updates

Here are some updated on us:





-Eli has been doing great in his big boy bed. He will wake up maybe once a night, if at all. But when he does wake up, he won't say anything. He gets off of his bed and curls up in a corner of his room and stays there for who knows how long! I feel like i am so connected to Eli that I will wake up and know he is awake (probably because I woke up with him millions of times a night until recently!). The monitor shows nothing in his bed so I go into his room and there he is in the corner, laying down in the fetal position wide awake smiling at me. He is a silly kid. :) Luckily he goes to back to sleep easily.





-I am almost 13 weeks along with baby. We had our second OB appointment where they use the doppler to hear the baby's heartbeat. The doctor put it on my abdomen and we waited to her the joyous sound......and we waited......and we waited. As each minute passed with no heartbeat, I was scared out of my mind! It took 10 minutes for the heartbeat to be found. And even then, it was faint and I felt like a bad mommy already because I could not hear it at first! :( But then I did and it was the sweetest sound! Since my pants used to fit snug on me anyway, I am now getting into maternity pants because my belly is growing. Unfortunately, since I was pregnant with Eli in the summer, I don't have very many pants and long sleeved tops. So off to consignment I go! And maybe craigslist too. :) We financially challenged people have to be creative! :)





-We were going to go to our church's Harvest Party tonight, but unfortunately Eli (and myself) are sick with colds. Eli was up a million times last night because he couldn't breathe through his nose. Poor little guy. So I am sad to miss the party because we have never been to it before. But I think the three of us will start a Halloween tradition spending some time watching 'The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' in our PJ's with hot chocolate curled up under a blanket on the couch. We don't get very many trick or treaters, but I do have a bowl of candy for those that do come. This is what Eli was going to go as this year:

He looks scared to be in the costume and that is because he was not happy about it. He chose the costume, but he is very sensitive when it comes to how clothes feel and tags and such, so he was not a happy camper in this get up. The costume also came with this huge inflatable helmet and he didn't like that either. So maybe it is best we can't go tonight. :)

Anyway, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, be safe and have fun!

spooky

This time if year brings out the scary things: monsters, witches and of course ghosts. But I never thought I would be spooked by my own child's observations.

I was in the kitchen making dinner one night and Eli was in the other room playing. Then he came running to me, saying "scared mommy, scared". So I said "what are you scared of, buddy?" and he says "a man, a man in there". Being brought up watching every scary movie my Mom was too afraid to watch alone, I was scared too!!!! I went into the living room and saw nothing. I said "I don't see a man, Lijah." and he said "ok".

Flash forward to another day, I was getting changed to go out with Eli and was in my bedroom with him. He went into the hallway and came running back to me saying "scared mommy, scared". So I asked him again what he was scared of and again, got the same answer: a man. I investigated as usual and found no man.

Now I am starting to get a little freaked out. If he would have said he was scared of a ghost or a witch, that would have made me laugh a little and I would explain that they are not real. But he keeps saying he is scared of a man and it is always when he leaves the room to go to another, almost like he runs into this said man and gets scared and comes running back to me. So now I am wondering, do we have a ghost? :) Spoooooooky!!!!!!\

FYI: I thought it would be cute to put a cartoon ghost picture in this post so I went to msn.com and plugged in 'ghosts' and searched images......do not do this. It brings up very scary images and I closed out of it as quickly as possible!!!! Boy am I a scaredy cat!

amazing

Last night, Chad and I were praying with Eli. I do most of the prayer at night, but lately we have encouraged Eli to participate too. So we thank God for all of the things we were able to do in the day (he tries to list them) and then we ask God to bless our friends (he names friends here) and our family (he names family here). So last night, when we got the family part, here is how is how it went:

Me: "God bless our family, like......."
Eli: "brutter....."
Me to Chad: "Did he just say 'brother'?"
Eli: "seester too!!!"
Me: "Brother or sister is in Mommy's belly, did you know that?"
Eli: "YEAH!"

We have RARELY used the words borther and sister. We typically call the baby 'baby in mommy's belly'. So he said brother first.....is this a sign that maybe he knows more than we do? Are we going to have a baby boy come May?? Who knows. But my little boy is amazing to me and I love the time we share together in prayer. :)

carving

We did a little pumpkin carving this weekend at my parents' house. We have been doing this every year for years, since my nephew Nathan was about 3 or 4. He is 9 now. Eli and Nathan are the best of friends. Eli hangs all over Nathan and loves him to pieces! And Nathan is a wonderful cousin, making sure he is safe and playing with him.

Carving pumpkins is a lot of fun to do and now we have more people in our family than ever, so that makes it even better! Eli watched the carving, but delighted in the pumpkin painting more! Chad was very pessimistic as to how long this painting would hold Eli's interest. But he painted 4 pumpkins! He really had a good time!

