Tuesday, December 17, 2013

20 months

Eli is so sweet, funny, determined, independent, strong willed, curious, smart, and active! He loves to hold his cousin, ayla. We are excited to see what he thinks of Sam!

What he's been up to:

 
*Sleeping! Last time I wrote we had gotten bunkbeds for the boys and it was not a smooth transition, to say the least. It took aboout 3-4 weeks before we saw any progress, but now I can say we are sleeping through the night again! I will admit getting them to sleep is still not my favorite part of the night. Eli wants to climb up with James and play/talk, or James wants to lean over the bed and talk/entice Eli to come up. So we have to watch on the monitor and tell them 3-10 times to lay down. Some nights are better than others, but once Eli is asleep it's better. James will sit in the top bunk and read for up to 2 hours! We have adjusted the light to go off at 9:15 now (rather than 10) and turn back on at 7:15 (rather than 7). Since it was going so well with them staying in bed til 7am we thought, "why not try 15 minutes more?!" Last night was the first night we switched it and they were in our room at 7. I can't complain because 7am is still pretty good..but hopefully we can get it to 7:15! :)
He is taking one nap about an hour each day, but there are some days he wants to take his a little earlier than I would like him to!


*Eating: I swear Eli is a bottomless pit. The only reason he quits eating is because he is ready to run around and not sit any longer. If you offer him food though he is always willing to take it. He is a very good eat and not at all picky. He'll climb up in my lap and want to eat any/all of what I'm eating too. He is sitting on the stool, like James. He is getting better, but there are still some nights we have to put him in the highchair because he isn't staying on it or wanting to stand up.

*Talking! I have been waiting and waiting for this day. He is so funny and I just want to be able to hear all he has going on in his head. He has been able to understand for awhile now, but no words. As of lately he is saying, "mom, dad, bird, bell, uh oh, hide, mower, hot, cheese" His uh oh is the cutest thing because he basically does the tone of voice rather than the word, but it's always the same. He says it a lot because if there is something out of place or something he doesn't think is quite right he lets me know! He likes things to be just so. I wonder where he gets that from?! Whenever I say, "Dad's home" both boys say, "Hide" and cover their eyes or go hide from Dad. They think it's the funniest thing.







*Loves to play with James and copy him. They play so well together. James loves to play with Eli as well. Some of his favorite things are to jump on the trampoline, help James make "leaf piles" with the blankets and pillows, read, do puzzles, play/climb on the bunkbed, push the mower, playdoh, anything James suggests!

*Eli knows where Sam is if you ask him. But I am so excited/nervous for the day he arrives. Both my boys are very much mommy's boys. We've had a couple times of practice when I'm babysitting or holding my niece and Eli gets a little jealous. Eli also, as part of his OCD, loves to make sure his cousin, Ayla, has her blanket, her socks, or anything else she might need and if she doesn't he wants says, "uh oh" and makes me fix it. He has tried to pick her up a couple times and loves to give hugs and kisses. I think the boys will welcome Sam, but there will for sure be a question of "when is he going home?" I am so excited to add to our family and watch the 3 boys interact.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We always love this time of year. Mike, my sister and I had our pumpkin carving contest. We were missing a couple of contestants, my brother, other sister and her husband. But the tradition had to continue without them! My pumpkin turned out like a 5 year old had carved it. It was suppose to be an owl, but I had several questions as to what it was.So I guess that was a fail.

 Mike's pumpkin won, Caillou, of course. He is 3 year reigning champion amongst our family voters. But after putting the pictures on facebook, Lyndi's Tinkerbell was the winner for those voters!

The boys loved choosing and decorating their pumpkin. I saw a cute thing on pinterest with hand prints turned into ghosts, so we started with the hand prints, and then the boys got to finish painting the pumpkin.
 

 As you can see, they really got into it.

 Turned out pretty cute.
 
 Craft time. I put nose and eye shapes in the green tray and mouth choices in the yellow tray. So we talked about what makes up a face and they chose their own shapes and glued them on their pumpkins. Eli actually enjoyed this more than James! I thought they turned out really cute.


