Eli's big month

Don't get too excited, Eli's still not walking. He is almost 17 months you know so that is way too much to ask. But January was a BIG month for Eli. First off, we took away his pacifier. Yep, you heard me right. I learned from my mistakes and rather than let him have it til he was 3, (like I did Addi, and suffer the consequences of the worst summer of my life) I had decided that I was going to take it away when he turned one. Well yeah, that didn't happen. There was a lot of traveling coming up and who wants to deal with paci transistion while traveling? Oh, you? Well, to each their own. So anyway, my new timeline was set to after Christmas. We finished our traveling it was the beginning of January and I really didn't want to take it away. Eli was not anywhere near as attached to it as Addi was, and it was so nice to just plug him. I knew I needed to but it was just so dang handy. One afternoon Eli got his hands on a ring pop, and he was crawling around the house with it in his mouth like his plug and I posted a picture on instagram asking if I could switch out this ring pop for his pacifier and call it good. Well that actually led people to believe that I had taken his pacifier away. A couple days later a friend called me and said, "How's Eli doing without his bink? We threw ours away this morning." I even watched a video of her son taking it out to the outside garbage, and throwing it in the trash can on trash day! Gulp. I had not actually taken away his pacifier. I confessed this and after talking with my friend thought I can do it! Don't get ahead of yourselves, there was not marching (or crawling) to the trash can to throw it away and watch the garbage man take it forever. I'm not man enough for that. I simply gathered them all up and put them in a kitchen cabinet, I was completely planning to wimp out. So there I am January 3rd binky's put away. I put Eli down for a nap. Sure he was a little bit like, hey what's going on? Somethings missing. But he couldn't quite figure out what. So he gave up whining and looking and fell asleep minutes later. Could this be? Is it possible that 15 1/2 months is the magic age to kick the binky and there will be no side effects? The answer is no, it can not be. The nap was a short one and bed time was a different story. He screamed for two hours. You see, I'm a genius and decided hey, since I'm taking the binky away, I might as well take the bottle away. He refused to drink his milk from a sippy cup causing me after one hour of screaming to just give in and give him a bottle so that I knew at least his belly was full. Then back to bed he went for his second hour of screaming. Where was Addi in all this? They share a room ya know. Well, she got to sleep in the guest room for a couple weeks until the dust settled. Every 15 minutes or so I wanted to give in. I would say to Jared, should I just go give it to him? And since he wasn't neccisarly behind this idea (he wanted me to just take it away during the day and let him have it at bedtime.) he would say, "whatever you want babe." And then I would argue with the voices in my head. I can not believe I did not give in that first night, but when I didn't I knew I could do it. Night two went better with just less than an hour of screaming....however he did wake up like every 3 hours that night. I would get up and give him a bottle and put him back down. Night three very similar to night two but a bit better. And there you have it folks pacifier gone. Now, there were other side effects from the stripping of the binky. My super chill, sweet, quiet boy kind of went away. He started getting angry, and throwing tantrums. (Quite comical to watch actually. He throws himself onto his stomach, gently rolls over as to not bump his head, and then kick and scream on his back.) He screamed a lot. He started hitting, and throwing things, and dumping things out everywhere, as fast as he can so he can do maximum damage before I get to him. Now, some may say that it is just coincidence that this happened at the same time that I took the pacifier and all boys hit this stage. Well, I think that Eli would still be my sweet quiet cuddly boy if I had not robbed him of his pacifier. I honestly can't tell if he has gotten better, or if I have just gotten used to his new normal. I kind of think I just got used to it. He is still sweet, but it's not quite the same.

Another big event for Eli (that technically happened at his 15 month check up in December) is he finally left the <5th% for weight! That's right he is now in the 10th%. I'll take it!

He also learned several new tricks, like how to climb up on tables, and how to push chairs over to other things he would like to climb up on. He learned how to climb up and down an entire flight of stairs. (That one he didn't actually have to learn I just saw him do it one day.) He learned how to push himself on Addi's little princess push bike, and he zooms around the house as fast as he can and the kid can turn on a dime. (video to come of this later) Who needs to walk when you can ride a bike?

 

 

And drum roll please.....just a little one....he took his first steps! On January 24, 2013 he took about 3 steps between me and Jared in Addi's room. It was actually the same spot that Addi took her first steps (at 18 months old....what is wrong with my kids?) When that day came I was sure he would be walking by the end of January, but nope. He takes several steps now but only when he feels like it,  otherwise he'll walk pushing a stroller or shopping. I've even seen him stand up and walk from Addi's bed to toy kitchen, like 10 steps, but nope still not walking. Guess I'll give him a little more time.



Family pictures

We had a friend take some family pictures for us before the holidays. I just wanted a couple so we had some updated ones since babies change so much. I didn't really plan our outfits, just made sure they didn't clash. We went to a little cemetery with an old white church, that some friends had taken their pics at. My friend snapped photos for about 20 minutes and the kids behaved amazingly well. The wind was the only thing not on our side, but I could not have been more pleased. I love all of the photos.

New Years

Jared's parents were in Arizona for Christmas so they took a detour to Arkansas on their way home to spend New Years Eve with us. We pigged out on yummy appetizers, played phase 10 and toasted sparkling grape juice at midnight.

