Eli's 1 Year Pictures

I took Eli to get his 1 year pictures last week. He did a pretty good job. He nevers seems to smile his biggest when we go somewhere to get his picture taken. I still think they turned out good. He is just as cute as can be!! Here are a few of the pictures.

I mean seriously could he be any cuter!! I can't wait to meet his little brother or sister and see who he or she looks like!

House Fire in My Neighborhood

A little before 2:00 Kennedy's mom was picking her for a Dr appointment. She comes in and says that the house down the street has smoke coming from the garage. After she leaves I take a look out the back door and can't beleive what I see. It isn't just smoke, the back half of the house is engulfed in flames. It broke my heart and I couldn't help but cry for that family. I knew right away the house was gone. I was only outside for a few minutes and I could see how quickly the fire was moving. At first it was just at the back of the house and about a minute later I could see flames out the top of the house and the front of the house. Before I knew there was a fire I heard a few small booms but didn't think anything of them and now I clearly know that something was exploding. The garage is at the back of the house so I think that is where it started. There was also a car in the driveway that was completely gutted. As far as I can tell nobody was home, or they were out of the house before it got bad. I never saw an ambulance so I don't think anyone was hurt. This house is only about 5 or 6 houses away from us but we don't know the family that lives there. From our backyard we have a clear view of the front of the house but since the garage was in the back we never really saw them. The heat of the fire was so intense that the houses on either side have damage to at least the siding. Here are a few pictures I took.

My mom, who lives 2 hours away, called about 1 hour after I first heard of the fire to see if everything was ok. She saw the fire on TV and knew it was my neighborhood. I just saw on the 5:00 news that there were 4 adults and 1 child in the home, but a passerby notified them of the fire and they were able to get out in time. It also said they are renting and do not have renters insurance. The small booms I heard were 3 cars exploding. It is a blessing that they are all ok, but I am sure they have a rough road ahead of them.

Here We Go Again!!

Baby Reger # 2 Due 9/2/09

Eli is going to be a big brother!! :-) And we are so excited! Baby Reger #2 is due September 2nd. That means they will be about 19 months apart. I am a little over 12 weeks now, the ultra sound picture is from 8 weeks.

This pregnancy came as a little surprise, a happy little surprise. Mike and I had been discussing when we wanted to have another baby. I wanted them to be about 2 years apart and Mike wanted them to be about 3 years apart. I guess God has his own plan and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Playful Fun

Yesterday was a great day. I don't watch any kids on Thursday mornings so it is just me and Eli. I usually use it to get some errands done. Yesterday we got Eli some new shoes. He has had his old shoes since he was 6 months old so I figured it was probably time to get him some new shoes. Since he is still learning to walk I wanted to find him some shoes that aren't too heavy. I ended up finding them at Walmart for $12. Yay!!

Checking out his new shoes!

In the afternoon Grace and Zack were here and we had lots of fun playing. My sister gave us a little hand me down kitchen and all of the kids love to play with it. Mike isn't too thrilled that it is pink and purple, but who can say no to this face;

I used to try and block Eli into the living room and just bring the toys to him. Well that doesn't work anymore. No matter what I use he can push it out of the way or knock it over. So now I just let him go between the living room and the toy room and just try to keep him out of the kitchen. Now that isn't a problem except he would rather play in the blinds so I had to open the blinds and he thought it was so fun. (he had to change his shirt because he spit up all over it)

For Eli's birthday my friend Joanna gave him an ABC floor puzzle. We finally put it together yesterday and Eli thought it was pretty neat and it looks great in our toy room. Thanks Joanna!!

For Christmas Eli got these stacking blocks. He is really a little young for them but he loves it when I stack them and he can knock them down. He gets so excited and I was able to capture just how excited in a picture. I love this picture.

Eli is a Walker!

Eli is officially a walker. He is everywhere and he just goes and goes and goes! I love to watch him. The only time he crawls is when he falls. He crawls over to something and pulls himself up and starts walking again. I can't believe how much he is growing up. He is becoming more and more independent but at the same time he still loves to be with his mommy and daddy. His favorite thing to do is to read. He has always loved his books but now he loves to look at his books with us. It is so cute. He throws books out of the crate until he finds the one he wants and then he walks over to one of us with the biggest smile on his face. We pick him up and read with him and then when we say all done, he gets down and walks over to the book crate and gets a new book. I love it. He just gets so excited.

