Sorry for the delay :)

Hello all! So sorry for the delay this week. Sunday I loaded all the video & pics but started to feel a little icky, so I went to bed. Monday I had other things to tend to and last night I went to La Leche League meeting. So, here we are on Wednesday and just now posting for LAST week. Enjoy!

Last week started with a fun playdate with our breastfeeding friends on Monday morning. We had fun and the hostess had a great idea of asking every mommy to bring multiple copies of a picture of their child to make photo albums for the kiddos. This way the little ones can look at the albums at home and learn names easier. I didn't bring my camera to the playdate so you'll just have to take my word that it was fun :)

Monday afternoon I went to my second chiropractor appointment. I started to see the same chiropractor that Eli does to help level out my hips and help with my scoliosis. She does a specialized technique called Blair Upper Cervical that does a number of things one of which is level out my hips over time. My right hip is higher than my left by about 5 degrees which after adjusting my C1, leveled out. As with chiropractic treatment, the key is to retrain your muscles to ALLOW your spine to be adjusted and stay that way, so I have to go twice a week and then will drop to weekly, twice a month, monthly, etc. I've been very happy with the results and immediately was surprised by how different I felt after just one adjustment. I have always known I wanted to get chiropractic treatment, but wasn't ready to make the "commitment" until now. As I've said in previous posts, getting this treatment will be helpful for my future pregnancy and help baby #2 not be so smashed in my pelvis with my level hips. Plus I won't have as much of the back and pelvic pain during pregnancy. Woohoo!!

Thursday I had an interview for a position within the same agency I am currently and will start this new position in June. I wish I could stay on my current job, but it doesn't look like it will work out. The new job is considered PRN and pays less :(, so it isn't my "dream" job, but it's something! The nice things about the job, though, is I make my own schedule and pretty much work from my home as "base". I'll keep you updated with any other job news!

Also on Thursday, I attended the consignment sale I had been posting about but wasn't successful in finding any outdoor equipment. I'll be checking Craigslist and garage sales to see what I can find there. On Saturday I went to lunch with my support group friends Tori & Cheryl minus the babies so that was really nice. We'll have to do this more often!

Here are some fun pics & videos from the week!

Eli LOVES to look out the window. Here he is loving the window and giving it kisses :)

One of the many towers we build each week with Eli's blocks....as he says "whoa!":

At the consignment sale I did find an aquadoodle. Eli loves it!:

We've been trying to help Eli drink more water during the day as he can get picky. We have started to give him a variety of cups to see if that helps:

Eli & daddy have fun in the mornings together. Here they are enjoying some time outside. They look like deer caught in headlights!:

Riding in the wagon is fun (until we get some more fun things to play on back there!):

Eli enjoying his snack of grapes. He does so much better these days at not throwing around bowls that have food in it. Before I could never give him an open bowl with food without it ending up all over!:

Eli enjoying his tent:

Mommy felt bad that he had no one his size to play with him in the tent so I threw all his stuffed animals in there with him. He spent a good 10 minutes arranging them in different piles:

On Sunday, we had the Smith & Brown families over for a cookout. Eli had a blast (besides getting a little fussy from all the chaos of the evening :) because he loves to be around older kids. The Smiths have 7 year old Maly, 5 year old Alison, and 22 month old Pari (I think I got the ages right!) and the Browns have 8 month old Kalani. Eli at one point decided to just come over and sit on Maly's lap (the 7 year old)....too cute:

The kids had a great time raking leaves and playing in the back yard....Eric still owes the girls some cash for their labor :)

Here's video of the kids enjoying the leaf piles:

Pari & Kalani taking a ride in Eli's "agon":

Eli also enjoyed climbing all over Kevin (Kalani's daddy) as though he was HIS daddy!

Also this week, Eli learned how to make a new face:

Eli continues to LOVE to learn and we continue to be amazed at his little brain! This week I heard him say "tutle" for turtle and he uses "dink" now for drink instead of just saying cup. He now asks for "Eintein" several times a day (Baby Einstein DVDs) and just LOVES to participate in saying the words, colors, shapes, numbers, etc. during each video. He truely loves the DVDs and they really have helped foster his desire to learn. It will be fun this spring/summer to visit places like the zoo where he can see many of the scenes he sees on these DVDs in real life. He already points out things like trees, moon, birds, dogs, swings, etc. when we are outside and other items like balls, candles, clocks, chairs, etc. when out at stores. He's an active little boy both mentally & physically and this spring/summer should be so much fun!! We try to take every opportunity we can to keep his brain active through reading, coloring, puzzles, etc. while at home but now that he is at the age he can participate & appreciate places in the community (& the weather will start to cooperate more!), we look forward to future field trips :) Here's video of him doing his numbers:

Eli has been fighting a little nasal snottiness last week and some this week. Thankfully no cough but yucky snot nonetheless :( Eli acts as though he is being tortured when he use the nasal aspirator so I HATE it when he has a stuffy/runny nose. He can be quite dramatic about it. Also due to his slight illness, he has lovely mucousy poo-poos (TMI, I know :) which has put any potty learning on hold. No rush for this, though, so it's okay to take a breather :)

I'm currently on spring break but still have to work a 4 hours (still awesome!). I also have had chiropractor appointments and an interview so I haven't been completely at home full-time. I've enjoyed my time so far, though, being home with Eli. He can be so funny sometimes and I can really tell he understands what we are saying, even if he can't express fully yet himself. He can follow simple commands and really seems to understand most of what we say and ask of him. I have been really making more of an effort of talking to him about what we are doing and our plans for the day so he is aware. It helps with transitions! A funny little story: I wanted to take Eli to the park so I talked to him about it and had him get his shoes and get ready to go. He understands all of this and when we say it's time to go or get in the he goes right to the gate at the stairs. When we say outside he goes to the back door. So I had the gate open & was waiting for him to come hold my hand so he could walk down the stairs. He immediately went to the back door & was holding onto the door knob. I kept telling him he needed to come to me so we could go down the stairs, get in the car, and drive to the park to swing and slide. I know he understood what I was saying but he still insisted on whining at the back door and saying "otside!" He finally got impatient with me and came over and grabbed my hand and began to drag me to the door! He's never done this before & it just cracked me up because he was saying (in his own way) "No, mom, we are going outside in the back yard now and THEN we will go to the park!!". So we did and it all worked out fine. Eli will DEFINITELY be the kind of kid where choices will have to be given so he feels in control of his day!

Hope everyone has a great week!!