Stay tuned for a change....

Hello fellow blog followers (all three of you),

I have started a new blog and it's under construction. I am really excited about the changes and think you're going to love it that much better! It's an easier format to use and I can do so much with my pictures. It's really a win-win for us all :) Stay tuned!

Mr. Independent

No, I'm not talking about Lou Dobbs. I'm talking about Mr. Eli Oakley. His most used phase these days is "Eli do, Eli do." Which I know I have posted about this phase a few weeks ago but we are at full force!! He wants to do everything himself. It's very awesome though that he finally can say the word help, and I ask him to use it before he gets frustrated. It's helped so much! So when he struggles with something I ask him, "Do you need help Eli?" He says "No Mommy, Eli do". Okay baby, tell me if you need help......"Help Mommy". It's adorable. We definitely have more conversation than ever before. It's incredible.

Along with this independence is an overwhelming cooperativeness in cleaning up, getting ready, etc. He LOVES to throw garbage in the garbage can. He loves to pick up stuff he's thrown on the floor. He is starting to get the hang of pulling up his shorts/pants and it helps getting dressed a little smoother. He's also unfortunately learned to help me take off his diaper. A few times he's tried to get my attention and I wasn't sure why. A minute later he would come to me with his diaper in hand! I couldn't tell he wasn't wearing one because his shirt is practically to the middle of his thigh. Thankfully he didn't have a poopy diaper! So I always have to put pants on him to avoid the diaper coming off. At bathtime though I take off his diaper and he runs through the house laughing and saying "Naked baby, naked baby". I chase after him and pretend to spank his butt....hmmm, I wonder if this is why he loves to take off his diaper? :) Oh well, makes for a great story.

Dare I say that the throwing phase seems to be ending? And screaming at the cats? I have told him the only way we talk to the kitties is to say hello, hi, or meow softly. He has gotten WAY better at controlling himself. I try to praise him often.

I am really trying to start teaching Eli his manners. He can say thank you. He has said thank you unprompted by me a few times so I think he gets it some. Please is gonna take some time. He likes to push me off the couch sometimes and he says "Move" while pushing me. I told him I'll move but he has to say move, please.

I said "Hey you" to Eli the other night when he was getting into trouble and now he walks around saying hey you with a huge smile on his face.

Some pictures from a friend

Here's a few photos my friend Linde snapped of me and Eli and friends while we were at various outings (the zoo and the farm).


At the zoo, in the children's garden



Riding the pony at Orr Family Farm

He really loved it!

I love watching him experience new things! It's so amazing

Dinosaur Train

With the arrival of birthday money, the dinosaur train merchandise is rolling in. He now has two interactive Buddy and Tiny toys. They talk to each other and they about 10in tall. Very cool. Then, we got the actual dinosaur train, track included. It came with three cars and the conductor, laura the giganotasaurus, and buddy. Then we got another pack with Ms. Pterranadon, Shiny, and Derek. So he has a lot of these little figurines (maybe 3 or 4in tall). He carries them everywhere. The first night he got them he was so excited he didn't even want to eat dinner! He takes them in the bath, holds them while going to bed.

This love is like no other. He doesn't even care about Sesame Street or Word World anymore. It's all about Dinosaur Train. We are redoing his bedroom is dinosaur decor. He has even nicknamed his new orange bath rug, Buddy (he's orange).

Time to dream about dinosaur train. Goodnight!

Eli's 2nd Birthday Party

Eli's birthday party was the Saturday after his birthday. I invited all our friends in playgroup, a friend from JR's work, and our neighbors. I planned everything a few weeks before his party. That's the fun part right? The only part I saved for the last minute was baking and preparing the food. Just like last year, I made his cake. The theme of his party was barnyard animals. I picked up some plates and a tablecloth at Party Galaxy with animals.

I was browsing the internet for party favors and I came across these really cute finger puppets! I had never been on Etsy before but I think that's my new favorite website. It's basically a site where you can buy handcrafted items. I also saw some really cute party decorations but they were so expensive! I had a few weeks until the party and I came across this birthday banner on the site. I'm not usually a super crafty woman but I thought to myself I could make this. Here is the result!

I also made little candy keepers for the party bags.

