Keira's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Keira's First Birthday at Jumping Bridge Park on May 16. The park is actually named Picnic Park, but Eli named it Jumping Bridge Park when he was two and the name has stuck. When we first arrived, Keira enjoyed her balloons that Dendi thoughtfully brought for her. Balloons are one of her favorite things. She points to them whenever we are out and about. She calls them by name "buh" or "buh-oo". I never realized just how many balloons are around. She points to balloons and sinks (she loves to wash her hands) like Eli used to point at doors and signs.


I was happy that I got a good picture of Keira with Dendi as I didn't get a good one of Dendi at Eli's party. And, of course, I never miss a chance to get a picture of me with my two babes.



Seana was gracious enough to make a delicious cake for Keira's party. I suggested some combination of vanilla or chocolate, so she baked a chocolate cake and iced half of it in white buttercream and half of it in fudge. Yum!


Keira survived her own party much better than her brother's. I made sure to keep the sunscreen off her hands, so we thankfully avoided the tears. Her favorite activity was "walking". She loved cruising along the picnic bench, walking around holding on to one finger or mowing with her new pink mower from Dendi. She's now walking for real! She started walking on Tuesday, May 25th, and she couldn't be happier. She was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, pushed herself up to stand, gave me a wide open mouth grin and took three steps. So exciting!





Besides walking in all of its forms, Keira also enjoyed swinging and diving into her presents.



A surprising highlight for Keira was the woodchips, she happily sat down and played in them for quite a while. Of course, right after Grammie commented how unusual she was that she didn't put them in her mouth, sure enough, she did. A few of us said something like, "no eat" and she was not happy. She takes it very personally if anyone says no to her besides me. Me, on the other hand, she doesn't take seriously enough... I'm struggling with her grabbing my face, she digs her finger nails in and I usually have several little scabs from her at any one time. It's her one main bad habit at the moment.




And, of course, Keira enjoyed her birthday cake. For her, it was a great tactile experience (notice her feet even got in on the fun) and she made a huge mess. She did sneak in a taste or two as well.




Eli had a little bit of a rough time at the party. He'd been testing us most of the day. I think it was a combination of allergies, jealousy, three big weekends in a row and hunger. Next time, I'm going to make sure that he's had a good snack so that waiting for the cake doesn't become such an issue. But, he did enjoy playing croquet, frisbee and going for a walk with one of his favorite people -- Tyler. And, of course my chocolate boy loved his cake, too.

Mother's Day

I felt very spoiled on Mother's Day. Not only did Eli make me a necklace and a card, but when Keira and I walked home from Kroger, we found a surprise. Eli and Scottie had planted me purple flowers in our garden in front of the house. They also left my cards with the flowers for me to find. So sweet!

A Return to the Mom's Club

On Friday, May 7, the kids and I made our return to the MOM's Club. We went to Sue's house to play and make a Mother's Day card and gift. Sue has an amazing collection of toys -- her house is kiddie heaven. True to form, Eli was reluctant to go in the morning, then I couldn't get him out of Sue's house. As I was finally getting him out the door, he kept asking me, "Can we come back tomorrow?"

Keira was in seventh heaven watching all the activity and commotion swirling around her. I left my camera at home, but Michelle was nice enough to snap a few pictures of my kids.




Eli enjoyed painting the medallion for my necklace so much that he decided to paint his entire plate, too.



Eli sat with three other boys and stuffed as many chocolate Teddy Grahams in his mouth as he could fit. Needless to say, he wasn't very hungry for lunch.


*A little note on his hat -- He doesn't usually wear hats advertising beer, but I had left his hat at home, and my Guinness hat was the only one I had in the car.

Elijah's Fourth Birthday Party

We celebrated Keira's first birthday yesterday, but I still haven't posted pictures from Eli's fourth birthday party, so here goes...

On Sunday, May 2, we celebrated Eli's fourth birthday at Blue Smoke Park. When talking to Eli about his favorite parts of his birthday party he of course mentioned cake and presents! We were all spoiled this year -- we got two kinds of cake to choose from. They both went with our theme, "My Friends Tigger and Pooh". Dendi baked a Winnie the Pooh cake and Kathryn and Brian baked "Super Sleuth" cupcakes. Not surprisingly, Eli happily devoured his cake and ice cream.






