6/30 - Pool Time

We finally got our Oakleaf passes and visited the pool for the first time on Saturday. The boys LOVED it. There are 2 huge pools with kiddie sections and slides and such and the boys loved it. Eli is feeling much better from his ear infection and we can tell a big difference in the way he is acting. He's happy again (for the most part). We got the boys all ready in their swim attire and headed to the pool.
Brad and I tagged off between kids. Aiden wanted to wonder around and investigate some. He didn't really want to splash and the waterfall stuff kinda scared him but he loved laying down and sitting in the water. He really loves walking around the OUTSIDE of the pool following the "track." The track is just different color stones they use.
Eli LOVES the water. We knew he loved bath time and he loves the pool too. Everyone was staring at him because he had this open mouth smile the entire time he was in the water. They have a gradual entry into the pools so he rolled around on his back and belly (in the very very shallow part) and was all smiles. We even took him swimming with us in the deeper parts and he liked that too.
Aiden didn't mind us swimming around with him either he just was clinging on to us for dear life. He did kick his feet some though and stick his face in the water to blow lots of bubbles.

We tried a church in Oakleaf on Sunday and it was ...unique. Aiden did a great job at a new place although he did cry when we left. We went back a few minutes later and he was fine and doing puzzles with one of the workers. Eli did fine too but got pretty tired towards noon. This week we will try a different church to see what else is out there. I feel bad putting the kids through new churches every sunday but hopefully the Lord will bless us with a great church soon.

In an attempt to try and contain the toys more, we have boxes for Eli that are full of his age-appropriate toys. It's easier to give him a box and pile the toys back in there when he is done. We are hoping to keep a much more organized house. It's already better and we aren't even done unpacking and putting away stuff yet. We are starting to really burn out on the putting stuff away part so we are moving a little slow but still work from 8-10ish every night.

We are getting to know some of the neighborhood and one of the kids has a F150 Power Wheels toy. There is one 3 yr old boy on the street and other than that, the boys are 5-8 yrs old. He finds them pretty fascinating to watch but it's hard to play with them because they all play together and Aiden is so little. They were really sweet to him the other day though and offered him a ride. Aiden LOVED it. They were gone for a while (just down to the cul-da-sac) and slightly out of view. We went to go check on them to find them stuck up on a curve and Aiden in the driver seat!! He's not allowed to drive so we put him back in the passenger seat and got them back on the road. I'll be excited to find some kids Aiden can play with soon.

While cleaning this morning, I found my box of medals from gymnastics. There are dozens of them and Aiden decided to wear some. He then decided it would be fun to ride around on daddy while he was doing some hard push-ups with some of the toys I use for personal training.

I did some investigating about daycare today and I think I'll be able to find Aiden a place with no problem but Eli will be different. I'm taking them both to get physicals on Friday so I can get them in somewhere. I need some sanity and Aiden misses playing with kids his own age. Eli needs to learn what daycare is all about so I'm excited for him to go too (just part-time for both of them).
Tonight was bath night which makes Eli really happy. He's about to get three more teeth in and I think one will come through tomorrow. In the one picture with just Eli, you can see his hillbilly top tooth on the side (HIS left). It's not a glare from the camera, it's a giant tooth. I think his next tooth will be the matching pair on his right side.

Aiden is determined to get water out of this fish ball (it squirts water from it's mouth). Eli just cracks me up in this picture.

Overall, things are going well. This is Brad's last few days of house hunting leave. We'll be putting up a fence very soon so that we can get Bronco back. We had an estimate done today and we are getting one more. We've had lots of rain so we haven't been able to get out much this week. I'm exhausted and need a shower. Good night.

6/26 - Getting settled in FL; lots of videos

Things are getting better around here. It's starting to look like someone actually lives in the house although it's pretty messy. As you can imagine, after getting carpet, we only eat in the kitchen (for the boys at least). Eli inhaled his food as usual, and didn't want to sit in his seat anymore (unless we keep feeding him). We let him out and that little booger crawled over to Aiden's try and tried to take his chicken nuggets! Eli can eat! I'm not kidding. He could eat more than Aiden if we let him and he only has 3 tooth although 3 more are coming any day now.

The videos below are Aiden being excited about his new green room and him playing in his race car bed. He loves his new bedroom color and the amount of toys/books in it. Our friend Sue gave us 2 race car beds and Aiden LOVES his. It was too cute to see him so excited.

