Bella- Six Months, Eli- 2 Years 3 Months

Bella At Six Months

Bella had a half birthday! Our precious little baby girl is six months old. My has she has changed in the past six months. This sweet little baby, who used to fall asleep in my (and Stephen's) arms and sleep close to 21 hours a day, has turned into a smiling, laughing, on-the-move little girl. At her six month check up, she weighed in at 13.2 pounds and was 24 inches long. She is going to start full-blown crawling any day now. Right now, she rocks back and forth, moves one leg and one arm, and lunges forward with all of her strength. She will do this until she makes it across the room and is able to get her hands/mouth on whatever toy interests her at the moment. She can sit up unassisted as long as there is something in front of her to keep her attention, she "talks" a lot, and she puts everything that she touches in her mouth. She has even started pulling up on her crib. The other day, while trying to fall asleep, she was crying a real cry, so I went in to check on her. To my surprise, I saw a little crying face just over the top of the bumper pad. She was on her knees, holding on to the rail. That day, Dad lowered her crib. She has tried many new foods over the past couple of weeks: carrots, green beans, squash, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, apples, blueberries, and chicken. Of all of these foods, her favorite seems to be broccoli. Her least favorite is a toss up between the apples and the blueberries. She makes the funniest faces when I feed her apples. Next on the menu for Bella: mango, beef, and yogurt. Bella has also started sucking her toes. As she was lying on the floor, in only a diaper, trying to stick her big toe in her mouth, I was reminded of a picture I had taken of Eli doing the exact same thing, so I had to go searching for it.

Bella

Eli

Eli At Two Years and Three MonthsEli's First School Picture
So cute, but where did that hat come from and who else had it on their head? I did not send him to school in that hat. Yuck!

At just over two years, Eli seems to amaze me each day with the questions he asks and the comical things he does. Today, he asked me, "What's this?" He was doing the sign for the letter E. I said, "What do you think that is? He replied, "E for E-LI!" in a very loud voice. He knows quiet a few letter signs. The other day, I let him ride the rides outside of Sear's. On the way home, and without any prompting from me, Eli said, "Thank you Mommy, letting Eli ride the rides." What a sweet boy! I replied, "Eli, that is so sweet. You're welcome. We will go back very soon since you were so polite and said thank you." Eli, with a smile, responded, "Makes Mommy happy." What a charmer!
One of Eli's favorite things to do is what he calls driving. He doesn't really drive; he just likes to get behind the wheel of a car, press any and every button he can find, and hang out the windows until he's told to sit down. When someone comes to our house, the first thing he usually says after giving hugs and saying hi is, "Eli drive." When we pass motorcycles, police cars, firetrucks, etc. on the road Eli will say, "Mommy, Eli drive that... " Well, Dad and Eli have been going to the Build and Grow Clinics at Lowe's. This past weekend, the project was to build a firetruck.
There was also a real fire truck there for the kids to get on and explore. Did Eli get on the firetruck? NO! He didn't want to get inside at all. Dad put him on the front and back of if it for a quick picture.
Mom, on the other hand, looks like she's ready to hop in and go put out a fire.
While at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Kerry's house, Uncle Kerry started up his motorcycle and asked Eli if he wanted to get on. With a frightened look on is face, his reply was, "No."
All this talk about "driving" all of these different cars and Eli doesn't even want to get on any of the fun ones. He did get on Uncle Kerry's motorcycle after he turned it off.
We are going to Safety Day at Home Depot this month. I'm hoping he'll get on the safety vehicles that will be out there.
Eli is such a good big brother. He has been helping out with Bella's diaper changes and baths. He is giggly and excited when he sees her first thing in the morning or after his nap. When I get him out of bed, he always says, "Bella's awake," in a voice that is suggesting if she's not awake now, she will be in a minute. He gives her hugs and kisses all the time. I know he doesn't realize how dainty and fragile she is, and he is sometimes too rough with her, passing along the same "big hugs" he receives from me.

Something exciting happened over the past month. Eli's legs are finally long enough to make the pedals on his tricycle go all the way around! He loves riding his tricycle around the block. The other day, I was thinking about the many times I pushed him around the courtyard in the back of our house when we lived in Granite City. At first, his feet did not reach the pedals at all. I would push him, and he would keep his feet on the foot rest while moving the handle bars back and forth, making it rather difficult to keep the tricycle on the sidewalk. He was so little back then. These two years have gone by so fast! Time does fly after you have little ones.

Eli and Bella with Grandma and Mamaw

Together Again

For weeks our anticipation grew. Stephen and I knew that these five 1/2 days we would spend together would rank somewhere among the best five days of our lives. I never would have imagined that just being at home together would be such a big deal. As the weeks passed, we became more and more excited. Realizing that Eli does not yet understand the concept of weeks and months, it wasn't until a week before Stephen's arrival that I began to say, "Guess who's coming home in seven days?" "Guess who's coming home in five days?" "... four days?" "... three days?" Each time I would ask the question, Eli, with a smile and raised eyebrows, would reply, "Daddy!" When we arrived at the airport, Eli kept asking, "Where Daddy go?" I heard this question about twenty times before Mom and Dad arrived at the airport.

