Happy Valentine's Day

Heart shaped pancakes - what a great way to start the day

Eli & House update

Eli: He seems to be doing better. We still have our trying moments - he's very clingy, sensitive and moody, a constant roller coaster of emotions. No fever today, thankfully. The doc's office called today to check on him and said if he has a fever tonight of over 101 to come back tomorrow. I hope we don't have to. We've kept him home from school all week and will until Monday so that hopefully we can shake this thing. Today we stayed close to home but tomorrow may venture out (cabin fever is a tough thing!). Tonight we did go over to Carol's house to have pizza with her & Ryan while Kevin is out of town. The boys were so happy to see each other - as were we happy to have adult conversations. And Tim loved getting an ice cream treat (thanks Carol!).

House: Our house project is coming along. Today was the insulation inspection (electrical, mechanical & framing were earlier in the week) and tomorrow they start hanging drywall - woo hoo! Outside, the new siding and trim are done and now they are going around checking for other rotten pieces of siding and trim that need to be replaced. May start painting the outside tomorrow too. It has been kinda hard with Eli sick and people in our house (and Belle barking really really loud - anyone want a dog? I would have easily given her away today.) but we're close to the finish line. Tim & I are giddy excited about the new room and just getting the house back in order. The carpet people come tomorrow afternoon to measure for carpet and I think it'll be about 3 weeks after that before they can install. So, hopefully the room will be ready in less than 2 weeks and we've have some time to paint and then carpet. Woo hoo! We may move some things around this weekend to start painting Eli's new room. He has enjoyed sleeping in our bed this week (the only way the house has been able to sleep at night) and he seems ready to be out of the crib. Trying the big boy bed isn't that far away.

Newly insulated interior

Back of the house

Finished front view

The lighter side.....weekend adventures

Although we're going through another rough week of sick in our house, we did have fun last weekend. Friday night Tim & I went out to dinner with friends as a surprise 40th birthday dinner for one of the girls. Hard to believe we were out two weekends in a row!! Saturday morning, we played around the house and made a trip to Lowe's to get a few things for the house and arrange for them to measure the house for carpet. After nap, Eli & I met Carol & Ryan for a walk. We walked to the lake and then the playground, letting the boys run around and play. They had so much fun and the big twisty slide that Eli cried on before, he loved now! Sunday we stayed close to home again. Tim took Eli on a bike ride around the neighborhoods and the lake - Eli really enjoyed the bike trailer. We were worried since it has been so long since he had been in it. It was a nice few minutes of quiet for Mommy. =)

Other than that, not too much to report. Just stayed close to home and enjoyed not having specific plans.

Pushing blankie around the house Saturday morning

Swinging with Ryan

Stroller switch-a-roo. Ryan didn't want to get in his so we just switched the boys. Worked like a charm!

Like Daddy, like Son - helmets on, ready to ride

Let get this ride started Daddy!

Here we go again...

I had great intentions of posting tonight about our fun weekend of not-many-plans and just hanging close to home. That got trumped by a phone call from Eli's school at 3pm today that he had a fever of 103.3. Ugh - here we go again. It feels like we JUST got over being sick. So, a little nervous after the whole hospital thing, I called the doctor's office. In we went for a 4:30pm appointment to find out that he has an ear infection in his left ear and a bad red / sore throat. Since we just stopped antibiotics last week for the other stuff, they gave him an injection of antibiotics to help get him started and then sent us home with a different prescription for the next 10 days. Amazingly, only an hour or so after the shot, Eli is acting like a different child. His color is good and he is playing like nothing is wrong. We hope this means a decent night for us and especially a good day tomorrow for Tim & Eli - they'll just be hanging out together. If all goes well, tomorrow night I'll post a weekend update with pictures - hint: we had lots of fun outside.

And the stretchy pants come out....

Today, for the first time, I opted for stretchy maternity pants. And they're oh-so-comfortable! I put on khakis this morning and they were just a little snug to where I knew I wouldn't be comfortable all day so I pulled out the khaki pants with the expando maternity waist. I guess they had to come out at some point. =)

Nursery for 2.0

Let me explain the "2.0" comment. As most of you know, Eli's first nickname was "Bubba Jim". Since we found out that we were having another baby, we've joked about another Bubba Jim or Bubbet Jim. Now that we know it's a boy, we call him Bubba Jim 2.0. And then we shortened it to just 2.0. So Eli is 1.0 and his brother is 2.0, the sequel.

