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.

Charlie the Dinosaur

Charlie has been roaring like a dinosaur a lot lately, and of course right before I grabbed my camera, he was roaring super loud in a really funny way (Eli was behind the door reacting to the roaring in his super strong way - their interactions are always full of emotion, happy or grumpy...).

But once I was pointing the camera at Charlie, he toned down his roar quite a bit. The roaring drives Eli crazy, who at this point was finishing up in the bathroom. I think the video epitomizes Charlie's little 2-year-old attitude ("I'm not," he says very succinctly at the beginning after the first roar - later he asks, "What are you doing, Eli?"). Ben likes to call him Charliesoar.

Charlie Roaring Like a Dinosaur (March 2011) from Sarah on Vimeo.

Tonight we were out running some errands before bedtime, and the kids were taking turns playing Angry Birds on Ben's phone. Charlie kept saying, "I want the iPhone - angry birds" when it wasn't his turn. I love hearing Charlie put sentences together and communicate what he wants, even if it's to play a silly iPhone game.

Playgroup and Funny Brothers Playing

The lowlight of the week is that I have a staph infection in my left eye. Apparently it's pretty common - you can pick it up wherever and it doesn't help that I wear contacts. I'll be wearing glasses for the next week or so as my eye hopefully gets better (the eye doctor prescribed antibiotic drops). I've had the drops since Tuesday and my eye is finally not hurting as much, so I think that's a good sign.

The highlight this week was that our playgroup had a ton of moms/kids show up. It totally made my day because our turnout over the summer was pretty spotty. Of course I didn’t pull out the camera until the very end, when the last of the bunch lost interest with the playground and moved on to playing in the dirt :)

Eli and Charlie have been really funny together lately. They are developing a somewhat decent relationship, though Eli still tries to get his way (like pushing Charlie off of the tree stump he was sitting on):

Eli also thinks it’s hilarious to knock poor Charlie down. Here they are playing tackle football around and in the dirt. Charlie was sort of having fun. For the most part.

Tackle Football at the Park (Sept 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

My kids were SO DIRTY when we left. Look at these faces!! That’s the true sign that you have little boys, right?

Later, when we were home again, they had fun chasing each other around the house -

Kids Chasing in the House (Sept 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

and on a different morning, these boys were cracking each other up while eating breakfast. Charlie is in a big copying phase, as is demonstrated in this video. I swear they have a secret language sometimes too (or just a lot of nonsense sounds to be silly):

Laughing at Secret Language (Sept 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

and today while Eli was at school, we had my friend’s daughter here with us (the schools around here close for Rosh Hashanah – Happy New Year to our Jewish friends!). Anyway, she had the day off and hung out with me and Charlie for a little bit while her mom was at the preschool. I couldn’t get over how helpful it was having a first grader around. Here she is reading a catalog to Charlie (with Charlie repeating some of the words back to her):

Marlee & Charlie Reading Catalog (Sept 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

Little Growlers

This is from Friday, but it took me a few days to get around to uploading the video. I think it's funny how Eli was growling and Charlie responded with his own growling noises...

Eli Growling and Charlie's Noises at 4 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.

Birthday Morning

Eli woke up pretty early (6 a.m.) on his birthday. He was crying for Dada from his crib and I think he heard Ben getting ready for work. It took a while, but I cheered him up and brought him downstairs for his exciting breakfast of Cheerios :) He kept flipping the top open and closed on his straw sippy cup and splattering milk everywhere. The mess theme continued when he found the tupperware full of popcorn seeds and accidentally spilled almost an entire container all over the floor! I made cookies that morning to share with the playgroup, so the kitchen was a DISASTER. But hey, there were more fun things to think about – like Eli’s Elmo birthday balloon – that SANG to him! I think I heard Elmo sing 100+ times yesterday and it was awesome. Watch the video to hear it for yourself :)

I also included a video of his conversation with the Severson grandparents (in the beginning he does the “I’m 2” with his fingers) where they had to compete with the balloon (I’m sorry!!). I also included a video from later in the day with Charlie laughing (please ignore my silly voice).

Happy Birthday Balloon - Elmo from Sarah on Vimeo.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Eli from Grandma and Papa Severson from Sarah on Vimeo.

Charlie laughing at 4 months from Sarah on Vimeo.

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.

3 Weeks Old

This picture is from yesterday, but today Charlie is three weeks old! He is still sick and congested, but he's slowly getting better each day.

