Ms. Andrea, Sunday School and Jumping Bridge Park

I haven't posted in a while -- I've been feeling pretty bad. I'm nauseous all day long, it peaks in the afternoon and evening (which makes making dinner and doing dishes challenging.) And, I'm tired. When Eli goes to bed, I follow soon after or, I veg out in front of the T.V. I've been taking lots of pictures, but haven't had the energy to put them on the blog. So, this entry will be a little scattered. Hopefully, in another month or so, I'll be feeling better as my first trimester will be almost over. With Eli, I felt much better after the first trimester, hopefully this one will follow suit.

I went to the midwife today for my first ultrasound, everything looked fine. The baby dated three days earlier than projected, but they give or take five days before they change your due date. So, I'm still officially due on May 5. All of my blood work looked great and the baby's heart rate was 151. Even though I couldn't make out much during the ultrasound, as it's so early, it was still reassuring to see that little heart beating.

***

This first set of pictures are from Friday night. Uncle Jason and Andrea had us over for dinner (Dendi and BaPa were out of town) and Eli is always SO adorable with Ms. Andrea (we're teaching him the Southern naming custom). He's always loved her; Scott and I think it has to do with her quiet, gentle nature.






***

This next set are from yesterday. Eli went to Sunday School for the first time. Grammie and I stayed to watch and help out. Our friend Dana runs the two year old room and she said that we could come and stay anytime, the more the merrier. Mom and I have both been nursery volunteers before, so they're probably happy to have the extra hands. Everything went well. I only had to intercede once or twice when Eli was being shoved or hit. He always looks at them so indignantly afterwards, like "Who are you? And, why are you touching me?" And, he fortunately didn't stalk and hug any little girls.

*Sidenote -- Last week I took him to the park and we were playing for quite a while when a girl about his size arrived. There had been lots of boys, but he didn't seem to care. When he saw her he started grinning and running after her, hugging her. She was not impressed and pushed him away. He gave me that indignant look again, and I explained that she didn't want the hug. I figured at least he had progressed from leaning (sorry Ella!) to hugging. And, maybe the little girl at the park cured him of that for a while too!








***

After Sunday school and brunch, Eli, Scott and I headed to Jumping Bridge Park (which I think I've mentioned that Eli named for it's bouncy bridge).







After tackling Daddy, Eli laid down on the playground equipment. He has a funny habit of laying down in public, I guess if he needs a rest, he takes one! At first, it was kind of funny, and he was looking for Scott underneath the structure. But, we had to discourage it pretty quickly as we were obviously impeding traffic. The last photo shows him on the infamous "Jumping Bridge."

"Daddy, Ewi love Ella."

A few days ago Eli and I got to see Ella and Tracey. Tracey generously squeezed us into their crazy four day visit from Hawaii. We met at Chick Fil-A for lunch and to watch the kids play in the indoor playground. It was really nice to see them -- it's been two years since they moved to Hawaii. And, it was so fun to watch Eli interract with Ella. He was hilarious. He's usually a little shy when he meets people, but I had been preparing him for Ella and Ms. Tracey. We look at their blog and had spent some extra time that morning looking at the photos and video clips. When he first saw her, he was grinning and almost blushing! In this first picture he looks considerably shorter than her. She is taller, but as you can see in this next picture not quite as short as he appears. In that first picture he was hunkering down and leaning against her. I think he was flirting! We actually had to rescue Ella. And, poor girl had just woken up from her nap.



Here are a few pictures of the last two times that we saw Ella and Tracey, in June and July 2006, when Eli was one and two months old. They come courtesy of Tracey's blog. I have similar pictures of the same days, but some of our early pictures are temporarily trapped on our old dinosaur desktop computer.




We had a nice lunch, ice cream and a chat. But, of course, there's never enough time.





After we ate, they temporarily closed the playground so that they could clean up someone's accident. We let the kids play on the booths next to us since we had the back of the restaurant to ourselves. We drew the line at getting on tables, then we looked up and Ella was laying on the table, and Eli of course had to copy his mentor (Ella is a couple of months older than him.) We got them off the table, but not before snapping a few pictures.




When it was time to go, Eli did his strange leaning trick again!?! I was hoping it was a one time thing. I guess we'll have to work on proper ways to show affection. It reminded me of Elementary School and how the boys that "liked" you were the ones who chased and teased you relentlessly. Poor Ella probably had no idea what to make of him.



Today, while talking about Hawaiian shirts, Hawaii and who lives in Hawaii, Eli said matter of factly to Scott. "Daddy, Ewi love Ella."

Playground and Daddy Time at Zoo Atlanta

We went to Zoo Atlanta yesterday, we have season passes and we like to combine trips to the zoo with Trader Joe's to save on gas. We had a nice, relaxing time. It's so laid back having season passes. We don't feel like we need to run around with our heads cut off. We just let our whims (especially Eli's) guide us. We spent a lot of time at the playground. They have a great one, and Eli's getting much more adventurous. Especially cute was this yellow jumpy thing. I don't think he had any idea last time we were there. This time, he jumped and jumped. Notice his "crazy" face in the first picture and the fact that he's airborn in the second! Of course, the slide and the rocking horse are perennial hits.







