Busy Weekend!

Eli was a pretty popular little guy this weekend! On Saturday, we headed out to celebrate his buddy Ramir's first birthday. These two little guys are only a few weeks apart in age and are sure to be great friends in the future. Eli had a great time partying it up!






Then...



Now....



Oh my goodness, these picture make me want to laugh and cry! Where has the time gone! (Oh, and it has been decided that Eli is most definitely larger than Ramir these days!)



Eli also got to swing for the first time while we were at the party...pretty obvious...he LOVED it!





Sunday was quite packed with events as well. Our day began with church and a little guy that decided to wake up a lot earlier than his normal time. This lead to him getting pretty whiny before we left and crashing in the car for the last bit of our short drive. I wasn't sure how he would do in the nursery, since he was a little more tired than usual during his typical nap time. Thankfully, he managed to make it through the entire service in the nursery without a major melt-down...and I was able to hear the whole sermon. It was awesome! Hopefully, he's getting back into the habit of being in the nursery after our summer of crazy travel.

After church, we went home to eat a quick lunch and then headed back out on the road to visit Mark's Grandmother in Petersburg. Mark's parents and sister were also able to make it out to visit with us as well. Like I said, Eli is a pretty popular little guy! He had a great time showing-off for everyone and completely crashed in the car on the way home.





We were all pretty exhausted by Sunday evening, but it was so worth it. Can't wait to see what fun the next weekend will bring!

Almost here...

The weekend is quickly approaching and Eli is hoping you are NOT feeling like this....



but more like this....



What a silly boy we have!

Random Mix

As summer is quickly winding-down, we are keeping busy with the day-to-day activities that each week bring.

Learning how to drink out of a straw...





"Playing" with his favorite doggie...




Pulling-off every door-stopper he can find...it's amazing how many there are in just our downstairs alone!






Attacking any clean laundry within reach...this includes the unmentionables...





The usual.

But with the good, also come the challenges...

Eli had a pretty rough week last week. He is usually THE BEST sleeper and I try not to take that for granted, but his napping was almost non-existent. He would cry and fight being in his crib every time I would put him down, which made me feel horrible! Oh, and he started throwing his "Sheepie" lovey over the side of his crib too, so that didn't help either. I think he's possibly working on his bottom first-year molars, because the drool was flowing and his little nose was running (clear) through the entire week. Poor little guy was pretty congested and just plain "off." Really makes a Mom appreciate a normally healthy baby!

Thankfully, Eli seems to be getting back to his regular self and nap-times. Yippee! No germs are going to keep this little guy down for long!

Sweet Cheeks...

This was my view before bath-time yesterday...



...love me some chunky baby legs!

11-Months-Old!

Eli is now 11-months-old and we are in disbelief that he will turn one in a little under a month! Where has the time and our little baby gone? He seems so much more like a big boy these days. Here's what's gone on during his 11th month...

* Weight & Length: We will find out his new stats at his 12-month well-visit next month, but he sure does seem to be growing like a weed. Mark and I went in to check on him before we went to bed the other night and we couldn't believe how long he looked all sprawled-out on his back in the crib. Long gone are the days of a little swaddled bundle...

* He's solidly fitting into 12-month clothes (and a few items that are 18-month...like sleepers)

* Eli's moved on to size 4 diapers after many a leaky one over the past couple weeks. We're still trying to figure out which diaper we like the best and trying to cope with the fact that as the diaper size gets larger, the fewer number of diapers are actually in the package for the same cost...or sometimes more money. Diapers are NOT cheap!

* As of last weekend, Eli now has a total of 8 teeth that have popped through his little gums. We're working on getting him used to brushing his teeth. I think he's convinced the toothbrush is some kind of food.

* Over the past month, Elijah also decided that he likes to feed himself food. Gone are the days of him gagging on anything other than purees. Thank goodness! He's been eating lots of new things and really hasn't refused any of the finger foods I've given him yet. Some of his current favorite foods are pieces of string cheese, sweet potato, grapes, green beans, peas, squash, blueberries, apple, peaches, and yogurt.

* One downfall of his newfound love of "big people food" is that he's developed this really high-pitched demanding screech when he really wants something. Hopefully this is something that will pass with time, as I don't think our eardrums will be able to handle it for the long term.

* Eli's really getting mobile these days. He's been pulling-up-to-stand on EVERYTHING the past few weeks. He will cruise a little when he's standing at certain objects like the couches, but not too much as of yet. We found out last weekend that he will walk with support, though. My parents got him a new musical dinosaur walking/riding toy while we were away last weekend and he pulled himself right up with the handle bars and walked with it almost immediately. He's been doing it more and more ever since! So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see if he is walking on his own by next month's post!

