Learning to Climb

This little guy figured out how to pull himself to a standing position all by himself today, and even climbed on top of the box when he was done to prove how strong he really is.

What a muscle man!

(He must take after his daddy.)

I know it seems like my child never wears pants, and it's kind of true. He doesn't. What's the point, really, if I'm taking them on and off all day for his naps? Plus, I like to squeeze and kiss his squishy thighs.

8 Months Old

Dear Eli,

You turned into a little firecracker during your eighth month of life. You're a feisty one! Your personality is getting so funny. You love to randomly shriek at the top of your lungs just to hear your own voice. You also love to blow loud raspberries and then laugh at yourself. You crack yourself up (a quality you've inherited from me; I think I'm pretty hilarious too)!

This month, you turned into the world's biggest mama's boy. You don't like to be separated from me EVER. If I walk out of the room, you start bawling. If daddy tries to comfort you in the night instead of me, you scream and cry in protest until I finally come to the rescue. Then you give me ear-to-ear smiles and let out low little chuckles as if to say, "I've got you right where I want you, mom!"

Your darling little grin is still completely toothless. Every time you get fussy, I wonder if teething is the cause, but we have yet to see any teeth poking through your little gums. You caught a cold this month and had a fever of almost 102 degrees one night. The fever disappeared within 8 hours or so, but you have had a runny nose for more than a week now that you can't seem to kick. You hate when I irrigate your nose with saline and suction out all of the crap multiple times a day, but I don't really care because I'd rather have you able to breathe!

For the first half of the month, you continued to refuse solids. I was really worried about you and called your pediatrician to ask what I should do. He told me to keep trying but if you weren't eating them within a few weeks, he would suggest taking you to baby occupational therapy. When I told the Alba's about this new development, they laughed about the thought of you in baby "rehab" and starting singing Amy Winehouse's song "Rehab." Every time I hear it now, I think of you and it makes me laugh.

Thankfully, "rehab" wasn't necessary and you have started eating solids with gusto during the past few weeks. Last night in fact, you downed 8 ounces of peas and sweet potatoes in one sitting. But when I tried to nurse you before bed, you refused. It was the first time in your life that you've gone to bed without nursing. As I realized that this situation is going to become more common as you eat more solids, it made me sad. I hate feeling like you don't need me. I love nursing you because it is the only time during the day when you'll snuggle up to me. You're too busy for snuggles!

Your level of distraction during nursing has reached new levels of ridiculousness. If I take a sip of water or even clear my throat while you're eating, you turn and glare at me with annoyance. Geez, sorry, Eli! You've made it very clear that I'm not allowed to nurse you anywhere but in the rocking chair in the dark nursery in complete silence. I'd never be able to get away with doing it in front of the tv or, heaven forbid, if someone else was in the room.

You are my complete opposite in the sense that you absolutely love vegetables. You won't eat fruit of any kind! Apples? No way! Pears? Forget about it! Bananas? They're the worst of all! Whenever we try to feed fruits to you, you clamp your mouth shut and turn away in a very dramatic fashion. But when we feed you veggies, you open your mouth and lunge for the spoon. Peas are your favorite, you little weirdo!

You still aren't crawling on your hands and knees but are still scooting around and dragging your legs behind you. You've been up on your knees rocking back and forth for a few weeks now, but still haven't quite figured out how to propel yourself forward with your knees. I'm sure it will be soon enough though.

You are so easy to travel with, which I am very grateful for. When we went to St. George last weekend, you slept a lot in the car, entertained yourself when you were awake, and didn't cry once. Your dad and I are always amazed at what a good kid we got. You are so laid back and happy that it always surprises everyone. You are not a normal baby, that's for sure. We know you are really special and that there are great things in store for you.

I was a very happy person before you came into my life, but I've been surprised by how I've become even happier since you've joined the family. You have brought a new dimension of joy to my life that I didn't even know was possible. Every day with you is a gift.

I'm glad you're mine,
Mama

8 month stats:
Weight: 21.8 lbs (77th percentile)
Height: 28 1/4 inches (61st percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (69th percentile)

President's Day Weekend

We spent a lovely holiday weekend in St. George with my family. We went to the Parade of Homes (I couldn't believe house #9 and house #17!), grilled steaks, practiced for our upcoming show, celebrated my mom's birthday a week late, and took Eli to the park. It was so nice to be down there again. We miss it!

We're kind of mean parents. We let Eli suck on a sour patch kid, just to see what he'd do. His reaction was more than we could have hoped for!


Everyone wanted their turn holding Eli on the swings. He sure loves them! We even let him swing all by himself. I loved watching the joy on his face.

Uncle Jon put him in the container of blocks.

He seemed to remember grandma and grandpa's house and slept really well, gratefully.



On the way home, Eli got sick of me and Adam ignoring him, so he decided to entertain himself. It was pretty hilarious.

He's So Close!

The kid has been up on his knees, rocking back and forth like this for a few days now.

Crawling (for real) is just around the corner.

We're in trouble!

Sunny Sunday Stroll

The weather here has been incredible the past few days, so Sunday afternoon we decided to take advantage of it by going for a walk to the park. We loaded Eli into his stroller and picked up two of his uncles on the way to join us.

