Colorado Vacation Recap

We spent last week in Estes Park, Colorado with John's family and had a great time! Eli got to spend time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and his cousins, Will and Alex, who are 6 months younger than him and live in Denver. So, it was loud and active when they were all together, but lots of fun! Each day we did a different activity and most were firsts for Eli. We had a lot of time to relax as well, which was nice. Here's the recap:
Day One: Eli got to ride on a pony named Nibbles. We weren't sure if he'd like it or be too scared, but Eli was a natural at riding horses!


Day two: We went to play miniature golf. Eli got tired of waiting on the people in front of us, so we had to skip a few holes. He would sort of start at the end of the putting green and hit it and then pick up his ball and move it right next to the hole and put from there. Eli definitely knew the color of each of our balls and knew he was to hit his green ball. He just didn't know to get out of the way when John or I were trying to hit ours.


Day Three: Eli went fishing and caught a fish. We went to a place called Trout Haven where they have a pond stocked full of trout. Therefore, it was not difficult to catch a fish. We caught four fish total (Eli, Will, and Alex each caught one, and John caught the last one since Eli was loosing interest and I had no luck catching one) and we ate them for lunch the next day...yummy!





Day Four: Aunt Laura, Aunt Lisa, John, and myself took Eli and Alex to go ride a little kiddie train, which they enjoyed. Poor Will got sick. John and Eli also rode a go kart. Eli said his go kart was like Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars because it was red and very fast! It was hilarious watching John and Eli because John barely fit in it and you could barely see Eli. Eli's face was expressionless the whole time, but I know he enjoyed it because we are still hearing about his go kart ride.


















Day Five: Eli, John, myself, Aunt Laura, and Alex (Will was still sick) went on a hiking adventure to Bear Lake. It was an easy hike around Bear Lake although hiking in the altitude while 7 months pregnant isn't easy, I found out! Eli and Alex had a blast and lead the way the whole time. They did stop to check out butterflies and other interesting things along the way (while I rested on the benches). We ended our adventure with a picnic by the lake. Very beautiful and fun!





















To finish our time in Estes, John and I got to go out to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! We went to a nice dinner at Mary's Lake Lodge and then walked around in downtown Estes for awhile. The view at dinner was amazing (the picture doesn't do it justice). The fact that we got to see it at sunset was even better. I took a picture of our yummy dessert of chocolate "enrobed" strawberries because it was too pretty not to. Dinner was delicious by the way.
















And finally, here are some more pictures of the trip:
The view from our cabin






John and Eli taking in the view

















Eli wearing his "rain hat and rain jacket" on the one day it rained






Playing at the park









Storytime with Uncle Dan

Special Underwear

Big news! Eli has now been wearing "special" or "big boy" underwear full time for a week straight now! He is doing a great job going pee pee and poo poo on the potty. We've not had any accidents this whole week. Yay! He's doing a great job telling us when he has to go, and we've been doing a good job at asking him, too. A couple times, he's even gone to the potty without me asking. I've gone to see what he's up to after hearing silence, and I've found him on the potty! This is very exciting! Let's hope this continues! I hope I didn't jinx it with this post. As you can see in the pictures, Eli picked out some really cool underwear. They have characters from the movie Cars. They are the cutest little things I've ever seen...and Eli wearing them makes it even more cute! These pictures have undies with Mator on them. We're leaving for Colorado on Saturday for a week, so hopefully we can keep up this up. We'll try!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun 4th celebration yesterday. Our neighbor Maureen, who we call "Mo" invited us to a parade in her friend's neighborhood. Eli loved it! He had fun waving at the people in the parade and then continued waving at cars and people going by after it was over. Mo gave him a USA hat to wear and a flag to wave, which was fun for him as well. The best part might have been getting to ride to the parade in Mo's truck!
Here's Mo and Eli









After Eli's nap, Uncle Dan and Aunt Lisa and her mom came over for food and then fireworks. I was quite a homemaker yesterday. I made gluten free banana bread (so good!), a butternut and spaghetti squash dish, and an ice cream cake decorated like a flag. Spending that much time in the kitchen is rare for me, but I actually enjoyed it this time. However, I probably over did it a little for this prego Mama because I was very tired and my back was in pain by the evening.

