Later that day...

Ahhhhh...vacation.

We had a nice afternoon. We pretty much just hung out for a bit in the hotel room. Eliott and Krista went to her parent's house, and Edgar, Eli, mom, dad, and me went to Denny's. (During the drive over this afternoon Edgar and I discussed that one of my favorite reasons for going on vacation is getting to go out to eat at a restaurant. We rarely go out to eat, so it's SUCH a treat for me!) We got back and went for a walk on the beach.

My camera lens got all foggy. I was pretty annoyed. I keep telling myself it makes it look 'artistic', but in reality, it just looks foggy...

I took this shot right as the water came over Edgar's feet for the first time...that water is COLD! We're used to the 90 degree Gulf water (yes...literally 90 degrees...)

Abuelo and Eli (Eli is so cute...he loves his abuelo. Today when we got to the hotel he sat in abuelo's lap for about 20 minutes, perfectly content to hang out)

Happy grandparents.

My feet in the freezing cold water.

Eli had a blast. Here he is making a 'clucking' noise with his tongue :)

Fish anyone?

The moon is out...and we're headed to bed. Edgar and I came back to the hotel while mom and dad walked for about another hour. We put Eli to bed (It took him almost an hour to fall asleep...he's not lovin' his pack-n-play lately...) and talked. We're taking turns in the bathroom getting ready for bed, the boys are watching tv, and I'm at my favorite place as of late...right in front of the computer screen :) Looking forward to playing on the beach tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Daytona Beach

We haven't even been here for 2 hours, and I'm already blogging :) Actually, Eli's taking a nap, and it's nice and quiet in the room, so I thought I'd hop in the Internet and get started on this weekend :) Expect many fun updates...or one really huge one when we get back...

We headed out this morning around 11:00. We had to have our house spotless before we left because our realtor is doing an open house on Sunday for us...so it wasn't just 'picked-up' it was 'open house ready'. It made packing a little more hectic, but it will be WONDERFUL to come home to a super clean house.

We got on the road and had a really good trip. The picture above is at our fabulous stop at a rest stop. We had packed a lunch so we ate that, and I fed Eli.

Eli did really good. That's the longest ride in the car seat that he's had. He slept for about 1/2 hour of the 3 hour trip. The rest of the time he was playing or 'reading'. He loves this little Sesame Street book Aunt Krista is letting us borrow.

We got here and hung out in the hotel a bit, and then Eli was ready for a nap. Everyone went for a walk, and I got to stay back. Honestly, I love being with family-it's so fun! I also love being quiet and having an excuse to blog and play with photoshop :) So nap times in the hotel room will be fun for me!

Keep prayin'

I just got off the phone with my sister Renae and she told me about her friend Sharon. This morning as Sharon was getting ready for work her husband had a seizure and passed away. They are in their 30's. Please pray for Sharon-Renae said she's not doing well at all (who would be?).

Look what we did today!

Today Eli and I went to one of the 'mommy group' meet-ups that I'm a part of. (This is a group different from the church group) We got there and there was only one other mom there, but it was really nice. I got a chance to talk to another mom and Eli got a chance to play in the water a bit. The park was really nice-it had a really shady playground, and a water pad. It didn't even seem hot out! (Now...I ended up quite soaked, so that probably helped with the heat...) As Eli gets older I think we'll probably visit this place often!

Eli enjoyed playing with the toys the other mom brought (we don't really have water toys yet...)

'Wuz up?'

We had a really good time, but didn't really stay very long-maybe 45 minutes. Partly because Eli was getting pretty tired, and partly because his mom forgot his hat...oops. I had gone to Target to buy him a swim shirt too, but they only had pink, and THAT doesn't work! SO, we slathered on the sunscreen, and played in the shadiest spot. I sat with him most of the time and kept him in my shadow.

Anyway, that's what WE did today. How 'bout you? :)

Stellan

I feel like the whole world already knows what is going on with Stellan-word has spread like wildfire about this little boy-Eli's age-who is fighting for his life. Read this post or head on over to mycharmingkids.net and pray. Every post or 'tweet' I read by 'McMama' I can't help but think that only a miracle can save this baby. Pray.

YUM!

Eli has been getting better and better at feeding himself. He loves to eat and is enjoying getting to eat three meals a day in addition to nursing. I've been trying to have him feed himself at lunch-that's the meal he eats the least at. Today he ate egg yolk and avocado. I sprinkled a little crushed Cheerios over the avocado so they would be easier to pick up.

He really likes egg yolks-much better than egg whites...which, come to find out, he's not suppose to have. I tried to feed egg whites to him a while back (because I thought he wasn't suppose to have yolks...had it backwards...oops) and he wanted nothing to do with it, but has really been enjoying the yolks the last couple of days.

All gone! Now...truth be told, it was taking him forever to eat, so mommy helped him out a bit...

Here's our little guy chompin' down. There are a few puffs mixed in with is eggs & avocado. I think he would eat puffs all day long. They are definately a favorite for him.

