Milk

On Eli's birthday, I introduced him to organic whole milk in a sippy cup. I was nervous at first because he acted like he didn't want it (which is really unusual for him because he loves all foods/drinks and will try anything), but then I realized I'd made the mistake in calling it "milk". He's used to hearing the word "milk" in association with nursing, so he didn't take to kindly to me saying that and then handing him a cup. After I realized this was the issue, I just said "drink" or "sippy" and he would drink it down. Whoooo...that's me breathing a sigh of relief. Step one of weaning complete. I about had a nervous breakdown at the thought of him refusing whole milk. Of course the second I start weaning he decides it's time to start telling me when he wants to nurse by running over to the glider in his room and pointing at it and yelling "AH! AH" (which is what he says when he wants something or wants to show us something). The past couple of days I've tried to only nurse at meals and his two naps. After this weekend, I'm going to try to cut one feeding a week, but of course I'll slow it down if Eli has issues. Worst case scenerio...the glider may have to disappear. Eli loves airplanes. He's definitely his father's child (considering I hate airplanes because I always feel sick on them, even with Dramamine). He'll hear an airplane when we're walking or playing outside and he'll immedietely point to the sky looking for it and watch it until he can no longer see it. I guess Brandon pointed them out to him a couple times and now he just loves them. Brandon said he tried to say airplane yesterday. These pictures were taken today when we were playing outside. We pet our neigbors dog Chumbo (who is a friendly black lab) and played with sticks and the "tickle grass" as we call it. That big smile above occurred when Eli poked Chumbo's nose through the fence. The other picture is of Eli pointing to an airplane. He could hear it but couldn't see it!

Birthday fun....

We had an enjoyable day on Eli's birthday! The weather ended up being nice, so we took a walk and played outside. We had Uncle Will over for a spaghetti supper (one of Eli's favorites), and went back to WSU for a walk on campus and shopping for a couple shirts for Eli in the bookstore. I need to get Eli a Friends University shirt or I just might be a traitor! A lot of family/friends called to wish him a happy birthday, and I know he enjoyed the attention. We decided to wait on the Exploration Place because there is a sweet whale exhibit coming this weekend that we'd both like to see, so we'll probably go next week sometime. We're starting to think about our vegetable garden, since we'll need to plant potatoes next month. We don't have a lot of room, so we're going to do all of Brandon's peppers (that he's obsessed with, and none of the rest of us can even eat them because they are so spicy...although I may have talked him into planting some mild ones) in pots around the back yard. I have SPRING FEVER! Just get here already! Our Spring/Summer projects are: emptying the goldfish pond and filling it with soil and annuals, extending the privacy fence and eliminating one of the gates, painting Eli's future room upstairs a Teal color with white trim, and carpeting the stairs so we don't have fatalities :-) Yay for projects! I love them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!

Eli is officially 1 year old! When we heard him awake this morning we crept into his room and greeted him singing Happy Birthday. He loved it. He started signing "more" and then stood up to enjoy a second round. We had a birthday breakfast of scrambled eggs and will hopefully take him to the park or Exploration Place to play tonight. I just called his doctor to ask her about his cold. He had a nasty cold for the past 2 weeks, but finally last Friday it seemed it was a lot better and going away. Then, this weekend he started coughing again in the night. He doesn't have a runny nose and acts perfectly fine during they day but is up coughing like three times in the night. I was glad I called because she said the nasty colds/RSV that has been going around like crazy has been lasting for a month in kids. I'm just glad Eli's pretty much over it, plus he's most likely no longer contagious. Poor kids! A month is a long time to be sick.

Fun Weekend!

We've had a really fun but busy weekend. Eli had a great time visiting family and at the birthday party. He was so good! He had so much fun playing with toys and the other kids at Seth's party. He kept trying to touch the other kid's hair. He's really into tickling my hair right now. We were all laughing so hard because every time Seth opened a present he would just want to play with that toy and throw a tantrum and scream when they tried to get him interested in another present. It was so funny. Seth had a "Cars" party because he loves the movie, so we got him a big version of the main character Lightning McQueen (which he LOVED). Today we met Brandon's second cousin Justin Simpson and his girlfriend Sarah at church, and then had them over for lunch. He is being deployed to Qatar for four months on Tuesday, so we had one last hang out before he goes to the desert.

All done!

Eli had a great day yesterday. He was so happy to see my mom and wouldn't stop doing his "monkey" face where he opens his mouth really wide and shows his teeth. He just wanted to play ball with my mom all day and go outside. We took a couple walks and played at the playground when Brandon got home. We met my brother for breakfast at our favorite place this morning and Eli charmed the other customers. I tried to share a couple bites of my beloved raspberry white chocolate scone (the best scones in the whole world) and eggs with Eli and he threw them on the floor. Never will I share my scone again :-) He is a great eater, but once in a while he does throw his food on the floor, especially if we're not at home. I swear he's a bottomless pit. He eats and eats and eats and then will eat again. I think it's because he's so high energy. Luckily he loves all the healthy foods. I'm really glad I fed him such a variety when he was little because now he LOVES all vegetables and fruits. Hopefully he stays like this and doesn't turn into a picky eater like a lot of toddlers do. Just a little bit ago when my mom was done reading him a book he'd say, "All done". I think it's pretty impressive that he can put two words together, but of course everything he does is amazing in my eyes. Right now at almost a year he says: Mama, Dada, Ball, Baby, All done, Up, Out, and Amen. Plus he does the signs for "more" and "help". Tuesday the 24th is his birthday. Crazy! We're going to his friend Seth's 2nd birthday party today and to visit my cousin and her baby, so I'll put some pictures up later of our fun day!

Eli is teething again (another upper). He was up yesterday morning at 4:45 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep. He was ready to start the day. Needless to say, Brandon and I went to bed at like 8:00 last night. He's acting fine but drooling like crazy. I've had to change his shirt at least two times during the days because they were becoming soaked. He officially got his first fat lip tonight. Poor kid was just trying to get to the high chair for a snack and had a little crash. It didn't even bother him, but I still gave him his mesh feeder full of crushed ice to suck on. When am I going to be able to have his one year picture taken? Oh well. I forgot to mention last weekend that Eli crawled up two stairs at my parents. It was the first time he ever has done that. None of our stairs are carpeted, so they are slippery and he doesn't even bother trying here. When we're at the park or grade school playground Eli points to what he wants to do and say, "AH!". It's so cute. He does it at our house too, but it's so cute when we're out and about. Brandon just holds his hand (to keep him from falling backwards) on the slide and he thinks he's a big boy. Another thing he likes to do now is put everything on top of chairs/tables or other high flat surfaces. He gets upset when he can't reach it after he puts it up there. Who knows why he loves doing it. I'm so glad it is almost Friday. I'm really looking forward to the weekend! A college radio station DJ wants to play our music on his Christian radio show, so that is exciting!

Eli and I are finally feeling better. My voice still sounds strange, but I can feel it coming back slowly. Today I can actually read Eli a book without losing it completely or having a coughing fit. Eli has been a totally different kid today. He is still coughing a bit when he lays down, but his runny nose is slowly stopping and he acts so happy. He's back to his normal self. Here's a video of Eli playing "basketball". At the end he almost wipes out, but Brandon was there to catch him! He likes to give us a "high five" after he makes a basket.