The Anders' Family

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Day 2009

I love Thanksgiving!! It is TRULY my favorite holiday! Maybe because we get too eat tons of food and not feel guilty about it until 12 hours later and maybe because there's not the pressure of having to shop for presents until after the big meal. I love Thanksgiving and I love it because of my wonderful family and our great traditions!

There is nothing more than I love than going to the Finn Camp for Thanksgiving, spending time with our big extended family and watching the little one's run around! The food is great and the company is even better! In 10 years, I've only missed Thanksgiving at the Finn Camp twice - once when George had pneumonia a few years back and then last year when I was on bedrest. Both times, I was devastated. Most years, George and I tailgate at Ford Field while watching the parade and then attend the big game before heading to Wixom. Hopefully one day we'll get to do that again (as soon as we find a sitter for all of these kids! LOL!), but this year was just as grand as we slept and lounged around all day before heading out to get my dad and go to the Finn Camp!

I love Thanksgiving and I'm sooo glad to be able to pass on our Finn Camp Thanksgiving traditions to Luukas, Olivia and Cole!

Eating...more and more and more.

Boy, how things can change! 4 and a half years ago I was one new mama who was simply afraid to feed my young son table food, even though he started eating applesauce with his Prilosec at just 2 months old! Here's the truth - one of my biggest fears in life is of someone possibly choking. Probably has something to do with my dad constantly choking on food. That fear, on top of Luukas having so many preemie issues, truly hindered how early I started table food with him and I'm convinced it has affected his eating habits for years.

Well, 4 and a half years later, I still have that fear, but I am overcoming it...thanks to my youngest son, COLE! Yes, "that boy can EAT!" He eats EVERYTHING - from peas to pineapple to cheerios to graham crackers to turkey dinner and the fixin's at Thanksgiving, etc. You get the point right?!!! The first graham cracker he had was at Olivia's occupational therapy appointment and yes, I had to leave the room for fear of him choking. Everyone laughed at me and they laughed even more when just 10 minutes later I was letting Cole eat the graham cracker laying down!

Cole's great eating habits have really helped me overcome my fear, so much that I'm introducing all of the same foods to Olivia at meals, even with her known feeding issues. I've learned that she likes peas just as much as baby food peas! I've also learned that she is feeding/eating better because we are working her muscles each time we give her table food! Cole is not just helping his sister out...he's also encouraging his big brother to try new foods each day. It seems that Luukas doesn't want his brother to outdo him!!

Soooo, this post goes out to Cole for helping me overcome my feeding fears and for teaching Luukas that trying new foods and following "Dr. Antone's 5 bite rule" ain't so bad after all!

PS - I still have to leave the room at times....which my sister-in-law, Shawn, said probably isn't the smartest, but I'm always right there and I run right over to check every 5 seconds! LOL!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Olivia and Cole - 11 months old!

WOW!!! Did time fly or what? I can't believe the babies are already 11 months old. The last few months have really flown by, especially with all of our life changes going on.

I remember when I couldn't wait for the twins to get older and more independent and now that they are, I SOMETIMES wish they were still my little cuddlers who stay in one place! Cole is crawling full speed. He is our escape artist who likes to check out EVERYTHING! Olivia is rolling over all of the time and she manages to scoot pretty far on her butt! She is sooo giggly now too! They both are truly VERY HAPPY babies, especially when their big brother, Luukas, plays with them!