Elijah's Second Birthday!

My sweet Elijah turned two years old in April...TWO! Where has the time gone. It's so much fun to watch him follow in his big brother's footsteps, while becoming such a little person all his own. His little personality has really shone through this second year of his life and it's neat to see the person he is becoming. He loves humor and laughs very easily at silliness, which Jaden works very well; he is a rough and tumble little guy and likes to just pound on things, including people at times; he's also very sweet and gentle, and will randomly walk up to us for a hug. He is very strong-willed and knows what he wants; he is always on the go until the second his head hits the pillow, and then he's out. He has become quite the little parrot, repeating anything and everything that anybody says (Sam forgot this the other day and was holding Elijah while telling me a story about a coworker who was "pissed." Elijah repeats, "He's pissed! He's pissed!" Oops, daddy)! And he's at that fun age where there's a nice mixture of terrible and terrificness -perfect example: he'll get into something he's not supposed to and make a mess with it all over the floor; then give the most heartfelt "Sorry mamma" and rush to get a towel to clean it all up. Just so precious. Fortunately for us, the scale weighs heavier on the terrific side. And even if it didn't those puppy dog eyes of his can keep him out of any kind of trouble!

Two Year's Ago...

Happy Second Birthday, Elijah Norman! We love you so much!!

Elijah's second birthay happened to be over a weekend and Jaden convinced us that there was no place Elijah would rather wake up on the morning of his birthday than Nana and Papa's house, so we loaded up all of his birthday goodies and headed to El Paso! I think children's birthdays are so special and I am always excited to stay up late making all the special preparations and finishing touches for the next morning's surprise. I encouraged Sam to join me in my enthusiasm, so he and I stayed up late wrapping his gifts, blowing up balloons, hanging banners, stringing streamers from one end of the house to the other, and putting together Elijah's big gift, which was the super adorable Little Tikes Neighborhood Market!

Elijah's such a sleep-lover that we weren't sure if his birthday surprise would take place in the morning or the afternoon by the time he finally woke up; but he must have known something was up and didn't want to miss out, so he woke up bright and early for a change. He loves the "Happy Birthday" song and was so excited for us to greet him as we serenaded him with his favorite tune. And as soon as he got downstairs, the excitement(and sugar-high) began.

Once he discovered that one of his gifts was a little bag of cotton candy, nothing else mattered but that bag of fluffy blue sugar. It's your birthday and you can eat cotton candy first thing in the morning if you want to!

Once the cotton candy was devoured, Elijah finished opening his presents and checked out his Little Tikes market! It was an instant hit!

Jaden was his personal present opening assitant, and was just as excited (or more) about the presents Elijah got!

This new red balloon is the best surprise of all!

For Elijah's birthday dinner, we stayed at my parent's house and ordered takeout from our favorite Chinese food restaurant. We had some family over and the kids just played and had a fun time!

Happy Birthay to you! Don't you just love those cupcakes! They were so much fun to make! And when a 2-year-old can tell right away who they are, you know they look authentic!

Happy birthday to our sweet Elijah! You are such a special part of our family and it is such a joy to watch you learn and grow! You make us laugh every day and always keep us on our toes! You are a bundle of endless energy, but also have a calm easy-going nature about you. I love being your mom and look forward to the new adventures and learning opportunities that each day brings! You are so much fun!


Here are some things we want to remember about you at 2-years-old:

- You weigh 30 lbs. (66 percentile) and are 34 in. tall (31st percentile).

- You are Mr. Independent and think you can do any and everything, All By Yourself!

- Your hands and mind always seem to be busy discovering and exploring.

- You love to talk - sometimes it makes no sense, and sometimes it makes perfect sense. It's fascinating to watch you as you are trying to put your thoughts together to make sentences and really communicate.

- You LOVE to eat and there are very few things you doesn't like.

- Due to Jaden's peanut allergy, you have not yet tried peanut butter.

- You absolutely love books and being read to. Story time is one of the few times you will sit and allow us to cuddle with you. It's one of my favorite parts of our day.

- You love to suck you thumb while holding your lovie blanket.

- You carry your security blanket with you most of the time, but especially in the car and at bedtime. You'd cry nonstop if you didn't have it at night. You currently have three and will accept any one of them at a time, as long as you have one.

- When asked, you says you are "four" and that your name is "Jaden."

- You love to pretend like you are talking on the phone, and just about anything turns into a phone with you - a shoe, a block, a pen, a spoon - you name it! You hold it between your shoulder and ear, hands free, and just walk around talking.

- You are a major backseat driver and shout out orders and directions if we are not driving the way you thinks we should be going. I think this mainly started because you know the way out of town to get to Nana and Papa's, so any time we weren't headed in that direction, you'd get upset and say, "No, that way!"

- You can play very contently with the same item for a long time. And you and Jaden play very nicely together.

- You have quite the imagination- you point at clouds in the sky and identify what object they are; and you take bites out of pieces of food (like watermelon pieces or chips) and turn them into new objects (which actually do look like what you says they are).

- You love to randomly count things and can count up to 14. Any any time somebody asks "How many.... are there?" you automatically say "onetwothreefour," like it's one word.

- You love riding in daddy's truck.