James is Batman and Eli is Spiderman. We borrowed the batman costume and then found the spiderman at target so they would coordinate :) They had a good time.




 They ended up with almost a bucket full. Plenty for mom and dad to share :)

Monday, October 28, 2013

18 months


Since I'm finally getting this written at the end of the month..you'll have a complete idea of what he's been up to during his 18th month as well :) It's been busy here, of course. Eli is quite the character and so much fun. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. He loves to try anything James does and he is very determined to not be out done.

Here's what he's been up to:

*Sleeping..argh! So we decided it was time to switch him to a big bed since all 3 boys will be sharing a room and Sam will need the crib. So we got bunk beds! It's a twin bed over a full. James is on top and Eli on bottom. I knew switching Eli would be hard because he likes to test the limits and is such a climber. I had no idea we wouldn't sleep for 2.5 weeks though! It's been a rough transition. It's not just Eli though. James started waking up in the night and instead of falling back to sleep he starts crying because he's scared of something (statues going to get him, googly eyes, no notes-we don't know where half of the ideas come from or what they are?!) So we have James scared and Eli not staying in his bed! It has been about every hour to every other hour that one of them is awake. If I went in they wanted me to lay with them and sing or fall asleep with them. One night I stood for an hour and held James hand! He would scream or run in our room if I didn't. So we decided Mike handled the situation better and he had to go in to comfort them- it takes him 5 minutes somehow. I call him sleep whisperer! But he couldn't run in their every hour and comfort them. So we started with the hall light. We left it on so James could read until he fell asleep. He liked that-but it didn't help in the middle of the night. And it was too bright for our room! We got him a reading light that was on a timer so it would go off at 9 and then turn back on at 7 when they were allowed to get out of their bed. Yeah..that didn't help them stay in their bed :) I put the CD player in their room and we put their 4 favorite CDs on the ipod to play on repeat all night. They liked it, but it was still too dark in the middle of the night and they'd still run to our room. So we got a night light and ultimately we had to put up a gate in front of their door.  The first night of the gate they screamed when they woke up as if they were being stabbed. So I tried the method we used when they were babies learning to sleep through the night- cry 10 minutes, go comfort them for a minute and so on until they fell sleep. I played that game for an hour..and then he slept for 30 minutes! And the gate just caused a diversion for us to go into their room! We stuck it out..something had to work! Last night James woke up at 10:30 and Eli at 5:30, but Mike went in and patted them and sang once and they fell back asleep. They came out of their room at 7:10. It was a miracle. We'll see how tonight goes...taking one night at a time!

*Eating: there was a two week period where Eli would refuse to eat more than a couple bites or refuse certain foods..but once again, I was more stubborn than him...and now he's a great eater again. He eats everything..and he eats nonstop! He's been learning to stay sitting on a chair. He has to go in the highchair if he can't stay sitting, and he's not a fan of the highchair (cuz James is sitting on a big chair so he wants to too). So that's going pretty well.

*Talking: He has learned "mom" to where anyone can understand it and where I know he's using it intentionally. He was screaming it the one night :) He says yes, shakes his head no. He has picked up quite a few signs now: more, done, eat, go, drink, please, thank you, help, helicopter. He likes to grab onto our finger now and lead us where he wants to go. I had his 18 month wellness check the other day and like I thought his Dr. wasn't concerned.  He said if he isn't talking more by 2 years old then we'll start to be concerned, but he is still communicating and he has a brother that talks nonstop so it's pretty common.

*Loves to put the shape puzzle together, play trucks, go outside, jump on the trampoline (James got one for his birthday and we have it in the basement!) read animal and truck books, push the shopping cart with cooper (his stuffed dog) in it, help with the laundry, playdoh

*Potty training is going..but we are far from being finished. He will start to poop and shake his head yes telling me he has to go. If I am not around though he'll come and tell me he already went and needs his diaper changed. He's pooped on the toilet a couple times a week, but he's not a big fan of waiting and sitting on the toilet. I've used
 the phone a couple times as a motivator and that has helped.















