A Little Look at Eli

Baby's Profile
3D--He has his left arm up by his face. He looks like Xander!

Looking at the "camera"

A video of some of Eli's movement

I was going to post a belly picture, but it just turned out horribly. You can definitely tell I'm pregnant now, though. We'll work on getting a good picture.

Mischief and More

So was I flipping through pictures on my camera, deleting some that were already uploaded, when I came across this:

So that's why all the movies were pushed back in the cabinet. I'm still waiting to hear the story on this one!

My attempt at a creative lunch: a cheese, wheat thin and carrot train, the conductor and choo-choo chex mix. Too bad he won't eat much of anything else.

This is Kung Fu Panda. I was going to give him noodles, but Xander informed me that pandas eat bamboo. We also made Master Shifu with just carrots. The panda is made from a grilled cheese sandwich.

And oh look, a Tiger Cub Scout! He now has his immediate recognition badge/emblem thingy on his pocket for knowing the Scout sign, salute and motto: Do your best! Tonight he also demonstrated that he knows the promise and the law, which means he's on his way to getting his Bobcat badge and neckerchief. (I really hope I have this right.)

A Mother of Boys

So now that I know I will be the mother of boys for the rest of my life, I have to figure out God's reason for it. I also just have to make the most of it. I may not get to buy cute little pink things with flowers and butterflies and ballet slippers. I may not ever get to play with a dollhouse, have a tea party, go to a ballet recital or help my daughter plan her wedding, but there are plenty of things that I will get to do or have in my life that mothers of just girls probably won't.

1. Not worry about them being dirty--they're boys!
2. Have matchbox cars and monster trucks lined up down the hallway
3. Dress them as their favorite superheroes for Halloween
4. Have people that will always kill spiders for me
5. Know the names of all superheroes, villians, transformers, Cars and GI Joes and be a super mom because of it
6. Watch them earn their Eagle Scout badge (if they make it that far)
7. Have Transformer fights and wrestling and tickling matches on the living room floor, with the coffee table moved out of the way, of course
8. Let my husband think that we will one day have a rock wall and zip line over out living room--yeah, he's crazy!
9. Not freak out when they fall down, or even if they are bleeding from the head. Been there, done that--head wounds bleed a lot!
10. Listen to his hopes and dreams as he grows up and falls in love and decides to propose to a girl
11. Have a daughter-in-law
12. Dance with my boys at their weddings--with Zack to "What a Wonderful World," with Xander to "My Wish," and I haven't figured out Eli's yet.
13. See my children become fathers, hope that they can do as well as their Daddy is doing.
14. Not have to worry when we are outside and they have to pee
15. Have boys that will always love me because I am their mother!!

Wordless Wednesday (a day late)

Alphabet Adventures: H

H is for...horses, heights, hopping, hot and heavy (on pictures)!!

Yes, this post is quite heavy on pictures, so I'm going to try to make it light on words. The first set was at Knightdale Community Day. The highs were in the upper 80's and we walked to the park for the festivities, making the hot part.

Heights--Mark and Xander at the top of the slide
Zack climbing up, posing and hopping down the slide

Horses--Xander saw them and told me he wanted to ride the horses. I told him they were ponies, and he said, "Actually Mommy, we can call them horses."

Hot--can you see it on their cheeks?

Hopping--Zack was waiting in line for the rock wall with Gramma and Daddy, and Xander wanted to visit the bounce house obstacle course thingy.

Heights again--gearing up for the rock wall. He was so determined that he was going to push the button at the top, but he slipped off at about 8 or 10 feet. He was having a hard time finding good foot holds, or he was too short to reach him. We were proud that he gave it a good go!!

Hello animals--petting a fox (some kind of fox, maybe pygmy)

Hello millipede, which he actually touched--the thing was about a foot long!

Hello tortoise!

Hello opossum! Hero--Xander and Zack the firefighters!

Our next stop was at our church's 8th Annual International Food and Music Festival. I guess the h word here is hungry? We tried food from the Philippines, Jamaica, Italy and some cajun stuff. I had jambalaya for the first time and loved it!! Here's the boys playing a few games in the hot, Indian summer sun!!

Alphabet Adventures: I

I is for...Bug Fest? Actually insects...mostly.

We took the boys to Bug Fest at the natural history museum. It was so hot that day!! Here's Zack and Xander with Herby!! Zack loves watching the movies at Gramma's house.

Inside the museum, there were lots of places for bug encounters, but it was so crowded and hotter inside than outside! After a potty break, Zack got to hold a praying mantid. Xander was looking at and touching some mole crickets.

This insect-arium (?) had TONS of little bugs!! Ladybugs, inchworms, gnats, crickets, and I don't even know what else. They were pretty fascinated!

They don't look too excited in this picture. Xander wasn't really sure what all the excitement was about, but when Zack was interested in something, Xander was too.

There's a caterpillar at the far left of this picture. This was the part that Xander absolutely LOVED!! They had all kinds of caterpillars and some butterflies to look at and even touch. They even had one that was about 4 inches long with red spikes on its head. They said it was native to North Carolina, too! I couldn't imagine finding one of those in my garden!

I had fun with my macro function on my camera and caught some good pics of caterpillars and butterflies. Here's a swallowtail butterfly. It had been injured somehow--so sad.

Xander

This was after we went to Jordan Lake. Xander didn't fall asleep until we were 10 minutes from home. Mark left him in the car (it wasn't too hot) while he cleaned it out. When he finally brought him inside, he put him on the bean bag chair, where he slept for another hour or so. He even slept right through me using the food processor to chop pecans!!

This is what happens when a certain mommy isn't feeling well or is tired or something and a certain 3-year-old decides to get his own lunch.

Xander started preschool a couple weeks ago!! This was him on his first day. When we got his bookbag, he was really excited to bring to school to show his friends. And he was telling everyone about his new bookbag. But when it came time for Mommy and Daddy to leave, he wasn't too excited anymore. He wanted me to stay and read to him. Eventually Daddy gave it a try and I stepped outside the door. The first thing he said to me when I picked him up was, "I didn't want you to leave." AWWWW!! The second day was fine, but this past week I dropped him off in the carpool lane. He really didn't like the idea of that, and he keeps saying, "I not going to school any. more." He'll grow into it, though, right?