A Random Post

I feel a little scattered since I haven't been able to blog much in the past few weeks so I thought I would just put a post together with all the recent pictures I wanted to share so I can start fresh this weekend with new posts.

Eli had his 15 month check-up last week and did really well. He weighed in at 23 lb. 10 oz. which is right at 40th% and measured 31 inches long which is right at 50th%. He was 60th% overall. He was supposed to get 3 shots but one of his shots (ActHib) accidentally got swapped out for a combination vaccine (Pentacel) so he ended up with two extra shots that he didn't need (medical errors even happen to people who are medical!). The really bad part was one of the extra shots in the combination vaccine was a DTaP and they gave him that shot in the same leg he got the DTaP he was supposed to receive. So, he received two of the same vaccine in the same leg. His poor little leg was so sore and a little swollen. He fortunately didn't have any other problems and was back to normal within a few days.

We are now dealing with his molars coming in on the bottom (he had two come in on the top a few weeks ago) and hoping he starts sleeping through the night again REAL soon. I am thankful that his sleep problems are going on right now and not when I have another baby up as well at night needing to feed. Eli has always been an excellent sleeper so it throws all of us off when he has periods like this. I think some of it might be separation anxiety (since he gets really upset when we leave any room in the house without him) so it is hard to find the balance when pain is an issue as well. One thing he responds really well to during the night is if we walk in his room and say, "Eli, put your head down." If he is standing at his crib railing crying he drops to the mattress in no time at all and you don't hear another peep out of him. It is SO amazing. This must be a phrase they use often at daycare during nap time because we hardly ever used this phrase before we found out his reaction to it. Now we use it all the time! I was even telling Marc a story about Eli tonight at dinner and used that phrase and Eli tried to put his head down on his high chair while eating his dinner. It was really funny! Hopefully, they are not beating our child into submission at daycare. Ha!

We decided when Eli turned 15 months last week that it was time for another haircut. I DO NOT know anything about cutting hair. I watch my hair stylist and how she cuts and have tried to do something similar when I cut Eli's hair but it doesn't always work out as I picture it to. He hates getting his hair cut and thrashes about while Marc tries to hold him down. I think his next haircut will probably need to be right before my sister's wedding so I think I will take him somewhere to get it done right. Maybe he will do better for someone else. :) Here are his before and after pictures from last week.

Hailey's bedding has all come in! I really love it. I was a little scared to do a lot of pink by itself and I love how this bedding has lots of yellow and lime green to balance out the pink. Here are some of the fabric swatches. The parts that look a little purple are actually pink. I am going to get the crib ordered tomorrow and then we will start clearing the room out and decorating in the next few weeks. My sister was so sweet to buy this bedding for Hailey just like she bought Eli his baby bedding. :)

My last random picture is well... really random. I found this on our tree last week. Do you know what this is?

Can you see it? It is the shell of a Cicada (I think some people say they are locusts but they aren't technically related). I used to see these all the time in southern Arkansas at my Memaw and Poppy's farm and in college at Ole Miss but I hadn't seen these yet in Kansas. I don't think Marc had ever seen one when I pointed it out to him. It may seem funny that I took a picture of this bug shell, but it brings back so many memories of my summertime in southern Arkansas as a kid when my cousin and I would have competitions about how many shells we could collect. Odd, I know. :) Just thought I would share this treasure in case you have never seen one.

Eli and I are planning on joining Marc this weekend while he moonlights in a small town a few hours away. They have an apartment for us to stay in for the weekend so it should be fun. Marc usually isn't very busy at this hospital so I think we will have plenty of time to spend with him. I am really looking forward to it. Besides, I certainly wouldn't want to celebrate our 5 year anniversary without Marc!

