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?

My bed is a little "crunchy"

Mac has been a little devil lately while he is supposed to be sleeping. The day before this video was shot, I caught him red-handed climbing the shelves in the pantry for some crackers/cookies. This particular day, I thought he was asleep, so I went outside to do some work while both boys were asleep. I was talking to my neighbor and telling her how just the day before he had climbed the shelves for the "goods". After the conversation, I went in to check on them and found this...

Hesaid in the beginning that he wad trying to be Swiper the Fox! Like on Dora.

So let's review:

1st we have The Grren Goblin aka toothpaste boy

2nd we have Spiderman, the pantry shelf scaler

Now we have Swiper the Fox!

"Fighting" for your kid

One day, I hope Mac will thank me for the "fighting" I am doing for him right now. It feels like a fight anyway. I am in the middle of trying to figure out what is the best way for Mac to move along his educational path. I am very determined that he should wait to start kindergarten until he is 6. Not because I think he won't be able to handle it academically or socially, but because, simply put, I don't want him to be the very youngest kid in his class!!!! I would much rather him be the oldest. I will figure out, later, how to handle the stress of him being the first one driving in his class and the first one to turn 21. I just don't want him to have to go through the stigma of being the last one to get his license or turn 21. God forbid, he be the youngest in his group of friends who turns 21, and he gets a fake ID. God forbid he get caught and/or arrested for it. That would be on his record forever!.........I realize I am making a big leap from kindergarten to the sports bar, but I HAVE to start thinking of these things now. Why? Because I am trying to figure out how to "sequence" his educaiton. Should I hold him in his 3's class which is only 2 or 3 days a week; put him in the Pre-K class which is 5 days a week and then hold him back and repeat it another year; or put him in Pre-K then on to Kindergarten ( Where I just learned per a conversation with the St. Johns County Public Schools that it is not up to ME as his Mom if he should repeat Kindergarten, rather it will be a Team decision.) OY! Knowing Mac, he will pass K'garten with flying colors and then be sent onto 1st as the youngest in his class!! Then all my worry and toil will be for naught. I am leaning toward the "repeat Pre-K" option and just pay the difference. (I won't get into the financials. It is a big cluster-bleep) ...Now, if I can just figure out how to convince Nathan that he should wait until he is 6 for K'garten...That will be the next fight! :) Thank God we had Eli in January. I don't have to have this inner-turmoil again! BTW, Happy B'day Eli (tomorrow). Love you both!

A new Christmas Tradition

When I was a little girl, every year my sisters and I would add links to an aluminum foil chain we used as our Christmas tree garland. It was cool to see the differences in each other's links in the chain. Mine were usually fat and big because that's how my hands worked. (I was little.) Heather's were pain-stakingly perfect, and Anita's were always smaller than mine from what I can remember. When we got older and moved out, Mom gave us each a section from the chain. Mine definitely was from the links that I made, big and fat. Well, I decided that this year, Mac was old enough to crush aluminum foil into long strands and link it into a chain. So we started his garland this year, and it hung on his Christmas tree that he had up in his room. (I will try to get pictures and post them.)