30 June 2008

june: day thirty.


leavin' on a jet plane.
e and i are off to parts unknown.
ok...we're just headed to ellensburg to visit peter and erin...
and then from there...to the last frontier: baba's house.

27 June 2008

25 June 2008

june: day twenty five.


taking a break from the arduous task of mowing the lawn with his little bubble mower.

oops.

i've been a bad blogger.
so sorry.
i've just been enjoying life outside...
sitting in front of a computer just hasn't been that appealing to me, lately.
but!
i do have lots of pictures i'm working on...
and should have some updates soon.
until then...

22 June 2008

june: day twenty two.


coming soon: mountains of tomatoes.

20 June 2008

june: day twenty.


yum...dinner over a fire.
john's mom prepares the goodness.

19 June 2008

18 June 2008

june: day eighteen.


at the fountain.
took a little coaxing to get him in...but he loved it once he got in there.

17 June 2008

crazy. part two.

ok. wow. elijah is eighteen months old.
crazy.

here's just a couple stories of his crazy big boy-ness from the last week or so.

e and i were just hanging out upstairs while i brushed my teeth and got dressed the other day. he was carefully removing items one by one from the dirty clothes basket while announcing whom the item belonged to. so while i'm brushing my teeth, i have a little voice in the background reciting "mama! dada! mama!". he found one of my jammie shirts and decided he wanted to wear it. once he got it on (an ordeal in and of itself), he wanted to show dada. so, downstairs we trekked, found john and showed him the "cool dude" wearing mama's shirt. out of the corner of his eye, he spied my camera. pointing to it, he made his cheesy camera smile face and plopped himself down on the bottom stair, patiently waiting for me to get the hint and take his picture already. once the picture was taken, he jumped up, ran over to the camera and turned it around as quick as his little hands could manage just so he could see the "evidence". apparently satisfied, he then began tugging on the shirt, saying "off? off?". ok my little dude...john and i had a great big laugh about that one...

another example of his crazy big boy-ness occurred last week while we were playing with his wooden blocks. i was building a tower and he was "helping". which typically translates to lots of towers being knocked down before they really reach any kind of acceptable height for a tower but this day, he was actually adding blocks to my attempt at block architecture. then, out of the blue, he grabbed the block out of my hand, looked at me with a slightly annoyed look on his face and announced, "i do! i do!". honestly, i was more taken aback than anything, simply because i'd never really said anything to him like that. when speaking with him, i typically just say "mommy will do it." or "here, mommy helps." something like that. i never really say, "i'll do it." not to him anyways. maybe to john...or on the phone or something. after the initial shock though, i just had to laugh. a slightly melancholy laugh, as i realized, once again, my baby boy isn't such a baby anymore. not at all.

developmentally...he's right on track for his age. physically, he's actually closer to a 2 year old than an eighteen month old which has both disadvantages and advantages. it's good because he can do SO much! throwing and kicking a ball, walking up the stairs with little or no help, undressing himself, putting on his own shoes, almost jumping, riding his little bike like a maniac. it can be bad only because he's got so many physical abilities down that i expect too much out of him emotionally and cognitively that he gets frustrated sometimes. sorry dude!

verbally, he's talking so much more now! he learns words so quickly and though he might forget them or i can't always understand them (i forget what that particular sound stands for), communication is so much easier than it was just a few months ago. not only is he using his words, but he's also starting to put them together into simple two-word sentences. like yesterday, john went upstairs to grab his phone. elijah ran to the bottom of the stairs and pointed up, saying "dada, up?". very exciting to see...

his favorite foods still revolve around fruit and vegetables. he could eat watermelon, cucumber, strawberries and carrots all day and have absolutely no problem with that. he also loves fish, noodles (nooles is how he says it) and oatmeal. he doesn't like cheese unless it's in something which i find weird since he used to inhale it. think i'm going to try mozzarella and see what he thinks about that.

physically, he's around 22 pounds. which is funny since he really hasn't gained much weight at all in the past few months but he FEELS heavier. it's also interesting that he can still wear pants he wore last summer. of course, they're now capris on him (so cute!) since he has grown but his little waist has stayed the same. jokingly, i call him my white ethiopian since he's super skinny with this little pot belly poking out. hilarious! his hair is getting thicker, little by little. i joke with my dad that it's growing in the opposite way his fell out. e still has one little section right in front that's still baby hair. the rest, the top, back and sides, is thicker and most definitely closer to my color than john's. i'd even venture to say it's a bit lighter than mine.

