Family Time...#6

Sweet, precious family time.  I love it and can never get enough of it.  Kevin & I have always been "that" couple since day 1.  You either love that we do everything together or you hate it, but that's how we roll.  We don't seperate alot to have "girl time" or "guy time" even though we have started doing that some now because we like "us" time too much to give it up often.  Now that Eli is part of our family, we take every minute we can to play with him, talk to him and show him that he is the center of our world.

How do you not smile at this face?

And even though I'm still having to say no...you have to turn your head and smile first when they do something like this!

He is such a good boy and spends most of his days entertaining himself, talking to us non-stop inbetween activities.  I love family time and can't wait for it to grow!

I don't know how all of these precious moments don't make you itch for more?

This is his... "What you looking at, yeah I ate all my spaghetti...gotta problem?" look.

AND we can't forget Muffin.  She was a member of my family before anyone else and I love watching her and Eli interact.  Cutest thing ever.  I'm sure the fact that he feeds her cheetos and everything else he eats all of the time just adds to the bonding going on. LOVE IT!

 

 

No, No & No...#5

Well, first off I'm pretty impressed that I have kept up so far, BUT I haven't gone back to work yet either.  It will get much harder come Monday.  I'm not really sure why, but the past couple of posts  hasn't allowed me to add pictures so I'm sorry if it's not as interesting. I'll work on it.

Anyways, the title has been my vocabulary today.  My little Eli is the biggest daredevil out there.  He is not afraid of anything yet.  His newest trick today was climbing on the hood, yes hood, of the car he got for his birthday.  He's suppossed to ride in it, but instead today he kept climbing on the hood of it, sitting on his knees and THEN pressing the gas to try and go forward.  I'd say, "Eli...no" and he'd babble something like he was explaining why he had to do it, then when I'd say, "I'm sorry, you can't" then he'd get on his knees in the floor, and put his head on the hood of the car and cry looking at me the entire time like I was the worst mom ever.  He has the most tender heart that he cries anytime ANYONE tells him no.  You can even say it nicely and he just starts balling.  Maybe that means he won't be stubborn...we shall see.

But this is my first insight as to it only getting harder as he gets older.  Maybe the sleeping, eating, diapers, etc. get easier as he grows up, but being responsible for this little life and making sure their decisions are safe, smart and honorable will only be more challenging.  For now, I'm just bracing myself for the "terrible twos" because I have a feeling "No, no, no" will be in my vocabulary a lot more...

Sleeping Beauty...well kind of #4

I guess I can't really call Eli sleeping beauty since he's a boy, but it kind of fits because I think he is a beautiful child and he was sleeping...

This morning amazed me.  It's my last Friday before I return to work and I'm feeling the pressure of returning on Monday.  I couldn't go to sleep last night because I kept thinking I need to do lesson plans and everything else on my work "To-do list" so that I can go back and be ahead!  However, it is turning out to be a great day.

At 10:00 the door bell rang and it was a jolly old man with white hair. He honestly reminded me of Santa Claus and he was here to tune my piano.  Kevin, as part of my Christmas presents, has arranged for this man, Scotty (how appropriate huh?) to come and do this and I was in tears I was so excited.  My piano is precious to me and has been through the ringer.  It was the one my mom started playing on and when I moved from Creswell to Benson, they allowed me to take it with me.  Then it made the move from Benson to Wilmington, and last but not least from Wilmington to Florida.  If you know anything about pianos then you know this piano was in dire need for a tune up.  It hasn't had one since it was in Creswell.

However, it was 9:30 and Eli just went down for a nap.  Really I thought?  Now? I was so excited I wasn't about to ask this man to come back later, but I didn't want Eli's nap messed up either.  Oh well...we will just see how it goes and I will deal.  So as I sat here on the couch, Scotty pressed every key loudly (at least it seemed loud at the time) and I had the monitor right beside me...waiting, holding my breath and guess what?  Eli slept through the entire thing.  With the piano up against the wall of Eli's room, Scotty played and tuned and played and tuned some more and still no baby cries!

So...success!  The piano sounds amazing and Eli got a complete nap out.  He even woke up in a good mood, just like usual.  He ate a full lunch of chicken nuggest and corn and was ready to play.  I'd say the rest of this day is bound to be good as well because Eli was such a sleeping beauty.

Rain, Rain Go Away #3

Today was one of those dreary, gloomy days.  The ones where you say the night before you are going to do this, this, this and this.  Then you wake up and sing The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars.  You know the one that says, "today I don't feel like doing anything..."  Even Eli was sleepy today.  My little snuggle bug sat in my lap, watched tv, babbled and had many conversations about life and it's meaning.  I might not understand everything he says, but by his facial expressions, Eli sure thinks he is telling me something. Then again, Eli has been known for his facial expressions since day 1.

So today consisted of messy spaghetti lunches, Backyardigans, a couple naps and lots of mommy/son time.  I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world and it sure makes me dread going back to work.  I miss being a stay at home mommy...

Project 100...

I just read a friends blog and got inspired with her post about Project 365.  She said a lot of people started blogging once a day for an entire year (hence the name) and the blog showed pictures and said a little bit about what occured each day.  At first I thought that's a great idea!  I love it!  I could so do that!

