Eli's 1st Day of Kindergarten

I'm pathetically behind with blogging, but wanted to do a few catch-up posts of some of the bigger events lately - one of which was Eli's first day of kindergarten. I was really sad that day, but it's been great so far and Eli has adjusted really well. There are three kindergarten classes at his school, and his class has 21 kids. One impressive thing is his teacher visited every child and family at home for an hour at a time before the school year began. So he was already familiar with his teacher and that made the transition a lot easier. 

Here's Eli with our sweet neighbor Oliver, who is an experienced pro at this school and walked with Eli onto the playground that first morning. It meant a lot to have someone a little older watching out for Eli, especially on days that they ride the bus. Oliver often sits with Eli on the bus. And just about every morning, he stops at our house on the way to the bus stop to pick up Eli to walk with him and his mom (this is a huge lifesaver!!).

A NOT cute picture of me with my boys. Hello 9-month pregnant big belly, fat face, eyes about to well up with tears... :) It was ridiculously humid that morning too, so I remember feeling super hot and gross as we were out on the playground. 

Eli of course had picked out an Angry Birds backpack for school this year, much to my chagrin :) But this one was better than some of the others I'd seen (and I haven't seen any other kids in his class with this same backpack, so that makes it easy for him to keep track of). 

This sour face was after a mom in the crowd accidentally spilled her coffee on Eli's new school shoes. He wasn't pleased, but I was very grateful he held it together and didn't get crazy upset/teary. 

Finally heading in to the school - Eli went in without tears and I tried not to cry watching him :)Afterward - Charlie was the only little kid left on the cement and hopped quietly from star to star. I felt sad for him losing his best friend and playmate to all-day kindergarten. But we've had some good quality time together since school started, and I've noticed he has thrown a lot fewer fits lately too. 

I got an email from a mom of a little boy in Eli's class on that first day, and she said her son came home from school and told her Eli was his best friend. :) Made me smile. I'm really relieved it's gone so well and grateful for a great school and nice kids who go there. 

Snippets from the Last Week

Here are some recent videos taken of the boys. Nothing earth shattering, just funny clips from life right now.

This first is my absolute favorite - Charlie giggling over and over again as I pushed him in the swing and tickled him per his request.

Ticklish Charlie - July 2012 from Sarah on Vimeo.

This next video was taken early this morning when I woke up and heard the boys talking in their bedroom. I walked in and saw Eli reading a book to Charlie and it was so dear. Then Eli got super silly. Which is the trend in this and the next video...

IMG 2244 from Sarah on Vimeo.

Last video of the post is one I took when Charlie climbed up at my computer and started typing "messages" - lots of messages. :)

"I'm writing SO many messages," he said. "For EVERYBODY."

His little voice is so funny - I love the way he chooses his language and how he communicates these days. Not to mention his cute little hands typing on the computer and bright eyes. Eli was extra silly and I promise doesn't always act like such a goofball... these boys are such cute friends and have plenty of fights/disagreements, but overall they love each other so much.


IMG 2261 from Sarah on Vimeo.

Last Day of Preschool

I was really, really sad about preschool ending this year.

I will admit to crying before the day started, during preschool, and after on the drive home :) Some of it I'm blaming on pregnancy hormones, but I probably would have cried if I wasn't pregnant. Eli getting older is really hitting me hard!!

Here is their preschool class, missing one little girl who was out of town and adding a sibling or two. 

Rebekeh (one of their wonderful teachers) went all out this year with their teacher gifts. She gave the kids the book, "Oh The Places You'll Go!" with an inscription from both her and Nancy, the other teacher, with the idea that we'll have Eli's teachers write a note each year as he finishes a grade of school. The bags also had little photo books for each child with pictures from the year. 

Here is Eli with one of his favorite friends, Evelyn, and then Evelyn with Ava, his other dear friend. He needs some little boys his age to play with!! All of his good friends seem to move away :( Sad. These girls will be here for a long time, but they won't be at the same elementary school. Eli doesn't have any friends going to school with him in the fall, which makes me nervous, but I'm hoping he'll make friends quickly. 

all of the crazy kids playing in Nancy's back yard. The boys have always done this Montessori setup, or Nancy's home preschool (she teaches at a private montessori school in Evanston as well).  I love the multi-age group and that Eli and Charlie could be in preschool together. Charlie is really going to miss having Eli around next year!!

here's Eli with Nancy and Rebekeh:

both boys with their teachers:

more friends piled in to the shot :)

the boys and I - this shirt doesn't make me look as pregnant as others for some reason (see the Father's Day post also from tonight - I look a lot larger there). It helps that I'm sitting down/hiding the belly too :)

love these boys and their cute ages!