Ah, and now onto the story of the cake. I started on Eli's birthday. He got to have a little piece of cake (mostly frosting) on his birthday. In total, the cake took about six hours to make. I made the frosting from scratch, lemon buttercream, vanilla cake. I couldn't get the vanilla buttercream to taste just right so i added some lemon and it was pretty good. The base was two round cakes. The barn was supposed to be make from poundcake but I made it out of rice krispy treats, as one reviewer suggested doing (it sounded good to me). The silo was supposed to be made from cupcakes, but I chose to do this in rice krispy treats also. I secured them to the cake with bamboo skewers. Everything seemed to be fine. I decorated the barn and silo with frosting and twisslers. It seemed to be leaning a little but I kept checking on it every so often and it was fine.

When I woke up in the morning to check on it......disaster! I almost felt nauseous. The barn, had indeed, fallen apart. I was so, so sad. Had worked two hours just on that barn. I texted my friend Michelle. She talked me down from the ledge (exaggeration, kinda). I was able to hold back the tears and took some of the rice krispy treats and scattered it where the cake was missing. Sprinkled some chocolate sprinkles on there and it looked like hay or something. It looked okay. Certainly not as good as it had, but Eli still loved it. That's all the mattered to me. The animals were the cutest part of the cake anyway and they were fine. In hindsight, I would have done a few things differently.

I tried, tried to get as much stuff done the night before, but could only do so much. I stayed up until 2:00am cutting strawberries. Clearly becoming a tradition cause I stayed up until 1:00am the year before. I started making the hashbrown casserole. It was smelling extremely delicious in the house. Bacon was frying in the pan and I had just finished making the cream of chicken soup (for the casserole) when JR headed out to Dunkin' Donuts to pick up the coffee and a few donuts. By the time he got back, I had put the casserole in the oven, decorated the kitchen, vacuumed the living room, taken a shower, got myself ready and got Eli ready. Phew! All in an hour's work.

I was scrubbing the last of the pans right up until our guests arrived. Once everyone started coming in, we had some food, coffee, juice and conversation. It was fun to see the kids play together. Eli wouldn't really leave my side and actually spent a good amount of time in my arms or JR's. Not sure why, must have been too much commotion for him. He's used to large groups so it must have been the excitement of everything. He kept showing everyone his cake, saying E-I-E-I-O and pointing to it. He was so excited.

After playing for awhile, we started opening presents. Eli loved everything he got. He did a good job opening presents (I'm excited to see how much better he gets by Christmas). A few of his friends tried to help him :) He got some books, a magna doodle, leap frog alphabet magnets for the fridge, dinosaur train book and toys, dinosaur bath toys and stamps, a talking play grill, bubbles and tractor. T-rex socks from Toy Story!

After opening his presents, we moved onto the cake. Eli picked the piggy cupcake as his own, so I put the two candles in (one red and one blue....the colors he can say). We all started singing and he loved it. He knows the birthday song so he was singing it afterwards for awhile. He didn't eat much cake. Actually he saw my regular piece of cake and wanted that instead of his animal cupcakes. Silly boy.

Eli tells us he's two now. It's adorable. He even tells you he has two of something (usually two paci's).

After everyone left, we played with our toys. Eli was pretty fired up so he didn't nap right away.

I was so happy with the way everything went. It was a lot of fun and just so nice to spend the day with our friends. Eli is a lucky boy!!

I've been done with this post for a while (almost two weeks) I just need to get the pictures up. I'll probably put them in a separate post.

Eli Do

His new favorite saying. I was going to put a band aid on one of his many boo boos the other day and he said "Eli do, Eli do." So adorable I can't help but laugh sometimes and feel bad to tell him no.

I've been feeling like we might be on the cusp of a difficult time with Eli. Not sure if it's due to teeth coming in or just his development. He's a little more defiant these days. He also can't seem to stop throwing his toys, cups, stuffed animals, no matter what I threaten him with. I usually just take it away from him for a few minutes. If he keeps on with it, I might have to start doing time outs again.....but I really don't want to yet :(

He also likes to scream at the top of his lungs while chasing after the cats. Poor Jade, this might be traumatizing her. She seemed to be warming up to Eli (finally after two years), but I think any chance of that is over.

It's really nothing major, thankfully. Just saying the last few days I've seen a change in him.

Some new things he's learned:
To jump
To skip

Knows red and blue and can say them too. He points to random things all the time and will say red if its red or blue if its blue. We are working on the other colors.

He knows all his letters. He can say probably half of them. Eh, probably a quarter of them.

