No more magic mullethawk

If you hear taps playing in the background . . . it is because a little piece of me has died. Yes folks, Eli has finally had his first haircut. We had a good run, but it had to end some time.

I really was not ready for Eli to get a haircut and was fine with his unruly bangs (or "fronts hairs" as my friend calls them) but Eli's school was having class photos and Kelvey really wanted him to look a little more cleaned up. We tried to find a local barber shop that works well with kids but we couldn't find one that was open after delaying our search for so long. Thus, we ended up taking him to (*sigh*) Great Clips. The lady who stepped up to the task of cutting Eli's hair was very friendly, but a little too boisterous. She immediately freaked Eli out, and he did not want to even sit in the chair. She adapted well, though, and calmly wet Eli's hair with her hands while he was in the comfort of Kelvey's arms. Then, the bitch did something that made my vision blur and my knees buckle. As she raised her scissors for the first cut, she made a bee-line for Eli's bangs. I tried to say, "Wait! Not too much off the bangs!" but the shock of the train wreck unfolding before my eyes had left me breathless. With two quick snips, Eli's bangs had been shorn down to the middle of his forehead. Ugh. It felt more like she was using those scissors to stab me in the heart than to cut hair.

But what was done was done and no complaining could change what happened. Eli got comfortable enough to sit in the chair and seemed enthralled with watching things unfold in the mirror. Then he saw the spray bottle sitting right in front of him. If you don't know already, Eli LOVES to play with spray bottles. He especially loves to spray himself in the face with them (it is easier for him to pull the trigger with his thumbs than his index fingers so he always holds it backwards). So once he started spraying himself, he was completely oblivious to what the lady behind him was doing. Wish I had someone spraying me in the face to take my mind off of what was happening.

In the end, Eli came out looking a little more clean cut, but also a little older and a little pudgier (isn't the first rule of cutting hair: no short hair cuts for people with round faces?). He also tried his first lollipop without the wrapper still on it, so I would say it was a successful adventure. At least for Eli. When we got home, I cried. Really. To me, Eli's bangs were part of what defined him. Without them he looked like a completely different kid.

I didn't mind the duck tail being cut in the back, but it would have been funny to keep it growing.

Check out our flickr page to see before and after pictures.

The Cutest Werewolf Ever

Just when you think Eli couldn't get any cuter, a full moon rises on Halloween night and Eli morphs into the most adorable little puppy to ever roam the neighborhood in search of candy. Just look at those cute floppy ears! We actually chose the dog costume for Eli because he is pretty darn good at barking like a dog and loves to imitate his brother and sister (our dogs, Roxy and Bosley) whenever they wrestle and play. We also considered getting him a cow costume because he is pretty good at mooing too, but the puppy costume was soooo much cuter.

I knew it was going to be a great Halloween night as soon as I took out Eli's costume because he began eagerly pointing at it before he even finished his dinner. Kelvey and I were initially worried that he would not want to wear the costume because the first time we tried it on he seemed uncomfortable and did not want to wear the hat at all. Thankfully he was in the Halloween spirit, and he keep the costume on the entire night. He even swished his head side to side while walking between houses so that he little ears would flop back and forth! He did need some encouragement to walk up to the houses and get some candy, but this was his first time trick or treating, and we did not have much chance to practice with him beforehand. He got the hang of it pretty quick and was soon plucking out pieces of candy and putting them in his bucket on his own.

After a trip around the block, we headed back home and, in true little kid fashion, Eli dove into his bucket to partake in the booty he had collected. Our elderly neighbors were nice enough to put together little packets of animal crackers and other healthy snacks especially for Eli so we did not mind him stuffing his face before bedtime.

Be sure to check out Eli's flickr page for more pictures!

Ketchup Time: Our little Mountain Goat

Eli is EVERYWHERE these days. Running from room to room, opening cabinets, pulling things off the shelves, tackling the dogs . . . he's EVERYWHERE. There was a brief period of time when he was old enough to walk around on his own and find things to entertain himself, but he was too slow to get far from us and too short to get himself into any real trouble. Those days are long gone and, oh, how I miss them. Nowadays he's a few inches taller and a few steps quicker, and that, my friend, has danger written all over it. Well . . . at least Kelvey and I see the danger. Eli is having a ball exploring the word beyond a foot and half off the ground. One second he's playing with puzzles on the living room floor and the next second he's climbing on the dining room table chairs and working his way onto the table top just so he can finger paint with all the salt he poured out.

The little bugger is quicker than a jackalope and nimbler than a mountain goat! Luckily we have been quick enough to catch him in the act and he has yet to feel the bitter sting of his face meeting the cold linoleum. So far the worst predicament he has gotten himself into is getting stuck in his toy truck:

Catch Up Time: Word Up!

