Thanksgiving Blessings

There is so much that we are thankful for over the last year! God has blessed us greatly, this year in particular, as we've seen him at work in our move to Grand Rapids, and the continual blessings and confirmations he has given to us as we wait for our house to sell. We are so thankful for the gift of family especially (and for parents who open their home for us to move on in!).

And as we look forward to another year, we look forward to another little blessing in our lives - a new baby! By this time next year there will be another little one in our family. We're pregnant!!

We told our immediate families over the last few weekends, and then I told my cousins/best friends Stacy and Kelly last weekend, so now we're broadcasting the news to everyone. Elijah wore a special shirt that announced the news (previously worn by Nathan to announce that Scott and Jill were pregnant with Andrew), and our families are very excited.

I don't know what a "big brother" is,
but everyone gets really excited when they call me that!

Elijah doesn't have any idea what a "big brother" really is, but he has been very nice to all the babies we've seen lately (and even said he "wanted baby Olivia" - my cousin's daughter - when we saw her a few weeks ago) so I'm taking that as a good sign. Of course, when Uncle Jeremy asked Eli if he wanted a little brother he said, "No!" Then Uncle Jeremy asked if he wanted a little sister. "No!" Then Uncle Jeremy asked if he wanted a baby puppy. "Yes!" Hopefully Eli will change his mind by the time his little brother or sister is here (sometime near the end of June).

Are you sure I can't have a puppy instead?

I've been feeling good, very tired just like last time, but no real morning sickness or anything. We quickly discovered that chili makes me nauseous though, just like when I was pregnant before (my sister-in-law Jill makes great chili, but I thought I was going to lose it when we went to their house and I smelled it on the stove!). I'm just getting over a head/chest cold that I've had for the last three weeks, so even though I'm tired I'm feeling way better than I have been. Hopefully this new little blessing will be as good to mommy as Elijah was when I was pregnant with him. We're looking forward to next Thanksgiving already, when we'll be a family of four!

Elijah Quotes

More musings from our little munchkin . . .

• Grandma brought home apple cider, and Elijah had a glass for snack time. Then he pointed at the gallon jug and said, “What’s that mommy? Apple milk? NOOOOOOO!” and started laughing. Now he will ask what something is, give it a silly (incorrect name) and say noooo in an exaggerated voice – all before you even have a chance to say a word. Mom and I cracked up though that he called the cider apple milk. It was in a milk jug, Elijah, so you got that right.

• I said no to Eli on something last week and Eli was saying yes. I asked him, “What does Mommy say,” and he said, “No.” Then I said, “What does Eli say?” and he said, “Yes!” Then I asked, “What does daddy say?” Eli thought for a second and then said, “Uh. . . no!” At least he knows his parents give him the same answers!

• Lately Eli has been in to saying, “Come on Mommy!” to get me to do things faster. He wanted to go outside last week and said, “I’ll go get my shoes! Come on Mommy!” all while running down the hall and doing a big arm circle motion to get me to follow him. If it doesn’t look like I’m moving fast enough he’ll come back and grab my sleeve and say, “Come on, Mommy, come on!” in this exasperated little voice. Very cute, and it seems to work, so I’m sure that is why he keeps doing it!

• Eli has also picked up the phrase, “Not yet.” I asked him if he had given Daddy a kiss yet today and Eli replied, “Not yet!” Then the next day Jon asked him if he was ready for lunch. Eli said, “Not yet!” He doesn’t have the phrase completely figured out though. Elijah was running and fell and Jon asked if Eli was hurt. Eli said, “Not yet,” and got back up. I think he was meaning, “Not really.” Though if he was intending to fall and hurt himself later I guess his usage was correct.

• Elijah is a very polite child, saying please, thank you, you’re welcome, and excuse me. He’s still figuring out the appropriate times to use them though. Last night Elijah was playing with Jon and I after dinner and let out a big toot. Immediately he said, “You’re welcome!” Not exactly right, but at least he knows he’s supposed to say something afterwards.

• Just this morning Eli was playing with a truck and put his plastic horse inside. He drove it around a bit, then opened up the tailgate and said, “Come on out little buddy!” Hilarious.

• Eli wanted more juice this morning and I said he was all done with juice for today, so Elijah walked to the fridge, opened it up (he figured out the correct leverage and angle he needs to open the door recently), and then said, “How about milk?” It’s fun to be able to carry on conversations with Elijah, and I’m always amused by the things he does!

