Jesse Has Found His Toes and His Voice

Brief news on Jesse ...

He found his toes (and his feet)!!!  He loves to play with his toes and yes, tries to put them in his mouth.  Socks are good, too.  He also puts those in his mouth.  So cute!  I forgot about the milestone of finding the toes.  : )

And his voice!!  For the last few days, Jesse has been screaming - a lot.  Happy screams, but shrill repetitive screaming nonetheless.  I think he's really excited to hear himself making noises, so it's fun ... most of the time.

And some pictures too ...

I love these, even though they are blurry.  It's like in the first one I caught Jesse hugging his little lion, and then in the next one he's embarrassed about it. ; )

 And here Jesse got into the bag of trash I was collecting while packing ...

 A cowboy already

I wonder what's in there?

 I finally caught the pouty lip!  I felt bad taking a picture while my child was crying, but I so wanted a picture of the pouty lip.  

And Papa on the couch with his babies. :)

Banana Muffins in my Mouth

Funny story:

Esther and I were making banana muffins this morning.  Well, she was eating one and I was putting the second dozen in the oven.  And I was trying to keep up a conversation with her.

I asked:  "What is your favorite animal?"
She didn't answer, so I started naming every animal I could think of ... "cat, dog, elephant, zebra, monkey, etc."
Finally, I asked again, "Esther, which one is your favorite?"
She said, "I can't talk.  I have banana muffin in my mouth."
Thanks, Tyler, for teaching our daughter manners!  Oops to me for trying to ruin them!

Another funny conversation:

Esther:  "I want to go to new house after I eat."
Me:  "We have to find it first.  We don't know where it is.  Isn't that funny?"
Esther:  "Not funny."
Exactly how I feel, pretty girl!  : )

So here is the banana muffin recipe.  I love these muffins, and have made them tons of different ways.  Here is the basic recipe from food.com:

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas (or 2 bananas and 1 grated apple)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 350.
2. 2
   Combine bananas, oil, sugar, vanilla and egg in a large bowl, and mix well.
3. 3
   Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. 4
   Add flour mixture to banana mixture, mixing until just blended.
5. 5
   (ignore lumps) Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full.
6. 6
   Bake 20 minutes.
7. 7
   This recipe doubles easily.
   
   
   For my favorite sweet version, I use white chocolate chips and brown sugar.  For a healthier muffin, I use honey and/or applesauce and leave out sugar and chocolate chips altogether. I've also used whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour. I'm sure you could add nuts, although I don't.  I've also added strawberries and blueberries.  Hope you like it!  Esther absolutely loves these muffins.  

Esther's Latest

Here is the latest news for our Queen Esther...

Esther loves going to church, and she is learning in her class that Jesus is in her heart.  This is precious - even more so when she points to her belly button when she says this!!  Apparently, her heart is in her belly button.  : )

Esther is still loving on her little brother.  Sometimes she talks baby-talk to him...which makes me wonder where she learned how to do that ... and I regret it is probably me!

We have been packing our apartment lately, knowing we are moving somewhere even if we don't know where that is yet.  Esther is enjoying "helping Mama pack," including packing herself in the tubs!  She likes the idea of a "new house" ... so do I, and I hope we get that part figured out soon.  

Esther sure loves her ice cream!!  All sweets, really, but ice cream seems to be her favorite.  If we give her a choice between ice cream and any other sweet, she picks ice cream every time.  Hmmm, I wonder where she got that one ... ;)

We recently went to Mr. Gatti's pizza buffet/arcade (think Chuck E. Cheese) with some friends.  Esther loved playing in the Playland, trying the arcade games, and she loved the little trinket toys purchased with the tickets.  She was even too excited about playing to eat her pizza!

