My boys

As I was scrolling through the plethera of photos we have taken of Eli, trying in vain to negotiate it to a lower number, I came across quite a few recent photos starring my boys. I also noticed that when I take pictures of them, they NEVER look at the camera. The effort is there in some of them, but they just don't quite make it!

This first one was after church a few weeks ago when I was trying to get a good photo of Eli in his new clothes. Jason's grandparents sent him (and Leah) outfits and Eli's looks quite spiffy on him. About two seconds after I took the picture, Eli was off and running again, and I believe baseball was on the television.

In order to protect our floors from the constant chair re-arranging Eli enjoys, we needed to put new chair/floor protecting things on the bottom of our chairs. Daddy+hammer+anything else = great fun for Eli too. He first learns and mimics the technique on the same chair as Jason and then...

once confident that he won't mess up on his own chair, he flips it over and gets to work.

A harder days work was never done by two men. Mowing the lawn in Texas is no small feat. After the task was completed they cooled off with some ice water (believe me Eli made sure there was ice) and rested on the porch swing. I believe Eli's hat was staged, but that's all. If you zoom in, Eli's cheeks are as red as beets, but he had a grand time.

Today I decided a visit to the Children's Museum would be fun for Eli, since I have been a bit of a dud being pregnant and all. Little did I know that it would also prove to be fun for Jason as well! Here they are hard at work. Jason is probably playing the right way, and Eli is just trying to get the puzzles that are glued onto the table off of the table. It still looks like fun!

Here is some lego construction. Jason taught Eli that spin move with the red lego. He made that tall tower all by himself!

Pleased to introduce Fish!

Jason and I have been talking a lot recently about getting Eli a fish for his second birthday. Since little sister is expected and Jason will be out of town on his official birthday, we thought yesterday would be a great day to get a fish! We finally decided on a red Betta fish that Eli named Fish. Red is the color Eli always guesses when you ask what color something is, so this way he will always be right! Fish lives on the bar in the kitchen and Eli has set up shop on the bar stool watching Fish.

A little movie about a boy and his fish. If he keeps looking this closely, he'll realize the fish faces Jason and I make are not accurate, his whole perception of our knowledge of animals might be altered forever. Or not.

Here I am almost 38 weeks pregnant, not wanting my picture taken, but definately wanting to deliver this baby!

Where's Daddy?

Eli's vocabulary has been expanding rapidly! I have been trying to explain where Jason goes everyday and this is how far we have gotten.

Summer 2008

The next step will be to teach him the song my mom would sing with me and my brother waiting for my dad to get home:

Daddy Daddy where are you?

We are here and we're looking for you!

Daddy Daddy where are you?

Please hurry up and come home!

Good and Pregnant

Here I am at 36 weeks...40 weeks is a really really long time, even longer when you are achy all over, have to limp around, and be energetic and creative for your two year old. Trying to be cheerful and remember nights with no sleep and the fact that we will be able to hear her crying once she is born. The fact is, I'm up so much at night anyway it doesn't matter at this point, and I'll take crying over ninja kicks to my bladder.

Appy Mama Day!

I had a great Mother's day yesterday. Here are some of the highlights:


1. Jason and Eli had a secret errand to run Saturday evening and I had to be out of the house while they got a surprise ready for me.


2. When I got home, Eli was already in the tub and I was told not to look in the refrigerator.


3. Jason got Eli out of bed Sunday morning and he came running in to our room with Jason close behind. Jason whispered in his ear and with some pauses this came out..."Py Mama Day", then he ran away.


4. After church we came home and it was time for my surprise! Cards are nice, but an edible card is even better (because then I don't have to feel bad when I throw it out a few days later because I just ate it instead!) Jason left off the H since Eli can't really say them yet...it was very cute, and Eli was thrilled when he was told he could eat some and not just look at it!



5. Jason let Eli chase him around the backyard with the hose last night. It was so adorable.

Passing the time...

What a grouch huh! You ask him to smile and he waits until the picture is already taken to smile...what a goof. We had dinner with the Umbriacos a while ago and we all wore brown (only Jason was by design, I find myself dressing me and Eli alike a lot, by accident...weird) Erin graciously took a family picture for us.

Sometimes his morning routine is reading books in the big chair. He jabbers away as he turns the pages and I can only tell what he is reading by the occasional "choo choo" "duck" "dirt" or "dump truck" that he utters during his story-telling.

Leah Jane is still in there. Growing as far as I can tell. The doctor says everything is going great, both the baby and I are healthy. She sure likes to tumble around though. I guess being little gives you more space to explore...and by extension I get exhausted just by sitting still!

Emergency Medicine seems to be going well. Jason got to insert a chest tube yesterday to help out a patient with a collapsed lung. I know from experience that collapsed lungs hurt, but Jason said the patient was unconscious, so I'm glad he got to practice! It was his first time to be on a team that gets a call that an ambulance was coming in, and he said he was a little nervous, this being his first code and all, but I think he learned a lot. I could tell the experience energized him and I'm glad he has found a specialty that he enjoys. Also, he called to say he was going to be late, and I just want you all to know that I really love that he is that kind of man!

Let's play catch up!

We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks, so here are some highlight pictures!

