A Perfect Mother's Day

Today was a perfect Mother's Day for a not-so-perfect Mom.....ME! First off, Eli has been full of new tricks this weekend. He wanted to show off for me and make it a special weekend. Yesterday morning was standing up in his crib when he woke up. We could not believe it but sure enough, he had pulled up.

This morning started off with sleeping in - it was so nice. Tim got up with Eli and let me stay in bed until I decided to get up around 7:30am. I know that's not sleeping in for some but it sure is for us! Tim cooked me pancakes and eggs for breakfast and we ate breakfast as a family - Eli had his pancake as morning snack. Then after some serious playing, it was naptime for Eli. He slept over an hour and a half and allowed Tim & I some lounge time - I actually read some of a book that I had started. After nap was present time. Eli got me the sweetest card, it made me tear up. Then he had picked out a digital picture frame for me to take to work. I wanted one because there are just so many pictures that I love. Tim gave me flowers and some "time off". My boys are just too sweet to me. After nap and present time, lunch time and then family walk in between rain showers. It was so nice as we all stayed in our pajamas until 12:30pm. Would have probably been all day if we had not decided that we needed fresh air! We then did our Mother's Day arts and crafts project - a stepping stone for the flower bed with Eli's footprints. That was fun. It didn't go quite as well as we had hoped but it's cute and preserves our day. Another nap (and more rest time for Mommy), more serious playing and then dinner. Eli's big surprise of the day was crawling. I tried to upload a video but it didn't work for some reason. He is now mobile and ready to go. He crawled all over after the tv remote. He's still not super fast but I give him a few days and we'll be struggling to keep up. After dinner, more play time, bath and bed. It has been a busy day and we hope Eli will sleep well.

Today was also my 12 year anniversary with Belle. I was first a dog mom before becoming Eli's mom. Belle was a graduation present when I graduated from NC State. It's hard to believe that I've been out of college 12 years (I should be grown up by now) but also hard to believe that I've had a dog that long. She's been through a lot with me and has been such a great companion. She has had to adjust to being second fiddle to Eli but she will always be the #1 dog in my heart.

What's next for Mommy & Daddy? Fish sticks and french fries for dinner (my choice - I avoid stuff like that because I'm trying to lose weight) and then watching the finale of 'Survivor'. It may not seem like the perfect day to some, but it was sure a great day for us. I loved how I spent my first Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends out there. Hope yours was a great one!

Watch me....

Such a big boy

Eli and Puppy Jim

Mommy & Eli making the stepping stone

Time for footprints

So precious - almost finished (we did put his name and year on there)

Ugh, what's on my feet?

12 years - such a good dog

Eli's New Shoes

Today we took Eli to Mobley's Shoes to get his first pair of shoes. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole thing. We wanted to get him a sandal instead of sneaker because we thought socks would make him too hot (with the helmet you know). Tried on the cutest pair of Keens, that matched Mommy's, but decided they weren't very practical. We ended up with Stride Rite Baby Guppy. Mr. Eli is a 5-1/2 - WOW! Actually they're a little big to allow growth and they told us that since he isn't walking yet, the extra room wouldn't be a problem. We still plan to let him go barefoot as much as possible but needed the shoes for school. Check him out.

Measuring my feet

Save me Dad - what are they doing to me?

I'll take these please

Mother's Day tote

Eli has been working on an adorable Mother's Day tote for me all week. They gave it to me this morning at school. How cute is this?! I used it tonight to walk over to a neighbor's house with Eli (can't be caught without diapers, burp cloth, spare bottle, you know the drill). I never imagined myself getting handprint artwork - it's so fun!

Life at Daycare

I've written over and over about how much we love Eli's daycare (school as we call it). When he first started, on the recommendation of my friend Megan, I left a disposable camera for the teachers to catch fun moments for me. I finally developed the camera yesterday and it was so fun to look at all the pictures from his past 5 months there. It came at a neat time as he moves up to a new classroom starting Monday. He's going to be in the Older Infant Room now. He's bored with the babies and is exploring enough to move up. He has spent some time there this week and has been so tired every night. I think it will be an adjustment over there. So much new stuff to do and his friends from when he started. This weekend we have to buy him shoes as they have to have them when they move up. That should be fun to size those big ole feet! Enjoy the pictures of life at daycare.

Hanging in the "pond" with Colin

Asleep in the bouncey chair

Playing with Andrew

Ready to go on a walk with Ryan

Time to paint - how fun is this?!

Mini-Picasso

What a masterpiece - the painting AND Eli!!

Got to clean up before Mom gets here

Another day hanging in the pond with friends

Muffin man.........in training

As Eli explores new foods, so come new opportunities for me to get cute pictures.
This morning Eli had a muffin and half banana for breakfast. I might also mention that he had an english muffin with cheese for morning snack at school, chicken nuggets and veggies for lunch, applesauce for afternoon snack and black beans and sweet potatoes for dinner. The boy does love to eat!!

Yippeee - muffin

Yummm

Can't let any of it get away!

Feeding myself is fun

Traveling boy

Eli is a traveling little boy. This weekend we went to visit Tim's parents. We had such a nice visit and even found some time to relax! We left home early Saturday morning (about 7:30am) so we got to their house at a decent time and hung out for a while playing on the floor with Eli and just chatting about everything. Then Eli took a little nap before we went to visit Tim's friends Preston & Maria and their two boys - Ray and Thomas. Thomas is about 6 weeks older than Eli. The last time they saw each other, neither was big enough to know what was going on. This time they played and noticed each other. Saturday night, we went out to eat at Outback with Tim's parents. Eli ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and ate everything but the crust!! He was so good the entire time at the restaurant. We had several people say hello to Eli and tell him how cute he is. I think the helmet is a magnet. Without it, he'd be just another baby. :-) After dinner, bath time and bed. Eli slept pretty well last night. The only downside was he was up and ready for the day at 5:30 this morning. We kept him calm until 6am - the normal time he eats. Tim and his Mom took care of Eli and let me doze back off. It was soooo nice!! Had a relaxing morning of hanging out - Tim & I even made a quick run to Michael's by ourselves. Eli was so funny checking everything out. He wanted to touch it all. The straps on his booster seat kept him entertained for what must have been an hour! We headed home slightly after lunch so that we could get a few things done at home before work tomorrow. Eli was so good in the car down and back - 3 hours each way. We're lucky that he travels well. He had such a big weekend that he fell asleep about 20 minutes ago. Hopefully he'll get a good night's sleep and be ready for the week ahead.

Some pictures from our weekend.

Trying to crawl - not quite yet

I'd rather walk....just need help, for now

My new favorite trick - Upside down Eli

Riding the tractor with Grandpa

Playing with Thomas

Who me? I didn't do it

Look at my fun straps..think I can pull the chair down?

I'm a stinker!

Now I'm sweet

Love my Grandma and Grandpa

Alternative transportation

This afternoon was pretty neat. Eli & I used alternative transportation to get him home from school. I rode my bike to his school with empty trailer in tow and returned with Eli in tow. It was pretty cool to ride the bike for transportation. All the little kids at school were talking about Eli leaving on a bike. Hopefully I can do that on Friday afternoons if I'm able to get home from work early enough. Although it's only about the size of Eli's actual footprint, we did reduce our family carbon footprint slightly!