Tata's and Forts

Yesterday Elijah and I were playing in the den and he started telling me "Blanket up" in sign language. I had no idea what he meant. I tried several things, putting the blanket on the couch, waving the blanket over his head and finally building a fort with a TV tray and the couch. The fort probably wasn't what he wanted but he sure liked it a lot!! He climbed in and out (via the TV tray "door") and enjoyed hiding his toys under there where mommy couldn't find them. (I also couldn't find Elijah when he was hiding in the fort--equally funny) Here are some cute shots of EJ and his fort.



After a busy day of fort building EJ had some company over. Emma Kate (3) and Garrett (5) came over for us to babysit. I had two little helpers for dinner time, bath time, and bed time. Emma and Garrett washed his hair and soaped him up, they put on his pamper (Emma the right tab, Garrett the left tab), they put on his PJ's, Emma brushed the top teeth, Garrett brushed the bottom teeth, then we all read a book (below). I was getting ready to put EJ to bed and they asked if they could give him a bottle. I told them EJ got his milk from me. Here is the conversation that followed with Garrett:
"Where do you have milk in you?"
In my breast.
"How does he get it out?"
He sucks on my nipple.
[thoughtful pause]
"Are you talking about your ta-tas!!??"
Yes
"Oh--I'll wait downstairs"

EJ's Head Injury!

Last night EJ was tired--not sleeping at night and not napping had caught up with him. (Surprisingly he didn't sleep last night either). Anyway--he is terribly clumsy when sleepy and he was cruising around the dinner table and cracked his head on my chair. He got a pretty good goose egg. Then about 5 min later he fell against his high chair and got a matching goose egg on the other side. He has some nice bruises today!

Here are some pics from right after (when we decided to stroll him until bedtime rather than let him play)

Mama's Little Slingling--Sling Giveaway

Elizabeth Fuson over at the Fuson Family is having a sling giveaway. This is a really cool Solarveil sling (it is SPF 30+). Click here to enter!
Here's a picture of my little slingling (from about a month ago)--He's in a pouch sling (and yes he's nursing in a parking lot!).

I Can Feed Myself!

Elijah has decided that the morning oatmeal is now his territory and feeds it to himself (with a spoon!). You can see that he is very through with his oatmeal application: hair, eyelids, cheeks, hands and mouth!

Here are some shots of EJ helping me get ready for my cake class. He cleaned this beater while I did all of the rest of the dishes (a little icing never hurt!). Thanks buddy!

Congratulations Buehrles!

On Your New addition: Luke Malichi Buehrle
Click here for the pictures.

Elijah Update

Whew! So much to report!

Well, we have finished swim lessons and EJ can now float on his back with just one hand under his head, he can go under, he can *almost* blow bubbles, he can walk across the whole baby pool and he loves to jump into the deep end with mommy! (Much to the horror of some of the other moms!) Hopefully one of the moms who had an underwater camera will be emailing me with the pictures of him underwater soon!

Elijah has now taken 6 steps unassisted. He continues to bravely try to walk (usually with crashing results). He is doing great though and doesn't seem to be any worse for wear for all of the tumbles.

His word list grows! I finally updated it with the words he has said over the last two weeks. He is really blossoming as far as language goes. He is a copy cat! He made the developmental leap where he now knows everything has a name and he is constantly pointing and asking "dat?" He will try and repeat things back to you too--it is so cute!

Here are some cute pics from the family reunion and from last night around the house.

Click on the picture to see a cute video of him "walking" around with his shopping cart.



Finally--a good picture of our little vampire! I Vant to Suck your Nips!! (He actually has all four front teeth but the two middle ones are still really small compared with his "fangs")

Sad Commentary

Hawaiian Shirt Alert

Blogacholics Annoymous . . .

I know I have already posted today but I wanted to update everyone on EJ's swimming progress. We are taking a Mommy and Me class at the Y and today EJ swam underwater for about 3 feet. He held his breath kicked his legs and made it from me to the lifeguard. He came up, grinned, sputtered a bit, then came back to me.
Not bad!
No tears!
Go Elijah!

Happy Father's Day!

OK--I know I may be a bit biased but I have to say I am not sure that there was a cuter pair on Father's day that Justin and Elijah. A baby boy in a blue blazer--come on now! You have to agree! :)

User Reviews??

For all of you seasoned parents--does this work? Click on the picture for the link. EJ likes to throw his stuff everywhere and I am tempted to get this but don't want to waste my money if it is a joke.

Diaper Wish List!

Thanks to Elizabeth over at the Fuson Family for pointing out that Walmart now sells Kushies diapers. I have one of these diapers already and I love it. They are great for church and grandparents because it is like a cloth pamper. I went on over to Walmart to see how much they were and found out that they were about $38 for 5 diaps with free shipping to my store. Not too shabby! They also have toddler diapers for $42. I am seriously considering getting some of these.

If you go to Walmart, type in diapers and they pop up. What also pops up is a funny looking book called "Pirates don't change diapers." I am thinking maybe Pirate Grampy could look into getting this one for Elijah for his birthday in August.

Are You Tagged?

What was I doing 10 years ago?

1. In High School--Doing Homework and keeping my grades up
2. Learning Sign Language
3. Getting my drivers license
4. Getting Green Belt for Tae Kwon Do
5. President of Key Club--volunteering like mad at nursing home, hospital and everywhere else!

