Every day's his birthday (according to Eli at least!).

Elijah came across a picture of his train birthday cake a few weeks ago in a batch of pictures I had printed, and was very excited about his “choo choo train cake.” After seeing the picture he immediately started asking when his birthday was, and then walking around different days saying that, “today my birthday!” After a long, and quite cute, discussion about birthday cakes with Mom and Dad one night, Elijah decided that he was going to, “have choo choo train cake! And Mack cake too!” He thought that he really needed two cakes and Mommy needed to make both of them. Then, after seeing a Lightning McQueen cake pan in Michael’s, Elijah has now decided that he’s going to have, “Choo choo train cake, Mack cake, Lightning McQueen cake too!” I think I better stop showing Eli cake ideas before I find myself making more birthday cakes than he even has candles for! This could be a slippery slope – three cakes for three years old . . . 18 cakes for 18 years old?!

Still with the Cars theme (pathetic, I know, but my life now rotates between playing cars and playing trains), Eli and I were at the mall on Wednesday afternoon and went in to the Disney store as a treat for Eli (he was so well behaved at the mall and obeyed everything I told him!). Eli saw a Mack and McQueen set that was different than the one we have, and he wanted it very much. I told him we’d put it on his birthday list. He said he wanted it right now, so I told him that if we went home and told Grandpa and Grandma about Mack and McQueen that I was sure he would get it for his birthday. That pacified him and we continued shopping. Hours later we pull up at home and Grandpa (out walking) greets us in the driveway. Eli, still strapped in to his car seat, immediately starts chattering to Grandpa while I’m getting him out. I finally figure out that Eli’s saying, “Grandpa Doug, Mack and Lightning McQueen at store. Tell Grandpa, tell Grandma, my birthday!” Eli remembered, hours later, that we needed to tell Grandpa about Mack and McQueen - and tell him the minute we saw him apparently!

Eli really must have been thinking about this Mack and Lightning McQueen set, because right before bedtime he started telling Grandma the story about his coming home and telling Grandpa about them. Eli's monologue went something like this – “Lightning McQueen, Mack, I come home tell Grandpa Doug, need go store buy birthday for me.” Now imagine it came out all breathless and rushed and super excited - and repeated over and over until Mommy and Grandma could catch all of it! So cute. I think we’ll be putting that Mack and McQueen set on his birthday list for sure because I don’t think he’s going to forget about it!

Where does the time go?

It seems like the weeks are just flying by here, and I think (cross your fingers) we’re all healthy again for the most part! Eli’s great, and I’ve just got the tail end of my sinus/cough thing hanging around still. We’ve been cooped up for the most part with us being sick, so not too much has been going on. We went bowling (post to follow) and last Thursday the girls and Eli and I played on the HUGE snowplow pile in the driveway – but I didn’t bring out my camera. I wish I did since the plow pile was the same height as me (we’re having a lot of snow this year!) and looked ridiculously huge next to Elijah. I cut steps in to the pile so the kids could climb up one side and sled down the other. We had fun, but the snow was so deep that the little ones had a really hard time walking in it. Snow was all up in their snowpants and we ended up going inside pretty quickly.

So besides some snow fun, going bowling, and BSF, we’ve been hibernating these last two weeks. Elijah’s been keeping us entertained with his antics though – and he’s begun talking more in paragraphs than sentences. You have to listen close to catch everything since he talks a mile a minute, just like his daddy! Here’s some of what Eli’s been saying:

• Mommy was singing the ABCs to Elijah last week and he kept saying, “Be quiet, Mommy! Be quiet, Mommy! No, those my ABCs!” Apparently Eli thinks he has a proprietary right to the ABC song now, since he also told Daddy a few days later that they were his ABCs and Daddy couldn’t sing them. Somehow I don’t think his claim would stand up to copyright scrutiny, but he could try!

• Last week Saturday night Elijah, Grandma, and I went to the Laundromat (exciting, I know). Before we left I told Eli that when we got home we would have frozen pizza. Eli looked at me funny and said, “I don’t want frozen pizza! I want warm pizza!” New thought about that phrase from a two year olds perspective, and I agree, I wouldn’t want to eat frozen pizza either!

