Helmet free days, Photo session, New shoes and a play / dinner date

Whew......what a busy day in the life of a one year old! (and the parents of a one year old!!)

Started the day at UNC with a helmet check. Eli is now helmet free during the day and will continue to wear it at night for as long as it fits. Tim & I are very happy with the change but now Eli - Mr. I can butt my head against anything - will have to adjust. He loves to bang his head on the crib and plexiglass wall at school because it makes a funny sound. He'll quickly realize that hurts, I'm sure.

Then we went to Portrait Innovations to have his 1 year pictures made. We really liked it there and they did a great job with Eli. He was trying to run all over the studio and the guy doing the photography just kept snapping shots as they were available and playing with Eli to get him to smile. We got lots of good ones and there's a sample below.

We got home just in time for nap time and then it was time to go get new shoes. Eli has completely grown out of his size 5-1/2 sandals. We ended up with a size 7 sneaker type shoe. I have included a picture of them because I love them! They're super fun cool shoes and not something you see every day. They're made by Geox and Eli got the blue "snake bite" model. Also, found out that Eli's next pair of shoes will not come from the infant/toddler selection. Nope, Mr. Big Foot will move up to the boys wall of shoes (they start at size 8). Unbelievable!!

Tonight Kara, Brian and Owen came over bearing pizza. We had dinner together and let the boys wear each other out (Eli is already asleep at 7:20pm!). Eli & Owen had fun playing with each other but also wrestling, pulling hair and pushing each other down. Brian tried to explain to Owen that Eli is a daycare commando and has 7 pounds on him but Owen didn't understand. It was funny watching them together. It was also nice to hang out and chat with our friends.

Tomorrow we're hoping to catch a bike ride and do normal Saturday house stuff. Now some pictures to enjoy.....

Aren't these the most fun shoes?!

Feeding ducks and Swinging with Daddy

This afternoon after school, Eli & I walked down to the lake to feed the ducks. It was his first time feeding them and he also fed himself! He did great throwing bread through the railings and one time he actually ate the piece I gave him. He really enjoyed watching them go after the food and walking around on the bridge. A few dogs walked by and Eli made sure to call them by name - "Dog".

After dinner, I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of Tim & Eli swinging on the swingset. My two main men look so cute together!

Feeding ducks is fun!

Where'd you go little ducky?

Swinging with Daddy (a big kid himself!)

Staycation Update

Haven't posted in a few days and some of you may remember that I am treating myself to a "staycation" this week. I was home by myself Mon/Tues and Tim was home today/tomorrow. We have Eli on Fri and then it's the holiday weekend.

So what have we been up to? Well, my original intention was to scrapbook the entire time. I've done more than that. I've cleaned / organized / de-cluttered so that I feel better. I'm not a pack rat and I am always evaluating how long it has been since something was used and then deciding what to do with it. I have scrapbooked a few pages, done some shopping, errands and helped my neighbors on projects. Today Tim did some projects around the house and almost finished up cutting retaining wall cap blocks. Picked Eli up early yesterday for a play date with Owen and today for a mini-birthday party to celebrate our neighbor Samantha's 11th birthday. Tomorrow I'll do some more scrapbooking and hopefully pick Eli up early for a walk with Kara and Owen.

Friday will be a fun day. Helmet appointment first at UNC at 8:30am. (Hopefully this will be the last. We're so ready for it to be over as the helmet seems to be getting tight.) Then we have Eli's 1 year pictures. It'll be a busy morning and we also need to get Mr. Big Foot some new shoes. His little toes are at the end of his sandals!!

So, not a lot exciting going on - just enjoying some time in the house to work on projects. It's also nice for Eli to be at school for shorter days and for us to have a leisurely start to the day. Hope you're all having a great week - more updates soon!

Sunday pics

Had a great morning with Grandma & Grandpa N on Sunday. They hung out with us and played with Eli for most of the morning before heading home. Finally got Eli to sit still for a picture!

Love my Grandparents!

Mr. Cool hanging out in Daddy's truck

Playing with Grandpa

Eli had so much fun last night playing with his Grandpa. Here's a little clip.

The Best Birthday Party EVER!!!

Today was such an amazing day. Eli had the best birthday party EVER. We are so fortunate to have wonderful friends and family to celebrate with. Our house (and yard!) was full of laughter, fun and chaos. And I loved every minute of it!