Halloween is in a couple days so the boys painted a pumpkin. I had them start by putting their hand print on the pumpkin, which I put a ghost face on. Then they got to paint the rest of the pumpkin and put glitter on it. They loved it. We went and got costumes tonight. James is going to be Batman and Eli is Spider man. So they will be cute, of course. I will post pictures of that later!








Monday, September 23, 2013

17 months-eli style

Eli is my "typical second born/middle child". He's a go-getter. no fear. determined. and a rough player. He wants to wrestle, he'll bite you/hit/grab/scratch your eyes out if he is playing and excited or just plain mad. He is stubborn and makes a lot of situations a lot more difficult than they need to be. These are just facts-I'm not complaining. I appreciate his little personality- I hope he uses all his might to accomplish great things. He is funny and so much fun. He makes me laugh all the time. My favorite is that he's such a cuddle bug-tucks his little arms in underneath him when you pick him up. He loves to get hugs from Daddy when he gets home from work. He copies and picks up things from James SO quickly. Some of the newest things are following him to the toilet and "learning to go on the toilet" Although he hasn't mastered this yet, we have made a lot of progress. Up until a couple weeks ago he would scream at me if I put him on there, and now he'll come tell me every so often that he pooped (grabs at his diaper). His newest accomplishment/challenge is climbing up into his car seat all by himself. He has to work so hard at it..but he gets it and is so proud. love it.
 

Here is what else he's been up to this month:

*Great sleeper. But has moved to one nap most days. He has been sleeping a little later in the morning though, so that has been great. The boys don't scamper into our room until 6:50-7am these days! Sleeping in!

*Has decided he's not too fond of sitting still long enough to eat. We have to buckle him into the highchair (he would prefer to sit on the bar stool like James) and he screams and refuses to eat for a couple minutes and then realizes that his mom is going to win the battle and decides to eat his food. Once he decides to give in then he eats great!
-Couple of things he loves lately: popcorn, chocolate, carrots, "special dad pancakes", tomatoes, grapes, pickles (these are very useful when you need him to take a bite!)























*Signing/communicating really well, but no words yet! We've decided he's just taking the easy way. No need to use extra energy to form words when he has figured out his own way to communicate. And he is not shy about letting you know what he wants. He is a loud little guy. He understands 95% of what we say and he's very social. So I haven't been too worried about his lack of words. It's just so different from James who was talking at 12 months!
-Signs: more, please, all done, airplane (hands above head), where (hands behind him), waves hi and bye, makes fish mouth
-sounds: car (rrrrmmmm), cow (mmmm), sheep(aaaa),
-sometimes words/only I could understand: momma, dad, night, k, hi


James reading to Eli
*Loves to get the step up stool to reach things-light switch, anything on the counter, in the silverware drawer, in the pantry. Such a climber. He'll climb on the counter, dresser. Out of his crib! We are debating if we need to switch him over to a big bed (we did for James at this age, but he wasn't climbing)

*Likes to read certain books and only for a little while. But he will bring them to me to read. Also he has really enjoyed puzzles lately. He really likes a shape one that we have.

*Loves to play "North Dakota" which entails sitting under a blanket. (grandma linda's game!)

*Loves to be outside- plays with the bugs, in the dirt/sand/playdoh/shaving cream, ride in his car and most recently the bike (has a push handle for me)


first train, for both boys, at the zoo. they both loved it.



*Likes to provoke James a little bit. He knows that James doesn't like it when he screams. So right after nap when they are eating snack Eli will look at James and yell. Then James says, "No" and Eli does it right back to him. It can go back and forth with James crying and Eli screaming. One of my least favorite things of the day.
*Hates to brush his teeth. Rather..hates me brushing his teeth. I give him his toothbrush to let him start out, but then when it's my turn to finish. He will scream and wiggle and shut his mouth. I'm not sure if it's a control thing or he has my sensory issue with the brushing sound/feeling. But it is also one of my least favorite battles.