The picture of Aiden in the race car bed shows you how excited he was. He didn't have the mattress yet but that didn't stop him from playing in it.

Aiden decided to help us clean out the garage when the packer came on Friday. He unpacked some safety goggles and also found his mower. He was ready to go!! He even had his hard hat on - that's some serious protection. We are desperate need of some new crocs and I'm trying to find some Navy blue ones. That's hard to do when all we do is go to Home Depot and SuperTarget right now so I might end up ordering them on-line. They are so easy for Aiden to put on and they clean up really easy. I would imagine wearing shoes and socks in Fl are going to give him some funky tan lines so he'll probably be living in crocs.
Aiden was such a good boy while the unpacker was here. I opened a box of his books and he sat on his bed and read for a long time. Eli was actually really good yesterday too. He played in his exersaucer and by the train table for a long time. They both did great.

Yesterday afternoon Eli was playing on the ground by the table and couch and wasn't making a peep (very unusual because he likes to cry). I went to go check on him and he had climbed/rolled into the bottom of his exersaucer. He was loving it. I pushed the seat cushion back down and stayed in there for another 20 min playing with the tag!
On a wall under the bar in the living room, Brad and I made a chalk board for Aiden. It was finally dry and ready for Aiden to use. Once we showed it to him he loved it. We still need to put up the chair rail to make it have a border on all 4 sides but Aiden knows he can only write on the black. What a neat invention (paint on chalk boards). The only bad thing is we can't find an old-fashioned eraser anywhere! I even saw at the store they have paint to make surface a colored chalk board and dry erase boards.

This morning Brad put some little shelves in the pantry so I can store our plastic bags and foil and Aiden wanted to help. He knows the major tools (screwdriver, hammer, wrench, pliers, and the sizes - small, medium, and big) and helps Brad out. It's so adorable that I need to get a video of it. He actually does a great job of getting the right tool. This all started last night when Brad put together a 2-drawer shelf by the front door and Aiden wanted to help.
Our place is still really messy and it will take a few more days to find things a "home." We gave away 2 big boxes of sheets, tablecloths, and other randomness this morning. We just don't have near the space in this house as we did in our last house (we want to be able to use the garage here for my van). I started doing some much needed yard work this morning by edging with our new edger (very cool). We have a lot of yard work in store for us because the renters never took care of it and it went for a while with no renters! Nap time and after 7:30pm are our work times and we get as much done as possible.
Eli was being pretty happy this morning and let me multi-task some. The video of Eli was supposed to be him flipping down the flaps on his toy but instead, he saw the camera and wanted to come say hi. We get to go pick up our access cards to the amenities today so we can start using the pool and gym!

6/24 - We have moved to Florida!!

The past week has been crazy and I know there has been a very long gap in posts. We moved! Last Monday and Tuesday the packers came and packed all our stuff up. I took the picture below on the last day we had our stuff. I don't have many pictures of Eli right now because he's generally crying all the time. He's been really fussy. Both the boys went to various people's houses last week (Aiden was at Michel's all week) so we could pack and move. They took all our stuff on Wednesday and we cleaned all day Thursday and left on Friday. We found out Thursday morning at Eli's 9 mont well baby appointment that he had a severe ear infection which probably explains why he's been so grumpy.

We had dinner with our neighbor Sue last week which was fun. On Thursday, Arin and Alicia came over to help me clean (awesome friends)! By Friday morning, we still had more to do than we planned and we had our walk-through. Sue was an angel and occupied Aiden for about 1.5 hrs so Brad and I could clean. Eli took a nap. She was a giant life saver.

Aiden and Sue rode around in the golf cart for part of the morning and then he discovered her tractor for the first time. The played catch and watched/chased the ducks, and fed the fish.
Aiden is REALLY missing Sue and visiting her all the time. It took Brad a long time to check out of the squadron because everyone went to lunch right as he arrived. We didn't get on the road until about 1:00pm and both boys were exhausted. Eli fell asleep immediately and Aiden struggled for a while. He eventually fell asleep listening to Thomas and eating. He drooled all over himself from falling asleep with food in his mouth.

We stopped for dinner at Burger King since they had a play area. Aiden didn't really feel like eating or playing all that much. He wanted to play with the door to play area more than anything else. Eli was hungry as usual. That kid loves to eat and I'm waiting until Eli challenges Brad to an eating contest and Brad looses. haha.

Aiden played in the tunnel for a little bit but I think he was so overtired that he didn't really want to play.

