11/27 - Thanksgiving

We've had a great past couple days. It's been nice having grandma and grandpa Hoyt here. Aiden has enjoyed the extra playmates and Eli has enjoyed being held all the time. Eli is starting to make some expressions and even smile.
As you can imagine, it's hard to get a picture of Eli smiling because he does it so fast but we did finally get a picture (see picture in bumbo below).
In the above picture Brad has Eli on Aiden's zebra bouncing around. I love the picture below ... what a cute smile. He can only take a few minutes in the bumbo but does pretty well in it. He loves watching his older brother do things so that helps too. He was watching Aiden play with his bus that makes noise when this picture was taken.
Mom and dad Hoyt with Eli in the picture below. He's been spoiled with holding and love lately but we've tried to taper off a little today.
We stayed up late last night playing cards and Eli was awake with us almost the whole time. We love playing cards and wish we played them more often. Last night we played Hand Over Foot and that's what we played again today.
In the picture below Aiden is blowing his good night kisses. He is too cute. All four of his one-year molars are coming in at the same time. He's doing pretty good now but the first one through was a nightmare.
Aiden is still be Mr. Picky Eater and decided not to eat veggies tonight. It's frustrating but hopefully he'll get back on track. Aunt Pat got Aiden this old-fashioned Coke car that has pedals in it. Aiden LOVES it and was trying to ride it everywhere today. We have to shorten the pedals so he can reach them. For now, he just shuffles his feet along to move it.
It got pretty cold and windy today. We did get some new news about Brad's orders. We were pretty sure we were going to Norfolk but that just got changed. We are headed back to Jax. I have mixed feelings because we'll move around June/July and Brad deploys for 7 months in September. That's the stinky part. It looks like way move be able to move into our old house although it will be a tight fit now.

Below is a cute video of the boys today. I had Eli on Aiden's lap at one point and took him off and Aiden signed and said "more." How cute. He's starting to like his little brother. Mom and dad Hoyt leave tomorrow. Mom and Brad are sick tonight from lettuce they had on their sandwich. That stinks.

11/22 - Eli's dedication

Things have been going pretty well. Eli is still fussy, especially at night but we've seen glimpses of cuteness and try and remember that this is only temporary. As you can see from above, Eli is in his bouncy seat and not crying which is amazing (and he's awake). The picture below is from bath time the other night. He likes baths as long as they don't last too long.
Mom and dad Hoyt came in town last night and went to church with us today. The picture below is from this morning after we put Eli in bed with us so he could nurse and I could sleep a few more minutes. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps. It's amazing how something so precious asleep can cause so much havic when he's awake!
Eli had his 2 month well-baby visit on Thursday and is up to 12 lbs!! That's over twice his birth weight. Most babies double their birth weight by 6 months but not this little porker. It's amazing though because he's almost always gone 3 hrs between feedings which is great for a breastfeed baby. At night he goes a little longer but not as long as I'd like!
Today at church was Eli's dedication. We bought him a special outfit and shoes. He had a cute Winnie to Pooh outfit. He'll also wear this for family pictures that we take on Dec. 5. Even though Eli looks like a little porky pig below, you can see where his dimples are and I think it's adorable.
Today was also the day that Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes were collected. We did 7 and had a blast doing them. It's so exciting to think we could effect a little boy/girls life and lead them to the Lord by being exposed to His word. Our church meet our goal of 500 boxes which was exciting too.The picture below was taken during the service. I thought Eli looked so cute because he was smiling (and it wasn't from gas). He's been smiling a little over the past 2-3 days but I can't seem to catch it on camera.

We went to a Mexican restaurant after church. Eli tried to spoil the fun a couple times but there were enough people there to pass him around and keep him happy.

The picture below is Aiden during bath time. He LOVES the bath and could spend an hour in there.

The picture below is from a walk on Friday. We walked by a bulldozer and he we let him touch it and he got so excited. He loves trucks.
Below is from today at the restaurant. Aiden was too cute although a little fussy. He's gotten 4 teeth in the past 2 weeks .... so we thought. Today was he getting really cranky at lunch and while he was crying, I saw in his mouth a huge tooth that was bleeding. It turns out, what we thought were tips of teeth were actually just cornes of teeth and he's getting 4 molars in at once. Two have broken all surfaces through the gum. Aiden isn't a fan of this kind of teething.
I tried to make up for all his discomfort by using a popsicle. That was his first one and he loved it. We still drugged him tonight and hopefully he'll sleep through the night. Last night he woke up screaming and now we know why.
Below is a video I took on Friday of Aiden and Bronco on the treadmill. I'll have him running soon!

This should be a great week. Mom and dad Hoyt are here, Brad only has to work 2.5 days, and I'm gonna get to workout some more. Fun week.

11/16 - Fall & the Gators

Nothing has really changed over the last week. Eli is still needy but has cute moments every now and then. Above is a sweet picture. I look at that picture when I get frustrated from all the crying. He has sat by himself quietly for a few minutes over the past few days. It's been awesome. It usually only lasts 2-4 min once a day but when it happens, I think to myself, "This is why everyone loves babies so much. They can be precious." That is rare that I get to see that.

The above pictures is how Eli sleeps at night. He has to be swaddled to sleep (unlike Aiden) but he's sleeping much better than Aiden too. The picture below is Aiden coloring at the table. This is the first time he's asked to color at the table. He's doing so much better with crayons and I don't have to watch him as carefully.