It's been a while since the last blog post but even though I've been slacking on my communication, Eli has been beefing up his. He is now saying Mama, Daddy, Doggie, Uh Oh, Tree, Bubbles, and Eye (even though he can point to his hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, arms, legs, feet, toes, belly, and belly button when you ask him to).

While we are very impressed with his ever increasing vocabulary, the thing we love to hear him say the most is "Hi". Imagine a bunch of ladies huddled up at the office sharing gossip about the hussy in accounting, but suddenly the hussy happens to walk by and the lead gossip girl turns around and says, "Oh Hiiiii Susie!" in a high-pitched and obviously fake exchange of pleasantries. That's what Eli sounds like when he says "Hi", but similar only in tone. He says his with such enthusiasm and sincerity that it makes us feel like we are really something special in his life and he is not just parroting a sound. As soon as he sees us enter his room in the morning he greets us with a smile and spouts off a barrage of "Hi! Hi! Hiiiiiii!". We get the same greeting when we pick him up from school, when I come home from work, and when Kelvey comes home from a week of travel.

His primary form of communication, though, is sign language because the signs make it easier for him to get across more complex thoughts like "I'm hungry", "I want that", and "More please". He's had a mastery of Food, More, Milk, and All Done for a while, but now he is starting to do Water, Doggie, Duck/Bird and Please. Eli's teachers at his montessori school deserve most of the credit for helping him learn the signs so we thank them for making our lives easier. Eli still has his fits of frustration when he wants something and we helplessly respond, "What do you want? Your water? The phone? Is it the phone? Do you want your stamper? How about a phone? Ooh, look a phone! Just take the phone."

Enough already!

I need to find a cryogenic freezer to put Eli in for a while because Eli needs to cool the f--- out with all the cuteness. I mean, there I am just minding my own business and doing the crossword puzzle when Eli comes up and sits next to me with last week's crossword and a pen and pretends to write the answers. How cute is that?! I'll tell you how cute it is: It's so cute it makes me want to never have another kid again because I am sure Eli absorbed every single drop of of our cuteness genes and our next kid is bound to be pure evil.

If that wasn't enough, Eli is now comforting US as we try to put him to bed. Since he's too big to cradle in our arms and rock to sleep, we now just hold him against our chests with his head on our shoulders as we rub or pat his back. One night as I was holding him and patting his back, he began patting my arm and rubbing it in a similar way. It was so cute I didn't want to put him down, but I eventually broke the evil trance he had on me and put him in his crib. Maybe that was his genius plan all along: if he's cute enough, we won't want to put him down, and he can sleep comfortably in our arms all night long. Well not this time buddy. Let some other chump like Grandma or Nana fall for that.

That's not even the worst of it! Dig this: a few weeks ago Eli and I were hanging out in the living room while Kelvey was sleeping in, and Eli goes ahead and pulls the ultimate bonding moment on me without warning. He was doing his usual morning routine of pressing as many buttons as he could find, but when I sat down to play with him he walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I picked him up and sat him in my lap in the easy chair and together we watched the Disney channel in utter silence. This moment of silence was highly unusual for Eli because he is usually making his way around the house as soon as he gets up. So there we were, watching TV together with him slouched in my lap and just enjoying the peaceful morning. I give him a little hug and rub his belly a few times just to let him know how much I love him, but when I stop rubbing his belly he gently grasps my hand and moves it back and forth over his belly indicating that he wants me to rub it some more. I oblige and when I stop again, there is a slight pause and then he grabs my hand again without taking his eyes off the TV. It was one of those moments that you never want to end. It still makes me a little misty eyed just thinking about it.

Since my past attempts to surgically replace my hand with our camera have been unsuccessful, I can only show you the random acts of cuteness we are able to capture. Without further Apu (that's a Simpson's reference by the way), here is Eli trying to put on my shoes:

Big City Boy

Kelvey has been traveling a lot for work this summer so instead of being apart from Eli for 2 weeks during back-to-back trips, Eli and I packed our things and joined her in New York. Eli and I still had to entertain ourselves during the day while Kelvey toiled away at work, so we strapped on our skinny jeans and off we went to take in as much glitz, glamour and evils of the Big Apple as we could. The first day was bright and beautiful so we decided to spend most of our time in Central Park. We hit a lot of the playgrounds and played in the little water fountains but didn't get to see some of the more famous sights because even the park was a little overwhelming for Eli to take in with the large number of kids that were out enjoying the day as well.

