Fun in the Sun

Thursday afternoon I set up Eli's little pool on a sheet on the deck (it was really hot to walk on for some reason), along with a little water play table for him, and we headed outside to play in the sun! Elijah couldn't decide whether to play in the pool or standing up at the water table apparatus, so I moved the table so it was partially in the pool. That was a big hit with Eli! He kept walking around the table, climbing in and out of the pool, and also putting his blocks from the pool to the table, back to the pool, back to the table, repeat, repeat, repeat. He had such a good time, and loved splashing around outside! It's nice to be home with him and have the opportunity to enjoy the summer weather together. Sure beats being stuck in an office while Elijah's in daycare!

Rocket Man

Yesterday Eli figured out how to actually get on and off the “Retro Rocket” toy he got for his birthday! He had tried before, but would always end up either on the floor or frustrated calling for help. Well, Elijah and I were in the master bedroom putting away clothes yesterday and he was pushing the rocket around and then stopped and tried to get his leg over the side a few times, with no luck. But then he finally did it! A few tries at getting off and he got that down as well. He further expanded his skills by learning how to climb on and off his riding fire truck too. Of course, once he's safely seated he still can’t go anywhere but backwards on either one, but he loves climbing on and off!

I'm on it! Yay!

Look Mom, no hands!

Can You Send Me to Bed Without Dinner? Please?

The last two days Elijah has only taken one long nap, in the morning, and been up the rest of the day. He runs out of steam around 6 pm though, which is right when we eat dinner. So we’ve eaten dinner the last two nights and then taken him straight from the dinner table to bedtime. Last night he ate a little dinner, then put his head down for a rest, and then finished his meal laying down in his highchair! The little bean fell asleep right away when we brought him upstairs, and slept all night. We tuckered him out!

I'm so tired, Dad, I can't keep my head up any longer!

I'm tired, but still a little hungry,
so I'll just finish my dinner lying down.

Since Our Last Update . . .

Here’s what Elijah’s been up to in the last week, since we last posted:

We went to eat lunch with Dad, Grandma, and Uncle Jeremy at Grandma and Jeremy’s offices in Ann Arbor. We ate outside (until it started raining) then Eli went inside and had a chance to play with fun electronic devices!

We went to a Tastefully Simple party at Grandma Amanda’s house, and got to play with our step-cousin, baby Alexis, who is 5 weeks older than us! We climbed the stairs, played together, and had fun. Though Elijah wasn’t so sure about having to share his Grandma with another baby. Elijah and Mom stayed overnight on Friday night, and then Elijah stayed with Grandma Saturday and part of Sunday too while Mom joined Dad, Grandpa Bob, and Uncle Jeremy at home to seal the deck (home maintenance, yippee!).

Elijah discovered his belly button! And Mom’s belly button. And Dad’s belly button too. He thinks its great fun to lift up his shirt and poke at his tummy now, with a big smile on his face. What a cutie-pie!

First Swim Class for Elijah and Mommy!

Elijah and I had our first swimming class together this morning – and boy did we have fun! Class started late, because they couldn’t let people in the pool with lightening going on outside (it is an indoor pool, but its Michigan law apparently), so we didn’t get going until about 9:30. Eli didn’t like being held by another mom while I got in (and out) of the pool, but he warmed up really quickly to being in the water, and was all smiles and giggles after that. Once class got underway we had lots of fun singing and playing. Eli’s favorite activities were:

• Singing Humpty Dumpty – Elijah sat on the edge of the pool until Humpty "falls" at which point all the kids get to be lifted in, with lots of splashing of course.

• Singing the motorboat song – We spun in a circle in the water slow, then fast, and then you "step-on-the-gas" as you spin super-fast. He loved this!

• Singing the Little Fish song – I can’t remember the song now, but at the end I counted 1-2-3 and then lifted Eli up in the air and splashed him back in the water. He went nuts. It was adorable.

• Playing with the lane marker – there was one lane marked off on the side of the pool for people to do laps, and whenever we got too far away from the lane marker Elijah wanted to “swim” back to it (I’d hold him on his tummy and he’d kick/squirm until we reached it). He really liked spinning the marker and trying to “swim” back and forth over it while I held him.

Once the class activities were done we had about 10 minutes of free time where we could play with the toys, rings, water noodles, kick boards, and balls that they brought out for us. Elijah and I got a kick board and a squishy sea horse toy and he thought it was great fun to throw the toy, then swim after it and scoop it up with the end of the kick board (as Mom made the appropriate motor boat sounds of course). What a fun way to spend a Wednesday morning! These swimming classes are going to be lots of fun!

Stuck!

Jon and I were awakened around 2 am last night to hear Elijah screaming. This isn’t exactly a new thing over the last few weeks (he’s been having some sleeping issues, which the doctor says is because his molars are coming in), so we waited 2 minutes to see if he would stop on his own (he often does and goes right back to sleep). Well, he didn’t stop, so Jon got up to check on him.

