Solid Food Fun :)

    We ran out of baby food today, and I've been meaning to make my own anyway, so I pureed some peas for Eli. The whole time I was feeding him he was reaching for the spoon; so when he seemed full I let him play with it for a little while. He also went for the bowl of leftover peas and ended up making a huge mess; but it was so cute all I could do was grab my camera, sit back and watch him explore. After the day I've had, it was nice to just laugh at how much fun babies have learning. It won't be long before he's feeding himself.... Enjoy the photos, maybe they will brighten your day as well.  :)

 

 

  

What a mess!!!

Eli is Sitting! (sorta)

    Eli is getting so much stronger every day! I've been putting him in the floor with pillows around and letting him practice sitting up. Today he actually stayed sitting for a little while on his own, long enough for me to get a decent video of it anyway. Here it is:

{Eli sitting at 5 1/2 months}

Swimming with the Johnsons

   Yesterday we went to Hampton to have a pool day with Sarah and Ben. Sophia was too excited when she found out Ben has a pool at his house! They played so well together (until lunch/nap time when they both got grumpy) and Eli slept in the pack and play the whole time. We  were practically the only ones there, so it was a very relaxing morning, just what I needed :) I didn't take my camera (I know, shocking!!) So I only got a couple of pictures on my phone:

All ready to swim!

Sophia as "Jesse" from  Toy Story
(she insisted on packing her lunch in her own lunch box)

They were so cute holding hands on the way back to the apartment

    Today we were in the car and Sophia says, "I wish we had a pool like Benjamin" I told her that pools cost lots and lots of money, and we couldn't get one; so she tells me, "Oh, well I have money in my piggy bank! We can use that to buy a pool!"  :) I just love how simple her mind is, makes me miss being  a kid.

April and Luke

     As most of you know, I have a small..... ok big, obsession with taking pictures. I love my camera, and I have recently gotten a new lens for it; well, not really recent, but when Eli  was born. I haven't had a chance to really get out and take a lot of pictures since moving here because Eli is so young, so I've mostly just taken a lot of the kids around the house. I'd  been dying to get out to the beach and try some stuff though. Finally last week I went out and took some pictures for a friend of mine. Her husband is deployed and she wanted to send some pictures of her and her son to him. I of course jumped at the chance to take them for her :) She is such a beautiful person, inside and out and her and Luke have the sweetest relationship. I hope that me and Eli can be as close as they are when he's a little older. Anyway, I had a great time doing pictures for them, and it was nice to get out and practice some more! I love my new lens, but I'm kind of feeling limited with my camera lately. It's a VERY basic DSLR, I'd LOVE to upgrade soon, but it's probably not likely unless I can make some cash working with the camera I've got, lol. Here are some of my favorite shots of them:

 

 

 

 

Roller Skating

    A couple of weeks ago our church took a trip to the skating rink. Derek was sick, so he stayed home with Eli and me and Sophia had a girls night. This was her first time going skating so she was really excited. On the way there she says, "Mommy! I can't go skating in these shoes! They don't have wheels!" I laughed and told her it was ok, we can rent skates at the skating rink; and she said, "OK, I'm going to get pink ones!"
   Luckily the rink had the kind of skates for toddlers that go over your shoes, I was a little worried about her hurting herself in real skates because, well... we all know how clumsy this kid can be. So she put on her skates and skated walked around in her skates. Once I got mine on we headed out to the middle of the rink where the little kids skate. She quickly decided that she didn't need mommy to hold her hand, she was a big girl. So she held hands with some of her friends and they "skated" around in the middle.

 (Sorry the picture quality is low... we weren't allowed to take camera's out on the floor, and I even got the whistle blown at me for snapping this picture with my phone. lol)

    The rule for "Girls Night" is that you can eat whatever you want for dinner. Sophia wanted popcorn, and I had pizza :) 

    She had a lot of fun with her friends, and I had a blast watching her. I even skated around the rink a few times and managed not to fall... let's just say I'm not the skater I used to be, ha!

Eli's 5 Month Update

Eli is 5 months!! I'm still trying to wrap by brain around the fact that he's almost half a year old. I mean it feels like just yesterday this was me:

 

I feel miserable just looking at this picture. It was taken just a few days before my c-section. (I was 39 weeks) 

    Eli is still growing like a weed. He's filled out a lot over the last month and at the doctor a couple of weeks ago he weighed in at 15lbs 11oz, and he's in the 90th percentile for his height! I'm learning now that he is very much a "schedule kid" especially when it comes to his bed time. He likes to be in his bed between 8 and 8:30 every night. If we happen to be out late he will very quickly let us know that he wants to be at home in bed.  It's nice when we are here and can put both kids to bed easily and enjoy some adult time before we go to sleep, but when we're out it can be really frustrating.  He's also decided that he likes to sleep on his stomach, which made me really nervous at first because the doctors tell you to only let them sleep on their backs until they are a year old (to lower the chances of SIDS) but after spending a lot of nights waking up to check on him every couple of hours, I've realized that he's not going to die just from sleeping on his stomach. He's big enough to pick his head up if he needs to, so I think he will be alright. He also stopped taking a pacifier and sucks his thumb now. It's funny because he only sucks the left thumb and Sophia is the same way. 

