Eli loves his Woody doll. Loves him so much that he decapitated poor Woody. I have super-glued that stupid doll's head on soooooo many times, per Eli's request. And then he goes about, banging it on stuff (like the oven) until the head falls off again. It's a sick cycle.

Eli and Ben making faces in the mirror. This was so funny. They made so many faces and Eli just laughed and laughed.

Eli loves putting my hat on his head and dancing around. He thinks he's so cool.

He's right.

I had a girls' night with my sister. We watched 'Pride and Prejudice'- the good one, the BBC version. Eli loves Jane Austen movies. He has watched 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'P&P' and a few others, and for some reason or other, he loves them. I think it's the animals- he quacks and neighs when he sees the animals. He also bursts out laughing at random times, I have no idea why. Anyways, Christine and I were watching our movie, and it was way past Eli's bed time. I had to keep putting him down, and he kept sneaking out to watch with us. I kept catching him and sending him off to bed. I underestimated his sneak-skills, though. I thought I got him every time, but when Christine and I finished for the night, we saw the little man, fast asleep in the hall. What a funny kid!!

What a stud! 18months old, and already playing with tiger cubs! This 7-week-old tiger cub, named Tippy, LOVED Eli. She kept coming up to him and rubbing against him and just loving on him. He didn't even flinch.

I'm not ready for this!! He's growing up too fast!

Eli at the George Bush State Park in Houston (17 months old)

Rodin's "The Thinker"

Note to Eli- YOU ARE NOT TWO YEARS OLD YET! SO STOP ACTING LIKE YOU ARE!!

So... Eli locked me out of the house today.

No, let me back up. Yesterday, he took off his diaper so that he could pee on the kitchen floor. Later, he covered his entire body in cortizone cream. Then, we went to my parents' house to watch General Conference, and he knocked over my mom's wall divider with family pictures on it- the one we all chipped in and got her for Christmas this year- and shattered a pane of glass on my younger brother's head.

Then I had to take Ben to the airport for Week One of Three of his business trip.

And then I had to put Eli to bed. We just started putting him back in his crib (after consulting innumerable sleep books and pediatricians and parents, and after about a week of him absolutely destroying his room, we decided to go back to the crib). He hates the crib. He HATES the crib. He screamed and called for me and cried and threw his blankets out. By the time Ben called me to let me know he had landed safely, I was completely in tears.

And then, today, Eli locked me out of the house. I just took the garbage down to the dumpster, and I came back up the stairs, and voila! the screen door was locked, with a highly amused 18-month-old on the other side of the glass. I cajoled, I laughed with him, I instructed him. I knelt there for ten- fifteen minutes, praying I would not have to bust in the glass. Finally, after an eternity of him laughing at me through the door, he was able to unlock the door. First thing I did when I got inside was hug him. Second thing I did was grab the screw driver and take off the dang lock. Who needs a lock on the screen door??? Who is that going to keep out? Moms, that's who. The people who do NOT want to bust in the glass.

Come home, Ben. Come home.

Playing Catch-Up

So, Eli is 16 1/2 months old. I should probably blog something, since it's been awhile. Here are just a few little updates, with completely unrelated pictures. :)

Toy Story: Eli is on a major Toy Story kick. Every time he sees anything Toy Story, he yells, with delight, “Dee-Dee!” and then grunts. For those who don’t speak Toddler-ese, “Dee-Dee” is his name for Woody, and his grunt is either his name for Buzz Lightyear, or for Rex the dinosaur... or something else altogether, I'm not really sure. It’s so cute! He loves his Woody doll and plays with him all the time, giving him hugs and kisses, and pulling his string, and talking to him. Recently, right after his bath, I was drying him off and was about to put on his diaper. He saw his Woody doll, aimed for him and deliberately- and quite accurately, I might add- peed on him. I was a bit horrified, as I was not sure how to clean his Woody doll. I also thought it’s a good thing Woody doesn’t really come to life, because that was really demeaning!


Duck Pond: So, my wonderful friend, Tonya , came to visit with her little girl Maddy. We hung out for a few hours and then we decided to go visit the duck pond by the university. We stopped and picked up a cheap loaf of bread to feed the ducks and geese and then we went to the pond. The entire time we were there, Eli quacked like a duck. I mean, the entire time. It was SO funny. His quack sounds like, “Wha-ack?” He sounded like he was asking them questions and having conversations with them. Even as we were leaving, he quacked the whole time. And now, whenever I ask him what a duck says, he says, “Wha-ack?”



