18 Months Old: Eli

Wow, I can't believe it!  Our baby is a year and a half old!  He is getting so big and growing so fast and learning so much!  He is just awesome and we love him so much.  :)

Here's some things about Eli at 18 months old:

• 33" tall, 27 lbs -- 75ish percentile for height, weight, and head circumference 
• sign language: new words he's learned -- balloon, cold, hot, again, rain, shh
• speaking: "yeahyeahyeah", please ("puh"), milk ("mm"), daDA (inflection on the second syllable), "blue", "Eli", "red", "adidas", "ball", "ick", "go", "nononono"
• animal noises: doggie (snort), bear (rah!), monkey (EH eh eh), snake (ss ss ss), pig (snort), cow (oo), cat (higher pitched oo)
• basketball -- He LOVES basketball. He can recognize a basketball or hoop anywhere. He loves to watch it and he's really good at playing too! He can shoot, dunk, steal, catch and dribble!
• folds his arms for prayers, and about half the time he waits to ask for things until we're done praying
• I taught him to smile for pictures by going "eee!"
• no longer puts things directly in his mouth -- finally! I wondered when that would end and it finally has.
• he's a stinker, he does things he's not supposed to -- climbs on the arms of couches, puts magnets in his mouth -- and looks directly at us waiting for a response
• he's sneaky -- tries to run out of the room at bedtime
• likes to brush his teeth, but doesn't really like mint flavor toothpaste
• somersault -- Uncle Weslin taught him how!
• puts buckets, baskets and laundry hampers on his head (he used to hate putting things on his head). He also loves to put his blanket over his head and run through the house to us.
• plays the piano -- He climbs up onto the piano bench, sits down and plays, and occasionally reaches up to the hymnbook to turn the pages, then sits down to play a different song
• answers the front door
• knocks on doors
• loves books -- with flaps, buttons or just pages!
• food -- loves grapes, hot dogs, cheese, milk, chips and dip, bread, pizza, fries and ketchup, fruit snacks, Eegee's, popcorn
• loves to climb on the playground and slide down the slides
• loves to climb up stairs
• he can say how old he is -- when we ask he holds up one finger to say "one"
• dances to the intro music of shows we watch
• loves to give high fives, pounds, and kisses -- if one person asks for one he usually will want to give one to the rest of the people around
• gives kisses to stuffed animals, and sometimes animals in books 
• loves exit signs, stop signs, the Arizona A, Arizona wildcat symbol, Steelers logo -- he can see and recognize them anywhere!
• knows and can point out clocks
• points out the moon
• likes Batman -- sings the theme song and can point out the logo
• likes to play daddy's guitars -- they are both set up in one room in two corners and he goes from one corner to the other and plays them back and forth
• still LOVES balls
• and still LOVES balloons
• loves to see pictures of mommy and daddy 
• points out pictures of his aunties and uncles
• loves to sit on the couch (he climbs up of course)
• pretends to talk on the phone -- holds it up to his ear
• he likes to point to things and have us tell him what it is -- pop-up toy with 5 animals, sport decorations in his room (basketball, football, soccer, baseball - in that order), stacker toy colors of each piece
• singing songs -- he loves to sing and do the actions to Popcorn Popping, Give Said the Little Stream, Book of Mormon Stories, The Wise Man and the Foolish Man
• likes to open and smell scented fragrance wax
• loves to play the "smell my feet" game -- he sticks his foot in the air or toward our face and scrunches his nose and sniffs as if to tell us to smell his foot. he giggles at our reaction of his feet being smelly! After a bath we do an excited "oo!" like his feet smell good, and he still loves it
• likes playing hide and seek! -- when we ask where his hands are he hides them and then reveals them (he's good at that especially during diaper changes), when we ask were Eli is he covers his eyes with his hands and then uncovers them, and he likes to play "hide Huggy Bear" where we tell him to wait in his room and we hide Huggy Bear and he comes out and finds him!
• loves swimming and bath time!
• wears size 18 month shirts but 18m size pants are way too long, 12-18m pants fit, but he can wear 18m or 24m shorts!
• finally drinks milk from a cup instead of having to use a bottle (took a painful day or two, but he's fine with it now!)
• still sleeping through the night and takes a long nap in the middle of the day (usually about 2 but sometimes 3 hours!)
• plastic surgeon says everything with the growth of his head is progressing fine and looking great! he's still got lots of growing to do and no sign of needing any more fixing (next follow-up in 6 months)

