Cabin fever already.

I try to get out of the house at least every other day with Eli since we both tend to get a little cranky when we are cooped up at home too long. However, this past week we didn't leave the house for 4 straight days. By day #5 we were both ready to lose it so I decided to venture out into the cold to go on a little walk. I know we looked absolutely ridiculous, but since I've never really cared about things like that I was more than okay looking a little silly walking with my little guy. As for Eli, I'm not really sure what he thinks about me putting monkey hats on his head...

All bundled up and ready to go. This coat just barely fit over us in order to zip!

I wanted to walk down to CVS and possibly the library, but it's about a mile away and I wasn't sure if Eli would get too cold or not. We ended up just taking a quick 20 minute walk around our neighborhood instead. Considering he fell asleep before we even made it home I think he was more than a little cozy. I'm glad I have found a way to keep us nice and warm so we can still get outside this winter!!

Cozy sleeping baby. And yes, I did keep him in there until he finished his nap! 

Christmas season 2012 re-cap.

It was so much fun to celebrate our first Christmas season with Eli. People always say that kids make Christmas magical and so much more fun and I couldn't agree more. Here are a few highlights of our festive holiday season!

Jon and I both love the zoo and couldn't wait to take Eli on his first zoo trip. We decided to go on a Wednesday evening to the Zoo Wildlights and we had a blast. Eli was enthralled with all of the lights, especially when the light show with all of the music played. He also liked the animals that we were able to see (some of the exhibits shut down at night and obviously we couldn't see any outdoor animals), and was really into watching the fish in the aquarium. We were gifted with a zoo pass this Christmas so I see many more trips in our future!

Not the best picture taken with my phone, but the only one we have!

Living in Columbus gives us ample opportunities to participate in fun events. We went downtown to a large park called Columbus Commons to watch the big tree light up (complete with fireworks!), eat some food from a food truck, listen to various artists sing and play Christmas music, and walk around with friends.

Hanging out in the carrier (seriously one of his favorite places to be)

Fireworks over the tree downtown

We live close to downtown Worthington and often go to the shops to support local businesses. One of our favorites is the toy store now! One evening they had an open house where the shops stayed open late and served refreshments. They even had a carriage ride that we eagerly decided to take!

Carriage ride through the streets of downtown

And lastly, let's talk about Christmas. I loved that Eli was just old enough to open his gifts (with a lot of help from us, of course) and was able to take in all of the excitement. He obviously didn't really know what was going on, but I think he enjoyed himself!

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at home, then we went to the Christmas Eve service of the church that we have been attending for the past year here in Columbus. Eli was pretty worn out by the time we got home so we gave him the quickest bath of his life while he flailed himself around for most of it (so weird since he usually LOVES baths), then put him in bed while we enjoyed a viewing of White Christmas.

The next morning we woke up early (2 hours before our normal wake-up!) so we could open gifts with our little family of 3. We got Eli a big puzzle, a few books, some bath toys, a truck that pops balls out of it when you push it, these little plastic toys that join together (for the life of me I can't think of the name of it) and a ride-on fire truck. He doesn't quite know what to do with it yet, but he loves to be pushed around on it. He also loves the music it plays and bounced around to it when he first heard it. I have a video and it's basically the cutest thing ever.

Eli and his new firetruck

We then set off to Jon's parents' house for Christmas round 2. We ate a delicious brunch, read the Christmas story in the Bible, then opened more gifts. We got a family zoo membership and Eli got some books, a shape sorter, mega blocks, and a plush tractor set. My lovely sister-in-law, Ashley, made him a dinosaur blanket for his crib. My other lovely sister-in-law, Carol, made him a super cute sweater. Most everything went immediately into his mouth!

A little mama/son bathroom shot between brunch and opening presents

Eli with his new shape sorter, and sitting on his new dinosaur blanket!