This was Eli's first time on swings and to say that he liked them is an understatement. He wouldn't stop giggling and shrieking with happiness as we swung back and forth (Adam opted out; swings make him sick). We're going down to St. George for the long weekend to visit grandma and grandpa, and you can bet that we'll be taking a trip to the park so they can witness Eli's joy on the swings.

He tried the slide, but wasn't much of a fan.

I loved watching him put his chubby little hands in the sand for the first time.

He loved exploring!

This kid sure loves his daddy!

It was a perfect day. Why can't every day be like this?

and then we got smartphones

FINALLY! We're probably some of the last cool people on the planet to get smartphones, for reals. I've never really cared that much about having one, but Adam, on the other hand, has been begging me for about 2 years now to get one. Whenever a situation in life arose that a smartphone would have been helpful in, he'd say, "If only we had smartphones." And then he'd do a big dramatic sigh like, oh, life is so hard! And I would roll my eyes.

But when he started his new job a few weeks ago and told me that he "needed" one for work, I could kind of see his point. Because he is in court almost every day, it would definitely make his life easier to be able to check his email and communicate with his clients from the courtroom.

Luckily, we recently qualified for an upgrade with Verizon, so we did a little shopping around to see what kind of deal we could get. When we went to Costco and learned that we could get smartphones for so cheap, I gave in and we decided to do it. Adam chose a Droid X (only $49.99!) and I chose a Droid Incredbile (only $29.99!). We were thinking about getting iPhones, but most people we talked to told us that the operating systems on the Droids are quicker and Droid offers more free apps than Apple does.

Anyway, we are very happy owners of smartphones and are more than happy to jump on the band wagon with everyone else. Let the obsessive connectivity to the world begin!

Care to share your favorite must-have apps with us greenies?

My Valentines

I sure love my Valentines.

I couldn't be more grateful that they are a part of my life.

Hope your day is filled with love!

Focaccia Bread

This bread is seriously yummy and was really easy to make, which I loved, because I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to homemade bread. It made a ton, but I just cut the leftovers into slices and froze them for future dinners and snacks.

1 ½ tsp. honey
2 tablespoons + ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
4 ½ to 6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. salt
12 tablespoons olive oil
Parmesan cheese, dried rosemary and basil for garnish

Dissolve honey and yeast in warm water. Let stand until foaming and bubbly, about 10 minutes. Add 3 cups of the flour, 3 tsp. salt, and 9 T. olive oil to the yeast mixture. Stir until combined and then work in the last 1 ½ to 3 cups flour. Knead dough until it is smooth, elastic, and soft. Add only enough flour to keep the dough from being sticky. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and press into a large, greased cookie sheet. Cover dough and let rise again until double, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400° F. Poke dimples in the dough and brush with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, parmesan cheese, dried rosemary and basil. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.

Regrowth

Remember how horrifying amounts of my hair fell out 3 months after I gave birth? Like clumps so big that I felt like I was going through chemotherapy? And it lasted for 3 full months?

Well, the good news is that my hair loss has returned to normal and new hair is growing back in.

But the bad news is that new hair is growing back in.

And now I look like this:

What the teeny tiny bangs? And the massive bald spots? And the hair that's growing in darker than before? I kind of want to cry every day when I look at it in the mirror.

*Sigh*

The things we go through for our little ones...

P.S. Isn't being a dirty blonde the absolute worst?

Kissing

For the past few weeks, I've been trying to teach Eli the meaning of the word "kiss." Whenever he would give me one, Adam would insist that he didn't really know what it meant and that his kisses were just a coincidence.

But yesterday, there was absolutely no denying anymore that he knows what I mean when I ask him to give me a kiss. He planted wet, sloppy ones right on my lips 5 times in a row after I asked him to. Feeling his tiny lips on mine as he grabbed my face was the best feeling in the entire world. I could just kiss him all day long!

I took him over to the Alba's to show off his new trick and see if he would perform it for them. He did not disappoint. He gave everyone kisses, but showed particular interest in his aunt Michelle. He was really laying them on her!

Now, no one will leave him alone. It's always, "Eli, give me a kiss!" "Eli, I need a kiss from you right now!"

Is it possible for your heart to explode from love?

The Intruder

This morning, Eli and I approached our front door after being over at the neighbor's house for a few minutes. It was wide open. I hadn't locked it when I left, but I certainly hadn't left it wide open, so I was a little scared of what I'd find inside. Who opened our door? To make matters worse, I heard a little rustling sound in the family room. I yelled out to whoever was in there that I was calling the police and to leave immediately. I gripped Eli tightly and crept into the family room to come face to face with the intruder. I wasn't expecting what I saw.

The noise I had heard was this little guy frantically beating around the room. I guess the wind blew the front door open during the huge wind storm (63 mph here in Centerville!) and he let himself in. He undoubtedly knew that he didn't belong inside our house and was understandably terrified.


He circled around and around the room and kept landing on different surfaces. The poor little guy didn't know what to do with himself.

I opened the patio door, grabbed a broom, and shooed him out.

Let's just say I'm extremely grateful that my intruder was just a sweet, confused little bird instead of a big, scary criminal with evil intentions!