The theme of the party was "Monkey" for our little Monkey Eli. Monkeys were everywhere - from the stuffed ones to inflatable ones to all of our little monkeys running around playing. My family arrived about 10am and I immediately put my Mom and Laura (my brother's girlfriend to work). They helped me finish getting ready for our first guests that arrived at 11am. From that time on, it was a steady stream of people in and out. First the kids started playing on the back screen porch in the ball pool, with the mailbox and all the other toys out there. Then the fun moved into the backyard where the water table, the cozy coupe, the swing set, bubble machine and shaded play blankets were. Did I tell you we had fun?!! It was very laid back and casual as people ate sandwiches and chips whenever they felt like it. I actually got Eli to sit inside and eat a bit of lunch. Then it was back out to be the center of attention! He loved having all of his friends here. I think there were about 9 kids between the ages of 6 months and 13 months. More playing and then we moved the high chair outside to sing 'Happy Birthday' and having cupcakes. Eli wasn't quite sure about the singing and was then shy with his cupcake. On his actual birthday, he destroyed the cupcake but this time I think he just wanted to play. After cake, we opened presents - LOTS OF THEM! Oh my goodness, Santa doesn't need to stop at our house this year. It was crazy insane the generosity of our friends and family. Tim & I are going to have to come up with a toy rotation so he always thinks he has new toys. Eli did pretty good opening gifts, he made it almost through before he wanted to be off playing again. It was so great to see all the kids outside having fun and playing together. I don't recall one single child having a breakdown (other than not wanting to go home) or being fussy. They were all so well behaved and just playing. As everyone got tired and naptime approached, the crowd thinned out until we were left with family. My parents (and brother and Laura) and Tim's parents drove up this morning to be here for the fun. We're so glad they were here and got to spoil Eli even more. Eli took a super long nap this afternoon, got up to play more with his toys, eat dinner and then was ready for bed. He was super pooped from such an exciting day.

I can not quit smiling when I think about his party. It seemed like everyone had fun and my neighbor Amy (party planner extraordinaire) gave the thumbs up to my planning and party execution. I know Eli won't remember it but we have some great video and pictures to show him when he gets older.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by today. There were a few of Eli's friends who were sick and couldn't come - we missed you Stella Dot and Noah. Hope you feel better!!

Eli's party was the last one of party season so now we hope to chill a bit, lay low and get some house projects done.

Monkey Man - Guest of Honor

Cupcake station

Playing on the screen porch

Playing in the back yard

Dean and Amanda - swingset for all ages!

Uncle Billy teaching Eli to drive (I think they did a pretend race!)

Eli's favorite new toy - a popping lawnmower

Got a bike!!

Swinging with the big kids

Grandma & Grandpa

Eli got fussy before we got pictures of all the Grandparents - hope to have more tomorrow!

1 year check up

Today we had Eli's 1 year appointment and check at the doctor's office. He was such a big boy and did a great job. When we first got there, I let him out of the stroller and off he went to play with all the toys. It was his first time loose in the kids play area and he loved it.

Here are his stats (we're reporting them to NCSU so they can start recruiting him for football):
Weight: 26 pounds, 4.4 ounces (90th percentile)
Length: 32-1/2 inches (97th percentile)
Head: 47.75 cm (75th-90th percentile)

He's our little linebacker in the making. He already has a great football nickname - "Dozer".

I had to fill out the 12 month questionnaire about what he's doing and he is off the chart with his skills. Communication he's a little above where he should be at this age and his gross and fine motor skills are amazing. He has been walking for over 6 weeks now and the doctor was quite impressed with how he's doing. I told everyone when he was born that he wasn't a newborn but rather about a month old. Seems I may have been right!! But really, he's doing great. Has been drinking whole milk out of sippy cups for probably two weeks now - no more bottles here. We've had an issue with eating eggs (rash breakouts) so we'll wait a few months before trying eggs again. We do have to follow up with a pediatric urologist - if you don't know why, I'm not going to explain here but feel free to email me and ask. He got two shots and handled them like a champ. A little crying but not screaming full force. He was more annoyed about being held down than anything. He got two big boy bandaids and we were off on our way. We go back at 15 months for his next check up and will probably get him a flu shot before then.

