Icy

Well, yesterday we were all surprised by some late afternoon ice. It was just raining, but I guess the ground was cold enough that the streets were soon covered in ice. It took me an hour and 20 minutes to get somewhere that should have taken about 10-15 minutes. Thom left work around 5 or so, and got stuck on the bridge from Indiana to Kentucky. Apparently, they closed the bridge due to ice, but didn't tell anyone! So he sat on the bridge entrance ramp for a couple hours, until he could get turned around. Once he got turned around, he headed towards Ohio, and came across that way into KY and home. 5 hours later, he was home. Thank goodness this happened yesterday, and not today on Christmas Eve! Here's to safer weather for everyone today and on Christmas.

Sorry

Hi again, everyone. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I have been really busy, plus Eli hasn't been napping very well, which adds up to not much getting done. But I promise to do better. What have you been doing, you ask? Well, mostly I've been really busy at the gym. I started at nutrition and fitness challenge at the end of September. I work out twice a week with the trainer and I usually go 4 other times and do cardio on my own. It's taken a lot of my time, but been totally worth it. I really needed to do it for myself: it gives me time to myself, and Eli time to play with other kids and get used to being in the nursery, plus I really needed to get in shape! But we had our final body comp and fitness test last week. I lost several inches all over, 20 pounds, and 7% body fat (which I was most happy about, since that means I converted a lot into muscle)! And I actually ran the entire mile of our fitness test (and I hate treadmills). So I was very proud of myself. I am going to do the program again when it starts mid-January, and until then I have hired a trainer and am still doing cardio on my own.
But we've also been busy with the normal holiday chaos. We put up our tree in the living room, instead of the family room this year to keep a certain little someone (Eli) out of it. It's worked out great, since I don't have to worry about him pulling off all the ornaments or unwrapping all of the presents.
Like I said, I promise to post more often again. I am done Christmas shopping and wrapping, so I really do have more time! Hope to hear from you all soon!

"What does Grandma's kitty say?"

"Sssss," apparently! This is Eli's latest trick. He spent some time last night at my parents house, and got to know their cat a little better. Their cat is very lovey and affectionate and wants to be petted - for about 10 seconds. Then she starts hissing (I'm pretty sure she must be bi-polar). So, I guess Eli was petting the cat, all was well, and then she started hissing at him. And he hissed right back. So now he knows that Grandma's kitty says "hiss" or "ssss" to him.

Birthday Party Pictures

Happy Birthday, Eli!

Here's a throw-back picture to the day Eli was born, and a picture to show how big he is now! What a difference a year makes, right? I feel very sentimental right now remembering how crazy and wonderful this day was one year ago. What an amazing year it's been!

We're leaving for Hilton Head in a couple hours. If I have extra time before we leave, I'll post birthday pictures - I still need to get them off the camera. Otherwise, we'll post when we get back!

State of Emergency

Yeah, we've been in a State of Emergency since Hurricane Ike came through here on Sunday. Can you believe it - Hurricane effects in KY? Sunday came with hurricane force winds, up to 80 mph pretty much all afternoon. We lost power right after the Bengals game started (although Thom says is was no big loss, since they played terribly). By early evening the wind had calmed down enough, and we were tired of sitting inside with nothing to do, so we went with our neighbors and walked through the neighborhood. I couldn't believe how much damage there is - people missing siding and roof shingles, lots of fallen trees, and misc stuff everywhere. We got pretty lucky, especially when our power came back on Sunday night. Our neighbors came over to cook, since we have a gas stove. But the area suffered the largest black out in history, and thousands are still without - including my parents, who have been staying with us. Schools have been out this week, and now restaurants and everyone else without power are having to throw out all their food. There was a gas shortage since so many stations were without power, but I guess that is getting better now. Eli and I ran an errand yesterday and it was strange to see so many huge, old trees just completely uprooted. Bizarre.
But on the upside - we are leaving for Hilton Head on Friday! Yeah! I think we could all use a vacation after this! I'll try to get pictures from Eli's birthday party posted before we go.