I will be honest...the first three weeks have not gone by very fast. But last night was the first that Charlie actually went back to sleep after eating (and this just happened once, but that's ok) - I was SO happy!! The night before had been pretty awful - Charlie was up quite a bit and fussy, and I finally had to wake Ben up for help because I couldn't stay awake any longer (I really don't like doing that when he has to work so early the next day, but I felt like I was going to throw up - Ben was happy to help...).

Eli has been in a great mood the last few days, though he was a bit of a stinker and didn't nap yesterday. I left him chattering in his crib anyway and took a nap so I could function the rest of the day :)
Now that Eli is mostly healthy again, I tried getting a picture of the two boys together... but it would have been easier with another adult around to help.
Yesterday was another strangely warm day - 60 degrees isn't very common in February around here! I put Eli in the stroller and strapped Charlie into the Baby Bjorn and off we went on an hour walk through our neighborhood. I decided I was in dire need of my favorite blueberry muffin from a yummy place not too far from here, so that was a good destination (though I was pretty exhausted by the end). It was a fun first walk with the boys!
Here is a quick video of Eli playing with Charlie - I thought it was very sweet. He is genuinely interested in him and loves waving at Charlie. I think they'll be good friends in no time :)

Fun Christmas Day, Icy Christmas Night

Favorite Eli phrases from Christmas:

"I'll play with it"

"Let's open it"

"I shut it!"

He said those those things over and over... it was really cute.

A few more pictures from Christmas Eve:

Davey gave Eli a manatee stuffed animal - Eli of course loves it and had to sleep with it last night and tonight. It's cute hearing Eli try to say manatee.

My parents, Davey and Gram all spent the night at our house last night, and woke up around 8 a.m.


Below - here we are on Christmas morning opening stockings. We started around 10:15 a.m. and it was nice to have already showered and be ready for the day. I'm sure this is the last year we'll have this luxury - as Eli gets older, we will be back to opening gifts in our pjs :) We spent the next 2 1/2 hours opening presents in a relaxing way.

Eli had fun opening gifts and was very deliberate about enjoying each one.

I gave Gram a cake carrier (wrapped in the package she has on her head). My parents gave her that purple/yellow scarf from Emerson College.

Aunt Babz sent this stuffed Thomas train pillow - Eli loved carrying it around and talking to it.

This was the year of the trains - we gave Eli some Thomas trains, some Ikea trains and track, and my parents gave him a few trains too. He LOVES "choo choos" and we had fun playing with them later in the day.

Eli and my dad right before dinner

Davey and Gram

About to start dinner - we had roasted chicken, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, asparagus, and salad. We made a yummy drink to go with it (Squirt, Cran-rasberry juice, and rasberry sherbet mixed together) and it was delish! I felt like I was going to pop when it was over.

This is part of our mess of holiday cards on the radiator - Eli loves looking through them and especially enjoys pointing at the cards with photos.

Davey gave Eli this Elmo piano book - this was also the year of Elmo-related toys. We gave him a stuffed Elmo (not a talking one) and Elmo sticker book, and my parents gave him an Elmo board book. Eli loves Elmo so much! ("Ha ha!" is his name)

Later - Eli and Bumpa (my dad) reading books together

All in all, it was a great Christmas. The biggest part of Ben's present to me is he is going to paint the third bedroom this weekend (it's currently a VERY bright yellow, which I really dislike). I'm still trying to figure out what the new color is going to be.

Unfortunately, the day ended on a sour note...my family was getting ready to head home, so my dad went outside to get their van and pull it up to the door. All of the sudden we heard a yell, and Ben ran to look outside and saw that my dad had fallen. He had walked down the alley, which was basically a big sheet of ice, slipped, and hit his hip and shoulder pretty hard.

So...the night ended with a trip to the ER. My dad fractured his scapula, or shoulderblade. Luckily, his hip is fine and he didn't break his arm. He'll wear a sling and probably be in a lot of pain, but it could have been much worse.

Here's a video with some highlights from yesterday - you'll hear lots of "I'll play with it"


Eli's Christmas 2008 from Sarah on Vimeo.

Fun Toys from the Neighbors

This week has been a busy one. One of the highlights has been two different neighbors passing on some really fun toys! Eli is in HEAVEN - some of the toys include a little piano, some cool shape sorters, huge soft stuffed animals, a little tykes climbing/slide thing that we put in the basement, some books, a huge wooden cube w/ different activities, a brand new kids tool set, a cleaning set with a broom, mop, brush, etc., a musical instruments set, a wooden car ramp/garage toy, wooden fire truck, etc. Both neighbors have kids that have outgrown these toys and are happy to give them away. We feel so lucky!

