Hey Mom, Look what I can do!

One thing I was going to write about in the last post (before it got so stream of consciousness) was some of the things Elijah is doing these days just so I have a record of them.

• Elijah can tell you what a cow, sheep, horse, dog, kitty (not cat), lion, bear, and 3 singing pigs say.  He's actually been able to do most of those for quite a while now.
• can sit down on command so I can put his shoes on. 
• can find his binky in my pocket.
• is starting to use a fork.
• can show you his eyes, ears, head, nose, tongue, teeth, mouth, fingers, toes, knee, and his belly which always becomes bellybutton (he's also done most of this for a while).
• can smell his feet and if you ask them how they smell he waves his hand in front of his face to say they stink (thanks David).
• does all of the actions for patty cake and popcorn popping as well as most of the actions for 5 monkeys swinging in the tree and jumping on the bed.
• can put himself to sleep at night and sometimes for naptime too.  Yay!
• can put things back upon command, like daddy's socks from the drawer.  Sometimes he doesn't want to so he won't but it's nice that he does sometimes.
• can give closed mouth kisses which is so cute but a little sad because it means he's growing up.
• folds his arms for prayer (but he's been regressing at this I think because it is losing its novelty).
• says momma, dadda, night night (na na), love you (la la), shoe, sock, amen, cracker (ca ca), cookie (a variation on cracker), diaper (di doh), no, grandpa (pa pa) and attempts grandma but it's different depending on the day.  He some others which I can't think of right now.
• has said banana perfectly once and randomly said gnome perfectly when I was telling him what something was, neither have persisted.
• signs more, all done, drink and uses a sign I made up for binky which he has for a while, and recently added sorry.
• throws a ball and walks backwards.
• pushes cars along the ground.
• dumps out baskets of things like toys and clothes.
• climbs into his high chair booster thing as well as onto most chairs and sits on them.
• gives me his binky when I ask for it although he usually wants it right back if he's not distracted.
• grabs any writing utensil he can find and uses it to draw on the nearest paper.
• loves to look at books and turn the pages.
• climbs on the outside of his crib.
• is starting to be able to blow from his nose on command.
• dances to music in a few different ways.

He is just so precious!  I love this boy!

The humdrum daily life

First some recent pictures of Elijah in all his cuteness.

Every morning I send Elijah to get stray binkies from under his bed and often he gets them and just lays there.  It is so cute!

I was so thrilled when Elijah finally started liking fresh fruit.  I think he had some strawberries each week for a month.  It's nice when I know he's eating something healthy.

Elijah is obsessed with walking in mine and David's shoes.

Elijah also LOVES pizza. 

I had given Elijah some food one morning and left to go do something for a minute.  When I came back I found this.

It only takes a minute . . . I was getting a bag ready to go swimming and I came back and found this,  Not only was it on his face but it was on his tongue

Everything is pretty humdrum here these days.  We have pretty much lost our lawn in the drought but I suppose the upside is that we haven't mowed in months.  The weather is really starting to get to me and I am looking forward to fall and winter with much anticipation.  I keep reminding myself that we have to stay here until 2014 because we got the new homebuyer tax credit when we bought this house and don't have the money to pay it back if we move out before we've been in it for 3 years.  Sigh.

I have been talking to my sister recently about the difficulties of being a homemaker.  I never expected myself to struggle with it to the degree I do.  Some days it is very hard to get things done and as much as you love your child(ren) they can really get on your nerves some days.  Elijah broke his first glass today and I was MAD!  I should not have been so upset because he is just 16 months but I wanted to make an impression and hopefully stop his obsession with getting things off of the table.  It seems that it only takes 10 seconds away from him and he will get into something bad, as is evidenced in some of the above pictures.  I just feel overwhelmed some days and it I feel guilty for feeling that way.  Sometimes I have a hard time knowing how to interact with Elijah in meaningful ways. 

I was very grateful that I was able to watch our church's general Relief Society (women's organization) broadcast.  I needed the words spoken by the Lord's apostle.  I am so grateful for the reaffirmation that the Lord knows me and my personal struggles. 

I have also been finding my load easier as I have been making time to read my scriptures each day.  I started reading Sept 1st and will finish the Book of Mormon by Dec 31st.  It has been such a blessing and I seem to find myself able to get things done that I wasn't able to get done before.  Some days are worse than others (like today with the broken glass) but I am getting through it with the Lord's help.