This first one proves that mommy has power tools too!

We got a new double stroller for when Leah Jane gets here and while we were babysitting Clara, we took it for a test drive. I love it, but they love it more! When we got back to the house I unbuckled them and they did NOT want to get out! They only look unhappy in the picture because we had to stop walking to take it.



Here is Eli watching pictures of himself on the laptop. I thought it was cute how contemplative he looks with his hands in his pockets.

Our latest escapade included matching haircuts for Jason and Eli. I think he is even starting to act older now too, and it's only been a day!

Bluebonnets

Last fall we planted bluebonnet seeds we got from Jason's parents. For all the non-natives, bluebonnets are Texas' state flower and have been known to produce beautiful landscapes such as the following:

They do not bloom for long periods of time, but when they do, they are quite extraordinary. People flock to their fields and plop their children, husbands, wives, and pets in them for that one great picture to send to grandma. Someone once told me that you have to be careful of snakes in the bluebonnets, so there will be no plopping for me or our children! (Jason however does not believe the snake story). While our little seedlings will not produce fields full of bluebonnets, I am proud of our current performance. Perhaps we won't make the list of bluebonnet photo destinations, but I think we are well on our way...

29 1/2 weeks

Above: Eli at about the same time (maybe a little later)
Below: Leah at 29 and 1/2 weeks

Sippy Cup

I believe I am sippy cup obsessed. I am always trying to find the perfect cup that won't leak or drip or anything else. Eli is so hard on them, they really have to be durable. I just picked up a new one at the store and what I didn't realize is that when Eli drinks out of it it looks like he got a double mocha half-caf latte with skim milk no foam cinnamon blah blah from Starbucks!

but so far so good!

Yee haw! Let's Rodeo!

Mom was here for the rodeo and Eli had a bunch of first time experiences.

It was his first trip on the metro, or as we called it the Train! Here are some picks of his reaction:

(and for those of you who don't know, this is an Eli Trademark face!)

We tried the petting zoo, and as you can see, Eli found the idea of touching the animals to be rather beneath him.

His favorites of the rodeo included large tractors, piglets, and hatching chickens. In other words, if the animal was safely contained behind a fence or window, Eli was more than happy to get up close and personal!

Grammy was also here during his "I will only sit in the kitchen chair and not in my booster seat" phase. Mommy and Daddy have since instituted the booster as a must. The dogs were starting to get fat again!

Words

The other day Eli was practicing jumping and spinning.

After one particular round of this he fell to the floor laughing.

When he recovered, he picked up the corner of the rug, looked at me and said "dirt."

Joy.

On a slightly related note: If the dust in my house decides to join forces, we are done for.

A good weekend

Breaking News!!

Some of you know, some of you don't, but our family is growing again!

We just found out today that we are having a little girl this June!

Following are pictures of her face (which is a little creepy, so don't look to long at it) and her feet (same picture side by side).

We had been referring to the baby as Brister since we didn't know if Eli was going to have a brother or a sister, but we can now say Brister is a Sister! When we tell Eli, he doesn't seem to care, or rather doesn't understand quite yet. I'm sure his uncle Scott will have lots to tell him about having a little sister!

A note about Eli. He is working on his language, he's really good at choo choo and hot, and has finally started saying Mama with meaning! He shakes his head no, says dog when he deems necessary and looooooooooves Thomas the Tank Engine.

Everything gets lined up in train formation. Even his snack. His head wounds are now healed, but here they look pretty gross.

Snow!!

He kept fighting the hat, but once he was on the sled, he totally forgot about it.

Stuck in the three inch snow.

Trains!

I know you can hardly see the train, but it is constantly running today.

I guess one man's outdated mode of transportation is another's preferred background music.

Christmas Part IV

We were in PA for round four of Christmas. Grammy had a rocking horse and Eli loved it!

Pop decided that it was time to start a train hobby. Much to Eli's delight that not only included trains but building as well. In this photo he is stressing the importance of measure twice, cut once. You never know who might be pushing on the tape measure!

Eli often work the hat of "Supervisor" during the construction. Here is approving of Pop's technique with the screwdriver. After Pop was finished Eli made sure the screw was flush, pronounced it "ot" and blew on it. They made a good team.

Eli's skill with a hammer was also excercised and perfected.

I believe this was an "oh no" reaction to Madelyn causing train wrecks with overly rapid acceleration.

Christmas Part III

We had a quick layover at home and then we headed up to PA to see my mom and brother's family. We were able to finish up Grammy's present with a little finger painting, and set up our two workbenches in the garage.

Notice how he chose to play with the recycling instead?!

Christmas Part II

From the lake we headed a smidgen further north to see Jason's family. It was short and sweet, but a good trip.

Eli loved his very own set of oven mitts!

The tool bench was even more exciting...and I would like to add that once you set it up, it is quite loud! There is nothing cuter then watching him change his drill bits and run around tightening all our loose screws! (no pun intended, just bite you tongue.)

We also got to visit the model train display. I know you can't see a train in this picture, but this is the only picture we have where you can tell how excited he was!

He also got to go to a football game. Air Force played some other team, I think the other team won, but Eli still had a good time. I was informed that his applause did always match the plays, but you can't blame him for a lack of enthusiasm!