5/12 - Aiden + corn and Eli + no sitting

The past few days have been pretty good although we are encountering some nap troubles with Eli. He is exhausted and decides he only wants to sleep an hour in his crib. He starts screaming (which will wake Aiden up - he is napping too) and won't start. I take him out to the living room and he promptly falls asleep in my arms. It's so adorable, but so frustrating. I think I'm gonna start making him nap downstairs in the pack and play and close the door so Aiden and I can't hear him scream as loud. He needs to figure out how to nap for longer than an hour. He'll sleep another hour in my arms or on the couch so he can do it in his crib or pack and play.
The above two pictures are from Eli going from crazy happy to upset and crying within seconds because it's getting close to nap time.
Eli has also started to do something new in the past 2 days ... he doesn't want to sit. It sounds crazy but as you can see in the picture above and in the video below, he won't sit. If I do happen to get him to sit, he throws himself backward so he can lay down. Never had this problem with Aiden. We have gone to just putting a tad of water in the bathtub since he insists on laying down.

We got Aiden some new shoes the other day which he really likes. Also, we've finally added bubble mixture to his bubble blower and he's been loving that. He has to walk fast in order for the bubbles to come out but he's got the hang of that now.
The picture below might seem like a normal picture: a little boy playing in dirt and rocks with a dump truck. This is HUGE for Aiden. He HATES to be dirty and has never just played in dirt or the rocks before. It was killing me he was getting his new white shoes dirty but great that he wasn't freaking out about the dirt. After we got upstairs, I proceeded to clean his shoes (jee, I wonder why he's so obsessive).

When I picked Aiden up from daycare on Tuesday, Michel was chucking corn. Aiden thought that was pretty neat so she gave us an ear to take home. We cooked it and peeled it together. He thought it was pretty neat. He loves corn but we haven't shown him corn on the cob yet.

After some trial and error of eating corn, he finally figured it out and LOVES it. As you can see in the picture below, he was trying to eat the end of the ear so we had to teach him to eat from the side of the corn.
I never knew eating corn could be so much fun. Sometimes we take little things for granted.

The video below is another example of Eli not wanting to sit. He's too funny and is doing this all the time now. He has become so much more mobile by rolling around. He tried to get up on all 4's today and acted like he knew how to crawl. He was thinking about it.

The pictures below are from tonight. Brad put just an inch or so water in the tub since Eli won't sit now. He loved rolling around and splashing and chasing his toys.

We got a GPS unit yesterday which we are excited about. We will be using it to drive to Baltimore tomorrow to get the ball rolling for Brad to get his private pilot license. On Friday, the Hoyt family will be coming to town and on Saturday we are going to Annapolis. Fun times ahead.

5/9 - Happy Mother's Day & Eli's car seat

So Eli has a big boy car seat now!! He was starting to arch his back and go crazy when we put him in his carrier. Eli lasted 7.5 months in a carrier ... Aiden lasted only 6 months. It's much harder though to carry Eli everywhere so we still have the base installed and use it sometimes (especially when I know Eli is going to nap in the car). Below, Aiden wanted to wear my "yellow" shirt rather than his PJs. Too cute. I didn't realize I was that big!
Eli has started to do pretty good at night (knock on wood). It's been pretty warm here lately so we went to just onesies. He has to have something against his face to sleep normally so we leave a couple burp clothes in his crib. He has just started to figure out that he can roll over in his crib and is sleeping on his belly most of the time when I check on him before I go to bed.
Eli is getting stronger everyday and can stand for a while now. Here he is playing at one of the activity tables.
I took the boys to the library for the first time ever the other day. They both had fun. Aiden had ZERO interest in reading books (although he loves to read them at home). He found a train book that he played with for a while until he found the huge play center. After he found that, he wanted nothing to do with books.
Below, you can see the play center. Even Eli liked it.
Yesterday we had a MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) picnic. We took the boys and were having fun but then it started raining.
In the picture below is Aiden's friend, Kaden. They are a few months apart and are great friends. They see each other for sunday school, church, and MOPs stuff.
Eli has been experimenting A LOT lately with his mouth. He makes an "O" mouth all the time for the past few days and I finally got a picture of it.

