Hello Again!

I've recently been reminded that I do, indeed, have a blog. Thank you, Mom. And that Kara updates her all the time! Thank you, Kara. :P And while yes, this is true. I defended myself with the fact that Kara (my lifelong friend who recently moved to Nashville) lives out of state and stays in touch with her family and friends better this way. While I, on the other hand, tend to see people fairly frequently. And let's face it. I just don't do that many interesting things these days. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALWAYS busy it seems. But I don't think it's exactly breaking news that Eli and I read books for an hour, played with blocks, played with cars, made an entire mess of the house, cleaned up the whole house, and probably ate somewhere in there. Throw in some errands, a random sickness, and work, and you've got my typical week. And while I LOVE my life and all it entails (well most of it anyway;), it doesn't exactly make for an interesting read.... Hence my long breaks between blog postings.

Recent things that have been going on with us that actually are noteworthy:

Thanksgiving. We went down to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. The whole family (minus my brother Brad and his family) celebrated the holiday at my grandma's house. It was a typical Thanksgiving filled with lots of food, kids, football, and card-playing. A Wells family tradition has always been playing Pinochle after we've stuffed ourselves. It's funny bc we all know what type of player each other is (who is always the gambler, who plays it safe, who would cheat if they could;) and so we tend to choose the same partners year after year. My oldest brother, Macey, and my Aunt Janna are typically the ones who end up gambling big and it either pays off or they're 800 points in the whole from overbidding repeatedly. (sidenote: if you've never played pinochle, it really is a fun card game) Anyhow, we all enjoy ourselves and it's a good way to spend time together while football is on in the background. We do have to keep the celebrating to a minimum, however, as Grandpa Kip gets mad if he can't hear the tv :)

We also had a fun Thanksgiving meal that weekend with Aaron's family. Not all of them could be there. But we at least got to see the immediate family and also Aaron's cousin, Jenn and her two boys. It was so much fun watching all three boys playing. Eli followed around his cousin, Jackson, like he was the coolest thing ever. And Jackson had a great time leading Eli in made-up games and talking to him like he was 4 too. It was really cute.

And finally, my husband is officially old now. As he celebrated his big 30th birthday on Sunday. We went to dinner and had drinks with some friends on Saturday night (thanks again for coming all that way Ali and Ross!). And then Aaron and I went to the Chiefs game on Sunday. Neither of us had ever been to a game before, and his parents got him tickets for his birthday. We had such a good time! It was VEEERRRYYYY cold! But I'm proud to say that I toughed it out better than Aaron. For once! It helps that I had on more layers and a better blanket. But hey, I say that's just good planning. He wasn't making fun of my spandex tights, knee length skiing socks on top of other socks, and knee high boots at the game. :P It's funny bc everyone keeps saying what an ugly game it was to watch. And even though I would've thought so if I were watching it at home, I really didn't think the game went that slowly. And in the end, we beat the stupid Donkeys! That's all I can really ask for! All in all, great day and I hope a great birthday for Aaron.

Random Thoughts

* Is it better to have Eli snot on my *ahem* chest? Or my butt? Because while changing my pants yesterday, I couldn't decide what was on the seat of my pants. Then I realized it was snot... So I ask: is it better to have it on my chest- more clearly visible and gross? Or on my butt- where no one should be looking anyway? But it could possibly draw a stranger's eye to that area and cause unwanted staring. :/

* A daily reminder of why I love children (often more than I love adults).... Every day on our 5 minute drive to work, we pass a train that is parked on the tracks. And EVERY DAY Eli gets really excited and exclaims: "Choo choo! Choo choo! Bye bye! Bye bye!" as he kicks his feet excitedly in his car seat. Now, I can not think of a single thing that I encounter on a daily basis that evokes that much excitement from me. Yes, I love every day that I get to spend with Eli. And my favorite part of the day is getting him up in the morning when he's happily crying "mama! mama!" and then smiles really big when I come in the room. But I certainly don't jump up and down with excitement every time this happens. If only we could keep that child-like enthusiasm for life as we grow.....

*Random funny statements from a 5 year-old: He is coloring at the table and starts writing some of his numbers. He writes a "5" and sings, "down and around, put a hat on top!" then turns to me and says, "that's a great song" :) Yes, yes it is.

Life Update

Seems like we've been busy around here lately, so I thought I'd just give a quick update.