As far as presents were concerned, Eli had an opinion this year. He wanted a toy elevator. I didn't get him one since he already has play elevators on both his parking garages. And, thank goodness, I didn't. A few days after the party, he mentioned that he didn't get the elevator. I pointed out that he already had a few. He explained to me that no, he wanted a full-size elevator that he could climb in and push buttons. If they do make full-size toy elevators I'm sure our tiny house and meager income wouldn't allow for it. I told him that we would try to find a huge box (anyone buy a fridge lately?) and make our own. He seemed satisfied with that and fortunately he got a lot of other presents that he loved. In fact, it took us almost two weeks to carefully take everything out of it's original box and play with it all. Eli likes to be systematic. In this case, it paid off, all of the toys got their due and it made his birthday seem to last even longer.



A fun highlight of the gift opening was when Eli read his mini card from us. I wrote "To: Eli, Love: Mommy, Daddy and Keira." When he opened the card, I told him that he could read it, since I knew he can spell and write all of those words. He did read it out loud, got a round of applause and looked quite pleased with himself.


Two other favorites that Eli mentioned about his party were his family that came and riding his bike. Thankfully, we had a great turnout for his party. The two sets of Georgia grandparents showed as well as his two uncles, his Aunt Seana, Ms. Kathryn, and Auntie Andrea. Andrea also brought her younger brother Tyler, who is one of Eli's favorite people in the world. Eli was so surprised and excited to see Tyler that he took a little spill off his bike. He recovered quickly and enjoyed riding around for hours on his bike with his ever changing entourage.







Eli enjoyed both his birthday and his party so much more this year. It was wonderful to watch. Keira, on the other hand, was not a happy camper at the party. She spent almost the entire party crying in the sling. At first, I thought it was just that she was overwhelmed by all the people, then I blamed the wind (which was out of control), finally I decided that she got sunscreen in her eyes. Poor baby girl. Fortunately, once I poured water over her eyes and face a few times she recovered a bit. By the end of the party, she was even looking up at the camera, trying to smile, riding on a swing and walking around holding my finger.






After the party, most of us adjourned to Grammie and Babo's house for some respite from the wind and a pizza dinner. I was glad to spend a few more hours with everyone. Also, now that Keira's sunscreen problem had been solved everyone got to see her acting a whole lot more like herself.

Checkups

Keira and Eli both went to the doctor today for their checkups. Keira went for her one year checkup and Eli for his four year one. Thankfully, Dendi agreed to come with me. I'm not sure how moms endure two kids getting shots without help. The checkup went as well as can be expected, considering the amount of needles the kids encountered. But, before the shots, the first half of the visit went smoothly.

Eli has 20/20 vision which the doctor said was great, considering most toddlers have 20/30. His hearing also checked out fine. In terms of weight and height, Eli's tall and skinny. This wasn't a surprise to me as his 3T clothes are too short, but fall off his waist. I've moved onto 4T, for the length, but the waist is obviously still a problem. He weighed 34 lbs. and 2 oz. which is the 31%. And, he measured 41 inches tall, which is the 62%. In terms of the physical exam, everything was great. His lungs sounded clear, and the doctor was happy to note that he hasn't wheezed since 2007. Hopefully, he's outgrown all his bronchial issues. The only slight issue, something to watch, was his iron level. It was still in the normal range, but just barely. Dendi was anemic as a child, so I guess he comes by it naturally. The nurse recommended giving him an iron multi, but she said at that range it wasn't anything to worry about.

In terms of Keira, she's running on the tall, thin side as well. She measured 30 inches, which is the 78%. She weighed 21 lb. and 8 oz. which is the 57%. True to form, her head is still huge -- it measure 47 1/4 cm, which is the 96%. As far as the physical exam, Keira looked great, too. Her ears looked fine, and her lungs sounded great. Although, unfortunately, she was not a fan of the poking and prodding and she screamed the whole time.

Of course, the shots were no fun, but no worse than I expected. I didn't even tell Eli that we were going to the doctor until we were strapping him into Bapa's van. And, he never asked directly about shots, so we didn't talk about them until the nurse had me take Keira out of the room and she started administering them. The "only discuss what's necessary" approach seemed to work with Eli. The good news is, that those are his last vaccinations until he's 11 (aside from the flu shot.) Yay!

I took these pictures this morning before all the doctor drama. I was trying to unsuccessfully put Keira down for her morning nap. She seems to be flirting with outgrowing them. Although, I think she would've gone down for one at about 10:30 if we hadn't been at the doctor's office. When I gave up trying to put her down, I called to Eli, who loves to come and cuddle with her. He continues to be nothing but sweet with her. When she's upset he'll try to distract her or sing to her without prompting. He often calls her "Little." And, while he's cuddling her he says, "Keiwa Woo, I love you so much, I'm never going to leave you..." So sweet.