The Banks Family: All smiles

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Teagan is already 6 weeks old, which went by in the blink of an eye. We're just wrapping up introducing her to my side of the family, including my 96-year-old grandma who shares Teagan's birthday. Just like Claudia did, Teagan melts everyone's heart with her cuteness and easy nature. Now that I have more perspective, I really do appreciate that I have easy babies. Teagan has become more alert now and is making lots of smiles, cute expressions, and little squawks. She has also started batting at toys, so Claudia has fun shaking them in her face, which thankfully Teagan doesn't mind. The only thing challenging about Teagan is that she still eats 2 oz. every 2 hours, which is a lot of bottles. Although she does one 5-6 hour stretch at night.

Claudia is currently obsessed with a TV show on Sprout (PBS Kids) called Caillou, which is about a preschooler and his adventures. She never had much of an interest in TV or movies before, so it's surprising how quickly she has become obsessed. She is always asking to "watch Sprout" and gets so excited when Caillou comes on that she jumps up and down and insists that we come look. If we don't come look immediately she gets upset and has a meltdown. Oh, the mood swings of a 3-year-old! We have our struggles at home all day together. She likes to stall, whine, and generally disobey me. It's emotionally exhausting and I start to lose my patience after awhile. And I feel overwhelmed at times because there always seems like more to do. It's one long string of meals, dishes, laundry, picking up, etc. that never has an endpoint. Although, going to preschool for a couple hours helps break up the day and keeps us on a somewhat normal schedule and out of our pajamas. And visits and help from family (i.e. adult conversions) keep me sane.

When I was busy feeding Teagan a bottle and my back was turned, I thought Claudia was painting a picture. Turns out she was painting her nails!