Mom and Dad's visit day 2!

Friday was another fun day with my parents. We got to sleep in a little (Eli, of course, was up by 8...) and had a nice, laid back morning. We headed over to Ryan and Jennifer's community pool and swam for a little while. This was the first time Eli went in a pool, so there are many pictures to document the event, of course :)
Edgar took him in the water for the first time.

He did great. He didn't cry (even though the water was a bit cool when you first got in). He rarely looked away from the water-he seemed to be fascinated by it. He was kicking his feet the whole time-have I mentioned the he will one day be an Olympic swimmer? ;)

We had tons of sunscreen on him, and got a nifty little long-sleeved swim shirt. His hat doesn't match, and is way too big, but it worked. I may have to go shopping for a new one :)

Grandma got to hold him. Carly kept saying "Give him to me! I'll hold him!" But we didn't think it was a great idea...Apparently her getting to carry him once gave her the idea she could hold him all the time :) She played really well with him, though, while we held him.

Kisses from grandma...while Carly posed.

We stayed in the water with him for about a half hour. I think he would have played longer, but we were getting hungry!

I thought my brothers and sisters would enjoy this...ahhhh, the memories...

Jenny getting Eli to smile...and look away from the water.

Mommy and Eli. Wish I would have noticed his shirt was up around his armpits...

After lunch and showers, we headed over to Ben and Carly's school for a fundraiser they were having. Carly is really handy to have around-she loves to entertain Eli!

Ben showin' off his skills.

We ate dinner at their school, and then headed for home. Ryan and Jennifer had to stay to clean up, so Ben and Carly came with us and got to play with grandpa and grandma. Another fun day!

Mom's Birthday

This past weekend was a wonderful weekend. I finally got my birthday present from Edgar-my parents came! We had such a nice time with them. The arrived late Wednesday night-they didn't get to our house until after 1:00 am. Thursday was my mom's (and Krista's :) ) birthday. It was very fun to make a birthday cake for my mom. I remember her always making the best cakes for us growing up. I had always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes because she knew how. Ryan, Jenny, and the kids came over and we had a great night celebrating.

Eli, of course, was center stage :) He got to try 'real' food for the first time that night. He has been eating cereal for a little over a week, but the doctor said he could start having baby food-like carrots, apples, etc. SO, he ate carrots-and thoroughly enjoyed them. He ate the entire jar.

Carly got to try her hand at feeding him too. She's so cute with him. She's always willing to help :) She even got to carry him that night...of course, I was right in front of her. with my hands under him. watching her every move. (and we still almost managed to bang his head on the corner...luckily daddy saved the day as usual :) )

Ben, making sure no one steals his Bakugons.

Eli got his bath. He's been taking a bath on this sponge thing, and seems to really like it. He enjoys talking to the shower head and splashing his feet. Pretty sure he's going to be an Olympic swimmer :)

After Eli's bath, Uncle Ryan played with Eli. It was adorable. Ryan gets Eli laughing so hard. They played for a long time, then Eli went to bed. All the excitement of the party wore him out!

After the party we all headed over to the movie theater to watch the new Star Trek movie. It was very good. We got there early, so we played in the arcade for a little while. I was a little disapointed that no one showe up dressed like a Vulcan, but oh well.

We got home late and headed right to bed. Two nights in a row of a 1 am bed time was enough to make me exhausted! I don't know how you do it, Jenny!

update...

In case you were worried, we did not put Eli to bed and then leave him...Jennifer was kind enough to watch Eli while we went to the movie :) I'm sure she'll go when Ryan goes. again.

Doctor visit

I am so far behind in my entries! I am going to be posting a lot today, so get ready! :) I will be posting based on the day they actually occured...