February 2, 2011: Eli gave me a black eye today. He really did. My son could beat me up with his hands tied behind his back, if he wanted to. He just head butted me, right in the eye. And the best part is? I am conducting the music for Stake Conference on Sunday, in front of over a thousand people. I wonder what the stake president will think when he sees my eye? Poor Ben...


So much snow!! And so cold! Ugh. I don’t even want to blog about it. So…

What is Eli doing? Well, he copies so much of what Ben and I do. He says so many things (not on demand, naturally). For example, I gave him a little snack food, and told him to say thank you. I said it in a bit of a sing-song voice, and he said, “thank you” in the same sing-song tone. It was too precious. Eli also knows many body parts. He knows eyes (he blinks them, very seriously and methodically), mouth, nose (which he sometimes points to, sometimes picks), ears, hair, belly button, tongue (which he sticks out), toes, fingers, neck, chin, and cheeks. It’s a fun game, and I can often distract him from a bad mood by asking him where his body parts are. This is particularly helpful while I am changing his diaper.

He also loves making animal noises. He pants like a dog, meows like a cat, moos like a cow, and makes a weird hacking sound for a monkey. I’m not quite sure where that comes from. When I told Ben Eli was being a monkey, Eli overheard and made the sound, so that’s definitely his monkey sound. Go figure.

What is Merrilee doing? Merrilee is busy trying to get Eli to sleep through the night. It has been hellish. No other word for the many hours I spend every single night, trying not to pass out so I can get Eli back to sleep. What else? Well, I am trying to write more. More on my novel, more guitar songs, more blog posts. Well… we can all see how successful that one’s been.

I am still in Young Women’s, where I work with wonderful, amazing, inspiring girls and am lucky enough that the other leaders are some of my closest friends. I’m also still the ward chorister, and I love that too. I love picking the hymns, sitting up at the front, leading the music, and watching a number of young children in the congregation imitate me. They probably do a better job than I do.

Ben is enjoying his job. He also got called recently to be the secretary for the Elders’ Quorum presidency. He enjoys being active with that. Lucky him, he gets to go to all the service projects, like Saturday, when he helped rebuild a fence that was destroyed by a huge fire.

Ok, I feel like I did a half-way decent job of catching up on the blog, and right now- as sleep deprived as I am, and with an eye somewhat swollen shut- I feel quite satisfied.

A Portrait of Eli at the Dinner Table

"You must be joking."

"Oh, encore, encore!"

"That joke just never gets old!"

"Ok, where's the music? It's time to liven this party up!"

My Beautiful Bicycle!!!

Ok, so Ben makes fun of me about how much I love my beautiful new bicycle. He can laugh it up, because he's right (although I do not talk to my bike, despite what he says). Yes, I was wearing my helmet while I was playing with Eli. But for the record, I was planning on going outside right afterwards to ride my bike.

What bike is this, you may ask? It is only the 2010 Specialized Ariel Hybrid- sleek, efficient, sturdy, custom-built for women, put together by a professional who measures/assembles bikes for professional European bicyclists... in a word, it's perfect. It has 700c wheels for efficient riding, 21 speeds for major hill-riding abilities, and is made of aluminum so it's nice and light (which is good, since I have to carry it up the stairs after riding). I seriously did hours upon hours of research, going to all the bike shops in Norman, talking to all the bike enthusiasts, poring through catelogs and online sites... you get the picture.

It is a good thing it's really sturdy, because I have already crashed it four times (I've had it for 2 weeks). Yes, I do know how to ride a bike. And yes, I now know a couple of extra tricks, which I learned the good ol' fashioned way of trial and crashing.

So... thank you, Ben, Mom, and Dad, for my early Christmas present!! I love it!!

Eli's new trick 1

Eli's new trick 2

Make sure to select full screen on this one.

Winking

Eli recently learned how to wink and now when you ask for a kiss he will either kiss you or wink at you. It is funny to see him put so much effort into his winks.

September 2

September 1

This reminds me of a picture of Ben when he was about this age.

My librarian costume for a murder mystery dinner.

What will he do next?

(Ben) We recently found out that Eli had a fungal rash in his diaper area. The doctor told us to keep the rash area dry. Since he is always in his diapers, I thought it would be beneficial for Eli to play au-natural in the dry bathtub. One minute in, Eli pees. Not bad- I was expecting this. Two minutes in, Eli is having fun. Dad is bored and grabs a book. Five minutes in, Dad looks over to find Eli has pooped in the tub and is nonchalantly sampling a terd meatball. I call for Merrilee's help. She helps clean up and we end up giving Eli a real bath. That is the last dry bath I ever give Eli!

Sorry! No pictures.

I know this probably makes us bad parents, but...

