Happy Birthday Elijah!!!

Our sweet little man turned 1 today! It's happy and sad at the same time. He is such a cutie! In the past week, he has discovered where his milk hides! So any chance he gets, he's pulling at my shirt and latching himself on :) It's pretty cute, but the poor little thing doesn't realize he's about to be cut off :( He also thinks playing with the toilet paper and flushing the toilet are pretty fun things to do. Fortunately, he can already drink from his sippy cup. So he gulped down 2 whole cups of milk today (along with a few nursings :) ) He seemed to like it and didn't even have a night feeding before going to bed!! He's also starting to clap his hands, and he thinks it's funny when he burps :) I tried to get him to take a few steps today. He succeeded in getting 2-3 running steps to me as he lunged toward me :) It won't be long before he's walking all over the place!

Sunday Afternoon Fellowshiping

Yesterday after church we had some friends over for lunch/fellowship. Eric grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken for us--he's getting pretty good on the grill :) And Elijah had his first taste of meat! He's had LOTS of broccoli and corn lately--it just seems like all the frozen veggie mixes I get contain broccoli--which he normally likes. But yesterday he decided enough was enough. So I let him try part of a hamburger patty--he ate almost all that I gave him, so I guess that means he liked it :)

Mikaela's new piece of knowledge is to tell me I'm the mother, Daddy's the father, she's the "dauler" (daughter), and Elijah's the son. She kept saying Elijah was her son, so we'd correct her and remind her he is her brother. When Nathan was over yesterday she started saying Elijah AND Nathan are her brothers :)

Mikaela was also much more playful with Melissa. At BJ's the day before she had just woken up from a nap--let's just say our little sweetiecakes is not real sweet for quite a while after waking from a nap! So yesterday she wouldn't leave Melissa alone and was climbing on her like one of the fam :)

Melissa & Pam

Elijah & Nathan

Mikaela, Nathan, Melissa & Elijah


Tim & Melissa

Early B-Day Celebration

On Saturday, we met up with our friend Melissa at BJ's and had an early birthday celebration for Elijah. Ok--well, I confess--we really just like their pizza and other food a whole, whole lot, and on your birthday you get a free pizookie, so it was kind of a good excuse to use Elijah as bait to get one of our favorite desserts :) Daddy and Mikaela helped Elijah blow out his candle :)

Our Funny Girl

The Vibrato

Elijah makes the funniest noises and sounds--funny b/c he does things MJ can't even do yet and one that neither Eric nor I can do either! You have to listen carefully, but he does this thing that's like a really fast vibrato or something. Sometimes it's in the form of a half-laugh, sometimes it's when he's being impatient, and sometimes he's just being silly :) And then MJ likes to grunt b/c he usually copies her, and it makes us laugh :)

Visiting With the Fraziers

Yes--this is another late one :) About a week and a half ago we had dinner with our friends the Fraziers and the Hurds. Unfortunately, we didn't even think about taking pictures until we were on our way out, and the Hurds had already left. The Fraziers live in India right now and are in the States visiting for a few weeks (except for Brian who already had to go back home). It was good getting to see them. Mikaela's always wanting to see Corban, Haddon and Kai on the computer. She had so much fun playing with them! Today we were looking at our pictures with them, and afterward Mikaela kept calling Elijah, Kai--on purpose! My little stubbornness :)

Pink Head Turban

Father's Day Pictures

Yes--I know this too is really late :) But here are a couple of pictures I took on Father's Day. Mikaela and Elijah love their daddy so much. It's one of the greatest things to see them get so excited and run/crawl to him when he comes home. And Sundays have definitely become Daddy days with Mikaela. Half the time she doesn't even want me to hold her when she wakes up from her nap (at church)--it's all about her daddy :) We love you Daddycakes!

Cousins, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents!!

Ok--so I know this is coming kind of late, but it just takes time to do these kinds of things that I don't always have the energy to do at the end of the day :)

Mikaela, Elijah and I made a trip to College Station (and Hearne and Calvert :) ) June 8-14! Yes--you read that right--we were gone for an ENTIRE week (without Eric)! We had a good time. It's the first time since Matt's wedding last year that we've all been together at the same time. But this time we actually got to talk and really spend some time with each other. I got to talk to my newest SIL--really--for the first time, so that was good to get to know her a little better. And Mikaela seemed to have a lot of fun with her cousins whose pictures we look at all the time. She still wouldn't quite warm up to her uncles (unless they happened to be the only one around to get her a cup of milk or something :) ), but she had fun swimming and petting the kitty (ugh!)

I tried to put captions below some of the pictures to kind of tell the story of our time there. One day, my parents got a pool for the bigger kids and filled it up that night. Evan wated to get in, which meant other kids started getting in--you know, with their clothes on, but it was really just to get their feet wet. Well, Evan had other ideas :) He got ahold of the waterhose, and it was way more than just feet getting wet :) Mikaela FINALLY joined in on the fun and ended up having a good time.