Barbershop

Well, after trimming Eli's hair myself twice, I decided he needed a real "big boy" haircut. So we took him to the barber Thom used to go to (before I started shaving his hair). He did really well and sat pretty still in Thom's lap. I thought it would be a lot more traumatic, but all was well.

Picture Book

Yummy. Here is a wonderful tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad we made with tomatoes and basil fresh from our yard. Worthy of another "yummy."
Okay, Eli's hair is getting really long on top. I recognize this. Some days it all stands up (I think depending on how much he was rolling around in bed), and other days it's kind of flat, and it tends to go forward, making it look longer than if it went to the side. However, I am having a really hard time with the fact that our baby needs a haircut. A haircut is for big kids, not babies. Right? Sigh. I do think it is about time to just take a little off the top. Just a little.
We recently opened a really cute Little People Noah's Ark set that Eli got for his baptism months ago. This is Noah hanging out of Eli's mouth. Poor Noah. Eli always manages to find Noah in the middle of a pile of toys, put Noah's feet in his mouth, and crawl around like this. I hope Noah doesn't mind getting his feet wet.
Look! Kari, Adam, and James (and their new dog) stopped by one day last week. It was really great to see them again, we haven't seen each other enough in the past year. But, anyhow, here are the boys playing. Since they are both very busy, it was quite a task to get them both in the same frame.


Some other notes of interest:
Eli is finally crawling. After what seemed like forever pulling himself army style, and rolling everywhere, he started actually crawling last week. My life has not been the same since. And here's a question for baby stores: Since many houses, such as ours, now have such an open floor plan, why is it so difficult to find extra wide baby gates? Are we alone in this search? We did find one (plus the extension), but had to order it online, and pay hefty shipping charges. What a pain - there are things other than shipping charges that I prefer to spend my money on.

Our kitty is finally almost back to her goofy normal self. As I previously posted, she wasn't doing so well for a while. Well, she's been off the 'roids for a while now and is running around some, and chasing bugs that end up inside, and I even saw her briefly chase the dog. She's still not jumping onto things, but is that really such a bad thing?

What's Going On?

So, I guess we've been pretty busy over the last couple weeks, as it's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted. Here's a run-down of what's been going on:

We went to some friends' lake house and had a great time playing in the water.

Our gym has opened an outdoor waterpark, so I've been taking Eli up there to play sometimes.

We've had some great evenings hanging out with our neighbors; including one night out at a bar that had all the ingredients of a great night out - no kids, good food, good beer, and conversation that doesn't leave the table!

One of Eli's girlfriends, Josie, had her 1st birthday party!

And, oh yeah, we bought a new car. Mom and Dad were nice enough to watch Eli for a couple hours Tuesday night, that we could go sign all the papers and all that fun stuff. It's Thom's new car, but we plan on using it when we go out together, instead of my giant SUV, to save on gas. I'll definitely get a picture of the new car up soon. It's a 2009 Hyundai Sonata. It has all the fun stuff - leather seats, sunroof, iPod port, touch screen, XM radio, GPS. And now it has a brand new giant car seat.

Eli has also been up to a lot lately. Here's a rundown of some of the things he's doing:

Shaking his head "no." Actually, this is the same motion as his dance move. If you tell him "no," he shakes his head. If you tell him to dance, or if Ellen comes on TV, he also starts shaking his head. His dance move shake involves a slight head tilt to the right, but all in all they're very similar.

He's waving "hello." He spent Sunday's sermon waving to Pastor Vicki. She had been gone on vacation for about 2 weeks, and I guess he was excited to see her back.

He now moves more gracefully from sitting up to being on his belly. And can get from his back/belly to a sitting position - we're now full circle.

Eli is also "giving 5" to anyone who will offer their hand.

We think maybe his top teeth are finally starting to come in. We can't see anything, and he's quick to get you with his bottom teeth if you dare stick a finger in there. But he's acting a lot like he did when the bottom ones came in. So we'll see.

He's giving lots of kisses. Big, open-mouth kisses. But if you're up for getting your cheek wet and slimy, they are very sweet.

And our favorite new thing is that he will mimic his first animal noise - the monkey. For anyone that has been around Eli for any amount of time, you know that he is very monkey-like. He does a lot with his feet, and I'm not exaggerating. We call him our little monkey, and his 1st birthday party will be monkey themed. And now he will mimic monkey sounds. Very cute.