* Aaron was in San Diego this week for work, so I went home to my parents' house and had a lovely time. It was very relaxing to actually have some downtime while home, instead of running around trying to see as many people as possible. Definitely a more low-key visit. Got to see family and church family, so it was nice.

* In honor of Aaron turning in his rough draft of his master's thesis (thank GOD it's done!), we're going to take a weekend trip next weekend to St. Louis. We haven't really taken any road trips as a family yet. And we wanted to stay relatively close since it's just for the weekend, so St. Louis seemed like the best option. We're excited!

* I went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend with my Emporia friends in honor of Sumre's bday. I hadn't been in years, so it was fun to go again. There were definitely some interesting parts to the day, seeing as how one of the performers picked me up (without my consent) to take a picture with me. I couldn't quite figure out how I was being the least obnoxious one, yet I was the one targeted... Oh well, it was pretty funny if I do say so myself.

* We've really been enjoying the fall weather lately, especially Aaron and Eli since they both seem to sweat at the slightest temperature increase. I'm really not exaggerating either. Eli starts sweating while running around our living room in the evening - when the thermostat's set at 71.... He's totally gonna hate that specific trait his daddy passed down to him as he gets older.

* I recently finished "Freedom", Oprah's latest book club selection. I was NOT a fan of the book, nor did I find it to be the "masterpiece" Oprah raved it to be. But I finished it, by God. All 562 pages of it. Never again will I blindly trust someone else's opinion and ignore my own hesitation when I read the inside cover of a book. I'm usually not into Oprah's selections either. But I figured how could you go wrong with such high praise? And I was really needing a new book..... Needless to say, next time I'll go with my gut and not make a hasty purchase again.

Animals

So I'm not really sure if Eli's latest accomplishment is impressive or not. Since I can't be in his classroom at school (bc he does NOT do well with me in there), I have no idea what the other children his age are capable of. That being said, I find this to be pretty impressive. Eli can correctly identify 57 animals from his books that we read.

Now I'm not being generous here and giving him ones that he's pointed at once or twice. These are the ones that he points to every single time when we ask him where it is. For example: we'll say "Eli where's the elephant?" and he'll point to it on a page where there are at least 5 or 6 other animals. Again, maybe this is normal for his age. But all the same, I'm proud of my little boy and his obsession for learning about animals.

For those of you who can't believe that any normal kid can name 57 animals, that there just aren't that many commonly known animals, allow me to list them for you...... cat, dog, cow, sheep, goat, horse, pig, piglet, chicken, chick, rooster, donkey, camel (he makes a hilarious spitting noise for this one), panda, koala, kangaroo, bear, seal, polar bear, dolphin (also funny sound effect), bird, butterfly, grasshopper, bee, ladybug, rabbit, mouse, guinea pig, goose, duck, turkey, giraffe, hippo, lion, elephant, zebra, cheetah, leopard (I'm sure he'd be able to distinguish between the two in side-to-side pics, but he knows both their names and recognizes them on the pages when asked to point to them), gorilla, monkey, rhino, crocodile, flamingo, owl, fox, penguin, tiger, snake, frog, seahorse, turtle, eagle, fish, mokey, and ????? I can't find the last couple (they're in other books that I don't have currently sitting next to me).

But I'm still proud of my little smartypants boy :) It's definitely proof that taking the time to read books with your child- no matter what age- is good for them!

Belated Weekend Post

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Nothing too big and exciting, just some time with family and friends. We got some stuff done around the house; had some family time with the Andersons; and went to Deanna Rose with my good friend, Ali. She came up and visited on Sunday and we spent the holiday together - feeding goats (Eli loves those little guys!:) and enjoying the rest of the farmstead and all it has to offer. Here are just a couple pics from the outing.


We're finding that it's impossible to get a good picture of all 3 :P



Eli laughing after feeding a goat. He found this to be absolutely hilarious- after chasing the goats around the pen for about 5 minutes bc they were all distracted by other people feeding them.





Auntie Ali showing Eli the ponies! Too bad he's not old enough to go for a ride...




Sidenote: I should really start finding more places to take Eli around the KC area. He LOVES Deanna Rose, Monkey Bizness and the zoo, but I know there are tons of other options if we would just explore a little more...

