Moving!

The latest news around the Schneider household is that Jon has taken a new job in Grand Rapids - so we're moving across the state back to where I was born and raised! We're pretty excited, and I'm really looking forward to being closer to my family and extended family after being gone for 12 years. We've been staying very busy getting the house ready to sell (I've never done so much cleaning and organizing in my life!), and Eli has been very patient, with me especially, as we've had to focus a lot on things other than him.

This morning I was getting ready to mop the guest bathroom floor, and Eli was playing with his train set in his room. I filled the tub with a little water and then went to get the vacuum out of the master bedroom to vacuum the floor first. When I came back I was met with the sight of Eli sitting in the tub of mop water! Fully clothed of course! I was gone for less than 30 seconds and he ran from his room to the bathroom and climbed in the tub without me hearing a thing. No splash or anything, so obviously he didn't fall in. Plus, the look on his face told me he was proud as punch that he managed to get in the tub without my help! Everyday is a new adventure with Elijah, and I hope that his guardian angel is getting some hazard pay for watching out for all the mischief Eli gets himself in to!

We're Back! Aloha!

Well, Jon and I are back from our sunny vacation in Hawaii. We had a wonderful time, and will post some of our adventures later, but I've got over 500 pictures to wade through first (I can just hear my brother-in-law, Jeremy now. Even I don't know how I managed to take that many!). :) Here's a taste of a few of the sunsets we saw . . .

Elijah was with my sister-in-law and brother while we were gone, and then Jon's Mom had him for the last part of our trip. She brought him back to us on Wednesday morning, after Eli being away from us for 11 nights. And man did I miss my baby by that time! I was so ancy that morning it was unbelievable. I'm glad Jon and I had the chance to be away together, since it was very relaxing and refreshing, but 11 days with no Eli is a long time!

We had talked to Eli on the phone a few times while we were gone, but the last time I heard him I was quite sad - he didn't sound like what I remembered at all. It was kind of surreal seeing him again - he looked so tall and like he'd grown so much older! He smiled when he saw me and then ran away to explore all the things on the porch. He seemed happy to be home though, and very happy to be back to his slide in the living room. Eli didn't say anything at all for a while, but eventually said "bus" and "crash" as he slid his toy bus down the slide to crash at the bottom. :)

After just a bit of being back together it was just like old times. By the afternoon he was hugging and kissing me and chatting up a storm again, but not liking when I would go in to another room. When Jon got home Eli was very happy to see him, and then ran away from him too (whew, it wasn't just me!). :) He had a lot of fun playing with us after dinner though - and loved his presents from Hawaii (a truck with a surfboard on top, a few matchbox cars, a Veggietales DVD, and a Hawaiian shirt - okay, he didn't seem to care about the shirt, but he liked the cars!).

I've got the blond hair to be a surfer,
and now the board and truck too!

Eli's looking snazzy in his Aloha shirt!

Since we've been back Eli's been a little attached to me - not wanting me to leave the room, crying when I dropped him off at nursery for MOPs today, wanting to play with me EVERY minute, and wanting to play with his cars underneath my legs (not next to me, it HAD to be underneath my legs!). I've been pretty happy to oblige all the playing since I missed him so much, but the leg thing got tiring after a bit. :)

I'm pretty comfortable under Mom's legs playing with my cars.

I think Eli's punishing us (well, mostly me) for going away though, as he's been throwing mega-tantrums almost non-stop. He's screaming at diaper changes, getting dressed, at mealtimes, at naptime, any time I have to stop him from doing something, etc. Screeching at the top of his lungs is actually a more appropriate description of the sound he's making. And if I leave the room to ignore it he just follows me and keep screeching! Today he wouldn't eat lunch and went straight to nap at 12:30, after screaming about one thing or another for over an hour. Whew, I'm tired! I think the screaming is just him adjusting to being back with us and letting out the emotions of missing us, but I sure hope it is a short-lived phase and he goes back to being our laid back super happy boy again! Despite the screaming, I'm still really glad to be home and back with Elijah, especially when he looks so cute napping . . . :)

He could scream all day and I'd still love him, he's so cute!

