smoking

Last week, after an outing at Bell Tavern Park, we stopped by the WaWa. As we pulled in and parked facing the side the of the building, there was a worker there. When I went into the back seat to get Eli out, he looked perplexed so I asked him:

Me: "Eli, what is wrong?"
Eli: (pointing at the worker) "What she eating?"

I looked over and saw the worker smoking a cigarette. He thought she was eating something and was confused about what it was. But he was not the only confused one. How do I explain smoking to a 2 year old? Should say what it is...a cigarette...and risk that he then could repeat the word to other kids and moms or possibly eat one himself that he finds on the ground? If I tell him what they are, will tell me he wants one? How do I explain that they are bad and cause cancer and death? Even if I did broach that topic (which Eli is way too young for anyway), what will he say when he sees people we know and love smoking?

You may be saying to yourself, "Denise, he is only two, you are talking crazy talk!". And I know that I do over think things....another bad habit I have. Plus, I even smoked myself for a time, so you may be calling me a hypocrite.

But this situation just made me think about the future. What will we say when he asks about death? Drugs? SEX?!?!!?!? It made me think that my little baby is growing so fast and won't stop. It is frightening to me to think he will be in school 7 hours a day in about 4 years!! Will he be prepared for the onslaught of bullies, bad words and forced independence???? Better yet, will I be???? I say this now.....I will have a full head of gray hair by the time Eli hits kindergarten.

nursery

If you have ever been to our house, you may notice that the rooms are miniature. The powder room is barely powderable, and the bedrooms barely fit a double bed. So we had to get creative with the placement of furniture for Evangeline's nursery. We used an old dresser from Chad's parents and two pieces of Eli's nursery furniture to complete the room. With Eli's nursery, we went with an aquatic/nautical theme with navy blue and light blue paint colors. I wanted to go neutral and calming this time around with Evangeline's nursery. I am so excited for her to come and meet us.


I was organizing clothes that people have given us for her via hand-me-downs and lovely gifts from our amazing parents (I have not had to buy a stitch of clothes for her and am SO THANKFUL for that!). There were baby clothes scattered all over the floor and Chad came upstairs to witness the sea of pink that enveloped me. He said he never saw so much pink in his life. I got up and stood where he was and it was not until that moment that I realized just how much pink there actually was! It was actually quite thrilling! And while I was looking at each article of clothing (tiny hats, socks as long as my pinky, ruffles, sun dresses and jumpers galore!) I was too enamored with how cute everything was and how truly excited I was to have a little girl that I did not notice anything else but my excitement.

Of course I am getting EXTREMELY uncomfortable WAY earlier in this pregnancy than I was with Eli. There is pain in places there should not be yet (or at least until labor), I cannot hold my pee in for the life of me, Evie's legs are pushing against my rib cage and the exhaustion is overwhelming. So as soon as I turn 36 weeks (full term, which is 3 weeks away!) I will pray for this baby to come out, come out, come out! I am still worried about Eli and how he will react to this new blessing, but so far, he is pumped. At OB visits, he brings his little doctor bag with him and pretends to listen to the baby's heartbeat with the doctor. The other day, Evie was doing gymnastics inside me and Chad had his hands on my belly. Eli wanted to get in on the action and put his head on my belly. She was moving like a crazy person, so Eli could feel her movements easily. He laughed and told us "Evie is pushing me!". All three of us sat like that for a good 5 minutes and laughed and oooo'ed and aaahhhh'ed. It was precious.

It won't be long now!

cavorting

rings

This is a conversation Eli and I had on Tuesday night while Chad was out volunteering.


(I put my engagement and wedding rings on Eli's dresser while I put lotion on him after a bath)


Eli: "What are those.....coins?"


Me: "No, they are Mommy's rings. Daddy gave me these rings. And he has a ring that Mommy gave to him. We gave each other rings when we got married."


(Eli gets a sad face, hangs his head and sniffs)


Me: "What is wrong, buddy?"


Eli: (crying now) "I want rings too!!!"


Me: "Oh sweet pea, I don't know where we can find rings for little boys like you. I will have to talk to Daddy about it later and see if we can find one for you."


Eli: "Ok, ok...."


(he gets off the bed and starts out the door)


Me: "Where are you going?"


Eli: "To talk to Daddy....we find a ring store."


Me: (chuckling to myself) "Daddy isn't here, he is teaching kids about Jesus. Can we talk to him about it tomorrow?"


Eli: "Ok."



Eli always wants to do the things Chad and I do together, but also things we have done together in the past. It is almost like he feels left out. See another story like this here. He is just so precious to us that if he was with us, he would be involved in those life changing moments. He will learn someday that the reason he wasn't with us during those times was not because he we didn't love him or that he wasn't on our minds, but because God was preparing him for us and was not ready yet. :)

joy

hooked

On Friday, our Mom's Club that I belong to made a trip to ACAC in West Chester. I was so impressed with this place and Eli had such a good time there! I told Chad if we were ever ridiculously wealthy, we would join there for sure! Ah pipe dreams! We can't even afford the YMCA! :)

They treated us like royalty! There was a gym with a moonbounce where the kids played and three staff members playing with the kids! One of the staff members was so good with our kids, that we all decided we would steal him and share him as a nanny for our kids!