Fun Times

We've had quite a few fun family outings lately. Last weekend we went to the KC Zoo. And earlier today we took Eli to Deanna Rose. He loved both and we had such a great time. His love for animals is infectious :) How can you not think that goats are cool when Eli's laughing hysterically at feeding them? Or running up to the fence and saying "HI!" to each and every one of them... Such a personality for a 17 month old. Anyhow, I thought I'd post a couple pictures from our adventures since I tend to take way too many pictures.

Busy Busy

Aaron and I have both been working a lot this week. I was filling in at work in the preschool room several days. And Aaron is apparently working with some short deadlines this week and has been at the office more than we'd all like him to be. But we're very much looking forward to the weekend and some quality time together. We might take a trip to the zoo tomorrow since it's FINALLY going to cool off a little. No more 100 degree weather- thank goodness!

Some highlights of the week:

*Ali came up and celebrated her birthday with us last night. Ross and Randy were here as well and we had a fun evening. Cheesecake Factory always puts a smile on my face :)

*I'm reminded why I love working with children when I'm with the preschool age. For example, we were talking about feelings this week. I took each kid aside one at a time and had them tell me what makes them happy and sad and wrote it down for their parents. Some of the funnier ones include: "I'm happy when I'm in a corn maze" "I'm happy when the rainbows don't disappear" "I'm happy when.... flowers!" The sad ones were, of course, less funny because the children were truly sad in these situations. One little boy actually told me that he's sad "when my mommy isn't so nice to me" :( If that isn't a reminder that our children are people too - and can tell other people what their mommy's and daddy's are like at home - I don't know what is! Definitely made me sad and made me give Eli some extra loving that night.

*Not-so-fun news is that Eli got bit twice by friends in daycare this week. It's obviously not the end of the world. And he initiated one of the incidents. But still not so fun for him.

*And finally, I forgot to post earlier that we went down to my parents' last Saturday for a birthday party and had a marvelous time. We took Eli to my grandparents' pool during the day and had lots of fun with Uncle Macey, cousin Brooke, and cousin Robin. We then had dinner in at Macey and Heather's house and it was delicious! All in all, very fun (albeit short) trip.

Accomplishments

As I was updating Eli's baby book this weekend, I realized that I haven't been quite as diligent about writing down some of the milestones as I should. I have all the big ones, of course. But who keeps track of their pregnancy? Or the first time he claps his hands together? Are parents really supposed to be able to fill out ALL of these "firsts"???

With that in mind, I figured I should document what he is currently (at 16 months) capable of doing. If you're not interested in what my kiddo can currently do, don't bother reading any further. This is honestly as much for me to look back on later when I can't remember he was like at this stage in life. (Also, keep in mind that I make no guarantees that he will perform any of these tricks for you, should you see him and ask him to. At home, he talks and performs on demand. In public, it's a crapshoot.)

*He can say multiple words: side = outside (his first real word), baw baw = ball, doggie, mama, daddy, dirty (as in, his diaper's dirty. he learned that one at daycare:), bye-bye, cracker, go!go!go! (said while running), uh-huh, hi, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

*He also can make a few animal noises. A dog says: woo, woo, woo. A lion says: roar! And a duck sort of quacks :) He can also point to and identify many animals. We still work on this a lot, but he's getting a lot of the basic objects and animals down.

*He can now - thanks to Daddy - give and blow kisses. It's done w/ a "mmmwa!" sound and is super cute. He'll also give you a hug if you ask him for one.

*He no longer thinks walking is all that cool. He runs EVERYWHERE.

*He LOVES the pool! Thank goodness he inherited my love of water, instead of Aaron's disdain for it.

*He also dances :) He loves music and stares at the tv when we have CMT videos on in the mornings. Aaron and I joke that he's already into blondes, because he tends to pay more attention when Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert is on.

*His little personality and sense of humor is developing more and more all the time. He's what I would describe as an easy-going, generally very happy kid. Loves new situations and people. Sometimes has to warm up to someone if they want to hold him. But he can't get enough of flirting with strangers in Target.

3 P's

Do you ever have those days where you think you're in the homestretch, only to have the crappiest evening ever? My day was going perfectly fine. Good day with Eli. Had lunch with some friends. Work was exhausting, but fine. It's a Thursday, which means that Aaron was playing softball. So I get all the Eli night-time duties. Again, this is normal. Manageable.

