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. :)