Happy Birthday, Elijah!

As of 10:54 am this morning, our sweet little boy is officially one year old! The time has seemed to fly by and yet feel like forever at the same time - it's hard to remember what our world felt like without Elijah in it to love. Being parents to little Eli has been the hardest thing either of us has ever done, and by far the most rewarding. Seeing our son learn and grow is truly a joy that we can't even begin to describe. Hopefully he'll see from our journal here and the everyday life that we share just how much he is loved and how much joy he has brought into our lives. We love you Elijah! Happy birthday!

Sick . . . again

Eli ran a slight fever last week at daycare - enough that they called and told us about it - but then seemed to be pretty okay over the weekend. This week though he's been running a fever again and had a nasty cough and lots of mucousy sneezes. Yesterday with Grandma he had a not-so-great morning, but then in the afternoon and evening seemed to be feeling a lot better. But around 1 in the morning he started crying, and had a fever and cough. This morning he's been sneezing out really long strings of mucous that hang from his nose. It's gross, plus, when it happens, Eli looks at me with a scared little look like, "What's happening to me, Mom?" Hopefully he'll be back to feeling a little better in time to enjoy his birthday and birthday party - it's not fun being sick on your birthday!

Step Aerobics the Eli Way!

Elijah discovered that he can “walk” over the step from the kitchen into the tv room a few days ago. We’ll be holding his hands while he walks and he just keeps wanting to go up the step and then turn around and go right back down the step. Then up the step. Then down the step. Then up the . . . well, you get the picture. He thinks this is just the greatest thing. And today, while he was with Grandma he discovered that’s its fun to push your walker over the edge of the step too! Grandma said he made it down fine, with her right nearby, but he couldn’t quite figure out how to make the walker go back up - he kept trying to lift it but it just wouldn’t work. Guess we’ll just have to keep walking him up . . . and down . . . and up . . . and down . . . ourselves!

Look who can turn all by himself!

Elijah has been doing great cruising around the house with his walking toy, but has always needed help turning when he runs into things. Not anymore! Eli figured out Tuesday how to back the toy up and turn it to make it go the direction he wants. He made two complete laps around the island in the kitchen without needing my help at all. And Grandma noted that on Wednesday Eli only needed help a few times, when he got into corners, but besides that was able to turn and get back to cruising around all by himself!

Like Nails on a Chalkboard

Elijah’s developed a nasty habit, which Jon and I (and Grandma Amanda) really want him to stop – he grinds his front teeth together. Over and over. The sound goes right through you, like little tiny nails going down a chalkboard. My skin is crawling just typing about it! We keep saying, “Eh eh eh” and “Icky” and “Don’t grind your teeth” while placing our hand on his jaw, but he’s not getting with the program yet. We’ll keep trying, because, not that our little angel could ever be annoying, but that sound is getting on my nerves!