Vacation 2009

Well, we just got back from a week in Tampa/Disney with Scott's family. It was a blast. We celebrated Evi's birthday with 3 days at Disney. Mom joined us since she had wanted to take Evi to eat with the princess back in December, but she didn't know any of the princesses yet. Boy has that changed in the last 10 months! So we did lunch with the princesses on Evi's birthday and it was a huge success. She was a little standoffish at first. But mommy just pushed her right out there, and she got over her fear pretty quickly. She met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty (her personal favorite), Belle, Snow White and Jasmine. It was worth every penny! (And the food was pretty good, not that you get a chance to enjoy it what with all the excitement of the princesses!) She also met Tinkerbelle, Silvermist & Rosetta, the fairies. (I paid $20 for a disposable camera for this meeting since I had left the camera in the car for our last 2 hours in Magic Kingdom. I thought we were done with photoes by then.) She was still afraid of the characters in the big costumes though.

She still LOVED Goffy's rollercoaster. We took her on the next size up roller coaster, Thunder Mountain, she liked it until the last 30 seconds (and there was nothing major then). But the goofy one we rode over and over and over.

This trip to Disney was the way it should be. We had 2 hour waits for rides at Christmas, and only 5 to 20 minutes this time. It was awesome! Because it stunk to wait 2 hours for flying dumbo! She got to watch the fireworks this time too. It was so much fun to watch her face react to the fireworks.(we seemed to be the only people moving at that time, we were high-tailing it to the exit to beat the crowd, so she watched over Scott's shoulder)

But this trip just solidified my thought that our children will just miss school to go to Disney in the off season. It's totally worth it! And Eli was the perfect baby. It was the "happiest place on earth" for him. Evi had a rough time in the evenings because she refuses to poop in public places (she gets this from her father) and was having pains from holding it so long. She was even refusing to go at the hotel, so we had to wait till she finally fell asleep and then get her to potty. I even took a potty seat into Magic Kingdom, but its "magic" didn't work on her!

Eli had his first trip(s) to the beach. It was fun to watch his little legs buckle when the cold water hit his toes! His mommy's so mean! Evi and Grace got along better than ever, it was so nice! And baby Mya looks like such a little girl now, she's so cute! (almost 2).

Evi is definitely a firey four! She and I have been butting heads a lot lately since she has started with this defiant "NO MOMMY" when I tell her to do something. And of course, bossy me just can't let it go. So we just go back and forth pushing each others' buttons. But today, I vowed to be a more patient mother. She's only 4, she's only 4, she's only 4...I'll let you know how I do : )

Eli will be 4 months later this week. At 3 months we bought him an exer-saucer since he always wants to stand (he's been this way since birth almost! trying to sit up and stand) It's amazing how much he's changed in a months time. His feet are now flat on the floor. He can bounce. He can purposely put something in his mouth...kind of. Sometimes he's even successful getting his "fire" back in there. And of course, he's always successful with his thumb. Which makes me cringe. I keep battling him because I'd rather him take a pacifier, because I can control when he stops getting it, his thumb is his forever, and I have no control. And we all know how much I like to have to control...So I'm sure he'll be a thumb sucker! Damn kids!

Evi has decided to "Picasso" things lately. Like her train table, bathroom counter top, and bed sheets. But luckily, all her markers are washable. Unlike when Marni picassoed the back of mom's van with a rock. teehee!

Here are a couple of videos too. Notice that in one of them, she is dancing with the characters on tv. It's her new favorite show, Fresh Beat Band. The other is her on the Goofy Roller Coaster, her favorite ride.

I love Halloween!

I Love Halloween!!!

Here are some pictures from Halloween. We just got back from Tampa on Halloween, so I had to hurry up and decorate, carve pumpkins, and finish Evi's costume! But I got it all finished, and am very proud of her costume & my jack-o-lanterns! Evi was her kitty, Flower. And Eli was a bear. I'll blog soon about our vacation this past week.

Evi's family picture

Here is the infamous family picture Evi did at school that I was bragging about in the last blog. Notice Scott's large nostrils...teehee! Now he's paranoid about the size of his nose. Also notice that only she has hair down the side of her face...which is right on since I cut my hair off. It's halarious! It's big, so Eli almost gets cut off. I think we'll frame it!

