Scooby-Dooby Doo!!!

I swear to you, we live with Scooby-Doo!! Eli tries to repeat everything, and it all comes out sounding like Scooby-Doo. Especially when he tried to say "where are you?" Imagine it, it's hilarious!

He also says "there it is" and pretty much calls everybody "daddy" He has gotten "momma" down a few times lately which is just so sweet.
He tries to sing the "hot dog" song at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse too.

He answers "nuh'huh" to any question and waves his arm out in front of him like he does when his sister is in his face. Doesn't matter what you ask, the answer is "nuh'huh".

And according to certain people (and by certain people, I mean my family) he is a cry baby... And he is. And I blame his sister, not that she cries a lot (which now that I think about it, she kinda does...she's sensitive) It's that she has what he wants. He knows he's likely to get what he wants from her and possibly us, if he cries. And he wants everything she has and wants to do everything she does. And my theory is that Evi got everything she wanted and didn't have to share at 18months, so I usually make her let him see what ever the item is, and he usually looses interest in it. And she's usually a good sport about it. (of course, I use the word "usually" loosely all 3 times) Evi's a pretty good big sister! But in his defense, he is only a year and a half, and doesn't have many means of communicating. (speaking of crying, Evi is doing just that after her brother whacked her in the head with his monster school bus)

He loves his bath, that is, unless cousin Mila is in it. He ran to Gigi's bathroom excited to get in the bath, and when he saw Mila was already in it, he began saying "nuh-huh", waving his arm and running from the room. Too funny!

Oh yes, and he can open the front door! Damn handles instead of knobs! And of course, he runs straight for the street, giggling all the way.

Evi had her first "parentless" outing. She went to a movie for a friend's birthday with just the friend's parents. She was okay with it until they called on the way to get her to see if she wanted to spend the night. The look of panic in her eyes when I asked was evident. I don't know why I asked, other than pure entertainment value for me. So then after that, she was a little leery of getting in the car with them. But she did, and she had fun. But I was a mess knowing my baby was in someone else's car...

Evi is Miss 20 questions. Seriously, every answer just leads to a new question. And while I hate to squash her curiosity, I also grow very tired of ALL the questions. And some of them are just too deep:
"Where does God live?", "What's a soul?", and my all time fave, "What do they do with the poop after they clean the water?" (when trying to explain the stinky water plant we drive past)

And of course, there were pictures with Santa! Evi did better, she at least wasn't kicking and screaming this time! But after all the big talk about how she would stand next to him, she wouldn't do it, and Eli was untrusting of him too. So in the end, I had to sit with the kids and Santa just sat next us. By the time we left, Evi was talking to him though, she had to in order to tell him what she wanted, and she wasn't going to miss out on a present!

We spent a quick weekend in San Antonio with my family. On the way home, Santa was taking pictures in the airport. And Evi actually sat on his lap! As you can see in the pix, she was holding my hand the whole time, of course. But still, major improvement!!!

Christmas was a success. I went a little overboard, I can't help it. It's in my blood. I blame my mother! Not that I'm complaining, just blaming!
It took 5 different Christmas celebrations for Eli to finally get the hang of opening a gift and
knowing that there was something exciting inside it.


(By the way... All the pix in this post are from my sister & her husband. Thanks guys for some great shots of my kids! I had a hard time choosing!!!!)

M is for Mimic

Evi and I had a girls' night this month. We got dolled up (Evi wore her "high shoes," aka, her plastic play dress up shoes-luckily mommy packed another pair of shoes in anticipation of those hurting her feet, which they did!) We had noodles at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant "Lido's" and then it was off to see Shrek the Musical. She really seemed to enjoy it as she danced in her seat. But sadly it started about the time she's usually getting ready to go to bed, so about 20 minutes into the 2nd act, she fell asleep hard! The clapping, laughing and singing didn't bother her a bit. But she said she had a really good time even though she couldn't hang with the big dogs!

Evi had 2 more birthday parties this month too. One with her friends, a "tea party". It was cute, they all came dressed up and it was all girls. I kept miss counting how many would be there by 2, but luckily 2 girls were last minute sick, so we ended up with enough goody bags, thank goodness! Next time I'll make myself do 5 extra regardless!
I made rainbow cupcakes that were a hit! They looked pretty neat. I am a little proud of them, if I do say myself! We once again did a book exchange instead of gifts, which all the girls really enjoyed. Evi enjoyed it too as long as she didn't think about all the toys she was missing out on by not getting presents!
Her last and final celebration was a fun day Old MacDonald's farm in Houston with family and some close friends. And she raked it in gift wise on this one! Thanks everyone!