Once it started raining, we had to pack up our picnic blanket and go under the pavilion. Aiden had fun pushing Eli around in between rain showers although he could barely reach the handle bar.
All the kids were playing in the rain and Aiden was no exception. Most of them were playing on the softball up the hill but Aiden stayed right by us and was just running around.
Today was a good day. Eli slept in until 7:40!!! He's NEVER done that before. It was a great Mother's Day Present. Unfortunately, Aiden doesn't sleep that long so we were up well before then. Brad made waffles which Aiden loved (as did I). In the picture below, we were using the automatic smile function on our new camera we got yesterday. You push a button and it won't take a picture until the subject smiles. It's pretty cool. Aiden finally broke the gum on his 2 bottom incisors and the top should follow shortly .
After church today, we went home for naps. Aiden decided to sleep almost 3 hrs until I woke him up because I wanted to go outside. Eli on the other hand, decided to almost not nap at all. We went to Solomon's Rec Center and walked around and found a playground.
As you can see, Brad and I enjoyed the playground time.
The boys did too. We were trying to get Eli to nap so we made him a cocoon with the sunshades but that didn't make him sleep. Here is happy as a clam as Brad checks in on him.
After playground time, we went out to dinner. We fed Eli before our food got there so we could eat. Eli loves his food!
Aiden did such a good job tonight. He actually ate his dinner ... most of it. He normally won't touch dinner if we get it out (we are lucky if he eats at home). He had chicken fingers and a juice box. He also sat in a booster seat for only the second time. Now that Eli eats too, we need Aiden to sit in a booster seat so Eli can sit in the high chair. Aiden forgets that sometimes but we can't have a booth with 2 high chairs.

Below is a cute video of the boys eating tonight. Eli has been getting distracted by everything that's above him lately. I even got a picture of him in the jumping johnny today staring up.

Tomorrow Brad will have to see if he broke his pointer finger yesterday while trying to throw a ball UP a curly slide at the playground. Also, Brad's parents are coming on Friday which should be fun. Hopefully I can post the day before they come. We are planning on doing some touristy stuff while they are here. Also, we are praying we will finally get orders soon. We are less than 50 days out and still don't have orders. Brad checks out on June 27 and .... we need orders to set up a move. Keep us in your prayers.

5/2 - A trip to Calvert Cliffs & the park

The past couple days have been pretty good. The weather has warmed up and is beautiful. We've spent lots of time outside in the past couple days. Above is a picture from bath time the other night. Aiden has learned to blow pretty good bubbles in the bathtub and in a cup that we keep in the bathtub for the kids to play with. I should have known that would translate to blowing bubbles in other things such as Aiden's cup! I heard him doing this the other morning and I knew what it was right away. He decided to blow a ton of bubbles into his milk cup.
Aiden is 23 months today. Wow how time flies. Brad has had duty all weekend and he took Aiden to work with him yesterday because Aiden was driving me crazy. Aiden got to play in all the "copters" at Brad's work. How many kids get to do that? That's pretty cool when you think about it.
Eli had a big milestone the other day ... he sat in a cart for the first time. He could have done it a few weeks ago probably but to be honest, it's just easier to carry him around in his carrier. He doesn't mind it although lately he's started arching his back when we put him in it. It's easier to have one child controlled (Eli in car seat) than carrying one and trying to keep up with other. We did buy Eli a big-boy car seat the other day and I installed it today. Things will get a bit more difficult but I've kept his base for his carrier in the van in case I need to use it. Unfortunately, Eli has to nap on the run sometimes because it's not practical for me to stay home from 8:30am to 3:30pm.
We went to Calvert Cliffs yesterday for the first time in a long time. Aiden wanted to start off walking so Brad took him and I had Eli in a backpack.

Aiden loves being outside and so does Eli. After Eli realized he couldn't pull my hair out or eat my shoulder, we had a good time. EVERYTHING goes into Eli's mouth if he has the opportunity. That said, he has a paci in a lot because otherwise he chews on everything and drools like a mad-man.

Aiden had fun too but he took some persuading to get in the backpack. There were some pretty steep hills so he got in at the perfect time.

Since Aiden and Eli were so good to let mommy and daddy get some exercise, we took them to the park afterwards. Aiden had fun as always. Eli can go in the swings now and he LOVES it. Look how happy he is. He started chewing on the straps to his hat so we had to put the paci in (he also tried to eat the swing seat).

Aiden is definitely asserting his independence lately. He's such a good boy most of the time. He can get pretty whiney, especially at night but normally he is great during the day. He cleans up his toys, puts his shoes away, gets Eli toys, etc. We are really blessed with him although it's been a lot of work on our part too. He wants to go on the big boy part of the playground my himself and says "no" to us if we start to follow him. In the picture below, he is going over the scary bridge by himself. All the holes freak him out I think but he still wants to go on it. There isn't much that scares him on the playground and he is SO GOOD about not going to the edges of parts for the big kids that he can fall/jump off of.
Today we went to church and then walked around our neighbors yards. When Brad got home from work (yes it is Sunday but he had duty) Aiden helped me make baby food for Eli. He's such a good helper.


I am getting ready to give our glider to a friend and I'm psychologically preparing myself for it. I had to take some pictures tonight for sentimental reasons. In the picture below, Eli is feeding himself a bottle with daddy.
After I nursed Eli and we read his night-night book, we press the belly of his angel. He LOVES this part. He always smiles and laughs. Brad was there to catch it for the camera.
The little booger is even posing in the picture below. Eli is still not wanting to crawl at all but he's flopping over a lot more on the floor to get the things he wants. He is also getting better at standing at the play tables. He hates the canned meat baby food but we are starting to give him combination Stage 2 dinners and he loves those. He's still making a mess with mum-mums but is starting to be able to feed himself some puffs which is good.