Where have we been?

I've been kinda slack this past week or so updating the blog - sorry family! My Grandpa was in the hospital and gave us all a scare. Eli had a tummy bug mid week and dealing with that kind of wiped us out mentally. Plus I seem to be very tired most evenings when Eli goes to bed - I guess between Eli running everywhere and being pregnant I have a good excuse! My brain also seems to be in dead mode sometimes and I forget / mix up stuff. I remember pregnancy brain being bad enough but now combined with Mommy brain, I may forget how to get home tomorrow!

Hopefully we'll have more fun stuff to share soon. This is our last week of work and Eli's last week of school before Christmas. Santa comes to school on Friday and Eli also has his Christmas party. I've got two appts for Baby #2 this week - one for bloodwork and one with the doctor.

Oh yeah, we've also been meeting with a contractor to raise the roof over our attic and add a bonus room. That has been kinda stressful. Right now we're hoping to start the renovation mid to late January and finish mid to late March. Our house will be in even more chaos for two months but it will all be worth it in the end. Maybe Tim & I will find a way to re-stake our claim to some area of the house and not have it overrun with toys....nah, who am I kidding?!

Hope everyone is doing great and that you also have a good last full week before Christmas.

Oh Christmas tree.....

Although it took us a while, we finally got our Christmas tree completely up and decorated. For those of you unfamiliar with our tree, it's rather large - a 12' tall artificial prelit tree. Our lights almost flicker when we turn it on! We managed to get most of the tree up (3 sections) on one day, took a few days to fluff the branches, then added the top two sections. I think we finally finished decorating it last week. Sorry I haven't updated the blog sooner.

Eli came home from school and said "tree" - we didn't even know he knew that word. He was a little surprised by the big tree in the house!

Eli playing under the tree - how funny is it that exactly two years ago Christmas Day, I gave Tim a positive pregnancy test as his last gift and now here's the result!

Such a sweet boy!

Hanging Eli's barn ornament from Grandma C

The finished product - notice there are no glass balls or breakable stuff anywhere down low! Eli has done pretty well with it so far.

Thanksgiving Memories 2008

Thanksgiving was very memorable this year. It's fun to think about a week later (been so busy haven't had time to post). Let's start with "the turkey shirt". Thanksgiving this year was all about Eli's special Turkey shirt. Here are some pictures of it:

Front says "Hey Listen Up, this li'l turkey has something to say"

The back - "I'm going to be a big brother"

Yes, that's right. Eli is going to be a big brother next summer!! We decided to tell our families at Thanksgiving and thought this shirt would be the perfect way to let Eli announce it.

Wednesday night, we drove down to the farm at Eli's bedtime. That worked great except when we got there at 10:30pm, he didn't want to go back to sleep. He was super cranky pants and wore Tim & I down - a LOT! Earlier that day, he had gotten his 15 month vaccines and I forgot to give him some tylenol. We think they threw him for a loop - he got the chicken pox vaccine which he's never gotten before. We finally got to sleep around 2:30am with him and our eyes had barely closed before we heard "doodle doo....doodle doo". Eli heard the rooster outside and was crowing back to it. It was so darn cute. It made the rough night go away! After breakfast, we decided to get Eli out of his pj's and put on his "turkey shirt". I was so excited - I had been about to bust to tell my Mom. We took him downstairs and let Grandma & Grandpa C read it for themselves.

Grandma C - happy with the message!

Of course, they were happy as could be. I didn't see my Dad's reaction right away but Tim said he just sat in the chair, eyes and mouth wide open. They love being Grandparents and are excited that another one is on the way. We let Eli keep his shirt on to announce it to my extended family. It was so fun having them all read it when they came over. We did Thanksgiving lunch at my Mom's house and, as usual, there was plenty of good food. I almost put myself into a carb coma! Eli took a nap right during lunch so I was able to actually eat with both hands. After lunch, everyone retreated outside to shoot targets, ride the 4-wheeler, see the animals and enjoy the beautiful day.

Family photo

Eli in the barn loft with Grandpa

Petting goats with Grandma

I LOVE this picture - Eli wasn't sure what to make of his shadow

Climbing the stairs at Grandma's house - Hi Eli!

Giggle Giggle - Eli has the most wonderful laugh

Late in the afternoon, we went to visit Great Grandma C - affectionately known as Huggie Grandma. She loved hearing our news and we talked with her for a while. Eli was trying to get into everything, of course. After that, we headed back to the farm for dinner before driving home. Eli did great driving home and slept like a champ. That was much needed for us!

On Friday, we spent the day as a family. We did go to the mall to get out of the house but just enjoyed hanging out. Grandma & Grandpa N arrived Saturday and spent the weekend with us.

Grandma N reading Eli's shirt

Grandpa N getting the news

Tim's parents were very excited and happy to hear the news as well. They have been trying to plan a family vacation for Tim's side of the family and we have been very elusive for the past month about it. It was a relief to finally tell them why!!

We spent Saturday afternoon just hanging out and then had a wonderful steak dinner that night. We tried to watch a movie after Eli went to bed but we all ended up falling asleep on the couch! Sunday morning we had a leisurely start to the day and enjoyed a big family breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! Eli's friend Ryan then came over to run around a bit and boom, it was lunch time. After lunch, Tim's parents watched Eli while Tim & I went to the movies. I can not remember the last time we went to the movies. We went to see 'Four Christmases'. It was entertaining and a nice break. We very much enjoyed having Tim's parents here to visit and appreciate them giving us a few hours off!

Reading to Grandma & Grandpa N

So as you can see, it was a very memorable Thanksgiving. Everything it should have been - family, food, friends, time spent together....and of course, our big news! We'll keep you posted on how #2 is coming along. We hope that everyone else had a wonderful holiday as well.