13 Months Old: Eli

Eli is growing up so fast!  He's so much fun.  He's a little tyrant though, he gets into EVERYthing!  Here's a little but about 13-month-old Eli:

We've finally baby-proofed our kitchen cabinets, so the kitchen is relatively safe for him (and sane for us).  He loves going in there and looking at himself in the reflection of the oven, and running around the dining table.  He is a master at walking!  And even runs on occasion, when he's really excited about something.  He throws just about everything.  And wants to play with everything he sees us using.  He's not saying words yet, though I think he's really close.  He tries to say things like "train" and "light" but doesn't really have interest in saying much else, that we know of.  He LOVES going outside!  He practically begs us to take him out, every day!  He still loves opening and closing things, like my laptop and every door that exists, the mailbox, and the toilet if I'd let him.  He has this stacker toy he's learned how to use really well!  And he can press buttons on things, even little ones.  He knows the remotes control the TV and has started pointing them at it.  And he dances when we sing.  I think he likes clocks and wants to play with them.  Even though he's not talking yet he makes the cutest sounds.  I love listening to him.  He loves stop signs!  He sees them across the street and points to them because he wants us to take him to go see it up close.  He knows the sign for "train" and stops what he's doing when he hears one and does the sign!  He's doing so great in his swim class.  He enjoys it.  And the teacher always compliments him on how smooth he goes under water!  He loves playing with normal sized soccer balls.  Usually he picks it up and throws it (not very far) or will push it with his hands, but sometimes he kicks it and it's really cute!  He's down to one nap, and has been for a few weeks now.  He was ready for a little while before that even.  It's been nice though, now we don't have to live our lives revolved around his naps.  I can actually get things done, that is if I need to go somewhere.  Getting things done around the house is an entirely different story!

1 Year Old: Eli

He's technically not a baby anymore!  At his 1-year doctor appointment he was 30 inches long and 23 pounds, both in the 75th percentile!  That's incredible, considering his past markings.  He is our little growing boy!  He is doing great and is super healthy, and I'm so glad!

Some notable things he's up to:

• Signs "please" -- it's adorable
• Loves doors -- open, close, open, close, open, close....
• Still loves lights, and points to them often
• Speaking of pointing, he has learned to point where he wants to go or what he wants and someone will take him there or give it to him
• Drinking normal milk!  He loves it.
• Can stand up from the floor without help!  He sticks his butt up in the air and stands from there.  It's super cute.
• Clapping!  All by himself.
• Waves "hi" and "bye"
• Pro at holding his bottle, and tilting it up so he gets everything that's in it
• Wants to stand all the time -- including bath time!
• Puts toys and anything he can hold over the baby gate at our hallway.  He must be training for basketball!
• Smiles when he sees the flash of a camera!
• Looooooves his grandpas, and Uncle Weslin --- because he knows they will take him to see whatever he wants to see
• Has a fascination with exit signs!  If there is one around he can find it.  And he wants to see it!
• He knows: 
• exit sign
• helicopter
• daddy
• mommy
• grandma/grammy
• grandpa
• mustache
• come here
• give/bring it to (me or someone else)
• go get (daddy)
• outside
• please
• milk
• dance
• bite
• (and more I'm sure that I didn't think of...)

I can't believe it's been a whole year!  I love my little baby-turned-toddler, oh so fast!

