Libby's Two!! Halloween Cuteness and More!

Hey there friends! There's a lot going on the Banta household lately...Let's recap:

Our little girl is two years old. That makes me happy and makes me sad all at the same time. As you know, Libby is a smart little girl and it's coming out in different ways as she gets older. She tries to trick us into things, she gets sneaky, she talks back and SHE tells her daddy and me NO!
One of her most famous lines right now is, "Mom. I'm supposed to...." for instance: at bedtime she says, "I'm supposed to watch Little Bear" okay fine. She gets to watch Little Bear. But when it's over she says, " Mom. I'm supposed to watch one more (as she puts her finger up showing me just one more). Or this morning after trick-or-treating last night: "Mom. I'm supposed to have candy for my breakfast." So I let her have one piece. Then she says, "Mom. I'm supposed to have one more piece."
I'm not sure who's telling her she's supposed to do these things, but that person is wrong 9 times out of 10 :)

Her birthday party was super-great! Thanks to everyone who came and those of you who sent gifts/cards and those who came early to celebrate. Although now she's going to assume that her birthday is a week long every year! She doesn't forget anything. She got tons of great stuff that she is utilizing everyday. The attention span of a two year old is about as long as my pinkie finger, so she plays with a lot of different things throughout the day. She's staying warm and cozy and cute in her new coat and hat from Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike. She banked some more money from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Den and Morgan and Nate with her new piggy bank and more money from Great Grandma Hopp! She's got Sesame Street friends to play with and  and a new book to read from Opa and Oma. She's been busy making coffee for me and Josh and Silas with her teapot set from Grandma Fran and Papa Lou. She's learning to blog just like mommy on her laptop from Brandon and Teri. And hopefully learning a great life-lesson from the Veggie Tale movie from Great Grandma Miller! And mom, dad and brother got her a tent and a new camera that takes lots of pictures of the floor:)
She is loved, huh?!

Today is Silas' 7 month birthday!!! He is doing so great. A little attached to mama right now, but I don't always mind that ;) He's been up on his hands and knees for over a month now but he's stubborn and just won't go! He's got reverse down but I guess he wants to be stubborn and lazy and be carried around. He actually does get around pretty good when he wants to. He scoots (kinda sideways or backwards) and rolls across the room and usually ends up where he intends. We are thinking he might just skip crawling and go straight to standing and walking. He pulls himself up onto his knees and will stand if you hold his hands or put him up to the furniture. And he's very happy when he is up and can see the world! He's starting to chatter a lot. He grunts and says dada and he laughs and laughs (mostly at his big sis - he thinks she's the cat's meow)!
We're starting to get into more advanced foods. He loves graham crackers and animal crackers and cheerios and puffs. He is a good little chomper especially since he still doesn't have any teeth! That's not totally true - He did cut his first one last week, but it's just barely through. The 2nd one on the bottom is working it's way out now!

They are both such great kids and they are so very different. Libby is super sweet when she wants to be and super independent. Silas is happy-go-lucky, silly and a little needy. They love each other so much. Libby is working on sharing with him and she will sometimes play with him- it's getting more frequent as they get older. I will post a video that makes me so happy. The two of them playing and laughing. It melts my heart and I could watch it over and over again.

Halloween was last night and we went to our church for Trunk or Treat. People from the church decorated their trunks and set up little games for the kids to play and then gave candy out. Josh's cousin Tammy and her daughter Lexi came with us since Josh was out of town and they were staying at our house. Libby did SO good! She said thank you to everyone and she played a couple games. She loved filling her bucket with candy. Silas just strolled along in the stroller looking cute in his costume. We had a ballerina and a bumblebee and they were the cutest little ones I ever saw! Oma made the tutu and I made the bumblebee costume!

We had pictures done at the botanical center for Libby's 2 year and Silas' 6 month pictures. They turned out super-cute! Now I need to get some printed and hung in my house. Poor Silas only has 1 picture of him and Libby's are all a year old! Some mom I am, huh?!

Everything is just fun right now. Even with tantrums and backtalk and packing around a 21 pound baby while I make dinner or go to the bathroom just so he's happy.... all that and it's still so much fun!
See for yourself:

 

Before Haircut

After!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beans and Poop - Major Strides!

We have been having some major breakthroughs in the Banta household! I know you are probably dying to find out what those are because the post title is so intriguing, right?!