What Jon found was that Elijah was stuck in his crib! He had gotten his arm out one of the slats and back in a different slat, and now couldn’t pull his arm free. Jon couldn’t get his arm to budge either, so he called me for help. Jon held Eli down while I wiggled his hand up and out of one slat and then back in the crib. I have no idea how Eli got his arm stuck that one, but it sure looked uncomfortable! Hopefully that won’t happen again!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, but in particular Elijah wanted me to send love and happy wishes out to Daddy (okay, Eli said Da-Da. But I translated), Grandpa Bob, Grandpa Doug, Grandpa Terry, Uncle Scott, and Uncle Jeff!

Jon, Elijah and I enjoyed a nice relaxing Father’s Day this year, with a visit from Grandpa Bob, Grandma Sherry, and crazy Uncle Jeremy. We had a lovely dinner, and had fun playing cards together afterwards. Jon and I kept saying all day that this was his first Father’s Day, even though it’s really his second. Last year Eli was so little and we were so tired though, that I don’t think it even registered with us that is was Father’s Day (Jon did get a card from Elijah, but we didn’t have a big to-do about the day). So I think we’ll probably always remember this as Jon’s first Father’s Day! Any day spent with family is a good one in my book, so I’ll speak for Jon in saying that we had a great Father’s Day!

Dinner, and then cards, with Dad, Mom,
Uncle Jer, Grandpa and Grandma!

They're all still having fun, but
I'm bored. I'll just lay down.

This is more like it.
Now I'm part of the action!

Look at all those good-looking Schneider boys!

Say Cheese

Over the last few days Elijah and I have taken quite a few pictures together for some reason. I thought I’d share them so everyone could see what an adorable Mommy and Baby combo we are. :)

Make it quick, Mom, I've got packages to play with.
It's easy to see where Elijah gets his blue eyes.

Snuggling on the couch together.

And look who got a haircut!

Packages!

Friday I received a package with a bunch of swimsuits to try on, and had neatly taken everything out and checked the invoice to make sure everything was there when disaster, in the form of a tiny testosterone tornado, struck. Within 10 seconds Elijah reduced the neatly stacked piles of clothes on the couch to a giant jumble of clothes on the floor. He then proceeded to play with the packages for at least 20 minutes - just throwing them up, down, forward, and backwards, squealing with delight at how clever he was. And he hadn’t even discovered the big box they arrived in yet! Oh what fun a little one can find in the simplest of things. :)

Update from Full-Time Mommyland

Well, I’ve officially been a stay-at-home Mom for almost two full weeks now. It’s been fun. And it’s been stressful too. More fun than stress though!

It’s nice being able to go out for walks with Eli, and go to the library and the park together whenever we want. And Elijah has been so much happier (at least during the day, he’s having some sleep issues right now which are unresolved) that I can tell he’s liking the all-mommy-all-the-time thing. The after-daycare-meltdowns are a thing of the past, and Elijah is happy the vast majority of the day!

I knew that staying home was going to be a lot of work, but I underestimated how much! The first few days Jon would come home and I was exhausted! By the end of the first week I was used to being on my feet and on the go all day, but my brain was still tired. Did you know you have to feed these little people (and yourself) three meals a day, plus snacks? I knew that, and doing it two days a week by myself before was pretty easy. But now it’s every day! It feels like I spend half the day either cooking or cleaning up a meal. Trying to make sure Elijah gets all his veggies and fruits and proteins throughout the day has had a positive effect on my eating habits though. Now I’m eating the same things as him mostly (I still won’t touch that tuna stuff, and don’t join Elijah in sucking down the tofu that he loves so much). And the best news is that I’m not eating any junk food or fat food. I can hear my arteries unclogging as we speak.

We’ll see how the adjustment to full-time mommyhood works out, but I think it’s going to be a really positive thing for both myself and Elijah for me to be at home. God has led Jon and I so clearly to this choice, and as I drove away from my office on my last day of work I turned on the Christian radio station, just like I always do, and it was in the middle of a song I had never heard before. I looked up the song afterwards to make sure I heard the words correctly, since it seemed to be written just for me at just that time. Here are the words that I heard:

And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here and taking it in and it sure looks bright

Oh the glory of God is man fully alive
Oh the glory of God is man fully alive

This is from a song from Sara Groves, with the full lyrics here, and it perfectly captures my emotions as I’ve just begun a journey which I don’t know the end of or how the day-to-day practical details will resolve (the bills have a nasty habit of needing to get paid). I’m just trusting God, seeing His hand in our lives every day, and knowing that I did just show up for the life that He has in store for me. And it sure looks bright from where I’m sitting.

One Year Checkup and Stats

Elijah had his one year checkup on May 30th, but things have been a little crazy around here and I’m just now getting to posting the details. I (Missy) took him by myself since the appointment was a little later in the morning than what we usually have, but everything went fine and Elijah was in a pretty good mood (until the shots).

