Playing Around

At the Park

Look at me!

It's rare to get a picture of Eli's face, I can't tell you how many pictures I have of the back of his head!

Baby Names

We decided on a first name early this time.
I seemed to be stuck on names that started with "L", first I wanted Lucie (but Ben hated it) then I wanted London (but Ben hated it).
We finally agreed on Lillian, and we'll call her Lilly.
We've been calling her by name for a few months now, and we think it fits.
Now we're having trouble deciding on a middle name, so tell us what you think!
You can vote, or suggest something new.

Tricks

Causing Trouble

After many failed attempts to get Eli to "keep the sand in the box", I gave up. I decided there has to be somewhere Eli can play where there aren't so many rules. Plus it just takes too much energy to police him, and I just can't keep up! We let him do whatever he wants in the back yard (except put sand in the heat pump). So, here's Eli taking advantage of his freedom and dumping the sand table over completely. I might have tried to stop him, but there were only about 2 cups of sand left in the table anyways.

Yesterday, against Ben's better judgement, we bought more sand.

Conversations with a 2 year old

I was laying down with Eli the other day and I guess I was hungry because my stomach started making some rumbling noises.
Eli said "baby Lily making noises in there?"
I laughed and said "yes, I think she is"
Eli replied matter of factly "she's pushing all the buttons"
I just had to laugh!

Bigger Than Last Time?

28 Weeks

36 Weeks

Ice Cream

Scooter

You'll Poke Your (Dad's) Eye Out

Eli did it

In the living room

With the screw driver

We were assembling Eli's new dresser yesterday when we had an accident.
Eli was "helping" Ben put together one of the drawers with his favorite tool, the screwdriver.
All of a sudden Ben is squirming on the floor, and saying Eli poked him in the eye.
Eli is screaming because Ben had pushed him back a little, and he was freaked out because Daddy is rolling on the floor in pain. I asked to see Ben's eye, hoping Eli hit him near the eye, nope, Ben had blood dripping from his eye.
I didn't know weather we could go to Urgent Care, or if we had to see an eye doctor. I pick up the phone to call Kaiser, but it's ringing. I answer and tell my Brother "I can't talk now Ben's bleeding from his eye". Kaiser informed us that Urgent Care was equipped to handle eye injuries, so we piled in the car and rushed off.
The triage nurse asked a couple of questions, "was it near your eye or in your eyeball?", we had to respond "in the eyeball", "was it the handle, or the pointy end?", again worst case scenario, "the pointy end".
They got us in pretty quick and the Doctor said that Ben only had damage to the white part of his eye. It shouldn't effect his vision at all, and he's lucky it didn't hit anything important. They said it might hurt a lot, but it should heal quickly, it might look worse before it gets better.
Well needless to say when we got home we put all of the screw drivers away in the garage. Eli won't be allowed to use any real tools for quite awhile.

Zoo

We had a fun day at the Zoo on Saturday!
Eli loved this big polar bear, he hugged him and gave him a high five.
This gives us hope for a picture with Santa later this year.

26 Weeks

I got a video camera for Mother's Day!
It also takes pictures, so here's me trying it out.

Caves and Potty Training

Day 3 of potty training equals day 3 of cleaning poopy pants.
Fortunately he's been doing great with the pee.
Eli only had once accident on Monday and one again on Tuesday, today he made it dry the whole day!

He has also decided the coat closet is his cave.
(we've officially given up on pants for the time being)
He keeps asking us to "come see baby's cave".
He brings animals, blankets and flashlights in there and shuts the door.
He desperately wants me to go in there with him, but I really don't feel like trying to fit my 26 week pregnant body into the bottom of a coat closet.

Backyard Fun

First Make a big mess.
Note: Eli uses the broom to spread things around, not clean them up.

Make sure to have fun!

Don't forget to clean up.
Usually he just puts his hands and feet in the pool to rinse them off, but if he gets really dirty I guess he has to take more extreme measures.

Dancing

Counting

The Obsession Continues

Pretty Big Dig


This is one of Eli's favorite videos, we found it while searching for excavators on youtube.

Welcome to the Family

We finally bought a new car!
The Mazda 5
The old Nissan is on it's last leg, and we won't be able to fit another baby in the back unless we scoot the front passenger seat all the way to the front and sit cross legged.
Ben suggested buying a scooter and following me around while I drove the kids, but that didn't pan out.
We were thinking about a minivan, but weren't sure we really needed all that room.
This is the perfect compromise for us, 3 rows, seats 6, and fits in a compact space.


