11 Months

I am going to go ahead and apologize now becuase I am totally suffering from complete nostalgia these days as we approach the big first birthday. I'll try to keep the emotionally loaded posts to a minimum, but I make no promises. 

Each month, I like to go back to the previous year's pictures to see what we were up to a year ago. Here's what I found...

Now excuse me while I break for a moment of silence and say a prayer of thanksgiving that I'm not in that state right now.

Okay...moving on. We've been busy (do you ever get sick of hearing that?) We've been out of town a lot on the weekends, I've been getting ready for Eli and Landon's first birthday party, we've been teaching Bible classes, and as if we weren't busy enough...I decided to have a garage sale last weekend. It was my first garage sale ever, so I of course had the camera out to document the blessed event.

We kicked off the day with a big box of doughnuts. Matt and Dustin ran a "Daddy Day-Care" inside (which ended up outside most of the morning) while Eva, Sabra, and I did our best to rid ourselves of a LOT of junk. We talked, laughed, people-watched, and begged people to buy something. It was actually a lot of fun and we made a few dollars in the midst of it. Not bad. I'm already searching the house for more junk to sell at the next one.

It was fun while it lasted, but I sure was glad when it was over.

If you keep track of things like this...you might have noticed that my babies are now in their 11th month. Here are a few things for the record book.

Eli

*Eli has become quite the snuggler lately. He will just burrow himself deep into your neck/shoulder and tuck his arms underneath himself. It's enough to make me sigh with great contentment.

*Until...he bites my shoulder. That is his other latest and greatest trick. I have convinced myself that he means it with the utmost love. He thinks he's giving me a kiss. But it's not a kiss. It's a full-fledged bite, complete with redness, swelling, and teeth marks afterwards. He doesn't do it to anyone else - that's why I'm certain it's meant as a communication of love just for me. And that's why I'm having a hard time breaking this new habit :)

* Eli has a temper. He and Landon are now discovering the joys of sharing and Eli is NOT a fan. When Landon takes a toy away from Eli, he immediately turns bright red and spirals downward into a fit of anger. It's not amusing. Especially when it's in public. Ugh.

*Eli has learned to blow kisses and I think it.is.absolutely.precious.

*Eli is standing on his own, taking about 5-6 steps at a time, and has mastered the sit to squat to stand move. He just seems too little for all of this. His biggest problem with walking is that he would rather run and he's in too big of a hurry most of the time.

*This happened several weeks ago, but just for the record...Eli ate a scorpian tail. He survived.

Landon

*Landon is just a little more vocal than Eli and he really seems to be trying to make words. We work on "thank-you" a lot and I really think I hear him trying to say it. He says "dad, mom, bye, hi, and uh-oh" on a regular basis, but I've also heard him say boot and thank-you.


*Landon is a little better at sharing...or at least he doesn't get quite as upset about it. He might fight for a toy for a few minutes, but he is usually content to just move onto something else. He's such a sweetie.

*Landon is also taking about 5-6 steps at a time, standing up on his own, and doing the whole squat/stand thing. He's a little more steady on his feet than Eli mostly because he's a little more patient.

*Landon has also gotten a little more lovey and clingy, which I LOVE. I was beginning to think that they could just take me or leave me most of the time, but they are giving a lot more hugs and even kisses sometimes too.

Both Eli and Landon love bath time, eat like champs, give high-fives, have a lot of fun in Bible class, would rather sleep in our bed than their own, and bring a tremendous amount of joy to me and Dustin.