Eli's 15 months old...er, okay 15 1/2 months old!

I've been putting off the blog update, waiting for Eli's doctor appointment so that I would have some stats to report. He is currently 23lbs 2oz and a whopping 33inches tall! Big boy, in the 97%tile for his height! But I guess we knew he would be tall since his daddy is too. When we first got into the exam room, he was actually smiling at the nurse, which surprised me. He hasn't been too friendly with strangers lately. He did great with the weight but it took us few tries to get his height measured--he kept twisting and turning to get free. His head is starting to catch up with the rest of his body.

When the doctor walked into the room, he wanted up in my arms right away. We talked for a few minutes and then she started to examine him while he was in my arms. I love that about this doctor. I swear when she was listening to his lungs he wasn't even breathing. He clutches to my arms so tight sometimes he pinches them with his little razor-sharp nails. She pretty much said the 15 month olds usually cry when she examines them. He was lying on the table so still he was like a statue. He did really well. He started to get upset right at the end of the exam, little tears welled up in his eyes but he never really lost it.

I thought that he had a few canker sores in his mouth last week so I told the doctor about them. Turns out he has thrush! It looks so painful but the doctor said it's not. It doesn't seem to bother him, he has been eating and drinking okay. I have to give him an oral solution 4 times a day and he doesn't like it! I also put some on a q-tip and kinda paint it on. She also said it feels like his molars are coming in. That might explain why he has been sleeping miserably at night. I think it's going to be quite a challenge to get rid of the thrush. I have to sterilize all of his pacifiers, cups, toys, spoons, bowls, etc every day. And just be careful not to recontaminate things. Hopefully we can get it cleared up very soon.

He had to get the last dose of his DTap and Hib and he wasn't happy about it. He only cried for a minute until I showed him the bandage on his leg, then he ripped it off! I took it back from him and put it on his leg again and then he started crying. I don't know if he cried from the pain of ripping off the bandage or cause I took it from him. I tried to get him dressed as quick as possible and we checked out. He got a Sesame Street sticker and that made him pretty happy! It was all worth it then...:)

I just took a peek at my posting from his 14 months. It's amazing how much has changed in 6 weeks. He is trying to climb on everything now. We have an island in the kitchen with a shelf on the bottom that he loves to try and get up on. He holds on to the top and then steps up on the shelf, instantly giving me a heart attack every time. Of course it is not allowed! Which makes it extra tempting for him.

He really seems to have a blast doing everything I tell him not to. He throws his food off the tray table in his highchair, and he loves throwing his toys out of the bathtub. In fact, he doesn't have any toys in the bath to play with now. I'm giving him a week to get it out of his system (yeah right). I guess he just loves to throw things. Sometimes he gets really mad and he'll push whatever it is he's mad at. It's amazing how much frustration he can work up sometimes.

He is getting sooo tall. And I am having to make sure I push back everything on the counters now. In fact, the other day he grabbed my car keys off the counter and I couldn't find them. He put them in his train table and I found them a few days later.
I need to reorganize the drawers since he can open them now and reach in to grab whatever he wants.

JR and I have noticed a pattern each night. After dinner, I take him out of the highchair and he runs circles around the table for like 10 minutes! Sometimes as he passes the back door, he'll look at himself and start laughing. JR and I will tickle him as he passes us by. He also loves when we chase him around the living room. He looks over his shoulder to make sure we are still coming after him. Sometimes he will even stop so we can get him. It's too cute! He also loves being pushed around in his red coupe! JR pushes him through the house like a bat out of hell and Eli loves it. I will hide around the corner and then pop out and scare him. He gets me laughing so hard that my stomach hurts!

I am looking forward to the next few months to see how much Eli changes. I can't wait for him to start calling me Mama for crying out loud!

Eli's First Hair Cut

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We took Eli to get his first professional hair cut on Saturday, January 9th. He has been pretty nervous, I guess you could say, around strangers lately, so I was interested to see how this was going to go. Lately every time a stranger says hi to Eli, or sometimes even smiles at him, he gets scared and clutches for me--even pinching my arm really hard. Even when our friends come over, he won't let me leave the room by myself. I'm hoping this is just a phase and will be over with soon.

There was a little wait when we got there, so we headed next door to the Dollar Tree and looked around for awhile. We found some Elmo books, Sesame Street flash cards, and Elmo coloring books. 4 books, 2 coloring books and 2 boxes of flash cards for 6 dollars! What a deal!

