Eli-isms

This post is a looooooooooooong time coming!  Sorry to all of you that have been waiting patiently and eagerly ... I know it's a fave!

*Those of you that are familiar with St. Louis will appreciate this....on the way to a trip to Kansas City we approached Chesterfield (20 min. from our house) where there are some medical buildings.  He became really excited and said, "We're here!  This is Kansas City!"   I had to break it to the poor guy that we still had a long way to go and that yes tall buildings are in Kansas City just not those tall buildings.
* He was pretty obsessed with cities for awhile.   When we were reading his Bible we were talking about Bethlehem and he said, "that is NOT a city.  It does not have tall buildings."   (I wonder if Mary said something similar while in labor...)
*After his birthday I was trying to recycle some toys to make room for new ones and I told him he needed to get rid of some toys and I asked who he wanted to give them to.   He told me he wanted to give them to Anna.   (Really sweet but not really my point...)
*When he went on a trip to Springfield to spend some time with his Grandparents he turned to Todd, put his hand on his arm and said, "You have fun with Mom."    (Like Todd was going to miss him terribly but no worries he had me...)
* I really need to start giving him a break when he wakes up from his naps and starts rambling, but the things he says are hysterical.   One day he told me, "Mom, don't worry.  I told the Daddy hippopotamus to get out of the tree."   (RANDOM)
*If you've been outside this August you know that the mosquitoes are ridiculous.  I told Eli that in order to go outside he needed to put on some bugspray.   He looked at me like I was crazy but followed suit.  After I sprayed it on him he looked all over his arms and legs and asked, "Where are the bugs?"  He literally thought I was spraying him with bugs. 
*On a gorgeous hike in Castlewood Park we were taking in the scenery.  Eli looked up at the sky and said, "It looks like Koolaid!"  (we REALLY wanted to correct him that Koolaid looks like the sky and not the other way around but saved our breath)
* When Todd wore a shirt with a guitar on it Eli told him he looked like a rockstar.  Apparently that's all you need!
*We've been trying to get Eli to drink out of a cup without a lid at mealtimes.  Todd told him to put his cup on top of his plate (so he wouldn't knock it over).  He looked at Todd like he was crazy and said, "That would be yucky, Daddy."   (He thought Todd wanted to Eli to dump his water onto his plate....) 
* He explained the other week, "I LOVE potties!"
*When I walked into the room there were cracker crumbs EVERYWHERE.   He explained to me that the bad guys he was playing with did it.  (nope, not him)
*While at my moms last week he was bouncing balls on the floor and doing a silly little bounce dance with it and humming to himself.  We all thought he looked so cute and were giggling with eachother.   Then we started to make out what he was humming..."pee on the floor, pee on the floor".  We followed him into the bathroom where he was preparing another ball for his fun activity by soaking it in pee and then proceeding with his little jig by bouncing the ball (with the pee) all over my moms floor.

"When you're sliding into first..."

 Ok.  I won't finish the song.   If you are truly curious and want to know where I was going with the title you can check the video above.   Borderline inappropriate?  I know.  But you try being locked in the house for essentially 12 days where poop is the #1 subject matter and tell me you aren't a little crazy.   

12 days?!?   Well lets start at the beginning.  

Eli Potty Training Day 1 :  (Left to pick his own shirt he continuously picked Halloween ones...) 

I'll throw in a cute one of Anna just for kicks!  She decided not to wear shorts/pants either! 

Wednesday 8/11:  I embark on a "3 Day Potty Training" journey with Eli.   My friend, Lindsay, passed on a book to me and I thought it was worth a try!   It was hot, we had nothing planned, school/commitments were about to begin so I thought we'd go for it.   Basically you have to stay in the house for 3 days, your child cannot where pants, you need to pump them with fluids and your focus has to be getting them to the bathroom each time you catch them in the act : )   Well?  It clicked pretty much right away.   What can I say?  This thing is magical?   Eli was ready?  I'm a rockstar?  Just take your pick.  