He has a helmet appointment next Friday (the 29th) and Tim & I think we're about finished with the helmet. It is getting tight on him and they have done about all the grinding they can do on one side. It's harder to get on him these days because of his head growth so we'll make it one more week (that'll be almost 21 weeks) and then I think we may be done. Of course, we'll let the specialist advise us what we should do but we think we're almost there.

Hope everyone has a good night. Got to finish getting ready for Eli's big birthday party tomorrow!

Birthday Shout out....

Happy Birthday to Eli's friend Will who turned one today!!
Welcome to the big boy club. Hope you had a super marvelous day being 1!!

MP3 boy

Yesterday Eli got the coolest birthday gift from his cousins Rodney and John in Florida. It a Classical Music MP3 Player. He has not put it down since he opened it. Today he took it in the car with him to school and this afternoon had it again after his doctor's appointment. The cutest thing was that he started the music and then fell asleep in his car seat listening to his classical music.

Thanks Rodney and John - you're the best cousins ever!!

Birthday Boy

Today is a very special day. Depending on who you ask, we're either celebrating Eli's first birthday or that Tim & I survived our first year of parenthood. Regardless, we had fun celebrating it all today!

We had to wake Mr. "I'm 1 today" up this morning because he just wanted to snooze. I woke him up singing 'Happy Birthday'. Downstairs for breakfast, there was a balloon on his high chair and a present to open. The 'Birthday Monsters' came to town. We had fun reading this book. Then it was off for a fun filled day at school. I picked Eli up a little early so we could have some extra time at home. Our neighbor Amy and her kids, Samantha & Henry, came over and gave Eli some cool presents (monkey dinnerware and some Curious George books - VERY COOL!). Then Kara brought Owen over to have some birthday play time. They brought Eli a balloon which he just loved - Owen had to have one too so they were trotting around with their balloons. Some fun in the ball pit, with the water table and on the swingset....they were all over. After dinner, Eli got to have a cupcake to celebrate. He loved it and made a decent mess of it. Took a birthday walk in the wagon (with the balloon I might add) and then we had a pooped out little boy. He went to sleep very easily tonight. I can only imagine how he'll be Saturday for his party!

It has been a wonderful day. I would say it was Eli's best birthday ever.....ok, so it's his ONLY birthday ever but that's just a technicality. He has gotten lots of phone calls, emails and lovin' from all our friends and family. We're so lucky and blessed to have Eli with us and to have a wonderful support network that got us through the first year.

Musical card from Grandma & Grandpa. He was so cute opening and closing it. It played 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'.

Birthday Monster book

Eli & Mommy before school

Birthday boy with his balloon

Water table fun with Owen

There goes Trouble 1 and Trouble 2

Sweet little cupcake face. Happy Birthday Monk Monk!!

This time last year....

At this exact time last year on August 19th, Tim & I had no idea that Eli was about to arrive. I had done a walk that morning, then we went to Triangle Town Center in the afternoon to walk around and hang out, completely oblivious that I was really in labor. My neighbors had told me that morning that I was having contractions because my belly was tightening but I was clueless. For those of you with a sharp memory, you'll remember that Eli arrived shortly after midnight that night.

It's amazing how fast time flies. I never knew the year would go so fast. In the next few days, I hope to post some things that I've learned over the past year. There are so many but having Eli has taught me a lot not only about a baby and the making of a family but also about myself.

Mr. Social

We've had a busy few days keeping up with Eli, Mr. Social. Thursday afternoon his friend Ryan (and Ryan's mom Carol) came to visit after school. They were laughing and playing - totally forgetting that they'd been together all day at school. We had dinner with Carol & Ryan before heading out on a walk with them and Kara and Owen. We're so lucky (ok, I'M so lucky) that we all live so close together. The boys seemed to enjoy the walk - we managed to fit in 2 miles!

Friday night Owen came over with his parents to play for a bit and hang out. It was great! Both Eli & Owen were tired when their play session was over and slept like champs.

Yesterday was another busy day. Eli & I did a 3 mile run/walk first thing before all of us went out to run errands. Lunch, a nap and then it was off to another birthday party (August will always be party month for us!). This time it was Eli's friend Will. His birthday is this Friday and his parents had his party yesterday. It was a great cookout with lots of babies and friends. Eli walked all over the place playing with whatever he could find. Will seemed to have a good time eating, playing, opening presents and just being the center of attention.