We went back to Snip-its and let Eli walk around for awhile before they called his name. As soon as I sat him down in the seat, he lunged for me with both arms, a panic look on his face. He was fine holding on to my arms for a minute and then I was able to just give him my hands to hold. I tried explaining what she was doing the whole time, brushing his hair, spraying him with the water, etc. She was really nice, the lady who cut his hair, and really fast. The whole thing probably took less than 10 minutes. He liked looking in the mirror, watching her. JR was taking pictures while I was occupying Eli. After he was done, they gave him a little bottle of bubbles.
I was so proud that he didn't cry, he really did a lot better than I thought he would. And he looks so handsome with his little boy hair cut!

Apparently it was an exhausting ordeal for him, since he fell asleep on the way home.

Happy New Year!

I was the only Oakley who made it til midnight New Year's Eve. Eli woke up around 11:30p.m. and I got him back to sleep within a few minutes. I crawled back into bed at 11:58 and two minutes later the fireworks started blasting off. I was pretty sure I would soon hear Eli crying, but he never woke up (thank goodness). I am always amazed at what wakes him up and what doesn't.

JR was home from work for New Years Day, so we just lounged around the house in the morning. That afternoon we decided to go to PF Chang's for lunch/dinner. I got all of Eli's food ready (he doesn't care for Chinese Bistro) and we headed out. He did really great at the restaurant. He did launch his cup across the room at one point, but thankfully no one was injured :)

Afterward we went to DSW to find a new pair of shoes for myself. Eli loved walking around the store and looking at all the mirrors, especially the ones that were on the bottom of the seats you sit on when you are trying on your shoes. He thought that was hilarious.

I have some resolutions for the New Year:
#1 Return my library books on time...so far I have made good on this one
#2 I know I already made a second one, but i can't seem to remember it
#3 Start laundry with the intent of finishing it, instead of it sitting in the dryer for a week
#4 Start and stick with a fitness program (isn't this everyone's resolution?)
#5 Work hard on sticking to the grocery budget

Ah ha, I remembered a few more resolutions!
#6 Try hard to recycle...we have to take our recycling somewhere as opposed to just sticking it in a can and someone comes to get it
#7 Eat healthier (most of the time, I love my sweets)

We are heading back to Arizona for my brother's graduation in May, so we are saving up for that. There are also some things we would like to get for the house this year, new kitchen table and barstools. Also some furniture for the livingroom.

I am looking forward to this new year!

Christmas Day

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So this post is a little late, but I have been obsessed with spending my free time reading the Twilight Series. And since I am waiting for the last two books to arrive from Amazon.com--I guess I better get caught up. Another thing that has been occupying my time--loads and loads of dishes. Our dishwasher broke down three weeks ago and I have been washing dishes by hand since! No fun. Turns out the pump was busted in it, and it's brand new! The part is now here and they should be coming to install it tomorrow, and my books are supposed to be here tomorrow, so....hopefully a good day!

JR and I woke up on Christmas morning to the sound of Eli playing in his crib. He likes to turn on his fishy aquarium, that he got last Christmas, and listen to the music for a while. Thankfully he had a good night, which means I had a good night. JR and I quickly got ready and went to go get him together. We had put his presents out the night before, so I was really anxious to see his reaction to everything. He went straight to the train table and started playing with that. JR got the video camera ready while I snapped a few pictures. I still wish now looking back I had taken some more, but we do have about 40 minutes on video so I think that is enough. I also made some coffee really quick since I knew it might take awhile for Eli to open his presents.

He started opening up the presents, all he really needed from us was to tear it a little and he did pretty good the rest of the way. Of course he wanted to play with the toys as soon as he saw them. We tried to encourage him to open all the presents first. By the end, he'd gotten bored with opening them, so we did the rest. He got:

Plenty of books
Fisher Price Little People Barnyard with Animals (he loves this one)
Little Tykes Cozy Coupe
Step 2 Train Table
Vtech Bouncin' Turtle
Bath Toys
Crayola Tadoodles Paints
A stuffed piggy
Sit-n-spin
Leap frog fridge magnets
A musical turtle that plays 40 songs
Some CD's
Some gift cards

The following items he also got for Christmas but he is scared of them, so they have been put away for the time being:

Tickle Me Elmo Hands
A little cat that laughs and rolls around on the floor
A soft barnyard with 4 soft farm animals that make sounds
Dancing Santa

After opening up the presents and cleaning up I started making breakfast. JR enjoyed regular pancakes while Eli and I had blueberry pancakes. While I cleaned up, daddy and Eli started playing with toys. Eli got tired pretty quickly with all the excitement. I started getting the turkey prepared while Eli took his nap. We decided to go play in the snow once Eli woke up from his nap. I didn't have a specific snowsuit for him, so I just had to dress him as warmly as I could. It was still so cold outside even though we were bundled up. We probably only stayed outside for 15 minutes. Eli wasn't really sure what to think of the snow. He fell a few times walking around, probably from walking in the snow and from how bundled up he was!