The rest of the trip was pretty rainy so we decided to spend a day indoors at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store. On the way, we passed through Times Square so I could show Eli all the flashing lights. Because Eli was at stroller height, he was more interested in what was passing by him below on the street than everything that was way above him. I actually felt bad walking around the city with him in a stroller because he spent most of the time with his ears covered and I was constantly worried about him being at the same level of all the cars' mufflers. We probably should have taken a taxi more but I thought to myself, "Meh, as long as he doesn't have a seizure or start coughing up black stuff he's probably fine". Anyways, Eli's favorite part of FAO Schwarz was hugging all the enormous stuffed animals but I loved seeing him play on the famous floor piano. He didn't know what to do at first and just stood by me watching all the other kids run back and forth, but there was a small window when Eli was the only kid on the piano and I was able to get him to run across it. He didn't really notice that the keys were making noises and lighting up beneath him, but then again he wasn't heavy enough to light up all the keys he stepped on:

We also went to the Toys R US in Times Square and Eli was enthralled with the giant animatronic T-Rex in the Jurassic Park section. Did you know they have a full size Ferris Wheel in the center of the store?! Crazy. We were able to spend a little more time with Kelvey on our last day and explored the city some more together, but I think we were all worn out by then. Thankfully Eli slept the entire flight back to Austin and we didn't have to end the trip with a fussy baby on the plane.

By the way, I love this picture of him in Times Square because he looks like one of those cliche poses of a dashing young model fresh off the bus and full of moxie, just trying to make it in the big city.

Sweeps Week

When I was a little kid I remember telling my mom I wanted to be a sack boy at the local grocery store because it seemed like an easy enough job and I could just talk to people all day long like the teenagers I saw doing it. Well it looks like Eli is following in his dad's high aspirations for employment because he has already started his training to become a master of the custodial arts. He has been taking hold of our little broom every chance he gets and will walk around the house trying to sweep up the entire floor. He even grabbed a broom at the restaurant we went to this past weekend and tried to bring it to the table to show everyone. He's pretty coordinated and, hopefully, with a little more practice he can start earning his keep by doing some proper chores because his mooching off of us is starting to get annoying. We've already started a college fund to send him to the most prestigious janitor school in Texas. After that all he will need is some crazy sideburns and a hula girl tattooed on his forearm, then he can start sprinkling sawdust on the puke of any school he wants.

A day in the life of Eli

Now that Eli has become more "little boy" than "baby", he is not as dependent on Kelvey and I for entertainment. He can go where ever he wants and can pick up things up, manipulate them, and take them where he wants. We still need to keep him from trying to play with the stove or walking around with our laptops or pushing the lock button on our car keys which makes the car horn honk repeatedly which causes the dogs to bark like crazy thinking someone is outside our house . . . but it is actually really cool to see him become more inquisitive and creative in his play on his own. This video sums up a day in the life of Eli as he finds new ways to play with things (like pulling clothes off of furniture or climbing through a fallen chair) and rediscovers the simple joys of other things (like how comfortable it is to lay on his belly):

By the way, the chair fell faster than I could react. I'm not really a bad parent . . . honest. I waited to see if he would cry but he didn't so I didn't bother interrupting his playing.

Eli turns 1!

Believe it or not . . . Eli is now a year old! It is hard to believe that a year has past already, but when I look at our little man I can't help but notice how much he's grown and how he's not a little baby anymore. I've always heard people joke that it goes by too fast . . . but they're right. I forget how tiny he used to be and how he would just gaze at us for hours because he couldn't do much else and was just absorbing everything. It's been tough trying to live moment to moment as Eli reaches new stages of growth and development and become a whole new kid every few weeks. On the other hand, each new step he takes makes him so much cooler and me so much more proud of him. Right now, I'm happy that he can ask me for a hug, cling to me when I hold him, and freak out over how tasty a cupcake can be. By the way, I'm not shoving the cupcake in his face in the picture. He loved his first taste of sugary cupcake so much that he grabbed my hand and buried his face into it with gusto. He had a death grip on my hand and would not let go as he chomped away! It was the best part of the whole party. More pictures of Eli's first birthday party and cupcake extravaganza can be seen on our flickr page. Also, here's a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Eli on his real birthday:

Countdown to 1

It has been a whirlwind of a month as Eli makes a mad dash to reach as many milestones as he can before he turns a year old at the end of the month!  Normally I would break things up into separate entries, but for now I am going to throw it all at you like a robber throwing hot coffee at your face to make a quick gettaway:

1.)  Eli finally has a tooth coming in!  It's a little tough to see in the photo, but rest assured there is a tooth coming in on the bottom left of Eli's mouth (his left, not stage left).  It may not look like much of a tooth right now, but you can definitely feel it when he bites down on your shoulder or finger.

