Big Changes

What a month we have had!! At 8 months and 2 days, Eli started crawling. Then at 8 months and 4 days he decided it was time to stand up with the furniture and try to cruise! Seriously! Just slow down dude!! It's been almost a month and he still hasn't figured out how to get down from standing, on purpose. And his crawling shows me just how nasty and dirty and our floors really are (damn dog hair). But boy can he get around! He also has signed "milk" and "more", but not with any consistancy.

We went on spring break with my family to North Lake Tahoe, Incline Village. I, in all my travel wisdom, only purchased tickets for Scott & Evi (with Eli as a lap child) and thought I would just get the extra flight attendant jumpseat and fly for free. WELL...we got to the airport that morning and another flight attendant had beat me to it! (it's first come, first served) And of course, the flight was full. So I watched as the plane flew off without me. Needless to say, Scott was not happy with me. He tried to divorce me via text, but I told him he couldn't since he needed my insurance! In the end he survived, and the kids did too. I, on the other hand, couldn't even make it into Reno, so my poor parents spent one of their vacation days driving all over Nevada and California since they had to meet my family at the Reno airport and then pick me up at the Sacramento airport! (They had to bring Eli with them since I didn't bring my pump and my food bags were ready to explode! But, mom had feed him half a bag of cheese crackers to keep him happy in the car seat and he had no interest in nursing when he got to me!!! It was painful!)

Evi took skiing lessons and loved it! She was so cute to watch. The last day I borrowed Mali's gear and went skiing with Evi & Scott on the bunny slopes. And that little turkey was trying to jump! No Fear! There is a 5 minute video of her attached to the end of the blog. She was very upset when it was time to go home.


Another big event happened this month...Scott finally quit his job!! I have been trying to get him to quit working for the horrible boss he worked for for years, and now that I'm back at work, he's finally done it. Which makes me the bread winner and Scott a kept man! And yes, the thought that I am fully responsible for my family financially is a little stressful! But I am excited for Scott to be able to spend a lot of time with his kids while they are little, just hopefully he won't enjoy being Mr. Mom too much, I do want him to earn an income again (hopefully, in the not to distant future!) So I am now back at work full time. I am interested to see how Evi adjusts to this. Hopefully it won't be too traumatic since her daddy will be home with her more. After all, he is the fun one! And I feel comfortable with it because Evi won't let him get away with anything! I called in from a trip and the first thing Evi said was, "Mommy, guess what, Eli fell off the bed!" Needless to say, I asked to speak with daddy. Evidently he jumped in the shower since both kids were into the tv and asked Evi to watch Eli. He quickly learned that Evi's idea of "watching" is literally just watching him crawl off the bed, the yelling, "Daddy, Eli fell off the bed"!!!!!


We are on our 4th cold as a family in about 4 months time! 2010 has not been a good year for us in the sniffling, sneezing, coughing department. And with this last one the kids had a bad cough that just kept getting worse. So after 6 days, I finally took them into the doctor and they both had bronchitis!! My poor babies! And then I had to leave for work the next day. So Scott finished his last day at work only to go home to sick kids. But as I told him, that's parenthood for you! It's called being a dad! (and luckily he's a REALLY good daddy!)

Evi-isms
"Boner Points" = Bonus Points

Conversations with Evi
Gigi: OOO la la, Ma-dame!
Evi: GIGI, YOU SAID DAMN!

First solid object found in Eli's shew-wee:
red hair rubber band

8 months

I can't believe Eli is already 8 months old!!! That in just 4 short months, he'll have been here a year! It's crazy! He is on the verge of crawling. Just does a lot of belly flopping at the moment. But he is so ready to get into things! He can back up and turn 360's like a pro! So far he's following the same time line as his sister, I found him standing in his crib this week. Needless to say, we lowered the bed because with the size of that noggin, he'd go over the edge with one glance down! And he has given me another cold!! Why is it my infant keeps getting the colds first and not the child that's in school?

I worked my first trip this month!! It was only 1 night. It was hard, on me mostly, but a little rough for Scotty and Eli too. Evi was actually a very good girl! And Eli did good too, until time to sleep. Then Scott said he woke up, a lot. And finally woke Evi up at 6:30am crying. And Evi sat up and said "Eli, what's wrong? Come cuddle with me!" She's such a sweet big sister! One night, Eli ended up between Evi and I in the bed.(I know, I know, more on the co-sleeping topic later!) I woke up to her holding his hand at one point. I wish I would have been awake enough to put forth the effort of getting a camera for that one!