Father's Day Week

I haven't blogged in forever. It's kind of daunting to start back up, but I'm going to attempt it again. I'm too tired to rearrange these from how they loaded, so just know they aren't in chronological order and I'm trying to get back into this :)

First, a group shot from Father's Day today. This is a terrible pic of me, but fun of everyone else, so I'm posting it! We had our friend (and Eli's primary teacher), Maraley, over for dinner too - she's the one taking the picture. We had a fun dinner, but I was in the kitchen from the time I got home from church at 1 p.m. until we ate dinner at 4:45 p.m. (hence my exhaustion). I gave my dad and Ben customized iPhone cases (from Uncommon - love their cases) with a picture of the boys on the back, and I also gave Ben the materials to make homemade bubbles. 

Eli is very into doing tricks with bubbles ever since we saw a show by The Bubble Man in Madison, WI last month. The bottled stuff never works that great, so Ben made a bubble solution out of karo syrup and dishwasher soap and it worked really well! I'll have to get some pics of Eli and his huge bubbles. 

Here are some pics of Ben and the boys after my family left and we were out on a walk before bedtime tonight. Eli and Charlie love Ben so much and are lucky to have such a fun dad. Charlie insisted on wearing his flip flops on the walk, but totally biffed it while running and skinned his right knee, so Ben scooped him up and put him on his shoulders. 

 

These next pictures are from a few days ago when my parents went to a nursery near our house to see HGTV's Jamie Durie speak and sign his new book. They came over afterward and hung out with us for a little bit. Here is Charlie having fun being pushed on the swing by my mom :)

Here's were they are really out of order... I tried to take some cute pictures of my parents with the boys, so they are interspersed below. 

Reading books with the kiddos - 

More pics with the four of them - 

Then Ben came home from work and distracted Eli and Charlie :)

Happy Father's Day to the dads in my life! 

Another Boy :)

We're having another boy! So excited for another sweet little guy on the way. Eli has started calling him "Trio" and is convinced this is going to be his name. I love Eli's drawing below of baby Trio in my belly with arrows pointing everywhere. 

And for clarification, the T E were the start of him spelling Trio (but then Eli realized those weren't right), and he wrote MOM starting with the M in between my shoes going down (it kind of looks like he was trying to write dumb, but that's not the case :)

We almost had to wait an extra week because things had to be shifted around with scheduling (one of the ultrasound tech's husband was dying and the other tech at my doctor's office was going to be out of town). I was dying to know and my irrational pregnant brain could not accept that we would have to wait seven more days when I had already been counting down until our originally scheduled doctor's appointment. So I convinced them to let me come in the day before and it all worked out well. 

I was preparing myself ahead of time for the likelihood that it was another boy, but still had to laugh at the ultrasound when it was very obvious (before the tech told us) that this was a baby boy. Of course it would be fun to change things up and have a girl, but I've been thinking of all of the great benefits to having all boys. We're already set with the clothes, toys, etc. The room that Eli and Charlie share is huge and could easily fit three boys if we wanted them to share someday. I have two sweet, imaginative, fun little boys and love being their mom, so bring on another! :)

Eli Update

Things I want to remember about Eli right now:

I've been thinking a lot about Eli lately as his last year of preschool starts to wind down and kindergarten feels like it is approaching wayyyy too fast. My stomach turns into knots when I think about him starting this next chapter in six months, but I know he will be ready. Academically at least. Emotionally... hopefully. :)

He continually impresses me with his creativity in building with blocks and legos. Yesterday he created his name out of Charlie's duplos (sure, ELI isn't that tough), but then also created the word, PUP out of the legos. PUP was for Charlie since he has his favorite stuffed puppy that he loves. That made me smile.

A few weeks ago, he created a few Angry Birds books with his own illustrations and then dictated to me what was happening on each page, so I wrote it all out for him. His stories are well thought out and creative. I love his imagination and his brain. He has continued his Angry Birds obsession in drawing and cutting out tiny little birds, pigs, etc. that are in the game and created his own game boards and pieces to use with his paper birds and pigs. Our office floor often has little scraps of white paper scattered on the floor from his many paper projects.

