Fun times with Eli & Anna's 11th week

Oh our big boy Eli is too funny these days! Below are some examples:

He just decided to wear daddy's visor this way and also pour tea for me all at the same time! Ha!:


Eli has started to ask the dreaded "why?" question almost constantly. While we love to foster his curiosity, asking "why?" about needing to eat lunch, change his pull up, driving to the store, etc., etc., gets a little old....fast!! Oh boy!

Eli has started to tell stories and they start with "Once upon a time...."

Eli comes up to us and gives us hugs and kisses and says "I love you, you're my best friend!"

Today he randomly started saying "Chuckie Cheese!"....um...he's never been there! I think he's seen a commercial or two :)

He is starting to do much better with sharing and being nice to his friends. At music class this week he would help pass out things for the teacher, tell kids they were his friend, and say to them he wants to share with them....too cute!

Potty training is up & down. One day he did awesome and stayed dry most of the day and peed on the toilet 4 times. The last 2 days he has refused to do much potty related. He's gonna be a tough one. Hoping preschool will help give him some inspiration!!

This week we were able to get out to a park that had a lot of shade in the mid morning. Daddy came with us which was nice because he helped watch the toddlers while us mommy's tended to the babes. He got some really great shots of Eli and his two friends who were there, Callie & Jack:

Eli experiments everyday with different ways to arrange his hotwheels:

He's too excited about his party next weekend and so are we!! Should be a fun time!

As for Miss Anna, she is doing great. I have really noticed this week how much she is growing and how fast!! She weighed 13 lbs. 2 oz. last Monday! I'm happy to report that she really is such a happy girl. She will of course let you know what her needs are, but she is so content most of the time! This is so great just because it is too cute to see her smile and attempt laughing but also because I start work on Monday. She does MUCH better away from me and that gives me great relief. The bottle is still not her favorite, but she will slowly figure that out. Split shifts at work will work out great to help her with this transition. What a sweet girl you are, lovely Anna!!

This week I started showing Anna Baby Einstein DVD's. She of course doesn't watch for long, but the music is wonderful (all classical) and she really stares at the scenes with bright colors and twirling/twisting toys. For Eli I bought the whole Baby Einstein DVD set on ebay for an awesome price so she'll enjoy as he did!!

Anna has also giggled more this week. Yesterday as I was changing her onesie, she giggled. It was only once and I couldn't tell if it was because she was staring at her balloons (you'll see video below) or because my hand tickled her. Today I confirmed that she had been tickled as she did the same thing today. Too sweet.

Anna really likes her toys that have eyes. She is so happy to see her caterpillar (below) that has big eyes. She will stare and smile and kick, kick, kick!:

The balloons left over from her Sip n See have been sitting in her room. I finally got the ingenious idea to put the balloons on the changing table so Anna could watch them. Well, she really enjoys them and gets pretty excited watching them dance in the air from the fan breeze. One balloon has a baby face on it and she likes to stare and smile at him. Here's video of her holding onto the balloon strings:



Smiling Anna....who loves her daddy!:

Anna enjoys her bibs very much. She grabs them and chews on them a lot:

And lastly, video of my two kiddos enjoying each other....can't wait to see them grow even closer!

Almost 3 year old Eli

It's hard to believe, but Eli will be 3 in about 2 1/2 weeks! He's doing great and continues to be SO pumped about starting preschool. Preschool will be for 2 mornings a week starting mid September. We will soon get his supply list which will be too fun to shop for. Although I can't imagine it being much more than crayons and kleenex :) Eli's birthday bash will be 2 weeks from today and will have a Hotwheels theme, which really is perfect since his Hotwheels are his most prized possession right now! Should be a fun time!! On a random side note, I find it funny that Eli will be old enough to play with most toys. Ya know, everything always says "not for children under the age of 3" :)