Evi (and Eli) had her 3rd trip to Disney in a little over a year this February. I thought we were picking a great time to go, but it ended up being a winter break week for those suckers who live in the far north. Oh well, it still wasn't as bad as going during Christmas holidays (NEVER AGAIN!) We spent a long weekend in Tampa with Scott's sister Kristi and her girls. Unfortunately is was cooler than I expected, but still warmer than OKC!!

I forgot to mention last month that Evi has finally given up her Nuby sippy cups for milk! I know, I don't know what's more shocking, that she had to have her milk in a specific sippy cup until the age of 4, or that she gave it up without a fight! She asked why the "nipples" were always breaking, and I explained that it was because she was a big girl and really should be drinking milk out of a big girl cup (which to her, means a lid & straw). That was all it took! No bribing, no fighting, no crying, just "ok", and all the Nubys were gone! So now we are working on Evi sleeping in her big girl bed...yes, again!! After all my heavy bribery, I let us fall back into the habit of her sleeping with me. (mostly because i just want to sleep, but also because I know 10years from now she won't want to be near me!)
We had the same talk about being a big girl and all she could say was, "what about the monsters?" I tried the "they aren't real" explanation, but she wasn't buying it. So instead I found one of travel mouthwash bottles from a hotel and told her it was monster-be-gone, and that monsters didn't like the smell of it (but fairies did), and we poured a little in a spray bottle with water and told her to spray her room. She sprayed Eli's door too, so obviously, she really was worried about monsters! The next issue is the waking up crying that her legs hurt. Growing pains, I assume, but she has them more nights than not. And I know it's not just to get me to put her in bed with me, because she still does it when she's already in bed with me. Would it be wrong if I gave her tylenol every night? just in case?

Conversations with Evi:
Me: let's call your daddy again, he didn't answer when I called earlier
EVI: HE MUST OF HAD BLOCKS IN HIS HANDS
Me: blocks, why, because he builds things?
EVI: YES, HE BUILDS WITH BLOCKS
(so she thinks Scott goes to work and plays with blocks all day! :P )

this next one is a little personal, but too funny not to share!
setting: airport bathroom, "doin' my business"
EVI: IT'S STINKY!! MOM, ARE YOU GOING SHEW-WEE CAUSE IT'S STINKY?
she tries to open the door, and I'm giggling and trying to get her to be quiet and keep the door shut
EVI: CAN I GET OUT OF HERE? IT'S STINKY!!!
and of course, none of this is quiet, but it was too funny!

Half a year!

Have I mentioned that my daughter is getting, what's the word, sneaky, I guess. One day at mom's, I ran to the grocery store and she ran to mom and said "Gigi, hurry and give me hershey kiss before my mom gets back!" So what did Mom do?...Gives it to her!! But mom did promptly tell me when I walk in the door, so I turn and say, "did someone eat chocolate while I was gone?" and talk about a guilty look on Evi's face!
I can't believe all the innocence is over!!!!! Now when I ask her something and I know she's lying, I'll ask if she's telling the truth, and she just can't seem to lie then. She always tells me when she's not telling the truth...at least for now!
Another time she and mom were going to make cookies, at like 7o'clock at night, and I told mom they needed to wait till the next day. So she brakes this news to Evi, and Evi looks right at me, with darts in her eyes and says to Gigi, "did my mother say to do this?" (imagine it with all the attitude of a teenager) And I mean darts! And does mom take the heat for me? NOOOO! She says yes! Later, when I griped at her for this, I was told she was tired of being the bad guy. She'd been the bad guy for 33 years, she deserved a break. Which I agree, but come on mom! You totally could have taken one for the team!

Eli is almost up on all fours. Now when he falls forward, he ends up on his arms with one leg trapped under his belly and the other up on the knee, just a matter of days and he'll be rocking! He already thinks he doesn't need a late afternoon nap every day, which is killer! He barely makes it to 6:30 for bedtime. And without the nap, we're pushing it around 5 now! Still wakes for 1 feeding and then another around 6, after which I'll lay him back down and listen to him chatter-n-snooze until 7ish. So no complaining.

