True Blue

I debated whether or not to post these pictures now after Kentucky's APPALLING performance against Florida on Saturday. I mean, not only did they lose spectacularly, but they also incapacitated the best quarterback in college football. However, we are proud of our alma mater and will root for them no matter what. We are no fairweather fans!!!

Plus, is my precious boy in his UK jammies not just the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life?!?!So my sweet boy will be True Blue no matter how well they play.

I Love You!

I decided this week that I wanted to teach Elias to say "I love you." So I said to him, "Elias, say 'I love you!'" And he responded by making a kissy noise! I was surprised! I'd never heard him make a kissy noise like that, and he used it appropriately in relation to love! He was pretty proud of himself too, although, he could've just been reacting to Mommy's joy...

I remembered then that he has a little toy cell phone that talks when you push the buttons, and one of the buttons says "I love you" followed by a kissy noise. So I guess that's where he picked it up and associated the two! I think it's so sweet, though!

All Clear

I took Elias back to the doctor today so she could check his ears and make sure the infection was completely gone. Praise the Lord, it is! It took him much longer than I expected to fully recover from this, but in the past couple of days, he's back to his old self. My precious boy. I have more pics and videos to upload that I'm hoping to get to over the weekend, so stay tuned!

I never did post an official 16-month update, which he turned on Monday. But I thought since I'm posting a plethora of pics and videos, you all are getting a good idea of what the past month has looked like for us. I fall more and more in love with this child every day!

Chillin'

One day last week when Elias was sick with his ear infection, he apparently decided he was too tired to keep playing with Daddy. So he just took his Jimmie car and went over and rested against a couch cushion. Sweet little guy.

Twirling

Elias has recently started "twirling." For him this is staggering around in a circle while looking down at the ground, but it's still pretty cute! And he loves to do it - does it all the time!

Throw It All Overboard!

This is a picture of what Elias generally looks like when I go to get him out of his crib after his crib playtime. Notice anything wrong with this picture? Let's zoom in a bit:Yes, the crib is empty and all his toys and books are wedged down in the crack between the crib and wall! He loves to throw everything out of his crib, even the heavy and big stuff! So we'll occasionally hear a loud boom coming out of his room and we know he just threw his toy cookie jar or Jimmie car or something else out of his crib. And then he complains because he doesn't have any toys left to play with!

He has also just this week started throwing toys over our safety gate into the hallway where he can't reach them. It baffles me why he does this too, since now he can't play with them. But without fail, there is always a ball and several toys in the hallway just on the other side of the safety gate. Silly boy.

BOOM!

Last week, Daddy came up with a fun new game, which is jumping in the air and shouting "BOOM!" Elias thinks this is hilarious, and will often jump and make his own BOOM! noise, or he'll wave his arm and grunt indicating that he wants us to BOOM!

Daddy's Boy

Elias absolutely loves his daddy. I keep meaning to have the video camera ready to record how he reacts when Daddy comes home from work because it is priceless. As soon as he heard the doorknob rattle, he gets so excited, and he shrieks with joy as soon as he sees Daddy come through the door! Seriously, priceless.

So sometimes we put his Baby Einstein video in while I'm cooking dinner to keep him occupied and out of the kitchen. On this particular day, he was starting to get sick with his ear infection and he was feeling a bit needy. So he wasn't content to sit and watch unless Daddy would hold him. The picture was too sweet to miss capturing:How sweet is this? My two boys. :)

Cracker Crusher

Now that Elias has plenty of teeth (all 4 molars!), we're wanting him to start learning how to take a bite out of food and chew it instead of us having to cut and break everything up for him. I decided to start with a nice crumbly cracker so that even if he did put too much in his mouth, it wouldn't be hard to chew it up. So the first time I gave him a whole cracker, he just took bites and chewed them up like he'd been doing it his whole life! So then the second time, I put up the video camera because I wanted to capture what a natural he was in eating a whole cracker. But he didn't do it the same way. Instead, he discovered that he could break it with his fist and crush it into smithereens. He got a big kick out of this, and I did too because he would work SO HARD to crush that cracker! He gets a frown of concentration and his whole arm shakes with the effort! Hilarious! So here it is:

Such a big and strong boy! So for a few weeks after he discovered this, he didn't eat any more crackers - just crumbled them to death. However, today for the first time he ate a cracker normally again... So maybe the novelty of using his brute strength to annihilate the cracker wore off.