After coming in from the snow, it was getting time to make the sides for dinner. Since I didn't have a dishwasher, I tried to make things a little easier and just bought pre-prepared items like already made mashed potatoes, frozen corn, etc. Really the only thing I had to make was the stuffing and that only took a few minutes. I put some rolls in the oven, but those were easy too. We had quite a feast. Eli only had some rolls, gravy, and mashed potatoes. I filled his plate with everything and I guess that might have been a little overwhelming for him. I also baked a pumpkin pie (frozen and in a box) but it was pretty good.

It was a great Christmas. We missed our family of course, but I guess we are our family now and have to make new traditions. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas!

Storm of the Century

Wednesday night I was watching the news after everyone had gone to bed and they were saying it looked like snow for Christmas Eve! Snow?! I thought, how exciting! And on Christmas Eve?! Even better. I haven't seen snow on the ground, let alone snow actually falling in years. Still, even though they said it was coming, I wouldn't believe it until I saw it. The wind had picked up while I was watching the news and I headed to bed wondering what the next day would bring.

I remember JR telling me goodbye in the morning as he headed in to work a shortened day, after all it was Christmas Eve. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to see when he opened the garage door at 5:30, but it didn't look too bad yet. He made it to work safe and sound. Around 6:30-7:00. I could hear the wind gusting and sleet hitting the window in the bedroom and the kitchen as I lay under the warm covers. I heard Eli on the monitor anyway so I got out of bed, grabbed him and we checked out what was going on. At that point there was just some sleet on the ground. Nothing to exciting, it was still slightly above freezing out there. We were watching Sesame Street when I looked out the window and saw a collection of white stuff on the roofs behind our house. Hmm, was it snowing yet? I looked outside and finally saw a few flakes mixed in with the sleet. This was around 8:30. Within a half hour the landscape had changed dramatically. Although, with all the wind blowing around, it seemed the neighbor was getting more snow then us, her yard was completely covered and we had a light dusting.

When Eli went down for his nap (around 11:00) I bundled up and went outside to snap a few pictures. The driveway was completely iced over so I had to be careful when I walked, especially when the wind blew (the wind was constant at 30mph and gusting over 50mph). I felt a little off balance. I only stayed out for a few minutes, it was sooo cold! JR called me and told me he was headed out in a little while. He was thinking to himself he better get out while he still can. Good thing he left when he did, there were news reports all over TV saying how many cars were starting to become stranded. He never went above 20 mph on the way home, and only fish tailed the car a little on the way into the neighborhood. There was a decent sized snow drift in our driveway though, and he got a little stuck, rocking the car back and forth in reverse and drive until he made it into the garage. He even stopped by the liquor store on the way home to pick up some wine for our Christmas dinner.

The rest of the day passed by, and we were continually amazed at the gusting winds and swirling snow. The reports on the news of stranded travelers were too familiar now, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for those who weren't going to be able to spend Christmas with their families.

After Eli fell asleep, we brought out the presents. I still had a few to wrap, and we wanted to put together the train table so he could wake up to it on Christmas morning. We crawled into bed shortly before midnight. It was a little hard to sleep with all the excitement. I feel asleep to the sound of the gusting winds outside our window.

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My baby's 14 months old! (warning...brag session)

Hard to imagine Eli was born fourteen months ago. I still remember the day like it was yesterday, although my memories can be a little foggy sometimes. I am still finding it incredibly amazing how much Eli has changed since he was a helpless, squirmy, little newborn...barely able to see. Week to week he learns something new, sometimes even day to day.

Even though he cannot say very much, his comprehension is amazing. I have taught him some kitchen safety. When the oven timer goes off, he runs to the kitchen and motions towards the oven. I grab my oven mitts, and tell him to sit down on the rug in front of the stove (which is a few feet away from the oven). He sits there while I take everything out of the oven and close the door, all the while I say how hot the oven is. Yesterday he was taking items out of the refrigerator because he wanted a snack. I told him I would get him some grapes but I wanted him to put the items away. He picked them up and put them back in the drawer. Then I told him to close the door so we could go sit down and eat. He closed the door and then clapped, he is so proud of himself sometimes! He even puts his shoes on the shoe rack when I ask him to, if he's not too busy.