So that's a brief synopsis of what's going on here. Let us know what you're up to!

You're a Grand Old Flag

Happy 4th of July! We had a busy weekend. Our neighborhood had a party Thursday night, we had parades, a party at Bunnell's, and fireworks on Friday, another parade and dinner for Thom's Dad's birthday on Saturday, and today we're going to the pool all day with my parents. So here are some highlights from the last couple days. . .

Kitty on Steroids

As some of you may know, our cat, Tia, has not been herself since we got back from vacation about a month ago. I took her to the emergency vet as soon as we got home that Saturday evening (3 hours in the animal ER plus 12 hours in the car make for a very long day). Anyhow, they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Well, she still had not gotten any better and I was really starting to worry about her. So we took her to the vet last Wednesday. After a very lengthy exam, the vet recommended an x-ray on her back. She had a myriad of possibilities - a neural muscular issue (like MS), a broken back, a herniated disc, or who knows what else. So we did the x-ray, which was negative, so no broken back. So we decided to treat it as a herniated disc - steroids and pain medicine. And if she wasn't any better within a week we would reevaluate. Luckily, she does seem to be doing better. This is her first day without pain medicine, so we'll see if she continues to get better. I want to make sure the pain killers weren't masking her pain enough that that alone was allowing her to move around better. So we'll see what happens.

When You're Smiling

Here are Eli's 9 month pictures. We think they're pretty cute! He did really well this time. We couldn't get him to stay on his stomach for pictures, he wanted to roll over immediately, and we eventually had to remove the beach props, because he just wanted to touch them and not look at anything else.

But if you would like a picture, let me know, and I'll get one to you!

Big Weekend

Well, we all had a big weekend! Saturday night we hosted our church's Young Professionals group Annual Cornhole Party. We've done this before, and always have a really good time. It's great to get together with people you don't always hang out with. By the end of the evening, our neighbors were over. We got out the fire pit, and sat around and enjoyed some adult beverages until very late. All in all, it was a great night. Plus, Eli had a nice milestone - for the first time, he picked up (on his own) and drank from his sippy cup! It was very exciting. For a long time he had no interest in drinking from the sippy cup, and we really got out of the habit of offering it to him when we were on vacation. So last week we started getting it back out occasionally, and lo and behold, he started drinking out of it. Amazing.

Yesterday was our church Golf Outing, which I was in charge of organizing for the second year. Thom played again, and got our neighbor, Tom, to play, too. We had a quick downpour right at the start, but then it cleared up and held off again until later in the evening. Everything went well, though, and competition was stiff this year. But my Dad's team won with a 9 hole score of 29.

I had forgotten to mention that Eli now has two teeth, which he finds very intriguing. He plays with his tongue a lot now. And on Wednesday night he did "so big" all by himself. You know that game, right? "How big is Eli?" "Soooo big" and raise their arms in the air. Well, we weren't really doing this all that much, but Wednesday night I asked him and he raised his arms up high and smiled. Of course, I cried, it took me by surprise that much that he did it already. Aah, a proud mommy.

9 Months!

Eli had his 9 month birthday this week. Which, of course, comes with a doctor's appointment. He is now 20 pounds 4 ounces and 29 1/4 inches long. He is much higher percentage-wise for his length than his weight. But one look at his chunky thighs and you can tell he's not missing any meals. The doctor said he looks great. He is suddenly on a strike against vegetables. He just sits in his high chair and cries - until you stop trying to feed him and give him some finger food. Stinker. So we're really starting to experiment with more regular food and stuff. Eli has a super sensitive gag reflex so trying new things is always interesting. I thought all the spit up was bad, but throw-up in the high chair is no fun either!

Anyhow, he's so close to crawling. He rolls all over the place, though, he's never in the same spot for long. And he does scoot himself backwards while on his belly. And he will get on his back, lift his butt in the air, and push himself backwards with his feet. He's very crafty. And still very much a monkey. That kid does more with his feet - it's ridiculous. We were telling the doctor everything he does with his feet, and he was just laughing. They're like 2 more hands to him. So we have decided that monkeys will be the theme of his 1st birthday. Seems appropriate.