Due to the CRAZY hot weather we have been experiencing, our days are mostly spent inside. My list of outings will have to wait until this heatwave subsides which could not come any sooner for me! We could at least drop to late 80's....geesh!! Anyway, there is a fun water park near us that had a children's time twice a week for 2 hours. We sadly only attended 2 of these, but it was fun each time!! Here are pictures:


See Eric & Eli?:

Oooo...water slides....maybe in a couple of years?:

Checking out the lazy river:

Being stuck inside, Eli has become quite creative. This picture he is "skating" and "shooting"....nice, huh?!:

Eli got into my bathroom drawer and honestly put this ensemble together all by himself...totally sweatin' to the oldies...right?!:

We also do a lot of coloring, play-doh, stickers, reading, and playing games. Eli's coloring has improved and as you can see he is more intentionally coloring things instead of scribbling all over the page...see the pink kitty-kat and orange boots?:

A funny story about Eli is today he was running around the house (quite common). He for some reason kept falling down and would say "I keep dropping myself!" HA!!

On babycenter, they have milestone charts. Eli's is as follows and he can do the ones in red:

Child's Age	Mastastered Skills (most kids can do)	Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)	Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
31 and 32 months	• Recites own name • Draws a circle	• Puts on a T-shirt • Balances on each foot for a second • Recognizes ABCs • Brushes teeth by herself	• Uses two adjectives • Draws a cross • Points to objects described by use
33 and 34 months	• Names one color • Names one friend • Carries on a simple conversation	• Alternates feet going up and down stairs • Uses prepositions (e.g., on, in, over) • Speaks clearly most of the time (75 percent can be understood) • Stacks eight blocks	• Is toilet trained during the day • Wiggles thumb • Expresses a wide range of emotions • Draws a stick figure
35 and 36 months	• Describes how two objects are used • Uses three to four words in a sentence • Names two actions (e.g., skipping, jumping)	• Hops and skips • Follows a two- or three-part command • Separates fairly easily from parents • Rides a tricycle	• Balances on each foot for three seconds • Gets dressed without help

According to this chart, Eli is right on target or even a little ahead in some areas. What's interesting is he is SO stubborn about getting dressed so he probably could if he tried, but we often do it for him just to get him dressed :) In music class we do some hopping on each foot and Eli can do this if he balances on me, but not alone.

As for potty training, well, he really is ready and with a little "shove" from us, he will do fine. But, with Anna, we had decided to not even attempt full on training until we felt ready as we knew he would probably regress once she was born. So, last week I took him to buy underwear (he picked out super heroes), he is only wearing pull-ups, and he will be sat on the toilet every 1-2 hours starting tomorrow. If he poops or pees, he will earn an M & M. This boy is very motivated by candy so hopefully this works :) He pooped on the potty for daddy yesterday, but only after daddy left the bathroom so he could be alone :) He's a private pooper! We'll see how this goes and then we will start him wearing his underwear a few hours a day and maybe go all out naked if that doesn't work. We'll just see how it goes!! Wish us luck!!

With me starting work we will have to stop music class :( Preschool will be awesome for him so I am looking forward to him starting. I know he'll do great but will have to work on listening and patience....along with his classmates I'm sure!! Considering some kind of activity he can be "active" in starting in the fall or winter but budget may say otherwise. He is such an active kiddo, though, so we'll see what we can find!

Anna's 9th & 10th weeks

I'm a little behind posting about Anna's 9th week, so this post will include Anna's 9th & 10th weeks. The next post will be about our almost THREE year old Eli!!

During Anna's 9th & 10th weeks, Anna has laughed 2 times, began to drool BIG TIME, discovered her hands, discovered her brother, fell asleep in the swing, and continues to smile, be a chatter box, and loves to be held up & out.