Since we got such a late start we wanted to drive a bit further although didn't want to press our luck since nap time in the car was a mild success. They both slept about half of their normal nap time. We kept driving after dinner and by about 8:00 neither one were showing signs of sleeping so we pulled over in North Carolina (exit 49).

We got the boys in their PJs and Aiden slept on one of the beds and we put blankets around him so he wouldn't roll off and we set up the pack-and-play for Eli. The both went to sleep pretty good although Aiden woke up a few times in the night crying which was really weird. I think he was just a little freaked out by how he was sleeping in a big bed and stuff.

We finally made it to Jax safely on Saturday. We made do with what we had we've been managing. We were trying to keep the boys on their normal schedule but we had lots to get done when we got down here. We forgot we had to get the water turned on so we called an emergency number and said we needed the water turned on and someone came out on Saturday night to do it! Our house was a complete mess when we got inside. The fridge had mold and food in the bottom. Our property manager did a horrible job (we won't be recommending him) doing a walk-through. He admitted he didn't even open the fridge. The bathrooms were horrible and we were scared to use them until we cleaned them. There was hair everywhere! We did nothing but clean the first 2 days at the house. The boys went to bed at 7/7:30 and we cleaned until about 11pm both nights.

We let Aiden pick his room out. There is a blue/grey room and a pink room. He chose the pink room! He LOVES the closets in the his and plays hide and seek in them. We've already painted the pink room. Aiden chose blue but then we found out the race car bed he was getting is blue so we took blue away. He then chose green. A bright green. I need to download more pictures from my camera. Brad and I painted his room on Monday, got new carpet Tuesday, and the movers came yesterday. I need to find the battery pack to the camera before it completely dies and I can't take or download pictures.

Our new carpet looks and feels awesome. Aiden room is super bright and neat. We all got to sleep in beds last night which was really awesome.

Eli is perfecting his army crawl. He'll crawl anywhere to chase food or a food container. He's getting pretty fast and I saw him get up all on all 4's today for the first time.

The movers came yesterday and it was ... interesting. They only had 3 guys to unload and unpack our stuff which took 4 guys to load in a day and 3 people an entire day to pack up. I could easily see that they couldn't unload and unpack everything. I told them they were unpacking too and the head guy said he didn't hear that. I was so angry because I must have told 4 different people from the moving company they were unpacking too. They weren't excited to hear that I wanted them to put the furniture back together and unpack the stuff. Needless to say, I was very angry and ... they unpacked some stuff and are sending more unpacking people tomorrow. I had to take Aiden to the dr yesterday morning to check for an ear infection (he doesn't have one - just lots of pressure from a really runny nose) and Brad took the boys to our friends house so they could at least get some sleep.

Our house is a complete disaster right now but I'm excited we are back in OUR house. We miss our MD friends dearly but our neighborhood has completely changed and there are tons of kids on the block so that should be good. I'll post more pictures of our house after I find the camera battery charger!

6/13 - Visiting with Sue & friends

I don't have many pictures of Eli lately because he's kinda been a terror. When he's cute, he's very cute but when he's cranky, he's very cranky. The video of Eli is of him crawling around on the floor in Aiden's room. He's rolling all around and shows off his new army crawl a little. He then shows off how he is thinking about crawling on all 4's and trying to sit up from his army crawl.

This post is mainly going to be about a visit to our next door neighbor Sue. We all took a trip to Sue's the other day. Aiden had his bike (we need to get him one with pedals soon) and kazoo. I started taking the video because he was going so slow that he stood up with the bike and started walking while straddled over the bike. The video is pretty cute because he's riding his bike blowing the kazoo. Too cute.

Aiden loves to pet all of Sue's pretend stuff. After he feeds the fish, he pets the fish, frog, and turtle. He used to be scared of them but now he pets all of them.
Sue got Aiden a birthday present and she gave it to him the other day (she's the worlds sweetest woman). She wrapped his present in Nemo paper which was really cool although Aiden insisted they were cars (he's kinda obsessed with cars).
He visited her cat who was hiding in the tunnel. He gets a kick out of seeing the cat outside in the tunnel.
He then got to take a ride on her golf cart. He LOVED that although he was a little nervous to ride at first. He wanted "more" on the golf cart and has talked about it everyday since this. This all happened on Thursday.
On Friday, the gang came over to our house and we had pizza, chips, soda, and a cake. It was fun to see everyone and get us all together. I'm gonna miss seeing everyone. Aiden has tons of fun with the group too and especially Grace. He's gotten really good at saying her name. By the time we took this picture, our boys were out of control and in bed!

