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All 5 of them.

16/365

Eating green beans and watching an elephant eat.

This child is at the point of only eating green veggies.  She LOVES green beans, peas, broccoli  and especially avocado.  She eats at least 1/4 of an avocado every day.  Also, I now give her a green veggie at breakfast.  The only fruit she will eat is blueberries and applesauce pouches.  Such an odd 11 month old!

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My girls.

A Secret vs A Surprise

As a parent I have all the same worries any other parent does.  At the top of that list is always that someone will hurt my children.  We all want to protect our children in any way we can.  One of the tricks I use is that we don't have secrets in our family.  I've taught my 5 and 8 year old that we don't keep secrets, only surprises.  I've explained that a surprise is something that you will eventually tell the person and is NEVER bad.  If someone tells them "Don't tell, it's a secret" they know that they should probably tell us right away.  The hardest part is actually reassuring them, and following through on, the fact that they will never get in trouble for telling a "secret".  I've made it clear to my 8 year old that if he did something wrong he may get in trouble for it, but never for actually telling me something.  I think my 5 year old may still be too young for that concept.

So far I feel we have had great success with our "No Secrets" rule.  We were recently able to see it in action after the kids spent the night and day with a family member.  I was curious why Noelle had diarrhea all morning the day after she came home and was asking her what she had eaten.  Adam fessed up that they had a LOT of soda but were told it was a secret and not to tell.  I used this as a teachable moment and asked Noelle if she thought is was a good decision to drink 3+ sodas, when she rarely gets a partial one and even more rarely with caffeine, even though they were available and she was told she could.  I also used it to talk again with the kids about the rule and reaffirm that Adam did the right thing by telling us.

Fortunately this was an "easy" secret to deal with as a parent.  Adam fessed up, we talked, it got dropped.  I hope to never have anything worse happen that falls under our "No Secrets" rule, but at least I feel secure in that I have taught my children that I will be here for them anytime they need to tell me a "secret".

This post was inspired by the mystery thriller novel The Expats by Chris Pavone. Kate Moore happily sheds her old life to become a stay at home mom when her husband takes a job in Europe. As she attempts to reinvent herself, she ends up chasing her evasive husband's secrets. Join From Left to Write on January 22 as we discuss The Expats. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

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It's a perfect day for sledding down the street on a sheet of ice.

Our neighbors are out of town and due to return tomorrow.  I went out in the freezing air to shovel their driveway since I don't want one of them falling and getting hurt.  (They are about my parents age.)  Since the sun will hit the driveway all morning tomorrow I am hoping it will dry up all the way before they get home.  The driveway is also steeper than mine, which means if it is icy it would be next to impossible to get up it.

The kids wanted to come out to play as well.  They sled down the driveway a few times and it worked, but it's kinda short.  I suggested they go to the top of the street and try that.  It wasn't all that great on their own, BUT once I went up and gave them a nice pull to start them off it was perfect.  We had fun for the 10-15 minutes we could stay out.  It's COLD outside!!  Now the kids are watching a movie with Justin and I'm relaxing for a few minutes.  We are being rewarded with some hot chocolate too!

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Intently watching the Bronco game.

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I've finally solved the baby bang problem.  Also, I LOVE pig tails on babies!!

10/365

Went shopping...ONLY bought baby stuff.  I'm such a Mom.

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Lily loves this teething necklace at work.  She puts it on and takes it off all day.  She'll put it on when I get her up from nap and then I'll take it off her when I put her down for the next nap or it's time to go home.  It's so sweet and cute!  I'm kinda excited that she already seems more fitly than Noelle (or me).

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I happened to look out the back door and the field was COVERED in geese.  This picture doesn't do them justice.

Also, look at those beautiful snow capped mountains!!

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Shadow

Skating Fun

Adam and Noelle received free passes to a local skating rink before the winter break.  Even though they really wanted to go and I wanted to take them I kept putting it off.  I couldn't figure out the logistics of taking care of Lily and helping the kids.  They were able to convince me today that they could be out there alone so we went for it.  They actually did really well!

They cleared the rink RIGHT when they were ready to go, so here they are waiting.

They were glued to the wall for about the first 45 minutes.  I kept trying to convince them that the best way to learn was to get AWAY from the wall and concentrate on staying up and moving forward.  

Once they both let go they did great!  I was very proud of them for sticking it out through all the falls. and they were plentiful!

