Gifts

So I turned 29 this week. I haven't really been looking forward to 29 ... it feels kind of like the beginning of the END ... the end of youth, or the end of the 20's anyway. I used to think only *old* people reminisced about "where time has gone," and now I feel that exact same way. I have now known my husband for nearly a third of my life, I have as many kids as my parents had, I've got a mortgage and bills and... well now I'm just sounding like a country song! I feel like all the major milestones that I dreamed of in my youth have been attained - college, marriage, kids ... so what now? Retirement? Lol. I still have goals, they just seem a little less life changing - become a better mother to my kids, keep my marriage strong, keep learning and figuring out what I want to "be" when I "grow up." =)

As for the festivities, Brad and I were able to go out to dinner ALONE, thanks to a wonderful friend in the ward who offered to watch our kids. It has been exactly ONE YEAR since we have been out on a date alone - for my last birthday! We had both forgotten what it was like to sit down to a nice meal in peace and calm. It was wonderful. We actually went out the night before because Brad had a work meeting the night of my actual b-day, though he was able to come home for dinner and to have cake with me and the kids - yummy banana cake that he made himself! Eli sang the entire bday song to me all on his own - it was so sweet! Though we did have to sing to him and let him blow the candles out too =).

The next night I went for a Girls' Night Out with some ladies in the ward and we had dinner. I haven't really gone to dinner with friends since who knows when either, so that was also nice. While there, someone asked me "So what did you GET?" (meaning for my bday). At first I felt a little sheepish and mumbled something about "um, er, we decided not to do presents this year, er, uh..." But it really got me thinking about the true GIFTS that I enjoy! The beautiful birthday song from my son, the thoughtful cake from my hubby and the pleasant night out together (he did get me some beautiful orange roses by the way!), the phone calls from two of my dearest life long friends, my parents singing to me over the phone, the package from my mommy who always makes me feel special, the card from my grandma, the chat with my sister... basically connecting and reconnecting with people I love and who love me back! I realized that being loved and remembered are truly the best gifts, and I'm so lucky to have received them this year!

And now for a fun little "before and after." Losing a lot of babyweight is a nice gift too, haha. Owen's is gone, but I'm still working on Eli's! Lol! The saying should be "nine months to put it on, 3 years to take it off!"

Last year's B-day:

This Year (cute shirt from my Mommy):

Homecoming

Columbia is the proud home of the University of Missouri, or MU, or more affectionately known as "Mizzou." I have never seen such loyal fans in my life as I have out here for the Mizzou Tigers. On game day, you can't drive downtown without dodging your way through miles and miles of cars parked along the roads, tailgating from the early morning hours. Football games with big rivals make headline news... needless to say the homecoming parade on Saturday was a big "to do!" Of course nothing can beat the 4th of July parade in Pittsfield, MA, but this one was pretty fun. We were an hour late getting there, so we just went straight to the very end of the parade route, and got our seats set up just as the first float came by - perfect timing! It was a little chilly to start out with, but the boys had a blast - especially when the parade participants started throwing candy, footballs, stickers, etc. Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park, and had some fun throwing fallen leaves into the river. We had to peel the kids away kicking and screaming =). I LOVE FALL!

Two and a Half

Two and a half has been such a wonderful age! Now that Eli is almost three, I figured I had better get around to this post! It was bad timing to hit an age milestone in June this year because of the move, but on the other hand, waiting a few months to write about it has given me time to take a lot more notes!

I'll admit, pre-two and two was kind of rough, but at two and a half it was like a light went off in Eli's developing little mind. The raging tantrums cooled down, and the language and imagination revved up. Eli regularly sings songs he knows, makes up his own songs, "reads" books from memorization, pretend plays and re-enacts scenes from his favorite books and movies, loves to climb and slide, and of course he provides me with an endless commentary on life from the eyes of a two and a half year old. He still loves his sea creatures, but has recently made an obvious shift in preference to Dinosaurs and Trains, with Lizards and Bats rolling in close behind. Needless to say we've been doing a lot of bat related activities this Halloween season. Favorite books of the moment: Stellaluna, Dinosaurumpus!, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?. He now officially goes to sleep at night with a story and a cuddle instead of nursing (since June), and will even request Brad over me for this bedtime routine! We read scriptures together before family prayer and bedtime, and he is really into it right now. The other night we had to re-enact Nephi getting the "grass pwates" (brass plates) for a half an hour straight.