11 Months! (Baby Eli)

Eli is 11 months old already!  I say this every month but I just can't believe how the time flies.  But at the same time it's going by at a perfect rate.  I love our silly little boy!  Some things he's up to:

• He loves to close doors, and he's figured out how to open them too.  Doors, cupboards, drawers, anything with knobs!
• Speaking of doors, he loves to go outside, and since Daddy takes him out the front door sometimes, most days if not all he plays over by the front door and slaps it because he knows it can open and that outside is on the other side.  Today I saw him putting his fingers in the crack to try to open it.  He's so smart!
• Also on that note, he likes to slap the windows too.  He plays a lot by the back door which is a sliding glass door (and slaps it) and constantly rolls over on his changing table to slap the window that is right by it.  Sometimes Daddy takes him to the window that faces the street to watch cars go by and he slaps it too.  He likes to go outside and wants to be out there!
• He loves to go over to the piano and reach up and press down on a few of the notes he can reach with one or each hand.  It especially attracts his attention when I'm playing.  It's so cute and so fun!  I love seeing him reach up and play and hear the "dink dink dink" of his piano playing.
• He's learning the art of fake crying!  We're trying to teach him that he doesn't need to cry when he wants something...
• Randomly this month he started giggling like crazy when we would put him in his crib at night along with our wrapping in a blanket and goodnight song rituals.  He immediately starts to roll over so he can reach to the side of the crib to stand up!  It also makes him laugh when we pin him down on his back.  He thinks it's funny!  What a silly kid!  We loved when he would smile when we started singing our goodnight song, but now he just tries to get up like it's a game!
• Literally the first thing he does when we put him down for bed or for a nap is get up.  He instantly rolls over, grabs the side of the crib and stands up.
• He LOVES the bath!  Still!  He is the most talkative when the bath is turned on.  He gets so excited!  He squeals and babbles and wants to run/crawl/whatever quickly over to the tub and play in it.
• We've been going to a swim class still.  He's doing awesome and loves it.  He goes under water like a champ!
• He's also a champ at eating solids!  He eats a variety of foods, even some to chew.  He's doing great!  He even had (a lot of) Thanksgiving dinner!  That was fun.
• And he's gotten pretty good at picking things up and put them in his mouth to eat.  He still drops some on occasion, but he's improved a lot!  We started him with puff snacks, but he's even eating little squares of cheese now!
• He finally caught on to blowing bubbles in swim class (and does it! Sometimes I can see actual bubbles).
• I think because of that he's discovered new noises he can make with his mouth, namely a motorboat sound (or farting sound).  He does that one a lot.  He did it for like a week straight. 
• He also makes a blowing noise by blowing his bottom lip out....  It's cute.
• And he makes a sort of popping noise with his lips.  That one he does a lot recently.  It's sort of his "go-to" noise.
• His also "go-to" noise is a clicking sound, with his tongue on the top of the inside of his mouth.  Kind of like a "tisk-tisk" noise?
• He says "momomom" a lot lately!!  He started doing it again and does it frequently.  We think he actually means "Mom" when he says it...  It just seems like he says it when he wants my attention.  Some of the time at least!
• He really likes playing peek-a-boo.  It makes him giggle a ton!  It's super cute that he plays with us...  A couple times he has walked out from behind something and I'll react and he'll go back behind it (the couch, door frame, wall) and then peek back around with a smile when I react again...  So fun!
• We have a couple normal sized plastic pumpkins and Eli loves to play with them.  He crawls over to one and pushes it across the floor and crawls after it and does it again.
• He loves to be thrown in the air by Daddy!  Well, by Mommy too but Mommy doesn't do it very often because I'm not very strong and he's getting heavy!  Eli will smile and giggle and laugh in the air when Daddy throws him up!  It's so so so cute!
• The other day I sneezed next to Eli and he laughed so hard!  So I proceeded to do a series of fake sneezes, all of which he thought was hysterical and laughed so hard at!  So funny!
• He likes to play the chase game.  It's cute how he'll be walking along the coffee table and sometimes when we're behind him he'll look back at us to see if we're there or coming and I'll say "I'm gonna get you!" and he'll squeal and run away, and look back, and squeal while he runs down the table, etc.
• He has been walking along ALL of our walls.  He can pretty much walk all the way around our living room (and down the hall if we let him!).
• Tables don't stop him because he has learned how to duck. 
• We bought a walker/activity toy thing, which he did NOT want to walk with the first time we showed it to him (he lifted his legs up like a sitting position while Adam held him in place... so funny!).  But a week or two later he was going to it on his own and walking with it by himself!  It was so cute!!  He would smile and giggle because he was so proud of himself and he was so happy.  And he did it all himself, I only helped him steer.
• We also had been working with him this month on walking while holding only one hand of ours.  He started doing really well!
• And we even finally got him to stand unassisted!
• But the BIG NEWS is that HE STARTED WALKING!!!  He took his first steady step last week and since then he has gotten the hang of it and has been walking around everywhere!  He's still learning and nervous sometimes, but he's doing so awesome and is pretty brave!
• He has CUTE little cheeks and I just want to kiss them all day!
• I love love love hearing the pitter patter of his feet when he walks on hard surfaces!!!!
• He still fits into 6 month clothes.  But we have some 12 month that he also wears.
• He's getting the hang of brushing teeth!  When I take him to brush his teeth he opens his mouth for me and even doesn't bite down on the toothbrush long enough for me to do a quick soft scrape of all his gums and tongue.
• When he wakes up from a nap we find him standing in his crib (sometimes crying, so sad!) and when I walk over to him he wraps his arms around me!  He gives us hugs a lot, it's so sweet!
• He's still sleeping through the night.  It's great.  And he's having two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  They seem to be getting shorter maybe...  But he definitely needs those two naps still.
• His new trick is pointing!  He points at Mommy and at Daddy and at lights...  Sometimes he'll point and then wave.  It's so cute!
• He also makes this really cute cheesy face.  He lifts his chin and squints his eyes and shows his teeth.  We love it!
• Another new trick is getting down from the couch!  He somehow knows how to go backwards, feet first and on his tummy, to get down.  It's awesome.  He's awesome!

