First Steps.....

Angie's been taking her first steps! She totally has the balance to walk. She stands on her own all the time....always holding something. But she doesn't have the courage yet. She sits after a couple steps. She's getting good though! Some days she does better than others. Here's some videos of a particularly good walking day...

And I must add a few photos just to show off her cute-ness!

She's been really good about wearing her bows lately! Usually she won't keep them on long enough for me to get a picture. But now if I can get it on, and distract her....she kinda forgets about it. She kept this one on almost for the entire 3 hours of church!

Oh PS- I made that bow myself. We learned how in relief society! So much fun!

She really is such a doll! I just wanna eat her up! And wouldn't you know....she got her 2 front teeth for Christmas!

Christmas Food

This post is old too....

The week before Christmas we decided to make some treats for our friends and neighbors. I got this recipe idea from Brittany Viehweg Staley (her blog is in the right column if you're curious). We made peppermint bark (so easy by the way).

I also have to share my new green bean & Ham soup recipe. I got it off allrecipes.com because I was looking for something to do with my leftover ham. I was thinking some kind of crock pot ham and beans (like....lima, pinto, and navy beans). So I did a google search for "ham and beans" and I found this recipe for ham and GREEN beans (way better idea in my book).
It's called "Creamy Green Bean Soup"

Basicly- cube your leftover ham (I do lots cuz Parker likes meat in his soup) then chop potatoes, onions, celery, and even carrots if you want. Boil till soft. Fill your pot with water (about 6-8 cups worth). Add 2 cans of green beans. Then add cream. Lots..... like 1 to 1 1/2 cups. Salt and pepper to taste. Then I like to add some flour mixed with water to thicken it up. Ta da!

Tastes pretty good! And super easy. You can even make it in the crock pot and then add the cream and flour 15 minutes before serving. Yummy! I love soup in the winter!

Sharing

This post should've been made a month ago....sorry. I'm so busy sometimes. Here it is:

In order to make room for the Christmas tree, we had to move the piano (which was not in the house at Christmas time last year). The only place the piano could go was the 2nd bedroom. But in order to make room for the piano....Angie's crib was moved into Caleb's room. Yes. They're sharing a room! We figured it was inevitable anyway. Might as well get an early start on it. It has actually been just fine too.

In general- we put Caleb to bed first because by 8 he's ready and she's not. And once he's asleep you could pretty much have a train go through there and he wouldn't wake up. She usually goes down 30 minutes to an hour later.

We even put them to bed at the same time once.....she stood up in her crib and jabbered at him for about a half an hour. But I told Caleb he's not allowed to talk to her and he has to pretend like he's asleep. After the half hour, I went in there and he was dead asleep and she was still talking to him.....guess she wasn't tired yet. :)

I really do have awesome kids!

Angie- 11 months old!

My baby girl is 11 months old tomorrow! At her last Dr.'s apt (for 9 month check....which actually occurred at 10 months) she was 19 lbs. Don't remember her height....except that she's still in the 75th percentile. 50th for weight....incase you were curious. Some things about Angie:

- She won't eat baby food anymore! This is very frustrating for me....because I have to start "THINKING" about what I'm going to feed her....instead of just grabbing a jar. Caleb NEVER did that. He always just ate what I gave him. And with the teeth not coming till he was 2.....he had baby food for a long time. Much longer than Angie. Well....the video kinda speaks for itself. If you DO put baby food in her mouth....she sticks her hand in her mouth and sticks out her tongue like she's trying to whipe it off.....till she gags. So frustrating.


-Food she LOVES: green beans! I can open a can and cut each bean in half (still a little too long for her) and let her feed herself (lets just say some days....we're STILL working on this one with Caleb......first child syndrome I think....except it's all my fault. ) Anyway. Also bread, canned carrots, and nilla wafers. As you can tell....I'm still exploring my options on what she can eat.

-She has 2 teeth.....soon to be 4. Like....maybe tomorrow or the next day. She got her first tooth....about a month ago. And just today, the top left broke through. The right is only days behind. And the other bottom tooth looks like it's coming in too. It's so exciting to see those little things come in!! She's gonna look so cute with front teeth! (Something we're STILL waiting to see on Caleb). Sorry this picture isn't very good....

-She crawls, stands, and climbs. She still doesn't like to take any steps. if you're holding her heands she's practically running. But one hand.....maybe 2 steps. Standing with no hands......she sits. Or leans forward and lets you catch her.
-She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. I guess that's typical for her age....but I am ALWAYS fishing something out of her mouth! Some of her favorite treats off the floor include: Anything Caleb drops from the counter. Wrappers. Marbles, coins, sunflower seeds that never made it into the trash. Dry broken ramen noodles. Rocks.....LOTS of rocks. And my personal favorite.....dryer lint. Ick. -If Dad and Caleb start wrestling on the floor.....she starts screaming and growling. She'll come and wrestle too if she's on the floor. If I'm holding her.....she starts to wiggle and wave her arms. She KNOWS it's playtime!
- She LOVES faces. Meaning....she likes to hit your face. I don't remember Caleb being like this. If you talk to her and she gets excited for the attention.....she starts waving her arms, and hitting your face. It's like her thing......except it hurts sometimes.

-She's learning some sign language. She knows "More" and "please". And just the other day, she did the sign AND said "mama" when she wanted me to pick her up.

-She ADORES Caleb. Caleb and her wrestle and roll on the floor all the time. I ALWAYS think he's gonna make her cry.....but she never does. I'm sure it's because she's getting attention from him, and doesn't really care that he's pulling a limb or pinning her down. I'm sure that will change in the future.

-Angie has already given us two trips to the Emergency Room. (That's two more than Caleb.) First when she fell off the kitchen counter on her head. Second in the middle of the night for Croupe. LOVE how those Hospital bills came 2 months before we changed insurance policies. AUGH.

-She loves her NUK. And she has a cute little habbit when sucking on her NUK. She tucks the lanyard between the nuk and her mouth. Always. Every time. Never fails. Sometimes she'll even rub the lanyard against her face. But if she's off to do something, she tucks it first and then goes. Observe in this video here:

I know I say this ALL THE TIME, but I still feel like I just brought her home. She's such a joy too have in our home. Like Caleb, she's quite mild mannered. I'm grateful to say that my kids really aren't that high-maintenance. Oh they have their moments....but I think all kids do. We never really have screaming fits or temper tantrums. Angie only cries if she needs something. She's never whiney, and has a smile to light up any room. I love my baby girl!