2.)  Now that he has a tooth coming in, Eli has been taking his mealtimes to the next level by chomping down on a variety of crunchy foods. Quesadillas, cheese sandwiches, Cheerios, crackers, french toast and pancakes . . . the kid can't get enough of 'em.  He likes the solid foods better because he is able to feed the little pieces to himself at his own pace and, I assume, they feel good rubbing against his gums.  We still feed him pureed fruits and vegetables to give him a balanced diet, but lately he has been begging to try feeding himself these sides as well.  We haven't given him full reign of the spoon domain because his coordination is not quite perfected, but he is getting better.

3.)  And finally . . . the moment you've all been waiting for . . . Eli has taken his first steps!  He has been cruising around the coffee table, couches, and dog crate for awhile but a few weeks ago our nanny said she saw him take a few steps on his own.  Kelvey was next to witness him taking a few steps on 3 different occasions but I never got there quick enough to see it for myself and the times that I did see Eli try to walk it just looked like he was falling forward or taking a lounging dive into the dogs.  Since we were convinced that Eli was ready to take the plunge into support-free walking, Kelvey and I took every opportunity to coax Eli into walking towards us and eventually our efforts paid off.  We can now say with confidence that Eli is starting to walk!  Next step: DANCING!

Eli Takes a Stand

Eli has been doing a pretty good job of scooting around the house while holding onto things, but every now and then he gets so distracted by something he picked up off the coffee table that he doesn't always realize that he is standing without any support. Today I was able to trick Eli into standing on his own and was surprised to see how long he actually did it for! I called Kelvey over to video tape it as I tried to get him to do it again:

Hopefully he will be walking by the next post, but for now I am happy enough to see his new parlor trick.

Fun in the Sun

Let me start by saying this: Last year's summer SUCKED. We sweated and cursed our way through a drought filled summer and a total of 68 days of 100+ degree weather. The sweltering heat made for a very uncomfortable summer with little opportunity to go outside, especially with a newborn Eli. Thankfully El Nino has provided us an amazing start to this year's summer (keep in mind this is Texas and our Summers start earlier than the rest of you) and the weather has been breezy and beautiful! This makes for very happy days with our own little nino.

We had a good start to the summer a few weeks ago when we took a trip to Pease Park to join the annual celebration of Eyeore's Birthday, a tradition that started in the 70's when a few hippies decided to skip class and play in the park. FYI, the party hasn't changed much in that a good 75% of the party population is made up of hippies or people engaging in typical hippie activities (if you know what I mean *nudge*nudge*). Anyways, it was a rather lovely day of enjoying the outdoors, people watching, and dancing to pulsing beats of the drum circle:

Last weekend was even better. We woke up, poked our heads outside and said to each other, "It's a perfect day for trip to the ol' watering hole". So we got Eli into his Lil' Swimmer swimming diapers and headed to the neighborhood pool. Eli hasn't been swimming since Aug. 2009 so we figured we may have to carefully reintroduce him to the water again so he didn't freak out and ruin our chances of coming back to the pool again. We slowly dipped his toes in and lowered him in little by little until he was up to his chest in water. It helped that Eli was mesmerized by all the other kids splashing around at the pool. Eli was most comfortable lounging on me like a floaty or bobbing around in Kelvey's arms, but he really loved being pulled through the water while we made motorboat sounds. When it got a little toasty in the sun, we moved to our shady spot under a tree and let Eli explore a little. When we got home we were a little scared that Eli got sunburned, but it turned out he was just a little flushed from the heat, a trait he gets from his mom. Hopefully he won't end up looking like George Hamilton by the end of summer.

Let The Fun BEGIN!

It is officially on like Donkey Kong! After months of crawling all over the dogs, poking them in the eye and chewing on their ears, Eli has realized that the best way to get the dogs to play with him is do something they like. He has always enjoyed watching the dogs wrestle and play tug-of-war, but he has been barred from joining the melee because of the high probability of him getting fish-hooked by a sharp tooth. Well tooth and claw be damn! Eli has been grabbing the dogs tug-of-war ropes and marching right up to them with an offering to play. The dogs were a little confused at first but Bosley (our goofy lab mix) was the first to take him up on his offer. Kelvey and I cringe a little every time the dogs lunge in to take hold of the rope, but Eli thinks it is the greatest thing in the world. He squeals with delight as they begin to pull, but within a few seconds the dogs have yanked the rope out of Eli's hand and he is left lying on the floor laughing his head off. He pops right up, though, and charges at the dogs to grab a hold of the rope for another round. The dogs better watch out though. Once he packs on a few more pounds of muscle from all the chin-ups he's doing, he will be the reigning King of Thunderdome (aka the living room).

