Do You See What I See?

I see Eli's FIRST tooth looking at me!!!

Can you see it??? It is the bottom left front tooth. :)

Teeth sure do come in slow! I could tell where this one was going to come through over a month ago and then we waited.. and waited.. and waited. :) I am glad he finally has a tooth. We went and visited Marc's grandmother at her apartment over Christmas and one of her neighbors walked up to Eli, gave him a big toothless grin, and said, "Honey, you look just like me!" It was pretty funny to me, but I think Eli was a little distressed. :)

I am learning lately about how quickly kids watch and mimic what you do. I am also learning that everything we teach Eli may become his new favorite thing so we better be prepared. A month ago Marc and I were out to eat and it was getting late when Eli was starting to fuss. I started pulling up water in my straw from my cup and putting the straw in his mouth for him to drink. He loved it and now he goes CRAZY when he sees my cup at restaurants with a straw! I have not done it anymore and am hoping he soon forgets about it. :) Last week I was playing with Eli and started sticking my tongue out and making a funny noise. He quickly picked it up and it is his new favorite thing to do. Here is some video I have of him in bed the other night making the noise (well acutally it is more like audio since it was dark in his room and you can't see him in his crib). He just cracks me up. :)

Eli's Yodel from Stephanie Carrigan on Vimeo.

Is it Spring Yet?

We are enjoying our Friday so far, but I am not looking forward to the weather forcasted for tonight and tomorrow... snow in spring??? The zoo was so crowded yesterday when I passed by (because it was in the 60's!) and I wish the weather would be warm enough for us to visit this weekend. :( Even though it is going to be a cold weekend I am so glad that Marc has the entire weekend off! He doesn't even have to go in and round in the mornings. I think he is looking forward to sleeping in for a change. :) I would love to sleep in as well! Eli has had a tooth SLOWLY coming in over the past 2 weeks and has been waking up in pain at night as well as early in the morning. Marc and I have been taking turns with him. We have tried Tylenol, Motrin, Baby Orajel, and teething tablets but nothing has seemed to help much. Last night we didn't do anything and he slept until 7:30 this morning. Ha! Go figure. :) He turned 11 months this week and we can't wait to celebrate his first birthday in a month. With that will come some changes, including switching rooms at his daycare to the 1-2 yr. old room. Eli LOVES his teachers so much but definitely has anxiety about other new people so I am a little nervous about how he is going to do with the change. There were three rooms to choose from, but we decided to put him in the room where his best friend James is going to be going in the next few weeks when he turns one. Eli and James play so well together and I thought a familiar face might help him out with the transition. Eli's teachers have been getting him prepared for the big boy room over the past month. He is now only eating table food at daycare and mostly drinking his formula out of cups. He still gets a bottle before his nap and before bedtime at home. He is also down to just one long nap a day. I found out yesterday that in the 1-2 yr. old room the kids nap on cots instead of in a pack n play. I just picture Eli continually trying to get off his cot to go play with toys. :) We'll see how well he does with that one in a month!

I got Eli this sleeper at Target last week. I love their baby clothes sale rack. You have look through it every time you are in the store because they don't always have cute stuff or stuff in the size you are looking for but when you find a good deal it is the best! I got this for $4. Pretty good!

Have a great weekend!!!

Walking Around

Here is some video from this weekend of Eli walking. He is doing so well! He is turning 11 months this week and will probably be running by his first birthday. Ha!

I have been working on getting Eli's birthday invitations ordered over the past week but have had the hardest time getting a good picture of him in his birthday shirt. He is NOT at the age where he wants to sit still in a chair and say "cheese" for the camera. Actually, when he sees me pull the camera out I think he intentionally looks the other way and ignores me. These were some pictures I got of him from this weekend in his birthday shirt. He looks so big wearing that big #1! I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Good memories for sure!

Eli wanted to practice some of his dance moves for his party.

Time to Paint

One of the first things we decided we were going to do when we bought our house two years ago was paint the outside. The color choices were not our favorite, and we couldn't wait to change them. Well, here we are two years later and still with teal gutters and trim. Yes, teal. We decided to do some home improvement projects with our tax return this year and are finally getting serious about getting the house painted. We should get the rest of our estimates this week from a few painters and then will pick one to go with. I have been looking through paint color samples this past week trying to decide. I think I am going to have to buy several sample cans and paint small areas first before I decide. This is a big committment so I want to make sure we like the color! It is not unusual for me to fall in love with a color on paper and then hate it when it is finally up on the wall (just ask my dad and Marc about this one!). We are probably going to go with something in the beige or tan family with cream for the trim. Anything other than teal should do wonders for our curb appeal (sorry if any of you have teal houses, it just isn't my favorite color). :)

I showed Eli some colors I liked.

He wanted to take a look for himself.

What about this color mom?

I reminded Eli that we no longer wanted to be the most noticeable house on the street and that pink probably wouldn't help us out with that.

Then we had to take a break because all the decision making was stressing Eli out.

I reassured him there are many more difficult decisions in life than picking paint color.

It will all be ok. :)