Eli's 18 Month Pictures!!!

This morning I took Eli to get his 18 Month Pictures taken. He did so great. I was worried he wouldn't stand still long enough to get a decent shot, but I loved them all. It was hard to choose which ones to buy. Here are a few of my favorites and a link to all them.

Here is the link to all of the pictures we had taken: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2563905&id=13718126&l=a17aa08db0

Eli is 18 Months Old!

Today Eli is 18 months old. That means tomorrow he will be closer to 2 years old than to 1 year old. I can't believe how big he is getting. He wants to be so independent lately and try everything on his own. Some things he is getting really good at, like going up and down the step at grandma and grandpa Reger's. There are other things that he isn't so good at yet like eating applesauce with a spoon. I can't believe that he will be a big brother is just a few weeks.

We had a fun day today! I took Eli to the park and he loved this dinosaur! He was so excited to ride on it. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture because it was kind of high up and I didn't want to step away from Eli. We didn't last too long at the park because I sure get tired awful quickly these days, I wonder why? :-)


Since Eli is 18 months today that means his cousin Luke is 1!!!! Happy Birthday Luke!

1 year ago today!!! Eli at 6 months with newborn Luke and cousin Isaac

Baby Update: I am 35 weeks along and I get to go in next Wednesday for an ultrasound to check on this little boys size. The Dr thinks he is going to be big like his brother. Hopefully he will come at 37 weeks too!! I am super excited to have another ultrasound. I haven't seen this guy since I was 19 weeks along. Oh and we finally have a possibility for a name for this little boy!!!! We aren't 100% sure yet so you will just have to wait to find out!

To Iowa and Back!!!!

We have officially moved our stuff to Iowa!!!! Last Thursday we loaded everything we own onto a huge truck and Mike drove it out to Iowa. Eli and I stayed Thursday night with my mom and got up early on Friday and the 3 of drove out to Iowa. Overall it was a great weekend. I love the house that Mike found for us. Eli did amazingly well in the car and at the new house while we were unpacking. And we got pretty much everything put away so now when we move with a newborn and a toddler we won't have a bunch of stuff to put away. :-) Now it is just wait and see when this baby arrives.

The town we are living in is pretty small, but you can tell it is rather new and still growing. We live just about 5 minutes from a bigger town that has everything we need. In the few days that we were there I felt like I was able to learn the area pretty well and find my way around. About 10 minutes from our house is a huge mall that has a children's museum attached to it. I thought it was weird that it was attached to the mall but I look forward to taking the boys there.

The house is great. It is actually a duplex, but is so much bigger than I expected. The back yard is bigger than our yard in Noblesville. The house is a split level so when you walk in the front door you either go upstairs or downstairs. Downstairs is a huge 2 car garage, washer and Dryer, full size bathroom, living room (toy room), and our guest bedroom. Upstairs is our main living room, kitchen, dining room, full bathroom, master bedroom, and the babies room. There is also a little patio off the downstairs toy room and a deck off of the main livingroom.

The Front

The Back

The Living Room

Downstairs Toy Room

Guest Room

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom(sorry about the mess)

The Boys' Room

Eli Playing in his room

Helping Pack!

We have been busy packing and Eli has been having fun in the kitchen. It isn't too easy to pack with a 17 month old, but we have gotten plenty done during nap time and after Eli goes to bed. I can't believe we are moving out of our house this week. I am excited to see our place in Iowa and get things put away next weekend. I want to get as much done as possible while we are there so we won't have to do a lot once we officially move with a new baby.

Eli thinks the cabinets are more fun when there is nothing in them!!!

Nicknames

I think it is so cute when kids come up with their own nicknames for things. For instance my niece Lily used to call her blanket a ninny. I really love listening to what Eli calls things. I know not all are nicknames and some are just the way he pronounces them, like Dinosaur is nino. But I have noticed that Eli now has a nickname for his blanket. He used to say bwankie and I thought that was adorable. Unfortunately I am not so found of his nickname for his blankie. He has been calling it butta and occasionally he will leave off the a and call it his 'butt'. He walks around hugging and and saying butt. I personally like bwankie better but he seems to want to call it his butta. Oh the things that little ones say!!!! Have I mentioned that I love this little boy!!!

