Leaving on a jet plane...

Send out a little prayer for us as we head off to Santa Barbara. My brother is coming tomorrow like we are and the rest of my family is coming Thursday. I feel very sorry for the person sitting next to us on the first flight (maybe there will be empty seats and they can escape). Luckily the flight after that we're alone. Here is an example of Eli's "singing". If you ask him to sing this is what he does. In this video, he still has his rash, and if you're wondering what he's eating he was chowing down on some green crepes my mom had brought us for St. Pat's Day.

Eli dancing!

This is Eli's dance studio. It's our upstairs room that we're going to re-do this summer to be Eli's room in the future but for now it just has boxes for storage. He loves to go up there and see the gorilla mural and dance to some music from my keyboard. He actually has a new style of dancing now that is a little different from this video that I need to catch on film. Now he kind of does the "sprinkler" with one arm going from side to side and my brother's personal favorite when he wiggles his hips from side to side. We love to ask him to "swim" when he's in the bath tub. He starts kicking his legs really fast. You can tell he thinks he's an amazing swimmer. I'm curious to see if he will like the ocean or be scared of it!

Welcome back Spring...don't ever leave again!

Eli and I have had a wonderful day so far! After being stuck inside for days, Spring decided to show its face again so we were able to take a wonderful walk and play outside. Over a foot of snow and ice is pretty much gone already from the glorious sun. Maybe I'll actually come back from California after all :-) Eli loves playing with the big ball seeds off our sycamore tree. They are a wonderful natural toy. He'll play with them for hours outside or throw them around on the porch. We were playing in our driveway and he discovered the melting snow running out of the gutter. I was waiting and waiting for him to notice it because I knew he would be thrilled...and he was! He was overjoyed to play in the water and kept trying to lay down in it. He loved picking up the wet leaves and splashing in it. Finally he did kneel in it before I could stop him, so we had to head back inside muddy and I had to strip him at the door. Great fun! I'm afraid to see what toll this storm has taken on our plants, flowers, and trees. It caught everything by surprise. Brandon and I were spreading seed like crazy out for the birds during the storm and after. We have several pairs of nesting birds in or around our yard and house (one of our favorites a pair of doves we call Cello and Viola). Considering we couldn't even spot a single bird when we moved in, we are so happy! We have a couple feeders and feed the squirrels corn cobs, which actually does keep them out of the feeders for the most part. I just gave Rica a bath, and Eli was laughing his head off at Rica looking like a drowned rat. They really are buddies. It's pretty sweet. My cousin is going to stop by daily and take care of Rica while we're gone. Rica will be glad to get some attention for once ;-)

Snowed in!

We had a huge storm this weekend that dumped several inches of ice pellets and up to a foot of snow on top of that! We have been trapped inside since Friday. None of us slept on Friday night with ice pellets pounding the windows all night. Eli enjoyed watching all the action. Luckily, after the snow ended yesterday afternoon everything started melting. I'm hoping it will all melt soon. The roads are a mess. We took advantage of being stuck inside and played, cooked some delicious meals, cleaned house, and finished packing for our trip this Wednesday. We're sad because Eli has come down with a cold. I should of figured it was too good to be true that we were all healthy. We'll just make the best of it! Eli's favorite color is blue. He loves to say "blue" and is learning how to distinguish it from others. He's accurate most of the time. We're excited to get out of this winter wonderland and head to the beach!!

Why my husband ROCKS!

Tuesday afternoon I started feeling dizzy and exhausted. By the time Brandon came home I was laying on the floor with a pillow letting Eli wrestle thinking this was a fun game. Needless to say I just had severe exhaustion. Eli just doesn't sleep at night when he's teething. It's been two weeks since I've actually slept more than a two hour stretch. Wednesday I woke up with a horrible headache and was still exhausted. Brandon was awesome and offered to stay home so I could nap and rest and actually feel human again. It was a great day and I felt a lot better by the end of it. Yesterday Brandon babysat so I could go out with my friend and shop a little with some gift cards I still have from my birthday. We had a great time, and Brandon had fun with Eli. He took him to the mall play place. I laughed because Brandon made a total "woman" comment. He said that some lady asked how old Eli was, and when he said a year, she remarked at how small he is etc. The kicker is that Eli was playing with her daughter who was a year older and only like an inch taller. I laughed because that is so something that I would have mentioned to Brandon. Also, Brandon mentioned what a chick magnet having a baby was. He said he was practically fighting the women off ;-) ;-) Our family dog Clara died yesterday at 13. She has had cancer, so it wasn't unexpected, but we will all miss her smile and hugs. When my friend Courtney was over yesterday Eli was a total flirt. He did anything and everything to show off. He would fake laugh every time she laughed and was running from one end of the house to the other to show how fast he was. It was so hilarious. Even Brandon was surprised. We've never seen him turn on the charm as much as he did last night. I think he has a new girlfriend!

Bama and Donna

For some reason Eli has taken to saying Bama and Donna. Bama we think might be from saying Obama (but we hardly say that, just when talking about the news, so who knows). Donna started from Done, which he still uses often, but he made a variation. Donna is good because that happens to be Brandon's mom's name! In the car, he said "OH YEAH!" yesterday. Brandon was thrilled because he always jokes saying that.

Spot

Just call Eli spot. His rash came back on Sunday and is almost gone today. I called the doctor of course, and now they don't think it's Baby Measles and definitely not the vaccinations. It's either a virus, or a food allergy. I made sure to stop giving him anything with blueberries because that is the only new thing I've introduced before the rash. Since it's almost gone again today I am not worried, but it is frustrating to not know what it is. I waited all day yesterday for the CDs. Guess what time they arrived....8:00 P.M.! After Brandon and I put Eli to bed, we literally waiting on the porch we were so excited. Everything arrived okay and they look great to us! We won't be selling them until our CD release party, but it is a huge relief to have them here. We are just finishing setting up all the digital distribution and other details of the concert.