Princess

For the past couple of days, Leah has wanted to dress up like a princess all day long.

She will prance around, calling herself princess Belle, and she will call me "prince". I'm not sure why Eli can't be the prince... I guess I'm stuck in that role during the day, at least. When Tony gets home from work he gets to be the prince.

Gone

My baby is gone. He has been replaced by this little guy

This little walking maniac 

Who is not afraid to run out into the road after Leah

Who shrieks  (not just screams... shrieks) when he doesn't get his way

And who has a new found independence now that he is walking everywhere. 

Man, I love this little guy. 

Happy Birthday Elias

So yesterday was Eli's 1st birthday! The internet wasn't working, and we were gone all day, so I didn't get to do a post on his exact birthday. But here it is... better late than never.

I made him a delicious Carrot cake, which we ate the night of the 2nd, because I knew we would be gone the entire next day (I also just really wanted to eat some right then). Tony has been gone all week, so it was a small affair.

Elias seemed to really enjoy the cake :)

The next day (his actual birthday), one of my friends and her three boys, along with another friend made the three hour drive down to Tybee island to enjoy a day at the beach. This was a little bit crazy, I will admit. We spent over 6 hours squished in a huge old suburban with one baby, two toddlers, a 5 year old and a 7 year old in order to have about 4 hours at the beach on the hottest day of this god-aweful hot summer. But it was worth it.

The kids had a great time. I was very very worried about how Eli would handle it, but he was awesome. He loved the water, loved playing in the sand, and hardly cried at all.

He took three naps, one on the way there, one at the beach, and one on the way back, and was probably the easiest kid that entire day. He spent about an hour playing on a beach chair under a huge umbrella, and also chased seagulls around, although he screamed if he ever got too close. I think he had an awesome birthday.

Leah was amazing in the water. She was literally fearless. She wanted to swim all by herself (with her life jacket), and kept on asking to go "way way out to the end of the big pool". She rode over the waves like a champ, and was only knocked over once.

The rest of the time she played in the sand with her friend Jack. She also wanted to wear her life jacket on the sand because "a big wave can come and get me, and I'll drown!!!!"

The funniest thing that day was when the oldest boy, John Walter came running up and said "MOM! why did we come here??? Did you know this water was going to be salty!!!!!"

Okay, here are some "Elias facts"
- He is huge. Very very, very heavy.
- He is extremely cuddly. Way more so than Leah was. He will literally walk/crawl over to me if I am ever sitting down and will claw his way into my lap.
- He is walking now
- He doesn't say anything other than mamamamamam, and dadadadadadadadadada
- He loves to yell.
- He's doing this delightful new thing now where he will hit Leah whenever she tries to sit in my lap too.
- he has three and a half teeth.

water hole

Today we went way way out in the middle of nowhere to this natural springs "swimming hole" in Marshalsville. It's on private property, but a friend of a friend has a hook up with the owners, and the kids and I were able to spend a couple of hours out there.

It was a lot bigger than I expected, with pretty water, a nice sandy bottom, and apparently a "snake area".  I found that part out after we had been there a couple of hours. Fun.

There was an awesome rope swing that I tried out a couple of times. I think one of the other ladies got a picture of me with her camera. I need to get a copy of it, as I am sure I look pretty incredible.

Poor Elias was not too thrilled with his life jacket he had to wear. There are not many super safe life jackets that will fit comfortably on a 11 month old. He was happier when he could crawl around on the patio, playing with a little rubber ball.

I did refrain from jumping/diving off the top of the dock. Leah and I jumped from the bottom level a couple of times together.

Unfortunately I was not able to get many good pictures of my kids. With only three moms and 11 kids, we were too busy making sure no one drowned.

Leah had a really great time once she got up the nerve to swim around on her own (with her awesome life jacket, of course.) I was very impressed. She just paddled all around the little lake, saying "Mommy, look at me, I'm brave!!!!!"

Needless to say, the day was EXHAUSTING for me. I can't wait to go back!!!!!!

splash park

* Warning: this post contains pictures of Leah wearing only her underwear. Please avert your eyes if you consider this offensive.

So the other day, we went with friends to a super ghetto, super awesome little park that had some "water features." It was basically a normal park, surrounded by a little cement moat fill with sand, with a bunch of sprinklers and little tunnels going around everything. The kids loved it.

Water is literally hitting them in the face right now. 

They are so cute when they get along. 

Eli had a fun time too. He stood there on this little "splash pad" for a long, long time. 

Oh, the most fun thing about this park is that you have to actually drive through a cemetery to get there. Like, literally, turn into the cemetery, and go through it, and on the other side is the park. Probably why there weren't a lot of people there. And if you are not a dirt fan, then you will not be a fan of this park.

air museum

The air museum on base is possible the most air-conditioned fun you can have for free in Warner Robins. It's actually pretty nice, and Leah loves it. I've been there with the kids a couple of times with some friends, but this weekend was the first time Tony has been able to come with us. Actually, it was the first weekend that I haven't had to work on a friday night in a long long time, so we were able to do something on saturday morning.

This is the view of the front lobby from upstairs. Pretty cool.

Leah and Eli flying the airplanes.

He is at such an easy going stage right now. He's so happy no matter what we do.

There is actually tons and tons more stuff inside that we saw and did. I just don't have pictures. There are three buildings, and it would take forever to actually walk around and read/look closely at everything. After we went in the main building we walked around outside, in the "airplane graveyard." It was pretty cool. We walked around, near, under, and got on old planes. There were TONS of them.

10 months

Okay, this post has been a long time coming, because he is now 10 months old and several days. But our internet hasn't been wanting to upload pictures, so it took a while. 

Anywho, Eli is now 10 months old. 

- He is standing by himself like a champ. He can stand for several minutes without falling, but has not attempted a step yet. 

- I think he is finally getting two little front teeth. 

- He laughs, smile,  crawls around like a maniac, and is generally incredibly happy. 

- Unlike Leah, he won't really sit and let me read books. He just hits the books from my hands, or tries to eat them. 

- He loves to eat. But mainly just fruit. He can throw down some blueberries. 

- He is sleeping through the night on a semi regular basis. 

- He loves being around Leah. He will follow her everywhere. 

- He is super, super, super cuddly.