* In the communication department, Eli continues to develop his ability to make different sounds. He's started to make the "T", "S", and "P" sound over the past month. There are no real words that he's saying yet, but he definitely is beginning to understand certain words that we say. For example, if you ask him where his doggie is, he will go find Candy immediately. It's too cute how much he loves that dog!

* Eli's 11th month was also characterized by many new quirky behaviors he developed...

He began doing what Mark and I call his "Pop-Eye" mouth, where he would "talk" out of the corner of his mouth.

Ever since we went to vacation at the beach, he will stick his little fingers under a closed door if someone is on the other side...such as when you are in the bathroom.

Just recently he'll randomly begin crawling with his head looking down at the floor while he is moving. The only problem with this is that he will not realize that there is something blocking his path and he will literally ram into it...but not too hard. It's hilarious!

He's also become our little "Rolly Poly" these days. I bought a new pillow a few weeks back and put it on the floor and next thing I know Eli is falling onto it and rolling of the sides over and over again. All the while, giggling his head off! He does this on Candy's dog pillow and sometimes on Candy too!

* Some other "tricks" we are working on these days are getting him to wave and "dance." He will do both pretty randomly but it is always so cute when he does!

Eli's 11th month was full of changes and fun. It's amazing to think back to how much our life has changed with him even since the beginning of this year, when he was only 4-months-old. We are so blessed to have such a sweet boy and look forward to the awesome times his 12th month will bring!






An attempt to get the "Pop-Eye" Mouth on film...




Eli is OBSESSED with the opening theme song of Sesame Street...as seen here...oh, and Cookie Monster is his absolute favorite character too!


He finally fits into the JMU t-shirt we bought him last fall!







Here are some outtakes from this month's photo session. Eli was a total wiggle-worm the entire time and actually wiggled himself off of the rocker at one point...which didn't make him too happy. He survived though!

The Great Escape!

To celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary (back on July 9th), Mark and I took a little weekend getaway to Ocracoke Island. Last summer, when I was still pregnant, I had reserved the help of my parents to take care of Elijah so we could go. This was the 1st time we have been anywhere without him overnight, so we were pretty excited to have some fun just the two of us.

Mark found us a wonderful bed and breakfast on the island. Our suite was on the 3rd floor of this really cool house, with views of the Ocracoke lighthouse and the water/sunset. The only way to get onto the island was by ferry or private plane, so we took an almost 3 hour ferry ride (we kept singing the Gilligan's Island theme song)on the way there. This was definitely the longest ferry ride either of us had ever been on, but it gave us some time to nap and just take it easy before all the fun began!








The view of us approaching Ocracoke's little harbor was aweseome!





On Friday evening, we explored Ocracoke Village and went out to eat after watching a gorgeous sunset from our room's private balcony. Neither of us had ever been to the island, so it was fun to see everyone riding around town on their bikes or in their golf carts. Oh, and we had absolutely NO phone service the whole time we were there, which was kind of strange. Thankfully, we had just enough internet to call my parents for the nightly check-in via Skype. I love Skype.







After breakfast on Saturday morning, we decided to walk over to the Ocracoke Lighthouse for a quick visit. It is a really small lighthouse that is basically just there for the public to take pictures of. After that, we went on a mini-hike through the Springer's Point Nature Preserve, which was right down the road from our B&B. It was SO hot, but we did get to see Blackbeard's (yes, the pirate) favorite beach party spot, Teach's Hole.

(We'd see these sweet baby ducks with their mommy every morning outside our B&B)







Then, we went back to our B&B to borrow some of their bikes to cruise around the little town. We visited the tiny Ocracoke Preservation Museum and an exhibit on Blackbeard the Pirate. (the second place was all per Mark's request)





After sweating our brains out hiking and biking for the first half of the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the beach. We decided to visit a more remote beach across from where they keep some native Ocracoke ponies. The horses aren't really "wild" anymore, but they sure were beautiful animals! The waves were ridiculously huge that afternoon, but the water felt so good!








That evening we went out for a nice seafood dinner and picked-up some yummy desserts on our way back to the B&B. It was so nice to just have some time to be alone together.

We checked-out of our room after breakfast the next morning and headed back home via the Hatteras Island ferry. Neither of us had seen the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse since they had moved it back in 1999, so we made a quick pit-stop to climb to the top. The view from the deck of the lighthouse truly was amazing! Afterward, we quickly toured the lighthouse museum and then headed on our way back home to Eli.






He had a great weekend with his grandparents and we were so excited to see his sweet little smiling face when we got back. I've never seen him crawl to us so fast as he did when we came through the door! We were so thankful for this opportunity to celebrate the past 5 years of marriage with such a memorable trip. Now, we just have to decide where we want to go for our 10 year anniversary...Hawaii, maybe??? We had better start saving now!