Family time!

This week consisted of a variety of things, including a lot of family time!

But first, a few random pictures from the week.....

I bought Eli a pair of new jeans & I think they are adorable:

Eli loves to play with a massager we have that isn't really a toy, but he figured out how to push the button to make it work:

Eli longs to bang on the laptop....here daddy let him have some computer time:


Eli has started to make this cute little face this last week. He scrunches his nose up, squints his eyes, and says "mmmmm":

Eli was a super eater this week.....every day! Yay Eli!

Great-Grandpa Bidney turned 87 this week. We dropped by for a quick visit:

We also brought a yummy Subway dinner to my cousin Emily on Thursday. Here is Eli eating his dinner in Mallory's old high chair:

Cute Mallory eating her dinner:

I got to hold Chloe for the 2nd time. She's as light as a feather (compared to my little man) & can sleep through most anything! Such a precious little girl:

Eli, Mallory, Emily, Chloe & my mom:

Saturday we went out to dinner with Laura & Steve (& Uncle Dean, Emily, Josh, Mallory, Chloe & my mom) who were visiting from Oregon. We hadn't seen them in 2 years so it was good to catch up! Here's Eli with Daddy on the Smokehouse pig:

Eli's daily upside down time at Great-Grandpa Bidney's:

Great-Grandpa has an organ which Eli & Mallory performed many beautiful tunes:

We celebrated Great-Grandpa's birthday belated today with cake & ice cream:

Mallory enjoyed her cupcake immensely:

My cousin Laura, her hubby Steve & Eli (newlyweds!!):

Laura, Eli & me!

In addition, Grandma & Grandpa Clarkson came over to visit and bring fun gifts from their vacation. Eli enjoyed showing off his new skills to them as they hadn't seen him in about a month!

This Friday is Halloween & I am excited! Eli will adorable, of course, in his costume & Eric took half a day to go trick-or-treating with us. We plan to go around the neighborhood & then attend a fun Halloween playdate/birthday party on Saturday. FUN!!! I'll give a little clue about Eli's costum: he'll be breathing fire! :)

Happy 1st Haircut, Eli!

Mommy decided this week that instead of mommy getting a hair cut, Eli would! He was getting a little shaggy around the ears and neck so it was time! For his first cut, I wanted to go to one of those fun kid cut places. They have a fun "1st haircut" package where they do a before and after picture and make a certificate with the pictures and a lock of hair. He also got to choose which seat to sit in so we chose the Hummer. We went this morning (Wednesday morning) as soon as they opened, so we had the whole place to ourselves!! Great fun!!

For the before picture, they purposefully mess up his hair which is cute:

He loved all the buttons and the steering wheel in the Hummer:

Cape is on....hair is being watered down:

The first clip!!:

He did an awesome job & didn't really flinch at all! He seemed to enjoy himself. I'm sure it helped that Elmo was on the t.v. directly in front of him:

The finished result:

What a big boy!!:

Proof of his accomplishment:

Just another week in Eli land!

Every night, Eli takes a bath as part of his bedtime routine. I've posted several fun bathtime pictures. Here are more! Eli has foam letters & numbers that he really enjoys holding up in the air, looking at me and saying "ehhh??". To me that is him asking "What is this, mommy?", so I always answer with the letter or number's name. What mommy also does is find it hilarious to stick the letters/numbers all over Eli's little body:

The below picture made me laugh until I was crying because I happened to put the letter "R" on his forehead and as he turned to look at the camera, it slipped over his eye. Because I was laughing so hard, he then started laughing so it was a good time had by all!

Eli continues to explore every nook & cranny in the house. He's usually, for the most part, has ignored the gate. Now has he not only discovered it, but knows that if you push the big button it will open! Thankfully he isn't strong enough to open it....yet!!

Saturday afternoon we went to watch cousin Sammie play softball. Eli enjoyed the game & clapped when everyone else did....and he had the most comfortable seat in the house!!

Before I start to describe the below picture, I would just like to say that DADDY came up with the idea. Anyway, we are still nursing and Eli & I have used the boppy ever since he was born. He obviously makes the connection between nursing and the boppy. So daddy thought it would be funny to put the boppy around ELI instead of mommy, and act like Mickey is nursing. Eli found this to be too hilarious:

Eli loves to push everything around the house: books, pillows, blocks, containers, etc. He also pushes around his highchair in the kitchen. Today Eli discovered the strap for fun to play with and he must have played with them for a good 10 minutes.....to each their own!! :)

Eli says: "Mommy, you are ALWAYS shoving this camera in my face!!"