Tonight Eli pulled out a new sheet of paper and started drawing coins and writing the numbers in the circles. There were lots of pennies (writing the number one is very easy, after all :), then some other numbers too. Then he added them up and put the total number at the end of each line. Not every total number was right, but it was pretty close. The last line was counting by 10s, but he left out #50 and we had to add it on. I love seeing what he gets excited about learning each week. We're very casually working on reading (I'm trying not to push it too much or he gets annoyed), and it's fun to work with him on sight words and sounding words out.

The things that are more challenging with Eli are still the potty issues (still pretty much every day ends with wet pants despite that we're trying a stronger medicine for overactive bladder... it is very frustrating and he may have a cystoscopy procedure this summer if the wetting continues - just to make sure there isn't some physical reason that could be easily corrected). My pregnant nose does not appreciate the urine smell and it's hard to not react when I notice he's peed in his pants. It's been two years people. TWO years since we started potty training. Two years of pretty constant daily accidents. That definitely challenges my patience. Every single day. (And then Charlie doesn't like pooping in the potty... so help me!!)

Eli is also very particular and sensitive. Sensitive to loud people and sounds, sensitive to other kids messing with his stuff or saying things that aren't really true. I am constantly working with him to better control his emotions and reactions when things don't go his way. He is extra emotional when we're in his domain (his bedroom or playing with his things). Charlie usually just tunes him out and doesn't get flustered by Eli's craziness. I figure Charlie is learning great life skills from a young age dealing with his funny sibling... :)


We went to the zoo on Monday, but before we left, Eli got extremely sad because he was worried the zebras wouldn't be outside because it was too cold. (It actually was a decent weather day) He seriously cried and cried before going to the zoo because he was so sure he wouldn't get to see the zebras. Thankfully the zebras WERE outside and easy to go see. They were the absolute highlight for him. It's a challenge though to have everything go his way all the time - that isn't how life works after all.

I love this little boy (and Charlie too!) so much. I love talking to him, pretending and creating stories with him, and teaching him new things. He can be social and has some really sweet friends, but I get anxious thinking about him having to start fresh in school with a classroom full of kids he doesn't know, since none of his preschool friends will be there. I worry about him being in school all day (so sad for little kindergartners!!). He will eat up all of the information and learning, but may struggle with kids who misbehave or don't follow the rules, because he really likes rules and gets distressed when other kids are disruptive.

He will be five in May. I can't believe it. When I tuck him in at night, we always say the same things and he asks if I'm ready for a really tight squeeze. I shake my head no, I'm not ready! And then he asks, "Are you sure?" I say, "I don't know..." and then he puts his arms around my neck and squeezes me super tight. He is so dear! :)

Why I'm Obsessed with Churros and Chocolate

Disclaimer - this is really long winded.

Two weeks ago, my friend Bethany mentioned she recently had dinner at Rick Bayless' sandwich shop/restaurant, Xoco.  I asked her if she had the churros for dessert, and when she said no, I almost fell over. (how can you go to Xoco and NOT get the churros?? :)

I'm a little obsessed with these treats. Xoco has churros with a side chocolate ganache dipping sauce (and the homemade Mexican vanilla ice cream too!!) and it is to die for. Not kidding. Sooooo good. About 100 times better than the Costco churros and always freshly made to order.

A few nights after my friend ate at Xoco, Ben had a work dinner downtown and realized afterward as he was running to catch a late train that he had only been a block away from Xoco. I was NOT pleased that he didn't stop and pick up some churros for me when he knew I had been craving those delicious churros. :)

So what did I do? The next day was Friday. I woke up still wishing for churros. We were flying out of town the day after (Saturday morning) and I had plenty still to do before leaving on our trip, but that wasn't important. I also didn't care that it was lightly snowing/hailing/gross weather outside. I picked the boys up from preschool in the afternoon and decided to hop on I-94 and drive into Chicago to get some churros and chocolate.

Keep in mind this was 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Chicago has notoriously bad rush hour traffic, especially on a Friday. I didn't care. We were going to get churros, no matter how painful. 

Luckily there was a DVD in the DVD player that kept the boys entertained for the 50 minutes that it took to get downtown in heavy traffic. I managed to find metered street parking, dragged the kids out of the car into the snow/rain/hail and walked a few blocks to the restaurant. There wasn't a single person in line (probably because the weather was so yucky outside and it wasn't really dinnertime yet), so I went right up and placed my order for churros, chocolate and ice cream. I got a sandwich too, because I figured, why not?? :)

The boys wouldn't touch the churros (more for me!), but downed the ice cream in about two seconds. I sat there and happily ate more than my share of churros, dipped in chocolate ganache. Then I hurried up and scarfed down my sandwich, raced back to the car with the boys, picked Ben up from work and we sat in more yucky rush hour traffic on the way home (this time it took more than an hour). 

