Happy Halloween and more pictures

Happy Halloween! We had a fun, busy Halloween. We went to several parties, trick-or-treating and a nice autumn hike to a waterfall.

Just a little bit of water…

Here’s my pumpkin.  It’s the first ‘fancy’ carving I have ever done- not too bad.

So today Eli came out of the kitchen carrying a banana.  He walked over to the tv, sat down and ate it (peel and all). The banana was on the counter- I didn’t know he could reach that high- just getting taller.

Such a monkey!

A few weeks ago Uncle Wesley came to visit.  Eli had lots of fun with him at the park.

It’s Autumn!

Since I am ’stuck’ on the couch right now with a cute sleeping baby on my lap, I figured I ought to update the blog.

We loved the rain last week! It only lasted 2 days but was such a wonderful change! I didn’t bother taking an umbrella with me anywhere because I wanted to soak up the rain myself.  Eli was in heaven- his 2 favorite things put together- being outside and water!

We also went to the pumpkin patch during a dry spell. Here’s some fun pictures of our little scarecrow.

He kept turning away from the camera, but the colors in this picture great!

It’s too heavy!

Hay fight!

I can’t believe one year ago we ‘posed’ Eli for pictures. He couldn’t even sit up – and now we were chasing him around the patch!

Desert Country

We took a visit to Moab Utah to do some biking, see Arches and visit family! Here are some of my favorite pictures…

Always dirt on his face!

New walker on the bridge!

It was great to see the family!

The following photos I had fun with the pictures and the computer.

Eli cracks me up every day! He is starting to say basic words like ‘nanana’ for banana.  He puts his hands out and looks around when he is looking for something.  He is starting to point even more to what he wants (except when he is most frustrated of course). The other day he caught a stomach bug from day care and we had our first night of throwing-up (not pleasant)- but there is still something so sweet about a sick baby.  Eli carries random objects around the house; each day he picks something new.  It can be anything from a spatula to the door stopper or tv remote.  This object goes everywhere with him- upstairs, downstairs, outside, in the car, everywhere.  Here are cute photos of him playing the other day…

New pj’s- they even glow in the dark!

His hair looks so red in this picture.

Beat the August Heat…

Okay, so actually now is the hottest time we have had all year.  It has been fairly humid and 100 degrees when you head away from the coast.  -But for August we had lots of fun…

We took a vacation up north to Pismo Beach, Hearst Castle, saw Sea Lions by the coast, Monterey Bay (I love the area- I wouldn’t mind even living there) & visited the aquarium, over the Golden Gate Bridge (by accident- better to follow the directions from mapquest and stay away from the bridge if you want to save time), along Hwy 1 up the coast (Beautiful!), to the Redwood Forests, and then back down to see our cousins near the Bay area and finally back home. Lots of driving! – but lots of fun as well.

I participated in a crazy long triathlon! 1 mile swim- 34 mile bike- 10 mile run. The run about killed me but my swim and bike went well.

Ryan’s birthday was on Aug 29th.  We went to the zoo and then tried to go swimming, but when we got there the pool was sold out! I never thought about a pool selling out.  So we worked in the garden- Thank You Ryan! I have had a terrible time with gophers this year.  They have eaten all of my plants! So we dug down ~6-8 inches and laid chicken wire to hopefully block their entrance???  Ryan is still on summer break! Which means we still have some play time before we lose him completely to the school year.

There is a lot of buzz about Halloween costumes already.  So I am taking a survey for Eli- Should he be a Scarecrow where we can take pictures in the pumpkin patch or should he be a baby Chewbacca?

Here are pictures from our trip, etc:

Hearst Castle

Sea Lions!

I touched a starfish!

Always causing trouble- but so cute along the way…

Am I a terrible parent??? I let my kid eat dirt the first day we were camping- but then he didn’t eat any the rest of the trip. We did wash him later by firelight…

This is my favorite picture! Eli looks like a toddler!

Cold at first! -but then we warmed up to it.

Just for fun- finding new spaces at home.

Couch Potato

Generally, I am not a big TV watcher.  I don’t have shows that I have to watch and rearrange my schedule around.  -But the month of July is different.  First, the Tour de France.  It’s played over and over throughout the day so it’s easy to keep up with what is going on.  It has been an exciting 3 weeks but today is the last day in Paris! Second, So You Think You Can Dance.  The choreography is wonderful!  It takes me back to my dancing days.  I wonder how far I would have made it if I had auditioned when I was younger??? (I am starting to feel old   I admit I love these shows! -Well, at least they are coming to an end so I can get out and enjoy the last bit of sunshine this summer.

Celebrate Summer!

We have been enjoying our summer!

Happy 1st Birthday Eli! Can you believe it? My baby is a year! What a wonderful year it has been. We love him so much!

We celebrated with the traditional cake and he had his first spaghetti dinner- yum!

We spent the day at the zoo.

The next day we had a party at the beach.  Since Eli LOVES water, we did a water themed party! He stayed in the water for >2 hours and wasn’t done when we got him out.

(I can’t figure out how to rotate the picture…)

Eli took his first step the other day! (Of course no camera close).  He took 1 step and kept his balance for a few seconds.  This has happened a couple of times since, but for the most part he still prefers crawling for now. We are back in swim lessons for the summer.  Eli is doing great- we have even put him under the water for a moment.  I was nervous about this at first but he seems to enjoy it and doesn’t come up coughing.  It’s funny how easy it is to be proud of your children .

