Happy Friday

Mama, am I too big to pose for Anne Geddes?

I love pictures!

Elijah loves pictures, and loves to look at photo albums whenever someone will help him. Here he is with Daddy, learning to identify aunts and uncles when they were younger. (Don't mind my laundry piles.)
On a random weather note, it was 62 degrees out today while Elijah and I were running errands and we both took off our jackets and were very comfortable in short sleeves. So nice! I love a good sunshine day.

A look back

My last post made me think a little about what's been going on in our lives this past year. We never got around to a Christmas letter this year - I was hoping to get a good picture of the three (+ 1/2) of us, or at least a cute one of Elijah sitting still and smiling, but neither was possible. So, we do love all of you who sent cards, letters and pictures to us, we're (in other words, I am) just not that with it right now. I'm sorry, because I know many of you like getting those things from us as much as I like getting them from you. We love having good, recent pictures of friends and family, and Elijah just adores the refrigerator photo montage. He's really learning a lot of names!

I'm sorry that I still don't have a good picture to send out, but here's a quick summery of our year and random facts:

Elijah grew up a lot! (For those of you who have been reading this blog, you already knew that.)
At 6 months old, Elijah was fun and laughed a lot, but pretty much stayed in one place all the time. This year he learned to eat food, roll, crawl, stand, walk and talk. What a big change! He's very busy and talkative now and tries new things all the time. Right now he's working on stairs and climbing up on things taller than the couch. He likes hats and boots and putting on what ever strikes his fancy over his regular clothes.

Patrick and I were ... just normal this year. We lived in our house and did the same jobs and ... whatever. Pretty exciting, huh? I had surgery in January for a ruptured tubal pregnancy, but got (safely) pregnant with the little bean at the end of the year. I also got to ride in an ambulance for the first time in my life, but it was just dehydration and endless puking - no big deal. Patrick's parents visited and we had fun in the mountains and at home with them. I got to go to Pittsburgh for a week on my own and visit friends and family. Patrick traveled a couple of times for work/conferences in Maryland and Arizona.

This was the first time that we have had only one W2 for our taxes.

Patrick and I went camping by ourselves for the first time.

Elijah is totally obsessed with elephants.

I made two baby quilts and started three, wait, four more.

Elijah already wears an XL size diaper cover at night, so I guess he's not allowed to grow any bigger until he learns to use the potty.

We have four bookcases in the living room and still can't find enough space for all the books. Between the books, toys, and and giant bins of baby clothes, I don't know how we have any space for us!

One year

Our blog is one year old! (OK, a year and a couple of weeks. I just noticed!) In honor of our anniversary, here is a little photo retrospective:

February, 2007

Meeting cousin Piper

Playing with cousin Logan (I know, we need new pictures of these boys, but they just won't get together and hold still anymore!)



February 2008

And still ...

Elijah is still sick, but things are looking up a bit today - he is acting more like himself and didn't break down and need a nap half way through the morning. He even ate a more normal lunch (he's been eating only a few bites here and there most of the week), and slept through most of the night last night. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel! We will all be so glad when he is feeling better.

Still sick

So Elijah came down with Patrick's sickness on Tuesday night - sore throat and cough yesterday, and today he's added a very runny nose. E has been quite cheerful about the whole thing during the day, but we've had some rough nights. Last night I slept for an hour and a half or so. Elijah got more sleep than I did, but he was pretty miserable. He finally slept for a few hours sitting up in my lap - it helped him breathe better, but wasn't so comfortable for either of us. We also spent some time sitting in the bathroom with a hot, steamy shower running very early this morning to help open up those clogged airways. Today Elijah has been cheerful and ready to play again, even though his voice sounds horrible. Hopefully he can take some good naps to help make up for his night!

Update: Elijah took a little nap this morning and we both got a good nap this afternoon - hooray! He must be feeling pretty well - after he got up from his nap, E ran the living room - kitchen circuit like a maniac 20 or 30 times, laughing and saying "Do it!" in his best imitation of Daddy's Ben Stiller in Starsky & Hutch voice. Yes, hilarious. I'm not expecting a nice uninterrupted night's sleep yet tonight, but at least he's happy.