Eli is a loving big brother, often saying "I LOVE Owen, I LOVE him!" while in the same moment practically wrestling the poor little guy to the ground. But even with all his newfound hobbies and independence, Eli still loves to be my little shadow. He will follow me from room to room even if he is involved in play, and he likes to be of "help" for any and all projects (laundry, lawn mowing, sanding, repairs, and most recently - painting!). I will often find screwdrivers jammed into various openings in my furniture. Eli tells me on a regular basis "I wuv you mommy! I wuv you SO MUCH!" He is still a hugger, cuddler, kisser, hand holder and a special joy to our family. He likes to say "I'm a wittle baby," and it's hard for me to believe that my wittle baby is growing up so fast!

And now for the motivating reason for this post - the Eli-isms that put a smile on my face! Some of them are just cute, others are pee-your-pants-funny!

Earlier Quotables:

During a big storm this summer: Oh, the thunder is singing!

While petting Owen's head: Oh, so nice. E-I nice broder.

He is interested in the fact that babies come out of moms' tummies and sometimes makes references about random people coming out of tummies: Gama K. come out the E-I's tummy!

His favorite babysitters in MA were leaving the house: Take the boy! (meaning take him with)

Recent Quotables:

We sometimes refer to poop as a "turkey." Eli points to his diaper one day: I got a turkey in there! Mom, I pooped a turkey!

While playing in our toyroom: My tummy hurts! My tummy hurts! Got a baby in my tummy!

Grocery shopping at Walmart I nearly ran into one of the stockers and told him I was sorry. The person was a man, so Eli says: Oh, sorry other daddy!
A few minutes later in the bakery, a woman with a tray full of fresh bread had to squeeze past us in a small isle. She was very petite - shorter than me and very skinny except for a tiny pregnant belly. Her hair was back in a net. I said nothing to her. Eli noticed her squeezing by and said: Oh, sorry! Sorry wittle guy! (he had to pause and think about what to call her).

Me: Owen, stop throwing your food on the floor!
Eli: Mommy don't say that! You'll make Owen cry!

Me while driving: What is WRONG with you?! (said to oncoming crazy driver).
Eli: Mommy don't say that! You'll make Daddy cry!

About anything and everything: I do it! No, I can't do it! It's kinda too hard!

About anything he doesn't understand: Oh no! What's happened?

Standing on top of our slide: I'm tall! Like Daddy does!

Owen was wearing monkey pj's and Eli was wearing his "Sunny Dog" pj's: I'm Sunny. Owen's a monkey. Mommy's a big monkey. I love my big monkey!

While watching Dancing with the Stars: Mommy's not tall. Mommy's wittle. And Daddy's big! (not sure if he was referring to the dancers or to us).

Eli was playing with his baby. Me: Are you the baby's daddy?
Eli: No, Daddy's the Daddy!

While playing with my hair: Mommy has long hair... like a dinosaur!

While in trouble and crying: I need my friend mommy!

I was changing my shirt after painting. Owen started crying so I picked him up. Holding him shirtless pushed my nice post-baby-stomach-pooch out and Eli noticed: (pats my stomach) Oh, Mommy's tummy is really full... so coot (cute)!

While sitting in Sacrament Meeting (church) Eli says to Owen: Owen, you came out of Mommy's tummy and got born. You got wittle (little)!

Last but not least, my favorite prayer he has given recently. He likes to say one every single night no matter who else prays, but most of them are pretty short. He was feeling thankful: Heavy Fader, Take you dis day, and Gama Gapa wuv us, and Owen wuv us, and Mommy wuv us, and Daddy wuv us, and Book of Mormons, Daddy read Book of Mormon, and Jesus wuv us. Amen. (wuv = love).