Surprise Coat

We got such an unexpected surprise in the mail yesterday! My grandmother who lives near Chicago works at a thrift store in her church, and occasionally she finds some great deals that are awesome for us. So she apparently found this coat in Elias' size and sent it to us! I had been looking for a good winter coat for Elias and hadn't found anything yet, and here she sent us this one for free! It came from a thrift store, but it looks brand new! It has a cute detachable hood, and the hood even had a detachable fur lining! It's got a warm red fleece lining, and even knit cuffs in the sleeves and neck! This is going to be good for some SERIOUS playing in the snow this year! It's a tad big right now, but that means it'll be perfect for this winter when he's bigger and wearing heavier clothes under it. So THANK you, Grandma Ellie!!!!!

P.S. In this picture, he's making his new cute scrunchy smile face! He does this whenever I pull out the camera now... Silly boy.

Check, Check

Last week, we had a block party at church and our praise band played while we ate. The band was setting up, and they were doing mic checks. Well, Elias thought it was HILARIOUS when they said "Check, check" into the microphone. According to Justin (I missed it.), he was absolutely cracking up! And ever since then, he'll walk around at home saying "Sa, sa," which is his version of "Check, check." I caught it on video, but it isn't quite as funny since I'm prompting him to say it. Usually he just busts it out on his own. But here it is nonetheless!

I Won, I Won!

As most of you know, I read several Mommy blogs where they post with ideas for saving money, running a household, and mothering. These blogs often run giveaways, which I always enter, but I've never won before... Until now! Last week I won a Crayola Creativity Pack giveaway on MommySnacks.net, and it arrived today! Look at all this loot!It includes:

• Crayola Crayons 24 ct
• Crayola Markers 10 ct
• Crayola Colored Pencils 12 ct
• Crayola Pip-Squeaks Colored Pencils and Glitter Glue
• Crayola Window Crayons
• Tadoodles Washable Crayon Buddies
• Crayola Color Explosion Black Extreme Surprises
• Crayola Color Switchers

I'm so excited! I'm most excited about the Tadoodles Buddies right now because I think they're going to be perfect for Elias... I've actually looked at these at WalMart, but never been willing to fork over the cash for them. But now I don't have to! And we are SET for him to be able to express his creativity as he grows!

I highly recommend that all you mommies, householders, and money-savers out there check out Mommy Snacks. I've always considered it rewarding to read her blog because it's so helpful - I ALWAYS check out her weekly Walgreens posts to let me know what the best deals are there. So this is just icing on the cake!

By the way, I know it's been a while since I've posted... But Elias' ear infection is much better now, and I once again have a huge backlog of photos and videos to post! I'll post them as I get them edited. So stay tuned! :)

How Humble Your Love

This morning in church we sang a song whose chorus says:

What a wonderful Maker,
What a wonderful Savior.
How majestic Your whispers,
How humble Your love.
With a strength like no other
And the heart of a Father,
How majestic Your whispers.
What a wonderful God.

I know the song well, but this morning I was struck by the line that says "How humble Your love," and I thought about what it meant that God's love is humble. I think it means that He isn't forceful or assuming with His love, but that He just gives it and leaves us the freedom to accept it or not. This reminded me of a quote from C.S. Lews in Chapter 8 of The Screwtape Letters, which I actually blogged about here a couple years ago. In it, the demon Screwtape writes this about God:

You must have often wondered why the Enemy [God] does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo.

He cannot ravish. He can only woo. How sweet to think that God woos me, longing for me to CHOOSE Him and not just come to Him out of compulsion.

