Milk and Stories

Every night, Nick gets Luke ready for bed by brushing his teeth, putting PJ's and sleeping socks (fuzzy ones) on and reading to him.  It is great for me to get a short break and nurse Wes down to bed.  Occasionally he reads to both boys but that usually does not last long as Wes is tired and wants to go to sleep.  Nick has been reading Luke some Sleepytime Bible stories which are shortened versions.  Luke loves them and then immediately falls asleep.  Perfect....

There might be hope for more sleep!

For about the past month or so, Wes has been waking up eating and I mean nursing lots every 2 hours on the dot.  At first this did not wear on me too much but lately I have been exhausted.  The fact that at the same time Luke has decided not to take regular naps has been difficult as well.  (no nap for me!).  So, yesterday, Wes ate a great lunch of peas followed by a great dinner of peas and brown rice.  It was amazing how much he ate.  Then last night he was up only twice to nurse.  I can handle that.  Here's to hoping that he eats a great dinner and sleeps more at night.

P.S.  My dear high school friend Bekka, see post below, has decided to move to Denver.  To say that I am excited would be an understatement.  It will be wonderful to have a friend here from back home.  When I told Luke that Bekka would be moving here he said, "Do you mean my friend Bekka?"  I guess he has already bonded with her on her quick visit.  He also randomly said, "Mom, remember when we picked up your friend Bekka at the airport?"  I love how he is really thinking in our car rides about things that have happened awhile ago and then telling me.

eating update

Yum!

So since my last post about Wes not really liking his sweet potatoes I decided to wait until he was closer to 6 months to try again.  Yesterday and today we had great success with him eating rice cereal mixed with breast milk.  Yesterday he ate a few bites and even took the spoon into his hand and put it in his mouth.  That did not last long since he was close to choking himself!  Tonight I mixed up 3 small batches and he ate like a champ.  He even was slurping/sucking it down.  Boy he was hungry!

Leaf clean-up!

Luke showed a startling and yet encouraging interest in yard work this weekend as he followed Dad around cleaning up leaves (and yes, Dad usually takes the path of least resistance and uses the lawn mower for leaf removal).  As soon as this kid is big enough to operate the mower, the job is his for life!  Or until he leaves home.

Beautiful fall day

Last weekend we went to play in wash park and I took this picture.  I just love how the fall leaves are a beautiful contrast to the snow capped mountains.

Bekka comes for a visit!

My dear friend from high school, Bekka came out to visit last week.  She had not met Wes yet and had not seen Luke since he was 15 months old.  It was great to see her and just hang out.  Well... it was not so quiet here because both Belitz boys were in pain.  Wes was teething and Luke had a stomach ache.  Thanks for a great visit!

Bekka and Luke in the bubble room at the Children's museum

Boo at the Zoo 2010

Sloan, Everett, Courtney, Luke, Lorraine, Bryce, Nick and Wes

Sloan and Luke

Ah, life with small children: one stands as a 24-hour witness to the pursuit of truth, fun, and candy.  In this case, we joined the Nelsons and the Rufners for Boo at the Zoo, which is another way of getting candy in front of kids loosely disguised as a zoological outing.  The weather was good and the crowds were thick...it was, well, a zoo.  But the mission was accomplished, as Luke found candy, saw elephants and gorillas, and had his picture taken jumping around like the curious monkey he was dressed up to be.  And again, the trip led to the sign of a successful weekend: the glorious afternoon nap!