Eli is growing up so fast!  I'm loving every new milestone and trick and thing that makes him laugh and happy...  It's so fun watching him learn and explore and try to figure things out and see what he's interested in.  He's growing up and we love him to pieces!!!

Eli's 9 Month Dr Appt Results

Eli had his 9 month appointment with the pediatrician this morning.  He's doing great!  It took a little while but he is bulking up and growing like crazy.  And he's perfectly on time with all his developments (something I had worried about prior to his surgery 3 months ago).  :)  According to the doctor's office Eli is:

19.8 pounds - 33-34%

28.3 inches - 47%

WOW!  Considering he was down to the 0% in weight and under 20% in height, that's awesome!

And he's growing lots of hair!  At least lots more than he used to have.  ;)

LOVE this kid!!!

9 Months! (Baby Eli)

Here we are at 9 months!!!  Eli has been outside of my tummy for as long as he was inside...  Approximately.  It goes by so fast!  It's so crazy.  I know I say that every month, but it's always so true!  Here's what he's been up to in the last month:

• Sitting up.  He sits unsupported like a champ!  He has learned how to balance while sitting.  He used to start falling and then fall, but now he starts falling and corrects himself.  He still falls over sometimes though.  Usually when he's distracted by playing with something or reaching for something.
• Pulling up/Standing.  He always wants to be standing!  He even tries to stand up in the bath tub, constantly!  He loooooves to be standing.  And he's so smart -- He'll be sitting next to us and will turn around and grab our hands and start pulling himself up when he wants to stand.  :)  It's hard to get things done sometimes because he only wants to be standing, for which he needs supervision of course.  :)  In the last couple days have witnessed him pull himself all the way up from sitting to standing all by himself, twice!!
• Walking.  He loooooves to walk too!  He'll walk around and around the coffee table.  He'll walk around one of our cushion chairs.  And he's brave -- He'll be walking across the coffee table and then turn around and grab onto the couch behind him, or one of us or something.  He'll even let go of us when we're supporting him while he's walking to grab something else.  We like to hold each of his hands and get him to walk places -- to Mommy, to Daddy, to his room...  It's fun, and he's gotten really good at it!  
• Slapping.  And he'll slap things too.  It's so cute!  Walk, walk, slap, slap, slap, walk, walk...  He does that in his crib with the changing table that's attached, he does it on the piano, he slaps the entertainment center when he crawls up to it, and the coffee table of course.  And Eli will give Adam high-five's too.  :)
• Bouncing.  He bounces a lot in his exersaucer and when we're holding him.  He definitely thinks it's fun!
• 2 naps a day.  He's on a flexible schedule, has been for a couple months now, and it's awesome.  So much better than the 2 hours on, 2 hours off thing I tried doing for a while (when he was younger).  I'm glad he is able to handle this routine, it's really helpful for me!  He gets up at ~7am, has a nap at ~10am and ~3pm, and goes to bed at ~7:30pm.  And he sleeps through the night!  He's a champ.  For reals.
• Loves bath time!  He LOOOOOVES the bath!  The bathroom is right across from his room, and every time he sees it he kicks and flaps his arms and gets really excited!  When he's sad I'll take him into the bathroom and he is instantly happy.  But when I turn on the water to start the bath, he goes crazy!!  And squeals!  And I've been letting him stand next to the tub while it fills up for fun.  He loves it.
• Crawling.  Just in the last week or two Eli has finally been making forward progress with crawling!!  He got really good at holding himself up on his hands, and then turning himself around, and then he would reach out for things and then would end up rolling over.  He used to roll everywhere and it was so cute.  But he's crawling now!  And it's so cute too!  We're so proud of him!  He does a half-army crawl thing.  He army crawls with his left arm (bent, using his elbow to push himself), and reaches out with his right hand, with his tummy dragging on the floor.  But I think he'll be walking unsupported before he starts hands and knees crawling.  Guess we'll see!
• Poop.  Haha, just need to mention that he has regular bowel movements pretty much at the same time every day -- Usually right before or after his morning nap.  It's helpful to know!
