Fun Filled Saturday

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day! Ethan, Elijah, Boomerang and I decided to take advantage of this incredible weather and went for a nice walk on the trail nearby. I love going for walks all the time, and when you throw in my wonderful husband, a happy kiddo, our faithful canine, and a gloriously wasteful day it just doesn't get much better in my book! What a delightful way to spend our Saturday afternoon. We came back and had some delicious lunch and then the boys (Ethan, Eli, and Boomerang) all took long, peaceful afternoon naps while I did a little blogging.  Top it off with church and a family dinner out at the Central Market Cafe it was the perfect day. :)



The little video above is of Eli and Daddy playing as we were about to leave for our walk. What can we say, Daddy is just sooo funny! :)

"I've got my sunglasses Mom...don't you want to grab a pair for yourself?"



Check out Elijah's top teeth!  All four on the top are now in and 3 on the bottom. 



"Man, Dad, that was the best walk ever!"

"What do you say, Mom, can we go again tomorrow?"

"I just love going out for family walks!"

Having a "blast" in his cool rocket shirt from Andrew and Blair!

"Daddy's still got it...he is quite the comedian."

My two favorite boys giggling away.  It just doesn't get any better than this!

Video Insight

This first video will provide you with a little more insight as to why I have not uploaded more videos. :)

While Elijah is getting super active and interactive, his alertness and "interest in technology" makes it quite difficult to record him in his tasks. I constantly find myself thinking...oh, I wish I had this on video! But, sure enough I will try to grab the video camera and instantly he loses interest in what he was doing and his focus shifts to the ever coveted video camera or flip video camera. :)



In this video from a few days ago, Elijah was playing with his baseball toy from his Uncle Daniel and Aunt Jenny. He has really started to get into this toy! He learned how to take the bat and hit the ball with it, rather than just chewing on the bat. I tried to catch this on video, but you can clearly see the result of that attempt above. :)

Yesterday, Eli and I were playing with this toy again and I tried raising it up where you can actually hit the ball off of the tee. He was hitting it with his hand, but was having a blast knocking it off! I would say "yay!" and give him a high five and he would just laugh like it was the funniest thing ever. Then I would get the ball, put it back on the tee, and we would repeat the whole process. We must have played that game for 10 straight minutes (which is an extremely long amount of time on one task for a 9 month old)! Thanks again for the toy, Daniel and Jenny, Elijah loves it and will surely grow up to be a professional baseball player thanks to you. ;)



This second video is from a while back. Currently, Elijah is a constant babbler and says Mama and Dada very well, although still not necessarily discriminately. At the time I was taking this video, I remember that I was about to put the little guy down for a nap and he kept saying "dadada." Ethan had not heard him say it before so I ran, got the flip video and came back up to record him saying it. While he didn't say dada, it is still cute of our silly little guy bouncing and playing in his bed (very ready for a nap as you can tell). :)

Very Silly Boy

Here are some silly pictures of our teething machine from this morning.  Getting to stay home and play with our sweet little boy is the best job in the world...I am so blessed!

Here Eli has the "Air Jordan" tongue going on! :)

Again with the tongue.  He is constantly feeling all those teeth coming in...he now has 7.

Our little buddy is just about over his cold, but still has some drainage going on.  And yet, he is so happy nonetheless!  You can tell that you are a full fledged mom when you use the sleeve of your shirt to wipe a runny nose,  and don't even feel the need to go change your shirt since you know it's only a matter of time until you rub it again. :)

Climbing on Mommy's feet and having a good ol' time.

Trying to come get the camera but Mom was too quick and snapped this cute one just in time!

Climbing Stairs

Guess what Elijah has learned how to do? If you looked at the title and guessed climbing stairs, then right you are! Elijah has been aware of the stairs for quite some time now but had not ventured up them until this past weekend. On Saturday he climbed up the first step for the first time. Ethan and I were both there and were impressed with his new accomplishment. The very next day, he was not only climbing on the first stair, but went up about four stairs! This kiddo sure learns quick... Needless to say, our actions were 1. take a few pictures (okay, so this was solely my doing), 2. teach him how to go back down the stairs, 3. get online and order a baby gate for the bottom of the stairs. :) Here is the little man in action.