We have had a great summer and are looking forward to the fall and holidays. James birthday is coming up and Jenna, Mike's sister will be in town. We will be going up to North Dakota in October to see Grandma Scheffert, a thanksgiving tradition, but we are going early this year because of where I'll be in my pregnancy at Thanksgiving. I know this fall will go by so fast and we are excited/anxious for this Christmas, as we'll have another reason to celebrate..Samuel will be here! The boys love to see my belly. James gives Sam kisses and love pats. The other morning in bed when James had come in to tell me to get out, I had rolled over and he said, "ouch you are smashing my sam" It was funny..I guess he's heard that a couple times :) I know it's been awhile since I've posted..I have still had to take naps off and on. I'll try to blog more with all the events coming up. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, August 19, 2013

16 months

 


So I missed 15 months and I am very late on the 16 month post. Not too surprised. Everyone said the baby book is a little less filled out for each passing child. Although I was bound and determined to not let this happen to my kids..of course it's been one of those things that doesn't reach very high on the priority list. Eli's baby book doesn't look too bad, but I never missed a blog post for James.  It's amazing how much you change as a person along with your kids. Humility, grace, forgiveness, selflessness, decisiveness..these are just of the few character traits I feel God has only begun to teach me as I've been a mom for almost 3 years now. Being a mom has been more exhausting and trying than I ever imagined, but it's the best gift God could have given me. I love my boys more than words can explain.

Here's what Eli's been up to lately:

*2 naps a day. Great sleeper. Usually 1.5 hours each nap. Loves to sleep with his blanket and the newest comfort is Clifford. He gets his head up against the crib railing and puts Clifford between his legs.
*Has become less of an eater. Not as bottomless as he once was. He actually hates sitting in the highchair now. He's become so independent and loves to do everything that James does. So he wants to use his own silverware and sit on the bar stool like a "big boy." Except he doesn't sit very well. He wants to stand, sit, get down, and move around. It's a challenge sometimes. I have to get as much in him in the 10 minutes he's willing to sit before he signs, "all done" and will not for the life of him put "one last bite" in his mouth.

* CLIMBER. everything. everywhere.

* Ornery. Naughty. tests me. whatever you want to call it. He doesn't just listen when I say "no Eli". That usually means look at me and smile and then run faster to what it is I said no to. Or just completely ignore that I'm saying his name and continue on to his mission. He has taught me that it wasn't my "awesome parenting skills" that made James turn around when I said no. That was just the personality that God gave each of them.
pouty face
*Very soft hearted. He gets his feelings hurt. It is so sweet. The other day he had a bottle of water and he spilled it on his shorts and I said, "uh oh your shorts are wet now." I went back to talking and didn't think anything of it. Mike noticed he was sitting with his head down looking at his shorts for awhile so he went over to him and said, "are you sad because your shorts are wet?" Eli nodded his head. Mike said, "do you want me to hold you?" Eli nodded and started to cry and laid on Mike's shoulder for a good 5 mins. There have been several times in the past couple weeks that all of a sudden we'll notice that his head is down, or he's frozen in the position that he gets sad in and we'll ask if he's sad. He'll have a pouty lip and start crying and want to be held.
"airplane"
*Loves to antagonize James. He'll chase James. Take James' toy. Scream at him. It's kinda funny to watch. We've had to work with James to not hit him then and tell me, "Mom we have a problem!"
*Loves outside. swinging. sand. push car rides. walks in the stroller.
*Understands 95% of what we are saying..but will not say a single word. I think James is such a chatter box that Eli doesn't feel like he can get anything in! Eli communicates with us through a couple signs, or pointing, nodding yes and no, hand up in the air for airplane, screaming...but no legible words. If you tell him, "say..dog, mama, dadda, k" He will copy you pretty well, but he's not quite ready to attempt them on his own. He also makes a sound for cow, dog, car, and fish. His expressions are the cutest.





Thursday, June 20, 2013

Lions, Tigers and bears!

Long overdue, I know. That's why I am combining posts. I can't seem to get one written these days. I use the boys nap time to take a nap myself! And although it's very needed, it makes the day really short when the list of  "to-dos" only continues to get longer.

To say we've been busy is an understatement. I have so many things I need to write about and don't want to make this a novel! I will try to keep it short and let you see all the pictures!

First off, Eli turned 14 months. He is such a funny little guy. Love him more everyday. He is so adventurous, loud, and outgoing.


