Thursday, April 24, 2008

Growing Moments

I just love watching Brayden grow up. Just today he's managed to tickle me pink all day long. He's trying to talk with his hands, but he's still figuring out how to make the signs and how they relate to the world around him. He's been going up and down stairs (when he's not holding my hands) by crawling. Somewhat awkardly, I might add. He even crawls over uneven ground - he knows he can't walk over it yet. But this afternoon he learned that he can sit on a step and go down to the next one on his bottom instead of turning around and backing down. And he was so funny playing in the front yard. He's getting more adventerous. He'll go into the other side of the yard and even into the driveway where he discovered there's nifty-frito dirt to play with. We took his riding lion outside and he kept finding neat things in the yard and putting them on the seat of the lion and pushing them around. Then Brandon came over for some math help and while he was here, he called my phone from his and I put it on speaker and handed it to Brayden. Brayden was fascinated that Brandon's voice was coming out of the phone and he just lit up walking around with the phone and talking up a storm! I got some good video of it. I'll have to get a cord and upload it to post here. It may be a few days, though. And then tonight, as I was giving him a bath, he discovered that pouring water back into the bath is losing its appeal, but pouring water over the side of the tub and watching Mommy lunge and squeal is hilarious! Then he started pouring the water down his tummy and giggling like crazy. He would look at me like he was looking for confirmation that it was indeed funny, then he would kick his legs and rock back and let loose. Again, I got cute video.

I have decided that I need to take more video of him. I like still shots and all, but as a child, I remember being fasinated with seeing videos of myself. Much more so than flipping through photo albums of still shots of moments I didn't really remember. I mean, there's an egomaniac hiding in each one of us, and that's only multiplied a hundred fold with kids. I also want to start going through all the video I've taken since I got my video camera and edit them onto VHSs. I may make a tape for each of the grandparents to have. Especially Eli's parents since they don't get to see much of Brayden. I'll let you know how it goes.

~Liz

Monday, April 21, 2008

A Step Up in the World

Eli called me with good news today. He got a little promotion. It's not really a promotion so much as a step up. Since he started, he's been working in the yard, which is the bottom of the totem pole. There are two off-site locations, one is in the mall, and one is an old K-Mart building they call the EDC (I think). Anyway, Eli got moved out of the yard and into the EDC. It shows that they trust him enough to not feel the need to watch over him all the time. He'll keep his cubical in Krebs with all the other IT personnel, but he'll also have a office at the EDC building. I'm really proud of him!

Eli and I went to the ballet Sunday. They did Carnival of the Dance. It was really cute. It was geared toward little kids. Before they got into the Carnival, they did the shade (spirit) scene from La Bayadère and the Puss in Boots and White Cat pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty. The Sleeping Beauty pas de deux was as cute as I remember, but I was sorely dissappointed in the shade scene. The dance itself is such a beautiful and elegant expression that's all about the graceful lines of the arabesque and the cambré. But the dancers simply didn't have the control necessary. It looked sloppy and uncoordinated. The Carnival I have never seen before, but it was extremely cute. Full of bright colors and animals.

So, on another note, Brayden is picking up more of the sign language I've been really working on in the last week or two. Just this afternoon, Brayden wanted down out of his booster seat. Normally he hits the table and yells. And every time I ask him what he wants? And I say ALL DONE, DOWN and sign it. And then I take his hands and make him sign it. Well today, I asked if he wanted ALL DONE, DOWN, and as I was reaching for his hands, he signed it himself! I'm really very excited. I'd rather hear him speak, but if I can get him to communicate with his hands instead of yelling, I'll take it for now.

I know there was something else I wanted to say. In fact, it was the reason I got online to post, but I can't remember. Mommy brain and all that. If I remember, I'll come back later.

~Liz

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Bit of an Update

Well, I'm finally well and Eli's on the mend. Eli got some stomach virus a couple days ago and we ended up taking him to the ER in the middle of the night. But he's starting back on solids and his nausea's gone.

The couple next door just had a baby boy last week. I hate that I've lived next door to Ryan and Katy for two years now and never introduced myself. So I went over last night to take them a casserole and cupcakes and got to see little Cooper. He's precious. He weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz. Katy looks like she's doing well.

There's really not much else happening around here. My Grandmother finished knitting my sweater Wednesday. It's just beautiful and so very soft! I'm going today to find some pretty beads to go on the end of the ties and I'll post pictures of it when I've finished blocking it. In knitting news I've been working on Sharon's baby booties. I have one finishes and they're turning out great. I'm also working on a top for my Mom and an afghan for my Mother-in-law. I made a mistake on the afghan and hadn't put in lifelines. I ended up having to rip it out (only 16 rows thankfully) and start over. You can bet I'm putting in lifelines this time! I'll post some previews when I get a little farther along. It's very intricate.

