Two Blonde Puppies

Recently, Eli and I met the newest addition to my side of the family, my younger sister's lab/golden/german shepherd mix puppy Chaya. The two of them together were quite entertaining and Eli loves any and every "Dawwg" he meets. While we were together, Chaya practiced her tennis-ball fetching skills and I think Eli enjoyed fetching the ball just as much as she did! We can't wait to play with both of them again soon!

Story of My Life

Lately, Eli has been known to fall asleep in the last 5-10 minutes of car rides. Especially if it's right around lunch time. He gave up his morning nap a while back over the Christmas/New Year's Holiday, but I'm wondering if this is a slight remnant of the good old days. (I think his adjustment from two to one nap was harder for me than him!) Normally, I wouldn't mind him taking a quick power-nap, but the problem comes when we get to our destination. Eli will usually stay asleep while I take him out of the car but once I need to put him down and he begins to wake up, he gets UGLY! Maybe this is paybacks for all the years I was less than pleasant in the morning before school to my family.

So, it isn't unusual for me (or whoever else is riding in the car with us) to begin doing anything and everything we can to keep the little guy awake for the remainder of the car trip. Singing loudly, tickling, trying to engage Eli in a conversation, and gesturing wildly are all pretty typical plans of attack. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. It's kind of a crazy high-stakes game to see what will happen. Boy have our lives changed since September of 2009!

This picture was taken after our return home from an obviously exhausting shopping trip yesterday morning to our local Walmart...right before lunch, of course.

Bathtime Fun!

Eli is all about bath-time these days. Mark has become the expert bather in the house and I love that the 2 of them have this Daddy-Son time together. Eli absolutely loves to play with his toys and splash like crazy. He does not like it when you pour any type of water on his head, though. After he's gotten good and pruney, we wrap him in a nice warm towel before getting p.j.'d up. (Sometimes we'll even sing a round of "Matchmaker" from "Fiddler" in front of the mirror when he's looking especially babushka-like.) It's a simple little routine but we love it around here.

New Years 2011

Yes, I know we just started the 2nd month of the new year, but I figured I should share a few pics from our new year's eve festivities.

We spent the first part of the day at the VA Living Museum to participate in their countdown to noon. They had lots of fun activities for the kids and even a small petting zoo of some miniature animals. Eli had a blast hanging out with his cousins, looking at all of the animals, and of course, crawling through his favorite log in the museum.



Had to include a pic of "Mr. Logistics" (my Dad) with his stroller full of coats








Mark shot this picture of our gorgeous niece Bekah while we were at the museum...I just love it!



After dinner, all of the family piled into the mini-vans to go see our local drive-thru christmas lights attraction. Eli absolutely loved all of the lights, just as we expected. The only thing he did not like was when Daddy decided to hang out of the van's sliding side door to take better pictures of the light displays. That did not go over well! I must say, the park really stepped it up this year with lots of new light displays. I think I may have enjoyed the it more than our son!






Eli did not stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square or bang pots and pans outside at midnight, but he will have many more years of that to come I'm sure! Mark and I enjoyed ringing in the new year with lots of yummy food and fun family. We're looking forward to the fun that 2011 will bring!

First pic of the New Year!

Branching Out

Eli seems to be broadening his taste for toys that go in his mouth. So long circles...bring on the squares!

Christmas Snow!

While we were in Virginia visiting family, there was an awesome storm that dumped almost 15 inches of snow beginning Christmas night. This was the first significant snowfall we'd experienced since Eli's 1st time last January at 4-months-old. (Yes, that was the snow that he absolutely hated, as seen in the video I posted last year.) Now that he was a little older, Eli seemed to like snow a little more. We didn't have any boots for him, so plastic baggies wrapped around his shoes with rubber bands were the next best thing.

At first, Eli was really curious about the white stuff on the ground. Mark put him down but the snow was so deep that he couldn't really move. That ended Eli's desire to walk in the snow!




It was also really cold, windy, and still snowing when we took him out, so Eli's desire to be outside didn't last very long. We attempted to "sled" along the streets but poor Eli's pants kept hiking up and snow got into every piece of his clothing. Ultimately, he ended up being most happy sitting on Daddy's shoulders, safe from the cold and wet snow. Go figure! Nevertheless, memories were made and we had fun in Eli's first Christmas snow!

Our frozen Banana!

Christmas Day Fun!

Christmas Day was very busy for us. We spent Christmas morning and most of the day with Mark's family. Eli was definitely a lot more interested in everything this year, but I was surprised that he didn't get into opening presents a little more. I'm sure that will change in the years to come!

Getting ready to open his presents from Santa!




Mark and I gave Eli his first set of Duplo Legos. They were a big hit!



Opening his stocking with Daddy. Eli was all about eating the food he found inside!



Yummy brunch!




Eli was obsessed with these little flashlights the entire time we were visiting with Mark's family. So random!



Reading with GG


Tried to get a good pic with my boy...so hard these days...but I still think he's pretty darn cute!


"Like my new Lego, Mom?"


Hanging with Grandpa


Getting into trouble with Aunt Margaret



That evening, we made the short drive to spend some time with my parents and extended family for gifts and desserts. Since Eli was the youngest child there, he had to blow out the candle on Jesus's Birthday Cake. We've had this tradition forever, so it was kind of wild to me to realize that it was my son's turn to do it!



So blessed to have these two wonderful women in my life!



We ended up driving back to Mark's parent's house in the snow that evening and finally had our very own White Christmas! (More on that to come soon!)