nurse, play, and head out to do something fun with friends, have friends over, or run errands.

11:30 Lunch- current favorites include: chicken chunks, peas and carrots, cooked mushrooms, sweet and white potatoes, and of course real bananas. Drew loves peaches, but they are not Ellie’s favorite. They both have inherited the love of baked goods and love muffins, tortillas, bread, crackers etc.  They prefer table food over baby food, but I sneak it in them by feeding them baby food first. I have a bunch in the house that we need to eat up.

1 ish-  Nap #2……Lately this nap hasn’t been lasting very long and they wake up cranky.  We’re working on it.

3ish- Nurse and snack. Favorite snacks: banana bread, graham crackers, baby food jar of fruit or, of course, a real banana. 

4- If it is nice, we will go for a walk or play outside, otherwise this is usually when I am bored, so we crank up the music and dance.  Current favorites are from the sound tracks of Enchanted and High School musical(Thank you Stacey). And I am not ashamed to admit that the song choices are all mine!

5ish- Dinner, playing with James, bath every couple of nights (or when food is in the hair, or we need to kill time and entertain them) and then to bed around 7pm.

7:05pm……James and I crash on the couch with red wine and reality TV.  I go to bed around 9. I’m not even kidding.

I am very thankful that I was not a pioneer. After spending one night in our house with two babies and no heat, I have a new appreciation for those poor women in their covered wagons. 

  Northwest Arkansas was covered in 3 inches of ice for most of last week resulting in severe tree damage and power outages. Many people are still without power almost a week later.  We lost power for only 24 hours, but it made for a COLD night!   Drew, Ellie, and I shivered in bed together while James stoked the fire all night.  Our house was 50 degrees when the sun came up.  We left first thing in the morning to head to our friend Cat’s house, where we were greeted with coffee, warm baths, and even a grandma to borrow for the day!   We hung out in the Hoyle house all day and got home  to a cozy, warm house that night.

   Our cable and internet were out for a few more days, and it confirmed what I already knew was true; I am a cyberspace junkie.  I felt like I had lost a limb without being able to check my email!  I am going to try to cut back…..we’ll see how well I do.

 Here are some pictures from our adventure! 

Cold babies in the morning!

Warm cereal thanks to a gas hot water heater.

Tubby Time!

James had no internet to work, so he got to play all day!

Ellie LOVED Cat's mom "Mimi"