Eli's Cruising!

The past few weeks haven't been all that interesting, we've just been out and about enjoying the fantastic weather we've been having!  Eli is starting to point at things, so we are encouraging him to do so by making sure we explain the things he's pointing at with the hopes that he'll recognize the words we are using.  I think it might be starting to work because while Eli and I were at Target this past week, we were in the kitty litter isle and Eli pointed to the box and sounded out "caaa".  Because I'm raising a prodigy, I know for sure he was saying cat (wink, wink:)).  I was taken back by it because he was right, he was pointing to the yellow cat on the box!  I didn't believe it the first time, but he repeated it over and over.  It was one of my latest proudest moments!  Funny enough, I decided to take Eli down the dog food isle because he's been pointing at dog's a lot, so I just assumed he would say something like "da da", but no such luck.  Looks like Eli's going to be a cat guy:)

Today, Eli and I were in the guest room as a change of venue, and he was cruising a long the bed and I was lucky enought to be videoing him and got a great first video of him walking!!  Enjoy all the video's and photo's!

This is the first time Eli has just fallen asleep on the floor......

What comes with nice weather?

This weather has been amazing (amazingly odd, but we'll take it), so what do we do when it's warm out? We meet friends at the park, eat meals outside and go for long stroller rides! When Eli was born, he made it known he was an outdoor baby. He would cry and cry, but the minute you stepped outside, he was quiet. We spent many naps in the rocking chair out on our porch because that was the only way I could get him to sleep. These days, Eli still loves to be outdoors!!! He apparently also knows what to do when a camera is pointing at him (based in the photos you will see below). At this point, Eli is "cruising", or walking along structures and transferring from things like the coffee table to the couch. It's quite impressive for an almost 10 month old. In the video below, you can see his favorite car that Nana got for him. He pushed that little wind up car all over the place, I worry one of these days the rubber band inside is going to snap since he winds it up so much.

Saturday was St. Patrick's day, and Aunt Monica's birthday!! How did we celebrate???? That's right, we went to a mom-to-mom sale and found a new wardrobe for Eli at all of our favorite stores!! As it turns out, this unseasonably warm weather has left us scrambling to find clothesline operate for the weather! It also doesn't help that his sizes are all over the map. He is wearing some pants that are 3-6 months and the pants that are 6-12 months are great in length, but fall off his waist. Either way, Eli now has some clothes that are weather appropriate:)

Playing in the tunnel at Jungle Java

Eli and Grant (Ben and Michael)

Ben, Eli, Sally, Ellie, Michael, Grant

Eli and Ellie

BBQ with Dustin and Aubrey (does he know what to do for a camera or what?)

Did anything end up in his belly?

Lunch outside

Me??

Is this a good signature model pose?

Going for a walk in his Kermit shirt on St. Patty's day

Day after St. Patty's day

Hi mama!

Lunch outside at Buffalo Wild Wings

Off to the park

Eli and Colin having a snack at the park

Do I really have to leave my baby?

The time finally came when I had to leave my baby overnight (thankfully for just one night).  I had to fly out to New York for a client meeting and although I know Ben is 100% capable of taking care of Elijah and is the best dad in the world to him, I was still completely nervous the entire time.  It was a good thing for me to take this step, however I'm not sure I want to leave him anytime in the near future.  While Eli stayed home with dad, he got to go to Jungle Java and hang out with Nana.  I got to attend my meeting and it turned out the former World Trade Center site was literally right outside my hotel window.  We stayed at the Millennium Hotel down near Wall Street.  I snapped some photo's from my window.  One of the highlights of the trip was that we had dinner at Rosa Mexicano and it was amazing! 

Memorial Fountain

Memorial Fountain

New Construction

Freedom Tower

Sunday, we had phenomenal weather for March.  With a high of 64, we knew a walk and trip to the park were in order.  You'll see some photo's of the fun we had:) 

Yeah Mom, keep pushing me and taking my picture!

More!

This is so much fun!

Playing a few notes on the keyboard!

YUM.....Milk and Cheerio's!

All that swinging made me thirsty!

Cool bubbles!!



Friday, Elijah has his 9 month checkup.  I don't often need Ben to go with me, but today, I wanted him there.  I feel like Elijah now understands what's going on around him and I was't sure if I could do it on my own.  Well.....I couldn't have, I am so glad that Ben was there.  First and foremost, Elijah is a happy, healthy, active baby!  Stats as follows:

Height: 28 and 1/2 inches (53%)
Weight: 17 pounds and 4 ounces (4%)
Head: 17 and 1/2

We knew Elijah was a little light on the weight, however the doctor says he's OK.  He's just a very active baby and is burning more calories than he is taking in.  It's certainly not for lack of eating that Eli is light, the boy eats everything we put in front of him!  At this point, he is becoming so independent that we just put his bottle in his play area and let him drink at his leisure.  He also prefers finger foods to us spoon feeding him.  I'm not sure I'm OK with this because I just want to do everything for my little guy, but I am happy that he is declaring some independence (who knows, we might be raising a future President of the United States!).  Either way, Eli got a clean bill of health and I got to spend the whole day with him!

Saturday, we spent the morning at the Detroit Dog Show where Eli was the proud recipient of many (MANY) slobbery dog kisses and I'm certain Eli couldn't have been more happy.  While we didn't watch a lot to the "showings", we did a lot of walking around and observing the various types of dogs. 

Sunday, we welcomed a new niece into the world!  Welcome Mae!!  Eli can't wait to meet you! XOXO!

Here are some fun photo's from the past few days (including his 9 month photos that Aubrey took!