Elijah crawling around the kitchen, looking for trouble.  One of his favorite kitchen pasttimes is pulling the towels off the oven bar.

Eli's mischevious grin after spotting the stairs.  There is no stopping him now...

Destination, top of the stairs.  He is determined, he is focused, he is ready. 

We have lift off.

Up he goes!  One down and he is going strong.

"Hey Mom, are you seeing this?"

"I am really starting to get the hang of this climbing business."

Two down and Elijah takes a break for a quick photo op.  You can see Boomerang is present to supervise the creature in his stair climbing debut.

"I'm pretty high, aren't I Mom?"

"I think I'll keep going a little higher."

"I can't let Boomerang beat me afterall."

"You are going to help me get down, right?"

Eli the Superhero

Our little Superhero, soring through the air in his cute new PJs! 

Ethan was home a little earlier than usual last night so we had some family play time before bed.  He took these pictures with his new IPhone (that he got through work) and then sent them to me.  I think they came out great!  And now without further ado, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

...Super Eli!



These are the cutest pjs from Mamie.   Here you can see the front pretty well.  They have a "belt" across the waist with a huge gold belt buckle and a little patch on the chest that says "Sidekicks."  The little footies are red to match the red "cape" on the back.  Adorable!



This is Elijah's new favorite face to make.  I think he is feeling his teeth with his tongue.  Almost all 4 have now broken through on the top and one more on the bottom, bringing him to a grand total of 7 teeth.

And finally, I saved the best for last.  How could I ever get enough of that sweet little face! :)

Messy Eater

I used to consider myself a messy eater because I use a lot of napkins when I eat.  Somehow, my definition of the phrase has recently changed. :)

Here are a few pictures of Elijah after eating one of his teething biscuits.  He seems to have a great time chewing on them, but they make a huge mess.  I put him in his high chair with his bib on to enjoy his treat and by the time he was finished his face, hands, hair, and clothes were covered.  That's what little boys are for, making messes and enjoying every second of it.  So, what is a mom to do but grab the camera, take a few pictures, and then put him in the tub. 

You can also see Elijah with his new sippy cup.  He has just recently started drinking out of it and loves drinking his water now with his meals.  He is really good at drinking out of it when I hold it for him, but is still working on holding it and drinking from it all by himself.  You can see him trying to figure it out below. 

Precious Moments

I was reminded this morning, as I finally packed up Elijah's 3-6 months outfits that he had long since outgrown, that time goes by so quickly.  I have been avoiding packing up this last round of clothes because I kept thinking that they "may" still fit, so no need to rush to put them up.  Then, at MOPS this past Friday Elijah had a little accident so they changed him out of the outfit he came dressed in and into his "backup outfit" that I keep in his little backpack that he takes with him.  Since he hadn't used the "backup outfit" in a good long while, I didn't realize that it was a 6 month outfit.  Let's just say that the little jumpsuit fit pretty snug and the pants were more like capris. :)  And with that, I figured that the time had come to pack up all of the 6 month outfits.  Surprisingly, it seems like 6 month clothes made up the bulk of his closet, so we went from needing to buy more hangers to having an abundance of hangers and space! 

As I sorted through the clothes and begin to lay them out and neatly fold them, I felt a saddness welling up inside of me.  It was a strange, sentimental sadness, really, that I cannot quite explain.  It was the realization that life goes by so quickly and that the moments are fleeting.  It was the realization that he would never again wear those clothes and never again be so small.  It was the realization that time never stops; you can not slow it down, you can not pause it no matter how sweet the moment.  All you can do is savor it, live it.  So today, I savor each moment that I have....  The fun ones filled with sweet giggles as I kiss Elijah on his tickle spot on his neck.  The stinky ones as I change his very dirty diaper, along with his clothes because the mess has somehow found its way out of the diaper.  The distracted ones as I try to finish a blog post and he crawls around at my feet, demanding my attention instead.  And the tender ones when I cuddle with my little boy, who won't be a little baby for long.  Each is precious, each is a gift.

