It's Been a Long Week...

...and it's only Wednesday morning! Yesterday was the epitomy of bad days - Eli cried for the first two hours that he was awake, I think because his teeth were bothering him. Thankfully, he took a morning nap, and then we were able to get together with some friends to help snap us both out of our bad moods.

We came home for the afternoon nap, and after Eli woke up, he cried and cried and cried - so much that he threw up what he had eaten for lunch all over me. I hurried and cleaned up the mess on both of us and the floor, then we raced out the door to pick up Ben from the train so we could make our appointment to see a house with our realtor.

Once I was at this house, I was so depressed by its tiny size and high price. The outside of the house is darling, set on a quiet cobblestone street surrounded by other pretty houses, but not right for us. Later I checked out a large condo for rent. I'll probably look at more rentals this week as we try to figure out what our short-term plan should be.

And right now, I'm hoping Eli will be able to take a much-needed morning nap while the woman above us is stomping around (it seriously makes the light fixture in my room shake when she walks above me). UGH!!! Why are some people such loud walkers??

Haircuts are NOT Easy...

Ben gave Eli a much-needed trim tonight (he looked like he had a comb-over in some parts - his hair was that long). We turned a fun DVD on and Eli was still freaking out everytime Ben came near him with the clippers. Poor little guy.

Every night I check on Eli before I go to bed. I love watching him sleep, but never have the nerve to take a picture since he is such a light sleeper. Tonight I was feeling brave though and snapped a quick one. He sort of flinched from the flash but didn't wake up.

We're having a very hot and muggy week here, so hopefully he's staying cool in this onesie because we don't have the window a/c going tonight (it makes his room freezing and doesn't cool off the rest of the place very well, so we're making do with the ceiling fans).

I love you Eli! Sweet dreams.

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 :)