Then 7:30 rolls around. Eli had been in a great mood, even though it was nearing bedtime. And we go upstairs for his bath. I generally let him run around without his diaper for a few minutes before his bath, even though it's pretty much asking for trouble. But I'm generally of the "what's the worst that can happen" mindframe. Well, tonight I found out exactly what is the worst that can happen. I'll spare you the gory details. But suffice it to say, he managed to get two different types of P-words on the floor. Yes, pee and poop. Needless to say, I was less than pleased. Particularly since I had to clean it up - off the floor and him (yes, it's even more disgusting that he stepped in it). Thank God it was bathtime and he was going straight to the bath after that. But still. It had been a perfectly lovely day up to that point. And of course I had to be home alone to have to deal with it with no help.

So that accounts for 2 of the 3 P's from the title of this post. The last P is much less disgusting and dramatic. I managed to tip over my pop off the coffeetable and get it all over the leather couch and floor. I cleaned it up with relative ease. But I just couldn't believe I managed to get 3 different types of P-words on my carpet in one evening. I think it's definitely time to go to bed and pray for a better day tomorrow...

Observations

1) As I read my other friends' blogs (all of the 3 of them that I read regularly), I realize that I haven't changed the look of my blog in forever. Thank you, Ben, for that reminder. So I am attempting to find a new look that I like. I probably won't keep it with this one, but I'm too tired to keep playing with it tonight.

2) We have VERY few pictures of Aaron, Eli, and me that I like. We tend to take tons of Eli. And then a few of him and Aaron. And even fewer of Eli with me since I tend to be the photographer of the family. This is something I'm going to have to work on since I don't really care for the current picture on here. But the other one was hopelessly outdated. Considering Eli was 3 months old in the last one, I think it was time for an update.

3) Unrelated to the blog. I just realized today that Eli has gotten in 2 new teeth that I was previously unaware of. He has two towards the back on top that recently came in. So he now has 9 teeth total. It's hard to keep track because he hides them so well!

Busy Weekend!

We've had a pretty crazy summer so far. Lots of weddings and showers and such. And because of that, we couldn't remember the last time we'd done anything "fun" together, just us as a family. We hang out every evening and do the normal dinner and playing. But on the weekends, we've either been traveling or going to special events. Or we do the normal errands and chores. So I took it upon myself to commit the whole day Saturday to just having fun as a family. We started off the day at Monkey Bizness in Shawnee, which is a really cool indoor jungle gym type place. Eli was able to do a lot more of the stuff than the last time I took him. And Aaron really enjoyed playing with him there, since he had never been before.

After that, we went to Fritz's for lunch. If you live in the KC area and have kids, you should definitely go. The food is delivered by trains on a track that runs about a foot below the ceiling. Eli was completely mesmerized by it. We decided that if we ever wanted to put him on a diet, we'd just take him there for every meal. Because he was too distracted to eat hardly any of his food. The trains blow their whistles every time they bring the food out and Eli would just stare at them all the way around the room.

We also went to The Toy Store on Mass St. in Lawrence, which is huge. The toys were a tad overpriced. But they have a huge selection for kids of all ages. Their basement also has just about every kid's book you could want. And trust me, it's hard for me to be impressed by the number of books. I always think there should be more. But they basically have a children's bookstore in their basement, along with lots of cool science kits and other resources for teachers/parents.

To top the weekend off, Eli and I went to the Legends on Sunday with my mom and Ali. Aaron was studying so he didn't "get" to go along. But we had a really good time. And I think Ali and my mom kind of got a taste of how exhausting Eli can be while trying to wrangle him in public :) I told my mom at one point that she could let him out of the stroller if she watched him and he immediately took off running- lol. I suppose I could have been a little more specific in my warning that she should "watch him" but I guess she figured it out quick enough :) I'm pretty sure he went back in the stroller pretty quickly....

Anyhow, I took some pictures throughout the weekend and the link is below. We hope to start making it more of a priority to do these kinds of things together more often.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022280&id=65100372&l=8de3c6504f

2 Weddings in 2 Weeks

June has been crazy for us. I previously posted about my friend Leah's wedding. And now I am happy to report that our second wedding went off without any major hitches. I was a bridesmaid in my friend Kara's wedding this past weekend and the wedding was at Camp Wood YMCA in my hometown. It was absolutely gorgeous and couldn't have been a nicer day. While it was windy, it kept it from getting too hot - an important factor since it was an outside wedding. Kara was so beautiful and made it through the weekend with only a few tears ;) (I know you read my blog, Kara, so I'm being generous here on the emotional front lol) Anyhow, I think I finally figured out how to post a link to a facebook album. So here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022191&id=65100372&l=ba1b38690d

I apologize for the sheer amount of photos. I usually go through and select only the better pictures to post in an online album. But there were so many of them, that it was just easier to hit "select all" and upload them. So enjoy!