Let's start with Little Man: He began his real food journey this week and he is a super-star! His first meal is grean beans - fresh from Oma and Opa's garden. I remember Libby taking her first bite of food and she just wasn't sure about it. Well not her little bro - he loved it from the first bite. He ate it like he had been eating beans his whole life :) He gets super-duper excited when he gets in the high chair and even more excited when he sees his little bowl approaching the table. It's so cute - he wiggles and pants and his eyebrows go up...it's hilarious!
He's really getting the hang of sitting up on his own, too. Yesterday afternoon I took them in the backyard to play. He sat in the rocks all by himself, scooping them in his hands and shuffling his feet in them. We were all plenty dirty when it was time to go inside ;)
He's also working on getting up on his hands and knees. He is SO close - just needs to have some good flooring underneath him - he tries to get up on the hardwoods and ends up sliding backwards.
Silas is such a fun little guy. He's always happy and smiling and really easy-going. He's starting to talk (babble) all the time...starting to make me wonder if we're going to have 2 chatterboxes on our hands?! Won't that be fun!! At the rate Libby talks, Silas will either have to talk over her or try to finish her sentences! Silas loves his sister a lot - he watches her every move and cracks up at her craziness. I try to tell him to only take in the good stuff she does, but I don't think that's happening. He's taking in every bit of her!

Libby is a ball of energy right now. She is non-stop moving and talking and dragging toys out and just being crazy! I know it's been said before, but if adults had the energy of a two-year old we would all be rail thin. It's hard to keep up with her sometimes. Which then makes her upset because in her world she should get everything she could ever want! Josh and I both try to make sure she doesn't get everything she wants, but also that we do spend time with her in her room to play or take her outside or something.
She is still learning at such a fast pace. She speaks multi-part sentences, she can count to ten, she sings rock-a-bye-baby and patty-cake. She can sing her ABCs and she knows all of her basic colors! Amazing that an almost two-year old can retain so much in her young brain! Her intelligence is really awesome, but it has it's downfalls at times as well. She gets things we hope she wouldn't get - like, she loves popsicles and has one every day when we get home from daycare. So I bought her some mini pops and she said to me, "that was little so I need another one!" And she says things like, "I'm supposed to watch Elmo right now." Supposed to? Really? I don't think so!
Her potty-training is still going really well - we are making big strides with pooping now that she's having prune juice everyday. It is helping SOSO much with her constipation and makes it much easier for her to poo on the pot - Yay Libby!
And guess what?! We traded in the crib this week for a big-girl bed!!! She loves it so much and is so proud of her new bed. We are trying not to jynx the situation but she has not crawled out of it at night and not in the morning, either. What a good little monkey :)
I know Olivia loves her little brother, but she is bound and determined to make sure he doesn't touch anything that she thinks belongs to her. She has wacked him pretty good a couple (or more) times for either touching her or one of her toys or books. Something we are working on , but she's super possesive - normal for a 2 year old, right?

So that's what's going on with us right now. I hope everything is good with you all.

Love you lots!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growing Up Fast

I was going to start this post and say something like, "Hey! Long time no speak!" or "I know it's been forever..." But that's what I always say and it's pretty obvious by now that I just don't do so well at keeping up with the blog since Little Man was born so I will just get on with the update:)

It has been a very busy couple of months...I'm only working part-time hours which is so incredibly nice. There's no getting up at 4:30 am - instead it's 5:45 (or 6 when I actually drag my butt out of bed) and we don't have to rush around in the morning to get out of the house by 6:30. Me and the kids have breakfast together every day and we watch Sesame Street (Libb's new favorite) every morning. I did say me and the kidS have breakfast every day. Silas started rice cereal and oatmeal and is loving it - the boy has an appetite! Libby on the other hand pretty much eats like a bird unless you put mac and cheese or fruit on her plate. And even then it's hit-or-miss: Love it one day, hate it the next. That's pretty much her right now. She's making her own decisions - or at least trying her best to do so. She's pushing boundaries and talking back and just being her own little independent self. In ways it's super cute and very impressive, but when she sticks her finger in your face and says "Dad, Don't tell me no!" or "Mom, don't touch me!" or "I'm gonna do it myself!" it can be quite frustrating. We do our best to let her make her own decisions and learn to do things herself but there are definately times when she needs some guidance.
She is doing such an amazing job with pottying! She wears big girl panties all day except at naptime/bedtime. She still has little accidents here and there, but she's doing super super good! We are very proud of her progress.
Silas is doing great - he's a little laugher. Alway a happy little guy he is and he's got a really great smile! He's been rolling over for a while now and now is able to push himself up on his hands so his elbows are locked and his head is high so he can see all around the room. We are also working on sitting up unassisted and I don't think it will be long before he has this mastered.
He eats everything - no joke - everything he can get his hands on and if he doesn't have anything to hold? Well he just chews on his hands! He's so so so slobbery - soaks his shirts so much he pretty much needs to wear a bib all the time. Libby doesn't like his slobbering. She tattles on him and says "Siley drooled on my carpet! Eeeew!"
Gosh, this post seems like there's nothing going on, but really there is so much it's almost impossible to write it all.
Maybe I'll just post the pics and videos and you can witness some of the fun we've been having!