• Tongue. He started feeling around his mouth with his tongue lately, it's cute watching him try to learn how to use it.
• Netflix.  He gets really excited when the red Netflix loading screen comes on the tv.
• Paper/Books.  He loves paper!  He will endlessly try to get a hold of anything with paper in it.  Hymn books at church or on the piano, books when we read to him, any paper we ever are holding near him...  I've been letting him play with one of his baby books (one of those with the stiff cardboard pages) lately and he loves it, he'll just play and play and play with it.
• Mirrors.  He still has fun looking at himself and Mommy and Daddy in the mirror.
• Head turn.  When he meets new people or when people talk to him who he doesn't recognize, he cocks his head to the side like he's shy and/or trying to figure them out first before he gets too friendly.  It's silly, but that's his thing!
• Friendly/Easy going.  He's really easy going and doesn't mind being passed around to other people.  He's friendly with anyone and just likes to play!
• Social.  He's become aware of other "little people" -- It's cute and fun watching him interact with other kids, which he doesn't get to do a lot of.  I have realized this month that it's time to get him out and socializing!
• Talking/Squealing.  He is exploring all the different sounds he can make.  He's making "cuh-cuh-cuh" sounds, and "guh-guh-guh" sounds in addition to his "buh-buh-buh" sounds.  Since he's been doing that I'll sing the ABC of sounds song ("Apple, apple, ah-ah-ah...")  He likes it, and I think tries to do some of the sounds back.  He also squeals often.  It's so fun and cute.  Sometimes he'll squeal and I'll do it back, and then he'll do it back to me.  Tonight he got a little scared from the sound of the blender but when I held him while using it he started squealing like he was trying to be as loud as the blender.  And later when Daddy was holding him and I started the blender, he looked over toward the kitchen real fast and started squealing again like he was happy and excited, and like he remembered from earlier.  So cute!!
• Tummy.  Maybe it's because I'm lazy and don't clothe him all the time at home, but he's become more interested in his tummy lately.  He looks down and plays with it, and his diaper too!  So silly!
• Cups/Bottles.  He loves cups and bottles!  He loves to try to drink from them, and also to chew on the bottom of them.
• Garbage/Kitchen items.  He will play with just about anything.  I don't know why people even buy any toys for their children!  He'll stay entertained by these things for a while.  Some include: empty tissue boxes, empty toilet paper rolls, crunchy sounding bags, cardboard boxes, whisk, cups, cookie cutters, even his Bumbo chair.  He also likes to roll around and play under the coffee table.
• Eating.  He eats like a champ!  He's eaten tons of new foods now.  I've even started making my own baby food.  It's a money saver for sure!  And who knows what they really have to put in baby food on the shelf at the store to make it last a whole year before it goes bad?!  Right now Eli will eat about 15-30 minutes after he wakes up -- he'll start with a bowl of something solid, oatmeal mixed with fruit in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening he'll have either veggies or fruit.  Then about an hour or so after that he'll have an 8 oz bottle of formula.  Occasionally he'll have more.  I feel like this is going really well and we've got it down!  (But I'm sure it will be changing soon...)
• Electronics.  This kid loves electronics.  He goes for my laptop even when it's closed.  He'll also go after the Xbox remotes, the tv remotes, our phones, any cords, DVD boxes, the entertainment center, etc!  I was telling Adam the other day that I think kids these days were taught how to use technology in the pre-earth life.  Like for reals!  They are so smart!
• Teething.  Boy is this boy teething!  He doesn't have any teeth to show for it yet.  But just in the last week or so he's started making these faces like his mouth hurts.  And he's been more fussy than usual.  And he sometimes sleeps longer than usual.  Poor kid.  I wish he didn't have to hurt so much!  But I'm not sure what we're going to do when he has teeth...  I don't know how to have a baby with teeth!  It's amazing how there is always something new to learn.  Once you get familiar and comfortable, another curve ball gets thrown your way!  Welcome to parenting.  :)

