Introductions.

Eli has Harry (Harry Elephante). 

Amos has Jelly (the mouse. Amos...A Mouse - get it?). 

Hazel, not to be outdone, has Moink and Mindy.

Pig and Crab. 

Lovies extraordinaire.

Embrace the zzzzzz....

In this phase when Hazel's still waking a few times at night, I'm always glad when somebody's getting some good sleep. Amos fell asleep on the way home the other evening and I didn't really want him to nap so I brought him in and laid him smack in the middle of Grande Central Living Room.

Didn't phase him.

What a yummy bunch. Enjoy your Thursday.
Get some sleep for me.

Linking to the Anderson Crew for Embracing the Camera.

Nothing could be finer...

I don't think we could have planned this any better. Having a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a new baby is just right. 

Biggest brother Eli is eager to help. He's smart and kind, and protective almost to a fault. He'll grab Amos by whatever he can get a hold of to keep him out of harms way. After all, keeping Amos from peril is a family affair. Adoration of Hazel bubbles out of him all day long in whispered giggles and batted eyelashes. He's so helpful and independent and I tell him daily how much I love having a 4 year old.

Second son Amos keeps us laughing all day long. He has the excitement of a 2 year old learning so much every day and his sense of humor is unmatched. He's called dibs on being Hazel's right hand man. Wherever Hazel has landed, you'll find him there too. He's affectionate and loving, and even when he's trying his hardest to be naughty, he does it with a grin and is easily talked back into sweetness.

And then there's Hazel. Oh Hazel. Dreamy...Delightful...Divine.

Everybody's Doing It.

I think we'll keep a Christmas tree year round. 

It's so good for congregating around, playing under, crafting for, 

and for making baby eyes

sparkle.

 Oh...and for napping. 

Perhaps Eli has outgrown the sleeping-under-the-Christmas-tree age...

but you're never too old to fake it.

Embrace Normalcy

Can you see it?

Normalcy is beginning to reappear around here.
First off, I blogged more than once this week.
Secondly, check back tomorrow because the Peek of the Week is actually going to reveal a new (and completed!) project. That hasn't happened for a while.

And to continue in the trend of the normal, I give you a weekly entry to the Embrace the Camera feature at the Anderson Crew Blog.
Here's Miss Hazey and me at a friend's 4th birthday party at the Botanic Gardens. So fun. She's such a little snuggle nugget.

And here we are last night. Poor Amos has had the crud.

He scurried up into my lap to read books and just gave it up. It was such a sweet pitiful moment with my two sleepy babies. If only Eli could've found a leg up there. The trifecta.

Come back tomorrow to see what we've been crafting around here! It's fall-tastic!

You Know It's Hard Out There For A...

...Dragon.

I don't remember exactly where I picked up this little gem. I think I got it on consignment somewhere, maybe even before Eli was born. Before ELI was born. And I've never put it on either of them until today. Why was that?

The little dragon tail is the best. It wags when he walks. Priceless.
But being a dragon is hard work.
This little dragon gazed up from his sgetti with that look in his eye and declared, "I finissed," before passing out on his high chair tray.

Pobricito.

Embrace the Peace

Sweet moments like this are getting fewer and farther between as my baby is getting older and scrappier.
But geez - could you just melt from the sweetness? I totally did.
(aside: my Sweater Set modular flower sweater makes me sooooo happy. Those are some pretty cute flowers, no?)
And after I had sufficiently snuggled, I settled him into the rocking chair and commenced with a sleepy boogie photo shoot. See the best of those shots here.

I'm linking this post up for Embrace the Camera the camera day on the Anderson Crew blog.

You can do the same right here tomorrow, as you link up your Peek of the Week post telling us what made you happy, proud, laugh, or smile this week. Please come back tomorrow and share! To learn more about the Peek of the Week, click here! It's fun!

Sweet Tedium

I apologize. I concede that this post is going to be tedious for any of you who did not give birth to Amos.
So, for those of you for whom that fact is true, my sincere apologies.
When your babies get to be toddlers, you miss that sweet feeling of them sleeping on your chest.
But, when you get a good thing going with their sleep, you don't mess with the routine. That routine is gold and the sleep is triple platinum.
But yesterday after gymnastics, Amos was tired enough to drift off after I read his books and was rocking him for just an extra minute.
I savored it.
Then I exploited it for a very sweet photo shoot.

Then I tucked him into his crib and let him be. And he slept for three and a half hours.

Triple. Platinum.

The Life

This kid has got it good. I wish I could toddle from thing to thing, catering to my own every whim, or better yet, having someone else do it for me, and then drop into sleep whenever and wherever the urge strikes. That'd be sweet wouldn't it.

Amos' pre-dawn wake up left him feeling drowsy so he fell asleep on the way home from dropping Eli off at school. Before 10:00 a.m. Rough life.