Halloween Fun!

On Wednesday night we headed out for Halloween trick-or-treating with Jeff, Lori, Noah, Lexi, and Tori, and Grandma. We went to Jeff and Lori’s new neighborhood, and there were a lot of kids out and about. It looks like it’s going to be a really great subdivision for Jeff and Lori and the kids. Elijah was really in to the candy getting thing, and would run up the driveways behind Lexi and Tori and Noah, then stand there and yell trick-or-treat with them. I was proud of him that I rarely had to tell him to say thank you – he just said it by himself!

At one house Eli had taken his monkey head off, so it was kind of hard to tell what he was. The guy at the door said, “What are you?” and Elijah replied, “I’m Elijah!” I told Eli, “You’re a monkey,” and then Eli pointed at the guy’s dog and said, “You’re a puppy!” The guy got a kick out of that little exchange!

The only bummer of the evening was that it started raining and being quite windy not too long after we started out. After about 40 minutes or so we were all pretty wet and cold, so we headed back to the car. The kids had plenty of candy and had had fun. And Elijah told me so when I was buckling him in the car. I was just getting him in when he gave a sigh and then said, “Had a fun day.” I said, “You had a fun day, sweetie?” and he said, “Yep, had a fun day!”

When we got him home Eli dumped out his candy and dug in! Then Grandma made hot chocolate for everyone – nummy nummy and just the thing after a wet and cold evening. Of course, after all that sugar Eli was totally wound up and bouncing off the walls. He eventually wound down, but he did go to bed later than usual! What a great Halloween! As Eli said we, “had fun day!”

A ticked off monkey, Legolas the Elf, a firefighter, and Snow White! First a treat - stopping at Jeff and Lori's new house!I've got to run to keep my monkey legs not too far behind!

A princess, a monkey, and a firefighter, oh my!

Trick-or-treat!It's cold and wet, but I'm still having fun!

Elijah dumps out his bucket to inspect his treats.I don't know what you're saying Mom, I'm in a sugar coma.

I declare that we all eat candy until we're sick!

Eli scares Mommy with the big blue spider he picked out!

This was such a fun day! Let's do it again tomorrow!

Fall Festival at Daddy's Work!

Last Friday Jon’s work had a special Fall Festival day for everyone, where people could bring in their kids (in costume of course) and go trick-or-treating from department to department. I brought in Elijah, all costumed up in his monkey suit, after finally persuading him to wear it with the promise of candy (I blatantly bribed him, but it was the only way he was getting in that costume!). He wasn’t too fond of the hood on the monkey suit, so most of the time he didn’t wear it. He still looked cute as a button though. There were a TON of kids there and lots of candy, so Eli was having a blast. A good preview for Halloween!

Daddy and Eli at Daddy's desk, with Eli's "pumpkin bucket"Off we go!Hmm, decisions decisions.

Yep, a lollipop is what I need.I better make sure to get some chocolate too so I have a well balanced diet.

A digger in the front yard? A little boy's dream come true.

We had quite the eventful day last Friday. First we woke up to this in the front yard!

Mom and Dad were being hooked up to the new city water line that was put down their street, so a big pipe had to be placed across their yard and hooked up to the house. This meant a big digger had to come out! Elijah was in seventh heaven when he saw it outside! We of course went out to watch, and brought our digger along too. Elijah really really wanted to have his little digger go and help in the trench, but had to content himself with watching from the grass. He was also convinced that the big digger his. “My digger! My digger!” was a common refrain, especially when it was time to go inside. And that night Eli insisted that his little digger go to sleep with him. It’s not every day you get to see a big digger right in your own front yard! What fun for a little boy!

Eli was entranced by the digger and watching what was going on!

My digger! My digger!

Elijah works his scoop just like the big digger.

Building Forts!

Last Thursday it was raining and cold outside, and Elijah was not interested in any of his gazillion toys. So Mom had to get a little creative. I always loved building sheet forts in the living room when I was little, so I brushed off my old skills and built one for Elijah! It was fun to figure out how I used to do it (I was a little rusty), but in the end Elijah thought it was pretty cool to run around inside and have to crawl out the tunnel to exit. Lexi and Tori came over Thursday afternoon and we played games in the fort. We had a lot of fun, and I already have some ideas to improve the fort on the next rainy day.

That's a pretty sweet fort, if I do say so myself.

Elijah runs around inside the fort! Around and around he goes!