Now to the whole 3 readers that read this blog and not knowing who carved which, let me know in the comments section which one is the best. :)

chuckle

I was on my lovely, dear friend Angie's blog today and she has a link to this blog:

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

This woman posts pictures of cakes gone wrong and writes funny little tidbits about them. Not only are the picture funny, I was cracking up at the writing as well. So after having a busy day today and being a little stressed, this really made me chuckle...hard!

caught

I have a jewelry box filled with old jewelry that I rarely wear. It is stored under our bed. Eli likes to go under there and pull out anything that looks fun to play with. Apparently my jewelry looked fun, but then I caught him in the act:

pride

I love this picture. Where could this picture be depicting? The old towns and mountains of the Poconos? Somewhere in Massachusetts? Not exactly. It is Coatesville, Pennsylvania and isn't it beautiful?

My family and I live in Coatesville. I read in the newspaper of drug deals going on in the daytime, fires, murder, robberies, all in the area I live in. There is a certain fear about living less than a mile from the city of Coatesville. But I choose to look at Coatesville for what it truly is. I look past the sadness, the crime, the frustration, most of which really is in any city. I look past that outer shell and I see the inner beauty in the town in which I live.

I take a street called Oak as a quick way into Thorndale. Oak street is a street that is on a high hill, overlooking the old vintage houses, grid streets, orange, yellow and red hues of trees and just hills and hills all over. I look at that view every time I travel this road and it is really breathtaking.


I go to our local Thorndale Giant food store. Eli and I take this weekly trip on the same day and the same time. We see Tim, the stock person and talk to him as we pass in the aisle every week. He loves to talk to Eli and ask him what he has been doing all week. Once our groceries are in the cart, we always go to the same check out woman named Debbie. She lets Eli press the buttons on the credit card key pad, and teaches him about the numbers and colors on it. These people live in my town, work in my town and are wonderful people. I look forward to my grocery trips, as does Eli.


Multiple times a day, a police cruiser slowly travels into our development. The police officers are always smiling and waving to us, just making sure all is safe for us and our family. In our neighborhood, we have never had any type of criminal activity in the 4 years it has been in existence. I feel very safe here.


100 yards from our house, an new park opened recently. It has a paved walking/biking trail and a huge play gym. It also has a toddler area as well. I have been waiting years for this park to be built and that time is finally here. Eli loves to take the same slide down every time. He also likes to throw rocks in the pond.

Our neighbors are the kindest people. They are the type that:

-when you come home from a long day at work, you see your empty trash cans pulled up from the sidewalk to the garage.

-when you need help putting a new grill together, they show up with every tool imaginable to help and stay 2 hours until it is finished.

-fun pranks are played on each other regularly.

-when you are away, you feel good that your house is being watched out for you.

Sure, the nearest Starbucks is in Lionville. Sure, down the road there is a store called 'Da Place Fo Da Face' and what they sell is a mystery to us (facials???). Sure, we have barely any backyard. Sure, we have to deal with traffic lights turning red when no other cars are coming in the opposite direction. But there is much to be thankful for when it comes to the place I live. And despite what anyone else thinks, I choose to see its beauty. :)

cuteness

enjoyment

BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated Eli's birthday with a family party at our home. Eli had a great time and made out like a bandit because his Aunts, Uncles and grandparents love him dearly! :)

I made the Thomas the Train cake. Isn't it great? Just kidding! A good friend named Wegman's did it and they did a great job!

Last year, Eli couldn't really open gifts, or did understand that opening them is what you do. But this year, he went crazy!

The piano was a hit. He plays it with so much passion!

The microphone that came with it very fun for Eli and his cousin Nathan. They were spitting out beats and singing and having a great time. Eli's newest song goes like this: "Please, thank you, please, thank you, magic, magic, magic". Yes, he will be a songwriter one day....those lyrics are just fantastic! :)

Eli did blow out a few of his candles. He is very good at blowing his nose, so blowing candles out I thought would be a cinch for him. :)

Eli loves his new train table! We each have a favorite train. His is blue and mine is red. When we play, he gives me my favorite red train and he retrieves his favorite blue train and we play and play!

Later that night, Eli had his first piece of pizza!!!!!!! We always offer him whatever we are eating and he always refuses. So on this night, we had the pizza boxes within his reach, not really on purpose. So we watch in shock as he opens one of the boxes, reaches in and takes a piece. Then he just stated to bite into it. He took a good 5 or 6 bites and liked it!

For a little dude that has only eaten chicken nuggets for dinner every night for months, this picky eater has tried and liked pizza! Yes, it is not the best food in the world for him, but like I said, at least it expands his repertoire of dinner food. And it also proves once again that he has to try things himself or else he will refuse anything we try to give to him. A kid after his Dad's own heart! :)

blessed

We had our ultrasound yesterday at Lankenau Hospital. We had never been there before, but they were so booked out at Paoli. Everyone was really nice and they were really backed up and had to give some bad news to a few couples, which was very sad. But we got to see our little bean and he/she is doing great! At the hospital, they even had 3D ultrasound as well, but those pics were really blurry, so I didn't post them.