I'm ready for a vacation!

Jon and I have been getting ready this week to head out for a vacation in Hawaii tomorrow, so we've been a little busy this week preparing. Eli hasn't been too happy with much of my attention during the days not focused as much on him, and has been a bit of a handful this week. Here's a recap, since I'm too tired to write connecting sentences. :)

- He decided to start taking 30 minute naps every other day this week, which was stressful for Mommy (I like my little break during the day to get things done efficiently!). I hope he goes back to longer naps when I get home because I'm really not ready to have a non-napping child. :)

- Eli is talking more and more and trying more and more two word phrases (coat on, shoes on, get up, etc.). He said his first three word phrase this week as well, when I was tickling him. He started saying "don't" and I said, "You don't want me to do that? Just say, don't do that!" So he did! "Don't . . . do . . . dat!" - said very sharply and with a little pause between each word. I started laughing and so he said it again and again. Now he's only walking around saying, "do dat" and not saying the don't part. Still cute as a button.

- Eli discovered the word "no" for the first time this week. Unfortunately this was the same day he discovered the power of the word "mine" as well. EVERYTHING in the house was his, and he was quite perturbed when Mommy was touching ANYTHING. I was so sick of hearing "no" and "mine" after that day that I told Lori, my sister-in-law, that instead of just watching Eli for the week we are in Hawaii that she could have the option of keeping him. :) Thankfully he only spent one day this week saying "no" and "mine" to everything, so I've since rescinded the offer.

- Jon and I were packing feverishly Thursday night to get Elijah and ourselves ready for our trips, and Eli got a little bored watching and helping us. So he just climbed on the bed with a book and sacked out for a bit. So cute. :)

Let me know when you guys ready to play with me again.

Jon and I leave early tomorrow for our trip, and Elijah is safely at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lori's house. When we left it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do - though Eli didn't seem upset at all. He was engrossed in playing with a cool trainset of Noah's, and when we said good-bye, he just said, "bye-bye dada" and "choo choo train" to me. We're going to miss our little guy, but are ready for a week of fun in the sun! Hawaii here we come!

Is this a sign I drink too much coffee?

When we're at the mall and we see this logo . . .

. . . Eli starts pointing and excitedly yelling, "Mama's, Mama's!"

Then yesterday Jon was flipping through a business magazine that had a story about Starbucks in it, and Elijah got all excited and started running around yelling, "Mama's mama's!" and then running back and pointing at the logo.

If only I were so lucky to own a piece of Starbucks Eli's statement would be more comforting, but instead I've just been convicted that I drink a few too many White Chocolate Mochas. When your kid associates a business logo as being yours, that might be a sign to cut back a little! :)

Eli's first song!

I was putting Eli to bed last week and doing the usual routine - diaper, pjs, teeth, stories, pray, and sing. I love to sing to Elijah and snuggle for a few minutes before putting him in his crib for the night, and I vary between singing a lullaby or hymns, and then finish with Jesus Loves Me. When I got to Jesus Loves Me, Elijah started saying, "Je-us" and then when we got to the "me" part of the song, "sang" along, saying, "meeeeee" (with the little e going on and on.) He says it in this little high-pitched voice, and doesn't miss a single "me"! He also loves to sing all the "sooooooooos" and sometimes says "Bi ble" when you get to the "Bible tells me so, part. I was so proud of him!

I thought it might have been a fluke, but he's been doing it ever since. Last night when I gave him a bath he was playing with his Bible stories bath book (with foam figures of a sheep, the whale from the Jonah story, baby Moses in a basket, and of course Jesus). When I told him the man figure was Jesus, Eli said, "Je-us meeeeee sooooo." I guess he really does know the song! We sang through it a few times and my heart just melted. I think it is a wonderful gift to grow up knowing that Jesus loves you, and I'm glad Eli is learning that right from the start!