Eli went to the doctor for his 6-month check-up. He did great. He weighed 19 lb 2 oz and was 27 1/2 inches long. I talked to the doctor for a long time about introducing new solids into his diet, and the doctor very patiently answered all of my questions :) I am sure I will still be calling many of you asking questions. I wish there was a very exact 'formula' for doing it...like, at 6 months and 4 days you give a baby carrots. At 6 months and 9 days you give a baby apples. But, that is not the case. Apparently I have to just try things and hope they work :)
Eli also got 3 shots. He did SO good! I have yet to have to give him Tylenol after shots. He gets his shots, cries for about 15 seconds, then he's done. In fact, he was smiling before we left the office. Apparently he's got Edgar's ability to handle needles...I still can't even look when they give him the shots!

Babies Everywhere!

Today was a very fun day for Eli and I. We met up with a few of the new moms from our church. There were 5 of us there with our babies. We had such a nice time hanging out and talking. The kids were all so good too! I think they like hanging out with their friends as well :)

When we got there Levi was fast asleep on his brother. Adorable :)

Eli and Elizabeth are only 3 days apart, and are about the same size. They both have their 6 month appointments coming up, so we'll see who is bigger :)

I finally got a good picture of Olivia!

Elizabeth showin' Eli who is boss :)

We lined all the kids up by age. They were pretty funny all laying there. Now we just need a picture with all the new babies at church!

Elizabeth and Olivia

They were pretty funny laying there. They all started holding each other's hands. Very cute.

Okay...well...Creed didn't hold Olivia's hand...he was trying to sneak a kiss ;)

After the floor, we tried to sit them all up on the couch. As you can see 3 out of 5 children prefer laying on the floor.

Creed was determined to lay down!

Eli: "I think I'll just reach on over an grab Olivia's hand. I'm cool like that."

Olivia: "What does he think he's DOING?!"

"Let's just be friends" :)

Okay, so I'm very impressed by Olivia! She stands so well! I saw Christine holding just one of her hands, and she was standing!

Creed and his mommy :)

We had such a fun day. We look forward to our next 'event'. Maybe we'll invite the daddys this time :)

Great Grandpa

I couldn't resist devoting one whole blog entry to this picture :) We went over to Edgar's grandfather's house on Sunday, and Grandpa held Eli...and Eli sat with him for a very long time. It's funny, because Eli hardly ever sits with anyone (you gotta be moving for him to be content), but he snuggled up next to his great grandpa, and stayed put for at least 20 minutes. Must have something to do with the name... :)

Already A Pro

Okay, so I'm sure these photos look familiar, but it really is a different day :) Tonight Edgar fed Eli for the first time. Edgar is much more entertaining while feeding him than I am -as evidenced by the video :)

We're both still working on feeding Eli without getting food all over his face. I am always amazed by people that get all the food in their baby's mouth...
Eli did really good. It's his 4th time eating, and he really has the hang of it. As soon as he sees the spoon coming he opens his mouth. Tonight he ate 2 Tablespoons of cereal (with 2 oz of milk) which is already double what we started with. I think he probably would have eaten more, but I ran out of milk :)

After he's done eating he likes to play with the spoon. Pretty sure he's ready to feed himself-ha!

Here's Edgar feeding Eli. Enjoy!

A Day to Celebrate

Today was a big day for Eli. He finally got to eat something other than milk! I have a few videos of the 'event' and, of course, some pictures. Thought you might enjoy the show. Notice the bib-always a Tiger's fan :)

He ate rice cereal...well...it was actually a whole lot of milk, and a little bit of cereal :) I'm pretty sure he just thought it was milk from a spoon. I didn't mean to put that much milk in...I was just putting 'a little bit more' in, and I dumped way too much. Oh well...I guess it's better too thin than too thick, right?!

The spoon that he took his first bite with was a spoon that Edgar's grandmother gave to us. It was pretty special to us, and we are glad that we were able to use that.

Anyway, here's his first bite:

Here's a little more:

And then after he was done, he got to play with his spoon :)

And then the pictures... :)

"This eating thing isn't so bad!"

"Hey...now that I'm done eating, I wonder if I can make a real mess..."