• Elijah has started differentiating between “want” and “need” and knows that he’s more likely to get something if he “needs” it. He has also started using his toys and cars to try and wrangle food and treats, using the same pretense. Did you know that Mr. The King (from the Cars movie) NEEDS Cheetos for breakfast? And here I thought he ran on gasoline! Also, when it’s snack time Lightning McQueen NEEDS heart candy (our chocolate treat from Valentine’s Day). If you ask Eli if he wants those things he’ll say something like this, “No, I don’t want heart candy. Lightning McQueen needs it.”

• Earlier this week Daddy was playing cars with Eli and had the blue Chick Hicks, while Eli had the green “official” Chick Hicks. Daddy said, “Ka-chigga, ka-chigga,” (which is Chicks saying) and Eli said, “Hey, that’s my bit!” Jon and I just burst out laughing. We couldn’t figure out where Eli had picked up the phrase “that’s my bit,” until Jon remembered that Lightning McQueen says that in the Cars movie when Chick steals the name Thunder. Can you tell someone has watched Cars about a zillion times?!

• Still on the too-much-Cars-theme, tonight after dinner Jon and Eli were playing race cars on our Aquadoodle mat (we draw a race track with a start and finish line, pit road, the whole deal), and Jon pretended to be Doc Hudson from Cars, telling Lightning to repave the road (quoting the movie word for word too). Elijah, as Lightning, replied, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Grandma and I thought it was cute, and then Jon clued us in that “you’ve got to be kidding” actually IS the next line that Lightning says in the movie after Doc tells him to repave the road. Too much Cars and too good of a memory, little boy!

• With dinner tonight (pizza, nummy) Elijah wanted some pop. We said he could have a sip of Grandma’s or a sip of Mommy’s. He insisted he wanted his own - "Need my own!" - but that wasn’t going to fly with me. Finally, about half an hour and many pleadings from Eli later, Elijah decided that a sip of Grandma’s pop was better than none at all. He took his nice long sip, then said, “Ahhhhhh. I love it!” with a goofy grin on his face. This kid cracks me up. :) I hope the next child is as silly as the one we already have, because Eli sure does make our days happier and more full of laughter!

Rock n' Roll!

We already knew that Eli rocks, but he's picking up even more phrases! After I played Guitar Hero briefly tonight just before Eli's bedtime, Eli told Missy and I "I want to play rock and roll too!"

We have no idea where Eli picked up the phrase "rock and roll", but it sure was fun to hear him say it, and in the correct context, too!

Ultrasound!! We're having a . . .

We had our ultrasound on Tuesday afternoon, and Jon and I are very excited to announce that Elijah’s younger sibling will be wearing clothes that look like this:

We’re having a girl!!!

When the ultrasound tech told us, Jon got a big grin and kept saying, “Oh! Oh!” Then about a minute later, after the tech had moved on to other things, Jon goes, “Hmm,” in a pleased little tone. Afterwards he said that he really didn’t think that we could be having a girl. I was not committing either way since I would be happy for Eli to have a little brother, and also happy to have a little girl to put dresses on. :)

During the exam, the tech was able to get about 75% of the views she was supposed to get since our little daughter (!!) was a bit stubborn and was lying in the breech position and straight up and down. The tech jiggled my stomach, had me turn on my side, and still the little one wouldn’t change positions.

At one point the tech was looking at a profile shot of her and you could see what looked like the baby scratching her head, or at least moving her one arm around by her ear. And she kept lifting her head up too and seemed to be stretching her neck. At the end the tech said that it was clear that our little one had had enough as she tucked herself in to a ball with her knees to her head and her arms tucked in too. She was done with all the poking and prodding for the day, thank you very much!

Since the tech couldn’t get any pictures of the spine and a few other things, Jon and I get to go back in about 8 weeks and get another peek at our daughter – and I’m not complaining! Our doctor said that even though everything they could look at was completely normal, there were too many important things that they couldn’t get a clear look at to not have us come back. She also said that most people are happy to get more pictures anyway. I know I am. :)

We told Eli he was going to have a sister and he just said, “Yeah, baby’s in my tummy.” He’ll understand some day, but he seems pretty unimpressed with the whole sister thing right now. He did help me pick out the pink bunny onsie at Target today though. He said, “Cute kitty kat!” and chose that one over one with pink flowers on it. I thought the bunny was appropriate for Jon and I – and I can’t wait to see our new little bunny all decked out in it in a few months!