Not sure quite what to do with this development, I threw a blanket down under a tree and transported him to it. He woke up then but when I gave him his Jellys (the mice) and a paci, he clenched his little eyes shut so tight like all he wanted in this world was to fall back asleep under this tree. Bless him.
He couldn't quite get back there, poor guy. Now that's a feeling I'm quite familiar with.

Yard nap over. Duration - 2.7 minutes.

Categorically Random

And by that I mean completely random...while also allowing for some categorization.

First category: Loot. Look what my lovely Gillian sent to me! She made it herself! She is my guru of style, so I'm super thrilled to adorn my self with anything she touched. Thank you Gillian!

Category Two: Figure Drawing 101
Today Eli branched out from name writing and squiggle drawing and composed his first figure, complete with eyes, ears, mouth, and legs. I am super proud.

Category Three: HHS Models
Sweet Elsa Belle came over the other day all decked out in her HHS wear and she was to.die.for. This photo is funny for a couple of other reasons too - 1) she's totally giving me her model stink eye. 2)Amos in the background already over the fact that girls get all the camera's attention. Sweet Boogie, you'll always be one of my favorite subjects.

Category Four: Amos is Cute

I want those curls. Even Eli can't help snapping his picture.


Category four: Dizzy Sleeps.
Now, I've heard of sleep walking and sleep talking, but the other night Eli sleep scammed me. He worked me over for a snack trap full of honey nut cheerios and a cup of chocolate milk, all in his sleep. I know this because as soon as I handed it to him he curled over on his side and continued sleeping.

Snuggled around Elmo and Friends - love it.

And then there's yesterday's nap where apparently the super cool race car bed just would not do because we found him asleep in the hamper.

Categorically most excellent.

Don't Tell OSHA

Yaya discovered a magical trick.

Tools needed:
Foaming Window Cleaner
The ability to write backwards doesn't hurt.
Draw pictures and write their names on this oh-so-accessible picture window, and the boys will actually beg to clean it.


Is this wrong? I think, no. They have fun, they learn letters, my window gets clean. Win. Win. Win.

And it doesn't hurt that it tires them out. Well - that and the REI trip, the birthday party, and the no-nap day. He crashed about 10 minutes after painting time with Yaya - hence the painting shirt.

From there to his bed and not a peep til morning.

Look What I Found

I just went in to spring Mr. No-Napper, and this is what I found:

He's played all through his nap. His lights are on. Toys are strewn about.

I guess those snugly critters finally got the best of him.

It's 5:10 p.m.
Those saucer eyes are always a little open while he sleeps. When he was a baby and fell asleep in the stroller, it would freak people out how open his eyes were. I think it's cool.

Crafty Feet

This is a beautiful sight to this Mama for a number of reasons. Here are a few:

1) Paint Stained Feet - I know I'm parenting like I mean to when Dizzy goes to bed with Paint Stained Feet.

2) Home Sewn Sheets - I love knowing that my babies dream their dreams while wrapped in the home sewn warmth of generations of seamstresses. Some were sewn by Grandmas and Great Grandmas. Some by me. What could be better?

3) Sleeping Babies - Always good.

Out to Lunch

This is our past couple of days. Nobody's really sick or anything. We're all just dragging. I had a rip roaring headache for a coupla days which of course came to a head (so to speak) on Thursday, our crazy day with two extra kids. I'll say two things about that:
1)Thank my good heavens for Yaya - Life. Saver.
2)(Disclaimer: Grossness coming) Being pregnant in a house with one bathroom and a whole lotta people got ugly Thursday. I had to barf in the yard. Good times.


But! There's hope! This is my third time around the pregnancy block. I've been there. I've read all the lit-tra-chure. Today is the first day of my second trimester. So I expect to be feeling great post haste. Energy will by mine to dole out. And I will look so cute and pregnant instead of like a chubby slug.

Got that Universe? K good.

For the Love of Sleep

The fella recently turned me on to a hilarious blog called The Pregnant Chicken. Specifically he pointed me in the direction of a particularly funny post entitled Hide Your Baby Please. It tells the tale of a woman whose beloved husband and children are all hounding her to have a 4th baby and how she ain't havin' it. It's hysterical.

The husband tries to sway her by having her go peek in on her little angels while they're sleeping, and I must say, that one would have done me in. I do it every night. And, you see where it got me.

Lately they've been so yummy dreamy, I'm struck dumb by the pure sweetness of it all.

Dumb enough to take pictures.

There they'll be in blissful, undisturbed, slumber...and there I come with the flash bulbs. Geez Ma.

Dizzy's bedtime antics have been quite theatrical. Last week he slept two nights in a rubbermaid tub because he was a Jack in the Box.
Obviously.


And last night, he requested a tail and slept under the train table - a perfect dog house.

This little pup didn't buy it when I tried to sell him on the idea that his whole room was like a big doghouse. No dice.