Courtney, Charlie & Eli too :): Discoveries....

I am sitting here with my little snugglebug on the couch and was trying to think of how I would start off this blog. As I was going through my temporary "blogger's block," Eli discovered his feet. He is suddenly so entertained by his feet. He is grabbing them, trying to eat them and thinks they are the coolest "toys" ever. These little daily discoveries are what I live for nowadays. I love watching Eli's expressions and his reactions each time he discovers something new.

Eli has discovered and tried quite a few new things over the past couple of weeks. The biggest thing is Eli now eats jarred food! Eli has tried a total of 4 vegetables. The first food I had fed Eli was green beans. He LOVED them! The doctor told me to give him vegetables before fruit. She also told me to alternate vegetables every four days--green vegetable, yellow vegetable, green vegetable, yellow vegetable....After the green beans, we tried squash. He really liked the squash too! Next we tried peas, which he ate, but I do not think they are a favorite of Eli's. Most recently, he tried sweet potatoes. I thought he was going to fly around the room after he tasted sweet potatoes for the first time! He hept making "mmmm" noises and flapping his arms up and down.

Eli eating his very first food, green beans...

Eli has also discovered rolling from side to side. We are still waiting for him to roll completely over. He is getting so close! He makes these "whoaaaa" noises when he rolls to the side and it is so funny!

Eli rolling on his side...

This little guy LOVES his feet now.... haha

Eli started taking notice in Lulu last month. He studies Lulu and reaches for her. Well now Lulu brings Eli her toys. She wants him to play with her. It is so sweet!

Lulu giving Eli a toy to play with...

She set it down for Eli...

Lulu decided to just lay down and hang out with her buddy...

Eli really loves his exersaucer! Each day he is doing something new in it.

Eli can also now reach the bottom of his exersaucer and stand flat footed....

My favorite Eli discovery is his laugh. He giggles at EVERYTHING! He thinks everything is soooo funny! Gee, I don't know where he gets that from. haha.

Eli laughing...

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We have had a jam packed, fun past couple of weeks! We headed out to Cypress the weekend of February 20th. That Friday, we enjoyed time with my family. My brother was so sweet and came over and cooked us all dinner! He made delicious seared tuna and an asian salad. It was sooooo delicious!

Chef Chris at work in the kitchen...

Of course, everyone loved spending time with sweet Eli! They were amazed at how much he has grown. He changes and does new things each and every day, so I can only imagine how exciting it must be to see all these new things after not seeing him for a couple of weeks.

Nana and Auntie Samantha enjoying time with Eli...

On Saturday we celebrated our dear friend Todd's birthday. We went to Fogo de Chau for the first time. It is a brazilian steak house. It was soooo yummy! I was so busy eating and talking, I didn't even take picture of the pretty food! They had the most AMAZING salad bar. We also enjoyed Creme Brulee and Chocolate Molten Cake for dessert. Needless to say, I paid greatly for it on the treadmill. haha.

We really enjoyed our night out! LOVE my Charlie...

Celebrating Todd's birthday...

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Last weekend I met up with some amazing ladies I became friends with when I taught at Burnet Elementary, Kim, Kari and Angie. We are all at different schools now, but we always try to get together and catch up when we get the chance. We just laugh and laugh...it is always a great time!

This was the first time they met Eli, so they were very excited to have a baby to snuggle and hold. Eli was eating it up! He LOVED all the attention.

He just stared and stared at Angie and sadly, I do not know how this is even possible...I didn't get a picture of them!

Angie bought me a surprise--a HUGE box of coupons!!!! I am really into coupon shopping, so that was so sweet of her!

We had such a nice time catching up. The girls really enjoyed passing Eli around and talking to him.

Kari and Eli...

An interesting tidbit about Kim is that she collects piggies. She was so thoughtful and bought Eli a "Three Little Pigs" finger puppet book so he would know it was from his "Auntie Kim" everytime he reads it. I have read it to him several times already and he is fascinated by the little finger puppets.

Thank you Kim for this adorable book!

Kim and Eli...

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Sunday we had family over to celebrate Bob's birthday! I thought it would be nice to have everyone over and I would cook dinner. I made spaghetti (with my Pop Pop's meat sauce), garlic bread, salad and for dessert I made my Nana Crawford's cheesecake. It was a nice day and everyone enjoyed visiting.

Eli got dressed up for everyone...

Can't get enough of this little guy and those cheeks...

Bob opening his birthday gifts...

Grammy and Eli...

Charlie, Grammy and Eli...

Auntie Alison bought Eli one of my favorite books! It is a poem book titled "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. I remember checking this book out over and over at the library when I was in school. I absolutely LOVE his poem books and bought the series when I first started teaching (for my classroom). I read my students one poem out of one of the books each morning when they come to the floor for Reading. Alison and Charlie also loved these books when they were younger and even have a favorite poem in this particular book. I thought it was so incredibly sweet of Alison to think of getting him that book. It is even more special since we all have a childhood connection to the book. :)

Thanks everyone for coming to visit! Bob, I hope you had a spectacular birthday! We enjoyed celebrating with you. :)

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I woke up Monday morning for work and went to put Eli's outfit on I had picked out and guess what? It did not fit. The pants looked like shorts! I know he is a growing boy, but I feel like he is growing at Hulk speed! haha. Well, I had been waiting for a special occasion for Eli to wear this outfit his Auntie Bonnie had given to him for Christmas. Suddenly I was worried it might not fit anymore and he wouldn't get to wear it at all. Luckily, I was wrong and it fit PERFECT. So Eli got all dressed up in his fancy little man outfit for daycare that day. He got a lot of compliments on his handsome get-up. :)

Eli in his adorable outfit from Auntie Bonnie...

We have been so busy the past couple weeks, we used this weekend as a weekend to rest and enjoy time with Eli. Charlie put up a jumper that hangs in the doorway for Eli. He is soooo cute in it! He tries to walk in it and likes to spin around and make "oooohhhh" noises.

Eli in his jumper...