We're all doing well and so far have been successful keeping up with our little ones. As I said last time, Olivia is learning new words all of the time and she loves pointing things out that she knows. She like to point out "daddy's truck", and when we are driving she points out other trucks on the road too.
The other day Jason taught her to call my car "grocery getter" and she surprised me with it out of the blue one day, and we all had a good laugh. Now she calls my car that all of the time, and I know she enjoys the giggles that she gets when she does it.
These days Olivia LOVES playing with the play kitchen set that our friends gave to us after their little ones outgrew it. The set contains all kinds of play food, dinnerware, utensils, you name it. I have been teaching her names of vegetables (corn, tomato, peas, carrots, potato, etc). I figure if we are not going to eat a lot of vegetables these days (she mostly refuses them) then at least we can talk about them!
Speaking of eating habits, Olivia absolutely LOVES eating olives (maybe that counts as a vegetable?). They are the perfect finger food for her as she sticks her little finger right in the center of the olive to pick them up. She also loves shrimp, steak, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, craisins (dried cranberries), eggs and graham crackers. We are always trying to expand her palate and I know it will come in time but we are not really there yet. She drinks only milk and water. I got a wonderful juicer and have been making fresh juices at home, but she absolutely refuses to try it. Something tells me this is only the beginning of that kind of behavior!
Back to my blog series on motherhood, the topic of food and eating habits is very important one for raising little ones as what you do there sets the tone for the family as a whole probably for years to come. When you have a little sponge (like Olivia) watching your every move, it is important to make good food choices. While we want to allow desserts and not get crazy about withholding sweets, we are trying to teach moderation with the unhealthy stuff and keep more of the healthy stuff around the house. Luckily Jason generally leans towards the healthy side and doesn't snack a lot so it is easy for us to be on the same page.
In the first year of a child's life when you are nursing an infant, a big part of the mom's life revolves around feeding the baby. I am not complaining though because the benefits by far outweigh any other aspect. Nursing is really incredible for bonding, and the mother-baby bond from nursing is the first 'relationship' that a baby has. It also keeps me constantly in tune with his needs. At any waking (or probably even semi-conscious) moment I can tell you when he nursed last, when he will be hungry or when I will need to pump. Sometimes when he is fussy or I can tell he has had a 'rough' day, I will snuggle and nurse him for comfort (then again that's probably a two way street!) :)
Another current benefit of nursing Quinn is that he is my little fat-buster, like a baby personal trainer! The child is a voracious eater, and nursing is no exception! It is a great way to burn calories. With Summer coming to a close soon, I am making a push to exercise more and drop a few more lbs. of baby weigh before Winter sets in and it gets even harder to do. I am trying to be practical about it and not stress over it either. Bottom line (no pun intended) is that I need to be able to keep up with these little suckers as they have me outnumbered and are getting smarter by the day!
Here are a few pictures to share. Olivia wanted to put her butterfly wings on Quinn the other day. He was a good sport about it.
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