Eli's Found His Call...ing?

Eli's either found his call-ing, or maybe his coll-ar. Choose your pun!

The Portland Children's Museum has an exhibit where kids can play in a pretend Veterinary office. Well, as you can see in the video, Eli manned the desk like a pro. Enjoy!

May I have a few words with you?

Eli has a few things to say to you.

I'm seeing ORANGE!

It's pumpkin season!

I think Eli's favorite spot on the farm was the teepee! I liked the big cats myself.

Do you like our picks? Happy fall everyone!

Ever wonder what a toddler does? (part 1)

So what does a toddler do during the summer?

Check out Eli's top summer picks!

Play with bird seed! Thanks Grandmama and Grandpapa!

Dig in the sand at Cannon Beach with Grandmommie Mom.

Trudge through the dunes.

Jump over waves.

Run with mom.

Part 2

First day ever in a big pool. Not a favorite at first (for either of us) but we did get a smile eventually...

like when we got out of the pool!

This day at swim lessons was cool.

Enjoy barbecues with family.

part 3

Weddings can also be fun. Because you get to meet...

girls!!!

Play with sunglasses.

Laugh with family.

part 4

More time at the beach! Dig holes with a cousin!

Go to construction sites.

Take shoulder rides.

Be in the danger zone.

part 5

Lastly a good ol' car wash can be fun.

I asked Eli if washing cars was fun and I caught his answer on camera:

"yeah".

Hope you enjoy trying some of Eli's favorite toddler activities!

Catching Up Part I

It's been awhile since we've had a good posting of Eli pictures. So here's a conglomerate of some of Eli's favorite things to do around the house:

Here's Eli sitting in the oven drawer. It's not where we'd prefer for him to be, but it's better than in the oven itself.

He loves to sit on the keyboard, and watch what's going on outside. Cali's keeping him company in this picture.

Now we're hanging out on the couch. We try not to have the TV on too often. However, Eli is a huge fan of Baby Einstein. Every time I watch this video, it's like a ray of sunshine on my day.

Recently we had the Ottaways and Merrells over. Here are the moms and sons posing for the camera.

Catching Up Part II

Now Eli and Noah are hanging out by the window. Noah's laughing at you!

Eli likes to push his truck toy around the house. And Noah was more than happy to let Eli chauffeur him around.

Eli really enjoys opening the dishwasher door and pulling out the shelves. But one morning he surprised us - we look over and he's happy as a clam just sitting on the open dishwasher door. Once again, we're just glad he's not IN the appliance.

He loves to play with his Lego's.

And here's an Easter pic. After dinner, he crawled under the piano and stayed content for quite awhile. This is a picture of mama trying to lure him out with a trail of Easter eggs!

What?! No Eli?

I had my first night away from Elijah! Can you believe it? My college girlfriends and I stayed the night at a cabin at Champoeg state park. We were lucky enough to catch just enough time for a walk around the park without rain. We played games, ate food, lots of talking, laughing and even had a surprise engagement party for our friend Rachel. To end the two days we drove to our college town of McMinnville for breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Wildwood Cafe. Thank you ladies for the retreat! Thanks mom for helping with Elijah while Tim was working!

Should I or Should I Not

(Two apologies: 1. sorry, this got long, 2. any grammatical errors that occur.)

Being a first time mom I feel like I second guess things a lot. I assume this is only natural for most? Should I get Eli up when he's crying in his crib (maybe he's not really tired) or should I not because he's crying from tiredness. Should I get a babysitter or should I not because that's too long. Should I feed him a whole banana or is it to early for big pieces so I should not. Should he wear this jacket or should he not, it's too hot. You get the point.

Well today at church came another one of those should I or should I not episodes. A little background first...Our church nursery is broken up into sections, the sleepers (0-6 mos.), the creepers (6-12 mos), the walkers (1-2), and so on. Generally they say keep your child in the creepers room until they can walk. So some children are in there longer than 12 months of age. Well Eli is 15 month and still in the creepers. I believe he is the oldest child in there now. As you know in prior blog entries, Eli has been walking a little bit more here and there, but usually not on his own volition. Usually we are urging him to "Eli, walk to....(momma, pappa, couch, fill in the blank)".