Yesterday Brad took down the dog run and Aiden helped him. Aiden is in his "cage" with his screwdriver. He got a good lesson from daddy on how to use hammers and screwdrivers. He's too cute.

Aiden is still in his cage in this other picture. He's voluntary in there but he likes it and had room to come out if he wanted. Brad did a great job of tearing the whole structure down.
We are in cleaning mode and trying to put aside things that we will need for the next 9 days without saving too much stuff though. The packers come tomorrow morning and I still have tons of stuff to do. I think I'm just going to ask what room they will be packing up and move everything that can't be packed. We still have lots of stuff to be given away and we need to get that out of our house very soon.

I've included a video below of Eli eating. He's getting much better about feeding himself and I think he'd eat a hamburger if I let him! He always wants what we are eating. I'm a little more lenient letting him try stuff since Aiden is so picky. If he wants to eat something at this age, I'll let him!

Time to finish watching a saved episode of Life before they put our TV away tomorrow. We will be eating fast food for the next 9 days since we don't have any dishes or anything (that stinks) but we'll survive. We had a great last day at church today although it was sad to say bye. Lots of people came by after service and said bye ... you don't get that at most churches. The people in southern maryland really are fantastic!

6/10 - Eli's 3rd tooth & saying bye to friends

I forgot to publish the picture above earlier. On Memorial Day weekend, Brad wore his dress uniform to church to help march in the Kids Choir. The kids sang a great song. It was really cute and I can't wait until Aiden and Eli can be old enough to participate.
Things have been going pretty well. Eli has been having fun playing in the tablecloth paper from Aiden's birthday party. He loves rolling around in it and all the noise it makes.

On Monday, I had lunch with a friend from MOPs. Lynn was actually our Discussion Group Leader. It was nice to see her but it's sad to have to say good-bye. We had lunch at Panera and Eli was extra fussy. Thankfully, Aiden and William (her son) entertained each other.
After naps we went over to Sue's house. Aiden LOVES going over to Sue's and feeding her fish and looking around in her yard. Aiden wanted to wear his hat on our walk across the street and was trying to push his mower and Eli. I asked Aiden to say "cheese" for the camera which works but he doesn't always look at the camera though!

He fed the hungry fish and showed Sue his mower (again). Sue is an awesome neighbor and we are REALLY going to miss her.

After we got back from Sue's I needed to work some in the garage. I put the pack and play in the garage so Eli would be happy and Aiden played in the dirt until Brad got home.
Once Brad got home, Aiden got the treat to play in the truck which he LOVES. He was waving hi to me in the picture.

On Tuesday, Aiden went to daycare and our friend Cindy took Eli. Brad and I made a run for DC. We went to the International Spy Museum and did a Spy in the City adventure where we ran around with GPS devices getting clues to find someone. It was pretty fun. We also went to the Holocaust Museum which was ... amazing and breathtaking. So sad.

We had a great time. It was the first time we have been childless for more than 1-2 hrs and will probably be last until he comes back from deployment next year.

On Wednesday, Aiden wanted to color almost all day. I was downstairs talking to a friend for a few moments and came back upstairs to find Aiden had colored all over the garbage can (we only color on paper on the kitchen floor in this house). Thankfully it wiped up but he experimented later that day by writing on the kitchen floor! He got in trouble for that too.

Eli is official doing an army crawl now. He's everywhere by rolling and army crawling. Much to my surprise, he got a tooth in. It's his lateral incisor which is weird because he hasn't gotten his front upper teeth yet. I'm hoping that explains some of the crankiness lately.
It's fun to watch the boys play together. As much play as Eli is capable of right now. They were both laughing banging on the sliding glass door the other day. Aiden is still not very good at sharing with Eli and we are working on that. He'll get him a substitute toy usually but has a fit if he plays with something and Eli grabs it. As Eli gets more mobile and standing and crawling more, I think WWIII might start at our house. Aiden just doesn't quite get the idea of sharing yet.

We had to leave the boys with a babysitter they don't know so well last night and they did great for her. Eli was exhausted and Aiden always does great at night. Eli has been waking up at 5:45/6:00 for the last week so hopefully that will stop since he got that tooth in. Today he slept until 7:10!!! Unfortunately I'm so used to getting up I couldn't sleep that long. I'll post in the next day or so because I took a bunch of pictures today and will take some more tomorrow night as we say bye to some more of our friends.