We spent a weekend with cousin Mila, who is technically 8 weeks younger, but she was showing him up! Poor Eli, once again, falling behind because he's a second child! Mila was spouting monkey and elephant sounds on demand, pointing out facial features. The only body part Eli could identify at this point was his weewee. "Eli, where's your weewee?" and immediately he looks down to between his legs. Bet'ya don't know that one yet Mila!
We also made a trip to Ren Fest in Houston. It was fun, as always, and spent WAY too much money, as always! Eli rode his first pony (in picture above) and LOVED it! And yes, that is a unicorn horn sticking out of Evi's head (her souvenir of choice). But what struck me the most that weekend is the fact that my son's head is still gigantic in comparison to Mila's! Seriously, it's like he's a pumpkin head and she's a pea! So totally not fair! (from a birthing standpoint!)

One of Eli's favorite things to do right now is say "ah-ah-ah-choo!!!" Fake sneeze, it's so cute. He does the build up and everything. While Evi cried everytime someone sneezed, Eli thinks it's hilarious.
He is all about imitating his sister. He likes to brush his teeth. But not only does he want a tooth brush, he wants to do all the other steps too, like put it under the water and have toothpaste put on it. God forbid you don't put toothpaste on it. He is trying to say "shew-wee" when he gets his diaper changed, but hasn't quite gotten the sounds right yet, just the inflection of his voice. Same with thank you.
He wants to sit in her booster seat at the table any time she's not in it. Usually she plays at the kitchen table if it's something she doesn't want her brother to interrupt, like Barbie, or coloring. But what is cute is that as soon as she's done, he's in her seat, picking up where she left off.


Conversations with Evi:

Evi wanted to play with her easybake oven one night when it was just too late to get it started and I told her no. So she went to her daddy,
EVI: DADDY, YOU NEED TO BE THE BIGGER BOSS AND LET ME PLAY WITH MY OVEN, BECAUSE YOU REALLY WANT COOKIES

Evi is 5!!!

Evi is 5!!!! My sweet baby girl is 5! She once again, gets to have several birthday celebrations. We went to Tampa for a week and she celebrated one night with her cousins Grace & Mya. After opening 2 presents from them, she asked why she only got 2. (just wait, there's a theme here) She celebrated again on the actual night of her birthday with just us, and after opening 4 gifts, she asked why she didn't get more!!!! From there we had a little talk about being greatful for what we have and what a lucky little girl she is to have all the toys she has. I told her that we needed to pick 5 things in her playroom to give to other kids who don't have as much and she tried to talk me down to 3! And then said she knew what 3 things she wanted to donate, but she couldn't find them! Turkey!
When we celebrated for the third time with Scott's family, she asked how many presents she was going to get. I said "it doesn't matter how many gifts you get, remember, so if you only get one present..." "I'll be happy" she said. So at least my talk got through a little! She still has her friend party and a party in Houston with my family to go.
Halloween this year fell on a Sunday, so living in the bible belt, they of course, moved Halloween to a Saturday. Evi ended up having 4 days of costumes: school Fall Festival, Pirate Princess; StoryBook Forest Trick-or-Treat, Cinderella; neighborhood Trick-or-Treat, Mulan (which everyone just thought she was a geisha, yes, I dress my 5 year old up as a Japanese prostitute, come on people!!); and finally a costume birthday party as Sleeping Beauty.
Eli was a dinosaur, and got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly. He would walk up to the door and knock harder than Evi, and really wanted to go in when they opened the door. He wouldn't carry his bucket, but knew how to pick candy out the bowls when they let him choose.
His communication skills are getting better. When he's hungry, he beats on his chair, when the tv is off, he will bring you the remote. (much like his father, the tv always has to be on). He says "hot" and tries to sing with the ABC's song that's on the fridge. He was starting to say "daddy" pretty well. But while in Tampa starting referring to everyone as "nya-nya." No matter who he's talking to or looking for, he says the same thing. He says "meow" for the kitty, and pants like a dog for puppies. He came up with that on his own. And says "WOW" a lot. His great sleeping habits are starting to crumble a little. If he cries out in the night and I respond, he will not let me sit in his room, only stops crying if I lay him in my bed. Damn kids! Always little control freaks!