... it was too funny. Taken in Cozumel.

Our Summer...

…has been crazy. Really crazy. In May, after Ben graduated, we took a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois with his parents.

In June, we left for California. We stayed for three weeks. While we were there, we drove up to Las Vegas for a family reunion with Ben’s family. We stayed at the Monte Carlo for a few days, and then all the girls stayed at his sister Amy’s house while the guys went camping up in Beaver, Utah.

The guys had a great time doing their thing, and the girls had a great time doing our thing. Like dance parties. J And like taking pictures of all the cute baby boys. In the picture below, from left to right, are: Jacob Austin (born in April), Kai Koa (born in November), Elias Reed (born in September), and Gabriel James (born in September- 2 days before Eli). And yes, that is a lot of new baby boys for one family.

When the guys got back from their camping trip, we went back to California. I had wanted to visit with my friends, but it was crazy busy, and the time flew by. We did go to Oceanside, the beach near where we used to live. Good memories. I miss living there. The water was surprisingly frigid, even with a wetsuit on, but I went boogie boarding anyways. I would’ve loved going surfing, but the waves were terrible. It was Eli’s first time at the beach. He did not like the texture of the sand, but he was fascinated with it, all the same.

We got back from California, spent 6 days at home during which time, MY TEAM, SPAIN, WON THE WORLD CUP!!!!! NOT ONLY DID I CALL IT, BUT IT'S THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR HISTORY THAT THEY'VE WON!!!!!), and then left for New Orleans. We stayed with my friend, Ashley, and her husband, Drew, and their two kids. Ben and Eli and I drove down Bourbon Street. Wouldn’t recommend it. The cool part was that there really are street musicians everywhere. It seems like New Orleans really was built out of music and soul food. We went out with my family to this restaurant called Mandina’s on Canal Street. I tried several things, but I mainly remember the gumbo and the turtle soup (which I ordered, despite the chagrined accusations of my nephews that I was eating their favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle). It was… an experience. I truly don’t have words for turtle soup.

We left the next day for our cruise to Mexico. Ben and I agree that the best part of the trip was the excursions to Progreso (and, from there, to Chichen Itza), and Cozumel. Here’s my take on cruises: 1. Don’t bring a baby. You can’t do anything. 2. If you like to go on vacation to relax and be pampered, a cruise is perfect for you. The food is really good, they have a hundred places to lounge around, you can get massages, go to shows (if you don’t have a baby who is desperately tired), etc.

If you go on vacation to have experiences and adventures, you could probably spend your money better by planning your own trip. We thought there was not NEARLY enough time for the excursions into Mexico. We are glad we went on this cruise, because it was a different experience. But we think we would probably rather spend the money DOING more than going on another cruise.

By the way, our trip to Chichen Itza was eventful. There was a monsoon while we were there. We literally could not have been any wetter had we been thrown into the ocean. Half of my family hated it and went back to look for shelter (thankfully, they took Eli with them, so the poor kid, who was sick, got out of the rain), and half of us stayed and braved the onslaught of rain. I actually loved it. I felt more of an adventurer and less of a tourist, sloshing in the lakes of water, persisting through the pounding rain, with a tiny fear that, standing in so much water, there was a valid possibility of being struck by lightning. The ruins were amazing. We had an LDS tour guide, and the little bit we could hear from him was fascinating.

Below is one of the very few pictures we got of the Mayan ruins before the downpour.

Us in Cozumel, before we went snorkeling. By the way, everyone thought I was Mexican (it probably had something to do with the Mexican soccer hat I was wearing!).

We already blogged about snorkeling at Cozumel, so I am going to fast forward to the end of the cruise. We got back into port in New Orleans, and with Ashley and Drew, took the trolley along Saint Charles (the mansions there are crazy! There’s one that looks like La Alhambra, in Granada!) to Bourbon Street. Ben and I were apprehensive at finding ourselves there again, but we walked in a different direction this time. We walked for a long time and went to the birthplace of the legendary muffaletta sandwich, Central Grocery. Although the name of the tiny shop is ho-hum, their muffaletta is not. There was a line out the door and down the sidewalk to get one of their famous sandwiches. If you go to New Orleans, you cannot leave without trying one.

We left the same day, and drove to Texas, where we stayed a night. We were just too tired to go on. We drove home the next day. And five days later…

… we left for Houston. We are here in Houston now. Ben officially started his job and they have him down here for a month-long business trip, so they rented out a NICE two-bedroom apartment in a nice part of downtown Houston for us to stay. So, here we are until September. So far, we love the apartment, the ward, and the area. There are so many things to do!