I love our little miracle!!!  :)

Colorado Trip - Part 1

At the beginning of August we went on a trip with a few destinations.  Our first stop was Utah, and our second stop was Colorado!

** Disclosure: There are many, many pictures. **

We took an Amtrak train ride from Salt Lake to Denver.  We left Salt Lake at 3AM and arrived in Denver around 6:30PM.  Phew!

Looking out the window at the hotel:

We stopped by the Colorado temple.  Eli was taking a nap and we wanted a family picture but we didn't want to wake him up, so we just brought him out with the carseat!

We visited the Aquarium in Denver.  Eli loved it!  So many moving things to look at!  I think he tried to catch some as they swam by.  ;)  He really liked the sting rays!

Denver has a really cool, pedestrian only, mile-long outdoor "mall" -- the 16th Street Mall.  We walked up and down it.  Eli liked playing in this water fountain.

We also went to a Rockies game at Coors Field with my parents and my cousin Nik and his girlfriend Sydney.  It poured on us!  And there was lightning so we weren't even allowed to go to our seats for an hour or so until it cleared up.  But there was a beautiful double rainbow!  Oh, the beauty of the earth.  :)  We left after the 5th inning because it was so late after the hour rain delay, and Eli needed to go to bed.

My dad found out about this old castle-like building and we stopped by it after church.  It was built in the 1800's I think, or maybe 1900's, as a school and they wanted to become "the Princeton of the West" -- they wanted to be as good and prestigious a school as Princeton and the best in the West.  But they ended up deciding not to continue admitting women, and then WWII happened and there was no one left to attend the school because all the young men were being drafted into the war...  Oops!  Looks like a cool building though.  Too bad it never lived up to it's intended potential.

Our last stop on our way out of town was to see my Aunt Evelyn.  Eli had fun listening to the piano, playing with Grandma, and hanging out with Daddy while a rainstorm passed by.

[7 1/2 months old]