No Black Friday for me this year

Hard to believe - I skipped Black Friday this year. I can not remember the last time I wasn't out shopping before the roosters were up. Usually, my Mom and I go out and it's just fun to spend time together. I did miss that part but I really enjoyed sleeping in (until 6:30am), especially since Eli had a rough night on Wednesday. We spent the day today together as a family. We actually did go to the mall but it was more to get Eli out and not to actually shop (thank goodness, it was a zoo!). Grandma & Grandpa N will be here tomorrow for the weekend. After that hopefully I can get pictures loaded and write about our Thanksgiving. We had a good time yesterday visiting with family down at the farm.

If you went out shopping today, hope you got some good bargains!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope that everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving. We're headed to the farm to see Grandma & Grandpa C for the day tomorrow and then we'll have Grandma & Grandpa N here for the weekend. It should be so much fun. Lots of eating and hanging out with family! We have so much to be thankful for this year.

15 month check

Fall school picture - growing up fast!

Today was Eli's 15 month check at the doctor. He did so great. Everything looked good and he is growing along his own growth curve. We still have a big boy, that's for sure! Eyes, ears, throat, chest, legs...it was a good check all around. He wasn't very happy that he had to get two shots but he did great for them and didn't cry for too long. Poor thing, he even fell asleep on the way home. Here are his stats:

Weight: 27 pounds, 14.6 ounces - 75th percentile

Length: 33-1/4" - 90-95th percentile

Head circumference - 49cm - 90-95th percentile

Long and lean....just like his Daddy!

Snow suit fashion show

Snapped a few cute pictures of Eli in his snow suit this morning. The day turned out to be a nice one but it was pretty darn cold when we went for a walk at 8am (it was maybe 30 degrees!). Eli seemed to be warm and comfy in his snow suit - he even took a 20 minute cat nap during the walk. Notice the gloves, a BIG victory for Mom & Dad. Eli hasn't been very cooperative with gloves and hats. We won the glove battle (for now) but still haven't been successful with the hat / hood battle. Maybe soon.

Raleigh Christmas Parade

Today was a busy day. Very early in the cold, we set off to see the Christmas parade. Now, Tim & I have both lived here for a long time but have never been. We weren't too sure what to expect and quite surprised when the newspaper said it would last about 2-1/2 hours. Apparently this is the biggest parade between Atlanta and DC - who knew?! Parade started around 9:30am and we got there about 20 minutes before and found a pretty good spot. We had all bundled up in multiple layers - Eli actually had his fuzzy pajamas on under his sweatsuit, worked perfectly!! The parade started with the police department on motorcycles and horses and there were tons of things to see after that. Eli was so cute waving to all the parade people and making friends with everyone around us. His school had a float (#93 of 115 floats - that didn't include all the other bands, cars, horses, balloons, etc.) but Eli had pooped out by then. He seemed to have fun watching the entire thing. We even got lucky and were giving a 'Bob the Builder' DVD.

Post parade, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and a shopping excursion to REI. Got Eli an awesome snowsuit (not that we expect a lot of snow, just need to keep him warm b/c we CAN NOT spend the next four months inside!) and also picked up a few Christmas gifts. We spent the afternoon recovering (all of us) from our big morning.

Lots of pictures from the day...

Family photo

Monster truck - what a great Southern Parade!

Tractors - Grandpa would have loved this

Mid parade - looking for the next float

Flat Stanley went with us - he really needs that coat!

Dancing library carts - this was one of my favorites. They had a choreographed routine and had so much fun with it.

Snowman balloon - 1 of 4 balloons. Who needs Macy's?

Pooped out warm & snuggly little boy

Every good Christmas parade must end with Santa!

Meet Flat Stanley

Last night a special visitor arrived at our house - meet Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley came to us from Eli's cousin John in Florida. He is here to visit for a few weeks and explore NC. We hope to take him lots of places and document his visit here before he has to go back. It was pretty fun that we woke up to snow today so we had to let him play in it for a few minutes. They definitely don't see that in Florida!! We'll probably have to give Flat Stanley a coat as cold as it's been around here.

Busy Little Beavers

It has been a busy weekend around here...go go go!

Friday, during the day, I tiled our fireplace. We've wanted to do it for a long time but it just took forever to find the tile we liked. Now the tile is installed but we haven't gotten around to grouting it yet. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get that and the finishing touches done. Friday night, our friends Kara & Brian & their son Owen came over for dinner. I tried to get pictures of the boys in action but they were running all over chasing each other. It's so fun to watch them interact and play together. Far different than their first "playdate" where they slept in their carseats!

Saturday morning Eli & I did a long walk, we ran some errands as a family and then Ms. Katie came over to stay with Eli and his friend Ryan for the afternoon. We went to the NC State / Wake Forest football game with our friends Carol & Kevin - GO PACK!! It was a fun soggy afternoon. The crazy thing was that my brother and his girlfriend came up for the game and we all happened to be in the same section. It was so great to see them. Again I tried to take pictures of Eli & Ryan playing when we got home but they were all over the place. It's funny that Eli & Ryan are in the same class at school but they never seem to tire of each other. Good for us!!

Today we did some stuff around the house and some general weekend errands. Nothing too exciting but the day somehow disappeared! We did stop by to see Kara, Brian & Owen for a bit and the boys got to run around more with a football and basketball.

Hope you all had a great weekend....that's the update from here!

Progress on the fireplace - a 2x2 stone tile

Evia & her brother Billy at the football game

Carol & Kevin (they're both always smiling!!)

3rd quarter - had to break out the rain gear

Eli and his Sunday morning cheesy face - just can't get enough of that silly smile