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Payday Bars
2. Soft Pretzels
3. Homemade Mango Salsa and Scoops Chips
4. Apple with Peanut Butter
5. String Cheese

Five Songs That I Know All The Lyrics To:
1. Almost any Newsboys song
2. Almost any Third Day Song
3. Redeemer by Nicole C Mullen
4. Imagine by Jars of Clay
5. Most Worship songs

Five Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire:
1. Pay off my mortgage (that is all of our debt!)
2. Pay off my family's mortgages
3. Help fund our new banquet hall at church and help with the debt retirement at church
4. Invest it!
5. Sponsor more kids from Compassion International (currently we sponsor two)

Five bad habits:
1. Biting my nails
2. Buying a candy bar in the checkout line
3. Sneaking one of my hubby's soda's
4. Not having a daily quiet time
5. Playing on the computer when I should be doing something else!!

Five Things I Like To Do:
1. Scrapbook
2. Read
3. Garden--especially flowers
4. Swim
5. Cook/Bake/Decorate Cakes

Five Things I Would Never Wear Again:
1. Polka Dot Pants
2. Jams
3. Leg Warmers
4. Two pairs of "scrunchie" socks
5. A side ponytail

(Yes I am a child of the 80's !!!!)

Five Favorite Toys:
1. Cabbage Patch Dolls
2. My Little Pony's
3. Barbies
4. Playmobile
5. K'nex and Legos

Five People I Tag:
1. Jennifer Carpenter
2. Dawn Wojnarowski
3. No one else I know blogs that hasn't already been tagged!

New Bedroom Furniture

Patience pays off! After 3 years of saving we were able to treat ourselves to new bedroom furniture for our anniversary! It was delivered yesterday. It is all wood (no pressboard!) nice stuff! We love it!!

(This is an upgrade from Justin's old furniture from when he was a child. Now Elijah has the old chest of drawers and we have new stuff. I am deliriously happy that I don't have to hang up all of Elijah's clothes now.)

We got a bed, bedside table, dresser and mirror and amoire (sp??). The amoire took the moving guys almost 30 minutes to get upstairs! It was horrible. If we ever move, that piece of furniture is getting sold with the house!

MamaKanga Giveaway!

One of my friend's friends is having a contest (click here for details). You can win a $75 gift certificate to Mamakanga. If we win I will be getting a Mai Tai Sling for Elijah. These are great because you can put his weight on both shoulders!

Like Grampy . . . Like Grandson

The "Twins" at Uncle Cody's Birthday Cookout

Happy 10 Months Elijah!

Today is my little boy's 10 month birthday! Wow! Only two more months until he turns one!
Here's an action shot of him doing one of the things he does best--making a big mess! He loves to pull the books and puzzles out and put them all over the floor. I love that he can look at books for 45 minutes and not get bored!

Little Vamp and a Hobby Horse

At long last I have been able to take a picture of my boy's vampire teeth. Click on the picture for the large view and zoom in on his mouth and you can see them.


Here is a cute picture of Elijah on his rocking horse. This was mine when I was a child. Thanks to Papa Snookie for gluing the head back on it. (He isn't wearing pants because it was yesterday afternoon after his shots and he didn't want anything touching his legs).

The Baby's Been Shot

Yes--it is that time again! Vaccines :(
Elijah had a good Doctor visit--here are the latest stats:
Weight: 22 lbs
Height: 30.5 inches
Head Circumfrence: 18 inches

He is in the 95% for Length and the 50% for weight. The doctor says that is great!

He got 3 shots today and took them like a champ. He nursed right afterwards and was smiling and flirting as we left the doctor. He slept on the way home and played with his Papa once we got here. Tomorrow is the true test of how pitiful he will be.

Only thing to report is that he has an eye infection. He got really irritated by something a week and a half ago at his Nana's and Papa's house and his eyes gunked up really bad. After a few days of claritin, many eye washings and some breast milk squirted in his eyes several times a day they have improved a lot. Unfortunately he keeps rubbing them and they are still gunky in the mornings. The doctor thinks he rubbed in some infection (my boy's hands dirty??!!) so starting tomorrow I get the fun task of holding him down 4 times a day and squirting antibiotic gel into his eyes.

EJ's New Wheels

Many thanks to Uncle Cody and Aunt Krysti for the bike trailer. Elijah is finally big enough to travel in it and he loves it. Elijah and I assembled it on Memorial Day. So far we have used it to go to the pool and go to Grandmama's house. It is absolutely great and much faster than the stroller. Elijah likes to "sing" as we ride along.

Pool Baby and Our Anniversary

Justin took off for the day to celebrate our anniversary yesterday. It was nice to have him home all day long. EJ and I went to the gym like normal to give him some alone time in the house (something he rarely ever gets) then Covey went to the grocery store during Elijah's nap. It sure was nice not to have to shop with him! We all played together and did garden stuff in the afternoon. After a short afternoon nap (for everyone!) we headed to the YMCA pool so daddy could see Elijah in action. It was Elijah's 3rd time in the pool. He was pretty grouchy (teeth bugging him) but had a good time anyway. Afterwards we all got dressed in our Hawaiian shirts and headed to the Rib Hut for our Anniversary dinner. It was great--we had a promotional egg from when we ate there a month or two ago and it held a $25 gift certificate. We got our whole meal, including tip, for $6! Can't beat that! After dinner it was a quick bath and bed for EJ. We hit the sack early too--playing an really take it out of you! Here are some pictures from the day.

EJ and Mommy in the pool

EJ and Daddy in the pool (click here for a cute video)

All dressed up for dinner (the wet spot on my skirt is from EJ's bathing suit)

Mmmmm. . .Onion Rings!