The week in Tampa was great, as always! The girls got along better than ever. Eli loved the beach. We spent 2 days at Sea World and a day at Busch Gardens thanks to a pass I have from work.
As you can see from the picture up top, Evi is finally not deathly afraid of large characters. After tears every time we've been Disney, she actually ASKED to take a picture with Shamu. When she asked, I moved quickly so she couldn't change her mind. Eli on the other hand was very excited to see the Count walk by. When he tried to tickle him, you could tell Eli wasn't sure of the situation, but at least he still laughed!
The roller coasters were AWESOME!! One of my favorites was the Manta, where you basically ride face down. It was a pretty cool sensation. We even convinced Evi to ride a coaster that did a loop. I had to turn to my top mothering skills of bribery to get her to do it. She kept saying no, so I asked, "what can I promise you to get you to ride this?" She said, "a toy...no a penny" (a flattened penny that we had been collecting every time we saw a machine anyway, and it only costs 50 cents) So I said, "OK! A penny it is" (sucker!) She rode with me, with Scott & Grace behind us. After you do the loop you go into a spiral and she shouts "I WENT UPSIDE DOWN, AND I LOVED IT!!!!"
Needless to say, they loved it and immediately wanted to do it again.

Caveman stage

September was a somewhat uneventful month. Lots of Frontier City roller coasters. We did the Great State Fair of Oklahoma with the unwashed masses. Just kidding, but there is some great people watching to do there. And the Indian Taco was YUMMY! And that is pretty much the whole reason we go, for the food. Now on to my children:

Eli can now remove his own diaper, letting him find his "friend" whenever he would like! So now we'll have to keep pants on him to challenge him. I did catch him trying to climb into his crib to get his Mickey the other day. It's only a matter of time until he figures out he can climb out of it. Great! He has, however, seemed to have found his voice in the last couple of weeks. I was beginning to worry that he may not ever have the chance to speak with his sister around, but I guess her being at school 3 days has let him discover how vocal he can be in her absence.

He is cutting 2 more teeth on top, so that will be 4 on top and 2 on bottom. And while Evi had a fever with every tooth, Eli just seems to not sleep well. But for the most part, he is still an excellent sleeper. Very easy to put down.

There are now some signs of intelligence too. He's getting better at the signing. And when I asked him to go get me a diaper, he went to the right place, brought me a toy instead of a diaper, but he was in the right place. Obviously the toys just distracted him.
And he is starting to understand more statements. He's also gotten "Dad-dee" down pretty good when looking for Scott. Other than that, he's pretty much at the caveman stage: pointing, grunting and growling.

Evi had her first dentist appointment. The dentist's office is right next to where she takes gymnastics, so I scheduled it for after her class. And that smarty pants noticed that I made a u-turn and was asking, "why did you turn around?", "where are we going?" I did not warn her in advance that she was seeing the dentist. So when we parked and I told her we were going, she immediately began crying. I, being the excellent mother that I am, pulled out "The Bribe". I told her if she could be a big girl, and let them look at and clean her teeth, when we to WalMart, she could have anything she wanted. And amazingly enough, she actually did pretty good. The hygienist was excellent with her and she let her clean her teeth and even let her use the vacuum in her mouth. I was shocked at that one. The doctor said that her teeth looked excellent. No cavities. YAY! She gave Evi gloves and a mask, so needless to say, we have been playing a lot of dentist lately. And she says exactly the same things to me that they said to her.

True to my word, she was able to pick out anything she wanted at WalMart. She went down every row, methodically, not wanting to make a rash choice. She had her eye on a few expensive things, but when she saw the "I can be a Dentist" Barbie she was sold. Luckily, it was actually cheaper than some of the other Barbies, and came with a chair and little girl doll all for $10 bucks!! I got lucky on that one!

Scott has expressed a couple of times recently how much he is enjoying his Mr. Mom roll. How he feels he missed out on stuff with Evi with having to work. I am so glad he has gotten to take this time off to enjoy our children. Because I know that soon, they won't be quite so cute!!! :) And I think he might actually be better at the stay-at-home thing than I am. I think he actually plays with the kids more and is more creative with them. And even more patient. Sadly, I feel like I am constantly saying, "just a minute" and getting them to self entertain so that I can do other things around the house. But he's gotten pretty descent at cleaning, grocery shopping and laundry too. I think overall, it's been a good experience for us all.


Conversations with Evi:

EVI: I DON'T HAVE ANY CAVITIES, YOU HAD CAVITIES MOM, THAT'S FROM TOO MUCH SUGAR, YOU SHOULD STOP THE TOO MUCH SUGAR


On the way to the library, we were discussing that we were going to get books for mom & dad too:
EVI: I REMEMBER WHEN DAD HAD THAT BOOK, HE READ IT ALL DAY. THAT WAS NOT MY BEST DAY!
(in Scott's defense, I too have completely ignored my children to read a book- 4 of them to be exact, hello Twilight!)

