Happy New Year a week late!

We have been enjoying playing with all of our new Christmas toys.

Before the new year we said good-bye to Aunt Natasha. She is a Marine and will be stationed in Japan for the next two years. She gets to join her older brother too. We are happy they are stationed together!

 

Anthony has been out of town the past few weeks, but we have been able to enjoy long weekends due to the Holidays. We didn't do anything grand for New Years. In fact Anthony and I were asleep by 10:30. The kids had been on a weird schedule and getting up very early so we were exhausted. I think we were averaging 4-5 hours a night all said and done. Needless to say I am happy they are back to sleeping somewhat normal.

As you all are aware we had 2 months of straight sickness in our house so with the new year I had some goals. Those goals included keeping the kids healthier and avoiding being sick all the time. I took off so much work plus we were all cranky and tired from lack of sleep or not feeling well. 

One of the things I started as far as spending more time with the kids at night and also hoping to keep them from getting sick was daily evening massages and essential oils. I have used essential oils at times for myself but I knew there were other options. Regardless of whether they worked or not to me it was helping the kids relax before bed too and I knew it could not hurt anything. A wonderful Photog friend who thinks a lot like I do natural wise happened to write a blog post right around the time I was beginning to think about essential oils so it came in handy. You can read her post here. On a complete side note she is one amazing photographer. She has a very lifestyle approach and I love it. If I lived closer I would hire her for birth photography as she captures some of the most wonderful moments. 

Before I got my oils I made some of my own lotion. In the winter I have the worst dry skin. I have had it since I was a child and I wake up with nail marks all over my legs sometimes bleeding from scratching. I got some local beeswax and decided to do something with it. This was the end result.

 

It is all natural too. I think if the kids ate it they would be just fine....my kids like to eat lotion. I know weird. Ingredients are coconut oil, olive oil and beeswax. 

So every night I massage them with this and then they get On Guard Oil put on their feet even Ari. We have only been doing it since the beginning of the year but the year, but it has become routine. One night I got busy and we skipped it before bed time. Eli woke up in the middle of the night and came upstairs and asked me to to do it. They smell wonderful and so far we have not gotten sick. That is not saying much as maybe we have had everything but I do know the flu is going around really bad. Here is to hoping it helps.  I have to say I am in love with this lotion too. It is a little greasy but I do not have the dry skin anymore.

 

 

Ari also turned 6 months right before the New Year. He is a hoot. 

 

As you can tell he loves his toes! He also loves this ball toy that he got for Christmas. Although Lilliana and Eli love it too. For some reason even though it is a baby toy it is the popular toy in the house. They cart it everywhere if I don't insist they leave it for Ari. The balls pop in the center and also roll out of the alligators mouth. 

 

Both Eli and Lilliana have been ready for solids at 6 months or even before. Ari really is not ready. I am doing a different approach with him after learning more, no grains for him. He also does not get dairy as he has an intolerance to it.  Also instead of spoon feeding we will just be doing Baby Lead weaning. I let him have an avacodo this weekend. He liked the taste but didn't do great with eating. He still has the suck swallow reflex and really does not sit up the best on his own. He would rather be on the move even though we work on it everyday. 

 

While taking pictures of him. Lilliana said, "Picture of me please?!" I love that little girl. So of course I took her picture and then Eli wanted one. 

 

Ari has been getting around very well these past couple weeks with a combination of army crawl, lunge, and rolling. Well today he finally started actually crawling on all fours much to his brother's dismay. Eli has to watch out for everything. They love playing with each other so it helps. Eli is a wonderful big brother and for the most part is very patient with Lilliana and Ari. 

  

 Lilliana has become my shadow. She follows me around most days and wants to be me. Most of the time I love it. Sometimes I get annoyed, but I can count on her to help with anything including doing dishes. Today as I was doing laundry she opened the dishwasher on her own and put all the silverware in the drawer. Now it was just thrown in but she knows the drill. Anthony came in and helped her organize it. She also mopped my kitchen floor. She loves to help and walks around saying, "helping, helping, helping." 

She is a silly girl and likes to make you laugh. We have been making her hair funny looking lately. She has this habit of smearing applesauce, honey, or yogurt in her hair and on her skin so we can stick it straight up in the air or she needs a bath at the end of the night because I am not washing it after every meal unless we go out. I know I admitted she walks around with dirty hair. I do wash it I promise. 

 

Uncle Jake and Aunt Holli sent us a package of great games for Christmas. Needless to say we play some sort of game everyday and the kids love it. The past few days the Dominos have been a hit. Eli of course wants to play with them after we play the game. They each have their own set too so that helps. He makes his into trains, or they are blocks that the dump trucks move. One day they were popcorn or gold. Needless to say they keep him entertained.

 

 I have not done an Embrace the Camera picture for a couple weeks as life has been a little out of the normal for us. So here it is. In my tired I need to get a shower mom look stage. I was holding Ari. Eli decided to join us and play. Well Lilliana could not be left out and had to get in my lap too. You don't see it but at at the bottom of the chair is a stool. Lilliana carts it everywhere. Honestly, I want to burn the thing. It is how she got up. It is also her gateway to naughtiness aka things she can't reach but thinks she needs. These things include, makeup, markers, homeschool things, phones, tablets, glue the list goes on................One day I will laugh but as of late I don't laugh. Regardless of how I look I am glad Anthony grabbed a picture of us all smooshed together in the chair. I love them. Take the time to take photos of yourself with your loved ones. It is so important!