Then after the gym was snack time! We were spoiled with giant cookies, chips and Philly soft pretzels, not to mention lemonade and water.

We ate by the the ridiculously big and awesome pool area (only one of four of them!) which had 1 foot deep water for the kids to play in!

The pool was Eli's favorite part of the day! The sheer joy he gets from swimming just melts my heart! His lips were turning purple even though the water was very warm. I asked him if he was cold and he said a resounding no and played some more. He wasn't going to let pruning fingers and toes or a little cold to stop him from having so much fun!

Then, on the way out, as he cried and cried because he wanted to stay longer, I realized I had a bit of a flat tire.

It wasn't completely flat, but I didn't feel comfortable driving it with Eli inside and me being pregnant in case something happened. So I called AAA and they sent someone out. But Eli fell asleep as we were waiting because he was just so tired from all of the festivities!

In the morning, we had a playdate at 9:30 so we were out from 9:00 to 4:30 with no nap for either of us! I was exhausted and Eli was too. But it was totally worth it to see how much fun and enjoyment he got out of everything!

maggie

Over the past few days, Eli has had a new friend.
Her name is Maggie.
She is invisible.
Imaginary.
Not real.
But to Eli, she is very real.
She is small, as she fits in the palm of his little hand.
Sometimes she is a baby, sometimes she is big.
Unprovoked, Eli will say...
"Look! Maggie's here!"
He will pick her up off of the ground
and put her in my hand.
He will talk to Maggie.
And hug her too.
Too cute for words.

contrast

powdered

protruding

I am definitely out of the expanding phase and into the protruding phase....the above picture sums that up quite nicely. At 31 weeks pregnant, here are the deets.

--Weight is on target, so my OB says...sometimes I wish he would give me a swift kick in the rear and say I need to start eating better. With every visit, it makes me want to eat more bad stuff because he always says I am on target.

--Evangeline moves like a kid in a candy store! She cannot sit still already and she is not even here yet! :) Sometimes she hurts me....maybe she has super human strength....or maybe I am a wimp. I seem to believe the latter.

In my last visit with my OB, the possibility of induction came up. He knew I went into labor very fast with Eli so he told me that when he starts checking to see if I am dilated (beginning at 34 weeks) and finds me to be 3-5 centimeters dilated before my due date, I will have to be induced. Now, I don't want to be on the side of Bypass 30 with a horrified Chad delivering our daughter, but I really do not want to be induced. Not only have I heard horror stories about the dreaded pitocin that helps move the labor along....I was thinking of the slight possibility that maybe since I labored with no drugs with Eli, I could do it again. Of course with Eli, I had no choice and I was not happy about the fact that I could not get drugs (to read more about Eli's labor story, click here). BUT, the most important reason is that I just want to begin labor naturally, in God's timing. But again, I am not in control, He is. So maybe induction is God's timing, we shall see.

--With the help of Chad's parents (God bless their souls!) we almost have Evie's nursery completed. It still needs some girly decor to brighten things up. Once it is ready, I will post pictures.

--Other than that, life is good and besides being sidelined many times over the last few months with sickness, we feel very blessed! :)

eli-isms

"Mommy, I make poop sound...ppppffftttt."



Mommy: "Eli, let me get that big sticker out of your hair."
Eli: "No, I want it there."



"Daddy, you got dots on you back!" (referring to Chad's freckles)


"Beacuse whyyyyyyyy?"



Mommy: "Eli, come here please, lets get your shoes on."
Eli: "Just a minute.....just a minute...." (and he dilly dallies)



(In the bathtub with his little rear in the air)
Eli's rear: "pppffftttt"
Mommy: (laughing) "Elijah, what was that??"
Eli: "A poop sound, Mommy!"



"Can I see Jabawockeez?" (breakdancing dance crew)



(Eli pushing a cookie on my growing belly)
Eli: "Here you go Evie, here you go. You eat?"

AND MY FAVORITE:

Mommy: "Achoo!"

Eli: "Bless you, Mommy!"

Mommy: "Thank you, Honey."

Eli: You're welcome, Sweet Pea."

botany

We were in the mood for spring and decided to plant some flowers early. Here is how our process went and near catastrophic casualty that occurred.

First, we needed seeds. Then, we needed pots....small plastic pots, but pots nonetheless. :)

The pots had dirt in them so Eli added some water to each.


Beautiful!

Then, he added the seeds to the dirt in the pots.

Next, he got his hands wet and sprinkled a little more water in the pots.

Of course, he needed to give them love in the form a hug to help them grow.

Next, the top of the greenhouse had to be placed just right...........

And with a little too much love, jostling and placing of the top, the pots capsized.

But, Mommy to the rescue and the pots were upright again, soaking up the glorious sun on our kitchen windowsill.

Tune in next week for cooking by Eli. haha! :)

snoweater