Well, I'm going to get Brayden dressed and get out of the house for a bit. I'll post more later. The ballet's Sunday and I'll try to get some pictures.

~Liz

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

So, the morning after my last post Brayden woke up with a fever of 105. When I took him into the doctor I found out he had a double ear infection. My poor little man. On top of which I gave him a couple bites of the egg and he has a touch of food poisoning, too.

Here's everyone's warning to be careful how long you leave your Easter eggs out of the refridgerator. Because I left mine out a bit too long. So when I ate them yesterday (out of the fridge), I got violently ill with food poisoning. So ill, in fact, that I vomited, which anyone who knows me well knows I NEVER do. If I had found someone to come sit with the baby, I was going to have Eli drive me to the hospital. I have never been so miserable in my whole life. It's been over 24 hours, and I'm still ill. I'm so fortunate to have good friends! Shirley, to whom I haven't spoken in months, came over this morning after I texted her asking for help. She looked after Brayden while I slept. She even cleaned my kitchen! I mean, cleaned, as in cleaner than it's been in months. She took him with her when she went to pick her son up from school and they went back to her house. Eli picked him up on the way home. There just aren't words to express how grateful I am.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

104.8

That was my son's fever when he woke up this morning! That follows a steady climb over the last two days. I have been giving him Tylenol and Motrin simultaneously (thanks for the tip, Erin!) and it brings his fever down to negligible, but if the medicine wears off it just comes back stronger. It's so frusterating! I guess I'm going to start waking him up to give him medicine in the night. He's just waking up too hot. At least he seems to be feeling better today. He's more active and happy and has an appetite. Maybe it's a sign that the fever will break soon. I sure hope so. Because if I see the thermometer hit 105 I think I'll have a heart attack!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

So, I'm finally here to do my Easter post. I know, I know, it's been over a week. But we've all been sick (in fact, we're all still sick) and I just haven't had the energy to upload pictures and clean them up so I could make a post. But I got all my (very minimal) editing done this morning and I'm ready to roll.

To start off the weekend, on Friday afternoon we headed over to Eli's parents house for the night. It was so nice to get to visit with them. They live just far enough away that we don't get over there but every so often. Saturday was Markus' first birthday and the party was in the front yard. I was really cute. It was nautical themed and Erin did really well with the decorations. She had the cutest little touches that I would have never come up with. I wish I had gotten some pictures, but I was videoing instead. The birthday boy looked like he had tons of fun digging into his cake. And Helen helped Markus open his presents. Actually, she opened most of his presents without him, but it was cute. After the guests left and we got everything cleaned up, Eli's Dad set up the studio and we did pictures. We haven't had pictures of all three of us since Brayden was tiny. I'm really excited to see how they look.

We headed back to Mobile that evening and went to my mother's to dye Easter eggs. It was tons of fun! We had six dozen eggs. Yes, six dozen. We only lost a few. We had six kinds of dye. We combined a couple to get stronger dye, gave Brayden a couple cups of his own, and we had stuff to make them glitter, tie dye, and egg stencils. It was quite a spread. Little man was so covered in dye by the end of it! I wasn't able to get it all off for Easter the next morning. Here's some highlights.








Brayden's Corner (the blue and green egg on the far side of the egg carton are Brayden's very own works of art)


Our finished products

Sunday morning we got up and headed to church in time to see the butterflys released. It's an Easter tradition that every year Ms Candy gets caterpillars and puts them on display several weeks before Easter. It lets the kids watch them as they transform and then they release them on Easter morning. This year they were housed in individual boxes so each child could release a butterfly. Daddy helped Brayden set a butterfly free while I got some cute shots. Brayden was more interested in the wrapping than what was inside.











I wish I had gotten a good shot of Brayden in his little outfit, but it was too cold and by the time church was over, he was so tired. I suppose now that it's warmer I'll get him dressed and go to the church to get a few pictures.

After Brayden's nap Mom, Clint, and Michelle came over to do a little Easter egg hunt (one for Brayden, and one for the older kids) and watch Brayden open his basket. He racked up this year. He was totally more into the chocolate than the toys. Now I have to get Eli into the front yard one Saturday to build a frame to hang his new swing from. Brayden's just loved his new bath toys. He thinks the fishing set is just hilarious.







Well, that's about it. We've been working on getting over this virus and I've been planning my Aunt Sharon's baby shower. I'm really having a lot of fun. I'll give you all the details later.

~Liz