He is starting to point towards all the babies and animals in the books we read and asking what they are. Well, not really asking, he says "Uh, Uh". He got a Little People Farm set for his birthday and he prances the little animals around on the ground. He will even pick up the horse and kind of neigh like I do. The other day I was cleaning him up in the high chair and saying what a little piggy he was. I put him down and he ran off to play. While I was doing the dishes a few minutes later he ran over to me holding his piggy from the Little People set! I couldn't believe it! He went all the way to the playroom, dug through the bucket that all the animals were in, and brought it to me. He's done that a few times since. Also when I am reading to him, it is clear that he has some of his books memorized. I am very animated when I read him a book, trying to make sounds when I can for animals, or pretending to eat, sneeze, etc. His Sesame Street books that have cookie monster in them, well I always pretend to eat a lot of cookies like he does. Eli anticipates this and starts doing it a few pages before we get to cookie monster. He also does this when he sees cookie monster on TV. It's so cute!

Walking wise, Eli is pretty much a pro. In fact he usually runs everywhere! I am teaching him to watch his step and step down from a curb, or step, or whatever. He has gotten pretty good over the last few months. I still have to hold his hand though.

When Eli has a stinky diaper, we'll shout "phew eww" and he'll run to his bedroom for a diaper change, screaming the whole way!

Words Eli says: Down, No, Meow, Moo and I think he might be getting the hang of yes?

He is also starting to give us more kisses and hugs when we ask, even kissing and hugging his stuffed animals. Another funny thing he does, is tickle his belly when his shirt is off. Or say for instance if my shirt comes up a little when I bend over, he'll come up behind my and tickle my back. That one gets me sometimes! He also tickles our feet.

JR said tonight at dinner, "His personality shows through more and more each day."

He tries to help me when I get him dressed. It has become less of a struggle to get him ready nowadays. Sometimes he'll run away, but for the most part he likes to help me. He holds out his arms, helps get his legs through the pants, and likes when I put his jacket on. He now says "Brrrr" when I get his jacket on since I'm always saying we need to put it on because it's so cold outside. He helps take his socks off at bath time and tries to help take his shirt off. What a big boy!

Well, next month will be his fifteen month check up and I suppose some shots :( I'll keep you updated!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Eli's Transportation Transformation

Since Eli was born, he has always hated being in the car. When he was younger we always tried to speculate reasons why. Could he be car sick riding backwards? Was it because he couldn't see me? He hated the car seat? Being confined? Not sure.

I remember leaving to go to the store for the first time by myself with Eli when he was about two weeks old. I was partially terrified he was going to cry the whole time and everyone would be staring at me. While he cried for the first few minutes of the drive, I was so thankful that he slept for most of the shopping. I would have to say for the first month of his life he was a fussy baby, who did not sleep much. Maybe he was a good baby, but it was my inexperience.

My family was perplexed by his hatred for the car. "Most babies love riding in the car, that's how we would get you to sleep." Huh! Not this little guy. I would say for his first year of life, he probably only slept in the car a handful or two times in the car.

His discontent stopped me from traveling too far from home. I stopped going to my favorite store because it was too far (10 minutes away). Instead I went to the store a few blocks away. I just couldn't bare to hear him cry, I felt so awful. And trust me, I tried everything: mirror with little animals on that played music, music on the cd player, singing to him, toys, drinks, windows up, windows down, nada. Even making the drive to my mom's house 12 miles away was a daunting task. By the time I would get there, his face would be red, eyes puffy, cried the whole way there. As soon as I would take him out of the seat, all better!

Needless to say, I couldn't wait to turn him around in his new car seat! As soon as he turned one, I turned the car seat around. I was so excited for the possibility of joyous car rides. I know, I know. I was hoping for a miracle.

Here's a picture with Eli in his new car seat the day we got it!

At first the change was subtle. And it could have been a combination of things that changed. He was now able to eat cheerios, or other little snacks and this kept him pretty occupied. I didn't give him that stuff before because I couldn't see him eating, I was afraid of him choking. I also positioned the rear-view mirror so he could see me all the time. And then....it started. We would go out for errands and he would fall asleep in the car. Once, twice, three times, four times in a row! To some this might not be a big deal. To us, it was momentous! Now it's to the point that if we go out I can pretty much guarantee that he will take a nap. Even if he doesn't nap, his mood is so much better. It's really amazing.


The other day I was watching him in the mirror, he was eating his treat. He let out a huge yawn, eyes got a little droopy, opened back up, and then closed for good. That's it! As simple as that. It's as dramatic as turning on the light switch.