As we sat, looking at the teeny, tiny words on the screen, Mom and I saw that Stephen's plane landed earlier than expected. So, we began to look down the hall, past the doors. Then, Mom spotted him, "There's Daddy, Eli!" Eli began running to him. It was so sweet to see him so excited to see his Daddy. The entire day, Eli kept smiling and saying, "Hi Daddy. Hi Daddy." You can tell by this smile on his face that Eli could not have been any happier.

Bella has had a bit of stranger anxiety the past couple of weeks, so I was a little worried that she might cry when Stephen held her since it had been so long since she had seen him in person. Stephen told me that she would remember him, and he was right. When he held her, she was smiling at him and touching his face.

Reunited At Last

C'mon Daddy, Let's Go Home and Play


Mamaw and Papaw came to visit.

One day, we decided to go to Harmony Safari Park. It was a rainy day, and we were the only ones there. A buffalo stuck his huge tongue through the window. It was so funny, but Eli did not like it. I just happened to get it on video. Bella slept the entire time we were there. By the way, buffalo breath smells awful.

One other thing, besides us, that Stephen missed while being in Cuba was Mexican food. So, we went to eat at Rosie's one night with Mom and Dad. As always, it was yummy and we ate too much. Mom and Dad have been a huge help in Stephen's absence. I don't know what I would do without them!

You know Daddy is home when... Eli chows down on donut holes and jelly beans (two things Mommy never gives him),

is sporting a mohawk,

is decked out in his Auburn attire (For the record, I did put the Auburn shirt on Eli because I knew Stephen would want him to wear it. When I put the shirt on him, I said, "What does this say, Eli?" He replied, "Roll Tide!" :-) ),

and is wearing cowboy boots to music class.

While Stephen was home, Bella... started rocking on all fours and lunging forward (I guess it's time to get out the baby gate.),

sitting up for longer periods of time on her own,

ate her first solid foods (carrots and butternut squash),

Side Note: Bella isn't nearly as messy as Eli was when he started solids. He didn't like food at all and would spit out his food constantly. He would also look everywhere except the direction from which the spoon was entering his mouth, hence the very messy face.

drank from a sippy cup for the first time (I guess Grandpa was trying to demonstrate how it's done?),


and got long overdue kisses from her Daddy.


We had a great time just being together, but it went by way too fast. As we walked across the airport parking lot yesterday, it seemed like we had just been there the day before leaving the airport with big smiles, ready to go home and just be together. Now the countdown begins again. Well, it will start as soon as Stephen has his four day pass approved. Just let me know the dates, my sweet husband. We'll see you in Jax very soon!

Is it called "baby weight" if you gain the weight after your precious little bundle of joy is born?

When I was pregnant, with Eli and with Bella, and would go for each monthly doctor visit, I was always thrilled when I would only gain a pound or two. Thankfully, I didn't gain a lot of weight with either pregnancy. But, since moving back to Huntsville, I've gained ten pounds! Ugh. Where is this weight coming from? It's not like I sit around the house all day eating or doing nothing. Could this be the result of not exercising regularly? Sometimes eating too late? Yes and yes. I decided that I have to do something about this! That something is going to be running. I never thought that would be something I would even think about doing. I hate running, always have. When I used to ride the bike and pull Eli while Stephen would run, I would look at him and be so thankful that I was the one pulling Eli. When Alice tells me about how far she runs, I cannot even imagine doing that. I always ask her, "You ran all that way without having to stop?"
So, I started running. I have been waking up early and running back and forth in front of the house. I ran from a light pole at the end of the street to another light pole two houses down from ours. After running this once, I told myself I would do it twenty times. That seemed to be a good number. After about five times, I was huffing and puffing, wondering what I had gotten myself into, and being disgusted that I let myself get so out of shape! I had to stop and walk a few times, but I did my twenty. I got in the car later and found that I ran exactly two miles. It was horrible the first day but not as bad the second or the third. I was able to run without stopping. Woohoo!!

Since beginning this entry, Stephen came home for a visit. I am sad to report that I did not run at all while he was here. We did go on walks, but that's not the same. We decided that we are both going to start the P90X program on Monday. I hope I'm able to walk on Tuesday. I think it's really going to kick both of our butts! It's a 90 day program. I guess we'll consider this our before picture. Get ready, Stephen! Monday will be here before we know it.

September 14, 2009

Boys Will Be Boys

Some things never change. Boys will be boys! When you read the title of this post, you probably immediately thought, "What did Eli do?" but no, this post is not about Eli . Although I'm sure I could write a very long entry about Eli with this same title, this post is about my wonderful, crazy husband.


Last week, Stephen told me about an iguana that he and his housemates (that's what Stephen calls them) were feeding in their backyard. My reaction, "What? Are you crazy?" He must be. It's going to be like a stray dog and come back for more. What if he's out there without beer-dipped bread? Would the iguana bite him? That's right, they fed this animal a nutritious meal of bread dipped in beer. He also sent me a video of this taking place. As he got closer and closer to the iguana with the camera, I was watching and waiting for that thing to bite him! It never did. So, this is Stephen's new friend, Hank. Hank is about four feet long. Stephen didn't know why he was bleeding. Perhaps he got in a fight with someone who fed him once but had no food when he went back?? Stephen, please don't feed the wildlife anymore. :-) I love you!