New words he's learned:
Park
Play
Pizza
Horsey
Car
Up
Keys
Buddy and Tiny (from dinosaur train)
I'm ready
Carrot
Blue
Red

That's just within the last week. He can also tell us he's two! It's adorable.

His birthday party is this Saturday and I have been busy planning the last few weeks. I am very excited and so thankful we have so many friends to celebrate Eli's special day. It's gonna be fun! I just have one or two more things to get at the store tomorrow and I am going to get started with making his cake. Here is a preview from the magazine I'm making the cake from:



Wish me luck!

Remembering Eli's Birth Day

Eli within a few minutes of being born


Mama and baby


Daddy and baby


Nana Connie and Eli


Grandma Annice and Eli

I don't have a posting of Eli's birth day so I thought I would put together our story, as well as I can remember.

My due date was October 8th. I was working at an OB/GYN during my pregnancy and seeing them for my care. I had an appointment on Monday the 6th and my doctor told me I was 1 cm dilated. I can't remember the other numbers, but Eli was pretty low already. I remember the doctor telling me that I wouldn't want my water to break at this point because I wasn't very dilated and if it did, they would have to induce me.

My last day of work was October 8th. I figured if I didn't have Eli by then, I could use the rest of my days to rest and get things ready.

On Tuesday, October 7th, JR and I were getting ready to go to bed. It was 9:00pm. I laid in bed for a few minutes when I realized i needed to go to the bathroom. So I got up and went, but when I stopped, it didn't stop. I suddenly realized that my water had broke!! I prepared myself for more and then went to tell JR what had happened. I woke him up and told him "I think my water broke but I'm fine right now so we won't hurry off to the hospital just yet". He asked me if I was sure and then went back to sleep. I don't know how he fell asleep but he did.

I went out into the living room and had a light snack. I knew once I got there I wouldn't have been able to eat so I didn't want to be starving. I watched TV, cleaned up a bit, and then around 1am, I headed back to the bathroom. I started to notice a little blood and that's when I figured we better get going. At this point, I still wasn't having any contractions. I knew from my experience working in OB/GYN that once your water breaks, they won't let you go longer than 24 hours without delivery. So we were having the baby TODAY!

I woke JR up and told him it was time to go. I was trying to tell him it was for real but he didn't quite believe me. I think it's because I was so calm, not in any pain, and I jumped in the shower before we walked out the door. I told him to pack like we were going to stay at the hospital.

The hospital was only five minutes away so we made it in no time. I told the lady at the front desk I was sure I was in labor and they told us to take a seat. A few minutes later the nurse came out and brought me back for intake. She hooked me up to a heart rate machine to measure contractions and heart rate. She asked me a million questions. At this point I was starting to feel contractions. They got me to a bed in the triage station so the nurse could check me and see if I indeed, had broken my water. Yes. My doctor came in and told me the plan. Since I was only 1 cm, they were going to give me two hours to dilate and if I didn't, then they were going to give me pitocin. So basically the exact scenario she told me I didn't want....was happening! JR left to go get his bag (I told him to bring it :) He brought back some breakfast for himself. I didn't mind cause I didn't want us both to be grumpy. I wasn't even hungry though, just excited.

A few hours passed and not much happened. The contractions were getting a little stronger. They asked me to rate my pain. I said it was a 7 out of 10. Hmm. Once they came in and gave me the pitocin, I said I had no idea what I was talking about the pain being at a 7 before. Compared to when the pitocin kicked in, holy sh**, that was a 9 or 10!

I didn't want any medicine beside the epidural. I have heard that any other medicine they give you, like Demerol, makes you feel loopy and doesn't really do much for the pain. I decided to grin and bear it until the good stuff came. The rule is, they like you to be at least 4 cm to get an epidural. I was only 2 when they started the pitocin and they said they would check me every hour. When they checked me again I was ready to get the epidural! Woo hoo! At this point I had called my mom and mother in law to tell them I was in labor. I had to pause a few times when talking to my mom from the pain.

When JR got back, his mom arrived soon after. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after to give me the epidural. It was really hard to keep still when those contractions came through. I wasn't scared of the needle at all, I couldn't wait for the pain to be over. My contractions were coming every minute. So by the time one was over, the next one would be right there waiting and I could not relax. I didn't cry or scream the entire labor. But don't be fooled, the pain was unbearable!!