The baby was moving around and everything measures perfectly. I think he/she is cute already!!! :) We are getting sick of calling the baby 'the baby' or 'he/she'. With Eli, because we got so many ultrasounds so early, he looked like a little dot at first, so we called him Dot. We have to come up with a nickname for this one. :)

The ultrasound really eased my mind and I am so glad that everything is perfect. God is good! :)

anticipation

We have our ultrasound today! Chad and I are going while Chad's Mom watches Eli. I cannot wait to see this little baby growing inside me! It is almost unreal! :) I will give updates and hopefully have pictures when we get back! :)

infatuation

If any of you have children, I am sure you know who this little girl is.....Dora the Explorer. Because of my confinement to the couch due to morning sickness, Eli has been watching a tad more television lately and one of his favorite shows now is Dora. Well, favorite is an understatement. This kid BEGS to watch Dora constantly. If he sees anything relating to Dora in a store, he screams her name and runs to it. I have to peel him away from whatever Dora product has it's mind controlling grip on him.

The newest Dora obsession is the Dora costume. Ask my son Elijah what he wants to be for Halloween and he will say Dora. Just today, he was begging for a Dora costume. I think any Mom would agree that they try their best to let their children be what they want for Halloween. It is freedom of expression, right? But I just cannot let myself buy a costume that would make my son look like this:

Am I wrong????? :)

updates

DeBolt Family Updates:

1. Big Boy Bed Progress: Eli has been doing really well with his bed. The three of us go to sleep together in Eli's bed at first. We read a few books, pray together, give good night kisses and we wait for Eli to fall asleep. He usually needs to be holding onto my nose to fall asleep. A little weird I know. But apparently our noses are his comfort. Some kids have a stuffed animal or blanket that gives them comfort...Eli needs to touch our nose. I believe it started when he was 5 months old and while I would nurse him to sleep, he would reach up his little hand and play with my nose as he fell asleep. And it has happened ever since. And because he is a little ball of energy, it usually takes him 30-60 minutes to actually fall asleep and sometimes we fall asleep too. There have times when I would wake up in Eli's bed and wake Chad up too because we both fell asleep and it was now 9 at night! :) But it is just a blessing that he goes down to sleep without crying and it is nice time for us to spend as a family together.

2. Weaning Progress: Over a month ago, Eli was waking up 5 times or more a night to nurse back to sleep. (No, I am not a crazy person, just not a fan of having him cry it out) Now he wakes 2 times and nurses one of those two. Last night, I took that last night nursing away. He was not too happy for about 5 minutes, but easily fell back to sleep, holding onto my nose, of course. So progress is being made! :)

3. Pregnancy Progress: I had my first OB appointment last week and everything looks great. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Thursday, so that will ease my mind. Because of everything that happened in the beginning of my pregnancy with Eli (see here if you are unfamiliar), my OB is letting me have an early ultrasound to ease my mind. Hopefully I can post some pictures of the little bean then. I am still having the morning sickness, which seems to come in waves of really bad and not so bad, but it is ALWAYS there and is wearing me down. But I am thankful for it at the same time because it means that all is going well. I have not been the wife I normally am because of the morning sickness and Chad has really stepped up. He waits on me and takes care of Eli and does things around the house for me....he is truly a blessing!

4. Birthday: Eli will be 2 on the 13th. We are having a family party for him this Saturday, but then on his actual birthday on Monday, we are taking him to the zoo. We know he will love that. I will take pictures as usual and then accost you with the sheer volume of them on this blog. :)

Thanks for reading and caring about us and our family. If you have been reading this long, you must really be our friends. :)

testing

Tests. I have never done too well on tests. I was always average. To give myself a little credit, maybe a shade above average. B's and C's littered the pages of my report cards through the years. That was good enough for me, usually, even though every now and then I would get an A. Boy, would I LOVE to get an A. There were times I got an A and those times made me very happy. Once in thrid grade, I got straight A's! Once and never again. My Pop Pop gave me some astronomical amount of money for it, though I forget how much now. Maybe it was just astronomical for a third grader.

So when Chad and I started trying for baby number 2, I knew the testing would begin and I also knew that I wanted the A.......bad. :) For those who do not know me, I am a serial tester when it comes to testing for pregnancy. Instead of paying twenty dollars a pop for the drugstore brands, I found that at Dollar Tree, you can buy pregnancy tests for a DOLLAR! So of course I stocked up! One morning I came downstairs with Eli, saw my husband off to work by giving him a kiss and went into the bathroom to test. When I waited the appropriate time for the test to do its job, I saw this:

If you look really hard, squint your eyes, hold the picture to the light and stick your tongue out, you may be able to see a faint line next to the bright pink one. I thought I may have been seeing things, so I emailed it to Chad with the words 'Are we?' in the subject line. He wrote back 'I see a faint line, does this mean we are pregnant?'. At that, I was ecstatic! I had taken lots of tests before and seen NO LINE at all, so any sign of a line was a pregnancy! So I ran out and got another test, a different brand, to compare the tests.

If you look hard you can see the plus sign!!! But I still was not totally convinced, so the next day, I bought the expensive kind, the digital kind of test. I wanted to be sure before I got completely excited.

It was then official....Chad, Eli and I were starting on a new journey together!!! Our family was growing and we were so infectiously excited!!! :)