Happy 3rd Birthday Elisha!!!!

Happy Birthday Elisha!

This has been a big year for you, with lots of changes and firsts! This year you got potty trained. You moved from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a big boy bed, on the bottom bunk, below Noah. You had your first trip to the ER after you fell down our front steps. You got 7 stitches in your chin and you were so brave and tough and didn't cry or whine at all while they put the stitches in, or a week later when the doctor took the stitches out. You went to the beach for the first time ever and LOVED playing in the sand. This year your oldest brother went to school and so you got more personalized time with me than ever before. And then your baby brother was born and you became a big brother yourself. You wanted to go to school too so when we started going to MOPS monthly I told you it was your school and you were so proud to go to "school" and carry your own bag in. We moved across the city this year into a new house and neighborhood. You have handled all of these changes so well.

This year you have developed such a sweet bond with your daddy. I love to see you two together. You two are special buddies and you probably prefer him to me most of the time.

Noah is your best friend. You two play together most of the time we are home, or out at parks. You two make up your own games (like "beating the people"-whatever that is) and imaginary worlds and have so much fun. Like most brothers you two bicker a lot also, but you two are usually pretty quick to apologize, forgive and move on. Each morning when Noah wakes up and comes out of your room (you tend to get up 30-60 minutes earlier than him) you cheer his name so happily and loudly. You love to see him and have him around. You do the same thing when he comes home from school.

You love Zeke so much. You love to give him hugs and kisses. You love to make him laugh. You are so excited to see him each morning and want to hold him. Whenever I burp him after nursing you want to help and you slap him on the back.

As of late, it seems that hitting is becoming your love language. You like to wrestle and be rough. You are brave and not intimidated by bigger kids. You often try to tackle, push or play rough with others. You learned this from all of the time you spend wrestling with your daddy and Noah, but now we need to solidify in you that there is a time and place for wrestling and not everyone likes to play like that.

Your daddy often says that you have the perfect personality because you are so laid back and easy going but not a pushover and you have no problem standing up for yourself. You are rough and tough yet still sensitive.

You love to help. You like carrying groceries in from the car. When you make a spill on your own initiative you will find a towel or napkin and clean it up. You like to help me cook, do laundry or help with projects I am working on. You are a doer.

I'd say that touch and time with are your love languages. Touch in that you like contact with others, whether it's rough housing or snuggling, touch seems to fill you. Your daddy and I laugh at how obvious it is the words of affirmation is not your love language. We tell you we love you and tell you great things we see in you and none of this seems to phase you very much.

You seem to be on the introverted side. You are happy to play by yourself for long periods of time, not needing or wanting constant interaction with others. Since your older brother is so extremely extroverted you get very little time to yourself though. He is constantly engaging you in some type of activity with him.

You are a pretty good eater. You eat almost all fruits and many veggies including broccoli, carrots, cucumbers and corn on the cob. You like chicken, cheese, turkey burgers and most snack foods. Your favorite dinners are mac and cheese, pizza and chicken nuggets.

Your favorite thing to do is probably to dig in the dirt with your diggers. You also love to go watch all the machines at work at "struction" sites. You like to color and do playdoh. You like to go for walks and play on playgrounds. You love to play with bubbles and sidewalk chalk. You like to do puzzles, play hide and go seek, read books and feed the ducks. Your favorite shows to watch are Bubble Guppies, Julius Jr. and Daniel Tiger.

You know the alphabet, colors, shapes and the names of all big trucks or construction equipment. You talk so well and formulate such good sentences. You still have a bit of a toddler lisp saying certain words and I love the way you say "dee-wish-ous" (delicious) and "gabaw" (grandma).

You were named after two prophets, Elisha and Samuel. We believe that you have a deep gift of wisdom. I believe that you are going to be a peace keeper. You are strong and steady and not easily swayed by emotions and I believe that you will bring that sense of steadiness everywhere you go. You bring so much joy and fun to our family and we all love you so very much!

Happy 2nd Birthday Elisha!!!!

I can't believe you are 2 years old! The time has flown by!

Elisha, you are such a joy to your daddy, brother and me.

You are so fun and sweet. You are my little snuggle bear and I love our hour of snuggle time each morning and all of the random hugs that you give me each day. You are brave yet still aware of what you are doing and almost cautious. You are confident. Some of our friends having characterized you as having swagger, and I couldn't agree more. You walk around confident and comfortable in different situations like you are comfortable in your own skin and not easily intimidated by others. You are tough physically and take injuries and harassment from your brother with such grace, yet you are a little on the softer side emotionally. You are such a helper. If you hear me open the dishwasher you come running into the room to help me unload it. If you make a spill you grab a towel and try to clean it up. You are more of an introvert, completely happy to play by yourself for long periods of time, although your extremely extroverted older brother doesn't give you much time to yourself. You love babies and want to engage and show physical affection to them all. You are going to be an amazing big brother to our little baby! You have THE best smile in the world, your eyes squint completely shut as your big grin crunches up you entire face. Overall you are a very happy, laid back, easy going little guy. You are so much fun, so happy and easy going and you make each person in our family laugh everyday.

We almost never call you Elisha. We often call you Eli, but more than anything these days we call you E.

We recently moved you from two naps to only one afternoon nap and you don't seem to care either way. Each night while you're watching your evening show we tell you it's bed time and you pause your show and run straight to your room waiting for us to put you in your crib. You immediately lay face down and we almost never hear another peep out of you from that point on. You and Noah share a room and yet somehow both good to bed so quickly and quietly (even with all of your toys in the room). We have yet to have problems getting y'all to go to sleep or needing to keep you from interacting with each other.