Halfway there!

I just got an e-mail from Babycenter with an update for this week of the pregnancy (I get these every week), and the first thing it said is, "You're at the halfway mark congratulations!"

Woah - halfway?! Already?! On one hand I feel like I must be halfway since I'm increasingly uncomfortable and can't get a full breath in unless I try really hard. This baby is totally squishing all my organs and lungs much more than Eli did. But on the other hand it seems like just yesterday this adventure of moving to GR started and we got pregnant too. And it's becoming more apparent that God's timing on selling and moving in to a new house will most likely not be before the baby comes (though I'm open to miracles, God, let that be noted). :) So halfway sounds exciting and scary at the same time.

The e-mail also said that the baby is around 10-11 ounces now and the length of a banana! That's kind of cool. Our little nanner. We'll get to see our baby's appeal (hehe, get it? Okay, I'll stop with the banana jokes) at our ultrasound on Tuesday - and we'll find out whether our little banana is a chiquita or a chiquito (I couldn't resist, sorry. And that's a girl or a boy for those of you not familiar with the nomenclature of banana gender). :) Boy or girl both make me happy, so I'm just praying for a healthy report on Tuesday.

The other big news in babyland is that I can feel the baby moving around now. I kind of know what it feels like from Elijah, so it was easier to tell. Last week was the first week that I was sure that it wasn't just my intestines doing weird acrobatics though. Eli was most active in the late afternoon and then evening, until about 9 pm, and when he was born never had his days and night mixed up. This little one seems to start the party around 9 though and go until 11 or so. Hmm. We'll see if that pattern continues - I really hope that he/she is not a night owl when they arrive! And since I'm halfway there it's all downhill from here, right? :)

P.S. Blazing Buffalo Ranch Doritos are one of the great gifts to mankind. I've eaten about three bags in the last three weeks. Love them love them love them! This baby likes spicy food!

Another crazy sick week.

Well, it's been another interesting week here for our family. After a great visit to our house last weekend and getting to see Jon's Mom and Terry and Jon's brother and his girlfriend, our little Elijah didn't wake up until close to 11 am on Sunday. And when he did he woke up with a nasty cough, very cranky, and not feeling well.

His cough got worse and worse and then he started with a temperature and a free flowing nose on Monday. On Tuesday he spiked a temp up to 104 and said, "evey thing hurt Mommy." And he would cry whenever I picked him up or touched him. I was getting quite concerned on Tuesday night and figured that I would take him to the doctor on Wednesday after Bible Study (Grandma stayed home with Elijah so I could go and still lead my class). Well, Wednesday he woke up with no fever and seeming to be in a lot better shape. Then Thursday he woke up and was talking in his bed as usual. When I went in I said, "How are you feeling, honey?" and he replied, "I feel so much better, Mommy!"

Elijah got pretty used to being waited on in just the few days he was sick. He got to watch the Cars movie three times (twice in one day on Tuesday!) and anytime he wanted something to drink or eat he got it immediately. On Thursday morning I was trying to get some things done around the house when he said, "Need more juice Mommy." I said I would get it once I finished whatever I was doing (can't remember what right now). Eli said, "More juice now Mommy." I asked, "Mommy needs to stop RIGHT now and get you more juice?" And he said, "Yes, juice NOW. Need something eat too." And he just stood and looked at me with a little can-you-hurry-it-up-I've-got-thing-to-do-look on his face. And he didn't even say please. Hmm, good think you're still recovering little Mr. Bossy because that attitude's not going to fly around here!

Anyway, I think Eli's over most of it now, with just a bit of a runny nose leftover. I'm ready to have a week without someone in our family being sick though because I'm tired! Good thing I'm headed down to Ohio this weekend for a much needed girls' weekend with Stacy and Kelly! :)