- You love going to Target for an Icee and popcorn.

- You frighten easily with loud noises, like the vacuum cleaner or the garage door opener.

- Your favorite song to sing is "Happy Birthday" and you will break out in song anywhere we are that you see the slightest symbolic representation of a birthday. So if you see a candle, cupcake, cake, balloon, streamer, or present...you're singing...and not quietly!

- You absolutely love to dance and also love having an audience while you perform. If you don't like a song that's playing on the radio, you say, "not that one;" and it's so funny to watch you as we flip through the channels because as soon as there is an upbeat song that you like, your body instantly starts moving and you say, "yea, that one!"

- You love playing in water, whether it's the bathtub, swimming pool, water table, or with a squirt gun.

- You run pretty much everywhere that you go.

- You are obsessed with the idea of using the potty and will say you need to to go, and end up sitting on your little potty several times a day - you have yet to actually go in it though.

- Mommy Maru (babysitter) informed me that you are one of her best behaved little guys and that you plays so well with all of the other kids.

- You love to pose for pictures and always want to see them after. Then you say, "awwww, cute" as you admire yourself.

- If there's a bottle of lotion left within his reach, you can guarantee it'll be all over you. We have to watch you big time!

- I had to call Poison Control recently because you tasted nail polish remover.

- When it comes to housework, you're a big helper and always say, "I clean;" but when it comes to putting your toys away... not so much.

- You love to be loud and scream, just because.

- You love to pretend you are a cowboy and will put on a cowboy hat and hop onto any available back or leg to go for a horsey ride.

- You have the most adorable, contagious laugh.

- You are a very good sleeper and can take a 3 hour nap, and sleep up to 14 hours at night. Thank you for that :)

- Everybody says you look just like mommy.

- You love to play outside, no matter how hot or cold it is.

- You love to be on a tall stool at the counter helping whenever I am making dinner. You're a very good pourer, stirrer...and spiller.

- You love Yo Gabba Gabba - still can't quite figure out what it is about that show.

- Your paranoid mamma does not have you up-to-date on your shots. Instead you're on an alternate shot schedule that your doctor and I decided on together.

- When Jaden was playing T-Ball, you loved hearing the sound of an ice cream truck because you knew it meant a treat for you; now you have an ice cream truck radar on at all times.

- You love coloring, painting, and anything messy. And even things that normally wouldn't be messy, end up being messy with you.

- Your favorite part of saying grace before a meal is "AMEN!" And then you follow it with "Yaaay!"

- You are very friendly, and maybe a little too friendly to strangers.

- You are a very good haircut client, always sitting very still and cooperative.

- You are getting over a phase of being scared of the dark.

- When we put you in your bed at night, you like to have a lamp left on so that you can lay and look at books. It's the cutest thing ever.

I'm Still Here!

In case you've been wondering where I disappeared to, just wanted to let you know that I'm still here! And I've got a lot of posting to do, including Elijah's Birthday, Elijah and Aubrey's Birthday Party, Easter, T-Ball, Father's Day, and a whole lot of cuteness in between all of those occasions.

But before all of the cuteness begins, let me fill you in on the not-so-cuteness that's been keeping me from my blog for the past month... extreme water damage in our house. It all started with a little tiny dixie cup that was accidently (yes, it really was an accident) flushed down the toilet in the boy's upstairs bathroom one evening. The water didn't overflow at that time, so I told the boys to leave it alone and we would figure out what to do about it in the morning (Sam was out of town, of course :). Well, morning comes along and I awoke to the bathroom in our room completely flooded and moving into the bedroom carpeting; then found the boy's bathroom and hallway to be flooded as well! I rushed downstairs to grab every bath towel, washcloth, beach towel - pretty much anything I could get my hands on. And on my way, I heard bloop...bloop...bloop coming from the kitchen. Sure enough, the water was leaking through the ceiling and onto the kitchen floor and livingroom carpet. Further investigating also lead me to dripping water in the downstairs bathroom area. I went into panic mode quick, especially since the toilet had little boy "business" in it. I called for backup and my mom and brother-in-law quickly came to my aide as fast as they could.

Eventually we got some workers to come in and dry it all out and it turned into more of a production than I would have ever imagined. 8 air mover fans, 3 huge dehumidifiers, carpet and linoleum removal, and lots of drywall removal has left us with this...

Carpet removal outside the upstairs bathroom.

Carpet removal in the master bedroom, plus huge dehumidifier and fan.

Linoleum and drywall removal in the master bathroom.

Drywall removal by the downstairs bathroom.

The ceiling in the dining area.

And a HUGE mess and lots of cleaning left for me! I told them as long as they didn't touch my striped wall, we were good!

So for the past month I have been cleaning, getting estimates, and packing up as much stuff as I can because of the work that will have to be done to repair - replacement of the livingroom, stairs, hallway, and master bedroom carpeting; replacement of tile in both upstairs bathrooms; and drywall, drywall, and more drywall! I can't wait for it all to be done so I can have my house back. And for now, I must admit I'm excited to get everything moved out and completely cleaned; and then start fresh with decorating, arranging, and all that fun stuff! There's always a bright side :). I'll keep you posted on the progress.