Life Lately

Chris and Eliot are off on a run followed by a beach trip to the bay.  I'm pretty jealous since I can't go on adventures yet, but I plan to catch up on some cleaning and rest up with the littlest guy.  Jack sleeps a lot, which is really different than what I remember with Eliot.  Eliot would nap, but just little cat naps here and there for about fifteen minutes.  Jack, though?  He is wide awake for a few hours at a time and then clonks out.  He makes for a really easy newborn.

Honestly, the hardest thing about Jack is the time after feeding.  He looks so peaceful and sleepy after he has eaten, but I know I have to keep him sitting up or else he will surely begin to cry.  A lot.  His tummy seems to hurt and he spits up a bit, but I'm thankful we can nurse or else I know it'd be worse.  He'll likely grow out of it, and I don't think his spit up is acidic, but I'll definitely be mentioning it to the doctor again on Tuesday for his two-week check up.

The past few days have been filled with lots of "firsts".  First baths for the boys together (well, Eliot was in the tub and Jack was in his whale tub on the floor).  First rounds of tummy time for Jack, and Eliot loves to lay with him.  First rounds of sleep smiles.  First brothers' story sessions with Dad.

For July Fourth, we spent some time playing by the pool and eating snow cones.  Chris had iced coffee instead....  Then we went to my parents' house where Chris and Eliot had more pool time with the cousins and I sat inside with Jack.  I don't want to let him get too hot, you know.  We had dinner and then Eliot and his cousins played with sparklers.  Eliot was getting quite sleepy around nine, but we let him stay up to see some firecrackers go off in my parents' neighborhood.  We left just in time to get home and our neighbors were setting off some pretty impressive firecrackers too, so we watched those and did more sparklers until around 10:30 pm when I took Eliot to bed.

I think Chris and Eliot have gotten over the worst of that nasty cold for now.  And then I woke up feeling achy and overall bleh.  Yep, I had a low fever again.  This thing just won't go away.  My parents (who also got the cold when I did) kept warning me that they were having little "relapses" of sickness, so to keep an eye out.  I didn't want to believe it, but here I am feeling crummy again.  However, it's not like I can go anywhere anyway at this point, so I'm not missing out on much.  I just hope Jack doesn't get it, but we're still nursing, so he should be good.

I'm so in love with having these two boys.  I worried about how I could love two, but it has come natural and easy.  I didn't expect to notice their differences so much and appreciate those differences.  I hold Jack so much that when I pick up Eliot, I am amazed by how sturdy he is.  I knew he wouldn't be the "baby" of the family anymore, but I thought I'd always see him that way since he was my first baby.  However, he seems so big.  I didn't expect that.  I love Eliot for the sweet and funny things he says, how he loves to play rough and also cuddle, and for his independent spirit.  I love Jack for his beautiful, soft gaze, his soft skin, his tolerance for being poked, his easy-going nature, and his passion for drinking milk.  I love Eliot and Jack together--I love how Eliot counts Jack's fingers and asks to "pet" him, and I love how Jack just stares at Eliot in wonder.  A lot of people said a lot of negative things about having two kids, especially with two boys, and I know there will be hard days, but right now it is nothing but beautiful to me.

On Valentine's Day and Feeling Overwhelmed

I'll start on a positive note before explaining why I haven't written anything lately or been active on Facebook or responded to hardly any emails that aren't related to school.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day!  Chris got me gummi bears and pretty flowers.  I love that he knows to not even consider buying me chocolates.  He knows me well.  Christopher watched Eliot while I went to a dissertation meeting and came home to work on emails.  Then we went for a bike ride!  For dinner, we got hibachi (with Eliot, of course).  Last year, we went to Osaka's because we thought it'd be funny and ironic.  This year, we went next door to Teriyaki House because it'd be a little less crowded.

Before dinner, I tried to get Eliot to nap.  He refused.  More on that later...

I don't even know where to start with the past week.  I thought I had gotten over this bug, but, well, I guess I was wrong.  That combined with grading, working on my dissertation (ha), and this Eliot who doesn't nap (but goes around cranky because he needs to nap), well, I've only broken down in tears once.  I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed.  It'll all get better soon, I'm sure, but for now I don't even care that the house is growing cluttered.

But!  Chris and Eliot played some basketball today.  And it was cute.

