Mr. Personality

We have had lots of fun the past two days enjoying the great weather and our time out as a family. Eli had a little too much fun today playing outside with one of his new toys. His hands slipped out from under him when he was trying to get up and he scratched his forehead on our sidewalk. Ouch! We just got his last head bruise to go away and now we have a new one to enjoy for the next week. :)

One of things Marc and I really enjoy doing is going out to eat and we usually will go out somewhere each weekend. Up to this point, Eli has done really well with our outings, even if they were a little past his bed time. Lately, we have been getting Eli food off the kids menu, but it has been hit or miss as to what he likes. Last night he really liked the warm rolls they served before dinner (our favorite part too!)

And he really liked the waitresses that would line dance to country songs.

But he did NOT like much else and certainly let us (and everyone around us) know. He hated the rest of his food and started throwing it on the ground along with his cup of milk. He literally had a meltdown in his chair. Thankfully, the restaurant was very loud so it was less embarrassing. :) Marc laughed and said Eli is becoming "Mr. Personality." He is learning what he likes and doesn't like and is having less patience with us when we don't understand him and get it wrong or if we don't allow what he wants. I think everything up to this point has been more about taking care of Eli but now we are getting to the tougher stuff... parenting Eli. :) I probably need to start reading a little faster through some of the parenting books we have. Ha!  We did at least make it through our dinner. We'll see how next time goes!

Change Isn't All Bad

This morning was Eli's first day in his new classroom at daycare. There are three rooms with 1-2 year olds. I think each room has around 10-12 kids in it, and Eli will have two teachers now instead of three. There are already two other boys named Eli in this class which will probably be a bit confusing at first (we didn't know that when we picked this room)! The other two boys are a bit older so they will probably only be in the room for a few more months. Eli had half days in this class last week to help get him adjusted, but I was still really nervous about how he was going to do today.

 He sure was in a good mood when I went into his room to get him this morning!

Eli adjusts very well to new things. In the past few months we have switched him from sleeping in a sleep sack to sleeping with a blanket, from baby food to table food, and completely off his bottles to sippy cups. He took each change like a champ so I really shouldn't have been as worried about today as I was. I just didn't want him to be sad missing his other teachers. :( I got him all ready and we gathered up his supplies for his new room. I bought him a new bigger blanket for his cot that has Thomas the Train on it and is so cute and soft!

When we arrived at daycare and I opened the door to his new room, Eli immediately saw James, one of his friends, and walked straight over to greet him. The teachers were getting all the kids to sit in their chairs at the table for breakfast and Eli took a seat by James. He looked at me, smiled, waved bye, and never looked back. That is when the tears began to well up in my eyes. I knew he was going to be just fine. :)

After I left Eli, I went to his old room to visit with his teachers and take them a gift to show our appreciation for how well they have loved on Eli over the past year. I made these sweet gifts last night that had a cute rhyme and a picture of Eli. Behind these bookmarks in the bag were gift cards for Target. Who doesn't love a gift card to Target! The supplies I used were all left over from Eli's party which worked out great. :)

His teachers LOVED these and we all got tears in our eyes talking about our sweet Eli this morning. They are already asking if Baby #2 is going to be in their room when that time comes. :) 

Bye-Bye First Trimester

I am 13 weeks this week! For a medical mind, second trimester is a great place to get to because your risk of miscarriage is so much lower than in the first trimester. :) Of course I always find other things to worry about, but I continually try to trust God more and worry less.

The last two weeks have been very different this time around. Instead of the nausea and gagging disappearing, they have become a little worse. I really don't get sick much, but I have such a sensitive gag reflex to lots of smells and tastes. I really feel pretty good otherwise! I had Marc take this quick picture of me tonight after dinner. I wanted to compare it to week 13 with Eli so I added that one below. However, I think my current belly looks most like Week 19 with Eli!!!

I have my next OB appt. a week from this Friday. Then the appt. after that we should find out the sex of the baby and we can't wait!!!

Eli is ONE!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Eli's first birthday! It was busy from start to finish and Eli loved every minute of it. I spent most of Friday getting the house decorated and getting the food together. I had a baby shower to attend the afternoon of Eli's party so I knew if I wanted to go I had to have everything all situated ahead of time. I made this sign for Eli last week and thought it turned out cute. Marc helped hang it since he didn't like seeing his pregnant wife standing on her tiptoes on the dining room table attempting to hang it by herself. :)

Eli had been playing with these two blow-up monkeys I ordered for a few weeks and we had been practicing monkey sounds. I think he was really sad when I hung them up so high where he couldn't reach them anymore!

I put together all of Eli's monthly pictures on our bulletin board for everyone to see and it looked really cute. These pictures got really hard in the last couple of months because Eli just wanted to play with the sign! We will have to come up with a different idea for the next one. :)

We were so glad that the weather worked for us to have a cookout as planned, and the guys enjoyed some yards games like ladder ball and washers before dinner. We had lots of yummy food and some delicious cake from Rick's Bakery in Arkansas. I have felt a little nauseated today, and I think part of the issue is all the food I stuffed myself with this weekend (I am typing this as I just finished some leftover banana pudding. Ha!)! Here are some more pictures of our fun. (Eli had a big bruise on his head for all of these pictures. That is probably what his pictures for the next year are going to look like!)

Eli playing with his two granddads.

Eli's cakes

Give me some of that cake mom!

First taste...

Oh, my this is good!

Us with my family

Us with the grandparents

Jamie, Marc, and Eli

The Monkey Munch party favors

At dinner tonight Marc was talking about our weekend and what wonderful families we both have been blessed with. We are so thankful that you all were able to come and be a part of such a special occasion even though you live many miles away. :) There were many memories that we will cherish forever!