Eli finally fits into a Gator outfit so he had to wear it on Saturday. It was game day and while the Gators looked weak, they still won. During half-time, we went outside and raked leaves. Aiden loves using his own little rake. Brad had the blower and Aiden and I both had rakes. It was fun although we have a TON of leaves in our yard.

The picture above was taken Sunday morning. I got up early to workout before everyone was awake but Eli wanted to get up early too. Brad took him into our room and cuddled with him till I got out of the shower. The picture below is later in the day on Sunday. Aiden has on the cutest outfit that Grandma Hoyt picked out. He's got on little Guess jeans and cool helicopter t-shirt. He was styling.

Last night, as we were trying to keep Eli quiet, we decided he may not like to look at us. That said, we got the Bumbo and tried to put him in it. He's only 8 weeks so he doesn't have complete control of his neck yet. He sat in it for a minute or so before realizing no one was holding him and started screaming again which is when we took the picture. Below, Aiden is wearing his new jammies. Too cute. It is a one-piece outfit with rubber things on the feet.
Finally, I took this picture today. Aiden and Bronco staring outside. Tonight, right before bedtime, Aiden bit his lip and it was bleeding. He screamed pretty loud and put his hand in his mouth. Brad was sitting right next to him so we weren't sure what was wrong because Brad didn't see anything. I thought Aiden hurt his fingers because he had them in his mouth and when I pulled them out, he had blood all over them. Poor little guy.
Eli has his 2 month well baby appointment on Thursday and then he gets dedicated on Sunday at church. Brads parents are coming on Saturday and will be here for a week. Aiden is so cute and is growing up so fast. He's starting to talk some now and that's exciting for us. The video below was from today. Aiden got a soda can and then came and sat in the Bumbo. He then decides to put the soda in the fridge for dad!!

The video below is dark but you can see some of it. It's Aiden trying to help Brad change Eli's diaper. He helps Brad unsnap Eli's onesie. What a good helper.

11/10 - The first part of November

So I'm gonna divide this post into parts: Eli and Aiden. Above is picture Andrea took while she was watching Eli during MOPs last week. I am very thankful she keeps him for me so he doesn't get as many germs in the nursery at church. MOPs stand for Mothers of Preschoolers and it's the first and third Wednesday of the month. It's lots of fun to hang out with other moms.
Above you can see that Twix loves to sleep by Eli. We keep an eye on her but she really likes Eli. She slept on his changing table for a few weeks and now is in the crib.
Below is a video of Eli just looking around and making baby noises. Eli is a pretty needy baby and needs lots of attention and touching.
Aiden is getting better everyday with Eli. He's not as scared to touch Eli and is starting to realize he's around for a while. I have to get up around 2am and 5:30am to feed Eli right now so I am getting some sleep but not as much as I'd like. Eli is a great eater and weighed 10 lbs, 5 oz last week.

Aiden is also getting very needy but it's probably because he sees us carry Eli around so much. Aiden is a great big brother. Aiden has started to get sick again unfortunately. He's also been testing his limits lately and showing his independence. The pictures below are from today. When we came home Aiden decided he didn't want to come upstairs with us so he sat on the shelves where we keep our shoes.

He's also gotten very picky about food. Every night is a little battle over something. The picture below is Aiden eating part of Brads roll after he was done with his dinner. He was happy as long as he got roll rather than eating his chicken nuggets.
Below is Aiden playing with his crayons. He was stacking them and got them pretty high (he normally only get 3-4 stacked before they fall over).
One of the other new skills Aiden has is climbing!!! He's learned over the past 2 days how to climb into the dinner table chairs. It's pretty funny.

11/1 - Halloween Pics + pics of the boys

Things have been going pretty well lately. Here are a bunch of pics. Aiden is as cute as ever and really trying to talk to us more. He'll repeat the beginning sound of a word and knows a few words. He can follow directions great and has a huge vocabulary by listening and is starting to talk. The picture below is when he was carrying the boppy around and decided to use it as a pillow in the kitchen.

On Friday night, Brad and I went to a command halloween party. We weren't really feeling the holiday this year but pulled something together. After reading Dr. Seuss to Aiden, we chose Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat book. We left Aiden with a baby sitter and took Eli with us (he's the pumpkin).

In the picture below, Aiden is ready for game-day on Saturday. His great-grandma Hagan sent this awesome Gator clothes about a week ago.We had fun on Halloween last night. We went to church and participated in trunk-n-treat. There were dozens of cars that we went to and we knew almost everyone there. It was fun. Aiden was superman and finally got the hang of giving his basket to people to put stuff in although he liked taking his own candy and putting it in his basket.

Below are Arin and her baby Grace. Grace is 6 months old already!

In the picture below, Aiden and Kayden and staring at each other. Kayden is almost 2 and they are best play buddies in the nursery during sunday school and church. I think they didn't know who each other was in costume!! It was too funny.

How adorable is this child? Too stinkin cute. In the picture below, Aiden is sucking on the lollipop we let him have. He was loving it.
The picture below was taken tonight. We decided to get some of the train track out to see if he was ready for it yet. He was having lots of fun with daddy.

Above is little Eli. He's gaining weight like a champ although he's become very needy lately. He needs to be held a lot and that drives me crazy. I've been having some milk supply issues lately so hopefully he's still getting enough. I'll find out on Wednesday. Below are some pictures of the boys. As you can see, Aiden isn't too happy about posing with his little brother or having him next to him. It's a work in progress...

Below are a few videos. The first is Eli being a baby and making some baby noises and a glimpse at his dimples. The other is too cute. It's Aiden helping Brad burp Eli!!