Unlike his sister who cried when her daddy came home from work, Eli gets so excited! He laughs every time Evi cries, and giggles when he sneezes or I wipe his butt...I'll assume that's a "male" thing! He has no problem taking a bottle, be it my liquid gold or formula, he doesn't seem to care. He is now all about eating too, which has taken some of the burden off my food bags! The only one he hasn't liked so far was chicken and broccoli, and after I tried it, I don't blame him! I can't believe he's already been here half a year!!! He's 6 months now! And some day, before I know it, he'll be a hairy man, which is amazing to me! He recently discovered that he can pull the toys that are on the kitchen table closer to him by pulling on the table clothe. So maybe that big noggin will mean big brains!?!
This weekend ANOTHER winter storm hit OKC. And while the news talked about it all week, I didn't believe it would be that bad...it was. So Thursday morning, when it was just an hour from ugly, I loaded the kids in the car and got the hell out of dodge! We drove to Houston, just me and the kids...and no electronics!! Evi did it old school! (I forgot the charger for Evi's portable dvr). She did great. She asked what city we were in every 10 minutes, and never stopped talking!! NEVER!! But she did great.

Conversations with Evi:
Why is my duck breaking? (foam bath duck)
Well, it's old, and when things get old, the get fragile and break.
Will we get old?
yep, we'll get old, fragile and break too (totally being funny for myself, I thought)
(short pause, then panic) I don't want to get old!!!

The weather on the news talking about the next winter storm coming,
Uh-oh, another winter storm...We better get ready to go to Gigi's!

Some nights I have been trying to get Evi to let Scott put her to bed, like all the way to sleep so that I can 1. have a break, 2. not fall asleep myself. She says
But, I love you too much...I love daddy 1-2-3-4-5-, but I love you 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-...
so while Scotty was crying, I was basking in the love!! I know that 10 years from now it will be reversed!

Happy New Year!!!

December started rough!! Eli had a cold starting Turkeyday weekend and gladly shared it with EVERYONE!! Evi was the worst! Thank goodness she's hardly been sick, because she is a DRAMA QUEEN! Every cough was like she was dying! It was ridiculous. But we survived, only for Scott to come home the week before Christmas with a new one we now all have. Fantastic!

We took pictures with Santa, which Evi was fine as long as someone was with her. When I tried to just get her to sit on a stool in front of Santa without me she became very clingy. Santa said just let me have her, so I let him have her, and it wasn't pretty. Eli, didn't seem to be bothered one bit by the whole ordeal. But looked awfully cute in his santa suit! Unfortunately it will have to wait till I get my computer back from computer doctor to share the pix with Santa. (luckily it was still under warranty...by 2 months!!) but I have been completely lost without it!!! Mom says she can tell how bored I am since I've been calling her like twice a day!! teehee!!


As you can see, Christmas Eve brought LOTS of snow to OKC. So I had my first white Christmas, to which, upon hearing me say this, Evi replied, "it's my first white Christmas too! Better than a blue Christmas, but I'd really like a rainbow Christmas." Of course, Scotty was worried all the snow was going to put a kink in his plans of having 10 days to himself starting Christmas day since the kids and I were planning to go Houston that evening. But he dug out his truck, loaded us up and kicked us to the airport curb!

Just kidding! I was looking forward to mommy time (with my mommy and sisters) just as much as he was looking forward to alone time!

Luckily, we made it to Houston. We even stopped by my grandpa's for a quick visit when we landed. It was planned to be quick, seeing as it was past Eli's bedtime. It was the first time in a while that all the Wilhites were under one roof. (minus only my husband, but what's new, I think everyone has decided he's a figment of my imagination!) A roof which my son pretty much cried the entire time under!! Seriously, my happy child who never cries, cried for all my family. Evi stumbled over a dog and then she was crying. So we did family photos with a pouty 4 year old and a wailing 5month old. And then I promptly welcomed my cousins for providing them with birth control and left with my crying babies. So let this be a lesson to me...Eli is a perfectly happy baby, as long as he's in bed by 7pm each night!

Evi left Santa chocolate milk and cookies, with carrots for the reindeer. We also wrote a note to Santa with her gift requests, which she wrote the items herself. (I told her how to spell them, of course! She's smart, but not that smart!) She requested skates, hula hoop, dvds, barbies and glitter ice. And of course, Santa came through like a champ. She had a great Christmas! She's actually a lot better on the skates than I would have thought. She also got this crazy riding toy called "ez rider". It sits on the ground and she only uses her legs to make it go and steer. There is video at the bottom. It is her new mode of transportation around the house. She can't go anywhere if she's not on it. One of the toys Santa brought Eli is driving him nuts. He just wants to lick it, like everything else he sees, but it's to big for him to figure out how to get into his mouth, so it just really ticks him off instead.