1 Year!!!

I have officially been blogging for a year now!!!!! Wow has it gone fast. In my first post I mentioned that Eli had rolled over for the first time the day before, now he is everywhere!! He is climbing on everything and constantly wants to be in the kitchen. If we weren't moving we would just baby proof the kitchen and let him run around, but since we are moving in a week and half it doesn't seem worth it.

As for moving we now have a place to live in Iowa. Mike went out there last weekend and checked out a few places and found one that will work for us. It is a 3 bedroom duplex that is split level. The only bad thing about it (that I know of since I haven't seen it) is that one of the bedrooms is on the lower level. We have decided that the boys will probably share a room. I just can't imagine having either one of them downstairs while we slept upstairs. It will also be nice to use the extra bedroom as an office/Guest room too. Since we will be about 5 1/2 hours from family it will be nice to have a room so people can come and visit.

We are making some progress with packing. Packing a 4 bedroom house in 2 weeks seemed a bit daunting at first, but it isn't as bad as I thought. My mom came down this weekend and played with Eli so Mike and I could pack and we got quite a lot done in just a couple of hours. Today I tried to get some packing done in the kitchen while Eli was awake, that didn't work to well. I was able to get some packing done while he napped. Hopefully we will keep going at this pace and be done by next Thursday. We plan on loading the truck on Thursday 7/23 and Mike is going to head to Iowa that night. My mom, Eli and I will be heading down Friday morning to unpack and get some things put away. (I don't know how much I will be doing since I will be 34 1/2 weeks pregnant)

On another note Eli is teething. I can't see where any are coming in, but he has to be teething. He has been in the worst moods lately. This has been going on for over a week. He hasn't been sleeping well, he wakes up 3-4 times a night crying. He usually cries for just a few minutes and then goes back to sleep. The past few days he has had a clear runny nose and today he has been drooling like crazy. He also hasn't wanted to eat much the past few days. Hopefully he will get the teeth soon and get back to his normal self.

Keeping busy in the kitchen while Mommy tries to do some packing!!!

It was like a new toy!!

Also today was my first day of not having to watch other kids. I guess Eli forgot that we could sleep in and instead decide to wake up extra early. When I had to watch kids I would get up about 6:45 and Eli would sleep til 7:30 or 8:00. Today Eli decided to get up at 6:15. Of course by 10:00 he had fallen asleep on my lap for half an hour. I am hoping he will let me sleep in a little bit this week since it doesn't look like I will be able to nap while he naps.

I'm Done!!!!!!

Today was my last day of work!!! I have been looking forward to this day for quite some time. I was hoping for sometime to rest but since we have to be out of our house in 2 weeks I don't think I will be resting much. It looks like I will be packing while Eli is napping. I do plan on taking Eli to story hour again and some other activities around the area so that Eli will stay busy. I think Eli will miss the other kids. He played so well with them. It won't be too long until he has a little brother to play with!!!

Zach (1) Grace (4) Kennedy (19months) Eli (17months)

Relieved and a Little Overwhlemed

We found out last night that we have somebody to rent our house. That is a huge relief!!! The only down fall is that they need the house on the 25th of July. So we have 2 1/2 weeks to pack our entire house and be out. Now we need to find a place to live in Iowa so we can move our stuff in but come back and stay with family until the baby is born. That is the overwhelming part. Mike is going to Iowa this weekend to look for a place for us to rent. We are looking at houses and condos to see what will work the best for us. Hopefully he will be able to find a place and get that taken care of. Then all we would need to worry about is when this baby will come!!!!

Please say a little prayer for us that the next few months go smoothly and with as little stress as possible.

The Children's Museum

Since Mike and I both had the day off today we decided to take Eli to the local Children's Museum. I was such a great day. Eli had so much fun. I wasn't for sure how much he would be able to do, but there was so much he could touch and play with. It was so much fun to watch him. We went to the Dinosaur exhibit first and throughout the rest of the museum we heard "nino, nino, nino". It was so cute. So we went through all of the other exhitbits and play areas and then ended with the dinosaur exhibit for a 2nd time. He had a blast and we really wore him out, he was fast asleep before we were out of the parking garage!

He loved the "Ninos"

He wanted to take these home with him!

Hanging out in the Dino nest

Driving an Indy Car

Checking out fossils with Daddy

Riding a Crocodile from the Nile

Having fun in the play area!!!

Going down the slide

Loving on his new Nino