Maternity photos

My good friend Emily, who is an incredibly talented photographer, shot some maternity photos of me in January. Despite her talent, she couldn't do anything about my bad hair day! :) Still, I know I'll always treasure these pre-Abby photos. Here are my favorites... I really wanted a shot of Eli giving Abby a kiss. We had made a little game of it at home, and he loved it. Of course, once we were standing in front of a camera, it was a no-go!

I think this one will probably be framed in Abby's room...

Thanks, Emily!

Blog slacker

I know I haven't been a great blogger lately...for the record, I'm not just being lazy. A few weeks ago, after being sick the entire month of February, I managed to dislocate a rib coughing (yes, really!). Let me tell you, that is a painful injury! Typically they would just pop the rib back into place, instantly relieving the pain. However, because of the location of the rib and its proximity to Abby, they weren't able to do that. I am SO glad to say that the pain has diminished significantly with a combination of medication, physical therapy, and acupuncture. (Side-note, a huge THANK YOU to Joe, a good friend of ours and an amazing Physical Therapist, for all of your help). I have my third acupuncture appointment on Thursday, and the acupuncturist is confident that I'll be pain free after that treatment. I sure hope he's right! So, all that to say sorry for the lack of posting recently. Of course, I can't make any promises that I'll do much better over the next couple of weeks/months!

Zoo day!

With all the sunshine we've been enjoying and Ryan's new freedom on Saturdays with basketball season being over, we had to head to the zoo! Just the day before we went, a new monkey escaped from its exhibit. Fortunately Eli was content playing with the "pretend monkeys" that greet visitors at the entrance! It was a really great day together as a family. Eli had a really fantastic day, due in part to the fact that we've been home-bound with nasty colds most of the month. We also spent some time exploring parts of the zoo we haven't really spent time in before, which was a lot of fun. Eli's two new favorite areas are the Habitat Discovery Loop and the Zoomazium. The HDL is a really cool little trail through a wooded area where they've created kid-sized versions of various animal habitats. There's a bird's nest, turtle shells, burrows, spider webs, etc. that kids can climb in, around, on, and through. There are also a couple of slides...I'm assuming these are just for fun, and not some animal's actual living quarters! :) We also hit the Zoomazium, the zoo's indoor play area for little ones. Eli found an even bigger slide here, and spent the rest of our visit climbing up the "boulder" to slide down this fast, curvy slide. He had a blast! As usual, one of the highlights of Eli's day was "riding on Dada" - he didn't stop saying "wheee!" from the Zoomazium (at the back of the zoo) all the way to the car. He was also delighted to see the peacock on our way out; he remembered seeing it on our way in during our last visit to the zoo and had been looking for it throughout our visit.

Hooray for sunshine, family time, and the zoo!

Definitely not Spring!

Like I said, I knew better than to get my hopes up in February, but I still didn't expect to wake up to this yesterday...

This little bit of snow was a welcome break from the three days of non-stop rain and hail that preceeded it. Anyway, today was another beautiful, sunny day, so at last we were able to get out for a walk again. We got to look at the last couple of snow patches left in the shady spots...and learn about shadows...It was actually quite warm in the sun, and we sure enjoyed the time outside. We've had some serious cabin fever lately between the weather and our never-ending colds!

Spring?!

Okay, I know better than to get my hopes up when it's only February! Still, we've really been enjoying the sunshine lately, despite the still-cold temperatures. We've been taking lots of walks to the playground and little "hikes" through the woods around our house, and this weekend we found the first Spring flower in our yard! All of this makes me really excited for warm weather and lots of time outside in the coming months.

Potty Party!

Sorry (yet again) for the long blogging hiatus. We've had a crazy three weeks between Ryan's sports, all three of us being sick, and (drumroll please)...potty training! We decided that it would be really nice to get Eli out of diapers before Abby arrives, and he's been going in the potty off and on for months. So, we checked out Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day from the library. We'd heard great things about this method from lots of other parents, and we have to agree with all of the great reviews we heard. I know that every child is different, so we can only speak to our own experience, but for us this was a great book and a great method! The whole premise is that your child first teaches a doll how to use the potty, and by doing so, learns the process himself. You make a big deal about the whole thing...the whole day is a "Potty Party," complete with decorations and a theme (Eli's was Thomas the Tank Engine, what else?!), and lots of positive reinforcement (i.e., treats!).

So, on February 7th, Eli woke up to a present...a little boy doll named Paul. Paul decided that he wanted to learn how to use to the potty that day, so Eli took off Paul's diaper and helped him into his very own Thomas the Tank Engine big boy underwear (custom-made by Nana - thank you!!). Eli spent the morning teaching Paul to use the potty...we watched DVDs and read books and spent lots of time in the bathroom (and yes, Paul is anatomically correct and pees in the potty!). I apologize to anyone who tried to check out a potty-training book or movie from our library system that weekend...I think they were all at our house! Here's Eli "studying" one of his potty books in the giant carboard Thomas I made...

When Eli woke up from his nap that day he received another present: his very own Thomas big boy underwear! He was really excited to put them on and have his own Potty Party. He spent the rest of the day in just a shirt and big boy underwear. We spent countless hours in the bathroom practicing, earning lots of stickers on the potty chart, and discovering all sorts of fun things you can do while sitting on the potty...

You can play the harmonica,or play trains,or color and make up songs (this video is 1 minute, 45 seconds, but the first 45 seconds are the best - feel free to skip the rest!).

That night we had a "Big Kid Celebration" to celebrate his success. Eli got to choose whatever he wanted for dinner that night, and what did he choose? Pancakes and pizza - and yes, we obliged him and made both!

He did a great job, and has been doing a great job ever since! I'll admit that on Sunday I was in tears by 8:30 a.m. because Eli did not want to sit on the potty, and every bit of research you read on the subject tells you not to force the issue. However, Sunday morning seems to have been a fluke, because our little boy has become quite a potty champ! Since then he's had no more than one accident a day! Eli has already gotten really good at knowing (and telling us) when he needs to go and when he doesn't. We're really thrilled by what a great job he's doing...and really excited that we haven't changed a diaper in two weeks! :) We can tell he's really proud of himself for his accomplishment, too. Now let's hope we don't see too much regression when his baby sister is born...especially in light of the 12-14 diaper changes we'll be doing each day for awhile! :)

"What's that up in the sky?"

This post title actually came out of Eli's mouth a couple of weeks ago when we were driving into Seattle to visit the Science Center. He literally pointed at the sun and said "what is that up in the sky?" Now that's a Pacific Northwest kid if ever there was one! Fortunately we've seen a bit more of that thing up in the sky lately. It's still pretty darn cold from a CA girl's perspective, but seeing some sunshine definitely helps! On Tuesday we went to visit Ryan at school during his lunch break and then headed to a nearby park to enjoy the brightness. Believe it or not, I didn't have my camera with me (I know that comes as a huge shock to those who know me best!), but fortunately my phone takes pretty decent pictures. Needless to say, Eli loved the opportunity to play outside in the sun. We both had a great day together at the park - and enjoyed the fact that we actually needed our sunglasses!