Etsy love

Naturally because I said that I was probably not going to use this blog anymore, I use it twice in a week.  That's kind of exactly the type of person I am.

But I really love Etsy, guys.  I know you probably do, too.  I have been keeping a running list in my "favorites" of things I need (want) to buy, and here are a few.

Simon would look so dapper!

via theKozieCanine

I am getting a new camera (!!!) and it wants to live in this bag.

via LeslieStudio

I think this is the cutest shelf in the entire world.   Aaand it would look so great in Eli's room ;)

via ShopLittles

I love teeny tiny earrings.  Want.

via zoozjewelry

And lastly: THIS TINY EWOK.  

via wishwithme

Today I like this song.

Because it's pretty.

12 months old, etc.

Crap.  Well, Eli turned a whole year old on August 18, which was over a month ago at this point.  This will likely be my last post on this blog for a good long while, and I'm going to try to accurately remember as much as I can about the time span between July 18 and August 18 to document baby's first year.

Really I only remembered because I tried catching up on blogs I follow today.

Also I follow a lot of stupid, shallow blogs, and I realized that today.  Blogs that only make me want things and think my life isn't good enough.

Dumb.  I'm dumb for that.  So I will be editing that subscription list today.

What blogs do you follow, that are a positive influence on your life?  Any?  Do those exist?  How do you find them? Haha.


Anyway, this seems like a pretty trivial thing to be doing, in lieu of the fact my sister-in-law's sweet baby girl was born and passed on Thursday.  Nothing really seems "real" yet, so I can't even imagine how she is feeling.  Life can really suck, but I am thankful for a present God who is there when you seek Him.

So about being a year (and a month) old...

+ Around 111/2 months, Eli started walking.

+ He has taken to meat, especially if it has ketchup.

+ He isn't very verbal.  His list of words is pretty much the same.  He can do certain animal sounds if you prompt him and he's "in the mood".  The chance of that happening though is pretty slim.  I'm a little worried about it but I'm going to wait until I can talk to his doc at his 15 month check up before I actually freak out.

+ Also I'm aware that I "shouldn't freak out".

+ Eli loves it when we sing certain songs, namely the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

+ He will sit longer for books, so I am pleased with that.  Sometimes I even get to read him TWO IN A ROW.

+ He loves clapping, and being clapped for.

+ He still does not sleep through the night.  UGH. ughughughugh.  Really it got awesome for about a week before his birthday, he slept through the night the whole week, and then he regressed, which leads me to...

+ He is cutting more teeth every second of his life.  He hates when I feel for them but I do feel at least 2 molars coming up, though they are not through yet all the way.  So, if you count those, he has ALMOST ten teeth (at 13 months).

+ Teething tablets have been a Godsend, but we have been using Motrin at night time when he's in pain through this molar business.  He LOVES Motrin, guys.  My baby is so weird.  He thinks all medicines are delicious.  I have NEVER had any trouble getting him to take ANYTHING since the day he was born.  Basically we are going to have to keep our medicine drawer in like a safe or something.  I generally keep the Motrin and the syringe on top of his wardrobe and every time he sees it he points and says, "MMMMMMMMM!"  Yeah, that's how much he loves Motrin.

+ He is still a chill, good natured kid, when his teeth aren't bothering him.  He's never really been leery of strangers (probably not great) and he will let anyone hold him.

+ He is still tall, and can reach just about anything on any surface throughout our house.  This can be annoying.

+ At a year old he transitioned to cow's milk, which he loves.

+ He loves exploring outside.

+ Still loves dogs.  And all animals, really.  But especially dogs.

+ Still loves bath time.  Lately he is really in to trying to balance shampoo bottles and cups of water in the tub.  When he gets them to balance he always claps his hands.  It's pretty cute.

+ I can't really think of anything else right now.

A couple of Eli's 1 year photos, taken by our friend Shay Nartker.  If you need some sweet photos taken, and are in the Cincinnati area, check him out!  He is the nicest guy, reasonably priced, and obviously look at these photos!  He is awesome!

School of Missions week

Last week I took Eli to School of Missions week at Lake James Christian Assembly, a week of camp I have literally been attending since I was an infant.  It is a week where missionaries from all over the world come and speak about their missions.  The people that attend this camp are the nicest people in the world and they are like family.  A few weeks out I was asked to teach the preschool class as the scheduled teacher had dropped out so Eli spent a lot of time with his Grandpa Bob and Grandma Lois at camp.

Morning after the first night...not pretty.  Sadly the sleep issues did not improve.

My bestie Adele, who I met at this camp when we were small and was my pen pal and eventually my college roommate.

Eli LOVED the lake.

When I got to camp I realized I didn't have a way I could easily bathe Eli.  So I went to Walmart and bought a bucket.  He thought it was awesome.

Still loves the lake.

Cruising around in the dorm room.

Making friends with Gibson (14 months old)

Visiting the lake one more time before we left.

11 months old

UGH I am bad at this.

But yeah, Eli obviously turned 11 months old on July 18th.

He is a RASCAL these days!  Mostly I feel all of my time is dedicated to keeping him from mortal peril.  He is so FAST and DESTRUCTIVE and really I don't clean anymore.  He's also a really happy baby and is getting pretty good at entertaining himself (it helps if he finds something he isn't supposed to have).   He is cruising all over the furniture and walls but still no independent walking though we did have our first steps!!!  He has not taken more than three, though, and he has yet to stand up on his own aside from stepping away from furniture.  