Sick and other fun

Patrick is sick, so we stayed home today. How weird to be home on a Sunday! Last week was kind of long anyway, so I'm extra sorry to have missed my weekly trip into adult society. At least I got out for a bit yesterday afternoon, and I actually have plans to be social a couple of times later this week. Poor Patrick is feeling pretty crummy, so we are just taking it easy today and hoping that Elijah and I don't get it too.

Here are some pictures we took the other night of Elijah in his undershirt. (I had no idea they made those for little boys!) We took his shirt off for dinner and it was just too funny to get him dressed again without taking some pictures. He also decided to put on some hats to complete his outfit.



Today Elijah learned to say "kiwi" and decided that the words "shampoo" and "peel" are hilarious. (We have no idea what that is about.) Some other random things from our house today:

Mama: "No thank you, I don't want a truck in my cereal."

Elijah: "Me-me. Toot!" ("Excuse me. I tooted.")

Lately we discovered the National Geographic Kids animal page. Elijah loves it! He is so excited about anything animals that we decided to look for some real animal sounds and pictures for him. The NG site is great. (We did, however, learn to avoid playing the sounds of some of the scarier animals after Elijah got kinda freaked out by the lion.) E asks for the elephants so often that we made one of the pictures our desktop photo so it is always available!

Growing up

Yesterday we got Elijah a toddler bed to move into before his little sister comes to take his crib. Now we just have to get a mattress pad and decide when to start the big transition. Elijah seems to love it so far - he spent the evening climbing all over his new bed last night, but we'll see how he does when it comes to sleeping in it!

Here is E sitting in his tall chair, "reading" his Bible (or just looking for elephants). He is getting pretty good at climbing up there, and today even made a good attempt at climbing back down. Elijah is getting so grown up!

Playing

Here is some video of Elijah's every day playing, with some of his favorite toys. I had a little trouble getting video while I was playing with him - the last clip is of him playing with his dump truck. Enjoy!

Little cowboy

This morning, Elijah chose his cowboy boots (since Mama finally got his snow boots put away when he wasn't watching) - after trying Daddy's boots first. His own boots are still about 5 sizes too big, but that didn't seem to bother E. He ran around in them all morning without tripping or falling down!

Ready for the rodeo!

Ridin' the range (in his PJs) - yeehaw!

Camouflage

My brother Cameron asked me to find some of his old camouflage uniforms (that he donated for a future quilt project) for something he is working on at school. Patrick pulled them out for me the other night, and Elijah (of course) had to put on a "coat." E loves to wear any adult-size jacket like a king's robes and sweep around the room very seriously. Here he is trying on Uncle Cameron's Marine Corps camo. (Cam, your tapes are coming - hooray!)

Some fun pictures

Yesterday Elijah's outfit included a necktie with snow boots. Too funny!

This kid is getting so grown up.

And more hats ...

Going for a walk

We had such nice weather this weekend - it was actually warm enough to go for a walk. Elijah walked on his own for quite a while and had a great time. We went past the duck pond and were lucky enough to see a big group of ducks close up. Elijah was excited to hear them quack! After Elijah got tired, he enjoyed a ride in the stroller. It was so nice to get out and spend some time all together.

Big boy walking

Ducks! Quack quack!

Walking with Daddy

Elijah's day

Here is how Elijah's day went today.
7:10 am - Good morning, Elijah! After sitting in his crib happily for a minute with his pacifier (which was returned to him from the floor where it had been tossed while he was waiting for me to come in), Elijah noticed his cowboy hat and his snow boots and decided that they were worth getting out of bed and giving up the pacifier.

E spent most of the morning playing (and drinking water here) in his pajamas, snow boots and cowboy hat. He is quite obsessed with his snow boots, and is very funny trying to run around in them - they are a little clunky.


8:00 am - Breakfast: milk, oatmeal, and then scrambled eggs with sausage and green onion. Yum! After breakfast Elijah got dressed, and was very sad that he had to take off his boots and hat to do so. Boots and hat were returned afterward and Elijah went back to playing happily.

