8 Months Old!

I know, I know, I say it every month, but I can't believe how fast time is going!!! Leah is 8 months old today, so I put her in this adorable dress (thanks Aunt Randee!) and took a few pictures. She is SUCH a happy baby.
It's so easy to get her to smile at you.

She plays so well. I feel like I don't even have to take care of her half the time!

She is such a gift!!

Some of her favorite things right now...her pacifier (don't leave home without it!!), a Donald Duck toy that she loves to chew on, her brother, her toes, her bouncy/jumpy thing, anything that lights up or makes sounds, and her mommy and daddy :)

She has one tooth, though I'm fairly certain another one is on it's way. She LOVES eating, and will eat two full packages of baby food at dinner. She's still nursing 4 times a day, takes 2 naps and sleeps 12 hours at night.

I'm fairly certain she's already said her first word. The other day when we were ate Ryan & Jennifer's house, every time I would leave the room she would say 'Mama! Mama!' I'm not even kidding! Ask Jennifer if you need proof :) She still says it most times when I leave the room. It's pretty cute...until she starts crying if I don't come right back. She's pretty attached to her mommy :)

She is SUCH a joy. We get comments all of the time about how happy & content she is. She is willing to just 'go with the flow' with almost anything. We'll see if she's still like that when shes 16 ;)

5.28.2011 Visiting the McGregors :)

Edgar has been tiling our kitchen. Which means little kids in the kitchen doesn't really go over so well. So we spent the day on Saturday hanging out at Uncle Ryan & Aunt Jenny's house. Eli LOVES going over there. He loves his uncle. He loves his Aunt. He loves his cousins (even if he gets their names mixed up all the time), and he loves their cats (though they are terrified of him). Eli found a book that Jennifer's sister made for Carly, and now, whenever we go over there, he wants to look at Carly's 'A, B, C book'. It's a very cute book. I'd love to make something like that for him. Or maybe someone that is better at scrap booking could do that for me (hint hint...)
He had fun reading it sitting next to his uncle :)

I managed to forget Leah's pacifier, so she got to use one of Carly's that Jennifer still had hanging around...and it's a good thing, otherwise I would have had to run back home. That little girl needs her pacifier :)

One of the reasons I went over there was to bake cookies with Carly. We have big plans for baking together this summer. She wants to learn to bake, I want to try some new recipes, so it works out well for us. Though I should probably get running if I am going to be baking that much...I failed to take any pictures of the finished product...we made sugar cookies (big surprise, right?!). Carly wanted dogs, dog bones, and frogs. They turned out super cute. Annoyed I don't have a picture. Oh well. I'll just have to make some more of them :)

We hung out for quite a while-got home around 7:00. We kept Jennifer company while Ryan and the kids went to a baseball game. It was very nice to hang out with Jennifer-it seems like we're all always so busy, that it's hard to hang out lately. SO, while I am so sad that she has a broken foot (I feel so bad for her :( ) I will selfishly say it's been super nice to see her more often. We'll probably bug her a few times this week too...as long as she doesn't mind...I get annoying after a while :)

5.23.2011 Attempted...

We tried. I really did. It is something I've been dreading for a very long time, but I decided to go for it. I am speaking of the dreaded potty training. On Monday we took off the diapers and put Thomas the Train underware on Eli. I figured a picture of a 2 1/2 year old in his undies was probably not appropriate for the internet, so this is a very 'Adam and Eve' picture of him :) (In front of my tomato plant :) )He looked adorable running around all day. Not so adorable when he peed everywhere. We went all day Monday just in underwear (except for a nap) and half of Tuesday. Then I gave up :) Eli would sit on the toilet for 20 minutes (LITERALLY) and not go, get off the toilet and pee everywhere within 2 minutes. It was so frustrating. SO, after 6 'accidents' in 45 minutes, I was done. I'm still going to work with him on the whole potty training thing, but we're going to take it slow :) I'm okay with him not being ready. We're in no rush. With Leah using cloth diapers we really don't spend that much on diapers, so it's not that big of a deal. Next time we try I will probably do a few things differently...like roping off the family room and making him play on the wood/tile floors. Cleaning pee out of the carpet is NOT FUN.