Here is Esther playing with Jesse.  They are playing with a toy drum that sings ABC's, counts, and makes music when you hit it.  I picked it up for free at a yard sale (just add batteries!).  Esther was playing with it and then suddenly wanted to go share it with Jesse!  So sweet!  She really is good at sharing (most of the time).  As a side note, the dress she is wearing is her current favorite thing to wear.  She almost always picks it if it is clean.  I think it's because that is the only piece of clothing she can put on and take off completely by herself -- and doing it "all by self" is a big thing nowadays!

Esther just about has the alphabet song down.  For some reason, she often leaves out "t-u-v" but gets the other ones right.  For a long time she just wasn't interested in singing the song so I am really excited about this!

Here is a picture of an apple that Esther drew on her little Doodle.  I drew an apple first, then she drew this one all by herself!  Quite impressive, isn't it???

And I will include a quick addition to the latest Jesse update ...
Jesse seems to already be starting some fit throwing!  Lately, if he has a toy that he's holding/chewing on, and if he drops it ... watch out!  He fusses majorly until he gets the toy back.  Can I possibly blame this on teething?  Well, no teeth yet so we'll see ...

Dress-Up

We took a break from packing to try on a couple of pretty dresses that Esther hasn't actually worn anywhere yet.  Then we went outside for a mini-photo shoot!  I'm no photographer, but my little girl sure is beautiful ...

Jesse Tyler, Five Months

A couple of days ago (August 3) was Jesse's five-month birthday!  So here's the latest for our little man ...

Jesse loves his bouncer chair!  He could sit in that thing and bounce himself for a very long time if we left him alone.  He is still a happy, easy-going baby and pretty content with sitting or playing by himself - although he loves to have attention, too.  He smiles and laughs when someone talks to him or plays with him.

In the last few weeks, Jesse has really gotten excited about his sister Esther.  He loves it when she talks to him  or tries to tickle him or blow raspberries on his belly.  He likes to watch her playing or listen to her talking.  I can see the start of a great sibling relationship!!

He is also getting stronger.  He can't sit up all by himself yet but he can stay up for a little longer before he tilts over to one side.  And he is definitely getting closer to crawling.  If he could just get that little tummy off the ground, he could take off.  I wonder if he'll actually crawl before he can sit up!  We also bought him cute little Nike tennis shoes to encourage him to put some weight on his legs when we hold him in a standing position.  I think one of those jumpers is on the list for him soon ...

Jesse also loves to play with his little toys.  He likes to hold everything and of course, put it in his mouth!  He seems curious about anything he can grab onto.  A few days ago, he was playing on the floor and a newspaper was sitting nearby.  Well, he got that paper and stuck it in his mouth.  I took it away and scooted him over, but a few minutes later he had maneuvered back to the paper and had it right back in his mouth!

He also has grown A LOT in the last few weeks, and it's all in his length.  I think he's just about at 27 inches now, and he was only 20 inches when he was born.  He's so long that the 9 month onesies now fit the best.  The 3-6 month size had to go!  And he looks almost too long for his infant car seat.  I think Esther was in an infant seat until she was about a year old.  : )

And here are the official month-day pictures.  We got a few good ones, and I love the outfit he is wearing, although it is just about too small ... we love you, Jesse!

And a special shout-out to Tyler ... today is his Half Birthday!  Happy Half Birthday, sweetheart!

My Birthday!

My 28th birthday was last Tuesday (July 26).  Here's how we celebrated:

Tyler threw me a party with the four of us at home.  That was exactly what I wanted!  He went all out with balloons, streamers, signs, birthday plates, cups and napkins, hats, noise makers, confetti ... the works!!

Jesse's first time sitting in the high chair!

Tyler bought Chocolate Spoon Cake from McAlister's deli, also exactly what I wanted.  I saw it on the menu a few weeks ago and was reminded of the Chocolate Lovin' Spoon Cake at Macado's ... yum!  He also bought HEB Churn Style Cookies and Cream ice cream.  Also my current favorite.  : )

Esther loving that cake.

We thought Jesse may have felt left out, so we gave him a little bite of ice cream ...

but he didn't really know what to do with it.

But Esther sure knew!

Our family ... what a great birthday!!