Rainy Day

I know most people hate gloomy days. But I actually sort of enjoy them. It gives me a chance to catch up on inside chores and not hate the fact that I'm not outside enjoying the sun. So far this morning I've cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed, and folded the last of the laundry. All while chasing my son away from the houseplants, dog bowls, trashcan, and laundry area (where he enjoys pulling out all the dryer sheets). You'd think our house would be completely toddler-proofed by now. But there are just some things you can't do away with. We have no other place for our trashcan than sitting out. And I'm sure Zoe would not appreciate having her food and water bowls hidden away in a cabinet....

Another rainy day side effect, my child is already napping by 9:45. Of course, that could also be because he currently has a bit of a bug. High fever over the weekend, not eating much (which is VERY rare for him), and some other health-related things that no one wants to read about. But his cough is probably the most annoying thing for him. Poor guy. I'm sure he'll fine in a couple days though.

The summer wedding season has officially begun. We attended my good friend Leah's wedding this past weekend. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids and I was very impressed with general calmness. There were quite a few last-minute things to do and she handled them all with much less stress than I expected. The ceremony and reception were beautiful and Leah looked gorgeous. A wonderful day overall and I was so happy to share in Leah and Brian's special day :)

I'm trying to get back into the Wicked series right now. I've read Wicked several times, but haven't gone past that one. And I'm borrowing a friend's copy of Son of A Witch. I started it last night and am looking forward to getting into it. Gregory Maguire's writing and imagination always impresses me. They're good books that aren't just "fluff" if anyone's interested.

Terrible

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a terrible blogger. And if I didn't have a couple family members who read this, I would probably stop. That, and the fact that it's a good way for me to document Eli's milestones for when I go back and fill in his baby book. But seriously, it's regularly a month between posts. I guess I could rationalize that I don't do that many noteworthy things since my life is fairly uneventful. But still. Sort of pathetic.

So anyway, here's the monthly update. Since I last posted, I went to Florida with my best girl friends for a bachelorette party. I was a little nervous at traveling with so many type A personalities. The phrase "too many chiefs, not enough indians" came to mind. But I was very pleasantly surprised at how well we balanced the responsibilities throughout the trip. Each of us taking our turn at the reins and happily taking a backseat when it was someone else's turn. I was also happy with how well I did in regard to being away from Eli for the first time for that long. We left Friday morning early and didn't get home until Monday night late. And while I, of course(!), missed him. I didn't cry or get super emotional. And Aaron and Eli had a great boys' weekend from the sounds of it. Lots of trips to Home Depot and they even bought a new tv (interesting time, eh?). So it was a great weekend all around. I got lots of much-needed girl time and R&R. And Aaron had some fun bonding time alone with Eli. Don't get me wrong, he was exhausted and ready for me to come home. But there were no complaints at all while I was gone! So we'll put that one in the win column.

Eli is running everywhere these days it seems. If he's not in motion, he's merely considering his next plan of action. :) At the same time, though, his love for books rivals my own - which makes me very happy. He'll sit and look at books for 20-30 minutes at a time. One of my favorite things is when he picks up a book and carries it to one of us, wanting us to read it to him. How can you say no to that?

We're very much looking forward to summer. The baby pool, sand box, swing, and slide are starting to get a lot more use as we spend more and more time outside. Eli LOVES outside and will bring his shoes to me and point to the door :) The summer also brings a break from class for Aaron, as he starts working on his final project for school. So while he'll be working hard, it can be around Eli's schedule instead of the same night every week. So in a nutshell, we're doing good and have lots of fun things to look forward to in the coming weeks and months!

Catch Up

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything. Over a month.... Whoops! Well, as you can guess, a lot has happened in the last month - the biggest being Eli's birthday. We had lots of family and friends help us celebrate and it was a lot of fun. Eli was only slightly overwhelmed at everyone staring at him while he ate his cupcake (or poked at it) and opened his presents (or watched me open his presents while he played with tissue paper:). But it was a great day and we're so thankful to have so many people care for our little boy.

