Mandatory Family Fun

The last few weeks have been very challenging.  In my last post, I was excited to share our baby news, and in this post, I'm sad to write that we have lost our precious baby at 16.5 weeks.  I'm not going to go into details because it's too difficult to document, but one day I will.  I know that miscarriage and child loss is taboo to talk about, but I think it's important to remember the little babies we will never meet, but care so much for in our hearts.

With that, we decided it was mandatory family fun time.  So....we have been keeping busy with outings to the Michigan Science Center in Detroit (Go if you can, it's an amazing place!), the Ann Arbor Hands on and the ultimate in mandatory family fun......Sesame Street Live with backstage passes!!!  All of these were especially fun, but I will never forget the look on Eli's face when he saw Elmo in person!  I thought for sure he'd be scared, since he has resisted Santa and others, but NOPE!  He was pulling on Ben's arm trying to run to Elmo.  Our camera lash was broken right when we needed it not to be, so the photos are fuzzy, but through the fuzz, you will see the look of a very happy little boy!  It was so worth the money!

I'm going to leave you with lots of happy photos, but first, I just want to mention that we have amazing friends and family that we have needed support from and to those people, we will never be able to express what that has meant to us.  THANK YOU!

This is for my dad and brother:) 

His face the entire show!

E couldn't take his eyes off the characters

Sick kiddo gets royal treatment....blanket, iPad and pillow while hanging in his wagon:)

Changes......

Things are changing at a rapid rate for Eli's these days.  Aubrey and Dustin are moving and her last day with Eli was last Tuesday and our new nanny started last week.  Dominique is great with him and I know they are going to be good buddies.  This is a huge change for him since Aubrey has been with him since he can remember.  It's going to take a while for him to stop asking for her and of course Kiya the puppy.  

Along with the new nanny, we are still in the process of bottle breaking Eli.  While we haven't transitioned away just yet (he only gets a bottle and nap time and bed time), he is now just taking a water bottle.  This is a huge step for him since he's also grown very attached to a milk bottle.  I think this is probably a hard change because he thinks of his bottle like another child would think about a pacifier.  He just used the bottle for soothing when he wakes up and falls asleep.  We're taking baby steps since so much is changing.

And the final thing that's changing is that he's going to be a big brother!  Yep, he's going to have a little baby brother or sister come late July!  We're expecting our new little one around July 29th and find out what we are having March 5th!  We're 15 weeks!  So, stay tuned:)  Eli is going to be such a wonderful big brother, he is so smart and sweet and he's going to be able to teach the new little one so many things!

This is a lot of change for Eli, and for us, baby steps is working wonders.  

Eli has started to like taking pictures with the iPhone....I take the picture and looks at the results of the picture.  I remember Madison and Mackenzie loving to do this too:)

 

Ghostie:)

Lunch with the whole family at Frankenmuth

Smiling for Dominique, the new nanny!

You can have fun with a box

Arts and Crafts with Dominique!

Story Time/Activity Time at the Library

Stickers rock!

Stickers keep me happy for hours!

Hello?  Nana, will you come visit me:)

This is going to be an antique phone when he grows up!

Playing with the train table at Toys R Us

Did you know that Lowes has awesome baskets with a handle and wheels?  We didn't either, but we spent at a minimum of 45 minutes with him wheeling that basket around.  Eli is going to grow up thinking Lowe's is a place to play since Aubrey used to take him there so he could admire the lights for hours, and now this!

Inspecting the cabinets at Lowes!

  

At the Henry Ford Museum exploring the combine:)

 

Lego Exhibit

At the Henry Ford - Era's of planes seating

Simulating driving an old Model T

This might have been a mistake. I had to use the restroom and came out to find this happening.  Needless to say, Eli made a beeline to all of the drinking fountains because this was so fun!

Awesome Steam Locomotives at the Henry Ford

More legos!

He could have stood and watched the trains for hours!

He LOVED all of the cars:)

His future house!

More legos.....we were building a house for Riley!

These little buckets from Ikea I bought for storing small items were a huge hit, but Eli doesn't know they aren't toys!