A Post for the Grandparents

It seems like I haven't done a post of Ella and Cameron in a while and so I thought "why not"?  So this post is for Ella and Cameron's grandparents and any aunts or uncles or even cousins that want to see what they are up to these days.  Both are getting so big.
Ella's vocabulary has just exploded and she is talkin' up a storm.  She's coming up with some funny mannerisms such as glancing sideways when she's contemplating what to answer to a question, saying "yes" a lot, she has started telling us that she loves us all the time - oh my heck, I have to say this is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life; it just gives me warm fuzzies all over, she loves her brother and wants to give him hugs and kisses all the time and she is starting to get a little better about sharing toys with him even when it's her baby doll.  Of course, the stubborn and bossy side of her little first born personality is coming out quite a bit these days.  She really likes to tell Andrew and I to "stop talking" when she feels like we are talking to each other too much.  She has even gone up to Andrew and put her hand over his mouth as well as pinched his lips shut to get him to stop talking.  This has of course resulted in numerous timeouts.  When Cameron is crying, which is quite a bit these days, she screams at him to "stop crying baby".  I've even heard her tell him to shut-up once.  I'm thinking that she's watched Madagascar way too much lately.  I had to explain to her that she can't tell people to shut-up.  She is so smart too.  She LOVES to read books and has even memorized her favorites.  She has three books that she can read to you.  One is this little ladybug counting book, the second is "I'm Going On A Bear Hunt" and the third is "A Giraffe and A Half".  She read A Giraffe and A Half almost word for word.  One of these days I need to remember to get out the camcorder when she's reading it.  Yesterday she started reading "I'm Going On A Bear Hunt" when I was cleaning in her toy room.  It was seriously cute!  I couldn't believe she could read so much of it.  After reading she kept telling me that she was going on a bear hunt with her kitty, so I just told her to be safe.  When I asked her if she found a bear she said yes and told me that it was a pink teddy bear she found.
Cameron is getting so big as well.  I can't believe that he is almost eight months old already.  He had his first tooth break through this last Tuesday and the tooth next to it is trying desperately to pop through as well.  So he has been quite fussy and drooly these days.  This last week he has surprisingly been sleeping really well though.  There were several nights in a row that he slept completely through the night.   He is trying so hard to crawl as well.  He scoots all over the place by rolling and stretching to get what he wants and he has gotten on his knees a few times, but no crawling yet.  I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  He has started eating more baby food now.  He really only likes my homemade applesauce and pear sauce and he tolerated the sweet potatoes and squash pretty well, but any other fruits  as well as carrots or any green veggie he just doesn't care for.  In fact when you try to feed him something he doesn't want he clamps his mouth shut and just pushes your hand away from him.  I'm really hoping that once he can eat real food that he'll be up to eating different foods, because this is ridiculous.  I know that we were spoiled with Ella eating anything under the sun, but seriously child, I can't nurse you forever.  As much trouble as he likes to give us though, he is still one of the most adorable little boys I've ever seen.  He is such a mommas boy too, so that is kinda cute.  And even though he really likes to be ornery more than necessary, his sweet and happy personality is starting to show through a lot more the older he gets so we're quite happy about that.
In other news Andrew was offered a new job two weeks ago and decided to take it so he started at his new firm yesterday.  So far he is really happy with this new job and he's quite excited for this new opportunity.  He of course was really sad to leave his old firm.  They were really good to him and they all really liked him, but in the end he just didn't feel like he could pass up this great opportunity.  So we'll see how it goes in the coming months and hopefully he'll still feel like he made the right decision.
I've just been super busy at home with the munchkins and home projects.  Since last Tuesday was Andrew's last day at his old firm and he was home the rest of the week and I got to finish off some projects here at home while he was more than happy to entertain the munchkins.  All of the paint trim is finally finished throughout the house, pictures are hung up in the hall and stairway, the Christmas decorations finally got put away, and a few little areas that needed some decorating love have finally received some attention.  All in all I'm very happy with the progress that I made.  Now I'm working on finding the perfect paint colors for our bedroom and bath as well as the munchkins bath.