The Helmet Decision

A lot of discussion, some compromise and a few unnecessary sticker purchases later, here is the helmet!

We got it airbrushed at the mall. Brian really wanted a sports helmet (Chargers or Padres, of course) and the only thing I liked enough was the retro padres colors so here you have it. Unfortunately it has already chipped badly after one night. Luckily we have a "lifetime guarantee" at the airbrush place. We are hoping a fix it trip and a couple of clear coats should be enough.

Do you see his cute crooked teeth coming in???

*At what point do crooked teeth not become cute anymore?

9 Months

Elias is 9 months old today. He is growing up so fast. The other night as I was holding him I wondered where my baby went, and to think I thought he was big when we first met! He brings such joy to our lives.

9 Things we LOVE about Elias:

1) The way he chews his pureed baby food

2) How talkative he has become

3) The way his face lights up when we take him outside

4) His active nature...this boy is always standing or bouncing up and down

5) His cute little button nose

6) They way he flirts with women (the receptionist at the Dr. was ready to take him home)

7) How much he loves being with his Mom and Dad

8) His big crocodile tears that he can turn on instantly

9) His sighs

At 9 months old Elias is progressing wonderfully. He has his 2 front bottom teeth! They broke through the surface just over a week ago but haven't risen fully yet. Elias loves to walk along the furniture. He has taken a couple unassisted steps from one furniture item to the other. Right now he is doing the army man crawl (using only his arms). He is getting around pretty well this way. Last night he slept through the night again! This marks our third nonconsecutive night with no middle of the night wakings. Elias loves the bath and will "swim" around trying to catch his rubber duckie. Once he gets a hold of it he holds it up, looks at me and smiles really big. When I clap for him and give him praise he starts laughing and shaking his arms up and down in excitement. Then he lets go and does it all over again. This will literally go on for as long as I allow him to stay in the bath. Elias loves to feed himself and is turning in to quite the independent little guy. He grabs at the spoon and tries to stick his hand in the bowl. He loves finger foods that he can hold onto. Mr. independent also has quite the baby temper. When he doesn't get his way he will lay on the floor, arch his back, turn on the croc tears, and sometimes even flails his arms and legs. This little guy certainly knows what he wants. Elias brings us so much joy and happiness. We are privileged to be the ones he calls, mama and dada!

Elias' 1st Easter

Easter celebration started Saturday night with dying Easter eggs. Earlier in the evening I spent a good chunk of time explaining the Easter Bunny to Almeu and Israel. I told them once they fell asleep a giant bunny would sneak in the house and leave them candy. Israel asked, "Hows it get in?" I told him it was magic. He suggested that maybe the bunny would break through the sliding glass door then repair it with magic. Alemu turned around and said, "Dad, you bunny?" Dad put his hands behind his head like rabbit ears and said, "do I look like a bunny to you?" Alemu replied, "no...cow." Oops. Later that night when going to bed Alemu said he was scared of the bunny. Israel slept with his head facing the door so he could hear the bunny come in the house.Smelling the vinegarCheezin' it up because they were sick of us taking pictures

Sunday morning...

Annual Easter morning Kiwanis breakfastThe boys were scared of the bunny with the man inside at breakfast so they wanted their picture taken on the side of the road with this not scary plastic bunny.Almeu and Israel were fighting about who got to sit with Elias. Brian's solution was to kick me out of the front seat and tell Israel he could sit there. I wasn't so happy about that idea. Israel loved it. He would stick as much of his body out the window as possible, wave and scream at everyone we passed, "APPY EASTER, ELLOW!"Almeu and Elias are truly best friends

Elias wasn't having the pictures by the flowers.

Silly string fight

The boys really wanted Elias to go in the lukewarm hot tub with them. I put his swimmer diapers and board shorts on...while I was doing so he said, "MAMA" for the first time! I think the pictures explain how Elias felt about the hot tub. Annual scavenger hunt (this was the first year Brian and I were "too big" so we helped the little boys read their clues) Mom accidentally told Israel to run in the wrong direction which made him mad. He is the KING of pouting so he basically complained the rest of the time.

Battle of the wills Still pouting...

A rare smileAlemu LOVED this and was bummed he was at the end looking for a present because he wanted more clues

Israel was all smiles once he found his gift

Alemu's waterproof watch was hidden in the pool. He changed into his bathing suit so he could dive and get it.

We had a great Easter!

College Buddies

A couple weekends ago we had a mini-reunion with Brian's college pals. It was a lot louder than past get togethers but a lot more fun (in my opinion) because of all the kids that have recently been added to the group!

This was Brian's last day of being a stay-at-home Dad so while I was at work they went to lunch at Panera and took a trip to the beach. I later found out this was a very eventful day for Elias. It also made me concerned about what had really been going on at home for the entire month previous when it was just Brian and Elias and there was no one around to tattle on him. Here's what I'm talking about...

Elias eats his first pickle. Not sure it would have been my choice for lunch but he really does love them now. Then, Brian decides to show off for his friends (just a guess) and gives our son a PEPPERCINI. Yes, he really did give an 8 month old a peppercini to suck on.

UN-BE-LIE-VABLE!

Elias plays in the sand

He chills with his new buddy Ryder

He hangs with Dave to break him in for having future babies

He discovers he has a tongue, learns to stick it out, and hasn't stopped doing so since.

He eats sand.

Seriously, I wonder what else would have happened in this day if hadn't of showed up at 7pm.

Oh wait! I can't forget about Elias' first fight! No one told me about this. I discovered it all on my own when downloading photos off the camera. Now I did not rearrange the order of these photos. I just slapped them on here in the same order they came off the camera.

Elias bites RyderIt's ok...they're still friendsRyder decides to seek revenenge and pushes Elias in the cheek Elias starts to cry

Ryder decides he's not done so he pulls a Tyson and goes for the earElias contemplates his next move...should I pull his hair or pop him in the back of the head? Elias decides he's not a fighter after all and maybe he should just cry so his Dad will rescue him. Ryder gives him the stare down and reminds him that "you started it all with your biting...I just finished it"

Also present was the Double Trouble Duo. Not really. Apparently there is such a thing as a well-behaved 2 year old. Who knew?

Ty and Kaylee loved "jumping"

On Saturday we all headed to the Point Loma track meet. This was the 1st track meet I had ever been to and due to the fact that I was in charge of a 2 year old and an 8 month old I really only saw 1 race. It was when we first showed up and I was in the long line for the bathroom. Regardless it was still pretty fun. It was also fun experiencing what it would be like with 2 kids (we got to babysit Ty...the cutie in the photo above...for the day). He was my new BFF by the end of the day :)Elias and his infectious smileDoesn't Brian look good playing with a pink ball and a little girl? Kaylee gives me some Diva poses in her sunglasses while her buddy Ty takes a snooze

These next photos were taken by our friend, Jenna who is a pro. I LOVE them. There were some of Elias and her 9 month old daughter together but I don't quite know her well enough to put pics of her kiddo on the internet without permission :) If you live in the OC and want pictures like these check out finaphotography.com...except your pictures won't have this cutie pie in them so it won't even be close to the same

This serious, observant, spaced out kinda look is the vibe Elias gives off about 40% of the time. The other 60% is the smiling and giggling version. His personality has definitely blossomed over the past 2 months together. For a while it was hard work to get anything other than this content stare. Now he smiles easily :)