Elijah's One Year Pictures

My good friend, Jess, took Elijah's one year pictures for us and they turned out great! Especially considering the fact that Elijah had only napped for half an hour all day and was not his normal happy self. She did a great job capturing his winning personality despite him having little enthusiasm about getting his picture taken! You can check out her work here on facebook. She's really good!

So precious!

Happy boy!

Squinty eyes!

FOOTBALL!

We call him "Baby Rogers"

So serious in his suit.

Isn't he so sweet?

Melts my heart. :)

Plenty, plenty of things going on in our life right now. We move in full speed and then God slows things down for a bit. We are entering a "slow" period right now, having just come out of a whirlwind. But with the sunshine and springtime and no more class for Tim, I don't think we'll have trouble filling up the next few weeks!

14 Months

Elijah is 14 months today, so I thought it might be fun to share some of his personality with everyone. He has been a busy boy lately, learning lots of new skills. He's been walking from person to person for a week now and learned to climb up all the stairs from the basement on his first try. He also can ride the bike that he got for his birthday, which requires pushing with his feet on the floor, Flinstone style.

Eli also enjoys standing on his head.

Elijah has also been talking up a storm lately. He always has something to say, even though most human beings don't understand it! His favorite word at the moment is "duck" and he shouts it proudly whenever he sees one (or a rooster, or a bird, or a turkey). We recently had lunch with friends who have turkeys who were coming right up to the windows of their basement apartment. Boy was Eli thrilled! He also got to meet their goats which he thought were pretty cool too.

We have been seeing Elijah's independence come out as well. He prefers to do what he feels is best, which has led to many loud protests. He has also learned to shake his head no when he doesn't want to do something, and even sometimes when he does. This has brought a new aspect of parenting for Tim and I, and we are learning a lot of patience. :)

But Elijah is a very smart boy and is learning to follow directions well and surprises us sometimes with what he understands. His favorite song right now is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he does the motions with a huge smile on his face. He has also begun sorting. He picks out all the dog bones from the dog toys and all the people from among his animals. It is so fun to watch him learn!

Elijah Turns One!: The Party

The Saturday after Elijah's birthday we had a dog-gone good time at his dog themed birthday party! I chose a dog theme because it was one of the first animals Elijah could identify, and he always gets excited to see a doggy. :) It was really a special party because several of Tim's family members were able to come from Wisconsin for it. Elijah seemed to enjoy the attention, he has always been a people person, and he definitely enjoyed his cupcake!

I made some decorations, including a birthday banner,

dog balloons,

and dog cupcakes!

This was my first attempt at cake decorating and I think they turned out pretty well!

And, of course, there were lots and lots of presents!

Elijah just learned how to ride this bike all by himself today!

After opening his presents, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Elijah and he hammed it up eating his cupcake. I knew it would be a good show because he has always enjoys his food. :)

You can't stop eating for pictures. :)

I'm really happy with the way we celebrated Elijah's first birthday. We made a lot of good memories and showed Eli how much he is loved. I read in a magazine once that a mom started a blog without the intention of ever having followers or readers, but just so that she and her family could look back on what everyday life was like. She wanted her kids to be able to see pictures and hear stories and thoughts on life when they were young. I would like to do a better job of that on here. This blog was started to keep near and far family and friends up to date on our every changing life, and it is doing just that. But I want to start recording more, posting more pictures and writing more thoughts on everyday life. For this blog to be a digital scrapbook of sorts. Hopefully someday adult Elijah will be able to look back at our blog and see how many people have loved on him over the years. :)

Elijah Turns One!: The Birthday

We have been very busy celebrating at our house...Elijah had his first birthday!!!! Since his birthday was on a Wednesday, we had a fun day on his actual birthday and then had his party on Saturday.

On his actual birthday, Elijah and I went to story time at our library like we usually do on Wednesday mornings. Elijah received his first birthday card from a little friend of his who is only 20 days younger than him. It is always fun to watch the two boys enjoy the stories and singing together. At the end, the whole group sang happy birthday to Elijah, and I think he may have sort of realized they were singing to him. :) That afternoon we skyped with my sister and her kids so they could all sing happy birthday to Eli.