Eli really did pretty good. I'm looking forward to adding this to our evening routine. I had been putting it off, but the last few days have been anxious to try. I think he was really ready for it. He's been sitting at the dinner table with us for a while, and really watches us eat. The evening strech is a little long for him (He eats at 4 and then doesn't nap or anything until he eats again at 8) so I think he was needing something to break that up.

Afterwards we 'celebrated' by going to Dairy Queen. (Okay...so there may have been another event we were celebrating...) Eli stayed in his seat and played for a little while while we ate.

Ryan, Ben and Carly joined us for ice cream. Amazingly enough, on my camera the red cone is not what sticks out-Carly's eyes are as blue as her shirt! It didn't transfer over to the blog very well, though...

Ryan held Eli while I ate my blizzard (Strawberry Cheesecake blizzard...yummm! and the only option when you can't eat chocolate...) Eli was pretty funny-he watched my spoon as it went from the blizzard to my mouth...I think he wanted some ice cream too :)

It was a very fun evening for us. Soon Eli will be eating everything we eat-crazy! I think I'll enjoy feeding him cereal while I can!

Birthday Bash

It seems as if it is time for birthdays! Ruth, Kristi, my mom, Krista and my birthday all fall in a 16 day period...(oddly enough, Ruth & Kristi's are on the same day, and Krista & my mom's are on the same day...makes remembering birthdays easier!)

This year we decided to celebrate Krista's, Ruth's and my birthday all together. Eliott and Edgar planned the party, and we all got together on Sunday. They did a great job. The food was good, the cake was amazing, and no one teased anyone about their age. It was a good day :)

Eli sat in a high chair...for about 10 minutes, then it was time for a nap. Katie was so cute as they were sitting next to each other. She just kept saying 'Hi baby Eli! Hi baby Eli!'

The birthday girls.


Singing 'Happy birthday'.

It really was a very nice day. We had so much fun just talking and hanging out. We even got a chance to go look at a house! Unfortunately, it's probably too far from Edgar's work and church...but it was such a good deal! Oh well.

Speaking of that...we're meeting with our realtor this Thursday, and a sign should be in our yard soon! Then the praying will really begin...

Eli update

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted pictures of our little cutie, so I thought I'd send some your way. Eli has been growing so quickly! Besides his two teeth and rolling over, he's now very close to sitting on his own. Here he is with 'toy support' and mommy's feet...

...toy support and mommy's foot...

...just toy support!

...and mommy trying to catch him as he goes down...no worries, he didn't get hurt :) He is also spending a lot more time on his belly, mainly because he is rolling over a lot more (just never when the camera is around). It seems like he rolled over 5 times in one week, and then a couple days ago rolled over 5 times in 10 minutes. He is getting the hang of it, to say the least. Now he just has to learn how to roll from his belly to his back. He gets stuck on his belly and gets pretty mad. The other day he 'got stuck' as he was trying to go to sleep...he was screaming pretty good. I 'rescued' him, and he zonked right out.

We've been staying pretty busy-it seems like every day we have somewhere to go. I'm so glad that I only have 3 more weeks of teaching. I know it's only for an hour and 15 minutes, but it is such a hassle to have to do that twice a week.

I put a couple of videos on for your viewing enjoyment. Thought you might enjoy seeing Eli play :)

He has really gotten the hang of his jumparoo. He has also started nodding his head back and forth-he does it right in the beginning of this video. It's so cute!

I got him his first truck the other day. He likes playing with it-well...he likes to watch me play with it :) Actually, he's getting so good with his hands! He can hold it and play with it a little-just not in this video :)

by the way...

It is now teeth...not tooth.

No longer toothless...

Just a quick update :) Today Eli was chomping on my finger, and I felt something...yup, my baby has a tooth!! He's been a little fussy lately, but not too bad. Last night he couldn't keep his hands out of his mouth, though, so his little gums were probably bugging him. He didn't run a fever or anything (that I know of anyway...)-just popped out a tooth! My baby's growin' up!!