A few pictures from the last few months

Eli with the "buck-teeth" pacifier.

Freezing at Disney in Feb.

Playing in a box!

With MeMe and Poppy at the Fort in St. Augustine.

Watching the shuttle launch in March

....when we're Team Headley

This morning, I told Mac that when Eli woke up, we would go to the Alligator Farm and to the park with the carousel. He was SO excited then he said, "we do lots of things when we're Team Headley." I LOVE THAT! I say to him all the time, that we are a Team and we have to take care of each other like teammates do. So...no hitting, being respectful, etc. It might be sinking in.

A week ago, when I was in the pick-up line at Mac's school, his pre-school teacher's asst. brought him to the truck. She said that Mac "bloomed" today. He was playing with all the other kids, and he had SO much to say! She said theat he had a "Great Day!" I felt proud as a peacock, or pea-hen I guess! :) My Mom always says that parents are the most vulnerable through their kids. I suppose that a parent is also most proud and fulfilled through their kids too. Something must have devolopmentally "clicked" with him, because 2 weeks ago, he couldn't stop talking about his friend Brady and nearly demanded that I call his Mom and set up a playdate! So I DID! Then, we had another playdate with a neighbor boy this past Saturday. He was great at both of them. It's not that Mac misbehaved or was mean with other kids, he was the opposite. He was aloof and stand offish and only played by himself. Seems like things are different now. I am not sure if it is the big boys in the neighborhood or the fact that I have kind of forced him to join and/or try some new things like karate and soccer. Whatever it is, it is different.

Eli is on the verge of walking. He has taking a few unbalanced steps from a chair to a coffee table but not much more. And, he is babbling A LOT. I think when he starts walking, words will start flying out of his mouth! He is devoloping lots of opinions and he wants what he WANTS!!! And, he will tell me about it! In his frustration now, he will bang his head a few times...just to get his point across!

"Can you yaff about it?"

I walked into Mac's room after he was supposed to have been asleep for his PM nap (It seems I start a lot of entries this way), and gasped at what I saw...an EMPTY marshmallow bag!!! Then Mac said "Mom, Mom...Can you yaff about it?"

OF COURSE I CAN. That was freakin' hysterical.

BTW, he had saved a baseball sized clump of marshmallows in his bed "for yater."

The Blue Icee at 10:20pm

I was in brushing my teeth, while Nathan lay in bed watching TV. Then I heard it. A loud thump. I leaned back to look at Nathan and he was leaning forward to look at me. "What was that?" We sat in silence for a few seconds, then Nathan said, "The icee." Rewind to earlier this afternoon at the playground in our neighborhood. Our friend Hudson came to the playground with an Icee his Mom got for him at the local convenient store. Mac had a sip (or ten) of it and was hooked! I told him, if he took a good nap, we would go get him one when we woke up. I had it...my leverage for the day! Everything revolved around the Icee. Sure enough, when Mac woke up, the first thing his groggy little voice said was "Icee." I obliged. He didn't drink the entire thing, so we put it in the freezer for tomorrow...lasting leverage. Love it! However, it became a bit of a nuciance as bed time drew nearer. Even after brushing teeth, Mac wanted a sip of the now frozen Icee. Mac was put to bed around 8pm, and at 10pm, he was still awake. Now it was time for Nathan and me to go to bed too. Lights out throughout the entire house. I can just hear Mac's mind working when he realized all the lights were out. "Now's my chance. They'll never know I went for the Icee." Back to the present time...we hear the thump, realize what it is, then sneak to Mac's room. He is poking his finger as far down into the cup as he can to try to break up the now-frozen Icee, then trying to suck it through the straw. He isn't having much luck. So, now is our time to "break up this little charade." Nathan walks in and says "Whatcha doin' Mac?" Mac jumped about 4 feet off the floor with a start. Then he feverishly started sucking on the straw to get out any of the Icee he can, because he knows that he has been caught and the Icee is a goner. I haven't laughed that hard since...well I guess since he covered himself in toothpaste! He is a sneaky little dude!!

What a day!!!

I became a Great Aunt today! Hadlee McClarren was born today to my niece Courtney. She was 8#10oz. And...1.5 weeks EARLY!!! Thank God she came early! I truly wish I were there with her and the family, but I know she is in Good Hands (no pun intended.) :) Her last name is Hand.

We also got a package today from Gr'ma and Gr'pa Carpenter. And the boys were loving the IU footballs and especially the chocolate/marshmallow hearts.

I have lots of pix to upload from MeMe and Poppy's visit. I will post them soon!