Below is a video of Eli playing with some of his new toys around the house. First you'll see the huge bear that is of course a huge hit because it's soft and cuddly. Then you'll see Eli playing the harmonica... he's quite talented :) We like his dancing that goes with the music too!

Boppy = Mommy

Here's proof that Eli calls me Boppy instead of Mommy -

Salsa

Here is a quick clip of Eli saying one of his latest words - "salsa." He LOVES dipping chips into homemade salsa.


I'm about to start major blog catchup tonight or tomorrow... so be prepared for lots of pictures from last week :)

Eli Talking on the Phone

This is a video of Eli talking to my parents on the phone in his funny language. I was trying to make dinner, so I brought the booster seat into the kitchen and strapped him in so he would stop pulling things out of the cupboards. Of course he wouldn't eat any of the food I gave him and was probably only happy for the duration of this phone call. Cooking is not easy with this guy - he doesn't like feeling ignored.

Enjoy the video! :)

Funny Sounds out of Eli's Mouth

I was getting Eli dressed after a bath while we were at Joe and Cami's house - he just started making these funny sounds with his tongue and I had my little dig. camera nearby, so I got a minute of his jabbering on video:

Highlights from the Severson Reunion

Above: Eli and his cute cousins (he has 17 cousins on Ben's side - two weren't here)

We had a smaller (if you can call a group of 31 people small), immediate family reunion with Ben's parents, kids and grandkids, all staying at his brother Joe and wife Cami's house in a suburb outside of Portland. There were people sleeping in all corners of their beautiful home, but Ben, Eli and I were lucky enough to sleep in the guest room! It was great.

Above: the first picture is a great example of how our trip started (Eli crying on the moving walkway). The other three pictures were taken on the way home - he was in a MUCH better mood and even slept for about 2 1/2 hours - it made such a difference, especially since I was dreading that return flight...

Above: we went on a beautiful hike near Portland (Cami, what is the name of this place again?) and saw some pretty waterfalls. Eli had a great time throwing rocks with his cousin Kaelan, who is 2 weeks older and has an amazing overhand throw already!

Above: On Saturday, we went to this great park near Joe and Cami's house that had fields, tennis courts, a big playground, and a fun water play area. Eli loved running through the splashes of water!

Above: Here we are at the big Severson reunion. We rented a camp at the base of Mt. Hood. The setting was beautiful! This was my fourth reunion with the family and all have been at this location. This time was the biggest though - with 119 total! The family really amazes me with how well they interact with each other, even when they get competitive (there were some fierce games of volleyball). Picture 1 - Ben's wearing his team's flag, playing family feud (they surveyed the family on various Severson questions before the reunion). Picture 2 - Ben swimming with Eli. Pictures 3 & 4 - Eli's molars are still trying to come through and he was SO drooly the entire time - you can see how wet his shirt would get in these pics.

Above: Picture 1 - Eli sitting with his great-grandparents, Frances and Floyd. They were all decked out for the holiday! Picture 2 - the cabin where we slept had a big ramp in the front that Eli loved walking up and down. He was pretty unsteady at first, but by the end of the week, he was cruising up and down that ramp pretty fast. We think his walking skills greatly improved on this trip. Pictures 3 and 4 - Eli was so happy being outside so much!

Some other comments on the trip...

• The food was TERRIBLE. I was seriously starving on those days we stayed at the camp. The camp's cook was not impressive and I actually woke up one morning after dreaming about eating lots of delicious foods. I survived on crackers and snack foods that I picked up at a nearby convenience store. The cabin we were sleeping in was not the cleanest either, but we survived! I preferred this over tent camping w/out a real bathroom for a week.
  
