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!

These Shoes Were Made for Walkin'

A couple weeks ago, one of the nursery helpers at church told us Elias was going to be promoted up to the next class now that he's walking. She mentioned to me that he needs to wear shoes in that class since the floor isn't all carpet. Since he's been barefoot all summer, I thought it would be a good idea to practice walking in shoes before I send him to church to try to do it! So here's a video of our first practice session. He did better than I thought, and aren't those crocs just the cutest thing you've ever seen???

My favorite part is when he gets enamored with his reflection in the TV screen! Such a funny boy!

A Basketball Star is Born

As I mentioned in Elias' 15-month post, he got a new basketball toy that he likes to play with. He rolls the ball, kicks it (although we're still working on kicking coordination... He has to make a couple passes before he makes contact!), and likes to put the ball through the hoop. Here's a video of the first day we had it:

The goal doesn't stay up anymore (That's what I get for paying $1 for a toy, I guess!), but he still likes to just pick it up and put the ball through.

So now when he's a famous basketball player, we can say we have his first-ever basket recorded for posterity.

Splish Splash

Except for when he was tiny, Elias has always loved taking a bath, and he seems to just like it more and more. He is now a MANIAC in the bathtub because he loves splashing so much. Daddy is still our bath-giver, and he almost always ends up SOAKED by the time the bath is over. This is a sample of what Elias does from the minute he gets into the tub.

You can see at the end what Daddy does to distract him from splashing - giving him fun toys! Nana helps us immensely with that effort by sending us the toy you see here: a little Sesame Street boat set with Ernie and Elmo. If any of you are my friends on Facebook, you saw that Elmo is Elias' new obsession, and he even says "Muh," which means Elmo! So this toy is awesome because Elias loves his new best friend, Elmo, and it's fun to play with him in the tub. Keeps Daddy a little drier. :)

At the Park

I'm sorry I haven't posted this week. It's been crazy! Because of that, I have a huge backlog of videos and pictures to catch up with, so stay tuned as I get them all edited and posted!

A couple weekends ago, we took Elias to the park to feed the ducks/geese/swans. They didn't really like the tortillas we took to feed them, but Elias enjoyed watching them nonetheless. There are so many of them, and they were splashing like crazy, which is something Elias LOVES to do. So he was very entertained by all their splashing.

Croup!

It's been a long week for us. Justin went back to school this week, which already makes it rough. I didn't realize how spoiled we got having him home all summer! It was a dream for all of us, and now we're all struggling in falling back into the routine of the semester with him gone all day.

Plus, Elias is teething. I think he's cutting his bottom two molars. He's been fussy, runny nose, chewing on everything, and slobbering everywhere about 5 days now. So hopefully those suckers will come in soon!

But on top of all that, a call to the doctor's office today confirmed that he has croup! (Justin thought that's what it was, but I thought croup would be worse than what he is - I guess he has a mild case? I certainly hope it's not going to get worse before it gets better!) He started coughing on Wednesday night - SCARY coughing that made me seriously consider sleeping on his bedroom floor just so I could make sure he kept breathing. Thankfully, the humidifier gave him relief, and we were all able to get sleep. Last night was rough too, though, even with the humidifier. So we're all struggling and sleep-deprived around here. Thank God for the weekend tomorrow!

If I Were...

I got this from my friend, Jessi's blog, and I thought it was pretty funny. I didn't come up with a funny story like she did, but I think the pictures are enjoyable nonetheless... Photos courtesy of PhotoFunia.


If I were a president, I would've been good enough to be immortalized with the greats!
If I had been born several decades earlier, I would've rocked the big hair and boy bands.
If I were an astronaut, I would definitely have been the one to walk on the moon.
If I had even a smidgeon of fashion sense, I could be on the cover of Glamour!
If I were in this close proximity to Johnny Depp OR Orlando Bloom, my smile would certainly be this big, even if there were creepy pirates around!

15 Months!

Didn't I just write our 14 month update? And now another month has flown by and Elias is growing and developing like crazy! He's turning into such a little personality, and he's learning so fast! If any of you ever get tired of me raving about how brilliant and handsome my son is, you may just want to stop reading here... For those of you who can get past the gushing, here's what our past month has been like.

Walking
Elias is walking like a champ now, and he just doesn't stop! I took a video yesterday of what our days look like now that he can walk. It's pretty long, but it gives you an excellent picture of what he does now.