Nana & Papa gave Elijah this couch for his birthday. :)

For his special birthday snack Elijah had a powdered donut, which he thoroughly enjoyed. And I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures of it. We were still talking to my sister and Elijah was being very silly.

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Daddy came home a bit later and we gave Elijah his presents. We decided I would make his gifts since I have been improving my crochet and sewing skills a lot recently. I crocheted a football hat, made a Packer blanket with Elijah's name on it, and made a felt quiet time book.

For dinner we took Elijah to McDonald's, but we forgot the camera. Overall I think it was a pretty good first birthday. :) Stay tuned for Part 2 of Elijah Turns One!: The Party

Looking Back

As Elijah quickly approaches his first birthday (16 days....how did this happen??), I have been thinking a lot about how much growing he has done. Elijah seems so old lately, and he still has his whole life ahead of him! A few weeks ago, I finally figured out how to get pictures off of my phone and on to the computer. I know, this is common knowledge for most, but I don't have a "smart" phone so it took some work. Anyway, I thought I would share a bunch with everyone since they date back about a year to just before Elijah was born! Enjoy! I know I did!

Pouting during ultrasound one week before he was born.

Shortly after coming home.

What?

Cow baby :)

Disco Eli!

Mr. Cuddles!!

Learning to hold onto toys.

So cute and so bald. :)

First ride on Sandy at Meijer.

Such a big boy!

We are thankful for you Elijah!!

Christmas 2012

We had a blast celebrating Christmas this year! Having your own child brings back some of the excitement of Christmas that isn't always there as an adult. Tim and I were excited to share our Christmas traditions with Elijah, and we were able to pack in a lot!

Our "Christmas Marathon" started on the Friday before Christmas with a gift exchange between Tim, Elijah, and myself. Elijah jumped right into ripping the wrapping paper and seemed to enjoy his gifts. One item in his stocking, a Toy Story bath book, he kept in one hand while he unwrapped and played with every other gift. One of our gifts to Elijah was a pop up tent and tunnel to crawl through. We knew it was a hit when Eli spent the rest of the evening giggling while he and Daddy climbed through the tunnel.

Elijah, the tree, and PRESENTS!

What's in my stocking??

Tim really likes the shirt I bought him.

Next came Christmas with my, Kelli's, family on Saturday. Both of my sisters and their families were able to be there along with my parents. It was fun to see all the kids' excitement and Elijah always enjoys playing with his cousins. One classic moment came when we were trying to take a picture of all five cousins on the couch. Elijah was sitting next to his cousin who is 10 months older than him and she looked over at him and then poked him in the eye! Needless to say, Elijah was not into picture taking after that, but his eye made a full recovery. :)

Playing with his farm from Nana & Papa.

Daddy and Eli in his new tent.

On Sunday we left for Wisconsin. We had a very smooth trip getting there. No snow or traffic and one happy baby made for two happy parents! We always try to make a few long stops where we can do something fun and this trip was no exception. We tried to take a new picture of Elijah at Cabella's with the same polar bear that made him cry in this picture when he was a few months old. Our plan was for Eli to point at the bear but, as you can see below, he kept pointing at himself instead. :) But, he isn't afraid anymore.

Being able to stay for a week in WI this time was really great. We were able to spend a lot of time with Tim's family, which was great for Elijah. He was able to get very comfortable with everyone and really enjoyed playing with his Grandma, Grandpa, uncles and aunts. Tim and I were able to go out on a date, do some shopping, eat at some yummy restaurants, and play games with the family. Tim even got to go skiing.

Playing video games for the first time.

Don't let this picture fool you, he loved his snowman bib.

Opening presents on Christmas Eve.

Bathrobes!

Playing with Uncle Andy on Christmas morning.

Reading with Aunt Diana & Uncle David.

Elijah loves Grandpa's fishies!

On our way home we stopped at Mars Cheese Castle because it is an actual castle now and had Elijah try on his first cheesehead!

All in all, we had a wonderful holiday. It's taking us a bit longer than usual to get going again after vacation because 2 days after we got back I got sick and was down for a day and a half with a fever and head cold. But, I am returning to health and am looking ahead to 2013!