All Smiles

Eli is such a happy, smiley baby!

My Boy is all Grown Up!!!

These pictures just don't seem right - he's toooooo big!

In case you're wondering, that's the inside of a play hard hat on his head. He likes to use it as his baseball helmet.

Ethan is just hysterical these days. He definitely keeps us laughing. I can understand what he says almost all of the time now and he talks mostly in complete sentences. (Of course, all those things are ONLY true around us or close family members. He is THE world's most shy kid when he gets around most people. Just like me as a kid!)

A few Ethanisms I want to remember:

-"meeeelk" = milk (like nails on a chalkboard to me!)

-"wearit" = toilet (I don't know why he can't say that word, but that's as close as he can get!)

-"baskapoop" - basketball or basketball hoop

-"Ho dat for?" - a question that could mean a couple of things- What's that for? What's this? Who's that? etc.

-"Eli lookatchew!"

-"I made!" He says this to show off something that he made.

-"I found!" To show off something he found.

-He loves to do the whole 'see you later, alligator' 'afterwhile, crocodile'

-"I HAPPY!" This started after listening to the song 'And I'm so happy, so very happy. I've got the love of Jesus in my heart." As soon as he hears the first few words he SHOUTS in a very excited tone "I HAPPY!" Now he says it a lot, along with 'Mommy happy,' 'Daddy happy,' etc.

-"I don't like it." (very southern drawl)

-"I don't want it." (very southern drawl)

-"bumpty" - bumpy

-"Oh, okay."

-"alright!"

-"Mommy may I ___fill in the blank___, peepeepeepee-pease!" Not sure why he started saying please like that because he's said that word fine for a long time. I always correct him and make him say it the right way, and then he over-enunciates. "puh,lease!"

-he can't say the 's' at the beginning of any word, so we hear these phrases a lot:

"I winging!" (swinging)

"Nuggle me" (snuggle)

"I wimming!" (swimming)

-He loves to tell us he loves us. "I love Mommy." (Daddy, Eli, Grandma, Grandpa, bears, etc.)

-He talks to inanimate objects like they are people. 'Hi stop sign!" "Whatcha doin, hotdog?"

-He also likes to just make up jibberish - "boop boop, Mommy, boop boop!" "googah"

-This has nothing to do with him talking, but Ethan is suddenly obsessed with toe fuzz. He is constantly checking in between his toes to see if he has any fuzz, and does the same to Eli. I'm surprised he hasn't broken one of Eli's toes yet, with the way that he spreads them apart searching for fuzz.

Love that kid!

Morning at the Lamps

It's starting to get a lot warmer here, so we try to play outside first thing in the morning before it gets too hot (meaning we go outside around 7:30!) And this is what you can find us doing any given morning...

My boys are definitely outdoorsmen. They both LOVE to be outside. If Eli is fussy, all we have to do is walk outside with him and he immediately stops crying. In the mornings, he loves just sitting in the stroller, looking around, and feeling the breeze. Ethan is very busy - he rides his trycicle completely independently now (soooo proud of him!), he rides his big boy bike mostly independently (except for the incline of the driveway), he plays T-ball and runs the bases, he draws with sidewalk chalk, and we play catch. It is soooo much fun! That is, until our hour is up and it's suddenly scorching hot to this Michigan-blood Mama!

Eli Finding his Voice

Probably only fun to watch if you're Eli's Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, cousin, etc....

Ethan Singing

Ethan has loved to sing for as long as I can remember, but I've never been able to get much of it on video. Until now! The other day he was just singing away on the couch and didn't even stop when I got out the camera.

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (otherwise known as Winkle Winkle Yigle Dar)

"Jesus Loves Me"

"This Little Piggy Went to Market"

The Safari

Last Saturday we went to a drive-through safari and petting zoo. Ethan LOVED it! I'm not sure which he like more - all the cool animals or the fact that he got to sit up front with mom and dad without being buckled!
We drove through the safari part for an hour and a half. We saw peacocks, ostriches, tigers, monkeys, zebras, camels, llamas, bears, rhinos, buffalo, and lots more.

After that we ate a picnic lunch then headed out to the petting zoo. Ethan was not at all intimidated by the animals like I thought he would be.

Mom and Dad, we're going to go again next time you come visit! (or when you move down here...)

Two Months Old

We just got back from Eli's two-month check up, so here are his stats:
-Weight: 11 pounds, 12 ounces (60th percentile)
-Height: 24 inches (90th percentile)


What he's up to these days:
About the same as my last post, only with more fussiness! Eli's decided that he wants to be fussy in the evenings before bedtime, which has made for quite a few hectic nights in our house, as Ethan has not been going down as easily as he used to either. Our pediatrician says it sounds like he may be a little colicky (sp?) and gave me a few pointers, so hopefully that will help. He's usually fine until 6 or 7pm, and then just gets really cranky. The other issue is that he wakes up around 5am and then fusses/sleeps off and on until 7am. Usually at that time I'm either trying to work out or sleep, and when he needs attention every 10-15 minutes, I can't really do either. That makes for a cranky mama! And of course, Ethan seems to wake up early on these fussy days, too.
But other than sleep/fussy issues at bedtime and waking up times, Eli has been great!!! He is such a happy, smiley baby. He is really starting to interact with us a lot more and even squeal with delight. Love it!
He takes great naps during the day and eats well. Ethan still LOVES his baby brother and interacts with him a lot.
Ethan gets to go to his Grandma and Grandpa's house one day a week for the whole day, which has been a lifesaver! Having only Eli at home on those days really lets me either be productive or lazy, whichever I feel the need for.

Eli is going to get his first experience with the great outdoors this weekend, as we're going camping. Let's hope he does well!