I finished the book in a couple of days, and yes Eli got neglected a little bit. I figure he's been "ruling my day" for the last 6 months, he can give me 48 hours.

I don't want to say anything too revealing in case you haven't finished yet, but I loved it. The book was more action packed than usual, and I couldn't put it down. The end of a chapter was like the end of an Alias episode, it left you in suspense and wanting more. I felt like the end drug on a little bit, but it may have been that I was just too anxious to find out what happened.

Finishing so fast was bittersweet, now I know what happens but on the other hand the series is over. It was a unique and fun filled journey waiting for books, movies (I guess we've still got a couple of these), books on tape, and late night parties at the bookstore.

We really love Jim Dale, the reader of the Harry Potter series, but since money is a little tight we haven't been able to get the tapes yet. We put our name on the list at the library and are number 311, we figure that will take about 6 months, so I guess we still have something to look forward to.

Thanks to J.K. Rowling reading is more popular than ever, I mean before Harry Potter I had never gone out at midnight and waited in line for a book.

Happy Reading!

We went down to look at the Nutria and Ducks this evening.


I put a sweatshirt on Eli because it was a little cold.



I guess since I never wear socks (I'm always in flip flops) I forget to put them on Eli. So, there he was with a sweatshirt and no socks.



We discovered the Nutria have two babies, but this is the Mom...


and here are the babies with some ducks just a short distance off.

I guess I'm not the only one who likes the Trader Joe's bags.

We went hiking in forest park yesterday. It's so nice to get outside again now that Eli is feeling better.



This is some kind of Cherry Tree, we really liked the bark!

Eli is so interested in everything around him now. He's getting very interactive and loves to play, this is more what I thought having a baby would be like. It's still a lot of work, but he's so much fun.

Eli finally figured out how to bounce in his Jumperoo. It was a little hard to get a picture of him in action, this is the bottom of the bounce, you can see the flub on his cheeks defying gravity!


So, he'll only stay on each of these contraptions for about 15 min. So if we're trying to do something that takes longer than that (dinner) we do baby circuit training. We move him around from Bouncy Chair, to Jumperoo, to Exersaucer, to Baby Gym, to Johnny Jumper. We just hope dinner is finished by the time we run out of gear.

Crazy Baby is back!

Eli forgot about his tongue for awhile, but we're happy to report it's back. The past couple of weeks he's been making noise and smiling with his lips closed. He thought that was pretty funny, but I guess it got old. The tongue is my personal favorite, so I was glad to see it this morning.

My Mom is here visiting for the week and of course loves to babysit. This gave Ben and I the opportunity to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together. It was strange to actually leave the house together without Eli, strange in a good way.

I have to say the Harry Potter movies just keep getting better. We had a couple of new characters in this movie, Tonks, Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood. I loved Evanna Lynch's portrayal of Luna, she was smart, whimsical and quirky. Although she wasn't my favorite character in the book, she really made the movie for me. Another highlight was number 12 Grimmauld Place, amazing set, very imaginative. I still have a hard time with Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, but I guess I can't have everything.

Over all well worth the watch!

I haven't had time to blog much lately because sleep is a priority. Eli had a cold that drug out for two weeks. We finally went to the Doctor and it turns out he had a bi-lateral ear infection and a sinus infection. We started antibiotics and the next day he developed a rash all over his whole body. I guess he's allergic to penicillin.

On the upside he's been in a great mood though all of this. The little guy has been putting on a brave face and making the best of it. The downside is he's too uncomfortable to nap for more than 30 min and wakes up constantly during the night, so we're both quite sleep deprived.

We're going back to see the Doctor tomorrow, hopefully we'll find an antibiotic Eli can tolerate.

What is it about baby bums that is so irresistible?

I think Ben's awfully brave to do this during a diaper change, one of these days he's going to get a complimentary shower. We'll do just about anything to make Eli laugh, and this sure got him going.

Eli is rolling all over the place now, I think we'll be in trouble soon!

Also I have to announce no more bath pictures for awhile. He's too big for the baby tub and tries to drown himself if bathed alone in the big tub. So, for the time being he showers with me. I don't think I'll ever master holding a wet, soapy, squirmy baby and a camera.

I love Trader Joe's reusable shopping bags. I have wanted to buy reusable bags for awhile, but didn't want to spend $5 a bag. These handy, and fashionable, bags are just under $1 and can carry a pretty heavy load. They're perfect for trudging up 3 flights of stairs.

I feel a little bad bringing them to Winco since they say Trader Joe's all over them, but then I think "this is Winco, some lady's beating her kid on the Jello aisle, I don't think anyone cares about my bags".

On Tuesday morning Eli woke up vomiting with a fever, stuffy nose, cough and diarrhea. He has also lost his appetite for the first time in his life.

Of course it has to reach 96 degrees on a day when Eli won't eat. Needless to say I was a little worried about dehydration. Eli is highly offended by bottles and couldn't/wouldn't nurse, so we had to feed him with a medicine dropper.

Last night we finally got some sleep and he seems to be doing much better today.

Thank goodness for air conditioning!

I've been trying to clear out some of my clutter, so I've been selling some stuff on Ebay/Amazon. It's amazing how much junk we've managed to accumulate.

I have to say the Automated Postal Center is quite handy. Thankfully I don't think very many people know about it because it's never busy.

I'm just happy not to wait in line at the post office anymore!