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I have to say that I had a wonderful day with Eli and Kelvey today! We started the day with some delicious brunch and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working on the front yard. Eli started out in his exerscaucer while Kelvey and I pulled weeds, but Eli eventually got bored and want to join in the fun. We took him out and he immediately went to where Kelvey was working and started yanking at the grass and weeds too. I guess he had seen me plucking weeds from the yard enough times that he knew exactly what to do. Once he discovered the loose soil aftermath of Kelvey's work, though, his attention turned to getting dirty. It was heartwarming to see him investigating the dirt by running his fingers through it, grabbing fistfuls of it, and crawling all around, not caring about how dirty he was getting. Kelvey and I didn't care either. It was a cute scene, but something about it really struck a chord deep inside me. I think it was seeing him "in the moment", not having a care in the world, and me feeling the same way, knowing that he was completely safe in what he was doing and being able to be in the moment with him. I wish I had been able to take some pictures but we were dirty and sometimes it is best just stay focused on the experience than trying to capture it.

After we got all cleaned up, we took a moment to relax for a little bit in the living room. With Eli there are no relaxing moments as long as he is awake so he spent the time cruising around the coffee table playing with everything he could reach. When he grabbed my phone, I was surprised to see him mimic another one of our everyday motions. He picked up the phone, looked at it for a second, and then held it by his ear as if he was talking on it. It was weird to see him do something so grown up. As we watched him, Kelvey told me that she had also seen him pick up one of my Sunday crossword puzzles and hold a pen to it like he was writing. Makes me wonder what other mannerisms he is picking up from us.

Happy Hobbit Holes

When I was a little kid, I absolutely LOVED playing in my pop-up play tunnel. I'm pretty sure it was an Aquaman themed play tunnel. I loved Aquaman. I even had the green underoos with the matching orange shirt. But I digress. I wish I still had that tunnel so that Eli and I could waste away the day crawling in and out of it, enacting what ever crazy adventures we can think up. I'm sure Eli would thoroughly enjoy it because he has been tunneling through everything he finds as he crawls around and explores the entire house. Some of his favorite spots are under the buffet in the dining room and the end tables in the living room. He'll climb onto the bottom shelf and just park himself there for while as he plays with whatever toy he brought with him or what ever he finds in the general vicinity. Sometimes he looks like a funny little hobbit as he peers out from under the tabletop and smiles as if to say, "Are you still there? Because I'm still here".

Eli's number one spot in the entire house has got to be the dog crate. He will spend hours opening and closing the door, flipping the latches, climbing on the sides, and crawling in and out of it. Sometimes he will crawl right in with the dogs and just chill with them. The dogs love him and he loves the dogs so they do not mind the invasion of personal space too much. The dogs let Eli in their crate, and Eli lets them lick the inside of his mouth. It's a win-win situation.

As long as he is not chewing on the power cords like a little rabbit, we are happy to let him be a free-range baby.

PS: If I can get my mom to dig out the picture of me in my aquaman underoos and socks crawling through my play tunnel, I will post it.

Cliffhanger

A while back, Kelvey and I watched a show on TLC called "The World's Strongest Toddler" and were pretty amazed. It's about a kid that has been diagnosed with Myostatin Related Muscle Hypertrophy, a condition that gives him greater muscle mass and incredible strength. He is faster than the average kid and was reportedly able to do pull ups by age 2. I don't know how or when it could have happened, but I am pretty sure that Eli and this kid crossed paths at some point, words were exchanged, and some one was slapped in the face with a glove symbolizing a gentleman's duel because Eli is determined to prove that this "world's strongest toddler" is nothing but a punk.

As you can see by the picture Eli has been working on his arm strength and is now able to hang on me without support. He also has developed enough leg strength and dexterity to climb up me. I couldn't find any info on whether this ability is normal for kids his age, but we may need to get him a little baby harness and climbing gear for rock climbing at the Barton Creek Greenbelt soon.

Put your gun fingers in the air!

Eli may not be able to talk yet, but he has developed a pretty efficient way of letting you what he thinks is cool and interesting . . . which is just about everything he sees. A few weeks ago he started pointing at stuff and looking at us to see if we see the same things he does. When we confirm that the object is, in fact, awesome, he will try to reach out and grab it. If it is something he is not allowed to play with, then he will just repeatedly point at it and look at us until he or we get bored and move on to the next coolest thing in the room.