Beach Day with Friends

Today we headed to the beach with some of Eli's friends. Eli and I have been getting together with some of the new moms at church every now and then, so today we thought it would be fun to invite the dads along too. We had four families there-all with kids Eli's age or younger. It was so much fun!

This was our 'camp'. Most of us have these little 'half tent' things that provide shade for our kiddos. Between that and the umbrellas we had plenty of shade (Though I still managed to get a bit of sunburn...)

Apparently Eli's sunglasses don't taste very good...

Eli and Olivia waiting for us to get our camp set up.

This was Edgar's first time to the beach with Eli.

I was trying to get a shot of Eli sitting in the water, but every time a wave came it would knock him over, so dad stood close by and caught him, while I snapped away...quickly :)

Goin' for a dip

Debbie and Levi. (Not sure why this picture is so small...)

Olivia fell asleep while sitting with Christine. She's just so stinkin' cute!

Kaz seems to really like the water...perhaps he gets that from his parents...

Eli loved the water. He would cry when we would take him back the tent. His swim shirt is a bit too small on him so we slathered him in sunscreen and ventured out shirtless. He seemed to like that better. He did really good today, and only got mildly cranky near the end. I think he was tired...he fell asleep as soon as he was put in the car seat!

Happy family!

Eli, texting all his friends who didn't come...

'Mommy! Why won't they text back?!'

'Maybe if I suck my thumb it will make it all better...'

The dads with their kids. (The girls took a unanimous vote that we shouldn't have to be in the shot...)

The fantastic four

We packed up around 1 and headed over to the area where there were showers. Eli and Olivia got all the sunscreen washed off, put on some clean clothes and played in the grass for a bit. While they enjoyed playing with each other, I think the grass was more interesting to them than anything.

My handsome little boy!

We can't wait for many more adventures with Eli's friends. We love hanging out with all these families!

Enjoy the video of Eli enjoying the beach!

Standing, Sitting, Flying...

Lately Eli has been enjoying standing up. He can't do it yet on his own, but seems so proud of himself when he does stand. Krista let us borrow this 'sit/stand/walk' thing, and Eli seems to really like it. I had him stand with it for a bit, but he seemed a little unsure of it so...


...we switched to 'sit' mode, and he has a blast playing with it.

On Thursday we went over to Krista's to bake (mmmm....sugar cookies...) and Katie was reading to Eli. It was SO cute! Krista took a video, so hopefully she'll get it up on her blog (hint, hint...) and when she does I'll send a link :)

In other news, my vegetables are doing...well...okay. Today I noticed a butterfly playin' around on my cucumbers, so I tried to get a shot. This is as best as I could get. But you can see a cucumber right below the butterfly. I had a cucumber/hummus sandwich for lunch today...YUMMMM!

This is Eli's new favorite expression. Hilarious. I seem to remember my little sister making this same expression when she was little. He's so funny!

More than a week later

I can't believe that more than a week has gone by without an 'update'! I'm sure you're all just dying to know what's been going on...ha! It has been a busy week...I think. It's funny...I feel like we've been busy, but I don't really know what we've done. Eli has been trying some new foods...above you can see his first time eating rice-a staple in this house! Next is beans...well...maybe we'll wait on that. He also had Mango-LOVED it! and I even gave him a little taste of a chicken nugget yesterday at Burger King (It was a very little taste...not sure how I feel about his first exposure to meat being from Burger King...but oh well.)

He continues to learn new 'tricks'. He's standing really well with support. He loves it! He'll stand holding onto my hands for quite a while. He thinks it's pretty funny, and gets the cutest little grin on his face.

Last Friday we went over to Krista's house to bake. Krista and I had a lot of fun making petit fours, and contemplating sugar cookies...the cookies never happened, but oh well. Eli and Katie had fun playing together.

Eli loves watching Katie play with this little dog from Toy Story.

The funny thing about playing with Katie's toys is that they are all pink... :) Eli doesn't seem to mind...though I think daddy was a little disturbed on Saturday when Aunt Krista hooked Eli up with a doll and a 'My little pony'. Edgar quickly took those away for more 'manly' toys...ya know...a pink tea set. Hmmmm....In Edgar's defense, he was spinning it...I'm sure he was contemplating the mechanics behind the spinning, and formulating a formula (can you say formulating a formula?) for making a more efficient spin, because, ya know, Eli thinks that way.

This is what Eli really thinks about pink toys, but doesn't want to offend his cousin...

And what a cute cousin she is!

This picture is pretty 'pixely', but I thought it was so cute. Notice the teeth!

Another super cute thing Eli has been doing is turning pages in his books. We no longer have to do that difficult task :) He will turn the page if you start it for him. I have a video of it, but I have a bad feeling about the upload. I tried to upload it for 2 hours last night, and 2 1/2 hours today, and it is still not up...so I think I am going to have to give up the fight, and just post this without it. Oh well...You'll just have to come over and read to him so you can see it yourself :)

Guess Who...

Loves Blueberries :)

...and has FOUR teeth...

...and is completely adorable!

I love that boy...