Anyway, I've struggled with whether or not to change the nursery so that 2.0 has a different room. I've battled with logic, reason and just how I feel. Logic and reason tell me that it's another boy, he won't know the difference, we'd just be spending money so leave it the same. My feelings tell me that he will already get all his stuff as Eli's hand me downs so I want him to have something new of his own. So of course, my feelings won out and I ordered some adorable bedding from Target. And it just so happens to kinda fit with the safari theme of the cross stitch I started. Here it is:

Monkeys, elephants, lions...oh my

Isn't it the cutest?!

How much can you cram into two days?

Apparently a lot....I'll try to break it into parts and pieces.

Grandpa & Grandma C visit:
Saturday morning Grandpa & Grandma C came up to visit for a while. I think they wanted to lay eyes on Eli and make sure he's doing ok after being sick. It was great to see them and they enjoyed spending about five hours with Eli. It gave Tim & I time to do some house chores and measure our rooms to price out carpet. Other than that, we just hung out with them and observed play time (aka - relaxing on the couch!!).

Eli stole Grandpa's toast off his plate and ate the whole thing. He thought he was so funny.

Playing shapes with Grandma while Grandpa draws a picture.

Grandpa's little guy =)

House update:

One of the guys worked on our house project on Saturday. He pretty much finished up the siding on the gable end of the house. Tomorrow he'll start on the back of the house and then move to the front. The inside is framed up, just waiting for the reordered windows to arrive on Thursday. The electrician was here Friday and got all the outlets and switches installed as well as our can lights. This week should be new roof, finish siding, install HVAC unit, finish electrical, framing inspection and start insulation / sheetrock. These guys are moving fast!

Siding in progress

Dinner and Hockey game:

Saturday evening we went out to dinner at Brio with our friends Carol and Kevin. Ms. Katie watched Ryan and Eli at our house so we could have a grown up night out. It was so nice! Dinner was fantastic and after, we all had tickets to the hockey game. Carol & Kevin were seated almost directly across the ice from us so it was fun to wave to them throughout the game. I was fortunately given second row tickets from a sub of mine at work. Tim & I had been in the box seats before but never this close. It was so much fun! We enjoyed the game much more down there. There were a few bumps into the glass where we were and also one flying hockey puck that made me jump. Meanwhile, back at home, seems like the boys did pretty well and didn't even really care that we were gone. They love playing together and they love Ms. Katie so it works perfectly!

Took this with my phone at the game

Back at home, the boys were having a blast.

Tricycle practice:

This morning Tim brought out Eli's tricycle and Eli practiced riding it. He can climb on by himself and has learned how to ring the bell. He can touch the pedals at top position and knows what to do. He just needs another inch or so and he'll be off and riding.

I'll be cruising before too long

Hiking:
Later this morning, we went on a family hike at Umstead. Just as last time, we let Eli walk for a while to start and then put him in the backpack hiker on Tim's back. He had fun touching trees, picking up rocks and sticks (and trying to pick up the occasional root!) and just being outside.

Tree

Hiking with Mommy

Pooped out midway through the hike - he was even snoring!

A new project:
So if you remember, I did an Under the Sea birth record cross stitch for Eli. I did most of it while pregnant and then just filled in his birth date when he was born. I have been looking for one to do for Baby 2 and today picked up this 'Wild Thing' safari one. I couldn't wait and already started it while Eli was napping this afternoon. This one is a little more complex than the other one so it'll take me a while - it's a good thing I'm starting early this time!

Another hobby:
And because I have absolutely nothing to do (yeah right!), I decided that I needed to pick up another hobby (scrapbooking, cross stitch, reading, exercising and family just weren't enough). I have been wanting to learn how to knit. My neighbor Breda is an expert knitter and taught classes for several years and she agreed to teach me. I had been trying with books and you tube videos but it wasn't clicking. I had my first lesson yesterday and learned how to do long-tail cast on and then the knit and purl stitches. I did a small swatch at her house yesterday and then tore it out to practice casting on again before I left. Below is the picture of what I started after I got home and then worked on some today. Now I'll take this back to her and we'll measure my gauge to determine if I'm a tight or loose knitter and then she'll help me on reading patterns and more lessons. Now why did I feel the urge to knit? I've read so much about it lately and, once I mentioned it to some of my friends, I realized how many of them knit. I really wanted to do something different for Baby 2. Everyone says that the second child doesn't get the same treatment as the first - and I know that's true. But I want to do some special projects for him and also some for Eli and who knows, if I get good at it maybe a few Christmas gifts.

My little knitting so far - I think it looks good for a newbie!