carrots

Mommy, look at me!

Hopefully I will get the video up here soon...

Merry Maids

Mopping the floor - he wipes (or, splashes) and I dry

Bath time and then some

Entertaining myself while the kids play in the tub.....

Elisabeth's favorite playspot lately is the tub, which is great for me - keeps her contained and playing cheerfully on her own.

Classic Kitty

Sometimes the cat sprawls right out across our furniture, reminding us of the cute kitty in the book "Love You Forever," (who, by the way, grows up and has kittens along with the main characters passage of time)

Who wants a free card?

Hey friends! Who wants a free card? I would like you to mail a card to one of your friends, to help me get them "out there" and spread the word about my Etsy site (they are stamped with the web address on the back). If you could help me with this, let me know what kind of card you want (Birthday, Thank You, Baby Congrats, other congrats, blank). I will either mail it to you and you'd have to use your own envelope to re-send it, or I could give it to you in person with an envelope.

Or if you're in Salem, you could come over and MAKE IT YOURSELF!! It's fun and I would enjoy the company :-)

Oh, and you can't mail them to each other! Preferably send it to somebody out of town, or give it to a friend who doesn't know me.

Thanks so much!--
http://annalisestampinup.etsy.com/

http://annalisestampinup.blogspot.com/

bath time

Bath times are fun now, with Elisabeth sitting up and splashing! She LOVES baths, even if she is just watching Rychen or me take a bath. She'll stand up against the tub and yell and laugh!

fun stuff

Elisabeth is getting good at standing up! She practices all the time, like she understands the challenge and wanting to acquire the new skill. This was really funny, when Rychen was climbing up the slide and she got right behind him, wanting to do it too! She is always following him around, trying out whatever he is doing.


Ha ha ha! Rychen P. had rolled off his bed (he sleeps on a mattress on our floor). I was laying in my bed with Elisabeth, and he was tossing around groggily for a few minutes. Finally he rolled off the bed and settled right in, and went back to sleep! It made me laugh aloud. (This picture was taken in the dark, not bad!)

cucumber cutie

Our garden so far

Rychen has "built" us this wonderful garden. We planted seeds for several greens, herbs, and root vegetables so far. We'll do fruiting vegetables in the summer, from starts.

Elisabeth sits now

hope

There were a lot of talks about hope during this recent General Conference. In addition, yesterday I was reading Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from last October on the same thing. It really spoke to me. Weird, I never really "got" the concept of hope before. I guess I was trying to make it more complicated than it is - it's just Optimism. Relying upon our faith in Christ, hoping for better things, like salvation and exaltation but also short-term, like hoping for the next good day amidst a series of bad days. For me, that is what hope means. I think the prophets spoke so much on this because of the turmoil in the world, all the financial problems but also health problems, loneliness, death, spiritual problems, etc. Rychen and I have been really blessed that we are OK financially and have no health problems. But we still need this message, just as much as anybody. For us it's the day-in-day-out exhaustion and concerns that come with raising children, and trying to find time for everything we need to do. It's actually been pretty trying for us the past several months as we adjust to what it really means to be a parent and have nothing left for yourself. And so, I really appreciated reading Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on hope, and being optimistic.

 

"Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity."

 

"Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men...and ye shall have eternal life (which gift is the greatest gift of God!!)"

Skype chat

Aunt Paige!!

Green smoothie and more fun stuff

Yummy GREENS!! This is a thick smoothie (more like a pudding) made of bananas and spinach (and no, her diaper that afternoon was not pretty).

She is pulling herself up against furniture now!



And some more random cute pictures.

Missing underwear

Rychen: Where's all his underwear?
Annalise: I dunno, laundry?
[blank stare... we know there's no possible way he is out of clean underwear]

5 minutes later...
Rychen: Okay I found the missing underwear...

Daddy's girls

Skee-ball!

What do you do on Family Fun Day when it's rush hour and your child wants to go across town to play Skee-ball? You make it yourself and stay home!!

Adorable but will take some getting used to

Thanks Marissa for the way cute bows!!!! These are just so sweet - but somehow they looked better on your baby than mine :) Or I just need to get used to seeing my child with something on her head!

Melt my heart!

I love love love this "Kodak moment" I captured! Elisabeth is now interested in books, so I asked Rychen to read to her. Here they are cuddled up in the Lovesac, looking at Eric Carlile books.

First food: banana!

Elisabeth had her first real meal today, a third of a banana mushed between my fingers and finger-fed. It was done without fanfare--seemed really natural since we've gone so gradually. About 2 months ago she started sucking on carrot and apples as "toys" and a few weeks ago started wanting my bananas and carrots, and would mouth them but only get chunks too big to eat. I had tried giving her a small peice of banana, but she didn't know what to do with it (was not chewing/swallowing) and still just wanted to hold my big banana. But today she finally is ready. It was unexpected... I was just cleaning up the kitchen. But when I moved the bananas, she started crying out, and as I walked away she really started crying like she really wanted one! (yes, she recognizes it) So I said, "hmm.. Ok" and tried it. So first real meal at almost 7 1/2 months!  Now I am excited to make green smoothies to give to her,and get her started on greens early, so it's just another food. That's something I forgot about with Rychen and had to work over time to teach him to enjoy greens (Now he loves green smoothies).