We kept Eli up late to go watch fireworks this year. It was his first time to see them. He was very tired by the time they started but very amazed by them. Eli is very sensitive to loud noises for some reason. He always covers his ears whenever there's a loud noise. So, I predicted he'd watch them with his ears covered and he did. I just didn't expect him to have his ears covered from the very first pre-show fireworks until the very last grand finale firework. He had his hands covering his ears for at least 30 minutes! Eli did enjoy them because we've heard him talking all about the fireworks today. So, all in all it was a good celebration.

Mo

We were talking with Eli the other day about his friends (his age), and John asked him who his best friend was, and Eli said, Mo! Mo (Maureen) is our neighbor across the street. She loves playing with Eli, and she's really cool because she has a truck, a motorcycle, and a wave runner that Eli gets to "drive" in her driveway. Mo also has a black lab named Camus who's great with Eli, and she also likes to play outside just like Eli. What a great friend to have!

Another story...

While munching on a piece of bread at dinner last night, Eli tore two pieces and says, "Look, a...". I say, "Oh, is that a cow?", and Eli says, "Yeah!". John points to the other piece of bread and says, "Is that a motorcycle?", and Eli says, "Yeah!". And then Eli says, "It's a Kawasaki!". Get it, a COWasaki! Ha! I didn't get it at first. Pretty clever, huh? We laughed for awhile after that one!

Two stories worth mentioning...

1. While Eli was riding in Aunt Brynn's van last week, Eli says, "If we saw trash truck, that be pretty cool!". The speech therapist in me is very proud of that nine word sentence coming out of a two year old! Impressive!

2. Mammy got Eli a baby doll and stroller for Eli last week to practice being a big brother. Since then, he's been taking care of his baby by putting him to sleep, feeding him, and changing his diaper. He said his baby wanted a chicken nugget for lunch the other day, which is funny because Eli doesn't even like chicken nuggets. He also calls the baby "Memow", which is what he named the baby in Mommy's tummy. We have no idea where he came up with the name Memow. Hmmm...Memow Perkins...

Keeping up with Eli

This is hard to do these days! In the previous post, I talked about how we were away from Eli for almost a week. Well, when I picked him up, it seemed like he had grown taller and was talking more clearly. Eli seems to talk more and more clearly each day. He's constantly learning new words, so I'm usually amazed and wondering where in the world he learned about the things he's telling me about or asking me about. Eli's also been singing several songs for us lately. He's really good at singing the melody and actually gets most of the words right. It's so fun to hear. I love this stage of his life...in spite of the tantrums I was talking about in the previous post. We're all learning here!
Eli's first prayer, "My first truck board book, Amen!". This came out of his mouth a couple weeks ago when John was about to pray before dinner.

Here's Eli's version of "This Old Man"

Singing the Veggie Tales song, Eli's new favorite show. Translation: "celery, Veggie Tales, celery, strawberry, Veggie Tales, gotta be, Veggie Tales"