Eli had lost some weight from being sick (the ear infection from his birthday was already cleared up), so the official one year weight of 21 pounds and 9 ounces is lower than he had been, but the doctor was not concerned at all. Eli stayed in the 25th percentile for weight range that he’s been in pretty much since birth (he dropped to between the 5th and 10th when the breastfeeding wasn’t working out, but then rebounded right back after that).

As far as height, he remained in the 90-95th percentile as well, coming in at 31 and ¼ inches. That’s pretty tall for a one year old - and exactly the same height that his daddy was at one year old!

Developmentally the doctor said Eli was right on track, so that was good. And his “big head” from previous checkups remained big, but was not growing at an accelerated pace, so that’s no longer any concern. Eli handled his three shots pretty well, though I might be calling the doctor since one of the injection sites has now, 2 weeks later, developed a raised rash around it. We read that that was normal, but I want to be sure.

All in all Elijah is still growing well, and shaping up to be a long and lean baby like his Dad. :)

Elijah Schneider's First Birthday Spectacular!

Elijah’s first birthday party was a lot of fun! We ended up with a pretty large crowd, about 25 people, so we held the festivities at Grandma Amanda and Grandpa Terry’s condo. Grandma had gone all out decorating the house with tons of balloons, all tied to different frogs that Elijah had acquired in the last year. We all ate the massive amounts of food that Missy and Grandma Koorndyk had prepared (burgers, hot dogs, salads, the works), then opened the rather impressive stack of presents, and then ate the cutest frog cake ever! Unfortunately Elijah was under the weather and not able to enjoy much of the activity. As the party progressed he became progressively sicker. He’s such a sweet boy that he had moments where he enjoyed himself, and perked up a little after having cake, but by the end of the afternoon it was clear that we were headed to the urgent care. What a stinky birthday present! The doctor said it was a raging ear infection (his third) and put him on antibiotics. It came on so fast – I could have taken him to the doctor on Friday but he would perk right up after cold medicine so I didn’t think it was progressing to anything more serious than the continuation of the cold he’d had – but he was just miserable by the end of the party. After being on the antibiotics he received Saturday night he was in a much better mood for the rest of the Memorial Day weekend, which was good at least. I just wish he could have enjoyed his first birthday party a little more. Good thing we’re going to have opportunity to throw these things again. All in all it was still a really great day, with the best part of the whole day just being able to spend time with people who all love and adore our little boy! Here are some picture highlights:

Opening presents - Elijah made a haul! A fire engine, a rocket ship, a wagon, bath toys, books, and lots and lots more toys to keep him busy!

Eating cake - We had a “cake controversy” at first because Jon only wanted Eli to have a little piece to smoosh, while Mom and Grandma said that he needed the whole cake to be able to smoosh if he wanted. Jon was worried that people wouldn’t want cake after sick Eli played with it. Mom and Grandma knew that even if he wrecked ¼ of the cake that there would still be plenty for everyone, and odds were that Eli wouldn’t wreck much anyway. Mom and Grandma won. :)

Stair-stepping and apple-eating

Eli did something cool for the first time on his birthday a couple of weeks ago -- he walked up the stairs! (With help, of course!)

He's been crawling/scrambling up the stairs for a while now. I was walking around the house with him on the morning of his birthday (with me holding his hands to balance him) when he headed for the stairs. I assumed he wanted to climb up as usual, so I tried to let go of his hands, but he wouldn't let go of my fingers.

Instead, he just lifted one leg up onto the first step, and used my hands to pull himself up... and did it again... and again... and soon enough, we were at the top of the stairs!

Eli is pretty good at climbing the stairs now. He'll use either his right or left leg to step up (instead of always sticking with the same leg), which is cool.

Eli doing something else new when I got home today (his second full day at home with stay-at-home Missy). Eli was holding a whole apple in both hands and eating it! He was doing a great job, just taking tiny nibbles (while Missy and I watched him closely to make sure he didn't accidentally take too large of a bite).

Eli also likes to offer Missy and I food now. While he was eating his apple, he held it out towards Missy, and then smiled and laughed when Missy took a bite. He gave me a few bites of the apple, too! It was really cute!

Last day of day care for Eli, last day of work for Missy

Today is the last day in day care for Eli, and it's the last day at work for Missy. Starting on Monday, Missy will be at home with Eli full time!

I'm really glad that Missy will be home with Eli. This morning when I dropped Eli off at day care, he cried when I set him down. I needed to run to an early meeting at work, so I couldn't stay around to play with him for a few minutes; I just had to leave the toddler room and close the door behind me while Eli cried and crawled towards me, trying to catch up to me. "Heartbreaking" is too strong a word to describe how I felt about that -- I'll see him tonight, after all! -- but "sad" is certainly accurate.

So I'm very happy that Eli will get to be with Mommy from now on every day!