When Babies Attack!

Monday-Friday, I babysit a 5 month old named Hazel. Ben and Emily just adore her and love to "play" with her. Poor Hazel! She's always getting picked on by Emily. Emily loves to crawl all over her, pull her hair, poke and scratch her. She's not trying to be mean, she just doesn't understand the finer points of play-dates yet! Normally, I can put Hazel in her carseat/bouncer/Bumbo(anything raised above Milly-Level) and she'll be fine. Since Emily learned to pull-up, though, Hazel's not safe unless she's off the floor! Here's my little bruiser, attacking, er-playing with Hazel.

Best Buddies

Ben and Emily are really starting to enjoy each other! They have their own little games and it's so fun to watch them play together. One game they play is called "My YaYa(pacifier)!". They sit across from each other and Emily grabs Ben's pacifier from his mouth and puts it in hers. He yells, "My YaYa!" and grabs it back. Hilarity insues and the game continues! Another game they play is " No Door, Baby!". Milly sits by the pocket-door and Ben gentle opens it until she can reach it. She pushes it closed and Ben playfully scolds her, telling her "No, door, baby!". They dissolve into giggles and the game starts over. Here's a few pictures after a rousing game of "No Door, Baby!". I couldn't catch them on video....yet=)

Kisses!

Emily always wants to touch her brother. Ben is a good sport most of the time. Not always, mind you.

More kisses!

Benny The Cheese-Mouse

Benjamin L-O-V-E-S cheese. Do NOT leave the brick out where he can get it. If you do, he'll help himself and you'll be left with a block of cheese, minus all the little mousie bites he'll surely take from it!

More Standing!

There's Something About Milly

A Fine, Upstanding Girl!

My baby is growing up too fast! Here she is STANDING on her own=( I can't believe she can do this already! She's almost crawling, too. Today, she crawled a few "crawls"(?) towards Ben's sandwich and learned how to get back into a sitting position from laying down. Every day it's something new!

"Look, Ma! One hand!"

Doesn't she look so cute and smug?

"Whaddya want? You never saw a baby standing before?!"

She L-O-V-E loves this toy of hers=)

She's so sweet and chubby! Look at those gorgeous stems of hers!

Whaaaaa=( How do I make her stop growing so fast?

Party In My Crib!

Ben and Milly LOVE to play together in her crib. They just crawl around and laugh hysterically. It's the CUTEST thing. It's a great chance for me to fold laundry, pick up the bedroom or just put my feet up and relax for a bit! I love watching them "play" together=)

Mmmm....Peanut Butter

If you leave the peanut butter down where Ben can reach it, he will help himself. If there's no spoon handy, he'll improvise. This kid is CRAZY for peanut butter!

Cool Baby

Last night, Ben woke up shortly after going to sleep. When Dan went to get him from his room, he found Ben like this. He had his beloved Softie Pants slung around his neck, his sister's "cool babies" on his eyes, 3 toothbrushes, his cup and his phone. Yes, he often brings that much crap to bed with him! He also has to give the cat a kiss before he goes to sleep. Aren't toddlers funny?!

Ruby And Ben

First, the back story! For those that don't know, my mom and her best friend Mary A. have been BFFs for the past 27 years. Mary has 3 daughters, Colleen, Candace and Sheila. My brother and I were practically raised with Colleen and Candace and they are my first and oldest friends! Colleen's daughter, Ruby, is 9 months younger than Ben and too cute! She and Ben have played together only a few times since Ruby and her parents live in SoCal. But when they get together, they have lots of fun. Ruby already knows how to handle boys! She was either trying to hug and kiss Ben or she was smacking him;) He didn't seem to mind either! Too bad she has to wait until he's 40!
Ben and Ruby sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

"Wait! Come back here, Ben!"

"Come on, Ben. I said I was sorry!"

"Nice hands, Ruby! Nice hands to Ben"

Mimi and her babies

Emily and Ben love their grandma so much! Whenever we go to her house, we have so much fun. Here's the babies getting some Mimi-Snuggles!

Emmy loves Nina!

My cousin Maureen is Ben's God Mother. She goes by Nina, which is spanish for that? Who knows. Anyway, they both just adore her. Usually Ben swoops up all her time and attention

but Emily was able to get some one-on-one time with her!

Best Buddies--for the moment!

I was able to catch the two of them playing nicely the other night. Ben has been having a hard time sharing toys lately. He doesn't really like the idea that some toys are his sisters and he HAS to share with her. Sometimes he hits Emily, sometimes he hits the toy, sometimes he hits me... Anyway, here they are playing together! These are the moments that make having two little ones SO worth it=)

"Hey, brother. Wanna play with me?"

"Ok, here's what you do--touch this, mouth that and spin this"

"Wait a minute! It's my turn!"

"OMG, this is SO much fun, Milly!"

The Excersaucer!

Emily will not tolerate me leaving the room to go into the kitchen. She gets VERY upset when I disappear around the corner and cries until I come back. What's a mom to do? Enter the Excersaucer! What a fab invention. A safe, fun place to stash your baby while you do something as selfish as make food for yourself! Emily really loves to play in her excersaucer, thank God.