 

It was a good night. Excited to see what this new year brings. 

Christmas in St. Louis

Is anyone else tired of posting about Christmas? Oh wait, you're already done? Well, I'm tired of it. But I must go on.

I really love spending the holidays with so much family, but every year I kind of wish we would stay home and have our own Christmas....we actually do have our own Christmas at home before we head to St. Louis. Santa visits us a little early, but it's just not the same, because I know it's not really Christmas. And as Addi gets older, she will start to realize too.

Addi asked for a "Hello Kitty music player" this year....and when I say year I mean she asked for it for 8 months. Her friend Emma has one and when ever she would play at Emma's house the first thing she went for was the mp3 player. Since it is a larger ($) gift it would have to be a birthday or Christmas gift. Unfortunately Addi discovered this right after her birthday, so I kept telling her she would have to wait and ask for it for Christmas. She never forgot, and Santa didn't disappoint. That little girl got quite a haul this Christmas. I started shopping in June and just found one awesome deal after another. It kind of helps when she only asks for 1 thing because then she can get some awesome surprises that I know she will love. With the help of Vendor Sample Sales, the Walmart Associate Store, and Black Friday almost every item was $10 or less. Pots and pans for her kitchen, a vacuum, a furreal pup, a Lalaloopsy tree house with 8 dolls, barbie clothes, a princess cash register and the list goes on.

Eli was looking to have a pretty depressing Christmas, but then a mega blocks sample sale saved the day. And it seems that no one loves that Furreal pup more than Eli. Eli LOVES animals. Real or fake.

 

 

Actual Christmas was an absolute blast. We spent it in St. Louis with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins....you get the picture. No? Well good thing I took some.

Eli's "cheese" face is my favorite. As soon as he sees my phone "cheese!"

I always forget something when I'm buying gifts for my kids...they are going to get a ton of gifts when we go to St. Louis. I could probably cut out half of what I buy and they would still have an amazing Christmas. It's because we have so many people in our family and we decided when everyone started having kids that we would just buy for kids. My kids are blessed with the best aunts and uncles who love to spoil them. They get gifts from each of my siblings, my parents, my grandma, my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Like I said a ton of people.

 

 This rolling tea cart from auntie Jessica is getting a lot of use. Even Eli has a go while Addi's away.

This also means that we give a lot of gifts. That is why I start shopping in June, and look for the best deals. I actually made a lot of the gifts I gave this year. My nieces and cousins got owl rice filled heating pads that I made. I also made my nieces shirts with their birth state outline on them and a little heart in the city they were born. I also scored them Disney princess cash registers for $2.50 at the Walmart Associate store.

My brother got my parents this teeter thing that is supposed to be good for your back. We each enjoyed our turn on it. Even Eli got rocked to sleep on it. So, Christmas was awesome, but I am glad that the busyness of December is over.

On the 12 days of Christmas procrastination brought to me....

Maybe I'll be done blogging about Christmas before January is over....don't get your hopes up.

The Countdown

The countdown to Christmas was an exciting and stressful time at our house. I had decided to make several Christmas gifts and procrastination had got the best of me. I was also working on stock for the store I sell my ties at, as well as costumes for an upcoming dance recital. I miraculously got it all done.



stockings...

Fairy crowns for my little sugar plum fairy's dance recital....

 Shirts for my nieces with their birth state and city on them. Brooklyn's Utah shirt got mailed to her since they couldn't come for Christmas....  

 

Owl heating pads for my nieces and cousins....

Heating pads for teacher and family gifts...                         Baby blankets for Vintage Crush...

 

Christmas Tree shirts for the movers and shakers dance recital. (Addi needed one too. :) 

 

We started a new tradition this year with the elf on the shelf. When the package arrived in the mail from the "north pole" Addi was really excited. She wanted to open the elf right away.

I started reading the story to her and she immediately changed her mind about the elf. She was definitely not okay that this little elf flew back to Santa every night and then back into her house. She was also freaked out about her losing her magic by touching her. She kept her distance but was still interested in the elf. Because of this, instead of leaving her room in the morning as she usually would, she would scream "MOM" until I came in to get her. Then she would say, "Let's go find our elf!"

 I tried to encourage a Christmasy name for our elf but Addi insisted on naming her Audrey. Addi knows two baby Audrey's so I'm thinking that's where she got it. Our elf wasn't too mischievous. She did TP the tree one night, but Addi didn't really get it, she thought Audrey had pulled toilet paper out of the trash or something and was confused. She thought it was way funnier when Audrey was with one of her toys or in a silly place so I got off easy this year.

  

I convinced Addi that she could hold her elf just for a second so I could take a picture without taking her magic away.

 This one was my personal favorite. I had been sewing til about 2am one morning and left the elf to finish my work. I could not stop laughing while I was posing her. I'm sure it being 2am was adding to the hilarity of the situation.

 Addi had so much fun decorating the tree. I was really worried that Eli would be all over the tree this year so I left the bottom kind of bare. But he didn't touch it at all! Addi on the other hand kept rearranging the ornaments so having shatterproof bulbs came in handy after all.

Addi's preschool put on a little Christmas program on their last day of school before break. It was really cute watching the kids sing. Here they are signing We Wish You a Merry Christmas as they sing. It was the cutest thing ever, and I wish I had it on video.