After the epidural, it felt better right away. I still could feel some pain on the right side, but after twenty minutes it was gone. Mr. Eli however did not like the epidural. We basically spent the next two hours rotating me from one side to the other to get his heart rate to calm down. I had to wear an oxygen mask the rest of the labor and delivery. The nurse came to check me after two hours of getting the epidural. I also had a student nurse, so she was the one that helped me a lot and checked me. The teaching nurse asked her to check and she was really unsure because she couldn't believe that I was actually already dilated to 10 cm! The other nurse confirmed and she said to JR "It's time to have this baby". His jaw dropped!

We all couldn't believe how fast it had gone. I was giddy. This was around 10:00am. They had me do a couple of test pushes and it appeared I had it down. His head was already right there so they actually told me I couldn't push anymore until the doctor got there. She was next door delivering another baby. The pressure was pretty intense to not push through, but the doctor came within a few minutes. The nurse was really urging her to get there soon!!!

Once the doctor came, I pushed through three more contractions and Eli was born at 10:24am!! Only 20 minutes of pushing! I got really lucky because Eli was so low before I even went into labor so I didn't have to work so hard. Eli peed and pooped when he came out, ahah. And the first thing I remember was seeing his beautiful red hair. That, and laughing. I was so freaking happy I just couldn't stop laughing. It was awesome. 7lbs, 8oz and 20.5 inches of beautiful baby.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby!! It was worth everything and more to have you here with us!!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles Part 2

I figured it's time I finish telling the story of our East Coast trip. We got to New Jersey on Wednesday night. It had been a long day so i was relieved when we got there. Eli fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the car ride there, which was fine cause we still needed to eat dinner and I didn't want him being cranky. A little cat nap never hurt anyone, right? After we got freshened up, we ate dinner and got caught up on the day. Eli learned how to say Grandpa and Yia Yia in about twenty minutes. It's incredible how fast he learns things these days.

After a good nights' sleep, we didn't want to do anything much the next day. With the weather being so hot, and spending many days outdoors, all we really wanted to do was stay in the air conditioning. We headed to the mall. Eli got stocked up on some New York Giants gear. He also went on his first carousel ride at the mall. Daddy and I each took a turn with him. When I was on the carousel with him, he kept asking for daddy and papa. He would wave hello to them each time we passed them. We went to Johnny Rocket's for lunch. Eli doesn't really care for chicken, meat, or anything else so he had some french fries and a milkshake for lunch (yes, don't I deserve Mother of the Year award?). Whatever he'll eat and it was somewhat nutritious. It was really close to his nap time and he passed out sitting on my lap at the restaurant! Thursday night we went out to dinner. Eli and I shared some pasta and he ate it all up. That's one thing I can almost guarantee he will eat...pasta.


Carousel ride with Mommy and Daddy


Friday morning was supposed to threaten rain, and we had originally planned to go to the Bronx Zoo but we didn't want to chance it. We stayed closer by and instead went to the Bergen County Zoo. Very nice zoo with a park in the same area. The first thing we did was really cool....feed the parakeets! They are very pretty birds. The food came on a popsicle stick with a little bit of bird seed glued on the end of it. The birds would land on your arm, the stick, really anywhere to get to the food. Eli thought it was really cool :) So did I :) A few times the birds got spooked and they would all fly around together in circle at the same time. It was very shocking every time they did that and it startled the kids.


At the zoo with Papa and Yia Yia

After the zoo we played at the park some and then went home. I had hoped Eli would fall asleep on the way home but no luck. We ordered some yummy East Coast pizza and gobbled that up. JR and his dad decided they would head out to see a movie and I went upstairs to get Eli down for his nap. Oh yes, the stairs..... We don't have stairs at home or really anywhere we go so Eli was insistent on going up them all the time. We even had a little spill on them once, woops. No blood or bruises though :) I ended up napping with Eli. That was one of the nice things about being on vacation. I could nap when Eli did, cause I didn't have to do anything. After the nap we went out to dinner again. Eli didn't eat much but he was starting to get a runny nose so I don't think he was feeling well.


At the park the morning of his birthday party

Saturday was really fun because we threw a little birthday party for him. Eli's Yia Yia, Niki, was really great and put together some balloons, food, drinks, and a birthday cake together for him. We had some family over and Eli got to meet his cousins. The weather was FINALLY cool and it turned out to be a beautiful day! We barbequed, opened presents and sang happy birthday to Eli. He learned the song in about five minutes and wouldn't stop singing it the rest of the day. We had a yummy ice cream cake with dinosaurs on it. Eli ate the whole slice. I would have to say his favorite present was anything dinosaur related, but he loved the stuffed Rex from Toy Story the most (from Papa and Yia Yia). When you squeeze his belly he roars. Eli is going to be Rex for Halloween :)


Playing outside with his cousin Nicholas


Opening birthday presents


Rex from Toy Story, roar!


