My Birthday Bash

For my birthday we had a Mexican themed party. Elias was all smiles!Some of Elias' favorite people...his grandparents

The chefs for the day

The kiddos enjoying the hot tub

Mama's favorite dessert...strawberry shortcake!Sophia: "Do I have something on my face?"Elias: "I want more NOW!"As we were at the Mexican market picking up the food Brian semi-jokingly suggested a pinata. I thought it was a brilliant idea and picked out my princess pinata. I chose Ariel because it was made out of a balloon rather than paper plates. Some may think it's snobby not to want a pinata made out of paper plates glued to cardboard...I choose to think of myself as classy rather than snobby.Israel and Alemu now assocaite all birthdays with pinatas and have already asked if there will be one at Mom's birthday party.

Israel insisted on sorting, organizing and counting every piece of candy. Meanwhile Mom celebrated the fact she has a child as O.C.D. as she is!Poor Israel had an abcess tooth. He ended up having emergency dental surgery the next day.For my birthday I got a Wii. After the pinata we tested it out. It has since become a family favorite. There has not been a single day I have walked into my parent's house without Israel asking me if I brought my game. He has even called me a couple times to ask me to come play (but only if I bring the game, of course).

Lots of consentration needed for Wii Bowling

I love being a Mom which made this birthday one of the best!!...and love my Wii, thanks fam.

11 Months Old

Elias is 11 months old! He is super active! At 11 months old Elias loves to stand and walk around. He thinks he is much older than he is. He knows what he wants and insists on getting it. He has started to screech/scream whenever he doesn't get his way. Since he is constantly in to everything these days his screams of discontent happen often.

Elias has mastered stairs. He loves to walk using the bansiter or crawl up the stairs. Sometimes he can get back down on his own and sometimes he can't. I'm just grateful the only stairs are at his grandparent's houses. This is a mobile picture (thus the quailty) of the very creative and ghetto table/baby gate that my parents put up at their house. My Mom said he was furious the first time they put this up.

Elias loves to mimic. As seen here, mimicing his Auntie sticking her tongue out. He copies anything having to do with the mouth whether it be a sound, motor boat lips, a cough, etc.

Elias still loves to be outside. If he is outside and whoever has him takes him inside he screams right on cue. I think if he had the choice he would never be indoors.

Elias has 4 teeth which are super cute and make him look so old. His 5th is on the way...

Elias has mastered the sippy cup. He eats only big people food a.k.a table food and his favorite food right now is meat (of any kind).

On Father's Day, 1 day before he turned 11 months old Elias took his first steps. I officially have a walker. So far his record is 8 consecutive steps. It has been increasing daily so I think it will only be a short time before he is walking everywhere instead of crawling.

Elias still loves music which leads to the fact that all his favorite toys right now are ones that make music. He loves to dance! Elias' dancing comes in two forms. The first dance is the "stand and squat." He stands up, holds on to a table or chair, and laughs while doing squat repetitions. The second dance is the "on your knees and thrust." Elias kneels, grabs ahold of something in front of him and thrusts to the music. Yes, it is as inappropriate as it sounds. Luckily, he has only done this dance once in public and while I did not get kicked out of the store like I thought I would... it was mildly mortifying and outrageously funny.

Payless Shoes. Loud Music. Grabbing on to a pole in front of a full length mirror. Elias begins the "on your knees and thrust" dance. It lasts until Mommy finally stops laughing and rips the very happy now screaming baby off of the pole. Baby continues screaming at an alarming rate and Auntie Em is forced to remove him from the store.

This is the remnant of a tantrum when we wouldn't let him crawl into the pool by himself.

In addition to the full blown temper trantrums and screeching whenever he doesn't get his way Elias has also started biting. At first I thought nothing of it because the only thing he would bite is my toes. I am sure it was my reaction that caused him to think it was hilarious and that is why he continues to bite my toes on occassion. Now it has turned into something quite different. Elias bites constantly... but only one person. He bites his Uncle Israel. ALL. THE. TIME. Israel bugs Elias. He wants to play with him, give him attention, etc. but it is to a level where it can certainly be classified as smothering. Israel is always in Elias' face, touching him, trying to pick him up and so on. He has good intentions and honestly loves Elias so much he just can't stay away...but he drives Elias crazy. We are constantly telling Israel to stop bugging. His reply is, "I not bugging. I yust yoking" or "I yust play with him." It has gotten to the point now where if Israel just speaks to Elias he tries to bite him. His teeth are so small and he leans forward in slow motion so it isn't an actual bite that hurts but his intentions are perfectly clear. Israel responds by shouting to everyone that Elias is biting, telling me he is naughty, and insisting that he is going to spank him. We then tell him that no one is spanking Elias, and he certainly isn't allowed to do so with which he responds, "I know, I know. He's naughty." Is it just me or does it sound like I already have a toddler?

Although Elias is extremely opinionated (fits our family of first borns well) and thinks he's bigger than he is, he still has days like yesterday where he reminds me he's still my baby. Elias can be a total Mama's boy. He loves to cuddle and wants me to hold him all day long. He'll even cling to me with a death grip if he thinks I will put him down.

My baby boy is getting "so big!"

11 Things We Love About Elias

1. His massive open mouth smile.

2. The way he opens his mouth as wide as he can in anticipation for a bite. Even if the food is still 3 feet away.

3. His soft, beautiful curls.

4. His baby teeth.

5. His strong nature and determination.

6. How he loves to be held.

7. When he gives me kisses if I ask, "Can Mama have kisses?"

8. His perfectly kissable lips which make it impossible to not be smooching on him all the time.

9. His beautiful brown eyes that are deeply observant.

10. His dancing. He's already better than me.

11. How he is just excited to see me as I am to see him.

A Fun Filled Weekend

The weekend of June 6th was packed with activities, fun times and exhaustion. On Thursday we spent the day at Sea World. Lots of relatives were in town for Jake's graduation so we took the day to have fun together at a place that was new for all the kids! Elias fell asleep during the first show.Watching Shamu!
The three big kids wanted to go on the water rides. My Mom was the only adult willing to make the sacrifice. Despite nasty clouds and threats of showers it turned out to be such a nice day we all came home with souvenir sun burns despite the sun screen.

Cousin Savannah and Alemu

Mom, Israel and Alemu

Alemu yelling and Savannah waving

Elias touching a ray (I think) with Auntie Em

Alemu touching a ray

Ashley and Sophia

Mimi and Elias

Grandma and Israel

After an open to close day at Sea World on Thursday we headed out for another long day on Friday. We left just over an hour early for Jake's graduation so we could save 3 rows of bleachers for the whole gang. Elias walked along the rows and hung out with Mimi, Papi and I while we waited. Yawning...before it even began. Elias was fussy and super snotty. I was worried I let him touch too much and walk too many places at Sea World. I'm not a germ-a-phob Mom and I thought he was sick...turns out he broke his top right tooth. Although wonderful on Thursday, Friday was a much tougher day for Elias.

Jake's big moment!

3 hours later we were back at home to celebrate. We had a BBQ with all the fam. Our first nearly complete family picture...we were only missing Brian.

After hanging out all day Friday we headed back up on Saturday. The boys played outside and the girls played cards. Elias and Great-Grandma were both pooped. Saturday was Grandma's 71st birthday so we had a big family dinner and party that night.

Sunday and Tuesday were both spent with Brian's family celebrating Uncle Kevin's birthday before he headed off to London!

And that was our fun-filled and uber-exhausting weekend