Eli's favorite thing to point at is the ceiling fan. The ceiling fans have been off the entire winter season so he had completely forgot about them until our first warm day of the year when the nanny turned on the one in his bedroom. He initially freaked out at seeing them and would cling onto us in fear and confusion, but he quickly remembered that he used to love watching the hypnotic spin of the ceiling fan blades when he was a wee baby and he cannot take his eyes off of them again. Now when ever he enters a room, the first thing he does is point at the ceiling smile. Then again, maybe he's just trying to say, "Big ups to my boy Biggie, R.I.P.!"

Giggle Box!

Now that Eli is much more mobile these days, he is beginning to explore the world around him as much as he can. He crawls, climbs, and pulls into a standing position as much as he can to reach great new heights and take in new views of the world. Fortunately for him, all of the window sills in our house are at the perfect height for him to grab onto, pull himself up and peer out the window. Lately, he has been more amazed by the window glass than the splendid wonders of the great outdoors. I have no Idea why he loves to bang on the glass so much but the joy he gets out of it is beautiful:

Zombie Baby Returns!

Yes, Zombie Baby has returned and this time he has a taste for soft poly-cotton shirts. Eli has recently learned how to bite and has been chomping down hard on our shoulders every time we pick him up. He still doesn't have any teeth yet so most of his bites just feel like soft pinches, but every now and then he will get in a good one. When he bites us, he likes to pull on our shirts with his gums until the shirt snaps back out of his mouth. We are pretty sure all of this means he is teething so we are preparing ourselves for extreme fussiness and sleepless nights. Hopefully, Eli will get through it pretty easily like he has with just about everything else.

Old Man River

This past Sunday was such a beautiful break from all the cold weather and rain that we decided to take a family trip to Walnut Creek and enjoy the sunshine. Ever since Eli was born, I have been anxiously awaiting the day that he would be old enough to take a trek down the river with me and share the bliss of the great outdoors. Unfortunately, Eli is still a little too young to go splashing around in the water with me and the dogs, but he seemed content in sitting with his mama on the river bank watching the dogs and I playing fetch and chasing each other around. Kelvey tried to get Eli to dip his feet in the water a little but I guess it was a little too cold for him because he wouldn't keep them in for very long and kept trying to lift his legs up. I'm happy to see that he is willing to at least give it a try. Hopefully by summer time, when he is a year old, he will be comfortable enough to hit up Barton Springs for a brisk swim in the 68ºwater. By the way, for those of you that are jealous of our beautiful weather, here is what our fine town looked like 2 days later:

That's right. Over 2 inches of snow fell in central Texas. Crazy.

Float like a butterfly, Bark like a seal

Last week we had our first big sickness scare that lead to a hospital visit. Eli and I were packing things up to visit Kelvey at her conference in Houston and were a few short hours away from leaving when Eli started getting a little weezy. He didn't have a cough, fever, or even a runny nose so I wasn't worried too much at first. Within the next 2 hours, Eli's weezing got much worse and soon it sounded like he was breathing through a kazoo. He was obviously uncomfortable and when he tried to cry the only sound he could make was that of a barking seal. I figured it may have been croup, but since I have never experienced it before and was worried about the rapid decline of Eli's voice, I started to worry that Eli may have been choking on something. I called our pediatrician's on-call nurse and she agreed that it may be croup but told me I should take him to the ER due to his distressed breathing.

Even though I wouldn't let Eli touch anything in the waiting room, he made the 2 hour wait bearable because he was still in good spirits and enjoyed watching everyone else. After being seen by 3 nurses and being told by each of them, "It's probably just croup," the doctor finally checked out Eli and determined that, in fact, it was croup, a virus that causes swelling of the vocal chords. He put Eli on a nebulizer, gave him some steroids to reduce the swelling, but also ordered some chest x-rays just to make sure he hadn't swallowed anything. This was the WORST part of the whole night. In order to hold him still for the x-rays, Eli had to be strapped into a contraption that made him look like a crying baby stuck in one of those vacuum tubes at the bank drive-thru. Thankfully the x-ray technician worked quickly and Eli calmed down once he was back in his papa's arms. After 6 hours at the hospital, Eli was sounding better and was cleared to return home. The next morning, Eli was back to his usual spritely self. Kelvey was a little upset that she was not around to help care for Eli so she caught an early flight home to be with him.

Since hospital visits aren't the best Kodak moments, here's a picture of Eli sitting in a laundry basket:

Pants are for suckers!

Eli has been so active these days with all his crawling and climbing that it is tough for his pants to keep up with him. This weekend he was climbing over the back of the couch so much that his pumping legs actually had him wiggling out of his pants! The picture doesn't do the scene justice because his pants would actually get around his ankles in just a matter of seconds.