Then...I came back to reality and although I LOVE the thought of blogging everyday, I think mine might have to be titled Project 100.  With my new year resolutions like eating healthy, working out and staying on top of lesson plans, etc. there is only so much time in a day after I get home in the afternoon.  SO, if I call mine Project 100 and actually do post 365 I will be such an overachiever. :)

Today I am starting with a few pictures from our Sea World trip of one happy little boy.  On the way to the park...maybe just a little excited.

Once we got there, we put Eli in his stroller.  Thank goodness he loves it.

Having an elementary school teaching background, I have such a soft spot for the Polar Express.  I just love the magic that it brings at Christmas time for kids.  It gives them something to believe in and has such a sweet message.  Eli was excited about being in front of the train...

Ok...so maybe he was just excited he had cheetos, but I was excited. haha.  Here is our self portrait family photo...

I know he won't remember it, but I sure think it's cool and can't wait until he can see the movie and get excited about it too.  He was such a good boy at the park all day and didn't fuss the first time.Even after a long, busy day...my sweet toddler (not really a baby anymore) was still in a good mood.

Like I said earlier, I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!

 

 

 

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

Well in 2012 I did a lot of good things, but keeping up with this blog sure wasn't one of them.  That's one of my goals because this is such a good way of keeping up with what was going on with life gets crazy busy.

The past couple of days we have had Kevin's whole family here : Wayne, Marlene, Glenn, Kelly, Will & Walker.  It has been a whirlwind of a visit.  Christmas exchanging the first day, shopping one, day, Sea World another, and ending with Disney, but this trip was different than the rest.  First off, Glenn & Walker have never been to our house in Florida so that was exciting AND it was Eli and Walker's first time to Disney World.  Glenn & Kelly and Kevin & I even got a night out on the town together kid free (the first time just the four of us ever)!

Kevin and I like living in Florida, even though we are far away from family, because not many people can say they can take their kids to Disney or Sea World or any of theme parks anytime they like.  Everyone wants to choose the "right" age so they remember and it's worth it.  So we are very fortunate to go multiple times and see it through Eli's eyes hopefully several times.  It made me excited for the future (even though I'm not trying to rush Eli growing up) to see it through Walker's eyes.  He got SO excited at Disney when the parade came through.  He was yelling "Hi Goofy!" and then just grinning when Goofy waved at him.  He even blew Minnie a kiss and asked me if I thought she got it.  Walker had his little fingers in his mouth because he was so nervous on the Jungle Cruise because it seemed so real to him, and if you've ever been on the Jungle Cruise you know it's about as unreal as it comes.  It's neat, but definitely different for a kid.

We always wait for family to visit and count down the days and then once they are here it flies by.  But I have to say this was one trip that will be remembered by all (except Eli) for a while and I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the new year.

So bring on 2013....I'm excited.

Whirlwind of a month...

Antibiotics, doctor's office, urgent care, sleepless nights, fever, teething...all of these words have been essential to the Dunn Family's vocabulary this past month.

It all started with a small cough and a runny nose and Eli's 9 month check-up.  Great! We thought...he has a doctor's appointment scheduled anyway, we can kill 2 birds with one stone and get this cold checked out as well as get his 9 month stats.  WRONG!  We should have known better right there.  What started as the "common cold" by the end of that week turned into an upper respiratory infection and double ear infections.  Then what started as daddy not feeling well turned into the flu... and THEN what turned out as mommy's throat hurting turned into strep throat and tonsilitis. 

I think this was one of the hardest weeks to survive that I can remember in a LONG time. It's hard caring for a hurting child when your husband and yourself are exhausted and feeling miserable too.  Although it was tough...we made it!  10 days of antibiotics for everyone and poof we were all better...

...NOT!  After that round, Eli still wasn't himself.  I know all mothers think their children are the best, but honestly Eli rarely cries. If he does, something is wrong.  He is a happy child 99% of the time.  So, with fevers and a grumpy child, we head to urgent care #1 we go because of course he got worse on a Friday night when nothing else was open...at 7:00 at night.  After an hour or so we finally get home with round #2 of antibiotic(stronger this time) for our little man because his ear infections were still not cleared up and he had another virus...

...but wait, that's not it!  On day 9 of the antibiotic, we notice Eli's cheeks were extremely red.  He has eczema on them so occasionally it flares up so we put our usual cream on it and then waited.  But soon the redness turned into bumps, and the bumps turned into welps, and the welps began to spread...oh boy...

...so it's Sunday (today) and here we go heading to Nite Lite Pediatrics Urgent care because it's the ONLY place open and by the time we could get there, Eli was covered from head to toe in crazy red bumps.  I mean everywhere, even on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet.  He was so pityful looking...but he was a trooper.  The doctor had never seen a reaction that bad he said, SO it was determined that because Eli has been on antibiotics for such a long period of time, that his body could not handle the penicillin built up and was having a reaction.  So after a steriod dose and instructs of benadryl, motrin and tylenol...yet again we head home.  We drove away and as I looked at Kevin I thought, "Do we ever get a break?"  "What are we doing wrong?"  "I hate seeing our child hurting!"

Then I come home and I read a blog in which a couple I know is expecting their bundle of joy and only halfway through the pregnancy, they find out their child will have spinal bifida (Spelling?).  Puts things into perspective REAL quick.  I love my son as much as the next mommy and it physically makes me sick in my stomach when he is hurting.  I wish it was me, I want to take away the pain and I want him to just smile again...but that makes colds and rashes easy to deal with.  So in the grand scheme of things, I'm going to choose to be positive and say "Thank you GOD for only giving me this to deal with instead of so much more.  I am truly blessed."