While fishing with her dad, Evi had a fish put up quite the fight when reeling it in
EVI: NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT, BABY!

Tickles my dog

August went by so fast!! Eli is walking/running everywhere. And is at that point that he wants to go, go, go, not be held. He has been busted several times jumping on the couch and in his crib. Does he hold on to anything to jump? NOOO! He enjoys the falling part too much! No fear! He is so funny to watch in the blow up bounce house because he just rolls his eyes upward and falls backward, loving every minute of it. If you are not right on top of him while on the playset, the next thing you know he's trying to slide down all by himself.

He has tinkled for the first time standing up, which was funny. It's like he wasn't sure where it was coming from. Having a son is giving me some insight into my husband's male psyche...Eli has found his weewee. It is obvious when he's found it in the tub because he just stares off into space with this blissful look on his face. Anytime the diaper's off, his hand goes right for it. And I put him in the back of the truck naked the other day and his weewee accidentally brushed the side. He turned and smiled at Scott and then continually bent his knees and leaned forward in order to make his weewee touch the side again and again. All three of us were cracking up watching him. (above pictures: Eli drowning himself with the water hose; Eli playing hide and seek; Evi playing golf in a princess dress and crown...gotta love her flare!)

He has learned the power of the cry...getting what he wants.(sometimes!) And has become pretty clingy to mom and dad when around other people. He goes down easily for naps and bedtime as long as he has his Mickey (mickey mouse head with blanket). And so far still sleeps in his own bed....

Which leads me to his sister. She has been sleeping with me (or Scott when I'm gone). And I have decided that I wasn't going to fight it. She'll sleep in her own bed before she goes off to college, right? I just keep talking up being a big girl and almost being 5. So maybe she'll just do it on her own like giving her nuby cups. Besides, she'll be shopping for her own wedding dress soon enough. (she's wearing mine in this picture)

I took her with me to my dentist appointment because she has one in September and thought she might want to see what it's all about. She was fine until the girl asked her to come out and push the button to take my picture (trying to get her out of the room for xrays). She stood up with her back plastered to the wall and refused. She ended up crying hysterically and I could not calm her down. There was office right across from the room I was in, so I just sat her in it and let her scream and cry until the girl was done. (she probably never moved so fast to take xrays in all her life!) After that, Evi finally calmed down. And of course when we got home she wanted to play dentist.
(this picture of Eli is in tribute to his name, "LoneStar", and yes, it was empty!)

Speaking of playing, anything she sees on tv, she wants to play. Right now we play a lot of "American's Got Talent" where she is interviewed by a judge (us) and then sings her heart out, (her lyrics are great) or dances. And then expects us to respond like the judges do on the show. Eli has joined her a few times, always wanting to be in on the action. (see videos below on the blog site) She also likes "Wipe Out" and "Minute to Win It".

This last week of August Evi started pre-school again. It is at the same church school program that she has gone to the last 2 years. Her classroom is 8 little girls!!! Can you imagine the drama, and nonstop talking those poor teachers will have to endure!? She's done well with drop off though. After our drama at the dentist the day before, I was a little worried about going to school. She was a little clingy but once she was in the room and saw her old friends, Julia and Lily Star, she was set. See 'ya mom, don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out!

Sweet cousin Mila had her first birthday too. She basically schooled Eli on how to eat your first birthday cake! We drove down on Friday, which both kids did really well. Had a ball on Saturday at the party. Evi and cousin Lucas played HARD! Then the drive back on Sunday. Eli did not enjoy it so much. But we did stop again at Turner Falls, which both the kids really enjoyed. Seeing as it's only 1hour and 15minutes from our house, we'll have to do it more often.




Conversations with Evi:
To her Daddy:
EVI: DADDY'S KNOW THIS MUCH (holds her hands apart about the width of her body)
AND MOMMY'S KNOW THIS MUCH (holds her hands as far apart as she can)

Eli's a Walkin'!!

This is a little late, but I wanted last month to be all about Eli turning 1. Anyway, in June we went to Lake Texoma for a Nease family reunion. Evi had soooo much fun. There were so many cousins her age and they played until she just couldn't function any longer each night. She loved going out on the lake. And thank goodness for the swim lessons. It would have been an entirely different experience if she had still been afraid to get her face wet! On the way down, we went to Turner falls and swam at the falls. Eli was white trashin' it, being butt naked in the water. (we didn't have our suits on originally because we weren't sure what to expect) We ended up going down river a little and sitting on rocks with the water flowing around us. Eli loved it!
Our next stop was the Arbuckle Wilderness drive through. We fed the animals which both kids enjoyed. Although the camels & llamas were a little pushy. At one point a yak came up to Scott's window while Eli was in his lap. Once Eli saw the yak, he couldn't back pedal fast enough. But as long as the windows were rolled up, he was very brave!

