Monday, June 4, 2012

We Have a Walker!


Just over the past week or two, Eli has decided to let go of his walker and venture out to walk on his own!  Just when we were giving up trying to encourage him to walk, at the end of his 14 month he decided it was time. He has done so well, we knew he would have walking down in no time as soon as he wanted to do it. His first steps where a while ago and he could practically run while holding on to his old man walker.



Eli we are so proud of you :)

<3 Mommy


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Pool Time!

  With the heat rising each day, I have been itching to get Eli a kiddie pool so we can have some fun in the sun...and stay cool! After sweating too much during our time outside earlier this week, I knew I could not wait any longer!! I bought the pool yesterday and when Myles got home we got it all set up for Eli to use today! I am so thankful for a husband who lovingly helps me out with things I can't do on my own after he has worked a 14 hour day. I am blessed beyond what I deserve.

I was so excited to try it out this morning! I didn't even wait for the water to warm up from the sun. It was a little chili! Eli would crawl around in the water holding his breath because it was cold, lol. Sorry buddy, I was just too excited to wait. By the end of our time in the pool the shade was gone and it was warming up nicely. Eli had a blast. We threw pool balls back and forth played with the boats, shark, and other pool toys!
All ready for his first swim this summer!

Fun, Fun!

He always insists on wearing my shades...haha
He has his own, but moms are cooler I guess!

I am so excited for summer! Let the fun in sun begin....with lots of sunscreen of corse!


Monday, May 14, 2012

Eli at 14 Months!

Looking back at Eli's pictures from just 2 months ago, I can see so much growth in just the short time that has past. The baby in Eli is fading and he is becoming a full fledged toddler!



Likes: Eli loves to play ball, wether its tossing it back and forth, throwing and chasing after it by himself, or racing daddy to it!
Music, dancing to the music.
Walking with his walker outside. Playing in the backyard.
Coloring....his favorite part about coloring is changing out colors, and putting the crayons in and out of the box. When we color it is about 20% coloring and 80% switching colors, haha.
Building with legos.
Books.
Animals.
Bathtime.
Rocking cheek to cheek with Mommy, while singing.
Giving hugs.
Tickling mom and dad aka... attacking them like a little tiger with claws! Its painful, but we can't help but laugh because he thinks it is sooo funny!

Dislikes: Walking on his own! This boy refuses to walk on his own. He runs around with his walker, and pushes his car around the house, but when we try to get him to walk on his own, or even holding just one of our hands he is not for it! I guess he will come around to walking on his own time.

"Tricks": Eli has learned so many animal sounds and it is adorable when he does them. He knows what a cow, dog, cat, horse, duck, sheep, monkey, lion, snake, turkey, rooster, bear, elephant, and owl all say. He can also recognize and point out all of these animals plus more in his books. Eli can point out so many other things in his books when asked too! He can point out a star, the moon, body parts; ears, nose, eyes, cars, trucks, tractors, watch, hearts, hot air balloons, regular balloons, basketball, soccer ball, glasses, shoes, flowers, and the list could go on! He is just soaking up so much! He can also whistle!

Eating: Eli is somewhat of a picker eater right now. We think part of it is him learning he can voice a preference and make his own decision about whether he wants to eat something. One day he can chow down on something and the next he will spit it out like it is nasty. He is definitely done with baby food. He still drinks a bottle of whole milk in the morning with either cereal or eggs, just because he drinks more out of a bottle than he does out of his sippy cups. Other food he likes most of the time include applesauce, pb&j sandwiches, peanut butter crackers, green beans, chili, hamburger meat, beans, potatoes any kind of cookie/cracker (of corse) and anything off of mom and dad's plate! He goes back and forth on liking cheese, (except at the butcher shop cheese there it is always a staple!) lunch meat, rice, chicken, and toddler meals. He still is not a fruit eater...which makes me sad, maybe he will come to like it soon.

Talking: Eli tries hard to communicate, and thinks we should understand everything he is saying, but most of it is baby babble! However, there are words and phrases he is very good at saying: Hi, bye, bye, dada, ball, all done, there it is, I did it, I got it, dog, bath time, and thank you. He is so sweet with his thank yous, it is precious!


We love you Eli!
<3 Mommy




Thursday, April 12, 2012

Eli's First Birthday Party!!

Eli loves dogs! One of the reasons he loves going outside is to see the dog. He loves to look out the window to try and find the dog. The dog noise was his first animal noise he learned to make and "dog" was one of his first words. His love for dogs made thinking of a theme for his first birthday party a no-brainer! We decided to do a Go, Dog, Go party! I saw many cute ideas on the internet for invitations and decided on making this....



To go along with our Go, Dog, Go theme we had hot dogs and chips, puppy chow, and puppy dog cupcakes! Yum. 

It was so fun to have lots of family over to our house to celebrate Eli! Everyone had a blast! And speaking of blast...We got balloons for decorations, but decided just to leave them on the floor for the kids to play with. The balloons were a bit over-blown up and would randomly pop. It was pretty funny and added to the fun. 

Eli loved all of his presents! Eli enjoyed opening everyone of them! He also loved looking at each card. I have never seen a kid love cards like Eli does. It is so funny. He sees them as little miniature books. We save all the cards he gets and put them with his books and enjoys looking at them over and over. Cards with music are extra fun, he will study the front then when he opens it and hears the music he starts to dance. So cute!

Thank you everyone for making Eli's first birthday party special! He is so thankful for all his new fun toys and books! Thank you also to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Sanders who sent Eli a sweet birthday present all the way from Colorado!

I wish I would have gotten a picture of everyone who was at the party, so Eli could look back at it when he gets older....but i didn't. Maybe I will remember next year :) 
Here are some pics from the party! 

Puppy cupcakes!

Cute and yummy!

Some of the chow!

Early arrivers and some of the popping balloons

Eli was a bit more interested in what everyone else was up to, lol.

He liked all the attention on him.
Making everyone clap :)

Our little family :)

Go Eli! Yay for chocolate!


Thanks again to all our guests!
Papa and Grandma, Caleb, Lindsey, Granny Boo and Grandpa Dadee, Gran-nana, Uncle Zach and Aunt Leah, Aunt Missy, Madalynn, Aunt Melanie, Aunt Lisa, Amye, Kai and Sully!
We love you all!

 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Birthday Cake!

Since we planned Eli's birthday party more than a week after his actual birthday, we had to get a little cake to celebrate on his actual birthday. We were all ready to give it to him after dinner on his birthday, however, he was too tired from all his birthday fun. We decided to wait and let him have it the next afternoon since it wouldn't be any fun to watch a tired baby reject his first birthday cake. After lunch at Granny Boo and Grandpa Dadee's house next door, we brought over the cake and celebrated!













After he was done, Eli got cleaned up in Granny Boo's sink! Fun times!





Clean, happy birthday boy! :)


Photo Shoot

The day before Eli's first birthday I took him outside to have a little "photo shoot" 

Here are some of my favorites :)