Vay-Cay

John and I just got back from our Seattle adventure without Eli. Eli had his own vacation at "Grayson's house" with his cousins Grayson and Garrett, Aunt Brynn and Uncle David and then also with Mammy. He also spent some time with Grandpa. It was so hard to leave Eli for almost a whole week, but we did have a fun time with friends in Seattle. It was the first time to leave Eli for that long (6 days). The first time was just a few weeks ago when Mammy came to watch him overnight here at home while John and I went on an overnight date for my birthday. That wasn't a big deal. This time was definitely harder for us than it was for Eli. The reports we got were that Eli was very happy and compliant and even did well sleeping. He took at least two hour naps and had no trouble going to sleep for naps! He'd ask where's Mama or Dada, and when they'd say we were in Seattle, he'd say, "that be fun!" and then be fine. So, he was great for them, thankfully!
Now that he's home, however, he's not been so angelic. I'm hoping he's just having a hard time adjusting back again or something, but I've never seen him have such out of control and lengthy fits. Is it me? Is it just a two year old phase? Maybe I'll send him back! Just kidding. I hope this passes soon because Boone gets very worried by the crying and carrying on. I know this because while Eli was throwing his fit this morning, I found our dog, Boone, hiding in the bathtub in our bathroom! It made me laugh in the midst of it all. Thanks, Boone!
Anyway, I guess we've survived our vacations, and it's good to be back together again...even with the fits...really. The look on Eli's face was priceless when he saw me walk in the door. Mammy didn't tell him I was coming home because it was late at night and she was trying to get him to sleep. Maybe he knew somehow I was going to be home and stayed up late for me. When he saw me, his eyes got big and round and he sucked in his cheeks to try not to smile. He was surprised and excited at the same time. The reunion with John was so sweet. We went to pick John up from work, and I let Eli out of the car to look for him. When John walked out of the door, Eli ran toward John with a huge smile on his face and then John swept him up in a big hug. It was like a movie. Eli was very chatty and silly with excitement once we were all together again.
Here are some pictures from beautiful and chilly Seattle:
This is Bubba, who's wedding we went to, and his best man, "Perk".

Mt. Rainier is in the background, but I guess it was too foggy to see in the picture.

This is where the wedding took place and also the view from our room.

Kodak Moment

I couldn't resist taking pictures of John and Eli hanging out while feeding the chickens. Here's my attempt at "real" photography:

Prego Pic

Some of you have requested pictures of me and my growing belly. So, here's one of me at 24 weeks. I do have to say that I think it hides my belly well. I feel like it's bigger than that! I'm feeling great and feeling lots of kicks lately.
Eli has been talking to "baby" in my belly and he says he's felt him move. I think he understands that there's a baby in Mommy's tummy, but I don't think he quite gets the fact that the baby is going to come out and stay in his house! Today, Eli was talking to the baby and resting his head on my belly, and then he thought the baby needed his fireman helmet, so he got it and put the helmet on my tummy. He said, "baby need fireman helmet!". I feel the brotherly love already!

Blast Off!

Eli's latest is counting off to blast-off. It involves counting to 10 and then jumping up and down several times. He can't wait until 10 sometimes, but it's still a good way to practice counting. In this video, he's at the table, so he kicks instead of jumping after blast-off.

Our Little Singer

Eli can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me" now, and he even sings in different voices or while playing instruments. It's quite entertaining!
Here he is singing "Jesus Loves Me"...listen carefully. Oh, and his clothes are missing again.

The Ladies, aka The Chickens

Here's Eli trying to get the chickens to get in the pool with him. He says, "C'mon chickens! Get in poo!"


Here is Eli feeding the chickens. One of them actually pecks the food out of your hand, which Eli likes. Warning: bare-bottomed boy!

Pedaling!

Eli can now pedal the tricycle all by himself! He's pretty good at steering it, too. I guess my role will go from pusher to chaser of the tricycle now!

Family pics

A Day in the Life

Eli and "The Ladies"

Construction zone on the back porch





Construction workers don't eat the dirt!

Cute hat...I mean cool hat



A new way to shoot hoops

Lipstick

Eli has been asking me to put lipstick on him lately. He comes in when I'm putting some on and then he'll quickly run to look in the mirror after I put it on him. It's still cute now, but maybe not when he gets older! The lipstick didn't show up well in this picture because he'd already touched it and wiped some off. It never lasts very long.

Happy Mother's Day!

Tonight at dinner, out of the blue Eli started laughing like this and then said, "Mammy laugh". He was imitating Mammy (my mom's) laugh. It's pretty distinct, and Eli's good at it! Times like these make being a mom so much fun. Happy Mother's Day to all you Mamas out there!

Silly Pictures

Yee-haw! Giddy up horsie!



For some reason Eli didn't want to use his hands to eat his cupcake at our friend Layla's bday party



Eli "puhnon" Mama's shoes and socks

Eli's favorite book right now, Richard Scary's "What Do People Do All Day?"

Cool sunglasses, cool face