The dinosaur birthday cake!


Eating birthday cake next to his cousin Isabella


Trying on hats!

Sunday was the day to go home. It really went by so fast and it was great to see Eli with the family. He really warmed up to everyone so quickly and it was a great trip. Thanks for having us Dick and Niki!!


On our way home. A kiss between Daddy and Eli!

Tomatoes and Carrots

We had a BBQ today and Eli ate all of the cherry tomatoes that came with the vegetable tray! That's like 3 dozen tomatoes. He loves them. Then he started eating the carrots and dip. Gobbled that up. I thought for sure he wouldn't want lunch then but he still ate his hot dog and is working on the third hour of his nap.

Orr Family Farm

We have had a busy week with the MOMS Club. Playgroups, a tour of Krispy Kreme Donut, Martin Park Nature Center, and saving the best for last, Orr Family Farm. Eli has been talking about animals since we visited the zoo last week so to get his mind off of it I told him we were going to the farm in a few days. Well, he thought every time we got in the car this week we were headed to the farm. I might have made a mistake in telling him so soon. But, it was still very cute.


Eli with his friend Elizabeth at Martin Park Nature Center. The ladies love him!

I've been wanting to take him to a farm for quite some time. It was about a 40 minute drive on the way down there so to keep Eli occupied, I busted out with a new set of farm animal figurines for him to play with. He hardly made a peep the whole way down there (unless he was singing E-I-E-I-O). The drive wasn't too bad. I was afraid I was going to take the wrong freeway. I did. But, found my way with no trouble.

When we got there all our friends were waiting for us (since we were late). After we bought our tickets we took a pictures at the entrance. Eli and his friend Talia were giving each other a hug when I snapped a picture of them. Then they fell over and both burst into tears. They didn't get hurt, but Talia started crying and then Eli followed. A hazardous friendship.



We were waiting for the train that takes you around the property to arrive. The kids were all playing and poor Wesley popped his chin on some metal. So badly that they had to leave and get the modern day version of stitches, glue. Eli kept asking for Wesley the rest of the day. I told him he had to go home cause he got a boo boo. Sorry we missed you Wesley!

After the train ride, we went on to ride the ponies. Eli's first time on a pony! He didn't seem scared, he actually liked it and didn't want to leave when it was over. I felt bad for the ponies actually. Tied up going around and around in circles all day. Eli's horses' name was Joey. Eli pet the pony and neighed a few times. Eli neighed, not the pony :)


Eli and Talia playing on the wooden train.




Eli was most looking forward to seeing the farm animals. Anytime he sees a barn he says "E-I-E-I-O." We went into the barn and they had two sheep, two goats, a pig, a few bunnies, a llama, and a chicken. The chicken was free and just walking around. They had some feed you could buy for the animals and feed them. It was fun and I might've been having more fun than Eli. When he was holding the food, he would just kinda throw it at them. I kept showing him that he could get the feed really close to the sheep and they wouldn't hurt him. I think the sheep were a little too big for him. Finally at the end, he warmed up to feeding the goats and actually let the goat lick his fingers. He also pet the bunny and the chicken. I didn't realize that sheep are so loud when they baa baa. Eli didn't care for that too much. He was imitating them though in the barn. Of course.


Eli imitating the sheep, with his friend Connor.


Finally warming up to the goats!


And here he is giving them the food.

We also went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch. We got a free pumpkin with admission. Eli picked it out. It was neat to see them on the vine. We weren't allowed to touch those.


On the hayride next to Michelle and Talia!

After the pumpkin patch, all our friends left. Eli thought we were leaving and they were staying and he started crying. I had told him we were going to go to the barn again to see the animals and he thought we weren't going to. He stopped crying once he saw the barn. We went on the carasol ride twice and also got a snow cone.

It was a really good time and I just get such joy watching him have a great time. We were going to go on the train once more but the conductor must have decided to take a lunch break. When we left, Eli started crying in the parking lot and he was saying train. Poor baby, he did not want to leave. He passed out on the way home.