But I was SO content and happy, because when you are pregnant and queasy almost all the time and something actually sounds good to eat, you have to enjoy that moment. :)

I am so happy to announce that I am 13 weeks pregnant, due mid-September, about a week after Eli starts kindergarten (yikes). It was a long road, took nearly a year to conceive again after the miscarriage, and was a result of a second HSG procedure and taking clomid for three months (my reaction to clomid means crazy hot flashes, gaining a few pounds and silly mood swings). I'm shamefully grateful we didn't get pregnant with twins while on clomid, it's just one baby. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having twins!! But the idea made me really nervous and there was a slightly elevated chance of having multiples while on that drug.

I've been to the doctor at least five or six times already because I have the most fabulous OB in the world, who is caring and has been closely monitoring this pregnancy from the beginning. I've had blood work, multiple ultrasounds, and everything has been very positive. I took my boys with me to every appointment, but the iPad was a great distraction (even during the ultrasounds!!) and they had absolutely no idea until we told them last weekend when we were in the car in California driving to see some redwoods.

Eli's reaction was, "OH I am SO HAPPY!!!!" and he started cheering and saying, "I'm going to be a big BIG brother!!"

Charlie's reaction was, "YEAH!!!! I am going to be a BIG brother!" with a fist pump. I love his fist pumps.

It was the cutest thing ever. They are so sweet and really excited. Eli thinks it will be a boy, Charlie thinks it will be a girl. I have no idea and neither does Ben. It will be fun to find out in six or seven weeks!!

I feel extremely grateful this is happening and am praying everything goes smoothly with the pregnancy. I have felt more nauseous and exhausted than I felt with the boys, but I also wasn't as busy as I am now, chasing them and still trying to run my business/function in multiple capacities. So I don't think the symptoms necessarily indicate it is a boy or a girl.

I've consumed a lot of popcorn and at least one grapefruit a day (often two or three!) because it's nice and filling and not sweet, somehow really satisfying and didn't make me feel queasy (I was that way with the other pregnancies too - loved grapefruit). Dinners have been pretty minimal for the last two months, but my kids rarely touch the nicer meals I make anyway, so they haven't minded. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cold cereal, frozen waffles, hot dogs, and fruit were pretty frequent around here and I keep telling myself (and Ben!) I will make real food again soon. 

And it's a good thing Xoco's churros are a bit of a drive or I would be there every week :) I'd better stick to my grapefruit...

Recent Videos - Singing with Gram and Reading Books/Ninjas

I've been a total slacker with blogging lately, but here are two recent videos - the first is my Gram and Eli singing the Little Wee Man in a Little Wee House song that has cute actions. (and yes, we still have Halloween decorations up in our house, that's a paper spider garland on the wall) :)

Here are the words to the song - 
Little Wee Man in a Little Wee House
[first verse]
There's a little wee man, in a little wee house, 
lives over the way you see. 
And he sits by the window, and we works all day, 
making shoes for you and me.

[refrain]
A rap-a-tap-tap. A rap-a-tap-tap.
Hear the hammer tick-tack-tee.
A rap-a-tap-tap. A rap-a-tap-tap.
Making shoes for you and me.
[second verse]
He pulls the needle in and out, and the thread flies to and fro.
With his tiny hands he works all day. Hear the hammer steady blow!
[repeat refrain]
And finally, I snuck up on my kids last week early in the morning - Eli was reading a Curious George book to Charlie (mainly just telling the story while looking at the book) and it was really cute. It's a long video though so feel free to skip to about minute 3 1/2 when they decided to pretend to be ninjas and were jumping around being silly. This was with my laptop camera so the quality isn't super great in the low light, but that's okay. It cracks me up seeing Charlie constantly copy Eli. 

Early Morning with Eli

One morning, Eli and I were up early together. Ben was already gone at work and Charlie was still sleeping, so it was just the two of us hanging out in our pjs. I love morning light and snapped some pictures of Eli making an elaborate drawing/map/story of some sort and then explaining it to me.

 

He loves drawing centipedes (shown below). Gross Illinois bug!

 

He looks so big to me in these pictures! I feel like he's grown a lot in the last few months (at least his legs seem longer to me lately). 

Telling me his story - 

 

And adding more details. Love this boy! I'll have to take some of Charlie some other morning when he's up first :)