Here's what he's been up to:

*Great sleeper. Not waking up at night at all. He goes to bed at 7:15 and sleeps til 6:30. 2 naps a day still and he looks forward to them. He lays down right when I put him in the crib and can barely stay awake while I sing "Jesus loves me" one time.


we start them on coffee young! jk

*Great eater. He loves to use his own fork and does a great job stabbing the food and getting it in his mouth. He's so independent. I of course still feed him most of his meal, but it helps keep him busy to give him a couple things that he can eat with his fork.

*Still not talking. He signs please and started to do thank you yesterday, sometimes. He's so funny because he will rarely do it on demand and he won't even attempt to try and do some of the others I've shown him (milk and more) but then thank you he did right away yesterday. He definitely has a mind of his own. He still points to himself when he wants something. And there is never a question if he wants it, he's a squealer.
*CLIMBING everywhere. up on the tables, on the chairs. I'm waiting for the day he's out of his crib.

*Loves his outside car. He could be pushed in it for hours.

*Has started bringing me books to read to him.

*SO smiley

*loves bubbles.

*Will walk to the bathroom and make a pooping sound like he has to go to the bathroom but when you put him on the toilet he just starts crying and won't go. And then usually goes in his diaper. So I guess it's good he knows he has to go, now we just need him to learn how to go on the toilet! :)

*still working on the biting. He will do it when he's laughing or mad. He thinks it's funny and a game. or a good way to get back at James if he takes his toy. Hopefully this phase will end soon!

*Loves mommy. hugs. sloppy kisses. ever since Mike and I were in NY he has had trouble letting me leave the room. It's gotten better as the weeks have passed, but it was traumatic for the first week back!

*Very determined. Loves to figure things out. Loves buttons. Strong. Loves music. Has learned to love to swing!



In other news...Mike and I got to go to NYC! We wanted to travel somewhere for our 5 year anniversary because with baby #3 on the way we knew it would only be getting harder and harder to get away! Long story short, we decided to go visit Mike's sister who lives in Manhattan. We've wanted to see her place for awhile and thought this was the perfect time to go. So we left the boys with my parents a couple days and Mike's parents a couple days! We had such a great time. You'll notice in the pictures it was rainy and cold the entire time we were there...but atlas we didn't let it stop us from seeing the sites. Mike hadn't ever been and we didn't know when we'd be back so we ventured out and walked miles and miles with our umbrellas!


walking to our show on Broadway


of course, the show was amazing. our favorite part of the trip!

the new world trade center building was beautiful



Statue of liberty. Hopefully next time it won't be so yucky out and we can take the ferry to see it.



Little Italy. It was so neat how the area changes from one culture to the next in a block!

canoli in little italy. yummy.


The bull. (and I know my shoes look big with my tiny ankles. I was worried about comfort, not style..thanks :)

Brooklyn Bridge. so windy.  but really neat.
 
Grand Central Station. some one was getting married at the time. kinda cool.
We had a great time on our trip. As you can see...we did a lot of walking! I was 9 weeks along in my pregnancy..so if you have been there before you probably know how nauseous I was the entire time. So the food part of the trip (usually my favorite part!) was not a highlight this time. But we got so spend some time with Jenna, see some great sites and have some time together!

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day. We are so blessed to live around so many great men. We were able to see most of them yesterday. We first gave Daddy his card. I asked James to answer the questions and these were his responses. So cute. 



Then we went to my grandma's house and we celebrated my grandpa and Dad. Two men that have been such great examples to me and continue to be for my two boys.  We finished the day at Mike's parents house and got to see Russ, Mike's dad. The boys love to play with his tools and I'm sure they will learn to work hard with him someday soon! I can't say enough how great it is to have such Godly examples for my boys. I pray they grow up to follow the Lord and become husbands and Dad's like the ones that have filled my life. 

Here is a picture from Father's Day with the boys in their matching outfits. Of course they can't be looking in the same place..but at least we have 2 good smiles!!


Hope you are all enjoying your summer and finally the warm weather!! Hope to be back here with another post soon!