NaNa and PaPa's

It had been WAY too long since Todd and I went to Springfield to visit NaNa and PaPa (I think almost a year!!)  Eli on the other hand has been a TON and we were starting to get a little jealous so we decided to pack our bags and join him.   Man, have we missing out on all the fun! Here are some things we've missed...  

 1) NaNa's kisses

2) Reading with Aunt Kara

3) Laughing at cool YOUTUBE videos.   (If you want to join in on the fun go here, it's pretty awesome.)

4) Enjoying fruits of creative labor.   NaNa found a HUGE box that was being thrown out at a hardware store and asked if she could have it.   After a strange look, they gave it to her and it is now the coolest play house EVER.  With the help of Aunt Kara, Aunt Jody and Aunt Linny they painted bricks, made windows and doors, painted the inside, made a roof, house #'s, lights and a door handle.  I think this house has many future memories!

5) Playing with different toys and reaching "new heights".   It's always fun to see them interact with different toys and different people to see what new things they come up with.   Eli was so patient and careful when building this, which are 2 characteristics that aren't his usual style ; ) 

 6) Playing with our cousin Jameson.  At only 9 1/2 months apart these boys are causing more and more trouble (meaning FUN!) each time they are together.  They adore each other!   With much joy we can happily say that Jameson is "officially" part of the family.   The adoption went through on Thursday!!!  


7) Last but certainly not least they just make us LAUGH!

Eli-isms

*The above picture was taken by Eli, of himself.  Not bad!

1)  Since Todd is in class 2 nights a week I get the pleasure of putting both kids to bed.   I am still trying to decide who to put to bed first, because they both go to bed at the same time.   So I decided to experiment and did Eli first one night and then Anna the next night.   The night I put Anna to bed first I put in a movie for Eli while I fed Anna, ect.   Eli was sitting in a chair and all the sudden I heard, "NO! Stay OPEN!"  He was talking to his eyes, that were getting to heavy for him to handle : )

2) Now that the sun is finally out again, Eli has a new love for his sunglasses.  For some reason he equates them with motorcycles, so he puts them on and says "I'm cool, I ride a Moco Moco".  (Let's hope that impression changes by the time he is 16...thank God 'Joe Camel' no longer is around.)   

3) We were on a walk at my Mom's and we heard a chainsaw cutting down branches/trees/whatever.   Eli's mind immediately thought "Where's the dinosaur?"   He thought the chainsaw was a dinosaur roaring.   (and I wonder why he wakes up at night scared; I would be too if I thought dinosaurs were still among us)

4) He was playing pretend with his cars and they were "talking" to each other.   It's so fun hearing them play pretend because you can sometimes gain perspective on how they view life.    One of his cars said to the other car, "hey do you want to go to the Magic House to get some beers?" ... yep.  

5) Most of you know that Todd was an Accounting major and worked in Accounting for 5 years.  He is now in Finance but hangs on to some of his Accounting ways.  One of his old habits is to stick a pencil behind his ear.   (no he does not have a pocket protector) So whenever he gets home he still has that pencil behind his ear.  Since Todd is Eli's hero he of course picks up on his mannerisms.  I don't have pencils laying around the house for obvious reasons but Eli found his away around it.  He likes to greet Todd at the door with a crayon behind his ear : )

6) Eli is very inventive like his Mom.   Rather than singing the same old boring songs over and over he combined them.   While he was playing I heard him singing, "Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle on the farm.  On that farm they had a Jesus, Jesus loves me so. "    (In case you didn't pick it up it is a mix of Jingle Bells, Old Mc Donald and Jesus Loves me.)  

7) While shopping with his Nana for some new Lightening McQueen shoes, they were trying them on and touching his toes, ect.   Eli just looked up at NaNa and said, "These'll work!".  

8) This one isn't so funny, but just a sign that our little boy is growing up.   While I was feeding Anna Eli decided he wanted to use the potty.  (FYI he is NOT potty trained).   So he took off his pants, took off his diaper, went potty (Standing up!), flushed, ran up to his room, found where I stashed some pull ups, put one on and then put his pants back on.   I think he's ready to start some serious training!   Wish us luck! 

Mizzou Rah!!