He's so funny to watch. Or should I say, to watch him watch us. He concentrates so hard on what we do, especially with food. He has now yanked a waffle, french fry, and bean burrito from our hands and has enjoyed them all. He could still care less about baby food though. He does roll over like a champ and sits up pretty good by himself. And goes to town over a baby biscuit. He still has no routine to his day, however. He's only awake for 2 hours at a time still, but his naps are nowhere near routine. He gets up at different times, so that puts naps different. The only routine is that he is typically ready for bed by 6:30pm. Luckily, since we have to drive sister to school and such, he's a pretty easy baby and sleeps where ever when he needs to.

On a side note, Gigi and Chacha got Mali a dog! Yes, A DOG!!! She's cute, a little yorkie (Toto dog) that I have already thrown a fit about the possibility of it being in our family photos!! I think the best I'm going to get is us doing one with and one without. I'll have to do my best to ruin the ones with...a dog, who is this woman claiming to be my mother??!?!?! I did train the furball to come to "here kitty, kitty" while I was there...just doing my part!

5 months

Well, we started the month with Evi's4th birthday party. (We celebrated her birthday on at least 6 different occasions, which goes with Scott's dad belief that a birthday should be celebrated all month- Evi sure tried!!) Pirate & pixies was the theme this year and Chacha came in full pirate regalia, and Marni Mali & I were pixies. Chacha was dubbed “Mr. Pirate” by one of the kids and it stuck. Instead of gifts, I robbed my sweet child of experiencing an on slot of gift opening by doing a book exchange. (Scott says I'm no fun!) We did a cake walk to get to open a wrapped book that each kid brought. They weren't sure what was going on at first, but once they got the hang of it, they really liked it. We also did the hokey pokey, which Evi loves. I was surprised how many of them didn't know it!! It was a fun party, but it didn't out do last year's barnyard theme!!

I can't believe how much she has changed since this time last year. When she cried everyday when I dropped her off at school, was afraid of other children on playgrounds...now she sometimes walks herself into school and will go up to unknown girls on playgrounds and ask if they want to play with her!! Granted, she's always attracted to the older girls, and I know one day one of them will say no when she asks (which will break my heart!). Now on the other hand, it took me and a nurse to hold her down while another nurse gave her shots at this last doctors visit. Eli didn't flinch for the first one, and barely whimpered for the second one. And sweet Evi was standing over him telling him it was ok, it would only hurt for little bit. This was after her blood curdling scream session.

Eli is the happiest baby! He smiles at everything that moves (I know 15+ years from now I'll be rephrasing that sentence!). Anything his hand grabs onto goes straight into the mouth. It's fun to watch him concentrate on something and get his little hands to cooperate in getting it. He's almost rolling over, and give that boy a mirror and he's content! He still has this blob of curly hair on top that is always doing it's own thing. He gets lots of compliments on it! Even though sometimes it just looks like a bad toupee. I would have given anything for Evi to have had hair like that as baby for bows, but no!! She was bald as could be!(but don't worry, my sisters have already put bows in Eli's hair and took pictures..sorry Scott!) He has started cereal, and had green beans and sweet peas. He doesn't seem particularly excited about any of them! Right now my poor baby is a snot factory. He also has a horrible cough, which his sister showed signs of as well...great, 2 sick babies!!

Last month I vowed to be a more patient mom. And so far, I've done pretty good, I think. Not perfect, but better! Not that I'm horrible, or mean. I mean, it's not like I beat my children (a lot.... just kidding I do NOT beat them!) I just felt myself loosing my patience easily, and I was always the patient one! Amazing how children and a husband can wear that trait out!

Evi had her first school performance called a “Tasting Feast”. The pre-schoolers sang some religious & thanksgiving themed songs, it was cute. Then they had plates of food ready for everyone with things the kids had cooked in class. It brought a tear to my eye to see her up there singing. It was so sweet!

On a funny religious note, she asked the other day, “How did God make cars?”

She is already asking questions about how to drive the car, like what I push to make it go. And why aren't my hands on the steering wheel, does that slow it down? (I was coming to a stop at a light and was opening something up when she asked this). She is full of questions, constantly. And a lot of the time my standard answer is, “that's just the way it is” or “those are the rules”. What's really funny is when I hear her say those responses to her daddy.

We ended the month with several Thanksgiving dinners, and yet still didn't find a way to fit one in with the Dude!! Sorry Dude! And a trip to the Renaissance Festibal, as Evi says it. It was entertaining as always, and it's amazing how much money I can spend on food there!! Love those ScotchEggs, yummy!

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.