Let Me Entertain You

The other day I realized that the babies will actually follow me with their eyes and watch what I'm doing. I discovered this one evening when Lily was in the swing fussing up a storm. At a loss as to how to make her happy, I just started dancing around in front of her like a fool. She immediately stopped crying and just stared at me like, "What the heck are you doing, mommy?" Hence the birth of the baby dance party! I've become a big fan of the music stations on our TV. We listen to Toddler Tunes a lot, but while searching for the Sounds of the Season station I found Party Songs! Hello, good times! The babies and I spent a fair amount of time the other day listening to songs like "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Celebrate" and jumping around. When Joe came home from work he grabbed Lily and I took Charlie and we had a great time dancing around the living room. The babies really enjoyed themselves, and so did we. Of course, now I feel compelled to sing and dance around all the time. It's amazing how quickly they quiet down when I start acting like a fool.

Another benefit of the babies paying more attention to things is that it's a little easier to keep them occupied. The other night after dinner Lily was hanging in her swing watching TV (That's terrible isn't it? But she loves to look at it when it's on - especially the wedding shows...) but Charlie was a bit fussy. I wanted to clean up the kitchen, make Joe's lunch for the next day, make bottles, etc., so I brought Charlie's bouncy seat into the kitchen and sat him in there with me. He had a grand old time watching me do my chores, and listening to me sing and endless song I made up on the fly with the inspired chorus of, "Mommy and Charlie are in the kitchen, in the kitchen, in the kitchen.." Charlie's interest in the kitchen was promising, so I decided to relocate both babies into there yesterday morning while I made cookies. Again, Charlie enjoyed watching me and listening to me explain everything I was doing ("Now, we add the cinnamon and salt to the flour...oops, that was the sugar. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine.") and Lily slept. Still, the change of scenery was nice for all of us! And the cookies were delicious, if we do say so ourselves!

And now, a shameless plug. I mentioned before that I recently became a Pampered Chef consultant and I just earned my own website. So, if anyone was planning to order some Pampered Chef products for themselves or as holiday gifts, please consider doing it through my sparkly new web page! Thanks! (The site is in Joe's name for financial reasons, but I'm the consultant.)

I love this smile. And what I love even more is that he tends to reserve it just for me!
"Seriously, Mom, do you ever give that camera a rest? I can't always be on, you know?"

Charlie says, "Hooray for Daddy!"

Lily says, "Hooray for Lily!"

Why does Lily look so annoyed in this picture? She's unhappy that I have her dressed in Charlie's pajamas. But Charlie has more fleece jammies than Lily and it gets cool in their room at night. I think she looks cute in the polar bears, but Lily wants you to know that this was not her fashion choice.

And now, a look at my awesome new pajama pants purchased for me at Target by my mom. SO comfy and soft! Even better, there is a hot pink pair wrapped up at my mom's waiting to be my Christmas gift! (The t-shirt is an old one of Joe's that says "I'd rather be stuck on Gilligan's Island" that he got when he joined the Gilligan's Island fan club back in high school. Yes, I willingly went out with and married a guy who showed me his Gilligan's Island fan club membership card the first time we talked...)