So Excited!

I haven't been able to update lately. I thought I would give a quick update while I eat the lunch I didn't get to eat at work before I leave. Every day I work has been very busy and pretty stressful. I am extremely excited to get a break this week. Of course I have a little cold. It figures! I work 3 more days and then I get a week to spend with family. YEAH! I am SOOOO excited to see my Mom, Dad, and Heather and Bryan. It seems like forever...even though it's been 5 months. I can't wait for them to see how much Elijah has changed.

As for Elijah, he is such a little imp! Into EVERYTHING!! Nothing is safe. He's on the go...go..go...all the time. He came up to me the other day with my camera (it was on the table) and was saying "sheesh, sheesh"...meaning "cheese". What a cutie! He wants to play with anything he gets his hands on. He wants to play with all of my "necessities" under the sink, especially if it has a cap. Unfortunately, who wants to let a 15 month old put a hairspray cap on and off of the can. He's never tried to put the little pieces in his mouth though...he just wants to eat the smelly lotion. Silly goose.

Well better get going. Lunch is done and time to go home!

Where have you been?

Ok..so I've fallen off the face of the planet. Or, at least that's what it seems like looking at the last blog posting date. I apologize profusely. I can honestly say that I have been extremely busy. Jake and I have both thrown ourselves into extensive projects since we came back from Jessica's house. We now see (a little) light at the end of the tunnel. We took on quite a bit but I will be sure to post the final results when we are finally done.

So how has Elijah been? Great! He's grow...grOW...GROWING. We went for a 15 month (wow 15 months, where has time gone?) checkup yesterday. He's 30 inches, 26 pounds, and developmentally ahead of the game. He has been walking since 12 months and is now attempting to run. He "dances" to music, loves to spin around and jump on things including the couch (which I let him because, hey, you're only young once and I'm not so attached to the thing that I would deny him a little fun). He "talks" extensively. He tries to mimic pretty much any word you say. We know for sure he says MaMa, DaDa, Kitty, meow, vroom, uh oh, juice, and shoes. Obviously I swear he says more but those he's said on numerous occasions and referring to the object. He also signs "more", "all done", "please", "milk", "drink", and of course, "bye bye". He still loves anything masculine, boyish, or messy. Of course he LOVES movies. He still comes up to me with a movie in hand and then sits in his little chair. Too cute. Although a movies at 730 am is a little excessive.

For all you Christian readers I would appreciate it if you could add me to your prayer list for an unspoken prayer request. I know we all have a lot going on in this world we live in but if you wouldn't mind I would appreciate it greatly. Also, if you have something for me to pray about, let me know and I will add it to my list. Thanks a bunch!

Good Times with Family

This weekend Jake, Elijah, and Jake's Mom and I went to Jessica's (Jake's sister for all you non-family readers) house in CA. Her family will (sadly) be moving to Japan within the next couple months. Phil is in the Navy and so this will start a new and exciting chapter for them. Although they will be well missed they have such a wonderful opportunity before them. What an incredible experience for the kids to be surrounded by a whole new culture! I sure do hope Jake and I can save a little money and visit them! We sure will miss everyone. I'm a little disappointed that when we went we weren't able to see Phil so we're hoping we can see them all at least once more before their departure. Military life is so much different than civilian life. I don't know how Jessica does it! The internet sure has opened up a lot of information so that she can see what her new place will look like and plan all the decor prior to going. How helpful is that?! She is a wonderful decorator and will no doubt have their place looking great shortly after moving in.

Jess and Phil can't take everything with them on their travels so they were very sweet and gave us their bedroom set along with a bunch of wonderful goodies including a whole scrapbook room full of treasures. I can't wait to put everything in its place. I will have to post pictures when everything is all put away.

We sure did have a great time visiting with everyone. Elijah loved playing with Isaac and Abby. I wish we had more time. The drive takes up so much of the visit time! We arrived in the wee hours of Saturday morning and had to leave Monday morning. Of course it took us longer to get home because of the big load we were carrying. We finally reached home at 2:30 am after missing 3 exits, changing drivers twice and surviving a blow out... a poop blow out that is. Of course a 13 hour drive is the perfect time for the little guy to have diarrhea and get it everywhere! Poor thing. It was a long weekend for him.

I will have to post some pictures soon!

A Day with Momma at Our House

This is how our days have gone at our house lately.

No. You can't have that.

No.

Give me that!

How did you get that?

Get over here!

Where did you go?

What do you want. I can't understand. Show Momma.

No. You already saw Cars today..no more movies.

Sit down. No standing in your chair you might fall.

Sit.

Now!

(I'm washing dishes, baby's in the living room...it's quiet)...You don't have the remote do you? Baby's not supposed to have the remote. (laughter)

Waahh! Waahh! (Interpretation..I want the remote...why can't I have it...I don't want you to smack my hand...was I really disobedient? Maybe just a little..but I want that!!! IT's WAY COOL!!!)

Hug Momma's legs (Meaning I love you Momma...see you can't stay mad at me...I'm too cute!)

Feeling Better

I took this picture the other day when Elijah first started feeling better. He actually wanted to play a little bit. Here he is playing with his cars. He loves "vroom"ing around.

This is him when he was sick. Poor thing. All he wanted to do was sleep or sit in his chair and watch movies. I hate to have him watch TV all day but I had to think about what I do when I am sick...lay around on the couch and watch TV. I think we watched Finding Nemo AND Cars once a day when he was sick. He would come up to us and give us the movie and then crawl in his little chair. Granted, he still does that now that he feels better but he's much more animated about it now and kicks his feet and claps his hands. Way cute. He doesn't get as much TV time though...he can play and run around since he feels better...right?

One of his favorite things is to read books. He LOVES it. I am so glad because Jake and I both love(d) to read. I say that b/c who really has time for books with a one year old. I am just working on reading my Bible through this year (I am close to catching up to the halfway point..I got a little behind). Anyway. He reads books in his crib when he wakes up, before his nap, and before bedtime. I don't have to read the books to him all the time either. Sometimes he just goes into his room, grabs his blankie and a book and gets on his little toddler bed to read. It's very sweet to hear him read in the morning too. I am so blessed to wake up to Beethoven or Bach from his music box (it was a mobile but that part comes off) and hear him "abada la ama....". That's how I know he is actually ready to get up. It's funny but if he wakes up crying, he's not ready to get up. I just let him fall back to sleep. In a little while he'll wake back up again happy and reading. Then when I go to get them he has to stand up, go to his music box, push a new button and wiggle his little bum to the music. Then he smiles, plops down and shows me his book. Predictable but very sweet. I just love him to pieces.

Well, I best be going.