Squirrels everywhere....can you spot them in 2 pictures?

We had a couple nights of really good sleep. We always just start to get used to it and then we have a night like last night...sheesh! Oh well, someday! My parents just got a couple really tame kittens, so I can't wait for Eli to play with them at Thanksgiving. We always have a blast at Thanksgiving. My Corman side of the family is huge and all of us cousins are REALLY close, so it makes for a great time. I think we might have the loudest family in the universe. A family dinner on that side is a wild and crazy event! Kids running all over the place, people pounding the table laughing and screaming, and board and card games galore. Everyone talking at once with about fifty different conversations going on. It feels like home. I can't wait! Yesterday, it was raining and nasty so Eli and I went and pretty much finished up our Christmas shopping. We're trying to be careful with money from now on because you never know what's going to happen in this crappy economy. I'm waiting impatiently for Brandon to call me and let me know what Cessna is going to do. Right now there are talks of layoffs, but asking for voluntary retirement first. We'll see. Bran said they came by yesterday asking how long he'd been there, how long he'd had his A&P license etc. Brandon should be safe. He has several people in his group who were excited to get the chance for early retirement and he's in the middle as far as pay and towards the top as far as seniority. His boss left him in charge of the group while he's away, so that's encouraging to me too! Here's our new grass we planted....the only green in a browning world. We have finally attracted many squirrels to our yard. It was depressing when we moved here because Rica didn't have squirrels to chase (which is her favorite thing to do) . I still love them and like to watch them get into our feeders.

Swimming...

We took Eli to church today and then to Cessna's pool swimming. The perks of working for a large company! They have a brand new pool that has a huge curly water slide, a mushroom waterfall, basketball hoop, volleyball net, and a zero entry kids half. Eli had a blast swimming around. He kicked his legs and threw his arms around splashing constantly and walked around in the shallow areas chasing a ball. We also put him in a floaty ring, which he enjoyed. Believe it or not I forgot my camera and almost made Brandon turn around, but he wouldn't let me :-( Brandon and I both went down the slide and Eli loved watching us shoot out into the water. It's going to be a really fun activity when our kids are older...especially in the Winter when we're all cooped up. Yesterday, when I was making Eli's mashed potatoes I had a run in with the peeler and my finger still bleeds if I don't keep a band aid on it. I'm allergic to band aids, so I try not to use them if possible...but have no choice this time. When I had my c-section I didn't know whether I'd have a reaction to all the tape and adhesive they use during it, but I did and it was awful. Next time I'm going to try and see if there is any other alternative. We're having both my favorite foods today. We had asparagus on pasta for lunch and I'm getting ready to make some artichokes for supper! Score! I've been begging Brandon to let me sing Christmas Carols or listen to Christmas music, but he's making me hold off a little longer. I've already taught Eli Jingle Bells because it's so annoying and distracts him during diaper changes when he's wiggling around like crazy and we've been singing Little Drummer Boy when he plays the djembe. He loves his Santa book he has and I always say, "Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas" and he loves it! I ate my first candy cane today because it came on the card for the angel tree baby we drew to buy for. We're only going to get a few little things for Eli's stocking, since we already gave him his walker...I'll still get to shop and bless someone else's baby though! This new crawl around the crib stage is driving us NUTS. During the night it wasn't a problem, but going to sleep for naps was ridiculous. We had to go in and flip him over a million times. Grrr!

Weekend fun!

We're having a great weekend already! Last night we went out to dinner with some of my college friends that I haven't seen since my baby shower. It was refreshing for me. Today we're just finishing some things around the house we want to get done: weather sealing the windows, yard work, making mashed potatoes for Eli...etc. We all got our flu shots this week, so I'm hoping that we'll be protected. Eli only cried for a second when the shot went in and then was fine! He was tough! We rescheduled his 9 month appointment for December, so we can get the second dose of flu shot at the same time. I weighed him on our home scale and I think he's around 18 lbs. I'm probably in the best shape from lifting and chasing him. We switched him up to size 3 diapers....he's growing up! I started giving him vitamins for the vitamin D, since he won't be outside to get some sun this Winter...he loves them. He just discovered today that it is fun to crawl around his crib, so the second we lay him down for his nap he rolls over and throws the pacifier behind the crib and crawls around thinking he's done something amazing and naughty. He gets this big smile when we go in there. I thought maybe he would just sleep on his stomach, but it didn't happen. Finally he got so tired when I rolled him back over he went to sleep. Things could get interesting! I'm reading the parenting book "Parenting with Love and Logic". I LOVE IT!!! I'm already trying to practice in the way I talk. All of our friends that use this philosophy have had great success in every area (it's Christian based). A couple friends and I are looking into getting the dvds and watching them together. I'll explain more about it later.

Barack'n'Roll....

Well, today starts a new time for America, and I'm excited to see if our new president can turn this whole mess of a country around! Good luck...wouldn't take that job in a million years. We celebrated election day by ordering pizza, putting Eli to bed, and watching the results! I can't wait to tell him about all the political craziness during the year he was born and share with him how fortunate he is to have been born into an America where a black man can be president. What a historic year to be born in! It brings me to tears. Eli is still just crazy about walking. It's all we do. His walker definitely helps him get where he wants to go, but we still have to spot him so much it's not all that much better than him just holding our fingers. It's good practice though. I think the most steps he's taken on his own without holding onto anything is about five. I'm ready for him to be an expert walker, and move on from this in-between stage. He still says Dada all day long with no sign of Mama in the near future, but I'm working on it ;-) Here are the words he definitely recognizes: Mama, Dada, Rica, plants, pictures, food, more, fan, snack, bath, drink, milk, music, hi and bye bye (trying to teach him to wave). Brandon put streamers on his fan in his room, so now we say "Turn on your fan" and he takes his hand and pushes the switch on the wall. Then we tell him to "turn off the fan" and he does the same and looks really fast to see the results. It's so dang cute! The other new aspect is brushing his teeth...I can actually say teeth and not tooth since he has his second! He loves for me to brush his little teeth after nursing before bed. It's hilarious! We just love our little wild guy!

What you don't see is that he's RUNNING!

We went ahead and got Eli his Christmas present from us because he's definitely ready for it. We got him a push toy so that he doesn't have to hold onto our fingers, but can hold onto this little "walker" and go all over the house. It's so cute! He has practiced on one at the church, so we knew he'd be able to do it. Hopefully it will help our poor aching backs. We had a lovely picnic on the river yesterday and watched the rowing contests going on. Today Eli played with the other babies at church, and we enjoyed long walks in the beautiful weather. We have had some rough nights since this second tooth is coming in. For the past 4 nights I've been up every hour, but now that the tip is through I'm hoping for some sleep! There's Eli checking out his new baby gate.