I also received great encouragement in continuing to read this chapter where Screwtape says this:

Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best... ...He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

Wow, this perfectly describes the valley I have been walking through and continue to walk, and I am thankful for this brief glimpse of the heart of God, through which I feel Him saying to me, "I see your struggles, I know your heart, and I am deeply moved by your perseverance in faith, no matter how shaky at times. I am still here, my beloved one." Thank You, Lord.

First Ear Infection

We went to the doctor today, and Elias has his first ear infection... and it's a double! My poor baby. His fever first started on Wednesday, but that's exactly when we were expecting a fever to start in reaction to his MMR shot he got last week. So I just assumed that's what it was. But yesterday his fever was still pretty high and he had ZERO appetite - barely ate anything all day. That's kinda scary for my big ol' boy who is a big ol' eater. Then last night he was up every few hours, so none of us had a restful night. He wasn't fussy, just not sleeping. Finally in the wee hours this morning, we decided to actually take his temperature to see how high it was because he felt REALLY hot. (We generally don't take his temperature because it's so difficult to do rectally, he won't take the pacifier thermometer, and the ear one just isn't accurate.) It was 104.2. Whoa. That's high. So I called the doctor's office when it opened and they told me to bring him in - that was too high a fever to just be the MMR shot. And lo and behold, my poor baby has his first ear infection. I'm actually very thankful to have made it almost 16 months without having had one, and I'm thankful to now have antibiotics that should make him feel better quickly.

Big Boy Sippy

We're making the transition from the soft-topped sippy cup to the hard ones with Elias right now, and so to make it more appealing, I got some that have one of Elias' favorite things right now on them: cars. Specifically, they're NASCAR sippy cups with Jimmie Johnson, Justin's favorite driver.
Elias already had two toy Jimmie cars, which he LOVES to play with. He says "Vroooooom!" So he instantly recognized it as "Jimmie car" when he saw it on his sippy. We're so proud!

Right now he's using it without the spill-proof valve, but it doesn't have a vent hole, so it's remarkably spill-proof even without the valve. He does well with it, though.

Our Little Einstein

Elias' Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Baby Einstein video for Christmas, and we have recently started letting him watch it. I am AMAZED at how much he loves it! He is totally absorbed by it - it's the only time he sits still unless he's sleeping!He also interacts with it, mimicking the sounds they make and laughing at the funny parts. In the video below, you can see him baa-ing with the sheep and then pointing at himself when they say "baby."

You can hear Justin and I talking about how we wondered where he had gotten the long "baa" that he makes for a sheep sound. He always used to just do a really short "bah" sound, but then one day last week he just started doing a long "baaaaaaa" for what a sheep says. When we were watching this, we realized that this is where he got it! So he's learning! :)

Keeps Getting Bigger!

We had Elias' 15-month checkup today, and he just keeps getting bigger! Here are today's stats:

Weight: 31 lbs, 2 oz (99%)
Length: 33.5" (95%)
Head: 19.25" (90%)

Such a big boy! Not sure how accurate any of the measurements actually are because he's going through a huge stranger anxiety phase right now and he panics any time anybody besides me or Justin touches him. So you can guess that it wasn't easy getting him weighed and measured. I do know he's a big 'un, though, so these measurements seem close enough to me!

So this quite possibly may have been our hardest visit yet, at least for me. He's just SUCH a busy boy, all over the place. He wants to be up, exploring everything, touching everything, climbing on everything. I've always seen "those moms," you know, the harassed and harried ones that just can't seem to get a break because their kid is completely out of control, and I've looked on them with pity. And I was a little sad to realize that today in the waiting room, I was that mom. The other kids waiting were all either much older or much younger than Elias, and therefore not at the all-over-the-place stage.

Combine that with four vaccinations AND his terror at being touched, looked at, or even talked to by the nurses and doctor, and it was a hard visit. I'm praying his stranger anxiety passes because this is really rough. The doctor was very comforting, though, that it's perfectly normal, there's nothing we have done to cause it, and there's nothing we can do to help it besides just wait for him to grow out of it. Sheesh. Hopefully we won't have to go to the doctor again for a while, and by then he'll be grown out of it!