We were a little worried about Eli yesterday. He started coughing....pretty bad. It was a dry harsh cough. We were concerned that it might be the start of croup. We got some Children's Tylenol Cough & Cold and prepared ourselves for a long night. Eli didn't eat much yesterday so that added to the cause for concern. Fortunately, he barely coughed all night - thanks to Tylenol and the humidifier. This morning he woke up happy as could be and has been eating fairly well. Whew...hopefully dodged that one.

This morning, I went for a road bike ride while Tim & Eli hung out. Once I got home, Eli & I did the grocery shopping while Tim did a road bike ride. It was great!! My ride (selfish here) was much better than I had hoped for and I felt great. I'm not near as fast as I used to be but it was good to be out there. Now Eli is taking a nap and we'll hit the floor playing again as soon as he wakes up.

We hope that everyone else has had a good weekend too! I've got one more week of work and then a little staycation for Mommy. Woo hooo!! Some pictures to enjoy...

Eli & Ryan in the ball pit

Mr. Big Boy - check out the cute shoes

Birthday Boy Will

Wrestling with Ryan...again!!

Our family - we don't get family pics too often!

So cute, checking the mail from the cozy coupe

Eli fell asleep eating lunch today in the high chair

Meeting Ella

Today I met Ella.

This afternoon when I picked Eli up at school, Colin's mom and sister were picking him up (Colin is a boy in Eli's class). Ella came over to me - she's 4 years old max - and announced that Eli is her boyfriend. She was so cute and matter of fact about it. I told her that she's Eli's first girlfriend. I wish I had her picture - she's just as adorable as can be. Guess Eli's already catching the girls!

Helmet update - week 18

Hard to believe that it has been 18 weeks that Eli has been wearing his helmet. Had an appointment today for a helmet check and measurements at UNC. He didn't have a big head growth spurt this time - circumference was about the same and small tweaks in the side to side and front to back measurements. They did a little grinding on the foam of his helmet for a better fit and we were off on our way to school. Next appointment will be August 29th. Eli still has a decent size soft spot so as long as we're able to get correction, we're going to stick with it. Shoot, we've come this far, we might as well get the full benefit.

And we were swinging.....

Yesterday Tim finished the anchoring and hung the swingsets. We were able to give it a good test swing today. Eli loves his new swingset (thank goodness!!)

Laughing and swinging with Henry

Testing out the big swing with Mommy

Party Animal

Saturday was a fun day. We went on a family bike ride to Umstead in the morning. After we got home and cleaned up, Eli & I ran some errands. Lunch, a long nap and the day was topped off with two birthday parties. First, we went to Owen's house to help celebrate his first birthday and then we went to the pool in Lexi's neighborhood to celebrate her first birthday. August is a very busy time of year for the little party animals!!

Owen, birthday boy - pondering all the nonsense

Owen and parents (Kara and Brian)

Testing out Owen's new toys

On a wagon ride with Birthday Girl Lexi

Pony rides at Eli's house

THANK YOU AUNT CARY!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness. My friend Cary in Colorado is one of Eli's honorary "aunts". She takes this job very seriously and does what she can to spoil her "nephew". Thursday afternoon we arrived home to find a big box on our front porch. I thought it was something I'd ordered for Tim but when I went on the porch to retrieve it, I discovered a big rocking horse. The slip said "Happy #1 Eli, Love Aunt C". Eli's first 1st birthday present. =) We didn't tell him about it but rather Tim put it together last night after Eli went to bed - it felt like Christmas Eve. We were so excited to see Eli's face this morning and just see if he even noticed it in the room.

Notice it? He most definitely did!! He walked right over to it, was checking it out and was then ready to hop on. Tim put him on the horse (horse doesn't have a name yet, any suggestions?!) and Eli knew exactly what to do. He started bobbing and rocking on it. It was so cute and Eli was so happy. He's not quite big enough to touch the stirrups but he can definitely hold the handles and rock on it with us close by.

Such a cool birthday present. It's the only way Eli was ever going to get a pony. So now, pony rides for everyone at Eli's house!!

Tim testing the horse after assembly

Hello there Mr. Horse

Do you want to play with me?