Up and Running... Almost

We purchased a new computer this weekend and I am trying to get everything situated on it. I am not sure what I was thinking when I thought a new laptop could be a cheap purchase. I guess there are some things in life you just have to look at as long term investments! I really like this computer and think it should serve us well over the next few years. We bought another Toshiba since we had very few problems with the last one. I know it will take me awhile to get all our programs loaded for our camera, video camera, and printer so I will probably be working on that as the week goes on. I don't have access to any recent pictures I have taken, but I do, however, have some cute pictures from his 15 month photo shoot from this weekend that I wanted to share. We only got four of the poses but they gave us the CD which allows us to share all of the poses. This is probably a tease for the grandparents but I will be mailing their copies out later this week. If you can't tell, Eli did in fact have haircut #2 by his loving mama. That deserves a whole post by itself! Don't look too closely, Marc says I cut the left side of his head like Forest Gump. Ha! Hope you enjoy the pics. :)

Out of Commission

Well, we are still here and life is still busy as usual but our computer is dead as can be. I took it in last weekend to get it looked at and they called yesterday to say that the hard drive is toast. They are going to be able to recover any pictures or video that we have not backed up, but the computer is done for. It was Marc's computer before we got married so I think he has had it for 6 years or so. Not sure how long lap tops are supposed to last but I guess six years is pretty good. I don't think we are going to invest money into fixing it because it is so old. So, now we are computer shopping. We are thinking CHEAP and don't need anything fancy. I found a small lap top on Target's website yesterday that is on sale so we may go look at that one. In the mean time I have been out of touch with the electronic world. Marc has a computer through his residency but he needs it most nights to chart on patients so I have been checking my email at work these days. It is strange at night to not have a computer on my lap after Eli goes to bed. Good thing I have a few books that I am only half-way through that I need to finish. :)

Eli has his 15 months appointment this morning. Marc is taking him since he has the day off (well, he is post-call and probably plans on going home to sleep!) so I will update when I get the full report. Eli has had several rounds of ear infections over the past few months which make him not eat well so I am curious to see what his weight is today. I don't think he has gained much since his 12 month visit. He has been crying several times at night for the past few days. He is getting lots of teeth in all at once which I think it what is bothering him. He has several of his front side teeth coming in and two of his top molars. Hopefully, it isn't his ears bothering him as well. He follows up with the ENT next week so we will see what they say. Marc was on call last night so I had Eli all by myself and was up with him at midnight, 4am, and 5am. He was up for good at 7am. Whew! Maybe he is getting me ready for those night feedings that will be starting up with this next one in October! :)

Well, I have some pictures to post at some point but don't have anyway to load them until we get the computer thing figured out. Hopefully, by this weekend we will have a new one and I can update on some blog posts. Have a great week!

Week 25

I am 25 weeks today! It is crazy to think that in as little as three months our new bundle could be here. I am getting more and more excited about meeting her. :) I am also starting to feel a little anxious about getting her room done. I know there is still plenty of time to get going but I felt like we already had most everything done on Eli's room at this point (we also found out for sure that he was a boy about a month earlier so that is probably part of the reason). I am trying to just RELAX and know that the baby will arrive and be perfectly content whether her crib skirt is ironed or not. Ha!

Overall, I am feeling really well at this point. I can definitely tell my belly is growing a lot and am starting to feel some of the stretching especially after I eat a big meal. :) She has been moving a lot over the past two days and seems to be changing positions now so I hope that means she is getting uncomfortable and ready to flip. She was laying sideways last night and I thought I was going to burst! I have started calling her Hailey (or Haley, we still haven't decided how we will spell it) when I talk about her and although Marc isn't ready to commit 100%, I think that is going to be her name.

We are trying to teach Eli about the baby that is in my tummy but he is totally clueless. He occasionally says baby when we see a little baby in public but he also thinks "baby" is a name for a stomach or belly button. If I ask him where the baby is he lifts up his shirt and points to his belly button. It is so funny. I want to get him a baby doll to practice with over the next few months but Marc didn't share my enthusiasm over that idea. :)

Here is a recent pregnancy picture. This was taken on our trip last week when I was 24 weeks.

