The Guilt Got To Me

After a crazy morning of hitting garage sales, we relaxed with a picnic at the park. Eli, even with his cold, was pretty content. He got lots of new toys and books and got to play outside.

Eli loves to swing.


"More, daddy!"


Going down the slide with mom. He was more interested in the puppy dog that was running around.


At the end of it all, he was tuckered out. Doesn't that look comfortable?

Sick Eli

Allright, I'm feeling a little guilty. I did not take one picture of Eli this week. But, to my defense, he's sick and he's not looking too cute right now. He constantly has snot running down his nose, which is now very chapped underneath. His eyes are red and watery. He coughs like a smoker and is just generally miserable. Its been a long week for all of us. Luckily, he's still been sleeping pretty well, but when he's awake he wants to be held all the time. Our fingers are crossed for a speedy recovery.

Springtime Fun

Eli has been spending a lot of time outside. He loves it. Yesterday, he ate his first dirt clump and I'm pretty sure he'll be eating a lot more of it as he seemed to like it.

Crawling on the lush green grass in the backyard. He chases that ball everywhere.


Helping dad fix up his new bike.


I'm such a good helper!!!


Eli loves pickles.


Eli used to be an every-other-day bather, but now that he's playing outside he's getting much dirtier and now gets a bath every night.

Eli's Going To Be a BIG Brother

Yes, it's true. Eli is a brother-in-training. We are expecting the new addition to arrive in late October. We are all very excited! We've had several ultra-sounds to determine the due date and have heard the baby's heartbeat. Now that the first trimester is coming to an end, I'm starting to get my energy back and can actually make it through the day without taking a nap and without going to bed minutes after Eli.

Spring has already come and gone in Ohio. It's been so warm and its already getting muggy. The grass is a vibrant green already and almost to my knees. The flowers are popping up everywhere and the trees are full of leaves. Eli LOVES being outside. He loves the sandbox, playing with the ball in the grass, going for long walks in the stroller, and swinging at the park.

Here's what Eli has been up to.

A cute picture with proud grandma and grandpa.


Another one of Eli's favorite things: watching the clothes in the washing machine.


Eli can now pull himself to standing. He's even stood by himself for a few seconds!


As I've mentioned before, Eli loves the garbage. Luckily, the one he gets into the most only has paper in it. Here he is having a grand ol' time.

Pictures From Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa Zeman were here visiting last week. Eli had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. They spoiled everyone rotten and now we are sad that they are gone. I'll post some pictures of Eli with Grandma and Grandpa later. Here are a few of Grandma's favorites.

We made a special trip to the zoo. The only thing Eli really pays any attention to are the fish in the aquarium. He could spend all day watching the fish swim by.


Grandma and Grandpa bought Eli a really cool turtle sandbox. He really likes holding the sand in his hand and squeezing it as hard as he can. He hasn't tried to eat any sand yet, but I'm sure he will. (This is also a good picture of his bottom teeth. He just got a top one in and the one next to it is close behind.)


Oooo... I love my sandbox.

Eli's Favorite Past Time

Eli loves to take the CDs off of the shelf. He can spend a good amount of time removing them one by one. Unfortunately, he's not very good at cleaning up after himself and the cds are no longer in ABC order.


He also likes to put each CD in his mouth. Yummy!


Here he is leaving the scene of the crime.


Eli does not discriminate between his vegetables. He ate this carrot the whole time we were in Philadelphia. It sounds disgusting, but it was actually a life saver and much, much cleaner than cookies or crackers.

Trip to Philly

We spent our spring break in Pennsylvania hanging out and being tourists. We visited our good friends, Robert, Michelle and Gabriella, in Lewisburg, then headed to Philadelphia. We stayed at a hotel in the historic district and were able to walk everywhere we really wanted to go. After several days in Philly, we spent one night in Pittsburgh at the Matta's. Aunt Pat came to visit too. We had such a fun time. We have discovered that Eli is a pretty good traveller. He slept through the night, took lots of naps, sat nice in the car, flirted with everyone, and was pretty jolly the entire trip (except for the hour we were stuck in rush hour traffic; he screamed the whole time). Here are a few highlights.