Beach Baby

Well, we got really, really behind on our posts! That just shows how busy we have been lately. I served on our church's task force to hire a new preschool director. Now that we have hired a director, we also are starting up a Preschool Board that I am on - both have taken up a lot of time and the Board is going to continue to keep me busy all summer.

Anyhow, we successfully completed a week vacation to the beach. We left the last Friday in June, and drove as far as Charlotte. We got to stay with my friend Cat and her husband Mike, and her little "bun in the oven." It was great get to see them both, even though we weren't there very long. Eli really melted down after being in the car about 6 1/2 hours on the way to Charlotte. Luckily, we didn't have too long in the car on Saturday.

We were in Oak Island all week with Thom's parents, his brother, Mike, our sister-in-law Susan, and their girls - Maddie and Grace.

Eli was a little freaked out at the beach on Saturday afternoon. But come on - big waves, cold water suddenly splashing your little legs, and lots of noise. When the tide went out, though, we had the perfect sandbar that created a big shallow pool between the beach and the sandbar. It was the perfect place to sit with Eli and play in the water. That he loved and was happy as could be.

It was pretty hot all week. Luckily, I had found this great tent online to set up on the beach. It really was perfect - the sides were mesh so that great ocean breeze flowed through it, making it cool. I set up an outdoor blanket underneath it, and Eli played and napped under it all day. And sometimes he shared it with me, when I got too hot.

For the long drive home, we were able to put some things in Thom's parent's van so the backseat next to Eli was open. It worked very well. When he started getting restless or hungry, one of us could get in the backseat and entertain or give him a bottle. So we actually made it home in one day.

Overall, it was a much needed vacation. And now we're looking forward to going to Hilton Head in September with my family!

Happy Anniversary!

So yesterday was our 5 year anniversary. We enjoyed a late morning wake-up (9:00am - late for us), some time at the dog park, and then a nice dinner together where we both ate too much.

I neglected to mention earlier that last Sunday I made my virgin voyage to Ikea. My neighbor, Julie, and I went up after church. Our mission was bedding (me) and curtains (Julie). Both missions we accomplished, along with a few bonus items, of course. Once we finally get our new bed delivered, and I get our new beautiful Ikea bedding on it, I'll post some pictures. But it was very exciting. I love Ikea. If anyone else would like to make the trip, let me know, I would love an excuse to go again! I am having visions of being able to finally organize parts of our house very inexpensively. I can't wait!

Already?

Today Eli is 8 months - already. It seems hard to believe that 8 months have already gone by. So I thought I would give an update on everything he is doing.

He is really rolling all over the floor now. He used to not be real fond of his stomach, but doesn't seem to mind as much now. And he'll go from sitting up to down on his belly. He will also end up on his belly and kind of wiggle all of his limbs. Supposedly, these are things that lead to crawling.

Eli has gotten really vocal (ie: loud) in the last couple weeks. He especially likes to shout. He's happy, he just likes to be heard. But there's a lot of indistinguishable noises, plus "da," "ta," "ba," and every once in a while a "ma." And, of course, lots of shrieking. And now he's into telling us some things very emphatically; he gets very intense, makes both hands into fists, shakes them, and makes funny sounds with a stiff face. It's pretty funny. He also loves blowing bubbles - sometimes from the minute he wakes up, he's blowing bubbles.

But he's doing really well, he's really happy most of the time. And he really seems to be developing a funny personality. He's started clapping his hands, usually accompanied by some shouting. And he plays some funny games. For instance, he'll lay his head all cuddly on your shoulder, and then all of the sudden pop up really quickly and smile. Repeat as many times as he thinks is entertaining. One night he was playing peek-a-boo with his cuddly blanket thing. He would cover his face, and we would call his name, and then he would pull down the blanket with a big smile. This game went on for several minutes, and Thom and I thought it was hilarious he was doing it all on his own.

We also had to get him a bigger car seat over the weekend. His feet are really starting to hang over the edge of his current car seat, so we knew it was time to upgrade. So, hopefully, he'll be in this one for a while. We're going to try it out for a while before we leave for the beach next week.

