Eli's 1st Bday, Part one: some thoughts...

I cannot believe that Scott and I have a 1year old. Time really does fly, man! Thinking about little Eli's first year and everything he has been through makes my heart swell right up to the moon and back. As most of you know, Eli was born 2 months early and spent his first 3.5 weeks of life in the NICU, remaining strong the whole time. He was also born with club-feet and had to wear casts on his feet/legs for several months. At 4months he had two surgeries on his feet, and at 7months he had an MRI done on his spine, which btw came back completely normal! Through it all Eli did so, so wonderful, he is such a strong boy and fortunately he will never remember any of it. Scott and I on the other hand were also strong, however we did find ourselves in moments of panic,sadness and confusion. I'll never forget after Eli's foot surgery when the doctor came out and told us 'everything went great, Eli was doing great and we could see him soon'...Scott fell into my arms sobbing with relief. But there are also so many other happy, joyous moments with Eli this first year. Such as his first Xmas, his first time in the bath and LOVING it, his first time in the pool, the swing...seeing his face light up around animals, laughing at Mommy's, daddy's, Grammies silly antics, the first time he sat up, crawled, ate food, sat still and enjoyed a book, a song! There is so much to explore and learn and I am honored that I was chosen to be Eli's mom. He is truly a sweet little boy with a great, kind heart who makes the world light up around him!

This past month, Eli you:
-are crawling
-started music class
-made some wonderful new friends
-got 2 baby-sitters and seem to like them!
-feed yourself some things

Your favorite songs:
 -twinkle twinkle little star, somewhere out there and all the new songs from music

Your favorite books:
Olivia, Goodnight Moon, Belly Button Book and Hey, wake up!

You love to:
go for walks, go to the park, have dance parties, play on the grass, chase the cats, eat, look/read books and explore the house, the bathroom is your particular favorite?


Love you so much 'Boots!!!'

you know you're a mom...

when you grab a baby spoon to eat your breakfast with and don't realize till about half-way through that you're eating with a small, plastic spoon. Yummy!

a few firsts...

So today Eli is 10 days shy of his 1st birthday and he caught his first cold. :( I think it's pretty mild, just a runny snot nose, some sneezing and grouchiness! Oh well, it was bound to happen. He also rode in his new bday big-boy car-seat for the first time and seemed to like it, we only drove in town so the true test will be on a longer trip, but he thought it was really funny when I would wave to him in the rear-view mirror.

snot nose

but i still wake up happy.

so much to contemplate in life...

a little bit of our 4th of July

at the beach with daddy

sand baby!

whoa...the ocean

red, white and blue

hey! we're getting ready to host a 4th of July 'faux-bbq'*

i think I'll just get myself a snack...

this bottle of wine will do.

*A 'faux-bbq' is when you have the vibe of a BBQ but you don't have a grill and you serve veggie burgers. Haha! Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July!

the kind of mother...

Hello again. So, in this book I am currently reading I came across a passage which reminded me of this series I wanted to create on the blog: 'the kind of mother.' Remember when I talked about having fresh smelling sheets... :) I know it can come off as cheesy, but I like the idea of putting out there intentions for my child, it serves as a reminder in those impatient, flustered moments that we should act/react according to how it may affect our future. Thus the passage states:

' Once your children are grown, what kind of mother will you have been? How will your children describe you? A martyr? Patient? Crabby? Demanding? Easy-going? What effect will our words and actions have had on our children? And what kind of model will we have provided?'
-Sarah Napthali

Isn't that so poignant? It really sat with me. And yes, I would like my child to describe me as funny, smart, patient, loving, spontaneous and all those other qualities...but I also want my child to remember the actions I took to show him those things, even if mundane such as always having fresh, clean sheets that smell of rose and lavender, or the fact that I will always have on hand the ingredients for soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies to help cheer him up or celebrate a victory! It is those moments that I hope my child will remember, that he is loved and provided a warm, nurturing home!

What about you? What do you think about as a mother/father?

The other day I made chocolate chip cookies for no reason, and thought about how fun it will be when Eli is old enough to partake in the making and tasting of them. Here is a photo of the cookies with Eli napping in the background, which can you see on the monitor. :) He is in his favorite position of sleeping; butt in the air!

skater chic

black t-shirts, converse, hoodies, skinny jeans, striped shirts and board shorts...you know the drill?!

you know you're a mom...

when you accidentally dress just like your baby, honest...it's not intentional!

Hey, this series has been M.I.A. for awhile, mostly because I (honestly) haven't done too many dumb things, ha! Well...maybe I have and just am not aware of them. But anyway, the other day I got Eli dressed and then we had breakfast and played and then he napped, so while he napped I got myself dressed and when he woke up I realized I put the same type of thing on that I put on him. Hmmm... Then I remembered a few comments from folks about how 'cute' we were in our matching stripes or gray and black, and it got me thinking that maybe we dress our babies as extensions of ourselves so it's no wonder that Eli is usually wearing stripes, black or converse. ;) At least I don't have him in high-waisted skirts, hahahaha!

And then later today I did actually do a stupid thing... I went to the grocery store and forgot my wallet. Thankfully, I caught it before I went in so I was able to turn around grab my wallet and start over. Oh memory-when will you ever return????