We wandered up to the stage at the top of the playground which was thankfully in the shade. This is Eli obliging when Scott told him that he was on a stage so he should dance.




The big news of the day was Daddy Time. Usually at the zoo, upon Eli's request, I go on the train and the carousel with him. Yesterday, I only went on the train once, all the other rides he wanted to go with Daddy. Scott said he had only ridden the train once before (with both me and Eli) and I'm not sure if he'd ever been on the carousel. At times, he's really preferring Scott, and it couldn't have come at a better time. It makes me feel much better about the new baby.

Dizzy Spinach and Bra Hat

My main pregnancy symptom so far has been fatigue. Which is why I have been struggling to keep up with the Blog. When Eli naps, I nap. When Eli goes to sleep I can only convince myself to lay on the couch and watch Scrubs reruns, blogging has sounded very, very hard. But, luckily all of the emotional upheaval has settled down, and we (Eli and I) are getting used to the idea of having another one. I say Eli and I, because when Scott read my last Blog he said that he wasn't stressing. *Note -- He rarely stresses :). He said it wouldn't have worked if everyone was freaking out! Fortunately, I don't think any of us are freaking out anymore. We are talking about "Eli's baby" all the time. We've discussed where the baby will sleep -- in the choo-choo room (his train used to be there). He knows that Mommy gets tired because of the baby in her tummy. He's told us that he wants a sister, although occassionally it's a brother, and he lets us know what he thinks of the names that we are throwing around.


***


I think I've mentioned before that I've been pureeing and adding vegetables (lately spinach) to many of our meals. Originally, I did it so that if I couldn't convince Eli to eat any veggies at least I knew he was ingesting some. Apparently it's paid off in a completely unforeseen way. Now, he balks at rice and noodle dishes that aren't green. Not only does he know that I'm putting spinach in everything, he wants it there, and he likes to help me puree it. It's working out great, and I figure there's nothing bad in any of us (especially a pregnant woman) getting extra greens.





***

Duplos are still a favorite toy, and now he's learned how to build one of his characters all by himself. Dizzy is a cement mixer from "Bob the Builder" and Scott taught Eli how to put her together. Eli showed me the other day, complete with running commentary, "Put this here, then this piece, then her face etc." Pretty cute. And, it's serious business.




***

The other day Eli ran shrieking out of our bedroom yelling, "Look at Ewi's hat, Mommy!" When I came out of the kitchen, he had my bra on his head, he was jumping around and giggling. Daddy had helped him with his hat. Of course, by the time I got the camera out he dutifully posed for me, but the smiles were gone.




***

This is just a random shot from Dendi's house. We had dinner over there the other night and he was playing his new favorite game of throwing and chasing a soft, plush ball all around the house. I just loved his expression.

Letting It All Sink In and a Few Old Pics

As you can imagine, things have gotten a little exciting, strange, emotional, wonderful, tiring and many other adjectives that could fit. I think all of us are still reeling at the news a little. Scott and I are mostly excited. And, I'm sure Eli really has no idea what's happening. We did tell him on Saturday when we found out -- he started asking questions. After I told him, he promptly turned away and started to cry. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "Ewi sad Mommy has baby in her tummy." Of course, who really knows what he gets and what he doesn't. But, of course, with the highly charged situation, my own concerns for him, and pregnancy hormones, I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to cry, too. I think we've all recovered significantly from that moment, but I'm sure I'll have a mixture of emotions for sometime as I have no idea how to handle two, or how Eli will be affected. All in all, we're pretty excited. Thanks for all your words of congratulations, it was fun to share the news this way.

In completely unrelated news, today, Eli and I had a magical morning walking to the Lake Park. He can be persuaded to walk almost anywhere as long he can push his lawn mower. In fact, he's walked to Kroger, around Kroger and home pushing his mower a few times now. As you can imagine, we get lots of smiles and chuckles as he "mows" the aisles in Kroger. I brought the stroller on our walk this morning, as the walk to the Lake takes about a half and hour and I was under no illusion that he would last that long. But, while he was walking we saw a butterfly, that he got to touch several times (it was moving slowly), then a caterpillar that I picked up so he could touch it, a Cardinal and two dragon flies. Then, a few minutes later we stopped to watch a garbage truck at work. I couldn't have picked a better set of coincidences. The only thing I'll do differently next time is pack a lunch to eat at the Lake park. After we were done playing at the park and throwing rocks in the water, it was a very long walk back with a hungry toddler and pregnant woman. Of course, I forgot my camera, but these pictures are from sometime within the last week.




Another batch of week old pictures that I never got around to posting were taken by Dendi when she watched him last week. She got some great pictures of him throwing a ball, and building with Duplos -- two of his favorite activities.