Eli continues to love to look out the window AND continues to love to talk his unique language:

Here is video of Eli saying "ight" for light. I've yet to get video of him saying "tittat" for kitty kat. This week he also started saying "ttitt" for toothbrush. His version of kitty kat & toothbrush are VERY similar. I think he likes words with the "t" sound in them right now! :)



On Tuesday, Eli & I got to meet our friend Sarah's little girl, Greta. She is adorable & even smiled for me as I held her! Eli was a little fussy during the visit (wouldn't nap before we left & wanted to explore Sarah's house....which is not yet child proof....don't worry, Sarah, you have time :) but we still had a good time. Glad we could finally meet her!

Mommy got to have some girl time for herself on Saturday night. I went out with a few friends who I hadn't seen in awhile to help celebrate their birthdays. We went to one of those fun Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. It was a great time!


Eli continues to cruise, cruise, cruise!! He can go fron living room, to kitchen, down the hall, to the bedrooms with no problem. It's too funny how fast he has become doing this, but is yet to make the leap towards walking (without help). He is doing better with walking flat foot, too, as he used to only walk on his tip toes.

Eli LOVES music. There's no doubt he will be involved in music in some way, shape or form. He always starts dancing when he hears music and it also serves as a great way to calm him. Our latest itunes purchase is "Ralph's World- The Rhyming Circus". I highly recommend it. Eli's (and my!) favorites are "Abby's Alphabet Soup" and "Edward, the Tap-Dancing Elephant". Eli also loves Baby Einstein music and all Playhouse Disney music.

This week Eli goes to his monthly chiropractor appointment, we attend our monthly La Leche League meeting, mommy gets her hair done (yay!!), we get to visit Chloe again, and Eli gets to meet his cousin (2nd cousin, actually) Laura and her new hubby Steve! We are excited to see Laura as it's been a couple of years and she's never met Eli!! Oh, and Grandma & Grandpa Clarkson come back into town after a LONG vacation!! Thanks for checking in!

Pumpkin Patch (& other stuff)

Eli continues to grow and develop each week....which is so fun to watch! Here are a few examples:

1. Eli has started to speak in a new and unique "language" that has a strange Asian sound to it. He will speak in this "language" for quite a period of time while looking at books, playing with toys, cruising around the room, and talking to people. Here he is talking to his bath toys:

2. Eli continues to spend a lot of time cruising around the room from toy to toy and couch to wall. I am waiting for the day he lets go & decides to stand and then walk. He just started this week to discover door knobs. While I took this picture I pleaded with him not to run away yet....wait until he's at least 10!! :)

Here is with one of his push toys:

3. He does use some English words on occasion, but with a "toddler" twist. He continues to say "tittatt" for kitty kat and his new word is "ight" for light! He is also close to saying ball and cup. He continues to sign for "milk" and "bath". We do the same routine each night and after dinner he knows it's bath time. I just have to say "what time is it, Eli?" and he does the bath sign. Daddy gives him his bath on the weekends (he works until 9pm during the week) and here is Eli going to take his bath :)

4. This week he really ate like a champ! He has been eating really well for a couple of months now, but not as well as he did this week! Don't get me wrong, he still has days when he doesn't eat hardly anything, but it's what he eats in a week, not in a day, that counts, according to my research.

Eli just loves his daddy time in the mornings. Daddy ALWAYS makes him laugh so hard:

This is for Aunt Holly: Today Eli looked at his backpack on the door and wanted it! So I put it on his back. He liked it for awhile and then got upset because he didn't know how to take it off:

Now for the pumpkin patch. After an invitation from Cheryl & Callie to attend the Pumpkin Patch in Liberty, we decided to make a family occasion out of it. It was a great day, I would even say a little warm! Eli seemed to enjoy himself and had so much to look at! We met up with Cheryl, Callie, Tori & Jack later in the afternoon before we went home. It will be fun to go again next year when he is able to run around!

What are these orange things???

You call this thing a goat, mommy?

And this thing a pig?

Why do you want me to look through this hole? I'm not for sale, am I??

Oooo, look daddy, baby goats (as the little girls around us said)!

He's the funny pig race guy who played the banjo for us before the race....I like all kinds of music and was very intent on his music

This hay stuff is scratchy!

There is definitely something wrong with this guy, mom

Hey, Jack, can you show that walking thing you do again??

My sweet girlfriend, Callie. Isn't she the cutest?

Hangin' out at the pumpkin patch is a great time!

Just practicing my standing skills

Thanks for checking in and have a great week!