Day 2 Potty Training: Eli's Modesty Lessens

Thursday 8/12:  Day 2 of Potty training was a little more eventful.   In my confidence I decided to invite a dear friend that recently moved back into town and her 3 year old over for a playdate.    While we were outside waiting for them I noticed a puddle forming under Eli on the sidewalk.   It took me a second before I realized what it was.   "Eli...go inside!  You're going potty!"   Then I had to yell to Kim, "Watch out for the puddle of pee on your way in" as I ran in to help Eli.   Great welcome :) 


Our next fun event that night happened to Todd.   He noticed Eli was acting funny and then realized he was going potty (not in the potty) so rushed him to the bathroom.   Let's just say he didn't make it and out came this quote from Eli, "There's poop everywhere!". 

Day 3 Potty Training: Eli's Modesty Gone

Friday 8/13: Day 3 of Potty Training was as uneventful as the first.   I think we found ourselves a champion!  

At the Zoo...this is my fave face she makes.

Saturday 8/14, Sunday 8/15: With Todd home we decided to take a couple of field trips to see how he did out....he did fabulous.  He went to the bathroom 3 times at the zoo!  

Our Potty Champion

Monday 8/16: We decided to celebrate the end of Eli's potty training by taking all of his reward M & M's and making cookies.  (this was so he could see they were gone...)   Great idea, right?

Well...

Eli consuming SALMONELLA!!!!!!!

....unfortunately the cookies were a great idea, but eating the batter was not : ( 

Tuesday 8/17-Present:  Eli and I caught the food borne illness Salmonella I believe from the cookie dough we ate :(   At nap time I became extremely exhausted and could barely put the kids down for a nap.   That afternoon I started feeling sick and then everything went...south.   At first I thought it was just a 24 hour bug, but then the news reports came out about the biggest egg recall in history and the pieces started to fall together.  What can I say about this horrible illness?  It's horrible.  It's basically like having the stomach flu for 5-7 DAYS.   Why does it stay in your system for so long?  I have no idea. None.  The biggest challenge is to stay hydrated, and with me still trying to nurse anna (just in case this was something contagious I wanted her to get my antibodies) this was a challenge.  

Unfortunately Todd had already taken off work to do a week long class and unless he wanted an "incomplete" he needed to be there.   He was my hero though.  He coordinated child care, ran home on his lunch breaks, and took excellent care of us as soon as class let out.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Grandparents for helping us out, all of you.   We are so blessed to have you, and thank you for your willingness to roll up your sleeves and help us out.

It's Sunday evening and I must say I feel 60%.  Not bad!  (I expect miracles on day 7...tomorrow)  Thank you for everyones prayers and support this past week.   We love you!   (Oh and if you plan on coming over, do know that cleaning the bathrooms is #1 on my list!) 

july pictures

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Busy busy busy month!   As always click on pictures to go to site if you would like to see commentary and/or download the pictures.   Happy August : ) 

Going Green

Todd and I are spoiled.   What else can I say?  How else can I explain that we received these INCREDIBLE tickets once again?   Before we knew what seats we would receive we had already decided that Eli would come with us.   His last game was when he was 

10 weeks old!   

We also brought our good friend, Sega, because he's awesome.  Before you go GREEN with jealousy there was at least a rain delay this time.   (Oh but for those of you that don't know, with the green seats you get a club house with all you can eat and drink included so I guess the delay wasn't too bad).  

Thanks to a wonderful couple that was willing to share their table with us we sat comfortably and talked, ate and drank until the game started 2 hours and 45 minutes late : ) (Oh we also played in the rain a little bit too...)

By 9:45 pm some of us just couldn't wait any longer, while others of us were raring to go! 

Cardinal fans are the best...where else can you find this many fans that are willing to stick around?  (fyi, majority of them did not have food, drink and air conditioning.  When Eli and I walked around they were all crowded by the concessions sitting on the ground)   

The view was  not bad from the 6th seat behind home plate!   

I do think we need to talk Todd's work into letting us sit there at least one more time.   Eli STILL hasn't seen a game since he was
10 weeks old : )   

Eli's Birthday Take 2

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In case you can't tell from the pictures the theme was DISNEY CARS and we had so much fun thinking about and creating details of the party that related to the movie.  Once more than 2  kids said they were coming we decided to move the party (and the mess) from our house to a park (if you've seen our backyard you know why.) With 95 degree weather this proved to be a VERY hot challenge.  As you will see from the pictures, after the kids created their own cars and raced them they spent the rest of the time playing with as much water that we would give them.  Despite the weather the birthday boy had so much fun! 

**Special thanks to All Things Simple Photography  (aka Katrina!)