  
• Ben and his cousin tied for first in the big Severson pinochle tournament! It was impressive. But it also kept him out late a few of the nights... that and late-night volleyball
  
  
• It was really wonderful to get away from the stresses of life, be in a pretty setting surrounded by huge trees. I tried to put the housing craziness in the back of my mind and enjoyed spending quality time with Ben and Eli and the zillions of Seversons. Now I'm back to the realization that we still don't know where we'll live in 7 weeks! No worries, right? :)

Below are some short video clips from the week - the first is Eli showing off/banging his head on the velour chair in our cabin's sitting area. The next two are Eli in the water play area at the park (they show off Eli's cute waddle when he walks), and the last one is a video of Eli and Kaelan throwing rocks in the river. It's funny to see the differences in their throws :)

Eli's Secret Language

Over the last few weeks, Eli has become very chatty. He babbles about all kinds of things with lots of intonations and expressions, and often cracks himself up. Tonight he kept dropping the food on his fork and would crack up when we said, "Oops!" so I had to get it on video. (Please ignore my annoying "oops" and just watch this crazy child :)

On a side note, think positive thoughts for us today! We have a realtor coming to see our place who represents a person who is coming to do a PhD at Northwestern and I think his parents are helping him buy a condo. The realtor said they made an offer on a place already, but it fell through, so it sounds like they are anxious to secure something else. So we'll see! (the woman from Sunday ended up bidding on another unit in our building, so she's no longer in the picture) Ohhh the emotional ups and downs of selling a home. :)

Video Clips from our Holland Trip

Here are some video clips from our Holland trip. This exciting video includes Eli walking and saying "duck! duck!" quite a few times, and then Eli on Ben's shoulders as they go under a flag (with Eli laughing), and then the grand finale is Eli screaming in the car. :)

The screaming in the car was on Sunday, and today Eli still isn't very happy. Last night he kept waking up crying, and was up this morning at 4:45 screaming in his crib. He was inconsolable for an hour and was running a fever. He seemed so uncomfortable.

I was convinced Eli had an ear infection, so I took him in to the doctor's sick call this morning - but alas, no ear infection! His doctor said it looks like his molars are trying to come through, which is most likely what is causing this trauma. Sad!! I hope this doesn't last too too long...

Eli's Sounds of Frustration (mixed in with eating a pear)

This video was taken this evening after Eli refused to take an afternoon nap (I tried unsuccessfully off and on for almost 2 hours - he kept pulling himself up to standing in the crib and would cry and cry and cry...). So Eli was pretty cranky and unpredictable by dinnertime.

Some things to mention:

1. We were impressed at the speed at which Eli eats the pear
2. When Eli is frustrated, his whole body shows it (I like the arm movements)
3. His facial expressions are pretty funny too (when he's frustrated)
4. He intersperses quite a few angry sounds in betwen eating the pear - the best is the last 20 seconds.

Playgroup

Yesterday it was my turn to host playgroup. There are a lot of people on the email list, but the number of those that show up is different each week. My living room isn't the hugest room, and yesterday we packed in 12 adults and 15 kids, ages 3 and under. It was a ZOO! It's funny today as Eli and I have been playing with his toys, just the two of us - there are pieces of toys pushed and stuffed into all kinds of weird places. It was fun though!

Here is a clip from yesterday - Eli is standing by the push toy (white and green shirt) looking kind of lost and maybe a little overwhelmed! :)

*The guy you see in the doorway is my friend Rebekeh's husband Keenan - he's a United flight attendant and comes with his two girls to playgroup when he isn't working (yesterday he and Rebekeh were there).

Video of Eli at 10 Months

Here are some quick clips of Eli's favorite things to do lately... playing with the remote control, eating a plum, playing with toys that are noisy, and talking on the cell phone :)

On a side note... today I sold my friend Carrie's 55-gallon fish tank! I buy and sell a lot on craigslist, so Carrie's deal was that I could have a large percentage of what the tank sold for. I found a buyer who was willing to pay $200 for the fish tank and stand.

This is my favorite Craigslist find from last month:
(I love that the bike has a seatbelt! Now we just have to get him to wear his helmet...)

Eli's First Steps!!!

Eli has made a lot of progress with cruising around and balancing while standing up. Yesterday he was busy cruising around toys or chairs, and then would let go and balance for a few seconds. He seemed pretty sturdy, so today I decided to see if he would walk to me. I had him stand a few feet in front of me and let go of his hands when he seemed balanced. Then sure enough, he took one step, and fell in my lap laughing. I tried it again and again, and soon he took four steps! We were both so excited.

Tonight we practiced more when Ben came home and it was so cute watching our little guy. Before he got sick, he always squealed really high when he was excited - but he's still a little hoarse and makes a funny sound in the place of the squeal.

I can't believe he's starting to walk!! I know it will be a little while still before he's fully walking, but I am so shocked we are at this phase. We get excited over new things that he's doing every day!

*Disclaimer: There are a few parts where it looks like Eli does a face plant into the floor, but he really just falls into my lap :)