his favorite toys are his beloved ducky, balls of any size and anything that has wheels on it. he will run all over the house with his little toy dirt bike making very accurate brrrrm, brrrrm noises. john says he's got the two-stroke engine noises down, now he just needs to work on his four-stroke noises. sure babe, whatever.

so that's my little eighteen month old in a few paragraphs. if i think of anything else i want to remember when i'm old and gray, i'll add it to this post.

father's day 2008


father's day was pretty casual this year. we had planned to go camping but that didn't work out...so we just decided to lay low and hang out at home. we typically barbecue on the weekends--this weekend was no exception. the only difference was the menu. it's pretty easy to just run down to the mexican meat market and pick up some carne asada and chicken to throw on the grill. add some tortillas and refried beans and you've got our typical weekend fare. the ladies of the family (therefore, the ones who would be doing the cooking) decided we were tired of carne asada and chicken over and over again. so i sat down with my cookbooks and tried to find a yummy, quick to prepare alternative. nada. so...i do what i always do when i'm stumped for a good idea. i called my mom. and she suggested a great chicken recipe: tequila lime chicken. we paired it with pasta salad, potato salad, lots of yummy fruit and pina coladas and key lime pie (the easy cool whip kind) for dessert. yum! here's the recipe for the chicken...it was fantastic!

mix 1 cup chopped cilantro, 3/4 cup tequila, 1/2 cup lime juice (we used fresh), lots of minced garlic and salt to taste. (this is the marinade so the measurements don't have to be exact) pour over chicken (we used a whole chicken cut into pieces) and marinate for thirty minutes in the refrigerator. while grill is heating, separate chicken from skin, being careful not to tear. rub lime zest under skin. grill until cooked through.

it's really that easy and really that yummy! we're probably going to have it again this week...

after we all gorged ourselves, john and the kids played with water balloons. elijah and kendall played in the pond, with the mommies close by. i was able to finish two knitted baby hats as well. yay!

i made john a t-shirt that said "love you dada" and then had elijah put some hand prints on it. it probably won't last forever, but it turned out pretty cute. and every time elijah would see it, he run up to john and put his hands on the little hand prints that he made. so cute. elijah's shirt had "dad is my hero"...a fitting tribute.

it was great to just sit back and relax...to watch my two dudes playing and being silly boys together. love weekends like this one...

june: day seventeen.


swish.
i love skirts that float down the stairs.

16 June 2008

crazy.


this dude is eighteen months old today.
crazy.
(stories to come.)

june: day sixteen.


he found a friend while we were shopping...

14 June 2008

12 June 2008

june: day twelve.


who knew baby watermelons could be so cute?

09 June 2008

weekend report.


i am sitting here.
listening to the buzz of neighboring air conditioning units battling the almost triple digit heat...
listening to my son rolling around in his crib.
he is sleeping...yet restless.

it is finally the end to an interesting weekend.

friday i succumbed to the fact that my little crazy baby just wasn't acting like my little crazy baby.
he had never really recovered from that horrible cold he had a few weeks back.
so i gave in, scheduled an appointment for friday at 11.45am.
we made the 30 minute trek over there.
e, of course, fell asleep literally one minute before we parked.
of course.
*sigh*
i carefully carried his sleeping body into the doctor's office only to be informed that his doctor was running an hour and a half behind schedule.
"would i care to wait?".
seriously?
so i made the trek back to the car, loaded said sleeping baby back into his carseat and headed home.
it's a good thing we did.
not fifteen minutes after i laid the still-sleeping dude down in his crib, he started wailing.
not a "i've woken up and think i need to get up" kind of crying.
not a "i'm really bored momma!" kind of crying.
not even a "i dropped my paci and would really like it back" kind of crying.
nope.
it was a "i'm really freaked out and you'd better get in here quick" kind of crying.
it's a good thing i did.
the poor baby had thrown up everywhere and was, of course, now laying in it.
having never experienced true throwing up, he was seriously freaked out.
so glad we didn't have to deal with that at the doctor's office or even worse: in the car.
i got him undressed, in the bath and semi-feeling better.
i called his cousin jackie to come sit with him while i cleaned up his room and cleaned myself up.
guess he wasn't quite feeling better since he threw up once more...this time on the carpet in the living room.
good times.