5.18.2011 Picnic at the Park

There is a park near our house that I love to go to. We have been many times before, and you have seen pictures of this park several times, but every time I go I take a million pictures, and I am just CERTAIN you want to see them. This particular evening we packed a lunch and had a picnic at the park. This was the second PB&J of the day for Eli, so he was THRILLED to be eating 'out'.
I asked Eli to smile, and he gave me this silly little pose. Cutie :)

It is so beautiful here!

A bit of the wild life. I swear this bird was posing for us.

So sad this picture is out of focus :( Leah also enjoyed our park adventure.

Eli suddenly became enthralled with the wheels on the stroller...which makes actually rolling the stroller a little challenging...

Some more animal life.

Eli chasing a squirrel...

'Where did he go?' Eli always calls the squirrels he sees 'Jumpy squirrel' which is what they call the squirrel on Curious George. It's funny to hear him squeal 'Jumpy Squirrel!!'

Playing at the playground after our walk.

A few pictures of Leah :)

'What is this green stuff?'

Heading back to the car.

I really wish we had had more picnics at the park earlier in the year when it wasn't so hot. Now it seems way too hot to try it....plus the bugs at dinner time by the river are terrible. Oh well...

...we have a little wildlife in our own front yard ;)

My kids are hooked...

My children love videos. Especially when they involve animated letters climbing a coconut tree. Here's a short video (I think it'll work anyway...) of them watching. Eli gets so excited when all of the letters are about to fall out of the tree. It makes me laugh :)

5.15.2011 Playing with Cousin

Uncle Eric's work schedule changed a bit, so for the next couple of weeks Isaac is coming over to visit once a week :) Eli is thrilled to have someone to play with...and make messes with :)
These two play together so well. They are very cute to watch...and quite easy to take care of-they entertain each other!

Playing with cars...

Somehow I have a feeling these to are going to have a lot of fun in future years :)

5.14.2011 Ben & Carly's Swim Meet

After a fun day at Bush Gardens, we got up (not nearly as early as we thought we were going to have to) and went to Ben & Carly's swim meet...after a restful morning. We left a little later than we probably should have, and I was so worried we were going to get mom and dad there too late to see Ben swim-he was in the first race, first heat. WHY do you hit every red light when you're running late?! Since this was the main reason they came to visit, I would have felt pretty rotten if they had missed that race...BUT they got there just in the nick of time :) Edgar and I dropped them off then we went and parked the car...so WE missed the first race, but Grandma & Grandpa didn't. It's been a while since I've been able to go to one of their swim meets-it's pretty hard taking the kids to the meets-so it was very fun to see how much they have improved.
They are both great swimmers.

Cute kids :)

Someday I'll probably be standing next to MY daughter at a swim meet...

...but that won't be for a while :)

Eli & Leah did great at the meet. It was pretty hot (no...he had not gotten into the pool. My boy can SWEAT!) but they had fun watching their cousins swim. Leah didn't love the cheering (cried every time we got loud...) but she's just going to have to get used to that :)

I kept thinking how much fun Randee & Johnny would have at a meet capturing pictures with their camera :)

Checking the heat sheet to see when the next race will be.

Hanging out with daddy.

Ready to go!

After the race the girls got some coffee and went to Michael's. Can't have a visit from mom without going there! I can't seem to get out of that store without buying SOMETHING. We also went to a kitchen store where I had to keep myself from drooling all over the baking stuff. SO MUCH FUN STUFF! I will definately be visiting there again!

We headed for home and then went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Leah was entertaining, and the food was great.

Sunday was church, lunch, then a trip to Cold Stone (another place that MUST be visited when Grandpa & Grandma are in town!) then Edgar took them back to the airport :( It is always sad to see them go.

We had such a wonderful, packed weekend. Can't wait for our next visit!!