I can't believe the weekend is already over, it seems like it just began!  Yesterday, we had a play date with Colin Avondet (Nick and Bethany) at Jungle Java and they boys had so much fun!  I can't wait until Eli just really just run around that place!  He has fun watching other kids and I feel like every time we do something like this, he learns a ton by watching, then comes home and practices what he witnessed!  Either way, here are some shots of the boys!


Sunday (today), we met my family up in Frankenmuth to have lunch at the Bavarian Inn.  This place is the setting for so many memories in my life and I love going back to create new memories.  I think the last memory I have of being at Frankenmuth is with my Grandma Strauss.  I swear she would starve herself for a week and then eat like crazy there!  Anyway, Grandpa Strauss, Grandma Beard, Uncle Joey, Aunt Wendy, cousins Madison and Mackenzie, Uncle Derek and family friend Martha Cooper all had lunch and had a great time!  I think my favorite memory captured today is seeing my dad and Eli having their own few minutes looking at the photo's on the wall upstairs at the restaurant.  I made sure I snapped a picture! 

Enjoy some new photo's and videos!

 Grandpa Strauss and Eli

Grandpa Strauss, Mackenzie, Eli, Madison and Grandma Beard

Colin and Eli

Ben, Eli and Colin

Eli's Playdate with Grant!

Thursday, Eli and Aubrey headed over to our neighbors house to hang out with Grant and his mom, Lea:)  Although I couldn't be there to experience the fun that Eli and Grant had, Lea was a sweetheart and capture some very precious moments between the boys!  Grant just turned one on January 12th, so the boys aren't that far apart and age and something tells me they are going to be life long friends!

 

What's up, Dog

For the first time in a long time, we had a pretty boring weekend (and we LOVED every minute of it!).  Saturday was very cold, so we decided to take Elijah to the mall and stroll around.  Ben ended up finding a cute t-shirt for Eli, hence the picture below....I usually don't buy him shirts with sayings on them, but when they are funny we make an exception!  The second video is of Eli pulling himself up....in his crib on his bumper.  Before you judge us as parents, the bumper has saved Eli from many concussions, in my own opinion. Enjoy!



Eastern Market, First Tooth, Pulling up to Standing, Painting the House....

What have we been up to???  Well, it's been a busy last few weeks.  Two weeks ago, we decided it was nice enough to go downtown Detroit to the Eastern Market.  Basically it's a big open market with fresh fruits, veggies, meats, flowers, etc.  It's funny because it's not in the best area, but it's such a cool area.  When we were there, we felt like we were in a different state at a swap meet.  We had tons of fun, and of course Eli made lots of friends.  After that, we went of to the Detroit Beer Company and had a delicious lunch.  You can't beat their grilled cheese and tomato bisque soup on a chilly, yet unseasonably warm day! 

So last Saturday, I was standing in line at Sherwin Williams with Eli waiting for our paint when he began to fuss.  When I bent down to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to him, I noticed his first tooth had finally popped through!!!  Yeah!  It is confirmed, the reason he didn't want to sleep was because of this and we could do something about it:)  I don't have any pictures of it just yet since he's kind of sensitive about us touching his mouth, but pictures to follow.  Right on the heals of this tooth is his next tooth!  So, he now has his lower left and possibly in the next week top left!

Other than his teeth, Eli has been busy pulling himself up on his toys.  Yep, pulling himself to standing, unbelievable!  I don't yet have a video of that since I'm paranoid that he's going to fall if I don't spot him, but in due time!

We have been joking that Eli likes to crawl under his jumperoo and into his "fort".  For some reason, he LOVES being under the jumperoo!  In the video below, you will see him under the jumperoo along with the fact that he knows what a camera is and what to do in front of it!  I guess that's what happens when his nanny is a professional photographer!

Lastly, we have finally finished painting the last room of the house!  Below you will see what a fantastic job Ben and Dustin did (thanks Dustin!).  Along with that, so nice shots of Eli and his daddy and what the finished product looks like!  Enjoy:)

 

Some fun videos!

Here are a couple of video that will satisfy your Eli-fix!

The rest of staycation and then some.....

Last year, we were in New Orleans for NYE celebrating Andi and Ed's wedding!  We had the most magnificent time, however, Ben and I agree that staying in and watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin was awesome.  I was pregnant, so there was no chance of us going out to Bourbon Street with the crazy cousins:)  Either way, we decided it would be fun to do that again this year!  We first went to a neighbor's house for a little party and then around 8:00 we walked (yes, walked...it was surprisingly warm out!) home.  Dustin, Ben and I enjoyed our time ringing in the new year on our couch watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin!

New Years Day and then the final day of staycation were very low key, we hung around the house and got some much needed chores done.

So, Tuesday was quite possible the most amazing day I’ve had thus far with Elijah and it happened all within just a few moments.  We bought him the Zany Zoo activity cube for Christmas and it’s a pretty heavy block of wood.  He and I were sitting on the floor playing with the little spinning blocks on the side when all of a sudden he grabbed the metal pipes on the top and lifted up his body.  He’s done this before, don’t get me wrong.  The only difference this time was that I let him try it on his own, and wouldn’t you know, he did it all on his own!!  I could tell he was very proud of himself based on the enormous smile on his face!  He was beaming, as was I!  Then, he did what I didn’t expect and that was to turn to me with his gummy, drolly smile and kissed me!  Not just once, but he did this on three separate occasions throughout the night!  I had just read that this could happen, but I didn’t think it would ever happen!  I think this is the first time I’ve felt like Elijah knows who I am to him. 

On a separate note:  Eli is a super crawler…especially when he spots Riley (the family, unfriendly cat!) 

Here are some additional pictures for you to enjoy:)

 Madison and Mackenzie

 Madison and Eli

 Mackenzie and Eli

Aunt Wendy and Eli