Charlie at 14 Weeks

I love taking pictures of Charlie in the pack and play - it's near our front window where there is a lot of natural light. The pack and play doesn't look very pretty in our living room, but it's fine for the short term. And it gives me the chance to take pictures of Charlie in that nice light! (he was in a serious mood when I was taking these)

I can't believe how big Charlie is getting! Yesterday I brought Eli in to the doctor for a sick visit - he saw a different doctor since I called in that afternoon for an appointment (I was worried Eli had an ear infection, but it turns out it's just his 2-yr molars that are hurting him - he hasn't been sleeping well for the last few days). Anyway, the doctor, who is probably in his 60s and a really nice man, looked down at Charlie and asked how old he was. When I told him, he said, "He's robust!" It made me laugh. 

Silly Eli

Here's Eli trying on my athletic shoes while still in his pjs:

Eli has been doing some funny things lately that I wanted to write down while I was thinking about it.

He recently discovered the junk drawer in the kitchen and has had all kinds of fun with the random stuff inside... orange tea lights from Halloween (for lighting the pumpkin), birthday candles, toothpicks, pencils, etc. Anyway, he was wearing his crocs over the weekend and decided to stick the birthday candles in the holes of the crocs. It was pretty funny because he kept singing "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." (and I of course forgot to take a picture or get a video).

On Sunday as we were driving to church, I turned the radio to the classical music station for some mellow Sunday music (something I haven't done before -usually we just have the radio off). Eli kept saying, "Trip! Trip!" and I realized he was referring to the cartoon, Little Einstein's (the show's theme song says, "We're going on a trip..." so he refers to that show as "trip"). I think it's neat that he connected the classical music, since the show always features a classical song/composer. Eli's only watched it a handful of times, but it stuck with him!

Tonight after dinner, Eli kept saying he wanted to watch Finding Nemo. Now, this child does not watch tv very often (though this post makes it sound like he does). Ben and I figured we would let him watch 15 minutes of Nemo before putting him to bed... but it was probably not the best idea. The movie was so scary to him! Eli started crying at one point in the movie when Nemo's dad and Dory went flying out of the EAC (is that what it's called - where they're swimming w/ the turtles?) and are spinning out of control - I think Eli was worried they were hurt. And there were a few other times where he kept saying, "Scary!" and seemed really worried, so we would skip to the next scene. Eli is really sensitive and I have yet to find a Disney movie that doesn't totally scare him. We occasionally watch Sesame Street, Little Einstein's, Thomas, or Curious George, and none of those freak him out.

Another random thing - Eli loves to chase us around the house (and be chased), especially when Ben and I are both home. Then he and I run together, holding hands, and we try to sneak up on Ben. Eli SQUEALS with excitement and it's so cute.

And lastly, I need to get a video of this, but lately Eli answers, "Yes" to everything, rather than "Yeah." It's really funny hearing him clearly say, "yes" when you ask him a question. He has also picked up the phase, "Stop it!" somewhere and says it constantly. I'm not such a fan of that one. Today he was telling Charlie to "stop it" over and over again while we were at the store... Eli was sitting in the front seat of the cart and Charlie was in his car seat in the back of the cart. Charlie kept putting his feet up on the back of Eli's seat and it was driving him CRAZY. It was funny to me for a little bit and then hearing "stop it!" a million times started to drive me crazy :)

Kites at the Beach

On Friday we had a really warm day - I think it was 80 degrees! We went to the beach in the evening and had a picnic with the Klearmans. Below is Eli playing with Caroline in the sand.

It was a VERY windy day, so we brought some kites to fly. Ben's parents gave Eli an Elmo kite for Easter and this was the first time we tested it out.

Here's Eli trying to fly the kite by himself, getting frustrated and kicking it:

Kick the Kite from Sarah on Vimeo.

And here Ben helps Eli - kite success!

Kite Success from Sarah on Vimeo.

Ben flying the kite higher and Eli yelling "Elmo!" at the kite:

Elmo! from Sarah on Vimeo.

Eli spent his non-kite-flying time digging in the sand. I have a feeling this will be a sandy summer - this boy LOVES the beach (and was asking to go to the beach all week long, but it was too cold earlier in the week).

Charlie hung out in his car seat (and unfortunately we got some sand in it)

Here are a few more of Eli playing in the sand:

Pretending to eat it:

Being silly:

Charlie and Ben hanging out:

Eli doesn't get treats very often, so he really enjoyed this cookie:

I was impressed that Eli could fly a kite and eat a cookie at the same time

I call Charlie my Chunky Monkey - he is a hefty guy, now weighing in at 15 pounds. My arms are getting buffer by the day :)

Charlie at 13 Weeks

I've been messing around with various methods of posting pictures to blogger. So I'll take an informal survey - for those of you who use flickr or photobucket, which do you like better and why?



Here are some pictures I took of happy Charlie this morning. I love when this boy smiles! My favorite is when he's starting to fuss and I catch his attention - once he realizes I'm looking/smiling at him, he totally lights up!