Considering she will probably never wear this outfit again (although according to my bracket she gets one more time!)  we decided to dress her up for the big day.  Go Tigers!!!  

MU vs. Clemson 1:35 CST.   

Luck of the Irish

Other than an excuse to dress up Anna and take pictures, we truly have a reason to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in this family.    Well if you follow my mom's blog , you would know that we have a little Scotch Irish in our blood but not enough to make us kick up our heels leprechaun style on St. Patrick's Day.   On Todd's side however...whew.  


Todd's Grandma, Lorraine, had Grandparents that were born in Ireland.   Her maiden name is Hurley and her Grandparents are:
Patrick Joseph Hurley (born in Ireland) married to Ellen Conway (born in Ireland)
and
Bridget Bannon (born in Ireland) married to Henry Vorbeck (from Holland).  

We raise our glasses and kick up our heels to you today!   

21 dress challenge...

One of the best things about Anna turning 3 months is that I get to change out her entire wardrobe!!  How cool is that?   I get to do it AGAIN at 6 months!   While having myself a little party I realized that...

a) I am soooo thankful for the hand me downs we received from my niece Libby, and odds and ends from friends.   
b) I am sooo thankful for Goodwill!  Yes, Goodwill.   Someday my daughter will get mad at me for doing this but I LOVE a deal, and reusing stuff (see previous post).   I have found so many of Anna's outfits from here at only $1/piece!!!   They have all the top brands (esp. if you go to the ones in more astute areas) and baby stuff is rarely worn (hence the wardrobe change every 3 months). 
c) I am sooo thankful for the gifts we have received from friends and family.   
d) I have accumulated way to much because of a), b) and c).  

Once I crammed all the drawers, and bought a new set of hangers it dawned on me that she has 21 dresses and only 3 months to wear all of this cuteness!  Not only that, but we really are more of a leggings and onesie kind of family.    Regardless, I am challenging myself (and trying to justify to Todd why we have all of it) to put her in all 21 dresses before she grows out of them.   I will take photos and at 6 months present them all to you : )   Wish us luck!!   

Look at my BUM!

Bum Genius that is!   We decided to take the plunge (hopefully no pun intended) to cloth diapers this time around.   We decided to do this for a couple of reasons:

1) Cost:  Adding kid #2 is costly and with little to no room in our budget we needed to make her work somehow : )  I did some research and discovered what a savings switching to cloth really was!  Here are some of the many helpful charts that I found online.

We have decided to go with the brand BUM GENIUS that was actually created by a local store here in St. Louis called Cotton Babies.  They have become so popular (and sooooooo easy to use!) that even Target sells them!   What is so great about these diapers is they grow with your child (these are referred to as "ONE SIZE" diapers).   They have snaps that adjust to the size that you need.   (So actually my savings are even better than what is listed above) We also are using "ALL IN ONE" diapers that come in small, medium and large and these diapers are JUST LIKE DISPOSABLE.   I don't need to do anything to them, I just throw them into the washing machine and voila...I'm done. 

2.) The environment:  (yes, this is after cost...) To be completely honest if it wasn't cost effective I probably wouldn't do it.  HOWEVER, it is and so this is just an added bonus : )   I can't imagine all the diaper trash we would be producing from both Eli and Anna.   However I do think it is mostly a toss up: wasting water (cloth) vs. filling up a landfill (disposable).   I am hoping that our High Efficiency washer does help make a difference.  

3.) The FUN colors and the super soft cotton!:  Now that I am using them, they actually brighten my day.  I get to pick from an array of fun colors and she just looks so cute in them.   I also love how soft they are!  (Why a lot of people use Pampers) We do put disposable on Anna at night (much more absorbent) and I always feel so bad because they feel so harsh against her skin compared to the cloth diapers. 

So to sum things up...I'm a CHEAPSKATE...that is why we chose cloth!  

Anna does have 1 big fear...."DOES THIS DIAPER MAKE MY BUTT LOOK BIG"?? 

What about from this angle?

 

I just tell her not to be so vain...it'll only make her grumpy.   

February Photos!

Visit our link to the right and enter password 'warren' to experience our fantastically fun month of February : )