Happy Birthday Eli!!!

How old is Eli today???

Yay!!!!

Happy Birthday Eli!!!

One Year Ago Today!!!!

One year ago today was Tuesday, January 29th 2008. I was 3 weeks and 1 day away from my due date. I couldn't wait to meet my little boy, but I knew that it could still be a few weeks. I got up and went to work that day excited that I had only 4 days of work left! At work I taught my classes like normal, but before I left for the day I had an urge to pack up my stuff. So I packed up all the stuff from the classroom that was mine and loaded it in my car. I went home excited about the next day. Some of the parents of my students were throwing me a "surprise" baby shower!!! It was supposed to be a surprise, but what do they expect telling 3 and 4 year olds!! I was also excited about Wednesday because I was going to have another ultrasound and then I had a Dr appointment. My Dr had talked about inducing my around 38 weeks because of my gestational diabetes and I was hoping we would schedule the induction.
That night Mike and I decided to get rid of all the boxes we had from the baby furniture and shower gifts. So we loaded up both of our cars and drove to a recycling bin. We knew they were calling for storms that night so we wanted to hurry. While we were there the wind really picked up. I was getting nervous because I hate storms so we really hurried. Right as we finished it started to rain. On the five minute drive home this horrible storm broke out. It was raining so hard I could barely see. I was stopped at a stoplight and a big billboard sign came rolling through the intersection. I was completely freaked out. I was thinking there was going to be a tornado and I was in my car!! We both made it home safely and the storm actually moved through pretty quickly. The cable was out on the tv so we decided to watch a movie. We had had Even Almighty for a few weeks but never watched it. So we decided to watch it. This is significant because Mike and I watched Bruce Almighty the first time we ever hung out together!
After the movie I went to bed and I told Mike not to stay up too late because we had the Ultrasound in the morning. I think he rolled into bed about 3:00 that next morning and 2 hours later at 5:00 I woke him up to let him know my water broke and it was going to be a very special day!!!!! 11 1/2 hours later at 4:35 PM on Wednesday January 30th, 2008 I was holding my precious baby boy!

Eli Walking!

Eli has been walking more and more lately. He is so confident in his walking abilities, a little too confident. He is constantly falling. I guess that is just part of the process of learning to walk. He loves it though. He always has the biggest smile on his face!!

Eli was trying to pick up a toy out of a container and leaned on it and it came up and hit him in the eye. This picture was right after it happened so it looks worse than it actually is. This happened yesterday and I can't even see it today.

We got almost 11 inches of snow last night. Reggie and Maggie weren't too fond of it! They did their buisness and ran right back in. They only walk on the path they had already made. The first time they went out this morning I had to push them!

Maggie covered in snow!

Catching Up!!

There hasn't been too much going on around here lately. We have just been laying low at home. I have been following Eli constantly. He loves to crawl into the kitchen through the toy room and also over to the front door. It must be something about the flooring. So I now have figured out a way to block him in the living room. It took a kitchen chair, the exersaucer, his big giraffe toy, his toy table and a toy box but it works. He is also walking more and more these days. He pulls up to anything and takes off. This is another reason I am following him everywhere. He thinks he can walk everywhere, including over toys. He is constantly falling. Most of the time he is fine but I have to watch him when he pulls up to our recliner because he likes to walk towards the wall. He has already fallen once and slid his head down the textured wall. Of course that left a mark. I find a new bump or bruise almost everyday. Hopefully this stage won't last long.

I have also found that Eli likes a TV show. He hasn't ever noticed the tv before, but in the afternoons I watch a 3 year old so every once in a while she will ask to watch tv. One day Yo Gabba Gabba came on and all for of the kids stopped playing and watched. That included a 3 year old, 2 1 year olds(well Eli is almost 1) and a 7 month old. Now everytime it comes on Eli gets so excited. It is too adorable. We don't watch it too often, but it is nice to turn on while I am fixing lunch. Usually Eli and Kennedy both whine to come into the kitchen with me. Now they watch Yo Gabba Gabba. It is actually a pretty cute show. I can see why the little ones like it. It is full of bright colors and there is constant music. I don't mind letting him watch it, and it is so cute that he recognizes it and gets excited.

Here are some random pictures from the last week, I have been trying to get a video of Eli walking but everytime I pull out the camera he sits down to crawl. Hopefully I will be able to get one soon. :-)

Eli loves Reggie and Maggie, he laughs everytime they come near him and today he took off chasing them. They already know to run from him!