A letter to Aunt Karen (9 days ago)

Hi Karen,
We are all doing great. The boys are changing so fast. Mac is really getting funny. He says some of the most hysterical things. He slays me most days. We are STILL working on potty training. Today was a big break- through though. He pooped twice on the potty. HUGE!!! Of course, he then immediately wants candy for his acocmplishment. Ugh! He loves school, and his teacher is very complementary of him. I sometimes wonder if she is really talking about Mac. ;) Oh..I joke...but I do think he acts differently around other adults than he does around me. Right now, we are working on riding a two wheeled bike. THe problem is, he is scared of the training wheels. Nathan let him fall a few times, and now he wants nothing to do with them. \We actually have had 2 bikes given to us. One with training wheels, and one without. He prefers the one without. So that means, Mommy is breaking her back to keep a hold of him as he tries to ride up and down the sidewalk. I can't wait for him to "get it" so he can ride along side of me while I run.
Eli is getting so big. Tonight he was in the bathtub and stretched his body out while lying on his belly. He almost took up the entire tub! I couldn't believe it. My baby! He is doing a little sign language. Very little at this point, but he really knows "more". :) He also did "duck" tonight too. I thought that was pretty cool. When we were at Larry and Cindy's over T"giving, Cindy has this musical toy that plays the "Chicken Dance" song. So now EVERY time he hears any song, he starts flapping his wings. It is really funny. He is not walking yet. Actually, he is not even standing on his own yet, but he does like to push around this little "walk and ride" toy he has. He looks like he is pushing a walker!! I guess we start with a walker and then end with a walker (as life goes). Right now, we don't have a big birthday party planned for him. If we were in Indiana, we'd probably do something...more so that family could get together, but here...it just isn't necessary. We'll have a cake, and if it is warm, we might grill out and see if neighbors stop by, but I don't plan on planning anything big. Poor kid. :)
We had a really nice New Year's Eve dinner here at our house with our neighbors and Larry and Cindy. THere were 10 of us for dinner and 4 kiddos running around. We invited 14 adults. Everyone brought something. We actually had TOO much food. We had appetizers, Lobster bisque, mushroom lasagna, beef tenderloin, a turkey, stuffing, rice, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes and dessert. It was insane. There was plenty of food to go around and enough for sandwiches the next day, and for people to take home a little bit of left overs. We had fun with the Wii and laughing at funny videos on YouTube! Then we watched the ball drop.
I should go. Part of my New Year's Resolution is to get to bed at descent times. If I start now (9pm) I might make it to sleep by 11. :)

hmm...I just went back and re-read this letter. It is a pretty good "blog entry". I think I will cut and paste it into the blog. So you will see it again! :)
Em

Eli - 1 year old

From now to then...
Looking into the future.

Playing in my new sand/water table.

A Halloween monkey

High Five!

I have lost most of my hair, but now it is growing back.

In Ponte Vedra Beach at our interview. 7weeks old

Little Toad (in b'ton)

All are happy and healthy

His first moments

My baby boy is one year old! This time last year, I was lying in my bed in Bloomington, IN trying to go to sleep. I was anxious, because my second son was to be born the next morning. We planned a c-section, and I think I was more nervous about the epideral than the actual surgery. I always seem to do fine during the actual procedure, but I did dread the needle. As usual, it was no big deal. My anesthesiologist and my OB were golfing buddies, so I knew the atmosphere would be light. I told them "Don't let Nathan see ANYTHING! and distract with golf talk." I did not want him passing out because he caught a glimpse of the surgery. After the epi., they started the surgery before Nathan actually was in the room, so he had to walk right by my feet to get to my head! YIKES! He did great as usual. The pillar of strength with a few nervous banners waving from it. He always keeps it together under pressure. I hope Eli will be like him in that regard. Eli was born with a FULL head of blonde hair. I, of course, ordered Nathan (yes, I still boss him around even when pumped full of drugs - "who's married to the demanding wife" - inside joke)...I ordered him to start taking pictures, as we didn't have the doula like we did with Mac. He was beautiful and still is. He was a pretty good nurser from the start, even though I am not the best supply. He stuck by me the whole way. In fact, I nursed him for 10.5 months. He's a faithful little guy. A mama's boy, for sure. Like Mac, is was and is perfect in every way (even though he JUST started sleeping through the night last month!) :) How blessed I am to have such a warm, yet fiesty little guy. He is always good for a hug and a bright smile. And when he twinkles those baby blues at me...forget about it! When he was born, it wasn't even a remote possibility that we would be moving to FL. But now, an entire year later, here we are. We arrived here when he was just 2.5 months old. Hard to believe he was so young. I think it was difficult for him to adjust to his new surroundings at first, and that is why he became so attached to me. There was no family around to sweep him away and love on him, no neighbors to dote over him and babysit for him. He just had me. I am tickled pink to be his "one and only." At least for now, anyway. He learned to sit up, crawl and cruise here. He got his first tooth and said his first word here. He first giggled and coo'd here. And I was here to see it all first hand. How blessed am I?