    I've been having him sit up more lately with the Boppy pillow around him, and he's getting a lot better at it. I think he will be sitting on his own pretty soon. He seems to be a lot stronger than Sophia was. He's so determined it's funny. He wants to grab everything within reach, and if it's not within reach he tries with all of his might to get to it. If we put him on his belly he already tries to scoot by tucking his feet up under him and pushing. As soon as he gets the arm strength he will be crawling.... and getting into EVERYTHING! Boys are so much different than girls. Sophia would be perfectly happy just sitting in your lap with a toy at this age; but Eli is constantly trying to stand up or squirm away and he grabs everything, including his sisters hair (which happens a lot, lol) 

              

              Sitting up supported by the Boppy pillow

    We have officially entered the teething stage... yay... I feel really bad for him because I know he's in pain. I wish the teeth would just come through already, but I don't even feel bumps yet, just a lot of chewing and drooling going on.

                 poor thing even has a real tear  :(

    He's also in the "put everything in your mouth" stage (which I guess goes along with the teething stage) His favorite thing to suck on, other than his thumb right now, are his toes. And I think it's adorable! 

 

     Things are going great though! We are finally getting back into the groove of things around here. Now, if he would just stop growing so fast everything would be perfect :)

                 My handsome boy: 5months, 1day old

 

Four Legged Friends

    After lots of persuasion from my husband, I finally broke down decided that we could get another dog. As most of you know, we had a black lab for a while when we first got married, and when Derek joined the Navy we had to move to IL for a year where we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. We didn't want to take Jackson (our previous Lab) with us because we felt like he would have been miserable. He was still pretty young and needed a place where he could run, and get outside more than 3 months of the year.  So Jackson went to live with my sister in FL. He is very happy there with two boys to play with him and a yard to run in all year long; and we still get to visit him which is nice. Now, as much as I loved that dog, he drove me INSANE!!!! He was mixed with some sort of hunting dog and would take any chance he could to slip out the door (or window if it was open) and run wild around the neighborhood chasing squirrels, cats, birds..... you name, it, he chased it down. It was really nerve racking to worry about him getting out all the time. Also, he was only a year old when we got  him, so he chewed on my shoes sometimes, and if you know how much I love shoes, you know this did not go over well with me. Anyway, he was a great, loving dog, but now that we have two kids I don't want to deal with some of the things having a dog entails; so I made a list of "qualifications" our next dog would need to have:

1. The dog must not run away
2. Must be house broken
3. Be at least 3 years old (so they aren't so hyper)
4. Must be fixed
5. Friendly towards cats and children

That shouldn't be too hard right?? ;)  Well, it wasn't...

       Meet Stella, The newest member of our family:

     Yes, we are aware that she closely resembles Jackson (although she is a little smaller in build, but much fatter, lol) She is a 6 year old lab mix. Her owner adopted her and her brother (who went to live with another family) as puppies. She recently took a new job and had to move to a place where she couldn't take her dogs. We went to meet "Chanel" (that was her name until we changed it to Stella) and she came out in the front yard, not on a leash, and just hung out.... SHE DIDN'T RUN AWAY!!! So I was pretty much sold from the get-go. She also came right up to Sophia and just sat down next to her. She is the sweetest dog I've ever been around. It's taken her a little while to be comfortable in her new home (she spends a  lot of time hiding in her crate) but she's coming around. Her and Willie avoided each other for a few days, but they will now hang out in the same room. They aren't best friends or anything, but I have a feeling that day will come. She is the perfect addition to our little family.
    And while we're on the subject of pets, here is a picture of Willie. He's starting to look more like a lion than a house cat with all that fluff!

Good Times With Great Friends

Wow, I guess it's been a while since I've made a post... we've just been having so much fun since we've gotten back from our trip. We've been so busy with cookouts, potlucks, beach days, and church, that I haven't really had a chance to sit down at the computer. I'm a visual person, so I'm going to give you a quick update through pictures of what we've been up to lately:

           Cookout with the Mitnicks and Johnsons

Beach at sunset with the Mitnicks, Johnsons, and April (plus all of our kids)

Riley, Luke, Sophia, KK, and Noah watching a movie (Sophia loves having so many friends her age, even though she's  the only girl.)

We grilled out for dinner the other night, and Sophia entertained Eli by singing to him... he LOVED it!

 Daddy and Sophia setting up the tent for a camp-out.... it didn't happen because she got in  trouble... but they will try again soon :)

Beach Day!!!! We went out to the beach yesterday and had a blast!!

                Christina, Sarah, Me, and April

These are just a few pictures of all the fun we've been having! We have truly been blessed (thanks to Harvest Church Central) to have met such wonderful friends here in Virginia. Looking forward to lots of  fun this summer!