Anna laughed for the first time on Friday when Eli & I were laughing at her for doing something funny....and I can't even remember what!! We were both laughing at her and she just kept smiling and making noises and finally let out 2 distinct chuckles in a row!! It was too awesome and I was glad that her brother (with my help) was the first one to make her laugh. I have a feeling he will always be able to make her laugh throughout their life and Eli will LOVE the audience. He already is "showing off" to her to try to make her smile or laugh and boy, does she track him now!! She knows his voice immediately, looks for him, and then will track him even when he is running around the room. It's TOO cute because then she will even smile every once in awhile while watching him do his tricks and crazy maneuvers.

Anna also started to drool & make bubbles with her drool! She has become SO drooly now that she started to wear bibs today and went through 2 of them! She chews on her hands a lot and if she is resting against my chest on my shoulder, a nice little line of drool goes down my arm if there is no bib or burp cloth to catch it! Looking back at Eli's posts, he also began to drool around this age!!

Anna also has discovered the amazement of her hands! She will stare very intently at them and move one hand close to her face making her cross eyed and then back out again. Hopefully she won't punch herself out as she continues to love fists :)!

Anna has fallen in love with her swing. This is a wonderful love affair for mommy (and daddy & grandma when I return to work) as she really can spend a fair amount of time in the swing and be genuinely happy! She stares at the rotating animals above her head and just talks away! She also fell asleep and actually napped in the swing today which is something I NEVER experienced with Eli. Amazing :) Here's video of Anna in the swing & Eli mimicking her noises :)

Speaking of talking, Eli has always been a chatter box since early on, and Anna is no different. Who knows why this is but I remember a nurse asking me if I talked to Eli a lot at home. After thinking about it yes, I did. I remember talking to Eli like he was an adult about what we were going to do, where we were going, etc. along with the baby talk. She said that was probably why he was so noisy! In my babycenter email about Anna, it had a section about just that. It talks about the importance of talking, singing, and reading along with mimicking back to baby what you hear them saying. I do this ALL DAY pretty much, so much so that Eli does the same thing back to Anna! So, I guess it's my own fault I have chatty kids :)

Anna continues to enjoy her tummy time mat....but mostly on her back. She tolerates tummy time much better than Eli, probably due to her napping on her tummy at least once a day. But, she is yet to find motivation to try to lift her head off the mat. She usually just chews on her hands. While on her back, she hits the parrot with her hand, stares at the butterflies, and occasionally makes the cat sing by kicking it with her feet. When on the mat, Eli does great by wanting to lie next to her but must be reminded that he cannot run or throw things when she is on the floor!!

She also likes to "play" with and stare intently at her other toys while on the floor:

Here's a good picture of her looking at Eli even though she has to arch her neck back to see him!:

Holding her rattle!:

Almost outgrowing her adorable sleeper with her initial on it!! It's a 3-6 month size!:

Just some cute pictures on the boppy:

Sportin' her bib!:

Video of Anna tracking her mobile animals:



Oh, a bib AND a hair accessory....a must!:

In looking back at Eli's posts, I read that I brought out the bumbo and jumperoo at around 3 months for Eli. Eli loved both these items and stayed in his jumperoo until he was too tall for it!! I look forward to seeing how Anna does and if she loves them as much as he does!

Lastly, Anna continues to not take the bottle well. We have tried 6 types of bottles, several positions, different times of day, different people, etc. She has taken at most 1 oz., and that only happened once. She just doesn't like it....period. BUT, she is doing better with accepting it in her mouth...now she just needs to actually swallow the milk! With that said, I have been really nervous about returning to work. While I only work 24 hours a week, being gone 5-6 hours a day seemed like a long time for little Anna. She is much better now being soothed by daddy & grandma and is overall a happy baby. But, she has yet to be STARVING and having only the bottle to drink milk from. Thankfully, after talking to my very supportive boss (who previously had breastfed her daughter), I will start by working split shifts. That way Anna will only have to take a bottle while I'm gone 3 hours if she wants to and I will slowly add more time away. I am so happy for this as it will be a gradual transition and it will be easier for ALL of us. Yay!! My first day is Monday, August 16th....one week!

Next post coming up....Big brother Eli!