Yesterday was our last day in Plano. We met Brandon's sister and our nephew Gavin at a Wiggly Play Place (from the tv show the Wiggles). We all played with Gavin and took him down the slides. Eli loved watching the other children play and dance during the music time. Eli slept for the longest stretch he's ever slept....8 hours!!!! Yeah!! He went to bed at 8:50 and slept until 4:50!!!!!! Today we drove home. We got an hour into the trip and came into a horrible storm; we had to stop in Gainsville and wait for an hour at Starbucks. Eli was great on the trip again. We had to stop a couple of times to feed and change him, but it was no big deal. He started fussing 5 minutes from our house! We are ready to relax for a few days! Eli has a new best friend.....fans!

Plano

We had an amazing trip down here to Plano!!! Eli slept the entire trip but 40 minutes of it and still slept once we got there. We've had a great time spending a lot of time with Brandon's family including his grandparents and aunt who had never met Eli yet. We had a big family celebration last night for his brother Lance's graduation. We've had fun helping watch our nephew Gavin and playing with him. Gavin was so cute when he saw Eli for the first time. He was so excited and loved touching Eli and helping me change his diaper (he handed me everything). He even was giving Eli kisses (his version is leaning his head into you so you can kiss him). So precious! He also was trying to share his toys and kept trying to put them in Eli's hands and helped me swing him in the swing. Gavin has never been around a baby, so we were all curious what he would do. He just loved Eli! I can tell he just gets the biggest kick out of Eli. Brandon's brother Paul brought over his new ball python "Lucy" short for Lucifer :-) It was neat! Eli has loved taking his baths in the sink. He's never been in that deep of water, so he had a great time. I will post a lot of pictures when we get home Tuesday!!!!!!

Bird Attack

When we got home from Minneapolis the same baby bird that I had issues with last week was still in our yard, so I had Brandon go out to put it outside the yard so Rica wouldn't hurt it. I'm so glad I didn't try because I heard some noise and looked out....there were 6 starlings attacking Brandon's head!!!! It was like "The Birds" all over again. I laughed so hard! All of my family came into Wichita on Tuesday, so we got to spend more time with everyone before they flew home!! I went out to eat and shopping with my aunt Cathy and mom, and had a blast because they don't have Dillards in California, and there is one designer there my aunt loves. My aunt and mom treated me to a few outfits, which was fun!!! Later we had an American Idol party at the hotel with my grandparents because my cousin is working for the company that does American Idol, so she was backstage and my uncle was in the audience. It was great to spend more time with my relatives. Today, we are leaving for Plano to see Brandon's family. Only God knows how Eli will do for 6 hours in the car!!! Here's Eli and his cousin Jadyn.

Minneapolis

We've been in Minneapolis since last Friday for my brother Will's high school graduation. I got to spend time with my grandparents and aunt and uncle that I don't see very often. We had a wonderful time!!! We had a bonfire down at the pond with fireworks the first night. Saturday we went and celebrated my grandpa's 80th birthday at our traditional place the Brookville Hotel. We had great food and enjoyed laughing and learning many memories and events of my grandpa's life. Brandon got to go see the new Narnia movie. He hasn't got to go to a movie since we had Eli :-) Sunday we flew Brandon's glider in the pasture and went to Will's graduation and great party afterwards. I'm so glad that most of my relatives have now met Eli!!! Everyone was so amazed at how good of a baby Eli is. He was his charming self. My mom has most of the pictures, but I'll put up a few that I have until I get more.

Barbecue

We had a fun day yesterday! We were supposed to have a barbecue in the park for our bible study, but it started raining. Everyone headed over to our house instead. We crammed a million people and tons of food into our little house! Eli was just taking it all in. We had lots of kids and babies. It was great!!! I didn't have time to baby proof since it was a last minute thing, and at one point we looked back and our friend's baby (he's 1 1/2) was sitting there chowing down on the dog food!! He screamed and cried when she pulled him away from it. She was horrified of course, but I guess it had happened before at her sister's house, so I didn't feel too bad! Another friend put her 7 month old under the play mat, and he didn't know what to do. He just laid there forever just holding the toys. It looked halarious, so I had to take a picture. I chopped my hair off yesterday (think Victoria Beckham...although I'll never look like her :-)) Tomorrow we head to Minneapolis for my brother's graduation from high school. My grandparents and uncle from Nevada are coming, and so is my aunt from California. I'm so excited to see everyone!!!

Happy Mother's Day....a little late!

I had an interesting Mother's Day! I woke up with a sore throat...grrr! Today it feels better, so hopefully I'm avoiding sickness. I've washed my hands so much in the past couple days I'm surprised they are not cracked and bleeding! We went to church and got my favorite soup for lunch. Then, I had Brandon help me clean the house :-) We rented movies, and I enjoyed Brandon's help in getting a lot of things done I normally don't have time for! This morning was a disaster. The state informed our pediatrition that Eli's heel prick test (PKU etc) that he had when he was born was messed up in the lab, so he needed to have it done again. They just said to stop by the office then go to the lab in the same building and have it taken care of, so I thought it was going to be a quick almost painless event. After waiting forever to get into the lab, Eli didn't even make a face when they pricked his foot. Everything changed when they couldn't get hardly any blood and kept squeezing and squeezing his foot. Finally after a while they gave up and said I needed to go to another lab for them to give it a try. So...I hauled my exhausted baby over to another lab having to park in a parking garage and lugging the carseat a mile. At this lab, the guy said he hadn't done one of these tests in 2 years and had to call someone to even see if they had the paperwork. By this time I had been dealing with all of this for 2 hours, and I thought I was going to scream! Eventually he tried on the other foot and had the same problem. Eli had another scream fest while he tried to squeeze blood out. No such luck. He tried to send me to another lab clear across town and I said NO WAY! I was not going to let someone else torture my baby another time today. Whenever I get the guts to go again in the next couple weeks, I guess I'm going to have to go try again. I despise whoever messed the lab up!