Giddy up!

Fun in the ball pit

We're just having so much fun in our house. Today we put an inflatable swimming pool on the screen porch and filled it with soft plastic balls. Eli loved it and it kept him busy for quite a while!

Hanging in the pool of balls

This is the coolest!

Milk Boy

Eli is officially a Milk Boy now. Today we sent him to school with bottles filled with straight cow's milk. We have been transitioning for almost a month now varying the amount of formula and milk in each bottle. Yesterday was the last of the formula. Wow....can not believe it! No sending bottles to school next week. Unbelievable.

Catching Up

Whew, where do the days go. I never finished blogging about our weekend. For me, it was the single best weekend we've had since Eli was born. I was happy, Eli was happy, Tim was happy and we got to do things together. It was great! Sunday we did a bike ride with Eli and rode over to the playground. He was interested in everything - he had fun climbing on the equipment, sliding and rocking on the bouncy toys. We ran errands and hung out together. Some eating, some napping for Eli (we did the swing beam while he was napping) and a trip to the pool with our neighbors. So much fun! Eli was pooped out after the pool. He fell asleep pretty easy that night.

Now we're back into the work week routine. Eli is having a fun week at school - as always. This morning when I took him in, he walked from the car into school. I held his hand to make sure he didn't face plant on the pavement but he's getting to be such a big boy. Tonight was a treat for me. I actually went on a mountain bike ride after work. Tim has been after me to start riding again and I just haven't made it a priority. We both need to get our riding jump started (Tim's a much stronger rider than me). So tonight I did a ride and made it home in time to give Eli some hugs and kisses before bed. Now tomorrow, we'll try the same thing with Tim riding. Hopefully we can figure this exercise thing out so we can maintain our sanity. Other than that, life is just normal.....and we love our normal.

Eli swimming with his Amy at the pool (our neighbor)

Almost a swingset - have to anchor before hanging the swings

Our Little Dancing Machine

Just a little Sunday morning entertainment for you. It sure made our morning.

Swingset - Part 1

This is the weekend of the swingset. Tim & I are building a swingset for Eli for his 1st birthday present. We picked the kit up at Lowe's on Wednesday night and, as I think I wrote in an earlier post, my Mom was coming up to watch Eli so we could put it together.

Started out.....2 boxes for the tower (almost 200 pounds each), 1 box for the swing beam (100 pounds) and a 10' long slide. We didn't get the plastic roof or rock climbing wall......yet. We brought it all home Wed night and put it in the garage. Last night we pulled the tower out of the two boxes, took inventory of the parts and organized them all in the yard. We started about 8am today. The instructions said that it would take two skilled workers about 16 hours to complete. Are you kidding me?! The day went very well. Eli & Grandma spent a lot of time outside watching and being part of the action. Tim and I worked great together. I was the helper and organizer. I would line up the parts and pieces for the next step and I would help Tim where he needed it - either supporting, measuring, lining up, whatever. It was a great system and we didn't have a single frustrating moment. It really was fun! Never ever did we think we'd be married with a child, putting together a swingset. Our reality is so much fun! We finished the tower at about 2:30pm (including a break for lunch) and after cleaning up, had to call it a day because of a thunderstorm. We're hoping to do the swing beam tomorrow but we'll see. Eli did have fun playing on the tower already and we've taken a few test trips down the slide. It's like having a tree house with a slide - and soon to have swings! I can't deny that Tim & I are continuing our childhoods through Eli. I went down the slide a few times and will probably swing when that's up. =)

We owe a super huge thank you to my Mom for coming to help us this weekend. Eli was so good and so happy. It helped us because we could focus on the swingset and know that Eli was in good hands.

BTW: We stopped at Lowe's tonight to pick something up and saw that Lowe's would have charged us $440 for what we put up today. It would probably be another $100 or so for the swing beam. A day well spent!

You're kidding me....THIS is my swingset?!

All the parts and pieces (with a 50 page instruction manual)

Eli helping with the corner post

Platform complete

Putting the roof on

"Hey, do yall know what you're doing?"

Helping Daddy in the tower

Grandma made me a box tee-pee

Peek a boo - I had fun with my boxes

Checking out my slide

Finished tower with slide

The Grandma Magnet (notice who has me!)

Snuggling with Grandma - it was hard doing all that work