Walking

It's official! My BABY is WALKING! He has been taking a few steps to Brad and I here and there for a couple of months, then all of a sudden last Tuesday, he up and walked across to the floor to me while we were at the library... and there's been no stopping him since. He walks laps around our couch and he can stand up by himself in the middle of the floor. The funny thing is - he still can't crawl. If he ends up on his belly, he flails and screams about it. I'm sure he'll have to go back and learn that skill, but this kid has wanted to go straight to walking/running all along. Cue the Halleluja chorus.... kind of. I have been insisting for months that if Owen would just WALK already I would certainly have a new found freedom, as he insisted on being walked with hand holding, or held most of the day. I was WRONG. Now I have to spend every waking second of the day making sure he doesn't mortally injure himself!

The biggest problem is our stairs - we have two sets - a short set from the living room up into the kitchen, and the long steep set near the front door that goes down into the basement. Now, Eli didn't walk until 15 months (Owen is 11 months), and he wouldn't go NEAR any stairs unless I was holding his hand. Owen on the other hand is intent on flinging himself head first down the stairs. Both stairways have awkward configurations that our baby gate won't fit either, so I'm researching configurable gates (yay, just what I wanted to spend nearly $100 on), but in the meantime it's vigilance alone keeping the child from certain injury. Just today he plummeted head first down the short set of stairs - I dove to catch him but wasn't fast enough. He has no fear, and thinks he can just do it. I have pushed my couch up against the entrance to the basement stairs as a barricade, so anyone coming in our front door will have to jump or climb over in order to actually get into our house! On the plus side, having the couch in the entry way sure makes the living room look bigger - all the more space for the boys to run around with their little push toys. The short set of stairs is still unprotected, and Owen already climbs them as if he's been doing it all along - but I've got to be right behind him because he inevitably tumbles backwards.

The next biggest danger besides the stairs is simply BIG BROTHER. Eli is THRILLED that Owen is walking! He is so excited about it that he thinks Owen is ready to just run and play and rough house, so I have to remind him every ten seconds to play gently, be careful, don't push or bump or run into Owen....

I have to admit, it is pretty adorable to watch him toddling around. But I was so worn out from chasing and protecting him all day, that I practically went comatose on the couch when Brad finally got home and took over. I'd better get those gates ordered soon...


P.S. You might recognize the monkey PJ's... yes they are Eli's from last season - a 2T!

Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival

I realize I have been neglecting the blog lately. No real reason other than I've just been enjoying my kids (no really!), and trying to go to bed at night rather than stay up on the internet! I've finally got some pictures uploaded off my camera too, so I hope to post a few different things this week... so be sure and check back!

Well, the leaves are changing, a chill is in the air, pumpkins and mums are on every grocery corner, and I'm in the mood for some Fall festivities! Yesterday we went to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival - it's an outdoor fall festival in a small river town about a half hour from here. It took us TWO hours to make it through the traffic jam in the little town and get a parking place, but it was fun once we got there. It has been raining a lot so it was muddy and FREEZING, but at least we remembered jackets for the boys. As for Brad and I, we had to be tough. The first highlight was Eli's first pony ride. The kid is a lover of animals, and he was thrilled to ride a real horse! He wanted the BIG horse, not the little mini pony! I was surprised that he was so brave, and nervous that he was up so high, but he loved it. He didn't want to get off, and I had to bribe him with starburst to get him to move along to the next activity.




The little family farm out there was selling a gazillion pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, so we had fun playing around with them for over an hour. The boys climbed all over the big ones, and dug around in the crates of little ones.










We didn't do much else other than finally taste the famous "funnel cake" that shows up at every festival out here (basically fried sweet dough with powdered sugar on it), and we played with some puppies that someone was trying to sell. There were a ton of craft booths, but we weren't there to spend money. When all was said and done, it was a good time and it totally wore the kids out. Eli ate some kettlecorn on the walk back to the car, and that ended up being his dinner because he passed out on the ride home (about 6pm) and was out for the night!