New Year's Eve with Horses!

Christopher and I had a pretty fun day even though he had to go in to work on a course.  I feared that we would sleep in and barely shower and eat before Eliot fell asleep for a nap and then we wouldn't do anything fun before Chris went off to campus.  Instead, we got going and went to visit the horses!

Last year a little after Thanksgiving, we went to see the horses.  I was quite pregnant.

I ran out of carrots.

This year, we had little Eliot is tow.  I don't know why we don't go more often; it is just around the corner.  I think we will now, though, because Eliot loved them.  I thought he might be a little hesitant.  Horses are big and he is small and sometimes I'm scared of them.  However, Eliot started jabbering as soon as the horses were in sight.  He started reaching for them right away.  He thought they were so cool!

After some photos, we put Eliot in his backpack and walked the trails some.  As we walked by the horses, Eliot was literally bouncing in the backpack.  He is nuts about animals.  I love it!  You can tell by our clothes that the weather was amazing.  Sixty degrees or something and quite sunny.  I wasn't even slightly chilly.  After about an hour, we headed back to the house where we made lunch and Chris went to campus.

I don't know what it is about us and New Year's Eve, but I realized that we found some random horses on a drive a few years ago too.  I believe it was about to turn 2009.  Things sure were different back then.

Sometimes I look through our photos and sigh.  A happy sigh.  Life is good these days.  I love my boys.  There is something so incredibly special about a father and son casually being themselves together.  You look at Christopher and you know that little boy is his world.  And as weird as it sounds, it makes me love Chris all the more somehow.

[Lots] more photos here!

A Year in Photos: 2011

A year in photos for 2011!  Basically, this has been Eliot's life up to this point.  Ha.  And I know it doesn't quite look like it, but I used some serious restraint not to add a bajillion more.  I'd link my post from last year, but that blog is about to expire, so you can go to Flickr instead.

The last pregnant photo.  I didn't realize that I was going to be induced the next day at probably about this same time.

January 14.  Our Eliot Thomas.

Valentine's Day picnic at the park

March beach trip to visit family

Backyard hanging out

Easter!  The cousins telling Eliot about the Easter Bunny.

Kimmy's birthday camping trip

The top of Mount Pleasant

Disney with Chris's family in June on our fourth anniversary!

Swimming at the lake in July

Fourth of July watermelon

We got Dexter!

July beach trip to visit family.  Eliot prefers the ocean to the bay.

Christopher's 26th birthday at Johnson's Farm

Colonial Williamsburg in September

Eliot was an ewok for Halloween

Barb's visit and our trip to DC!

Of course, Christmas

I have learned and grown so much in this past year.  Our whole family has.  Because we became one together.  We've been incredibly blessed and I am so thankful for everything we have, but most of all I am thankful for our love and time together.  We have so much of both.  Looking through these photos makes me absolutely giddy inside and I can't wait to take another year's worth (and make another gigantic entry next year) full of more memories.  And, man, I cannot WAIT for this summer.  Lakes!  Beaches!  Popsicles!  It's going to be awesome.

My resolution last year was to "stop faking labor"--I went in on New Year's Eve with contractions and left with worse contractions and no baby.  The pain scared me and I was not interested in going back and hoped to avoid giving birth all together because I knew it was going to get a lot worse.  I didn't go back until the 13th when I was induced.  I'm not sure who they were forcing into it--me or him--but it wasn't as bad as I feared and we had the most amazing little boy as the sun came up on the 14th.  I guess I did fulfill my resolution last year within two weeks.  Not bad.

My New Year's Resolution this year:  keep loving, give more, ask for help when I need it (I'm too independent), and don't worry.

New Freedom

Yesterday was one of my most productive days yet.  Maybe ever.  Eliot and I...
-bathed first thing
-watched an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba in bed while I made sure Eliot was plenty dry and warm
-made pizza dough in the bread machine
-installed the hook and hung up the hiking backpack in Eliot's playroom
-cleaned up and organized some toys
-took down the baby gates
-Eliot napped and I did my hair and make-up
-paid all of the bills
-ate lunch
-took down the Christmas tree
-swept and swept and swept

Sometimes it is hard for me to simply shower and do my make-up when it's just the two of us, so I was feeling pretty good yesterday.