10:00 to 11:00 am - Outing to the fabric store with Mama. Elijah read his monkey book in the car on the way (Elijah "reading" to himself - "no more, monkeys, no more!"), and we saw fabric with lions, tigers, zebras and giraffes at the store. It was very exciting.

11:00 am - Lunch: milk, mac & cheese with turkey and peas, apples, and a few Cheerios. Elijah is getting much better at pronouncing Cheerios - it used to just sound like "chew," but now is a much more recognizable, "chew-yee-o-yo." It makes me laugh to hear him say each syllable (even the extra one) so carefully!

Eating lunch - still wearing the snow boots

11:30 to 2:00 - Nap. Hooray for nap time!

Afternoon - Play time. I actually got to talk on the phone while Elijah played very well with little help - and he didn't scream or try to take the phone away from me! Wow! He also played with his tool bench, did his animal puzzle, read books, and practiced taking lids off and back on various containers. We made the rounds of the pictures in the living room and either named or pointed to all the people. Elijah remembers every one. Elijah and I checked the pictures on his friends' blogs and looked at the new pictures I took today. We named and tickled lots of body parts (elbow and neck are current favorites) and both gave lots of kisses. It was a pretty normal, good day!

Surprise - it's a girl!

We went for my 20-week ultrasound tonight. We were excited to watch baby move around and see her heart beat and and little fingers and toes move around ... wait, her? Patrick and I were both surprised at the end to hear, "It's a girl!" We were both expecting a boy, but are getting used to the idea of having a girl, and getting excited about it. Hooray! (Sorry about the blurry picture.)

I've been tagged ... again!

My friend Amanda tagged me and the simple instructions are just to write six things about me. This was a lot harder than it sounds! Here they are (in no particular order):

1) I don't sleep very well. I never have. People tell me that it will get better now that I'm in my 30's, and maybe it will when I'm not pregnant or nursing, but while I'm pregnant - worse. I'm tired.

2) I am about to be a bridesmaid for the 8th time. (Congratulations Kristi - hooray!) I've been so glad and honored to be there to help and support my friends each time. This is the first time I've been pregnant, but I think it'll be fine. My dress is just bigger this time!

3) I'm a little nervous about our upcoming ultrasound, mostly because I'm excited to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm a little nervous about the possibility of having a girl, just because I don't have a lot of experience living with girls and I'm nervous about messing up. I also will have a lot more to do to get ready if we're having a girl, and I'm not sure what kind of quilt I'll make if it's girl. But I'll be excited either way (once I get used to the idea)!

4) I make quilts, and mostly I really enjoy it. I like figuring out a design and doing the patchwork and seeing it come together. I don't like ripping things out, and the quilting part gets tedious sometimes - I always feel like I should be done already! But then, when it is done, it's all worth it.

5) I am not generally very good at dealing with change, but I am trying to work on that. Mostly, when I don't know what to expect I get worried about all the things that could go wrong.

6) I love photographs and photo albums. I have been concentrating on sewing for the past couple of years, so I have quite a stack of pictures piling up, but I am excited to get to them soon. We have pictures all over the place around here. I had to move some to protect them from Elijah's growing reach and I was so sad that I had to lose seeing them all the time.


There you go! I have never been a huge fan of asking people to do things, but ... Jackie & Erin, I'm tagging you, if you want to do it!

Reading Bear Books

Elijah loves his bear books (Polar Bear, Panda Bear, and Brown Bear, all by Eric Carle). Honestly, some days I'm relieved when they get lost for a while under the couch, just so I can go a few hours without reading them again! But E just loves all the animals, and I think it's cool to see him learning to say the names and make the sounds of so many of them (not too clearly yet, but he's getting there). Here's a couple of videos of us reading the bear books - a couple of times he runs off to find the piece of his animal puzzle that is the same as the animal in the book. He's always doing things like that. (Yes, "ai-ya" means elephant.) On Tuesday E was playing with one of his baby toys, a big stuffed block, and discovered a cartoon picture of a turtle (which hardly even looks like a real turtle) on the block and said, "tuh-tal,"and came running to find the turtle in the panda bear book. He had never seemed to be paying any attention to that turtle before, but I guess he was!