Grandpa Bidney, Mallory's birthday party, & chicken dance!

Grandpa Bidney visited for a short time coming and going from taking a sailing trip in Belize. Here is Eli with tan & scruffy Grandpa :)

Cousin Mallory turned 2 years old yesterday & her party was today. It was a perfect day and Emily made these cute hats for the kids to wear. Eli only wore his for a short time:

Mallory had a fun slide that Eli decided to try out. He didn't seem all that excited about it but he didn't cry either, so that was good :)

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Eli spent a good chunk of time at the end of the party laying on a blanket and daydreaming. It was too cute and he just loved to look at the trees & the clouds. Awww.....life of a baby!

The below video is what I hear many times throughout the day. He is very good with his "d" & "b" sounds, making fleeting "dada" sounds....not sure if they could count yet, though.

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Here's Mallory opening her gift from us. One of the items we bought her (including my sisters & mom) is a cute doll that drinks, wets herself, and a backpack/changing pad. The doll looks like Mallory so we had to buy it. Maybe this will help train her to be an excellent big sister!

Singing "Happy Birthday":


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Mallory swinging on the fun swing they have in their yard:


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Eli is still jumping/walking in the walker. We keep it in the kitchen since it is easiest to walk on vs. carpet. He enjoys his time in it while mommy cooks or does some cleaning in the kitchen:


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Grandpa Clarkson bought us a button that says "Are You Chicken" on it and when you press it, it plays the chicken dance. The chicken dance was played at our wedding reception so it is to serve as an instant flashback to that special day. Not so sure Eli likes it too much, as you'll see :)


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Eli is starting to show some signs of possible crawling attempts. He used to HATE being on his tummy, & when he would end up there by accident, he always cried and would wait for me to turn him over or turn himself. He has been lunging for things out of reach for a couple weeks now, but this week he has been lunging and then falling on his belly. When on his belly he then starts to move his legs like he is trying to get them underneath him and then pushing up on his hands. But, the 2 never quite coordinate and so he is either doing a push up or kicking/pushing his feet. Once he does them at the same time, we have some sort of crawl!! It may be some sort of army crawl, but movement none the less. We shall see!!

This coming week there will be a lot to celebrate! My aunt Susie's birthday is tomorrow, my cousin, Laura turns 32 on Thursday, and my sister, Sarah, turns 29 on Friday. In particular for our little family, this Thursday is our 4th wedding anniversary and Eli turns 9 months next Sunday! In a little over 3 months we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday....truly amazing!! Eli & I look forward to the warm weather this week is supposed to bring and we have a couple of play dates planned already! Should be a good week!