Checking out the loot under the tree

We then headed to Christmas #3! We went to my aunt and uncle's house for a fabulous Christmas lunch and to spend time with my extended family. Eli had a great time hanging out with my cousin's daughter, Annabelle. And by great I mean that she smothered him with hugs while he screamed. ;) Afterwards, we went to my parents' house to open gifts with my family. Eli got an activity table, books, a drum (complete with shakers, a maraca, and tambourine), a teething blanket, stuffed Christmas dog, bowls and spatula (easily his favorite gift!), a Baby Einstein classical music toy that lights up while it plays, a farm rattle that plays different animal sounds and teaches colors and a lot of clothes. This boy is most definitely spoiled.

Eli with his farm rattle

His favorite - a bowl and spatula!

Playing with his tambourine the next day

We actually ended up getting snowed in the next day so we stuck around for an extra day and played video games and basically didn't change out of our pajamas for the entire day. It was good to just rest for a bit!

I think that sums up our main Christmas festivities this year. It was a fun one!

- Stef

Happy New Year!

I really need to be more diligent about updating this blog. I'm a pro at Instagram now, though.

Eli changes more and more each day and his little personality is really starting to shine through. He cracks us up on a daily basis and I think he thinks he is pretty darn funny too. Some of his favorite things to do right now (as a 10 month old) are:

Eli taking ornaments off the Christmas tree.

• Crawl everywhere. Get into EVERYTHING. I have to watch this kid like a hawk now because he has gotten super quick and manages to get into things I didn't even realize were within his reach. He is now tall enough to reach the end tables (which was my default place to put things out of his reach) and I swear he has the longest arms ever. That, and he is a master at standing on his tippy toes in order to reach as far as he can. 

This one is blurry, but here is Eli attacking Jon one morning.

• Climbing. He has been climbing up the pillows and our headboard for a couple of months now, but he is getting pretty adept at it. One of his favorite things to climb is his dad. Every morning Jon gets woken up to Eli crawling on top of his head. I just have to sit back and laugh. However, with his love of climbing I now have to watch him in the bathroom because he thinks it's great fun to climb INTO the bathtub. Except, he goes in headfirst and hits his head on the bottom. Yeah, that happened.

We read a lot of Christmas books this year!

• Reading. He will sit and read books for a long time, which is super surprising considering that his attention span is about 5 minutes long for most activities. We are constantly going to the library to check out new books.

Strumming along with Dad.

• Music. He will stop whatever he is doing if he hears a song start playing on the computer or TV. He also has some new toys that will encourage this love of his!

Eli in his new seal tub.

• Baths. He gets super excited and bounces up and down and tries to crawl into the bathtub as the water warms up. We have resorted to leaving his diaper on until just before we put him in because he would pee on the tub and bath mat every time because he got so excited. He is going to love that I publicly proclaimed that when he's 14. He also loves splashing as much as he can and gnawing on his various bath toys.
• Sticking his tongue out and making the "pfffttt" sound. He will do it all day long, and if he hears the sound (or a sound that is similar) he will immediately do it. It's super cute, until he is spitting all over my face with food in his mouth. 
• Sitting on the floor and scooting in a circle. I'm not sure why he does this, but my guess is that he wants to see everything happening around him and that's the easiest way for him to do it.

If we're on the couch, Eli is pulling up right beside us. And making this new face of his.

• Pulling up on everything. He started pulling up just before he turned 7 months old and has not stopped. Most of the time I am trying to cook or wash the dishes with a baby attached to my leg. 
• Banging his toys on hard surfaces, such as the coffee table and hardwood floors. And he doesn't find nice, soft toys to bang. He finds the heaviest toys he can find and then bangs them as hard as he can on the table. I always tell Jon that's it's a good thing we don't have nice furniture because kids will ruin everything you own. 
• Peek-a-boo. We usually play with the comforter on the bed, but lately I have been playing it with him in the living room as we chase each other around the couch. And a side note: crawling on hardwood floors hurts. I have no idea how he does it all day long! Eli has started to play himself. It he has a blanket he will pull it up over his face and then wait for us to say, "Where's Eli?" before he pulls it back down. Super cute.

I'm sure there are other things I will think of later, but here's the list for now. My goal is to update this blog at least 3 times a week. So uh, let's see how well I do at that.

- Stef