despite his upset tummy, he seemed pretty normal for the rest of the day.
so much so that john and i still got to go on our little date.
john took me to a new pub downtown...
i love pubs.
i practically lived in them when i lived in england (slight exaggeration).
i did not love this one.
only because it wasn't a pub.
not a real one anyway.
just another sports bar.
only with a different name.
i was slightly disappointed.
the only thing that saved me from suffering true disappointment?
they had stella artois on tap.
yum.

saturday, i had planned to clean the house...and while i did get some of it done...it didn't happen quite as i'd planned.
e woke up on saturday still not himself.
he wasn't eating.
anything.
it's not like he was just being picky.
he really wasn't eating.
he'd put a piece of food in his mouth and almost immediately, spit it out again.
clearly, something wasn't right.
so...since we hadn't been able to get into the doctor's yesterday, i called to see about a saturday appointment.
i got the last available slot.
which was only 45 minutes after i placed the call.
meaning: we had 15 minutes to get elijah dressed. me dressed and fed. john dressed and fed. in the car. going down the road.
of course chaos ensued.
i would expect nothing less.
this chaos of course thwarted some of my cleaning plans...but oh well. such is life with a toddler.
we got to the doctors office with a few minutes to spare, unbelievably.
since it was saturday, i knew we wouldn't be able to see elijah's usual pediatrician but at this point, any doctor was better than nothing.
turns out...i was wrong.
e's doctor had switched saturday shifts with another doctor and was, in fact, able to look at elijah.
huge answer to prayer.
we love elijah's doctor. to bits. she is totally worth the inconvenience a half hour drive can be.
anyways.
poor little man had a sinus infection and the beginnings of a double ear infection.
she prescribed antibiotics, as i expected.
and though he hasn't quite gotten his appetite back...he's much more the crazy little man that i love.
i was able to organize the left-over garage sale stuff for the salvation army guys to pick up tomorrow (that has been on my to-do list for what seems like forever but only really since we had the garage sale i guess)
as well as clean all the bathrooms and vacuum the entire house (the latter with elijah on my back in the beco carrier...but still. it got done.)

sunday was another interesting day.
john and i had to be at church at 9 am for a three week class we're taking.
which isn't all that unusual since we usually attend the 9am service.
however, i was helping out in nursery during the second service while john sat in on the message.
this meant elijah got to be in the nursery for two hours of service.
hmmmm.
he did great during the first service.
even ate some goldfish crackers...which i was thankful for since he hadn't really eaten anything for breakfast. something is better than nothing in my opinion...even if it was goldfish crackers.
second service on the other hand...not so good.
he wanted his momma...who was on the other side of the partition with the bitty babies.
and once he got on the other side with his momma, he didn't want me holding any of the bitty babies.
finally after many tears and almost breakdowns, i called john and had him come get him.
john took him home and put him to bed.
he slept for three hours, poor baby.
once i got home from church, john said he didn't feel good and excused himself to the bathroom.
where he ended up staying for most of the day.
he spent a good part of the afternoon vomiting or wishing he could...
while i entertained his cousins that had come over.
we felt bad but of course, they completely understood.
once john did finally start feeling a little bit better, the boys got the dirt bikes out and we all trekked over the orchards and watched the guys play.

john and e on john's cousin jorge's indian. (this one's for you dad)

watching the dirt bike riders.

oooo...

we finally fell into bed around 10pm...john still not feeling good and now with a fever.
thankfully he woke up feeling much better, though a bit weak.
which is to be expected, i suppose.


john stayed home from work monday...which was a nice extension to our weekend.
however...i came down with the yuck monday evening...and well...
let's just say i haven't been that sick in a long time.


tomorrow, it's back to reality, i hope!

june: day nine.


the sick family.

08 June 2008

07 June 2008

06 June 2008

june: day six.


the day elijah threw up and started the plague.

05 June 2008

june: day five.


this little comedian had his cousins in stiches.
love it.

03 June 2008

june: day three.


big boy climbing the stairs all by himself.

02 June 2008

june: day two.


what a sweet little cucumber nose.

01 June 2008

june: day one.


this is not the face of a baby.
this is the face of a boy.
and that makes me sad.