Eli trying his first Philly Cheesesteak.


Family photo at the Liberty Bell.


Admiring Ben Franklin.


Crazy hats at Valley Forge.


At Valley Forge.

Getting Around and Other Silly Stuff

Eli has had a very busy week. Starting on Saturday, he has been crawling. He's not very effecient or graceful, but whatever works . He started by going after the phone book after much encouragement from mom and dad, but now he realizes that when he's bored he can just get up and move. Toys are no longer fun and he finds other things more interesting like the garbage, the swivel computer chair and shelf with all the cds. My job has just gotten more interesting. It's hard to capture crawling on film, so the last pictures will have to suffice.

Eli visited the doctor this week and they have gigantic mirrors. Here he is giving himself the stare down.


Oops!


Eli loves zucchini.


Checking out his new car, that he crawled to himself.


He likes to exaggerate his crawling motions. This is the gigantic arm swing.

At the Science Center

Last Saturday, we spent the morning at COSI, the science center. Eli didn't enjoy it as much as dad did, but he had a great time looking at the lights. They have a baby/toddler activity room which Eli is still a little to young for, but he enjoyed watching the kids.

Building a fort with dad.


Looking at the boy in the mirror.


Sucking on the toys at the water table.

Another Saturday, Another Tooth

Eli woke up again this morning with yet another tooth. I should have known something was going on when he was very restless last night. When will the madness end? He now has his two bottom-center teeth and I can see white slashes on the top-center. My son's gummy smile is rapidly changing. And he can really bite hard.

Long Johns

Doing Push Ups and Being a Bear

Eli has been spending the last few days doing push ups. He gets way up on his toes. He still doesn't move forward, but he is really good at going backwards.

Eli has been such a bear lately. I didn't know what was going on with him until today. He woke up and I checked his mouth for a tooth as I do every morning and voila! there was actually a white, sharp tooth protruding from his lower gums. So, Eli has met yet another milestone: His First Tooth!!!

6 Months Old!!!

For Eli's half-birthday, he got a brand-new-big boy- yellow- duck bathtub. He tried it out tonight and LOVED it. I have a feeling he'll be taking lots of baths. And I will be regretting letting him splash around like a mad-man when I have to mop up the floor after each bath.

Hiking!

Last Sunday, Eli got to go hiking in his backpack carrier for the first time. He really enjoyed the ride. In fact, he loved it so much, he fell asleep.

Eli and His Friends

Here are all of Eli's friends from one of my moms groups. We meet at least once a week for lunch, but sometimes we meet two, three or four times a week depending on how bored we are. They are a wonderful group of women and babies and I don't know what I would do without them.


Top LtoR: Gretchen, Zoe, Daniela, Allison, Annika, Charlotte, Caleb, Jackson, Jake (hiding), Amelia
Bottom LtoR: Abigail, Malcolm, Luke, Jennie, Eli, Kayla

The Johnny Jumper

Eli LOVES his Johnny Jumper. In fact, he spends at least an hour in it everyday because he loves it so much. At first, he was forced into it as I needed to take a shower and he was getting bored with his bouncy seat. Now, he jumps for joy as soon as he's placed into the little seat with a giant spring.

Not a Gorilla Anymore

Starting last Sunday, Eli has been sitting up with NO HANDS. His balance is still a little off, but he can now pick up toys and play with them while sitting. Mom loves his new skill because now we can sit across from each other and do hand games. He loves them, but not as much as I do. Here is Eli's progression.

He started off by holding a ball or block in his lap and resting his hands on the toy.


He moved into having one hand hold him up while the other hand would wave in the air.


Then, he started to put both hands behind him while he leaned forward to balance himself.


Here he is sitting up biting on his blue moon, which is currently his favorite toy. He can sit up for a few minutes now without tipping over.


Also, Eli is getting on all fours all the time now and he rocks back and forth. But, he still uses his head to help him scoot forward.