Of course we think it's incredible, but if you've been driving around a 12 year old car I'm sure any car seems great.
The Nissan smells like exhaust inside, has a bumper held on with zip ties, a cedar lined trunk and a couple of missing turn signals, not to mention breaks that catch on fire if you go down a hill, the windshield has survived sandstorms and multiple rocks, and you have to jiggle the key just right to get the ignition to turn!
After a few years driving that around we're in heaven.

I think most of our friends agree, a popular comment has been "you really needed that!".

Remembering Tony

Today is the 11 year anniversary of my brother Tony's death.
Every year I think it will get easier, but I still miss him just as much.
We had a lot of good memories, Rock Climbing, Surfing and Photography.
It's a sad, but good day of reflection.

Choking

Eli inhaled a bunch of Cheerios today, and they got stuck.
I was eating my dinner, and look over to see Eli frantic and unable to make any noise.
I'm not the kind of person to panic, so I went over and wacked him on the back a few times.
When this didn't work I stuck my finger down his throat, I came up with a wad of Cheerios, but he still couldn't breathe.
I got him down off of the chair and started giving him the Heimlich, after 2-3 attempts, (okay now I'm alarmed) another mouth sweep then a couple of more Heimlich maneuvers he finally started coughing.
He coughed for awhile, and I've never been happier to hear my child choke!

Afterward I looked up the guidelines for choking.
What I did was similar to what they recommend, but my technique wasn't quite right.
I was also under the impression that you would only have to do the Heimlich once, or maybe twice, and was getting pretty worried after multiple failed attempts.
They recommend alternating 5 back blows, and 5 abdominal thrusts until the object is dislodged.
I think knowing that it might take a few tries would've reassured me I was doing the right thing.

The Coast

I was a beautiful day at Seaside today!
Eli would dig all day if we let him, we stayed down on the sand for 2 1/2 hours.
I'm thinking the beach is a great activity that doesn't require a lot of activity on my part, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more beach pictures this summer.

Tulip Festival

We had fun at the Tulip Festival in Woodburn today!
Eli especially loved the Cow Train ride, and of course the tractors.

FHE

Help! I'm running out of ideas to keep a toddler engaged during FHE. We've gone through the new nursery manual 2 times now and maybe it's me more than Eli, but we're board.

I was thinking of starting an online FHE group. Each member of the group would prepare a lesson (lesson, activity, song.....) and we could post them on Google Doc's. Everyone in the group would be able to view the lessons and each member would only have to prepare a lesson every month or so (depending on the number of people in the group).

If you have children under 5 and, are interested in joining, leave me a comment. If there's enough interest I'll set everything up.

Thanks
Michelle

Food Storage

We're finally stocking up on food storage!
We bought a freezer off of Craigslist this week (thank you to the Tonks for letting us use their truck again). This morning we went to Costco and bought another shelf, and spent the whole morning/afternoon cleaning out the garage. We finally got it all set up, and decided while we were on a roll to go to Winco and start our supply. The day went almost without a hitch until we were unloading the last bag and a jar of spaghetti sauce broke and splattered everywhere. After another 45 min. of unanticipated clean up, and a melt down from Eli, we're done for the day. We'll have to do a Costco and Trader Joe's trip before our 3 month store is complete, but we're well on our way. I can't tell you how good it feels to be just a little bit prepared.

Happy Birthday to Ben!

Ben wanted power tools for his birthday this year, and he got what he wished for.
He got a circular saw, a sander, a router and a jigsaw.
I'm not sure if Eli or Ben is more excited.
Eli wasn't with us at Home Depot, but Ben made all of the power tool noises while selecting his new toys. Eli got to help open all of the tools once we got home, and promptly started making the same noises, it must be a guy thing!
Thank you to Ben's Parents and Siblings who chipped in to make Ben's birthday a happy one.

Playdough

Thanks to the Tonks for the toothpick idea!

Big Boy Bed

Eli moved to a big boy bed a couple of weeks ago and loves it. The only down side is that naps have become sporadic. He didn't take a nap at all for the first week, but then he settled in and takes a nap a few times a week now. I think 2 is way too early to give up naps, but I have to say bedtime is a lot easier. He goes down at 7:30 with no complaints on days that he skips naps, otherwise he's in his room fooling around until 9:30. If I wasn't so selfish maybe we'd skip naps everyday, but I just can't resign myself to never having another daytime break.

He loves his fishy music from Aunt Adrianna. We took it off of the crib and put it with all of the pieces in the hall while we were making the switch. When we got the bed all assembled we told him to hop up and try it out. He yelled "Wait!" ran into the hall and came back with the fishy music and said "forgot music". We put it on his big bed and he seems really happy with it.