He's no longer satisfied to just sit and play with his toys. Instead, he wanders around the house (well, the part we don't have gated off!) looking to see what he can get into! It cracked me up when he even put his chin up on the table to see what he could reach. (We have definitely learned to not leave water glasses too close to the edge! He grabbed the edge of one once and got a faceful of water!) And then he tried to climb into his high chair. Silly boy!

You will notice, though, that whenever I use my Mommy Voice (telling him not to touch the trash can or play with the cabinets), he listens, for which I am extremely thankful! Of course, I'd rather him not touch them at all, but that'll come. :)

You will also notice that there are no still photographs of him in this update, only video. This is because he's never still! Always up and running around.

Teeth
He has sprouted 5 teeth in the past month, for a total of 10 now. Six on top (the front four and two molars) and four on bottom. And he CONSTANTLY has things in his mouth, so that indicates to me that there are more coming. In fact, he has started chewing on books now, something we're trying to break him of. But the other day I had him looking at a book while I was making copies at the library. I noticed in my peripheral vision that he was chewing on something, so I looked and he had eaten part of the cover off the book! Like totally eaten it! (Photo at right.) Sheesh!

One Nap
He is now officially down to one nap a day. Today was the first day we intentionally did the new one-nap routine, although it has been quite a while that he hasn't napped in the morning. We'll still do an hour of crib playtime in the mornings so he has some quiet time and Mommy can at least get a shower! But he does well with it, and I REALLY like the 3+ hour naptime in the afternoon that I can get things done! (Or take my own nap!)

So Fun
The more he grows and can do, the more fun we have playing. He is just such a little ham! He still loves Peek-a-boo, and we finally got some video of what he does:

He'll crawl into the corner where the loveseat meets the wall, and he'll hide his face there before he pops around the couch to peep at us! I think that is SO FUNNY! That's all his own doing - he's never seen either of us do that. He'll do it over and over again, and it's funny because he really bonks his face into that corner - we can always hear the thud when it hits! Goofy boy.

So Smart
I seriously cannot believe how much this child knows and understands and can do and say! He is talking like crazy, and his vocabulary is really extensive for somebody his age! He can say the whole gamut of farm and zoo animal noises (including rare ones like squirrels, chipmunks, and kangaroos! I'll have to get those on video sometime). He's also getting to where he can repeat a word we say. A couple days ago, I was telling him about his pajamas, which had Winnie the Pooh playing basketball on them. So I said "basketball," and he said "dassss-da-da" which actually sounds pretty close! He really took to that word, and he walks around saying it a lot. So today I got him a little toy basketball and hoop, and he knows that it's his basketball and he knows what it means when we say "Put it in the basket." (Look for that video in a couple days!)

He's starting to learn the parts of his body. He can find his nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, feet, toes, hands, and belly!

Justin also made a discovery today that Elias knows his shapes! He has a little toy laptop that has six buttons that are each a different shape. Justin learned today that if you ask him where the square is, for example, he'll push the right button! We were floored! Such a smarty-pants.

Ok, this has turned out really long, but I warned you it would just be me raving about how brilliant my son is! And he is! I'm so proud of him!!!

Our Anniversary Present

Well, we actually bought this for ourselves last week without any thought about our anniversary, but it was finally delivered today, so happy anniversary to us! We decided to get a new bed in the hopes that it would help my back, but since we were buying a bed anyways, we decided to get a king size! We're very excited about this, and we anticipate both of us sleeping better with more room to spread out.

Since we got a different size bed, we also had to get new bedding, and I am SO EXCITED about what we got! (Click to enlarge.) It's so beautiful, like the kind of bedroom I'd always dreamed of having, but never thought I would! But it's real and I love it!!!!!!! (Perfectly matches the curtains we already had... Bonus!)

So here's to many years of sweet dreams for us!!!!

4 Years Ago Today...

... I married my best friend.

Happy anniversary, sweetheart!

No-No

Elias has a new word in his vocabulary: "No-no." He definitely knows what it means, and he uses it appropriately. Whenever we reprimand him for doing something he shouldn't, he says "No-no!" (We don't usually use "No-no." We just say "No." He seems to have put that together himself.)

One of the things we're really dealing with right now is he likes to rip off his bib and throw it on the floor when he's done eating. That's a big "No" around here. He's supposed to tell us (by signing) he's all done, then let us take his bib off.

So then today he was eating his afternoon snack in his high chair, and I was in the kitchen working on dinner with my back turned. He did great and ate happily watching me work. But then I heard him say "No-no!" So I turned around and he had thrown his bib on the floor! So I took action by putting his bib back on and telling him that's a "No," but it cracked me up that he tattled on himself! So now we don't have to wonder whether or not he knows that he's not supposed to throw his bib on the floor! Silly boy.