It's getting a little tough for us to keep up with Eli as well. His crawling style is still a little unorthodox, but he can get around the entire house with relative ease now. Usually he is just trying to get his hands on the unobtainable (outlets, wires, shoes, dog toys and water bowls) so he keeps us on our toes in trying to pick things up before he can get to them . . . or at least before he can get his mouth on them.

When all else fails, Eli turns to his new favorite toys . . . the doors of our media console and dog crate. He has learned to open and close the doors and loves to swing them back and forth or bang them shut. He also loves to pull all the board games and DVDs out of the cabinets, which is fine since he cannot open the cases yet. It's cool to see Eli exploring and trying out new things, but it is scary to think how much trouble he can get himself into with all of his crazy energy.

PTTHHH!

Sorry the videos haven't been working lately. The web host was having difficulties with everyone's posted videos but they seemed to have sorted things out and you can now watch Eli in action again! So without further ado, here is Eli blowing raspberries:

While we are very proud of our little man's newest trick, we are a more proud of him being able to recognize his name (he turns his head to you when you call him) and waving Hello and goodbye to people.

Eli Goes For The Hat Trick!

This past Friday Eli made like Wayne Gretzky and and did three amazing feats within one day. The first thing happened while Eli was at work with me. He had just woken up from his nap in his play-yard and was fussing on his belly for me to come over and pick him up. When I walked over to get him, I looked in his play-yard and was surprised to see him already sitting up! I was befuddled. I could have sworn he was laying down, but within the 2 seconds it took me to walk around my desk, he had already pushed himself up into the sitting position. I thought I was seeing things, but later that night while playing on the living room floor, he did it repeatedly with ease. Crazy.

That same night while playing on the floor, Eli also showed us that he had learned how to scoot across the floor. It wasn't exactly crawling since he was still dragging that belly of his on the ground, but he was definitely making a bee-line for things around the living room. Check it out:

Last but not least, Eli did what I thought was the coolest thing that day. After his nightly bath, Eli was in his crib for his usual "crazy naked time" in which he rolls around laughing and shrieking before putting on his diaper and pajamas. He had paused for a second while sitting up then suddenly grabbed onto the slats of his crib and pulled himself up into a standing position . . . . then he licked his crib in true rock and roll showmanship. The kid's arm strength makes him an awesome climber (it also makes his hugs pretty awesome too) but now he is starting to finally get some strength in his legs. Maybe he will learn to stand and walk and rock climb before he learns to actually crawl!

Dadaism

This past week Eli made us both very proud parents. He finally said Mama and Dada! Well, kind of. Early in the week Kelvey called me at work to tell me that Eli had said "mama". She said he was trying his hardest to imitate her making "mmm" sounds" and she was super excited to hear him form the word "mama". It was tough for her to get Eli to say it again, but Kelvey was able to coax him into doing it and sure enough I heard him making a "mah, mah, mah" sound. Unfortunately, Eli seems to love his old man's name better because the next day Eli was repeatedly saying "dah, dah, dah" and has not stopped since. I think Kelvey and I have been saying mama and dada equally, even saying it for each other, but apparently Eli finds it easier or more fun to make the "dddd" sound. I still have a hard time accepting that he is truly saying dada because he says it all the time, not just when he sees me, and sometimes it sounds like a "baba". You be the judge:

We have also been trying to use a few of the baby sign language signs for Mommy, Daddy, Eat, Milk and More, but he hasn't been able to do any in return yet. He does the milk signal (you squeeze your hand like you are milking a cow) but he does this all the time and sometimes it looks like he is just waving hello or good bye to you.

Gaining Momentum

Eli has been trying his hardest to get around these days, mainly so he can grab everything he sees, and his greediness has him right on the verge of crawling. He has developed a good method of bouncing while sitting up and then lunging forward for momentum, but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of coordinating his arms and legs to propel himself forward on the ground. He's pretty creative, though, and has found other ways to get around. When he's on his belly, he will roll side to side while stretching his body out and will some how inch his way to the dog toy, piece of fuzz, or remote control he wants to play with. He's very sneaky and will creep up on you if you are not paying attention. Then again, there are some times when he isn't able to move at all and you can't help but laugh at his struggle; like when he locks his legs straight instead of bending them under him and he ends up lifting his butt in the air like he's doing a downward-dog yoga position.

While he may be struggling on the ground, the boy has a knack for climbing. He has perfected his lunging, grasping, and pulling and has quickly become an immediate risk of escaping any confined space. We had to drop his play yard and crib last week because he was starting to hang over the edge to climb towards us or the dogs. Even when we're just chilling on the couch, he will wiggle has way around to grab pillows, remotes or climb the back of the couch. Here is some bonus footage of Eli bouncing around in his crib and tearing up his bumper before we dropped the mattress. You also get to see him do some clapping, his newest trick that he does every time he's happy:

Bon Appetit!