More Good News

As some of you may know Ben's job is a temporary position that ends in June. We have been hoping since his initial hire that this would turn into something more permanent, but it's been up in the air for awhile. It seemed like we were on the verge of hearing good news a few times, but nothing concrete ever materialized. Last week Ben interviewed for two positions, he said he had a 99% chance of getting one and a 1% chance of getting the other, so this equaled a 100% chance of getting a job. Well today he got the good news, and he has a job! He'll be working in the Public Works Department for the City of Hillsboro. The nice thing for us is that his employer isn't changing so our insurance (very important at this stage in the game) and his vacation time won't change at all. We're hoping for a very seamless transition.
We want to say thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and support.
We feel especially blessed in these economic times to have employment.

It's a Girl!

We had our ultrasound today and are happy to report we have a healthy baby girl on the way!
She was much more co-operative than past children (we won't name any names) about having her picture taken. She was squirming all around and even gave us a wave.
We've been discussing girl names for awhile, since everyone but me knew it was going to be a girl. I'm voting for Lucie, but Ben likes Lillian better, Eli love Babbette.
We were going though names in the baby name book and Eli didn't seem like he was paying much attention until I jokingly called out Babbette. Since then he says it all the time, and if anyone asks him what the baby's name is he replies "baby Babbette". Unfortunately we've all gotten used to hearing it so much now that we don't think it's quite as bad as it first sounded. Ben says he likes Babs!

Parade

The St. Patrick's Day parade comes right down our street!
The Christensen's came over to enjoy the rainy fun with us, and Eli and Kylie loved it.
We saw horses, tractors, antique cars, police, a train, a few floats and Ronald McDonald.
Of course everyone threw candy, and there was more than enough for 2 two year olds.
The candy was mostly the "cheap stuff", but there were a few big items. I think Craig took the cake with a full sized Hershey's bar!

Daddy's Helper

Eli loves trash trucks and this obsession has extended to actual trash. He loves to help Ben sort the recycling, he actually says "recycling first, then trash", next he goes with Ben all around the house collecting trash. He helps Daddy bring it out to the barrels and wants to bring the barrels to the curb by himself, but isn't quite big enough yet. He's always asking if it's trash night, and if we ask him what day today is he always replies "trash day!". If only I could figure out a way to keep him excited through his teens.

SNL Videos

These SNL clips crack me up!
No one commits to a character like Kristen Wiig.

Sexy Shannon

Target Lady

Engagement Surprise

Felt Food

For Christmas I collaborated with some Gals from the Quatama Ward and we made sugar cookies. They came out so cute, and were fairly easy to make, that I couldn't resist trying some other foods.

The eggs were by far the easiest, and came out pretty good.

I thought the cinnamon buns looked easy, but it ended up taking quite a bit of time, so I only made one. I also made an apple slice, and some bow tie pasta (which just happens to stick to the fork when Eli pretends to eat it). He's been having a lot of fun with all of the kitchen stuff, I think we have a budding chef!

Lunch anyone?

Things kids say!

Carrying Eli up the stairs has become a bit difficult (even though he's a few pounds lighter now), I blame the little baby for stealing all of my oxygen!
So, the other day when I was carrying him up the stairs I was telling him "You're too heavy for Mommy to carry you up the stairs any more", Eli replied "Heavy Mommy!".
So now every time I carry him up the stairs he says "Heavy Mommy".
Thanks Eli!


Another funny one is when he wants to go with us somewhere. I'll say "stay here, Mommy's going to get some pants for you upstairs and I'll be right back" Eli replies "come me?".
I guess this comes from us when we ask "do you want to come with me?", but he doesn't have it quite right yet. So now whenever we go anywhere it's always "come me" or "come me too?".

I'm sure he'll get it straight one of these days, for now we just laugh.

Skinny Baby

First off, this is the face Eli makes every time I get the camera out. Apparently he's smiling because he says "Cheese!".

Eli was painting tonight and I jumped at the opportunity to get a couple of cute pictures. I realized while I was taking them that my little guy is shrinking, and I could see his ribs. He's had the stomach flu all week and he had a cold the week before, the poor kid has had a tough time. Honestly he's not the only one, morning (all day) sickness and cleaning up after the stomach flu don't really mix. He hasn't had an appetite all week, and the little we get him to eat doesn't have much time to do him any good. Today was the first day he really seems to be improving, he ate a yogurt for breakfast, 2 chicken nuggets for lunch and 1/2 a pancake and a piece of toast for dinner, that's more than he's eaten all week. Luckily he's been drinking a lot, so dehydration hasn't been an issue.
Here's to 13 weeks and hoping for an end to the nausea, and not having to do a load of laundry at 2:30am for a long time!