We also had a fence built in the back yard in March and we are LOVING it. No longer do we have to take Zoe out on her leash. We can just open the back door and let her out. We're also able to play fetch with her in the back yard while pushing Eli in his swing. Both Zoe and Eli are thoroughly enjoying that. So that was sort of a big deal around our house.

Eli's no longer crawling at all really. He's a full-blown (dare I say?) toddler. *sigh* How did this happen? In spite of the sadness at no longer having a "baby," we're both so excited to watch how Eli grows and develops on a daily basis. He seems to understand more and more of what we say. And he is constantly babbling. No truly identifiable words are repeated. But he's said "mamama" and "dadada" on a regular basis for a while. He's also stuck on "baba" right now, which turns out sounding like a combination of "baby" and "bye bye". So, we'll see when he decides to really start talking. It's a process. And it's so hard to focus on that when he's got so much exploring to do!

Eli also had his first x-ray last week :( He got his finger smashed in a door at daycare on Friday afternoon, so we had to take him to urgent care to make sure it wasn't broken. After a long couple hours, they told us it wasn't brokren - thank God. But it still looked terrible all weekend and into this week. Unfortunately, I think his poor nail is infected. So the whole process isn't really over yet. But we're just thankful it wasn't worse. It's a really heavy metal, outside door that it got shut in. So it definitely could've been worse.

Well I think that's about it for now. I'll make more of an effort in the coming weeks to be better about posting. I know all 5 of my readers are impatient to hear more of our exciting life :P

Busy Little Weekend

We're so excited that the weather's finally getting nice again. Poor Zoe has been feeling really neglected since we hadn't been giving her too many walks in the cold weather. But yesterday we finally went on our first family walk of the season. It was so lovely to reacquaint ourselves with the neighborhood. See what people have done to their houses and yards in the past few months (the ones that aren't on our normal driving route). Eli was pretty curious too, taking in all the sights and sounds that he hadn't experienced in about 5 months - and I'm sure didn't remember. And then when we got home Aaron was VERY excited to fire up the grill for the first time this year and make us some hamburgers. Eli stood against the door the whole time, looking out at Zoe and laughing hysterically. So I'd say it was a good day, all in all.

My wonderful husband also finished hanging a bunch of pictures last night while I watched the Oscars (that he had no interest in). And we also got a bunch of laundry and errands accomplished over the weekend as well. Add to it that we hung out with some friends and played poker Saturday night - and I won! And we had quite a nice little weekend. Let's pray that the nice weather sticks around bc we're tired of this yucky winter stuff! Let us get outside and get some fresh air!

To quote my nephew, "Oh dear...."

Pretty grainy, but you get the idea. We're super excited but terribly frightened all at the same time. I hear that's sort of what parenting is all about.... :P

Trouble....

Eli took his first step last Thursday. He won't be a "walker" for a little while yet. But I have a feeling we're in for it now!

Oh, and I couldn't figure out how to get this video right-side up, but I thought it was funny enough to put on sideways :) The Hazeltons gave Eli this monkey as a Valentine's Day gift and he was scared of it at first. He'd hold on to one of us while watching from a distance- lol. But he's obviously warmed up to it now since "dances" to it every time we turn it on.

Random

Just a little life update for the past couple weeks. As always, the Eli update- he's got four teeth now and is getting more. And he now pulls up and "cruises" around objects. He's also discovered that he likes climbing the stairs.... I obviously keep a close enough eye on him that he doesn't get past the first step without me being there. But I let him climb, out of curiosity, to see how far he could go. And the little booger climbed clear to the landing (I nearly died). So the babygate investment is priority #1 at this point in time. Before I was just worried about the stairs going down to the basement. Not anymore!

I've been working quite a bit lately, as a pregnant co-worker was put on bedrest. But I don't mind too much. It's nice to have the extra money and Eli still loves the center. So it's not too bad.

I'm looking forward to getting to see my friends this weekend when Kara comes into town! Poor Aaron is going to be overrun by females, with 5 girls staying the night Friday. And I sort of forgot to tell him until last weekend.... :) He'll survive though. Eli might not ever be put down, but Aaron should be fine ;)

I haven't posted any pictures of Eli for a while, so I thought I'd include one. He grows so fast these days that it's hard to remember to keep a current one on here.