Happy 4th of July! For the fourth we went to a ‘traditional’ 4th celebration with classic old cars, steam engines (with whistles much too loud for Eli- poor kid was terrified of that sound), a traditional blacksmith, a beautiful baby contest (they didn’t announce a winner for Eli’s age group- go figure?- he’s beautiful to us), live music and food. That night we saw fireworks and played at the park.  Eli is such a social butterfly- he kept going to other kids to say hi.  He was fascinated by the fireworks as well- held me close the entire time but was fascinated.

(again sideways)

For Father’s Day we went camping! We heard there were several swimming holes nearby and I saw a resevoir about 3 miles away. So we hiked the 3 miles to the resevoir ready to swim, but found ‘No Trespassing’ signs all over.  We couldn’t even get down to the water’s edge.  This is one of those moments you say ‘Enjoy the Journey.’  So we went back to a small swimming hole and Eli enjoyed getting wet after the long hike.

Enjoyed eating rocks too…

A Little Monkey

Catch up time:

Eli loves to climb up the stairs! Usually he will crawl over to the base and wait for us to come and follow him up. However, sometimes to tries to sneak past us.  Unfortunately he has not quite got the idea of crawling down yet.

Eli’s personality is starting to emerge.  He will ‘talk’ to us and listen as we talk back.  I wonder what is going on inside his head? He dances to music and waves hi to other babies (I even got a wave today!).  Eli also is in a biting stage.  I think he understands he is not supposed to, yet that does not always stop him. Any ideas??? His favorite toy is the door stopper.  He hits and watches it bounce up/down.  He knows where each one is in every room in the house.

We finally got into UCSB’s daycare! It has been 1 1/2 year waiting list.  Though now our neighbor watches him which as been so great! Eli and her baby are the cutest friends! I think we will do just T/Th so we have a spot but can still use our neighbor as well.

I ran a half marathon last month! Very challenging- the weather decided to jump from the 60’s/70’s to the 90’s that weekend- oy was that hot!  Now it is time to move onto a triathlon and the Moab Century!

We visited Utah recently and went to Ryan’s friend, Bryan’s wedding.  We love seeing the family whenever we get a chance and Eli got spoiled, of course.

The flowers were beautiful at Temple Square (of course) and we had fun taking pictures with our camera.

Two recent parties with the best themes: A Mustache theme (see below) and a Dessert Contest (I think we stood a good chance- results not available yet).  Friends are great!

I walked around campus with Ryan the other day and wow is it a strange place! First there was a girl sunbathing in a bikini in the middle of the sidewalk on a very cloudy day.  Next we came across a group of people sitting in the middle of some bushes with stuffed animals having what looked a tea party.  Near them was a grown man in a unicorn outfit with a bowel of marshmellows and a sign that said ‘feed the unicorn.’  I am not sure what that was all about??? Anyway…

If you like youth fantasy books (i.e. Harry Potter type) than I highly suggest the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series! I just finished the series and loved it! Now I need to find a new book, hmm…

Lots and lots going on! Come visit or give us a call if you get a chance!

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter here with the 3 of us.  Eli did an egg hunt (w/ our encouragement of course) and then we went for a walk around a lake not far from our house.

Visit from Grandpa! First friends! And other firsts!

Overall, nothing new has been happening here.  Ryan is busy starting a new quarter, I am busy working and Eli … well Eli just loves to play and explore!  We have to keep a closer eye on him now.  He has started to crawl- it’s his own style but he gets across the room in a straight line.  Because life was just floating along, it was great to have Grandpa Poland come by to visit and change our daily routine!  It was a beautiful weekend- sunny in the 70’s.  We went to the beach, the pier and got a tour around town. 

A couple of weeks ago I got to have a turn and watch Eli’s babysitter’s baby, John.  It was fun to watch the babies play ‘together;’ they definitely recognize each other.  First Friends!  John is 3 months younger than Eli.

Speaking of firsts- I realized I don’t have a baby book for Eli (this is as close as it gets) and I haven’t kept track of many of his firsts.  So I thought I would list them here.  Don’t feel obligated to read them- it’s more for my records than anything else. 

1st:

• smile- 1 month (I think- I am already forgetting)
• sleep straight through night (8 hours)- 3 months (just for 2 weeks then it was up again for 2 hour crying sessions for a couple of weeks)
• laugh and razz- I can’t quite remember…
• roll tummy to back- 3.5 months
• roll back to tummy- 4.5 months
• play peek-a-boo- about 4 months
• rice cereal- 5.5 months
• sit up alone- 6.5 months
• say ‘mom’ or ‘mama’- 7 months (though it has no meaning yet)
• bottom two teeth together- 7.5 months (along with a temperature of 101 deg!)
• rock in quadruped- 8 months (maybe 7.5?)
• say ‘da’- 8 months
• crawl- this has been a process but about 8.5 months
• get into sitting from floor- 8.5 months

Lately I have noticed Eli is much more right side dominant and right handedness does not come along until 2-3 years.  He leans to the left to play with the right hand, he will go out of his way to reach with the right instead of using the left, he has a better ‘pinch’ with the right, his right leg comes up to his foot when crawling, he eats his right toes more than the left when playing on his back, … Overall he can do things with the left side but chooses the right much more often.  This may be the ‘PT’ in me just over-analyzing things but it got me curious.

Swim baby, swim