Okay so here comes my SISIN, should I put Eli in the Walkers room today, or should I not, still too early? I should. After the service I picked up Eli whereupon they said he just stood there, was fussy, and needed to be held. So it might be too early or is it just a new environment with new people? I decided that I would just pray about it over the coming week and seek guidance.

Well I may have already gotten my answer. Thank you Lord! This evening Eli suddenly started walking all around! He figured out how to stand up all by himself. So he'd walk around the kitchen island, fall, stand up, walk past the dinner table, fall, stand up, walk around the coffee table, etc. This was about a 10 minute process (of which I video taped about 6). I think perhaps he was inspired by seeing all the toddlers waddling around. He definitely takes time to think things through and process. Hence being 15 months and just starting to become more adept at walking. I will try to edit down the video and post it next time.

All in all I thought what a blessing it is to be a stay at home. I do miss teaching, but moments like tonight only happen once. All the "firsts" that I haven't missed because I've been home with him. All the "firsts" I've videotaped because he was with me and not somewhere else at the time. How lucky I am, how lucky I am to be Elijah's mother, and how lucky I am to have a husband that supports us!

Coinkidink...

Remember when Eli was a bumble bee for Halloween, and cousin Gretchen was a ladybug?

....Well my parents found the following book and gave it to us for Christmas. I always meant to post this back in December. But isn't that funny? So Gretchen we will have to let you read it sometime.

More

Eli took 13 steps last night!!! What a big boy he is!

He also does not like to be in a stroller any more. I went birthday shopping for Tim yesterday and Eli wanted to walk everywhere.

Baby Steps...

Baby steps down the hall...

Baby steps to the door...

Baby steps...

Pajama Fun!

Our wonderful brother, wife and niece were in town the other day. Eli and cousin Gretchen enjoyed some run around time before bed time.

READY...

SET....

GO....

They had so much fun. Smiles on their faces running back and forth.

The winner got a horse back ride. Congrats Gretchen!

Simplicities of Life

Thanks Girls for the belated birthday gift! Eli enjoyed it as well. He took all the items and placed them in and out of the bag- over and over and over...

That's All I Got to Say about That

Elijah has a very sensitive soul and can be very quiet when in unfamiliar territory. But when he is home he can talk up a storm. Tim took this video while in the car (obviously). Sorry it's not edited down, I would skip ahead to about 45 seconds or so and start watching. He has quite a story to tell.

He also likes to talk on the telephone quite a bit.

It's All in the Kitchen!

I had quite a birthday fun-filled week! One of my dear friends celebrated her birthday a few days before me and I decided to utilize my cupcake cookbook and make her a real homemade cupcake. I also figured that being a mom, this is one thing you have to put on the resume. So here is the finished product, a delicious mocha cupcake. Buttercream frosting....yummy. (Hey sister-in-law remember our C^3 idea? hint-hint)

Oh back to the birthday week. A few days after one birthday bash, I celebrated mine with my hubby at the Wildwood Restaurant in Portland. Delicious! Thanks in part to E & W for the great location. Then dessert back with my in-laws who were babysitting Eli. (Thank you!) Then another 2 days passed and I was able to celebrate my mom's birthday and mine with family. Finally my mom and I had a great outing, just the two of us, to a Sunday Brunch at the Benson. Why do celebrations always include food?

One of Eli's favorite past times, refrigerator magnets. Grandmama and Grandpapa gave Eli alphabet magnets for Christmas, since he enjoyed playing with them at their house. Well recently he discovered a "J" and "T" magnet that his Aunt had made for us a few years back. We usually kept these up at the top of the fridge, but they have since become his favorite ones to take on and off. I think he enjoys the cats and music notes painted on them. He discovered the "D" and "R" that his Grandparents have as well.

The Holidays part 1

Here are a few photos to catch up on what we did for the holidays.

Elijah started out with a photo shoot by mama. He's hard at work on the piano.

We went to a new place to cut down a tree. Here's Granddad with Eli.

Found a winner!

Who needs scissors when you have teeth now?

The Holidays part 2

We went to Tim's family for Christmas morning, and to Jamie's family for Christmas evening. What a surprise when we showed up and found that Cuzuncle Tommy and Eli were wearing the exact same outfit! How embarrassing...

Just joking - it was planned that way. :)

After the New Year, we took a day trip up to Timberline Lodge. It was really cold, but fun to get out in the snow.