Spur of the Moment Utah Trip

A little over 2 weeks ago I started getting antsy about all of the things we were wanting to do next summer. We had planned to do 2 vacations apart from our family reunion this summer and then decided to put of a Utah trip to next summer and then our other trip didn't happen either. When talking to my sister she suggested I see if there was a chance at getting a last minute deal on airfare so we could go before school starts. I found a good deal and convinced David it was a good idea to go. So a week and a half after I bought the tickets we headed out to Utah for 3 and a half days of craziness and saw almost everyone we set out to see! It was great!

Elijah did very well on the flight out there considering it left 45 + minutes after bed time. He slept most of the flight and even though he woke up when we landed he went back to sleep in the car and slept the rest of the night. What a good traveler!

Our first day was fairly laid back. We got together with my friend Mindy for breakfast. It was so good to see her for the first time since David and I were married almost 5 years ago.

The rest of the day we hung out at David's grandparents Maxfield house since we were staying there. They had some errands to run and when they came back wanted to go to dinner. They asked us where we wanted to go and while giving suggestions Grandpa kept mentioning Chuck-A-Rama. We had no problem with that and suddenly Grandpa was pushing us out the door to get there before 4 so we could get the lunch prices. We pulled up at 3:58 and Grandma let Grandpa out of the car and he ran (as only a 70 year old grandpa can run) into the restaurant to get the good price. We laughed and laughed.

The next day was Sunday and we went over to my Aunt and Uncle's for some breakfast crepes and enjoyed chatting with them. That evening I got to get together with some old roommates from college. Almost everyone from the apartment was there except one who lives in Denver (we missed you Brandy!). It was so fun to see them and to meet their kids and husbands, some for the first time. We had a barbeque and played some games and it kind of made me feel like I was in college again . . . . kind of.

That night Elijah did not do so well. He fell asleep just fine in the car on the way back to the Maxfield's but was up numerous times during the night which we later decided was due to teething. Poor baby. Somehow in the transition into the house we dropped the camera out of the diaper bag and of course it rained that night. Grandma and Grandpa found it laying next to our rental car in the morning and I was concerned it might be done for. We decided to let it dry out and recharge the battery to see if it would recover. Consequently we have no pictures from Monday (and that means no Maxfield pictures :(.

On Monday morning we went to breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield (are you seeing the running theme of food during this vacation. We did.) and then went out to lunch with Dave's uncle Mike (Figgins) and his cousin Anthony. We enjoyed seeing more family and just catching up. We went over to Grandpa Figgins for a little while that afternoon and he showed us his garden and we made a game of tossing apples into his compost bin. Elijah thought it was a lot of fun. That evening Grandma Maxfield had organized a big get together with all of the Maxfield family in the area for Monday night. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and get to meet family most for the first time. We were sad that we didn't get to see Uncle Lynn or Uncle David or their wives..

On Tuesday morning we bade farewell to the Maxfield Grandparents and went to Grandpa Figgins who took us (you guessed it) out to breakfast. Afterwards we played a little game and did some more apple tossing which Elijah thought was hilarious. While they started that I found some jacks (the good metal kind) and sat down and played for the first time in YEARS. I love jacks so that made my day.

We flew home after seeing Grandpa Figgins and Elijah again slept the whole flight since I made him stay awake past his nap time. All in all we had a great time. We enjoyed the cooler weather and everyone enjoyed seeing Elijah for the first time. He even showed off for everyone we met! I was so pleased.

Family Reunion

During the first week in July David's family had a little reunion. It was nice to have everyone together for the week. Unfortunately we stayed in Texas and it was over 100 every day so we could only really stay indoors and play games or go the the pool. Despite the lack of things to do we had a grand time. We really love playing games anyway. Thanks to Dave's sister for setting it up and using her time share to get us a great place to stay.
Elijah cuddling grandpa after a swim.
Our family.
The shocker game that Lindsay brought. The slowest person to push the button get's a mild shock.
Elijah and his cousin Jamison.

1st birthday

2 and a half months ago our little guy turned 1. It is crazy to think that Elijah has been a part of our lives for more than a year now. We made it easy on ourselves and just had family over. We had homemade pizza (which Elijah LOVES), salad, fruit, and of course cake and ice cream. Elijah had a lot of fun with all the attention on him. He got some lovely gifts and we enjoyed celebrating him.

Us with Elijah and his "build-an-owl" from Aunt Jacque.
Remy and Elijah checking out his new toy from mommy and daddy.Elijah and mommy.
Letting him dig into his first birthday cake.
The back of the awesome cake I made (with Melanie's help).The front view.

The side.