Bye, bye hair!

I thought I was going to tear up today, taking Eli to get his first haircut - but I didn't! I was a little nostalgic, but then as Doug reminded me, it's not like he's Sampson with a God-ordained command to not cut his hair. Eli liked sitting in the nifty police car seat thingy at the kid's hair cut place, but once the lady with the scissors come over, he became a little suspicious something was going to happen. He did squirm and fuss some for her, but overall she was able to trim up his little rag-a-muffin hair into a Big Boy Hairstyle. And of course, mom (and dad) were on hand with the camera to document every step of the big event! And now have some of his little hair in a tiny ziplock to put in the baby book.

A "before" picture; his hair was starting to curl in the back!

Enjoying sitting in the neat police car!

Look at the scraggly hair around his ears.

Hmmm, what is this lady doing to my head?

Mommy stepped in for some distraction. We were clapping hands (and trying to keep him from grabbing at the scissors!)

The "After" look! Just humor me and tell me what a great difference his haircut made! WE can tell a difference.... :)

All evened up in the back now!

This picture loaded out of order. I included it because E's expression is priceless - this look of, "Daddy rescue me! Look what she's doing!" He made it through the whole hair cut though, just like the big boy he is!

Just Today

The day started out fine and normal; sitting on the couch with eli, watching PBS, taking his morning nap, then off to take pictures of a friend's baby, then lunch with daddy, afternoon nap.....somewhere towards the end of the late afternoon, mommy's nerves began to fray. That awful, checking the clock feeling, waiting for "daddy" to get home and give mom the repreive set in. Doug gets home, we all (including the dogs) go for a short walk, but upon returning home, I was still feeling the need for some downtime. I made sure E had his dinner, then went upstairs for a shower and to do my bible study homework. What is it about moms needing to take a shower for some alone time??? I guess it's one of the very few places you can be alone; even on the potty these days, I have a visitor! Ok, so that was probably gross and all, but yep I said it. Reality ain't always pretty. So anyway, I take a shower, and actually make it kind of cold, finding that refreshing. Then as I was on the bed, reading over my Bible study book, in bounds Maggie, her stomach and legs drenched in mud. There are muddy paw prints and droplets now in the middle of the bedroom, and upon further investigation, on every stair, the wood floors, round carpet in the dining room, and all over the kitchen. Doug is sitting in the den with E, and says he didn't notice she was muddy when he let her in. He started work on cleaning up mud on the stairs, I took her outside and actually hosed her off. There went my "down time." I was so frustrated! Cleaned our bedroom, the wood floors, the kitchen floor; then went ahead and washed all the dishes (did I mention the dishwasher is still broken?!), and mopped the kitchen. Then back upstairs to take ANOTHER shower. And just felt like crying! Doug took care of E with his bath and bedtime. After my second shower, though, we sat downstairs and watched our dvr'd episodes of some new shows. So I guess all's well that ends well, that kind of thing - whatever. At least I'm really clean. Here are a few pictures (straight out of the camera, by the way) of Mr. E from today; while waiting on our friend to get to the park, I snapped a few of Eli. He's so cute.... :)

Look how the wind is blowing that hair! I think we're getting it cut this weekend. He's beginning to look scraggly.

Yep, that's how we crawl.

Nice way to end the day, seeing pics of my sweetheart! Tomorrow is a new day!

E and M

I just can't help taking Eli's picture when he climbs the stairs and sits by Maggie! It's just so sweet and cute.

This expression makes me think E looks like me, or Doug, but I'm not sure which.

Looking down into the dog's food container. Yes, that is E's car. Yes, he dropped it in there. Just makes me laugh so had to take a picture.

I really think he was trying to imitate me using the broom, he was pushing it back and forth. I love seeing his imitation skills come along!

I love the Bathtub

I love my bathtub sooooo much, I climbed in here BY MYSELF, fully clothed, at 9 in the morning, just so I could play with my toys!

My little water bowl

I love how mommy leaves out this little bathtub for me to play with. I love putting my toys in there and getting them all clean. Sometimes I catch the dogs drinking out of this. Don't know why.

Ohhhh, look how it sloshes when I push it!

I think I need to push it some more. I want it overe THERE.

Bummer.

Shoes

99% of the time, Eli is barefoot. During the winter he wore socks of course, and sometimes these cute little brown shoes my mom got for him. I think it bothers grandma that Eli doesn't wear shoes or socks...in my defense, my child care books say that shoes aren't necessary until the child begins walking, and E just likes to pull them off his feet anyway....but when he does wear shoes, they are so stinkin' cute! Recently I have discovered that he must have a wide foot, because a "regular" pair of sneakers I bought a while back don't fit him. I feel like I'm trying to put shoes on a round, build-a-bear foot! Our neighbor Yanett gave us a few pairs of shoes from her son, and the sandals fit perfectly. So now, when he's practicing walking outside, Eli can wear shoes! So just for mom, here is the documented proof that Eli wears shoes (sometimes)!!

Beach Day

We took Eli to the beach for the first time today! He has loved being in the swimming pools this summer, and also enjoys playing in the water in his bathtub. I wonder if he viewed the ocean as one big, dirty bathtub. Hmm. Anyway, he kept crawling into the waves, I would have to stop him from going too far. You would think getting icky water in your face would be enough to stop you from going in that direction, but that was not enough deterrant for our determined little guy! At one point, his Meme (Doug's mom) carried him back to our pop-up shade, while I stayed in the surf with his little cousins. He cried as he was carried away, and when she set him down, he immediately began crawling back to the water! Eventually he did sit in the shade and play with sand and some sand toys. We had such a great time. It was very relaxing, being out in the water (without oil spills!). Definitely will be doing this again next year!

So, this picture won't make the Christmas card or anything, but it's the only one with me in it! I did some creative cropping - much easier than dieting. ;)

Mr. Handyman

Our dishwasher has been on the fritz lately, we're not sure what to do with it. Trying to decide if we should just get a new one or not. At least we have a qualified dishwasher handyman that conveniently lives with us. He gave his input today:

Well, it appears this thingy pulls out ok.

Let's go ahead and take this basket thing out. It's in my way.

The flumminator seems to be working ok.

Now I'm giving it the "beat it with my foot" test. Everything seems to be in working order....

I've got it! It appears the dishwasher needs to be loaded and unloaded by the males in the house, if Mommy does it, it will break again. That should fix it. You can pay me in graham crackers.