Eliot has been loving his new freedom.  I took down the baby gates....  While he used to be limited to the den and dining room, he has free run of the house now.  He is only cut off from the stairs going down to the basement and the downstairs bathroom.  He went nuts about it.  He crawls between all the rooms laughing and shrieking and screaming and then climbs up the stairs.  Part of me doesn't know why I didn't do this sooner.  Oh yeah.  Because the downstairs bedroom needed to be fixed and the kitchen seemed dangerous.  I am thinking of maybe blocking the stairs off.  He climbs great and keeps getting better.  He has never fallen (but I am always right behind him), but he doesn't know how to get down.

Here is the little guy playing in the kitchen.  He was having so much fun.

When Chris got home, he said, "Oh wow!"  And I agree.  He mentioned that everything feels much more open without the baby gates.  I think there is something to the flow of a house.  Plus, the dining room was feeling really crowded with the Christmas tree.  Is it bad to be kind of glad that it is gone?

Here is a video I took this morning of Eliot exploring. Don't you love how I tell him to go after the cat and he just takes off in the other direction?  He loves the cat; he's nuts about her.  For him to ignore her for the sake of exploring...  You know he has to be way into it.

First Christmas

This is where I say that our first Christmas together was a "slam dunk" or something cliche like that, but, my goodness, it was!

Eliot slept later than most boys and girls, not knowing what to expect.  As soon as he woke up, we went downstairs for present time!  He opened a sweater first, and then Chris said to give him a toy.  He pulled the paper back slowly and then smirked when he realized what was behind the paper.  Each time, we would open the presents slowly together and then that same smirk would appear.  It was so cute!  Eliot received a baby lap top, a tool work bench, a set of four cars, and clothes.  Later, I felt a little bit bad that we kind of just gave him three things, but I knew a whole new world of toys was to come--followed by his birthday in about two and a half weeks.  Plus, I'd say his bike trailer certainly counts as part of his present.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that?  What is going on?"

The smirk.

I think this table saw might be his favorite toy.

I can't believe how quickly he gets things.  I only show him how to play with each toy once and then he takes off doing exactly what I just did.  It's amazing to watch him grow in understanding!  Christopher made biscuits for breakfast, we all showered, and Eliot snuck in a small nap.  Then we headed "up the mountain" to my aunt's house for lunch.  I hadn't seen my cousins (Zach and his wife, Christa) in a while, so it was great to see them.  Eliot received even more toys.  By then, we knew Chris's parents were getting quite close.  Back down the mountain to our house!

Eliot then opened more presents and even got his firstttt basketball goal!  His Robinson grandparents know how to spoil a baby boy.  The basketball goal might be a little old for him, but he actually will be able to reach the rim once he gets to standing really well.  I got some awesome new shirts (my wardrobe has been seriously lacking lately), new eyeshadow from Bare Minerals, and L.L. Bean slippers.  Chris got a nice sweater and about a year's supply of Starbucks K-cups--we also got a Keurig coffee maker.  We headed to one of the few places open for dinner:  Ruby Tuesdays.

Christmas definitely isn't just about the presents, though.  This year has felt mountains more special and enjoyable than the holidays have in a long time.  I honestly didn't want much of anything, but received a great bread machine from my parents that I plan to use to help keep our family healthy with fresh baked goods and also was given about seven new articles of clothing to help ease some of that "blerg-ness" that I have been feeling lately.  It all comes back to family, though.  I have felt so grateful for my family members (immediate and extended), the ones I got to see and the ones I didn't.  And we have been so beyond blessed with our beautiful, healthy son who steals everyone's heart.  As we celebrate the birth of Christ, I am nothing but humbled and thankful for His grace.

Rocking horse from my parents

Chris told me that he felt like we really need a new house with all of these toys.  I assured him that even people with much larger houses feel crowded with kid's toys.  After living in this house for two and a half years, I'm going to convert that darn downstairs bedroom.  It has been an office/storage room this whole time, so making it into a playroom isn't going to make us lose anything, but an eyesore of a room.  I honestly hadn't done earlier due to cost, but I plan to buy nothing more than a few rugs, frames and prints, and hooks.  I have it all planned out in my head; you'll see.  With two weeks off from teaching and Chris taking a class all this week, today I start the purging!  I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on the process.  Hurray, right?