So, anyhow, that's a brief update on Eli. We'd love to hear from everyone, so leave us a message telling us how you're doing!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We did it! We successfully made our first airplane trip with Eli. It was a lot of work, but not as stressful as I thought it would be. We left early Thursday morning for Denver. Eli was asleep for about the first 20 minutes of the flight, and then awake the rest of the flight. But he was content, and played. He shouted a lot, but it was happy shouting. The flight attendants loved him - which was a big positive.

Here's a picture of Eli on the plane on the way to Denver.

When we got to Denver we went to the aquarium. Eli enjoyed that, and most of the exhibits had low windows, so he could see right from the stroller, which was nice.

My friend from Queens, Lisa, met us after the aquarium. There's a picture below of her and Eli. We had a great dinner together, and Lisa and I were able to catch up back at Thom's cousin's house while Thom and Eli snoozed.

Friday afternoon we headed up to Vail for Thom's cousin, Matt's wedding on Saturday. Saturday morning we woke up to several inches of snow. Totally unprepared for that. Oh well. It did warm up through the day, and by the wedding, snow was melting and falling in sheets off rooftops and trees. The last picture is the three of us at the wedding.




We had to leave Vail pretty early on Sunday morning, but got to the airport fine. Eli pretty much slept the whole flight (Thom did, too). So my first Mother's Day, I spent two hours in the car, two hours navigating the car return and airport, and three hours on a plane. But at least I didn't have to cook dinner. We went to my parent's house and ordered Chinese. Eli gave me a spa package that included a steam treatment, a manicure and pedicure, and a one hour massage. Nice - I really look forward to using that! Anyhow, hope the rest of you mom's had a great Mother's Day, too! And thanks to Josh and Jenny for watching Lucy while we were gone!

My Name Is. . .

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but these are Eli's adorable pj's with his name on the butt. They were a Christmas gift from his Uncle Josh and Aunt Jenny. Anyhow, Eli has become even more vocal lately. He's found some new sounds and wants to make sure everyone hears them. He has also discovered shouting and loves to do this high pitched shrieking sound. And he's saying "da" all the time. Which, by the way, why is "da" easier to say than "ma?" Does it just make it that much more special to here "ma" for the first time or what? Thom thinks it's great, because Eli also makes this "ta" sound - so Thom says his saying "Dada" and almost saying "Thom." Okay, whatever.

So we're getting ready to go to Denver this weekend. Thom's cousin is getting married in Vail on Saturday. We're flying into Denver Thursday, and driving to Vail on Friday afternoon. My friend, Lisa, from college is now living in Denver, and I am really excited to see her on Thursday. Eli will get his first plane ride, and we will get our first plane trip with a baby. If you've never seen me pack for a trip, I agonize over what to pack for myself. I drive myself nuts and it takes me forever. So now imagine this times two, because I am also packing for Eli. There's a giant list of "things" and small piles of stuff to take in various locations of the house. I am sure by Thursday morning, I will have driven Thom nuts and I will be ready for a big glass of wine or something. So pray for our sanity as we get ready. . .

So Long, Farewell. . .

That's right, it's time to say good-bye. To my pump. Anyone who has been around me for any length of time in the last seven and a half months, knows that I have been pumping religiously. At home, at other's homes, at a conference, in hotel rooms, in the car - anywhere. And last night, for the last time.
A part of me feels sad, because it means that Eli is now seven and a half months! But I have enough frozen milk in our freezer in the basement to feed the three of us in a time of famine. So it was definitely time to quit. On the other hand, I feel like I have all this wonderful time on my hands. Pumping was a huge time commitment. And there's a sense of freedom now when I leave the house. No more planning errands and events around my pumping schedule.
So anyhow, the pump still sits ceremoniously on the chair in the family room. I guess it's time to pack it up and put it away. So long, farewell. . .

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday! This weekend we went up to my Grandma's to celebrate her 80th birthday. It was Eli's longest car ride so far (about 4 hours) and first hotel stay. We had a good time visiting with Grandma and everyone else - especially since we are rarely all together. But here's Grandma blowing out the birthday cake she shared with my cousins Courtney and Erica, who both have birthdays this week and my cousin's son, Drew, who shared his first birthday with Grandma.