3 months & 4 years! (almost)

Moving right along...Eli is 3 months now and Evi's 4th birthday is at the end of this month! We will be celebrating Evi's at Disney by having lunch with the Princesses. (we are going to spend a week in Tampa with Scotty's sister & family) I can't believe she's going to be 4! We were all laying in bed together the other weekend morning and it was amazing just to look at Eli and know that in 4 years he'll be there. And the fact that they grow and change so much between Eli's age and Evi's!
So far Eli is a very happy baby! Granted, he's only 3 months old, so he has plenty of time to turn that around! But he is always smiling. And tries to talk a lot already. He's distracted easily from nursing, so most the time it's easier just to go to his room. He's awake for an hour or so then asleep for about 45 minutes to an hour. He has a distinct cry when he's ready to take a nap, kind of like he's trying to throw his voice. I don't remember noticing anything like that with Evi. He's had a booger problem since birth. (I have to use the sucker at least once a day to get a big ol' booger out of his nose so he can breathe.) But the since it has cooled off, he's had a lot of drainage at night too. I've been putting him on a wedge to sleep, but he just slides down it through the night. Scott's been doing the same (the drainage, not the sleeping on a wedge) so the poor baby has his daddy's sinuses too! He's asleep by 7pm each night. And it's a struggle for him to make it to that. He gives me about 7 hours, but since I don't go to bed then, it doesn't do me much good! He usually gets up for the day around 7ish. So 12 hours total at night, I won't complain!

We are back to not napping (Evi that is) and going to bed at 8pm! Which makes mommy very happy! Of course Evi almost looses it in the process of making it to 8, but I need a couple of hours of adult time at night, so we tough it out. Plus, TV has started back up, and mommy and daddy love our tv time, it's our version of "quality time" together. She has also been sleeping in her own bed, and occasionally, all through the night without waking and calling for me. It took some MAJOR bribery on my part, I'm not ashamed to admit it! I purchased a box and all the Disney Princess dolls, and told her for every night she stayed in bed, she'd get to choose 1 item from the box. It took a couple of nights to realize I meant business. And a couple of mornings that she was successful, she wouldn't choose anything from the box because she was upset she had slept by herself!! But now, she hardly misses a morning, and I'm running out stuff in the box!
What's funny is how different it already is between first and second child. With Evi, I didn't put her in her crib in the other room until 5 months, and even then I put a twin mattress on the floor of her room because I couldn't stand to be not in there. Now Eli, he's already in his crib in his own room. It was hard the first couple nights, but now, not so much. By the way, this is the one thing I said I would try harder to do this time around, have Eli sleep in his own bed.
And I have decided to do his room in pirate. We painted it a light blue with slate blue waves all around the bottom of the room. It is the smallest room in the house, and amazingly the room actually looks bigger. The bedding is super cute. I'm really excited about it.

Evi had a few rough days at drop off at school. But then this last week she did great again. So now I will be working on getting her to go in by herself so that when the bad weather gets here I won't have to get Eli out of the car. Keep your fingers crossed! But right now I'd like to brag a little on her: They did faces of their family at school and posted them in the hallway. Some didn't even look like faces, some just had dots for eyes, nose and mouth. Then there was Evi's. We had hair, teeth, cheeks, etc. And she wrote " dad, mom, evi, eli" under each of us by herself. I realize she has a slight advantage seeing as they are all 3 letter words, but we are impressed none the less! To quote Kelly Bundy from "married, with children", She's "a genie!!"

This last weekend we went to Ryan, OK's homecoming parade. Evi rode in the float down main street with our cousins and threw candy. Eli nursed down main street! Then we hung out with our other new little cousin, Carlee, who is just 6 days younger than Eli, and has a very tiny head! She was so dainty compared to Eli, (a whole 3 lbs lighter) and of course, I forgot to take a picture of them together!
We also had visits from The Dude, Great Grandpa and Page. And Uncle Randy was able to come see us. We can't wait to meet the rest of the family when we go to Tampa!


Scott took Evi to Home Depot and while in the store she says loudly (which seems to be her only volume level) "Daddy, I have hairs!!"
Don't worry, she meant hairs on her legs. She just realized at that moment that she had hair on her own legs.
She's turning Japanese:
She has a pair of rainbow socks that she has taken to wearing with flip-flops so the rainbow can be seen. It's quite the fashion statement! And they really need to be washed!

Here is a video of Evi & Eli. And yes, I did catch myself saying an expletive at the beginning of the video. So pardon my french! But I thought I was already recording and Eli had been smiling and talking away before I realized it wasn't recording. Sorry!