Eli's 1 Year Check Up

Today I took Eli to the Dr for his 1 year check up. I was excited to take him because I wanted to see if is 20 lbs. We are getting ready to switch him to a bigger carseat and if he is 20 lbs he can face forward. Well he is 19 lbs 9.6 oz. So he will be facing backwards a little bit longer. Oh well. He is still in the 10 percentile for height and weight which surprises me. We also got a little surprise at the Drs. He was checking him out and said that Eli had an ear infection. WHAT?!? I would know if my son was sick right. He hasn't acted sick at all. He has had a little cold since Sunday. He has also had a runny nose and a low grade fever of and on, never above 99.8. He is also teething right now so I just figured that was why he had a fever. He seriously hasn't acted sick. He has been his playful self, eating fine and sleeping great. At least he isn't hurting. So since he has had a fever in the past 24 hours he didn't get any shots today so we have to go back in 3 weeks for his 1 year shots.

We have also had some firsts this week. Since Eli is one we have started him on whole milk. He seems to enjoy it. We have just been giving it to him at dinner for now. We want to ease him into it.

He took a drink

and then looked at it like what is this, but then went back to drinking it!

Tonight we also brushed Eli's teeth for the first time. I had asked the Dr about it and he said it wasn't necessary but we could give it a try. He said to make it fun and not to force it. Eli really enjoyed it. I had fun too!

So the plan was after Eli turned 1 I would slowly wean him off nursing. My plan was to eliminate the morning feeding first and let him get used to that and then I would eliminate the evening feeding. Well Eli had a plan of his own. He has completely lost interest in nursing at all. I haven't nursed him the past 2 days. I think it is wonderful that he has basically weaned himself. I was worried that it would be hard on both of us. I should have known my laid back baby would be fine with it. I love this little boy!

Eli's Birthday and Birthday Party!

Friday was Eli's First Birthday and Saturday we had a party for him. It was the best weekend ever. It could not have gone any better. Friday night Eli got to open his birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy. He had a blast. He played with each of his toys, but he had the most fun with his new ball pit!!

The Birthday Boy eating breakfast, Pancakes are his favorite!!

I can't believe my baby is one year old!

He loves his Yo Gabba Gabba toys!

Crawling with his new Dino

Eli and Daddy playing with his truck

He loves his ball pit!!

Reggie wanted to check it out too!!

Satudrday was the Birthday party and it was a blast. We had our family and a few friends over to celebrate. It couldn't have gone any better. We opened presents and then had cake and ice cream. Eli even got his own cake and he absolutely loved it!!!

Our Little Family!

The big cake

Eli's Little Cake!!

Opening presents with Mommy

Checking out our new truck from Grandma

Eli did such a great job with his cake. We sang happy birthday to him and then I put his little cake infront of him. At first he was a little stand offish. He touched his cake and then handed me the icing. He did this a few times and then I helped him have a taste and showed him how to get to the cake. Then he devoured the cake. He absolutely loved it. There wasn't anything standing when we stopped him. It was too cute.

This is when it really hit me that my baby is growing up and I couldn't hold back the tears

He was ready to go

Yummy!!

Two hands!!!

This is what the cake looked like in the end!

Time to get cleaned up!

After cake and ice cream Eli played for a little while and then I was able to sneak upstairs with him and I rocked him to sleep. I could tell he was exhausted. He is such a cuddler. Most of our family hung out to watch the Purdue game on TV. That evening Mike was going to the Pacer game with his Dad and my 2 brothers in law were also going to the game. So my sisters decided to stay and hang out. My mom was spending the weekend with me so it was all the girls and the kids. It was so much fun. We went to Monical's for dinner and when we came back we got all the kids in there pajamas and played Mario Kart on the Wii until the guys came home. It was so much fun. It really made for the perfect day!!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!

Some of the cousins; Sunjay, Maya, Isaac, Eli, Grace, Lily, and Luke

The 3 boys of 2008

Me and my baby boy! (he will always be my baby)

Eli and his Godmother, Aunt Tracy

The end of the night wii party!!!

This was seriously the best Birthday Party! I wouldn't change anything. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family. They really helped to make Eli's birthday so special and my little boy deserves nothing but the best!!!!