Rationally, I know that this is pure silliness.  I know that my little boy is only 9 months old and will grow into and out of many, many more sets of clothes.  I know that we still have years before he even gets to school, much less grows up and moves out on his own.  I know that I do not want things to stay the same forever.  Life is dynamic.  Life is always changing, growing, and moving.  But I am reminded today that it is so precious.  It is the blink of an eye and we wonder where the years have gone.  I was reminded of a song: "Every day is a gift that we've been given, make the most of the time every minute you're living."  And so it is.  I thank you Lord for today.  I thank you for this moment. 

And as always, a few pictures of my most recent "precious moments" with my little boy:

One of our new favorite dinner spots is the Central Market Cafe.  After church on Saturday night, we will come here and it is fantastic.  The food is always delicious, you order and pay at the counter so it is quick and makes for a fast escape should you need it (aka, kid starting to implode) but is relaxing where you can sit and eat for as long as you like (so it actually feels like a dinner out and not fast food), and they have live music which serves a two fold purpose: 1.  nice atmosphere for dinner, 2.  cover noise for children.  :)  Here, Elijah and Daddy are listening to the music before we head out.

Elijah also loves going to Central Market!  Truth be told, we have gone there for the last two weekends in a row and these trips have probably been our most enjoyable dinner experiences with the little man.  He is getting to the super fun stage where he can eat "real people food."  He is happy and entertained throughout the meal as we give him little bites of our food to try.  In the past few weeks he has tried couscous, salmon, chicken, peas, tortillas, carrots, and all sorts of other delectable fare.

And one last sweet picture, here Eli is eating puff while I get his dinner ready.  This kiddo is truly a "puff-a-holic" and I'm pretty sure he could eat his weight in those little things if we'd let him. :)  Sometimes I think he enjoys the challenge of grabbing them all and putting them in his mouth more than actually eating them.  I have to limit the number he can grab at once so he remembers to stop and chew.  I love his little face in this picture.  You can also see his little curls behind his ear.  His hair is starting to get longer and his curls are most noticeable right after he has had a bath. 

What I did this week...by Elijah Cislaghi

1.  I learned how to play the guitar.

"I have never seen that thing before."

"What a cool toy."

"How exactly does this work?"

"Oh I see...you just pull on these things right here."

"Okay, here goes."

"I am not near as good as Daddy yet.  This may be harder than I thought."

2.  I helped Mom and Dad install the Baby Gate

"Mommy seems to be pretty happy about having the new gate up and I like it too...more spindles for me to climb on!"

"Here's a look from my point of view."

3.  I spent some time driving around.

"Hmm, I seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere..."

"...better turn around."

4.  I got to wear my warm winter clothes because it was cold here for a change.

"My nose was all red from being outside with Mommy and Boomerang."

"Mom, I feel downright silly in this hat, even if you do say it is cute."

5. I got inside of Boomerang's bed for the first time.

"Let's just take a look inside..."

"Pretty cool, I guess."

"Although it doesn't smell too good.  I think Boomerang could use a bath."

6.  I got some new PJs from Mamie.

"I love my new Jungle PJs."

"Mom took a bunch of pictures since it was my first time wearing them, so I posed for a few and then went off to play."

"Check out my cool footies."

"I watched the laundry spin around in the washer."

"I played in Boomerang's dog bowl."

"I somehow go locked out of the room with the dog bowl in it...I'm sure that was an accident.  I was trying to figure out how to get back in there by looking under the door..."

"...but eventually decided to go find something else to do."

"I settled on a little light reading to wind down for the night."

"Hmm, can't choose what to read.  Maybe I'll just take this basket with me."

"That's about it.  How was your week?"