Just Another Day and Week

Nothing too exciting or noteworthy has been going on with us lately. Just the everyday stuff that keeps us busy. Eli's still not crawling, but he's sure trying. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Or he'll inch forward with a leg, only to nosedive because he can't seem to figure out how to move his arms forward. :) And it's like he knows there's something more that he should be able to do, but he just can't get it. So he gets frustrated sometimes and fusses. I'm really hoping that's not a sign of what's to come! Because I have no idea where he would get that from- frustration from not being able to pick up something new immediately.... I'm sure it's only a matter of time, though, now!

We're looking at a relatively busy week/weekend coming up. Thursday Aaron and I are taking Eli to Scott Hazelton's middle school football game in Lyndon. We promised we'd go to at least one game of his, and this is the last of the season. So hopefully the weather is nice since we can't go to a different one instead! Aaron wants to try and stain our deck this weekend and may take Friday off to be sure to get it done this weekend. Saturday is the De Soto citywide garage sale. So we're trying to figure out if we want to try and have a sale ourselves, or just visit some of the neighboring ones. This weekend is also Maple Leaf in Baldwin, so I'd like to head over to that at some point in time. And then Sunday is our little cousins'-- Cooper and Jackson-- birthday party at Deanna Rose Farmstead. So we're in for a full weekend! We're really looking forward to the birthday party, so we can see family that we don't often see. Plus, it's supposed to be in the 60's that day, so it should be a great day to be outside!

Happy Boy

Eli laughs at the funniest things. And last week Aaron was playing with him on the floor, and he started making a funny sound at him (like all people do with babies:). For some strange reason, Eli thought it was hysterical! Aaron tried to make him laugh with the same noise the next day and a couple days later, and he's not at all amused by it now. So I'm glad that I grabbed the camera and videotaped it the first time! Also note Zoe looming in the background, trying to figure out what's going on. This is because ANY time I get the camera out, she looks for the flash. So it's sort of impossible to take any pictures of Eli without Zoe around. I'm serious. If I turn on the camera, it makes the slightest little humming noise when the lense extends- and she can hear it from upstairs and comes running. Anyway, here's the little monster laughing at Aaron's silly noise. Enjoy :)

Half Birthday

Eli is 6 months old today! He shares his half birthday with his Grandma Anita :) I can hardly believe it's been half a year since he's come into our lives. Sometimes it seems like he was just born yesterday and other times it seems like he's been here for years! The past couple of days he's starting sitting up for extended periods of time on his own. And he's also been able to stay crouched in the crawling position (whereas before he would just immediately fall back down when I would try to prop him up). And I've also started putting the cutest little shoes on him (due to the fact that it's been cooler and he always takes his socks off:). So our little boy is already growing and learning so many things. And if we're lucky, he'll continue to scare me to death with how much he can do....

Friends

Eli and our dog, Zoe, are great friends. Zoe lays down on the floor next to us and tries to lick Eli while we're playing. Eli pulls her fur whenever he gets a chance. It's a good thing they've got going on. Today I managed to catch some of their "playtime" on camera. For those of you who don't know my dog personally, she's what you might call "special". :) She's such a lover of everyone, but she's learned to entertain herself by now. And when the sunlight makes reflections on things (anything from the tag on her collar to a mirror) she chases it. And it just so happens that one of Eli's toys on his bouncer has a mirror on it. The end result is what you can see below. Eli was obviously loving every minute of it. Then again, he also entertains himself fairly well and probably would've been doing the exact same thing even if Zoe wasn't there......

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

There are some people whose daily lives are not affected by the weather. People who work in offices, schools, hospitals (or anywhere inside) or gorophobes... However, there are also those of us whose moods and daily routines are greatly dependent upon the weather. While my day isn't as drastically affected as a farmer's, I'm definitely guilty of being happier when it's sunny and gloomier when it's rainy. That being said, it rained for most of the day today. But I didn't let it get me down! I watched the weather early this morning and saw that the rain wasn't supposed to move in until 9. So Eli, Zoe, and I went on our walk at 8 and we had a wonderful time. Eli has started sitting in his stroller without the carseat, like a real big boy! It was his first time being able to actually see what we're walking towards and he seemed to really like looking around at everything. So that was a nice start to the day.

And then later on, I just got lots of stuff done around the house so that it wasn't too depressing that we couldn't go outside. I played a lot with Eli too. He's getting to be more and more fun to play with since he smiles and laughs so much. He's also developing funny new facial expressions that I can't even begin to describe. Well, I take that back. His latest sort of looks like an old man without his dentures. Sort of a smile but with his lips pressed together in a straight line. It's hilarious :)

Fun Times

My past week has been pretty busy and fun. It started off last Thursday with Aaron and I going to see Chicago at Starlight. We had a really good time and it was a good show. Aaron didn't like it quite as much as last year's show we went to. But Fiddler on the Roof was a really good show. And Chicago had NO set or costume changes. So it took a little more to keep you interested in some of the longer songs. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson got to watch Eli for the night and he had his first sleepover without mom or dad. I can't say I wasn't a little upset by this... :) I obviously trust Richard and Anita implicitly. It was just sad to not have my baby there when I woke up Friday morning! We were at their house by 8:00 the next morning to get him. And he didn't seem to have suffered any major damage ;)

Then the weekend was also eventful. I went home for my friend, Sumre's, bachelorette party that I was hosting. We all had such a good time and I was in desperate need of a girls weekend. Unfortunately, the pool day was less than sunny and it rained for a good portion of it. But we still had a good time hanging out. I'm just glad the sun came out for a little bit! That night we went out for a nice dinner and then to the local bar there in town. It was pretty low-key, but lots of fun!

Aaron took care of Eli at home in De Soto and said everything went fine. I think he was pretty ready for a break by the time I got home Sunday afternoon, though. And I was definitely ready to see my baby!

Overall, a very fun week/weekend. But it's nice getting back to the daily routine of being home with Eli and Aaron.

Pictures

After trying a couple different times to figure out how to add a whole album of pictures (and obviously failing), I'm going to try a different route. I think anyone can view this facebook album by following this link. Since I update my fb profile pretty often, I figured it would just be easier this way. So anyway, here are the latest Eli pics. Enjoy!

Click here to view the album.