Monday, September 14, 2009

Adventures in Indiana, Part I

We returned home last night from a week long vacation in Madison, Indiana (Ryan's home town).

Ryan and his dad spent the week fishing in Canada while the babies and I stayed with Ryan's mom and visited with the rest of his family.

I planned on doing lots of blogging and catching up on my blog reading while I was husbandless, but the second night we were there the internet and main TV at Ryan's parent's house went out and wasn't restored until the night Ryan returned home.

So, I have several stories to share from our trip and will try to make time this week (in the middle of getting ready to move) to blog about all of our Adventures in Indiana.

Today is my sister, Anna's, 24th birthday!
She told me all she wanted for her birthday was for me to update my blog,
so this blog is dedicated to Anna ;)

Luke is a pretty well behaved toddler, except for the occasional tantrum here and there. However, he is NOT a good eater.
I am baffled by this, because I LOVE to eat and always have...you should see pictures of me as a baby!

Luke was a big baby, 9 lbs at birth, and he ate like a champ until around the time he turned a year old.

I started off thinking that he was just too busy to eat, which I know is common for many on-the-go toddlers, so I just gave him things that I knew he could eat quickly like crackers, pretzels, cheese, raisins, and yogurt. Well, I think we kept him on this diet too long, and he started disliking everything else and not wanting to try new things.

Over the past couple of months Ryan and I have battled with Luke to get him to start eating healthier and trying new foods. Most of the time Luke will eat whatever Ryan tells him to, I, on the other hand have really struggled with getting him to eat.

So, I told myself that this week while Ryan was away I would work extra hard to get Luke to eat whatever I put in front on him.
With the help of Big Mama (Ryan's mom), a few discipline threats, and the bribe of M & M's,
I was quite successful in my quest to teach Luke to eat.

As you can see from the pictures below, Luke wasn't necessarily eating healthier,
but he was definitely trying new foods.

I set the hamburger in front of him and he stared at it for a long time

Then he picked it up...
And took a BIG bite
He was then rewarded with lots of "high fives" and some of mommy's sprite

He ate everything this week from the mundane baked beans, carrots, & roast to
the exotic big red smokies(kin to hot dogs), fried fish & chicken quesadillas.

I was so proud of him and hope that it sticks now that we're back home.

What was the little Miss doing while big brother was learning to eat?

Why, she was cheering on one of her favorite college teams.

War Eagle!

As you can see from this picture, Aubrey doesn't need any eating lessons,
she's making an A+ in that subject :)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

This is by far the best birthday present ever! Luke looks soooo handsome (love his frat boy hair)and he's so big! And Aubrey looks so cute in the sweatshirt i bought for her...only thing is its a 6mo iteam and she's only 3mo! WHAT A FATTY. I love them, kiss them lots for me! Oh and i loved hearing Luke tell me Happy Birthday today!

Kathleen said...

luke look soooo old eating that hamburger!!!! gosh he's getting so big!!!!! and poor aubrey in that disgusting auburn attire, she will look much cuter in the SURPRISE i bought her this weekend, i know she can't wait to get it! :) :) :) other than the auburn ugliness, she is just about the cutest chunk of a niece i have EVER seen!!! ahhh give those adorbale babies BIG kisses from aunt kat!!!!! love yall!!!!

Brent, Kerri, Mason, and Sadie said...

I LOVE LUKE'S HAIR, TOO. HE DOES LOOK LIKE QUITE THE FRAT BOY AND THAT FIRST PICTURE IS THE PICTURE OF INNOCENCE! NOW LET'S GET TO LIL' MISSY! SHE SURE IS A CHUNK AND A HALF. I COULD JUST KISS THOSE LITTLE CHEEKS ALL DAY LONG. I THOUGHT SADIE HAS SOME CHEEKS, BUT SHE LOOKS LITTLE COMPARED TO AUBREY! WE'LL HAVE TO SEE HOW THEY COMPARE AFTER THEIR 4 MONTH CHECK UPS. SADIE'S IS ON THE 5TH OF OCTOBER!

Rachel said...

Hilarious! I'm so glad that he decided to cooperate on the eating front. It's really amazing how helpful grandparents can be in those type of things. You know, peer pressure and all.

Great pics!!

Muthering Heights said...

Your little girl is such a DOLL!

Lindsay said...

I can relate to the toddler eating woes. Eli will decide that he likes one thing one day, and then won't touch it the next. It's always frustrating when I've prepared his meal thinking that he'll like it and then he refuses to touch it. Fun times...