Every child is different.

Everyone says that every child is different. This is very true. Simeon and Crimson have their little differences, but Eliana is totally different from both of them.
Simeon didn't like tummy time at first. Not until he learned that it lead to rolling over. Which lead to being able to go somewhere and grab things. Crimson was about the same. Eliana loves tummy time. The only time she doesn't like it when she's hungry or just wants to be held.
Simeon and Crimson both had the normal reaction when they were fed their first solid food. A reaction of "What is this?" Eliana's reaction was more like "What is this wonderful stuff you are putting in my mouth!? I want more!"
Simeon and Crimson both took pacifiers. Eliana probably would have taken one if I was consistant with it. Right now though she is in love with her fingers. She sucks on them like I was told her Aunt Bekky did. The two middle fingers. Of course sometimes she just can't get enough and tries to put all of her fingers from both hands in there.
Simeon has been a daddy's boy from the day he was born. I remember they had him in his little bassinet thingy right after he was born and he was crying. As soon as Jarrod started talking to him he stopped crying. Jarrod would stay up late and hold Simeon while I got some sleep. They have a father-son bond that I love to witness. Crimson was a bit of a mommy's girl until she realized how much fun Daddy is. She has her "Mommy moments", but is still a Daddy's girl. Eliana? Eliana has this strange idea that Mommy is the only one that can comfort her. Mommy is the only one that she needs. I could give Simeon and Crimson to Jarrod when they were infants and be able to take a shower, cook dinner, clean, or just sit by myself with no problems. Not so with Eliana. I have to admit that she is getting better at it. She is learning that Daddy is funny and snuggly.
Simeon slept with us until I think he was four or five months old. We just wanted our bed back. He adjusted well. He liked to sleep on his side so that made it easier. Crimson lasted maybe one month, at the most, in our bed before we kicked her out. She adjusted well to sleeping in her crib. Eliana has recently decided, or so it seems, that she does not want to sleep with us anymore. She will wake up to be fed and then want to be put back in her bed, promptly. This is all well and good except I wasn't planning on making this transition until after our trip. Oh well. With her doing this I am able to get a better rest at night and that's good for everyone.
Simeon liked to sleep on his side. Crimson liked to sleep on her back, all sprawled out. She still sleeps like this. Jarrod said last night that she sleeps very unlady-like. Eliana will only sleep good on her tummy. It took me a while to be ok with this, because of SIDS. I would only let her sleep on her tummy for naps. But, after a week of trying to get her to sleep I've given up. She doesn't want to sleep with us and she doesn't want to sleep on her stomach. She will put herself to sleep if I put her on her tummy. If I put her on her back she will just cry for hours. There's no crying it out with this one. Another difference from Simeon and Crimson. They both began sleeping through the night after having to cry it out. It seems that Eliana has a stronger will than them.
All these differences make this an interesting adventure in parenting. We learned quickly with Simeon that parenting is like a guessing game. You finally find something that works and then it doesn't anymore. All of our experiences with Simeon prepared us with Crimson. There were little differences with them. Like, how Crimson loved to get into things. You put a box in the middle of the room and she will be digging through it in no time. Simeon would pretty much ignore it. Simeon had no interest whatesoever in learning to use the potty. Crimson just needs to learn that you go in the potty and not just sit there after you've already gone. But, everything else was pretty much the same. So, things were easier with Crimson than Simeon. With Eliana it's like a guessing game all over again. It's an adventure though. Each time we get something right we get to do a little victory dance. Not that we do. I will never admit to that.
I love having three kids. I love seeing them interact. They are each so unique and yet so similar.

I love my kids!

Last night Simeon climbed up into his bed with an armload of toys. He had a toy gun, tamborine, a stuffed car, and something else that I don't remember. It reminded me of when he was smaller. He would cry for a toy car any time he went to bed. If you gave him more than one he would line them up next to him. There were times that we would keep cars in our room in case there weren't any in his for bedtime. I am glad he's outgrown that, but it was cute. He even went to bed with a toothpick holder that's a train a couple of nights.

Crimson is a girly girl. I can't be prouder. Any time a dress or pair of shoes come in the mail she'll go, "oooohhh" and want to try it/them on. When I'm getting her dressed I'll tell her it's time to do her hair. She'll go to the bathroom, put her little stepstool in front of the mirror, and stand there while I do her hair. Sometimes I'll give her the hand mirror so she can actually see.

Eliana loves to smile. So much so that sometimes she'll smile in the middle of a cry. She's just starting to get ticklish. It's cute. She coos now too. For the first time I had to shush her more than once in church Wednesday night. Simeon and Crimson started shushing her too. Of course none of this worked. Evidentally she had something to say and was determined to do it. She has two litttle dimples right by her mouth. I call them her daddy dimples, because Jarrod has those dimples too. For the past month she has been sucking and chewing on her fingers. Sometimes it looks like she's trying to stick the whole thing in there. Here's a video of her.

Nevermind

Well, yesterday we started potty training Crimson. She went on the potty once. Twice if you count the "bean". I had hopes of scrubbing down the kitchen yesterday. But, between nursing Eliana every hour or two and making sure Crimson didn't go potty somewhere else I didn't get anything done except the dishes. So, I've decided to start the potty training all over again after our trip.

Potty Training

We are at it again. Crimson has started acting like she's ready to use the potty. she's started taking her pull-ups off whenever she uses them. Before that she would tell us when she used it. So, last night Jarrod and I bought her some training pants. In case you were wondering we didn't buy he pull-ups for potty training. We bought them because she was taking her diaper off all the time. We figured she couldn't get the pull-ups off as easily. So, right now she is sitting on her potty "reading" a book. I keep giving her some juice hoping she will go so I can make a big deal out of it. I have some jelly beans ready. And some nerds for Simeon. you can't give one candy and not the other. I'm hoping and praying this goes much smoother than it did with Simeon.

Beetles!!

There was a beetle flying around the house yesterday. He got stuck in a container that had a little bit of water in it. I was able to trap him in one of our little bug houses. And thus started what I thought would be a great lesson on beetles.

At first we looked at the beetle.

Then we looked at pictures of beetles online. I found a picture that had all sorts of beetles. I had Simeon pick out which beetle he thought looked like our beetle. He did good.

I then found a video about dung beetles. We were watching that when company came over. They weren't that interested anyway. Jarrod let the beetle go about an hour later. He felt sorry for it.

The Little Baker

Every now and then when I'm cooking Simeon will ask if he can help. I want to teach him to cook, but the thought of all the messes scares me. You may come over to my messy house and scoff at me.

I had just got done with the first phase of making two loaves of Oatmeal Bread when Simeon asked if he could help. I said sure and told him he just had to push on the bread.

I was getting the bowl ready for the first rising. So, I didn't see anything wrong with him "kneading" it a little more. He sure had fun.

And, of course, Baby wanted to help too. I didn't get a picture of her though.

Proof that she cries

The family at the Pacific Ocean