Eli had his 6 month check up the last week of December and we finally got the OK to start venturing into solid foods! This is good because Eli is getting pretty big and it is getting tough for Kelvey to keep up with his appetite. Gone are the days of Eli feeding at the teat for 20-30 minutes. These days he can drain both boobs faster than you can sing "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard".

We couldn't jump right into feeding him pureed t-bones and corn on the cob, though. The doctor said we had to start off with yellow and orange vegetables first, then move to greens, then finally fruits. Kelvey was über excited after the doctor visit and immediately went to pick out some baby food at the grocery store. First up: Squash. We set him up in his new big boy high chair, strapped on a bib, and mixed a little rice cereal to help aid in the transition. Since it was Eli's first taste of something that didn't have breast milk in it (aside from the bacon I let him lick a few weeks ago), we expected him to cringe and fuss quite a bit. Eli had a sour face the first couple of bites, but he trudged through it and was soon eating like a champ again. By the next day our hungry, hungry hippo was chomping down the squash, followed by the carrots and sweet potatoes. This week we are moving onto green beans and peas which I expect to be a little tougher for him to swallow.

Go Go Magic Mohawk!

If you were to take away Eli's stunning blue eyes, his infectious smile, and his heart melting hugs, there would still be one characteristic left that would still make people swoon over him: his mohawk. Every time we go out, there is, without fail, at least one person that shrieks, "Oh, I just LOVE his mohawk! Did you guys cut it that way or did it just grow out like that?" I have to agree with the masses that his natural mohawk is pretty cute, but we have never really made a big deal about it. It wasn't until recently that I gave in and started fixing it up into a proper mohawk. It's actually kinda fun to play with now that his hair is a little longer and we have been rubbing his head with lotion (which kinda acts like a hair gel) because of the dry weather.

Unfortunately, Eli's mohawk will soon go the way of the dodo bird, the Yugo, and movies in which Jim Carrey is actually funny. The hair around the rest of his head is finally starting to grow in and soon he will be just another long haired Austin hippy. For now I can only enjoy the awkward transition stage because he kinda has a Mr. T thing going: a mohawk with a little over the ears and around the back. I pity the fool that don't like his mohawk.

Eli's First Christmas!

I know we have posted a lot of "firsts" on the blog, but this is the mother of all firsts: CHRISTMAS! Sure, the first birthday is a milestone and it's always cute to see a kid hunt for Easter eggs, but Christmas is the holiday that everyone can be a part of and celebrate with the baby. Everybody has the day off and everyone has that "special gift" they want to give to the baby to make the event even more spectacular.

With this in mind, Kelvey and I set out to make sure both of our families could be a part of Eli's first Christmas. After contacting everyone months in advance, we devised a plan that consisted of 3 Christmases. First, we headed up to the winter wonderland of Boulder, CO to celebrate with my side of the family a few days before Christmas. The trip was awesome (the suitcase crib worked perfect by the way), but I wish we had a little more time to go sledding in the 4 inches of snow that arrived the night before we had to leave. We got back to Austin the night before Christmas Eve and had plenty of time the next day to grab a Christmas tree, finish wrapping our gifts, and make some tortilla soup for Christmas Eve dinner. We finished the night by reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to Eli and explained to him the ins and outs of Christmas. Once Eli fell fast asleep, we piled the gifts under the tree and tried to get a good night's rest ourselves despite our own excited anticipation of Christmas Day.

The next morning Eli woke up at his usual time, had a quick breakfast at the International House of Breast Milk, and then was introduced to Christmas morning. Eli was pretty excited as he was brought into the living room to see all the gifts, but he may have been feeding off of our excited reactions more than anything. Either way, it made for some pretty cute photos.

It was nice to celebrate actual Christmas day with just our family because it was a chance to start our own family traditions. It was also easier than having a lot of family together because we were able to work around Eli's schedule without having to burden anyone else. With all the naps and fits of fussiness, it took us 5 hours just to get through opening gifts! We kinda expected it to go a lot faster because Eli loves to tear up paper and magazines, but he just wasn't into it that morning. Instead, he would gently flick at the loose wrapping paper we had torn to help get him started with one of his little fingers and stare at it. Once the gift was unwrapped, though, Eli had a blast playing with it. The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house and playing with all the new toys and, of course, watching the Christmas Story marathon on TV.

A few days later, Kelvey's family came into town for Round 3 and this time Eli seemed a little more into the gift opening, probably because he had help from his 3 spritely cousins this time. After all was said and done, it was a pretty good first Christmas. Hopefully his excitement for the holiday will grow over the years as he does.