"Best Tall Tower Ever Seen"

So this is what Micah is up to these days, building lots of tall towers. His goal is to make it the biggest yet. One benefit of this independent stage he is in is lots of independent playing. Combine that with an ever increasing attention span, and he will build towers for at least 30 minutes three times a day. This is happening at a very beneficial time because it has been so rainy here, and Owen is entering into the not so independent phase. He now wants to see the world (with me holding him of course; he needs to be sure to catch a glimpse of everything on the counters too!) Those of you with babies know what I mean: fuss, fuss, I pick him up, laughs and smiles, then catches a glimpse of something he wants, lean, lean to try to reach it, I tell him no! no!, my back starts to hurt, I put him down, fuss, fuss. He is trying to pull up on things now, so time to lower the crib mattress! Every time he is on his belly, he is one step closer to crawling. Last night he started doing that rock back and forth thing, and Matt and I exchanged glances that said "uh oh," and I proceeded to quickly flip him back over. I promise I don't want to hold my children back, but right now is not a good time for him to become mobile. We are going to be doing some traveling for Christmas, and it will be so much easier not to have to worry about him hurting himself in an non-childproofed home. Also, I know he will go straight for the Christmas tree. I am just not up for the challenge of disciplining an 8 month old right now. Just let us get through the holidays, Owen, and then you can have at it. Grammy and Gramps are getting a large coral for him to play in downstairs so that I can hopefully keep my sanity (the stairs, hard floors, and newly crawling infants are not a good combination.)

I have officially banned any more holiday shopping. Oh my goodness, it is a mad house out there. I stocked up on groceries yesterday, and hopefully, I will only have to make one more quick run before the big day. I am constantly astounded by the cost of groceries these days. I spend $200 and realize when I get home that I forgot a few items. I guess I am feeding four people breakfast, lunch, and dinner (plus snacks for the boys.) And, for those of you who know me, I insist on buying tons of fresh produce (very pricey); but the health benefits are invaluable. We are loving our healthy meals though! Some of our favorite fall produce: Clementines (for those of you with a Publix, they are on sale now for $4 a box), pomegranates (you have to work for it, but Micah thinks the seeds are candy and you can't beat that), pears (I like the red Bartlett ones best), avocados (these are currently Owen's favorite), and root veggies (butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, shallots, onions). Just throw them in a pan with some olive oil, S&P, Italian seasoning, a little honey, and roast for 30 min. on 450. They are very good, even better the next day for lunch. Owen has almost banned baby food. He has never really liked it. Micah always ate everything with little complaining and is still a great eater, so this resistance from Owen has been a little disheartening. Our whole family loves all kinds of foods here, and I just don't think I would be very sympathetic to a picky eater. However, lately my fears have been absolved. I think he has been wanting some texture; he wants to mash the food with his gums. So we are on to some table foods. He loves peas, crackers, bananas, avocados, and today I discovered he likes raisins. It is just as well, since baby food is almost $1 a jar.