This is Eli watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Usually I will move him as soon as he pulls up to the TV, but this was too cute and I needed a picture.

Eli loves to help me with laundry. This usually involves him taking the folded clothes out of the laundry basket. Not much of a help.

This isn't the best picture, but he is standing by himself clapping. He loves to clap!

Eli's favorite thing to do is to look at books. He loves his books. He stands up next to the book crate and pulls half of them out and then sits down to look at them. His favorite right now is a book about colors that his daddy bought for him

Uh Oh!!!!

Eli learned a new trick today, and it isn't a good one. He can now climb the stairs, and he is fast too. In a blink of an eye he is at the stairs. We have always tried to keep him away from the stairs but before it wasn't too big of deal because he couldn't climb them. I guess now we need to bring out the baby gate.

Eli's First Purdue Game!

Today could not have gone any better. We got up this morning and went to church. Eli was perfect. He is such a people watcher. He is normally pretty good during church, we rarely have to take him out, but today he didn't even need toys. He just sat with mommy and daddy and looked around. He normally falls asleep on the way home from church and I could tell that he wanted to, but I kept him awake. When we got home we played for a little bit and then I fed him an early lunch so we could leave for the Purdue game a little after 11:00. He was asleep before we were out of the neighborhood and he slept the entire way. We met my best friend Sam and her little girl Sienna at the game. Mike was really nervous about how Eli would do at the game. I was really looking forward to taking him. Sam and Sienna go to all the games and Sienna is only 2 months older than Eli so I wasn't worried. Eli did great. He enjoyed looking around at all the people and the seats were so great. He could definately see the players and he kept pointing at them. He got scared a few times because of the noise, but it wasn't too bad. He never once wanted to get down. It was so much fun, and to top it off Purdue had an awesome game!! I was a little nervous about how Eli would do on the way home but he fell right asleep and slept the entire way. I couldn't believe it. It was a perfect day! Thanks for inviting us to the game Sam!!

Eli and Sienna (We did not plan for them to wear the same shirt) :-)Too cute!

Sienna, Sam, Me, Eli

Our first Family trip to Purdue

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Our precious princess Maggie is 3 years old today! We celebrated with a little party. I made her a birthday hat (which terrified her) and she got a birthday present and treat.

Eli and Maggie (This was the best of could get of the 2 of them)

Me and Maggie

Maggie scared of her hat

She didn't mind when it was next to her

Eli loved the hat

Maggie with her new blankie on my blanket

Eli's First Big Owie!

Today Eli got his first big owie. He was trying to stand up next to a chair I had blocking him from the kitchen and he fell and bumped his head on a wooden bar. He started crying and I picked him up immediately and saw a bruise. I couldn't believe there was already a bruise and I could actually see it starting to swell. I think I was more upset than he was. He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up and gave him his blankie, but I was still upset. I think Eli was confused as to why I was crying, he just kept looking at me. It just looked absolutely horrible. I am glad he wasn't upset. It must not of hurt him too bad, he didn't even flinch when I touched it. The swelling quickly went down and left a small bump and it already looks so much better.

Mike and I were just talking last night about how Eli is starting to fall more. He tries to pull himself up next to everything and not everything is sturdy enough for him. He also likes to stand up next to something and push it across the room. He has 2 toys that he can walk with, and he does, but he still likes to push everything across the room. I guess we just need to be ready for more owies. I don't know that I can take more owies like this one.

Eli's First Owie

His little bump

He wasn't hurt too bad!

Baby Steps!!!

This video is of Eli taking some steps at Aunt Jackie's new apartment!!!

Eli is taking more and more steps!! He is still very wobbly and can't go more than 4 or 5 steps without needing help. He has even been taking off on his own. He will pull himself up to a toy or the couch and then turn and try to walk to me. It is amazing. He hasn't even been crawling for a month (it will be a month tomorrow). Just 2 days ago he was fine with crawling and had no desire to walk on his own. My baby is growing up so fast.

Eli's First Steps!!!!

Yesterday (January 1st, 2009) Eli took his first steps. I was holding him and put him on the floor standing infront of my legs. He balanced himself and all of sudden started walking. He took four steps before he started to get wobbly. I couldn't believe it. I have tried this many times and he has always just leaned forward until I catch him. I was not at all expecting him to walk. It was so wonderful. Since then I have tried it a few times but he gets too excited and goes too fast and falls. We are going to keep trying it. :-)

Happy New Year!!

What has been my favorite thing about 2008????

What has been the best part of 2009 so far???

This has been the best year of my life!!!