Walking Man

Elias has really taken off with his walking! He walked a few steps here and there the past couple weeks, but he really took off once we were all back home from our trips. We think he was saving it for Daddy! We've been trying and trying to get good video of him walking, but most of them are just short clips. So I patched them all together and maybe you can get a good idea. The first one is good, and the rest are just silly. Enjoy!

Our Big Adventure

Elias and I are home safe and sound! We had a WONDERFUL time with our family, but we are pooped and glad to be home. Elias is sleeping so soundly in his own bed! I know he's glad to be home. But we had so much fun and soaked in as much sweet family time as we could. Since Justin took our camera on his trip, I only have a couple pictures that my sis took, but they're good ones!

Most of our trip was just spent hanging out and enjoying being together. We ran around, shopped, ate together, played some cards, and squeezed in as much as we could in those short 9 days! On Thursday, we made a trip to Georgetown, KY to have dinner with a group of friends and then go to the Cincinnati Bengals Training Camp. Turns out we were mistaken about the training schedule that day, so we missed seeing the Bengals, but we had a great time catching up with old friends! And the boys looked SO CUTE in their Bengals gear! Azlan (2), Elias, and Patriot (4)

Then the next day we spent the day at King's Island, the theme park we went to often when I was a kid. We spent most of the day riding things that the kids could enjoy, but I did manage to catch a ride on Diamondback, the park's newest roller coaster! It was awesome! Elias even rode two rides, a little blue train and the carousel! We spent all day at the park, so he eventually got so pooped that he napped in his stroller, which he has never done in his life. Isn't he the cutest?!
By the end of our trip, Elias had pretty much reached his limit with long days of being off schedule and missing naps. But he was such a trooper and so cooperative and cheerful in spite of it all! It took him quite a while to get comfortable with my family, and I wonder if part of it was that he missed his daddy so much. His daddy should be home tonight, though, so hopefully things can get back to normal soon. But our week was a sweet time with family, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to have this visit.

Expert Traveler

I have a few minutes while I'm waiting for Mom to get home from work, so I thought I'd post a quick note. We made it to Ohio safe and sound, and Elias did GREAT on the planes! Both planes were completely packed, so there were no extra seats in which we could spread out. So Elias had to stay on my lap the entire time for both flights. That wasn't a huge deal, but it wasn't as trouble-free as it would've been if I could've put him down in a seat next to me. Really the only bad part about it was trying to keep him from constantly kicking the seat of the person in front of us. The lady in front of us on the first flight was NOT understanding about it, and that made me feel pretty bad. But seriously, no way I could've kept his feet from touching that seat the entire time. And if she didn't want him kicking her seat back, she should've thought twice about reclining it back into our faces... Ahem. (I do admit, though, that before I had kids, I didn't understand how hard it was for the parent behind me trying to control their child... I regret having been impatient with them in the past...) So for the second flight, I apologized in advance to the man in front of us, telling him that I would try to keep Elias from kicking his seat, but he'd probably get some kicks. He said not to worry about it because he had three boys at home and completely understood. I appreciated that and it made the second flight less stressful for me.

But Elias did AWESOME. Didn't fuss at all, didn't freak out at the pressure changing, didn't wrestle to get down. I'm very proud of him. I was a little concerned about his ears on both flights because he drank his entire sippy cup when we took off, which didn't leave him anything to drink when we landed. But for the first flight, I just fed him some fruit snacks upon landing, and the second flight his paci was enough for the landing. Score! I did discover that snacks were definitely the easiest way to keep him entertained on the flight - toys were just kind of hard to finagle with so little room. He did enjoy shredding the barf bag and the safety instructions on the first flight, though.

He didn't take even one minute of a nap all day long, so he was pretty strung out by the time evening rolled around. We went out to dinner with the family when we got here, but we had to hurry home because he was verging on a meltdown. But I think that's completely understandable! So it's taking a few days to try to catch up, but he's doing just fine. I think the way home will be easier because our layover is an hour shorter, which puts us home in time for him to catch a bit of an afternoon nap before dinner.

So I'm proud of how well our big boy did, and I'm not at all concerned for our return flight next weekend.

MANY thanks to all of you who gave me advice and suggestions about how to fly with a toddler. You saved my life in convincing me to take the big stroller!!!!! I felt confident with all of your support and encouragement, and we had a successful trip!