We also visited the playground in our neighborhood for the first time this weekend. Eli liked the swings and went down the slide with Daddy, too. He started antibiotics again for another ear infection this week. He seems to be feeling fine, luckily. Hopefully, it will be all cleared up soon so it won't be a problem when we leave for Denver in a week and a half.

A Busy Weekend!

Yeah! Just another way to keep him occupied while cooking dinner

Here's Eli's new trick of flipping over his floor gym

Insert foot in mouth

We've had a busy weekend. Thie big news is that we finally bought a new bed! That's right, we're now real adults with a Queen size bed - well, when it gets delivered to us, anyhow. We actually bought the mattress and box spring yesterday. Luckily, we know someone who works in the furniture department at Macy's and he let us know that the bed we want goes on sale even cheaper the first weekend in May. So we will put in the order for the bed as soon as it goes on sale, and it will all be delivered together. I'll post some pictures when we do finally get it. But I am very excited about it. We are just going to get the bed for now, and then add other new pieces, like new dressers and bedside tables, later.

Today, Scott and Courtney's baby, Caitlyn was baptized at church. It was very nice - Caitlyn was very curious, and, just like Eli, did not cry! I know I was so relieved after Eli slept through his baptism. But anyhow, Eli and Caitlyn just have something else to talk about now.

Speaking of Eli, he now has some new tricks. He has finally gotten his feet into his mouth - he loves his feet so much, it was only a matter of time until they also became victims of the slobbery black hole. And he can now flip his floor gym over on himself. He doesn't seem to mind, but now I guess I need to really be able to see him if I'm doing stuff in the kitchen and he's under there!

The weather has been rainy and cold here this weekend, so hopefully the next time we post we'll have a good, sunny outdoor picture!

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

Today we finally had a beautiful, sunny, warm day! We spent all afternoon outside playing. Yes, Eli is wearing his beach hat - but it has the biggest brim. And since we didn't have any sunscreen yet, it got to make a spring appearance. Thom and Eli took a hike with out neighbor Tom and his son Jamen on the trails in our neighborhood. Apparently, he loved it - he shrieked a lot and laughed and was very happy to be in his Baby Bjorn. But it was a great day outside and we finished it by grilling burgers with our neighbors. Let's hope the rest of April can be so nice!

Doctor, Doctor

Today Eli had his 6 month well-visit at the pediatrician's. I know, he was 6 months 2 weeks ago! But he is involved in a vaccine study through Children's Hospital, and they needed him this week. So anyhow. . .
He keeps growing: he was 18 pounds 10 ounces, and 28 inches long. I definitely think he will be tall - not a gift from me! But he's doing great, and he just loves the paper they put on the exam tables at the doctor's office. More later. . .

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Eli is ready for baseball season - and rooting for a Reds winning season. We watched the game together today. And by "we," I mean I watched while he napped on me. Unfortunately, we had to watch from home, we weren't at the game, and even more unfortunately, they lost. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come. Anyhow, maybe they'll get it together; even Eli's cute baseball outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Mehling couldn't bring in a win. There's always next time. . .

A Picture Says a Thousand Words. . .

Eli got his picture taken again on Wednesday. Here are the ones we ordered. He wasn't feeling well again, so it took a lot of effort from us to get him to smile. He was definitely being serious. But they turned out pretty cute, anyhow.
Speaking of him not feeling well, he was definitely miserable again by Wednesday evening. Some of you know, he came down with a virus last Tuesday - coughing and lots of congestion. Over the weekend he seemed to be getting better - just in time for Easter. But, like I said, it started coming back with a vengeance Wednesday. So I took him to the doctor's on Thursday and found out he has a double ear infection. The doctor said it wasn't too bad - but who knows if the infection was on its' way in or out. So Eli was welcomed into the wonderful world of antibiotics. Which has its' own lovely side effects! So anyhow, he seemed to be feeling better today, and will hopefully be back to normal. Poor little man has trouble sleeping with all that coughing!
Have a great weekend everyone - apparently we will be watching basketball all weekend.