Updates from the Homefront

No news is good news, right? Things around here have been pretty smooth sailing, especially thanks to some new changes in routine that we started. Until last week whenever the boys had their afternoon Wii time they would play together. Then it would usually end in annoying each other, and annoying each other the rest of the afternoon too. They had brother bonding overload. One day early last week we decided to do separate Wii playing time. Joey played for an hour first while Ben and I finished up school. Then Ben went down to play for an hour, Joey came up and we played board games and read books. Ultimately, it meant 2 hours that they were apart. In the late afternoon they were happy to reunite and be together without issue. We've been doing that now since last week and it's really really brought some peace to the household.

Like I mentioned in the last post, on Monday we started using a system of tickets for the boys to have screen time. They have a set number of minutes they are allowed per week and can use them at their discretion. But they have to budget for the whole week too. While we're sitting pretty here on Wednesday, it'll be interesting to see where we're at come Friday!

Hannah is coming right along. New developments are some babble syllables that are intentional, like she's really talking. Her common "words" are goke, tssst, and dahd. She's pulling up (and consequently falling down) a lot now. She hasn't started cruising the furniture yet, but it's probably not too far out. She also finally figured out how to crawl on her hands and knees too; she's been an army crawler for a few months now. She claps on command and often copies when we wave to her. And, she's cut one of her top front teeth and the other one is right behind. Her teething is evident but hasn't been too bad - she fusses at nap/bedtime more, has a runny nose, and wants Mommy a lot. Now we get to look forward to her birthday in just a bit over a month! I had a lot of fun browsing Amazon's toy department for present ideas.

Anywho, here are a smattering of random (like really random) pictures over the last two weeks.

I went to Aldi and Hannah had the best time unpacking bags for me. She especially enjoyed gnawing on this cold yogurt cup.

Random organizing help... we bought a giant case of wipes from Sam's Club and I turned the box into storage for large pans in the cabinet. It is the perfect size! I covered it in contact paper and now it is much less chaotic in that cabinet. No more leaning towers of aluminum and glass waiting to crash to the floor at the slightest nudge.

We got rid of DirecTV to save money and because that much tv just is not necessary. Andrew, my live-in I.T. guy, went on the roof to mess with the giant antenna to get better reception on the major networks that should be coming in clearly. He wasn't able to fix on this trip up it because the wiring pretty old, but he still has options after he does a bit more research.

Hannah's piano time. I love when she sits on her knees and her little feet are together under her tush. It makes her look so old. Love love love little baby sock feet!!!!!

Fuzzy picture, but she's on all fours instead of the army crawl.

After getting into the game of Life over Christmas break, the guys broke out our Star Wars Life game for the first time in awhile. It was Joey's first time playing.

Prisoner in her own home! We've got a gate on loan that keeps Hannah out of the kitchen now. She might be smiling here, but she does not like it! It's not really sturdy either so she falls down a lot after pulling up. Teaches her balance, right?!