Soybean (I think!) Field

Mr. Mom

Don't you love when your little ones try to imitate something GOOD that you? I've been "wearing" Owen in the wrap a lot lately in the afternoons - he tends to get pretty fussy that time of day and he's been a resistant napper lately, so this way he is at least relaxed and sometimes will fall asleep for me. One day when I had him in there, Eli got an idea and started begging to "hold mine baby in mine wrap!" So I adjusted one of my ring slings for him and he carried that baby all afternoon! He sang to it, kissed it, and walked around the house hand in hand with me as we rocked our babies together. I don't think any of us could have been more pleased....



PS - it took at least ten tries with the self timer to get this shot. This is as centered as it gets!

Close Call

I had a close call the other day, which I'm sure many of you can relate to. I was using the potty in our master bathroom when I realized the toilet paper roll was empty. Don't you hate that? Just as I was contemplating running down the hall to the other bathroom, I heard Eli walk into my room looking for me. Great! I asked him to go get mommy a BIG piece of toilet paper. He was very excited to help and was quick as a flash. The piece he brought was little on the small side, so I asked him to go and get me a BIGGER one. He giggled and ran off, returning with a slightly longer piece. He was so proud of himself for helping. Here is the visual evidence:



Thankfully, it was Saturday and Brad was home - so I hollered at him to bring me a new roll. WHEW! That was close.

Free

I love a good freebie now and then - and thankfully we have been blessed with some great finds recently! Out here, people put stuff out by the curb before garbage pickup, so I've come across a few things that way. There's also freecycle.org - it's a race to snag things from there but it's worth a try! And I can't say enough of my craigslist addiction. Here are a few recent finds.

FREE:

Sandbox and Clean Sand

Mower and Leaf Blower

Trike

Adjustable Hoop

CHEAP:
Pirate Ship Playhouse

Bubble Mower - 25 centsSwingset with Slide $40
Baby Pool with Slide was FREE

Bittersweet

Heading home after a long visit with family is always bitter sweet. On the one hand, it's nice to get back to our routine, but being together is so wonderful that parting always brings tears. It brings me joy to see how much my boys love my parents, and how much they love them. Eli thinks anything that Grandma or Grandpa does is cool, and it didn't take long for Owen to buddy up with them either. We sure miss you guys and wish we could visit more often!

I felt like we got a little gypped on our last week there, because Owen ended up getting sick with a runny nose and fever of 103 - 104 for three days straight! I did nothing but rock him and watch movies during that time (Knowing, Becoming Jane, and Mozart and the Whale were my favs). At least Eli got some good one on one time in with Grandma. She sewed up some much needed PJ's and soft shoes for the boys - Eli "helped."

Now we are back in MO, enjoying the perfect nearly-fall weather. It was a LONG travel day back home, but the boys flipped with excitement to see Daddy again. They haven't been able to get enough of him since we got back. And I have to say, my flight from AZ to Denver (layover) had the NICEST people on it. I got more help from the flight crew and fellow passengers than I have ever known to be offered to a mom traveling alone. I can't say the same for other legs of the journey.

Here are a "few" (come on, we all know by now I have a photo addiction, lol) pics of the end of our trip.

The "Owen Walking Harness"

Eli was feeling a lack of attention and insisted "I want to wrap!"

Catching Goldfish

Owen and Great Grandma Maxine

Grandpa's Boat!

ALL Shopping Carts Need Twin Slots

Owen Loving Lemon Wedges at Red Lobster

At the Airport With Our Pile

2nd Leg of the Flight with "Gueewana" (iguana)

Better Together

I love my two boys more than life. Together, they seem to have the power to drive me absolutely batty at times, and to melt my heart completely at others. Spending a day with them is like a wild roller coaster ride of emotions: joy, exhaustion, laughter, and frustration. If you have kids, and especially more than one kid, you know the insanity of which I speak. They are getting into the stage of enjoying each other's company one minute, and fighting over something the next. I never feel like I have enough "me" to give either of them the complete attention that they deserve. And yet somehow I realize that the time is ticking and they are growing up all too quickly!

Here are a few more recent photo worthy moments:

Swimming in Horse Trough

Sleeping in the YMCA Pool

Early Morning

Morning Walk