2 month checkup

So today we had Eli's 2month well baby check. Evi received a flu shot, and Eli had 3 shots, so needless to say, I left there with 2 unhappy campers! Evi didn't cry last time she had a shot. She saved it all up for this time! (and she'll get a few more at her 4 yr checkup next month!)
Poor Eli, his mother totally betrayed him! It's horrible. I fully believe in vaccines, I just hate that they are pushed on us all at once! I mean he has 6 different sets of germs coursing through his body now! (one shot had 3 in one, and he also received another vaccine orally.)
At this appointment they also do measurements and let you know how your child's growth compares to others his age. For instance when Mila had her 2 week checkup last week, Marni said her head measured in the 10th percentile, meaning 90% of babies her age have a bigger head than her. (that's all I kept saying at the hospital after she was born was what a small head she had)
Eli, on the other hand, measured in at the 75%, meaning only 25% of other babies have a bigger head than him!! See Marni & mom, I kept saying Eli's head was bigger!!! I swear the entire pound and 2 1/2 inches Eli had on Mila at birth were all in his very large noggin!!!!! I don't want to hear any more about the pain of childbirth Marni! I'd like to say that my children having bigger heads just means they'll be smarter, but that's pretty unlikely considering the brains Marni has!

He's also in the 90th for weight and length. So he's big n' tall! Which is better than Evi. She was super fat for her age group and super short! And look how long and lean she is now! So now Eli will probably be the short one as an adult! So he's 13 1/2lbs, and 24 inches now! The pix in the bib is his 2 month pix. He smiled big when Evi reached out to touch him. He loves his big sister!


Evi's jams right now: We go together - Grease, Help I'm alive - Metric, and We are Family
and she's all about rhyming!

A New Cousin

First and foremost, I have a new niece!! Mila Delphine has joined the ranks (a little early) and she is a perfect little girl. At 6lbs and 12oz, she is exactly 1lb less than Eli was. And he is at least twice her size at 2 months. (I like to call him porky pig in this pix!) We have a doctors appointment in a couple of weeks, we'll see where he stands then...Back to Mila, she looks just like Darrell, and as a new mother I hate to say it because it really chapped my hide when everyone told me my children looked like Scott after 9+months and all that recent hard work of bringing them into the world and whatnot. But I have decided that it is mother natures way of ensuring, for the daddy, that he is the baby's daddy. After all, there is no doubt who the mother is, right!?!? So I'll just have to leg it go.

While in Austin for the birth of the baby, Scotty purchased a new vehicle. We now have a 2008 Honda Ridgeline to try and fit in our garage. Why do they not make garages bigger? It's a good looking car and I think he is very happy with it. It will be nice to have a truck bed again. We drove it home from Austin with both the kids!! They were both perfect...until the last 30 min of the drive. Eli basically slept the whole time and Evi sang songs and watched movies the whole time. We went through the Arbuckle Wilderness, sort of a drive through zoo. Evi loved it. She fed animals out the window, like deer, donkey, & zebras. The giraffe was technically behind a fence, so Scott got as close as he could and I stood out of the sunroof and fed it. Man, they have big heads! Evi finally took a nap after that and woke up just in time to alternate crying with her brother for the last 30 minutes of the ride home!!

Eli is just shy of 2 months. He holds his head up great, is cooing (when his sister stops talking long enough for him to try), and is obviously having no problem with eating. He loves, absolutely loves his "fire" aka, pacifier. He's only awake about on hour at a time. Wakes up twice a night to nurse. And pretty much only cries when he's not being held. And today, his mother let him fall off the couch. Yes, I know, I am a horrible mother! It was totally an accident! Luckily he hardly cried and sought revenge by only taking his naps in 10 minute increments for the rest of the day! I tried to make myself feel better by saying, he's a boy, he's going to fall off lots of things..but i still feel horrible! He did have his first flight a couple of weeks ago. Luckily he & Evi were perfect angels...this time.

Evi had her first day of school...and she didn't cry. I almost cried, but she did not! I couldn't believe it! Evi, who cried almost the whole year last year, just turned and walked away without a tear! She is great with her brother. Likes to hold him, but can't stand it when he cries.

Evi-isms for the month:
She was told she had to put her toys in the living room back in her playroom. So she placed all of them just inside the door, which is, technically, what I asked her to do.

There is a phone tower near the exit of our neighborhood and she asked, "is that the Eiffel tower?" Now every tower is an Eiffel tower.

I gave her a nickel to put in the donation box at a checkout counter and she said "a nickel, Flower has nickels. She has them here, and here, and here" and began to point to on her body where her cat has nipples.
I said, "no honey, those are nipples, like you have nipples."
She said, " someday I'll have big ones like you" as she patted my boobie and the man next to us just chuckled. And I began to question why I felt the need to correct her in the first place!

Evi-rina

My sweet baby girl had her first ballet demonstration. I was so proud! She was so cute, and enjoyed it very much. It just gave Eli gas! ha! This one went much better than her gymnastic one did since there was only one other parent in the room instead of 50! Her ballet class was small, only 3 of them.

There is a little video at the bottom too. ENJOY!