At the end of July we went to Frisco, CO with Scott's family. We had a wonderful time and it was a nice break from the Oklahoma/Texas summer heat. But boy do you burn quick when you're a little closer to the sun! Scott and Evi went a couple of days early, which meant I had a couple of days with just the boy. It was quite nice, and my house was pretty clean! Back to Frisco...We did the Alpine slide in Breckenridge, and Evi was able to do the bungee trampolines many times. She even accomplished a back flip! She had tons of fun with her cousins in her bounce house that we sent from home, and shopping the farmer's markets. One night, in the middle of the night, she asked me if we could move into the house we were staying in when we move someday... I'd say she enjoyed the vacation. Poor Eli was just along for the ride, literally, in his stroller. And made the vacation a little exhausting for his parents. It's just hard to vacation with a 1 year old who won't walk alone and can't communicate yet. All he wanted to do is climb the stairs where we were staying. We worked really hard on walking while waiting for our flight in the airport. But even still his legs and tops of his feet looked like he was another ethnicity! They were so dirty.

But finally success!!! Eli is walking! Not so much walking as running really. He still prefers crawling if he's in a hurry. When he first took 15+ steps, he was like a ping pong ball bouncing off the walls of our hallway. Then he went face first into the wall. Wasn't too happy about that one! I almost worry that he enjoys the sensation of falling just a little too much. He likes the rush! (there is a video of him waking on the blog site if you get this in email)
And he can say "Hi". He puts any phone or phone-like-object up to his head and says "Hi!".

Conversations with Evi:

GiGi: Girl, you're a broken record, and you don't even know what that is!
EVI: I KNOW WHAT A BROKEN RECORD IS GIGI! IT'S WHEN YOU GET A TROPHY!
(and there is no arguing that logic, you do get a trophy when you break a record!)

1 Year Old!!!

Eli's first year has come to an end! I can't believe it! He's non-stop! I always tell people the difference between the sexes is: my daughter doesn't stop talking and my son doesn't stop moving! Seriously, he never stops. He won't just sit and watch a tv show, at all! The only time he sits still is when he's drinking milk, and even then his leg is usually kicking or hand slapping on you or himself. Even asleep he is all over the bed. Every time I check on him, he's in a different position, facing a different direction. It's amazing.
And he already eats more than his sister does at any given moment of the day. But while his sister walked at 10 1/2 months, he still won't walk on his own. He's all about holding your hand and walking though, but the moment something happens that he's in a hurry for (like discovering an open door) he drops you like a hot rock and speed crawls out the door. Both of his knees have rough spots along with the tops of his feet. He can crawl up the slide and rock wall of the playset pretty much on his own. And seems to think his mouth is a suction cup to aide in his climbing capabilities.
He already enjoys rough housing. One of his favorite things to do is to have a pillow fight on the bed. If you won't do it with him, he'll do it to himself.
He has an obsession with the toilet, and toilet paper. Can't find Eli, check the bathrooms. And he likes to hide (anything that will fit) under the entertainment unit in the living room. Or if it's really flat, he'll slide it right under the rug. He had a remote to a ceiling fan last week and I still can't find where he hid it!! My little pack rat.
He goes down well at night and usually sleeps pretty well (and in his own bed even...his sister still doesn't do that!). And is pretty much down to just one big nap in the middle of the day.
At his 1 year check, he weighs 23.13lbs, is 29 1/2in. He's averaged out on weight & height. Like his sister, he took of quick and then leveled out.
He has 2 teeth on bottom (crooked like his sister's), and 1 getting ready to burst through on top. He's a lover, Eli loves to give kisses. Nice, big, open mouth, wet kisses, after which, he mimics the kissing noise we make. He likes to say "uh-oh" when he drops things, which is pretty much a favorite hobby of his. And while he can sign "milk" and "more", he usually chooses not to.
We had his first birthday party the weekend after his birthday. I thought he would love being able to dig into his own cake seeing as he has been awfully demanding about how quickly I spoon cake into his mouth in the past. But I guess that personal cake was just too big and overwhelming. He just looked at it. The next morning I gave him a cup cake, and still he just stared, until I broke it into pieces. Then the shoveling began and his eyes lit up and he was covered in icing!
And while he is a little bit of a mommy's boy, he's got nothing on his sister in that department!