Weekend with Davey

Davey spent the weekend with us, so we shared one of Eli's favorite things with him - throwing rocks over the bridge.

Saturday was a warm, humid day. It's strange to feel warm, 70-degree air when it's been cold for so long. We were reminded of the cold weather the next day when we were back to the 40s and 50s with lots of rain. It's still damp and cold today, but the end of this week looks promising! We'll look forward to that :)

It's fun to throw rocks and watch them fall...
But it's sad when we've thrown all the rocks - Eli wanted more!

On Sunday I dressed the boys in matching sweaters. Charlie looked like a little old man-ish, but it was still cute :)

I bought this sweater for Eli last fall, and was recently back at Gymboree and noticed a 3-6 month sized version of the same sweater, so I snatched it up for $5. Good thing we can't seem to shake winter weather very fast - it gives us lots of time to wear cute sweaters.

Eli is just a month away from turning 2! He is WAY more opinionated, strong-willed, and has a wild and crazy side. It's getting harder to distract him or sway him from things he wants to do. He has very extreme emotions, happy or sad. I've already seen a glimpse of the feet stomping, tantrum-throwing moments that you associate with age 2, but thankfully he still graces us with his fun, sweet happy self too.

Yeah Mama! Yeah Dada!

Today we had a glimpse that Spring MIGHT be around the corner. We're supposed to have beautiful weather this weekend before it drops back down into the 40s and 50s next week. I love Chicago, but 6 months of winter is a bit much. However - there is something about the first warm days that really puts you in a good mood - Charlie was so smiley today:

He is a big bubbler...
Eli was in a great mood too and loved being out in the back yard. He collected some rocks and lined them all up, and counted them (as shown in the first video below). Eli's voice seems to get louder as each day passes, as is shown in the second video. Earlier I was helping him blow bubbles and he got so excited and yelled, "Yeah Mama!" Later he was watching Ben juggle the soccer ball and started to say, "Yeah Mama!" but realized he was actually cheering for Ben and switched his cheer to "Yeah Dada!" He also loves any counting that leads to "BLAST OFF!" so you'll hear that too.
Eli Counting Rocks
(the videos do work, despite the vertical lines showing up for the time being):

Eli Counting 1-10 at 22 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Eli yelling Yeah Mama! and Yeah Dada!

Yeah MAMA! Yeah DADA! (Eli at 22 Months) from Sarah on Vimeo.

Charlie at 12 Weeks

Hooray for 12 weeks!! It's amazing how the first few weeks of a baby's life feel SO long, but then things pick up and suddenly you have this big baby. I was looking at Charlie this morning as he stretched and he seemed so huge all of the sudden. He's not a newborn anymore!

I weighed him today - he's 14 pounds and busting out of his size 1-2 Pampers diapers. I love chubby babies!

Charlie has discovered his hands and loves to look at them, hold them, etc.
In case you're wondering why he's in pjs, my policy is if he blows out of his diaper in the late afternoon, I don't bother with a new outfit. He goes straight to jammies...

Charlie is on a decent sleep schedule now, going to bed between 7 and 9 p.m. (depending on if he takes two or three naps in the day) and just waking up at 4 a.m. to eat. Then he goes back to sleep and usually is up between 6 and 7 a.m. Hooray for more sleep!

Eli Videos

Eli was being really hyper and funny tonight when we were playing in the basement. Here are a few quick videos of his craziness :)

Hyper Eli, Running Around (watch how he runs with his elbows sticking out):

Eli is FAST at 22 Months :) from Sarah on Vimeo.

Eli Motions "Come Here" - (in the last few seconds - watch his fingers, it's funny):

Eli Motions "Come Here" - at 22 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Eli Sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Eli Sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at 22 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Eli Sings the ABCs:

Eli Singing the ABCs at 22 months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Today we had Stake Conference - here we are outside the church:

Eli looked so handsome, all dressed up

Here he is, showing a little attitude:
After most of us took a nap this afternoon, we drove up to my parents' house for Easter dinner. Here's my dad, sporting a beautiful apron, holding Charlie :)
My parents had a wooden Noah's Ark set that Eli loved playing with. It was really cute to watch him name all of the animals - I think his favorites were the penguins and the giraffes.
My parents hid some Easter eggs in the backyard, so we hunted around for them (but it was freezing!! Where the heck is our Spring weather?)

Back inside, Eli and Charlie had fun playing with Gram:

I love Charlie's smiles!

And his funny expressions:

Cute feet with long toes:

Here's Eli with the ark: Eli is talking so much now. Some of the things he decides to say are pretty funny. Last week we were making BLTs for dinner and Eli saw me cooking the bacon and yelled, "I want bacon!" - before then I hadn't realized how much he liked bacon. Then when we were in Cleveland, Eli saw Rachael cutting a piece of leftover birthday cake and declared, "I love cake!" and wanted some.

Eli also says "I want to reach it" or "I want to open it" quite a bit. Today he had an opinion about which socks he wanted to wear (of course they were athletic socks with soccer balls on them, but oh well! I figured no one would see them when we were at church). It's so interesting seeing your little boy grow and have his own opinions about how things should go...