When we got back home, Eric was glad to see us, but after a couple of days he said I left with Mikaela and came home with Amelia :) Just kidding--but he did say that I didn't come home with our little sweetiecakes :)

We gave my dad some frames filled with pictures taken from the week. One was the family pic we took at the very end of all the pictures. Overall, it was a very tiring week but fun at the same time. Oh--and Anna--next time, just let Daddy keep on doing his Sudoku :)

Elijah's Newest Trick

Well, I guess it's not really a trick per se, but he finally figured it out, nonetheless :)

Just a few days ago I'd put the raisins or honey scooters (cheap brand of Cheerios :) ) on his tray but would have to hand feed them to him--now he's a pro at eating them all on his own--so long as he eats them before Mikaela snatches them all :) So did you catch his little wave bye bye at the end? :) He'll wave hi and bye and usually even says "ba-ba" as he waves :)

Mikaela's New Trick

Here's Mikaela's newest trick--she's been practicing so hard and finally got it today :)

More From the Mikaela Dictionary...

***Trump seps--I thought I'd figured this one out, but I can't remember what I came up with for the trump part--...says

***Lips (while pointing to her lips)--means she wants some purple, grape lipgloss on her lips (usually after she's put on all her princess paraphernalia)--Eric is THRILLED about this one :)

Buddies

But...

I also get to see this little sweetness playing very happily :) Mikaela found two cars at Grandma and Pop's house and was kind enough to "share" (let him play when she wasn't looking) with her brother. What is it with boys and cars?? He LOVED it! And he knew exactly what to do with it without being shown. He was just crawling on the floor, pushing the little car along! Ok--well, sometimes it got pushed around on its backside, but it was being pushed nonetheless :)

It's My Party...

I know blogs can sometimes come across as if you have children who never cry or misbehave or anything like that. So just to bring us all back down to earth, here's a little clip that you might not be able to make it all the way through :) It's only a couple of minutes--multiply that by about 10 or so, and you'll get an idea of what I get on my end a lot of days (sometimes multiple times a day) :) Before I started the video Mikaela was joining him in his endeavor but decided to pose for the camera once she saw it was on :)

These bouts are especially prone to happen right after naptime??? Isn't the nap supposed to be refreshing? It's really not as bad as it may seem, but it can definitely drive a mama to insanity if it weren't for praying to the Lord that He would help her to remain calm and not scream (or cry) herself :) Thank you Lord for the strength to endure crying, fussy, hungry babies and to be able to video them rather than lose my cool! And thank you for making them so stinkin' cute that I want to get up each and every day to spend one more day with them--even if they do cry for a bit!

Rained Out

We went to a spray park today hoping to have lots of time to have fun with friends, and we got totally rained out! :( We were all soaked and with soaked stuff--kind of a mess, but oh well. We did have fun--just wish it could have lasted a little longer :) So I didn't get nearly the pictures I had wanted, but here are a few of what I was able to capture. Mikaela just kept telling me we needed to go home and get "a umbulla." I'm sure we'll be visiting that park often this summer--it's free and just right for my wee ones!

Princess Presto

Mikaela loves to watch a show on PBS in the mornings called "Super Why." Here she is imitating Princess Presto--of course not as good as she normally does it b/c she knows she's performing for the camera :) In case you can't make it out, she says, "Wands up! Spell with me! What makes the sound ..." :)

Swimming

Mikaela had a blast splashing around and sliding in her new pool we got! I filled it up about half way this morning, so the water was pretty cold--didn't bother her :) Elijah, however, didn't want any part of the cold water--smart boy :) I'm sure it'll be plenty warm after his nap!

My Cuties

My little man has FINALLY been doing a good job of not spitting up so much (for almost 2 months!). Every now and then he'll spit up, but it's just a little. Because of the spitting up, I only fed him non-colored foods (like rice cereal, bananas and applesauce) from 6-9 mos. At the 9-month mark, I finally gave in and decided to give him a try with some other foods. He LOVES his food! He "mmm's" every bite and eats EVERYTHING! I started pureeing his foods and freezing them like I did for MJ, but a couple of weeks ago I found that he actually gums his food!! This is sooo exciting for me b/c I had to puree MJ's food until around the 14-month mark! To put it in perspective, she gagged (and threw up) on a bite of her 1-year birthday cake :) This little man gums his food and swallows it like it's no problem!!

Evidence of Playing in Bed

Mikaela had these on her fingers when she woke up this morning. We caught her red-handed last night, but I guess we missed these :) Yesterday morning I woke to find the stool in front of the potty and the lid up which let me know she'd been to the potty by herself in the middle of the night!!! But then I also found the other stool in front of the kitchen door (usually so she can look out of the window). And I found the curtain in the living room slightly pulled back telling me she'd been looking out the window. Eric and I went to a movie Sunday night, and Grandma A and Pops stayed with MJ and Elijah. Mikaela thought Grandma and Pops were sleeping in our bed and was looking for us outside to see if we were back yet :)