Eli says "mamamama" and "dadadada" and "buh-buh" and "hah" (hi) and waves accordingly.   I also suspect he says "duh" for dog, because he points to Simon when he says it, and also "bah" for ball, but I can't be for sure at this point :)

He really babbles a lot.  A LOT.  He talks to himself while he's playing, and it's really cute.  I wish I knew what he was saying.

He points at EVERYTHING.  It's cute.  He also puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.  Less cute.

His favorite food would probably have to be bananas.  He LOVES bananas.  He also love smoothies, but I think that's because I make them with bananas.

He really hasn't taken to meat.  He has eaten it, but I think it's the texture that weirds him out and honestly I haven't given him very much at all so hopefully after more exposure he will be willing to get protein and other vital nutrients from there :)

His favorite move is definitely, definitely, definitely 101 Dalmatians, the one with Glenn Close that you can watch on Netflix.  

As for sleep, no, we are not sleeping through the night.  No, not even close.  He still wakes up at least twice.  It is a rarity that he'll only wake up once (like, really rare) and usually a stretch of sleep will not exceed 3-4 hours.  I let him cry it out with the checking in on him every 5, 10, 15, etc minutes method.  I don't get him out of his crib.  I don't do anything more than give him his pacifier and a reassuring pat and a "go to sleep".  It's not my fault he doesn't sleep, so shut up.  

HOWEVER, I did recently purchase the Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Soother and it has worked wonders.  Previously, we had a Summer Infant slumber buddy, which wasn't bad, but this Sea Dreams soother puts him back to sleep super fast.  At first I thought I was going to have to return it because he would get really excited and playful when I turned it on and it would actually keep him awake LONGER because he was messing around with it.  Now that the novelty's worn off, though, he falls right back to sleep within a couple minutes when it's lit up and playing music.  Obviously I love it.

Also to note: he is still torturing Simon, who continues to be the most patient dog ever.  Who knew?

10 months old

Eli turned 10 months old yesterday!  Holy crap.

In the past month....

- He has switched to mainly formula as opposed to breast milk.  It was my intention to nurse him until he was a year old.  He got over it.  My supply decreased.  It happens.

- He decided to doesn't really like formula, either.  Seriously.  Getting this kid to drink milk is rough.

- His sleep schedule has become pretty predictable, though leaves much to be desired.  He goes to bed at 9, with some exceptions.  He wakes up once around 2, and then once around 6.  Sometimes you can get him to go back down for a couple hours, and he'll sleep until 8.  But lately he's done sleeping by 6:30.  Eww.

- He has become extremely active.  He has army crawled since he was 7ish months (I think?) but now we are exclusively up on all fours, speeding around the house, destroyed everything we can.

- He will pull up to stand and cruise around the furniture.  Still not a lot of interest in standing on his own or walking.  If you hold his hands to help him walk he just sits down,

- I can't really remember all the new foods he's had, but we have slowed down in introducing new foods.  That's mostly because there doesn't seem to be a lot of new fresh options at the grocery store.

- He eats solid foods three times a day.  Really that's about all he eats, since we're having trouble drinking milk.

- Simon has really started to feel the effects of a baby in the house.  Eli is constantly pulling his tail, ripping out his fur, and taking all his toys.

- He waves bye-bye on cue, mostly just to "dadadada" when he leaves for work, and then continues for awhile after he has left for work.

- Babbles a lot more on his own.  I always wonder what he thinks he's saying.

- We have been the park a few times.  Eli is a fan of swinging and watching other kids run around and play.

- He has been swimming in Grandpa Bob and Grandpa Lois' pool a couple times.  He loves water!

Officially 10 months old, making all the mischief.

Also we watch more TV than I care to admit.

9 months old...

Here is a super image/media-heavy post in honor of Eli entering into his 9 month of life on this past Saturday.  He is into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. these days.  He's getting a little ornery and never wants to sit still.  Which is fine.  Within reason.

He weighed 20 lbs 14 oz at his check up on Monday and was 29 1/2 inches long.

As far as interests, his favorite things to play with are keys and the carbon monoxide detector.

....

Really though, he doesn't sit and play with any of his toys too much.  He's way more into climbing the back of the couch and pulling the curtains.  He also delights in ripping apart magazines.

Dog toys are okay with him, too.

His sleeping is still all over the place.  It's getting a little more predictable as he generally sleeps until 7 or 8.  And I can generally expect him to wake up 2-3 times a night still.  But it's getting better.  He has also graduated to a pretty regular hour-long nap, which is preferable to his 30 minuters of previous months.

I don't exclusively breastfeed anymore.  He has formula bottles pretty often and I think that helps with keeping his belly full and sleeping longer.  As far as solids, he's had a lot, and he's liked it all.  He's had apples, pears, blueberries, bananas, butternut squash, sweet potato, russet potato, peas, carrots, zucchini, avocado, cottage cheese, and just had yogurt for the first time today.  I was introducing a new food every couple days after he first started eating solids at 6 months 2 weeks, but I kind of dropped the ball after vacation because I was just buying jar food.  Also I hate going to the grocery store but finally went yesterday so I have cantaloupe and broccoli for him to try next :)

Mobility - still army crawls.  He doesn't seem to see any need in crawling on all fours.  He gets where he wants.

As far as words, he says Mama.  Not sure if he knows it exclusively applies to me, but he does say it a lot when I'm around and he wants him, but I don't think he has totally figured out that I am mama.  He says ba, ta, pa, and some other not exactly easy to figure out syllables.  He has said "da" a few times but mamamamama is definitely the clearest and most regular of his babblings.

Aaand I think that's it.  Sorry I totally dropped the ball on month 8.