You are talkative and babble a lot, as well as have a good vocabulary of words. I love the way that you yell "NO-ah" each morning when your brother wakes up and walks into the room (about an hour after you get up). You are always so excited and happy to see him. You two really are best friends and love each other and look out for each other. If one of you gets a snack or treat you are adamant on making sure that the other one receives one also.

You love to read books, draw and color, play outside and go for walks. You have a few favorite shows right now, mainly Bubble Guppies and Creative Galaxy with some Yo Gabba Gabba and Tumbleleaf thrown in there as well. You enjoy playing with trucks and cars and old Mardis Gras throws that light up. You love dogs and animals and point to them all, but tend to be a little timid about getting too close to them and very cautious if petting them.

You are a pretty good eater. You eat almost all fruits, assorted veggies, beans, eggs, cheese, chicken, sausage and most types of snacks or sweets. You eat all of the time yet don't seem to grow very much either up or out, you've been roughly the same size for the entire last year.

 

You are quickly learning so much and can count to 5 on your own and can recite the alphabet one at a time after us if we say each letter first. You know a few colors (mainly red, yellow and blue) but you don't get them right 100% of the time.

Over the next few months we are going to start transitioning you to potty training and to sleeping in a big boy bed rather than a crib so that you are ready for the arrival of your little brother.

 

You love it when garbage trucks drive down our street and (much to my dismay) you have learned how to open our door and lean out to watch as the trucks go by.

 

You are such a great combination of a sweet nature... thoughtful and caring and yet rough, tough, silly and "all boy". You have a disposition of wisdom about you that we can already see at this young age. You are thoughtful and discerning. You are going to do great things, you were destined for them. You are going to be a peace keeper... level headed, unemotional yet with a deep caring for others. We believe in you and are your biggest fans. I'm so honored to get to be your mom and get a front row seat to watch the as you continue to learn who you are and who God created you to be and to watch you thrive.

 

 

13 months

 

So I'm a little late (2 weeks) on posting this, but better late than never and Elisha is doing so many cute things right now that I really want to remember but will probably forget in a few months.

 

Eli is at such a fun age right now and has such a fun personality.  For the most part he's a very happy, laid back, easy going kid... unless it's close to nap time and you take away something he wants, then he violently throws himself onto the floor with no regard for his own safety.

 

He has been walking for 3 months now and is completely stable.  He walks with purpose back and forth across our house, often dragging a chair or toy along for the ride.  As he walks he usually keeps his left arm bent and keeps his right arm straight, swinging it dramatically as he walks. (I've wondered if this is his own thing, or mimicking me, cause I normally have my purse on one arm at the elbow and keep that arm bent while the other hangs down.)  He walks with his big chest out, and feet slightly turned in and plows through anything in his way.

 

He loves to play peekaboo and will do it over and over again with the greatest laugh I have ever heard.  He loves to eat and seems to always be wanting to do so.  He has just recently started showing an interest in books, and I often find him in a corner with a pile of books next to, or on top of him.  He still loves to play with balls, they are probably his favorite toy.  He throws them, catches (sometimes) and races around retrieving them.  He brings us his shoes all day long until we take him on a walk or adventure.  He frequently throws toys in the bath tub and comes to me trying to tug his shirt off signaling that he wants to take a bath. 

 

Just within the last week or two he has learned to climb onto and off of the couch all by himself and he is quite proud of this accomplishment.

 

He has the best curls along the back of his head.  And they only get better when it's humid or when he gets hot and sweaty.  They tightly curl up into little ringlets leaving this mama powerless against them.

He is starting to say some words other than mama and dada.  Mainly "do" every time he sees a dog, "nana" for banana and a few others.  He is also getting good at communicating his point, pointing at things and grunting until we understand what he is trying to get across.  We can also hold up food or toy items and ask him if he wants them and he will aggressively shake his head yes or no.

He loves to help me put laundry in the dryer, or empty the dishwasher.  He's my little helper.

Him and Noah absolutely adore each other and nothing in the world makes my heart more happy than to watch them play peekaboo, wrestle on the floor or race around the house squealing in delight as they go.

Here was my 13 month post from Noah.

 

Elisha's 1 Year "Play Ball" Birthday Party

Yesterday was Eli's first birthday party.  I went a little low key (by my standards) for this party because he's too young to remember it, or ask for anything specific.  We did the party at Jeremy's parents house because they have a better outdoor space for the kids to play then we do.  And with multiple kids I feel that they tend to do better outside, unless you have a big house, which we do not.

I love a good party theme and chose "Play Ball" for this party.  I could say it's because Eli loves balls, which he does, but my real motivation was a whole bunch of ball noisemakers that my MIL had bought for Noah's first birthday party and then we had forgotten to hand them out as favors, so I think the more accurate answer is that I planned a whole party around some favors that we wanted to get rid of.

Here's a recap of the party;

I made a few basic decorations... these tissue paper tassels and a bunting banner in the colors that I chose for the party

the favors

the cakes... I kept the food themed around ball park food with some sausage balls and spinach balls thrown in

the backyard had all kinds of fun activities set up for kids... a tent, pool, kitchen, soccer goal, basket ball hoop and sandbox

It was a fun party and I think all the kids had a great time.