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!

We went hiking today at horsetail falls. It was instant gratification, we could see this waterfall from the parking lot!



Just about 1 1/2 miles up the trail (emphasis on up) we came across ponytail falls. That's Ben and Eli standing behind it.



Eli got tired and took a nap for about half the hike.



He missed some beautiful scenery.


Over all the 3.5 mile loop was well worth it. There were 3 waterfalls, a weeping wall and quite a few stream crossings. The only thing the guidebook left out was that the "loop" dumps you back out on the freeway about a half mile from the parking lot. You have to hike along a narrow highway to get back to your car. I ended up waiting with Eli while Ben went to get the car.

We borrowed a doorway jumper from my friend Traci. Eli hasn't quite figured out how to make it bounce yet, we'll have to give him some more time.

Eli is starting to scoot around. I left him to play with his baby gym this morning while I did some laundry, I came back and he was like this.....

Eli is having fun doing Tummy Time.



He's rolling all over the place.



And of course the Exersaucer.

Eli just keeps getting bigger, he weighed in yesterday at 21 pounds!

We hiked in Forest Park today, it was Eli's first hike.



We hiked all the way up to the Pittock Mansion.



Eli got tired on the way back to the car.
We packed him in with blankets and he took a little nap.

Eli really is the cutest baby ever, well I guess my opinion isn't exactly unbiased.

We borrowed an Exersaucer from the Churches. I thought it might take Eli a few times to get used to it, but it was love at first sight. He still likes his bouncy chair, but prefers being upright so this is perfect.

We were walking by our pond out back this evening and saw this. I was pretty surprised because we've only ever seen ducks there. At first I thought it was a beaver, but Ben reminded me that water rats are common here. It took us awhile to remember what they're called, it went something like this....

Ben: Creature or maybe Urchin
Michelle: No, how about Capibarra
Ben: No
Michelle: Critter
Ben: Oh Yeah, Nutria

Talk about Rodent of Unusual Size, this thing is about 2 feet long (not including the tail).

Graduation was Friday!!! We couldn't be happier that school is finally over.

Eli can stand up for a few seconds by himself. Ben showed me this yesterday, it's always fun to see a new trick. Now, if we could only get him to go to sleep.

We went to the Zoo today with Jen Frydl. Eli had a great time looking at the fish and chickens, but I think his favorite activity was playing with Jen. She was talking to him, bouncing him and kissing him, he just couldn't stop cracking up.


The tigers were out today!


There is a new black bear exhibit. I know the picture is a little hard to see, but Eli is about 6 inches away from the bear. Usually it's a challenge to get Eli to look in the right direction to see the animals, well he saw the bear.

June 15th is the big day!

Ben graduates with his Masters in Public Administration in less than two weeks. He's been in college the majority of the time we've been married (6 years), I don't think we'll know what to do with ourselves without homework, finals and school vacations.

Eli had his 4 month check up today. The Doctor was filling out his growth chart when I asked what percentile Eli is in, she said he's off the chart (over 99) for height, weight and head circumference.

She asked how tall Ben is and I told her 6 ft 1 in, she said he'd be taller than that. Then I told her my Brother is 6 foot 5 in and she said "now we're getting closer".

I guess we never thought he'd be small.

Oh yeah, he cut 2 teeth this week and on Sunday he giggled for the first time. He squeals all of the time, but this was the first giggle. My little baby isn't so little anymore.

We went swimming the other day. Eli kicks his legs all of the time, and when we put him in the water he kicked himself all around the pool. He loves it, we're going again today.