Way to go Noelle!!  She has a lot more confidence than Adam when it comes to this type of thing. 

Lily chose today, as if she can control such things, to start cutting her bottom teeth.  Poor Little Bug!  Booming music/bass combined with jaw and ear pain wasn't helping her feel any better.  She was a trooper though and hung on through it.  She was often covering her ears when I looked at her though.  :( 

We all had a good time.  Adam learned to never wear ankle socks rolling skating though, LOL!  He only owns such since it is what he prefers and it never occurred to me to tell him to grab some of Noelle's socks.  Live and learn, right?!  I want to take them back this weekend so we can all get on the ice.  We have 4 passes left and J and I can trade off with Lily.  Although J can't skate, so maybe we'll just leave him on the sidelines with Lily the whole time and he can take embarrassing pictures of me making a fool of myself on the rink.

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Rolling skating for the second time!

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Yes, Mom, I'm cute and adorable in my new hooded robe and you really want a picture for Grandpa.  Seriously though, it's cold in here and I'm all wet...PUT SOME CLOTHES ON ME!

Lily is 11 Months!

AHHHH!!!  I can't believe she keeps getting older.  I'm still working on that stop growing up thing with her, but she just won't do it!  My sweet little bug is already 11 months old.  :(

Here's what she's up to now:

She is *almost* out of the 9 month Carter's clothing.  The pants are mostly fine, but onesies are getting short all around.  I'm moving her to 12 month pj's right now.

She throws tantrums, oh yes she does.  It's still pretty laughable at this point.  It's usually over not being allowed to touch my laptop or not getting her morning bottle in her mouth fast enough.  She will literally fall off my lap when I am trying to get her positioned.  LOL!

She is still wearing shoes that are made to fit about a 3-6 month old.  I'm not even sure they are a size 1, maybe a 0?  The kid has tiny feet.

She is taking 4 bottles of formula a day.  Dairy even!  The first of my kids to manage that.  She'll drink 5-6.8 ounces usually each time.  That 4th one is given to her about 10pm though, so I need to stop that about her first birthday.  I don't want to create a habit that she starts waking up on her own for.

She lays on the boppy style pillow and feeds herself the 2nd and 3rd bottles!  Neither of my other kids were ever willing to hold their own bottle.

She is eating a fully solid food diet, no baby food except the occasional pouch.  This was actually the key to finally get her to eat.  She never did like that pureed food crap.  She takes yogurt and applesauce off a spoon still, and I'm trying to get her to finish the tiny bit of Rice Cereal we have left.

On the subject of food...she LOVES veggies, especially green ones.  But just try to get her to eat fruit.  Nope, not going to happen.  Except, natural applesauce.  Actually, that's partially a lie.  She won't eat canned fruit, but seems to like the fresh stuff.  She won't touch a canned mandarin orange, but likes it when I take the skin layer off a cutie and give her just the flesh inside.  I'm *this* close to just giving her a veggie at breakfast instead of offering the fruit she never eats anymore.  

Still no teeth.  Honestly, what is up with that?  Adam cut a tooth at 8 months and Noelle at 9 months.  The whole "I only eat solid foods" thing would be a heck of a lot easier if she would get some dang teeth!

She still LOVES our dog Shadow.  She gets so excited when he follows me into her room every morning.  It's awesome!  She pulls up on him to stand, tugs at his mouth, pats him...he is so good with her.

For the most part she enjoys her Sissy (Noelle) and Bubby (Adam).  She lights up when she sees them, but does get annoyed if they are moving her around too much.

She just started sharing a room with Noelle on Sunday.  So far it's iffy.  She is just so social and wants to talk and play with Noelle all night.  Stinker!!

Pictures!!  This is SO hard now that she is so mobile and can flip and be off in a split second.  We have managed to take them every month, even though they haven't always been on time.

She REALLY didn't want any part of a photo shoot.

This is the best I managed with the ladybug cape and hat.  BRAT!

Happy 11 Months Lily Bug!

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My Sweet Lily Bug

11 months old

1/365

Lily and Noelle are watching Adam play Skylanders Giants.

It appears to be REALLY interesting to watch.

So I think I only made it through about half or a little more of last year.  I want to try again!!  LOL!  BTW - My phone doesn't support Instagram.  It's over 2 years old and I really want to upgrade, but woe is me, I must buy diapers, wipes, food...the essentials.  My pictures are all taken with my Samsung Vibrant or my Digital Canon.  Nothing flashy here!