This was my 24 week picture with Eli. Looks like I am still ahead this time around. :) I think I weigh 3 or 4 lbs. more right now than I did at this point with Eli but my stomach looks SO much bigger to me than that! I guess we will find out in a few months if she is a bigger baby.

It is time for this pregnant lady to head to bed. :) Good night to all!

Fun Times with Eli

Eli is getting so big. He is into EVERYTHING and is getting more opinion each and every day about what he does and does not want to do. What a mess! Here are some pictures that captured our weekend.

Eli loves being outside so he hovers by our garage door as soon as I put my shoes on.

Nothing is too big for this little guy to handle. :)

We went to eat at Chipotle for dinner on Friday. Eli loves the chicken and cheese quesadilla and pinto beans!

After being away from home for over a week we decided he probably missed his favorite park.

Eli's Nana got him a new water toy for the bath tub that lights up and squirts a fountain of water. He LOVES this toy. Munchkin makes it and I think it came from Target.

We decided it is about time for haircut #2!

Eli got a new t-shirt from Jamaica that says "No Problem."

Eli's suitcase was filled with lots of new clothes from his stay with his grandparents. Thanks Nana and Papa D! I didn't think this romper would pass Marc's "cool" test but after he saw him in it for a few hours he decided it was pretty cute on him. :)

Sunday night we grilled out with some friends and let Eli eat his corn still on the cob. It was pretty entertaining!

Well, that sums up our weekend in pictures. I hope you had a great weekend as well. I am 25 weeks tomorrow so I will try to put up a picture and an update. Staying at an all-inclusive resort (aka. eat all that you want for free) for a week made this belly a little bit bigger. :) Have a wonderful Monday!

Jamaica!

We are now home again after a wonderful week of vacation. We left last Thursday for Arkansas to go and drop off Eli at my parents' house before we headed out for Jamaica on Friday. Eli developed a 103 fever the  day we were leaving and it was SO hard leaving him knowing he was sick. I knew my parents would take such good care of him but that didn't seem to ease this mom's heart. :( We called the first two nights we were there and then emailed daily after that. His fever went away after two days and Marc and I both felt much better and were able to really relax and enjoy ourselves.

We stayed at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Montego Bay, Jamaica and loved every bit of our trip. Our resort was REALLY nice. We had never stayed anywhere with such amazing service, food, and accomodations and felt pampered all week. There were three sections to the resort and we had access to all three. The middle section was for families and they had a lazy river that we enjoyed one day and we ate at one of their Mexican restaurants one night. Overall, we felt like our trip was well worth the investment and I would recommend this resort to anyone for a honeymoon or anniversary. We also heard the Iberostar Grand in the Riviera Maya is great as well. Here are a few pics of our room.

This was the view from our room. Beautiful!

Marc and I spent a lot of time on the beach. They had these beach beds that were so comfortable and perfect for resting in the shade to enjoy a good book.

The people behind me were about to start ocean water aerobics. I tried it one day and it was lots of fun.

We also enjoyed plenty of rays by the pool.

When we weren't relaxing, we were kayaking, snorkeling, or enjoying some complimentary golf.

You never know what kind of food you are going to get with an all-inclusive but we had very full bellies all week. :) Here are some pics from our evening meals. There was an Italian, Japanese, and French restaurant as well as a steakhouse. There was one lunch day during our trip where they had a Jamaican BBQ on the beach and we got our fill of jerk chicken. Here are some pictures from our dinners.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this past week. It was refreshing for our marriage to get away and great to have a break from our busy lives (especially before life gets busier!). We certainly missed Eli and were ready to come home by the time our last day arrived.

Here was our last picture before we checked out.

Eli changed so much in just a week (and his hair is much blonder!) so I will try to post an update on him later on this weekend as well as a pregnancy update. :)