Church... and babies

Ah, ok. This morning we actually made it to church on base. I can't lie, we have not been so good at church going since we've been here. Mostly we've blamed having a baby, but really... who does that? TONS of people go to church with their babies. But I think my big thing is, if I was at church "back home," I would know who was in the nursery or children's church with Eli. I just can't bring myself to dropping him off in a room with complete strangers who may not give my child their undivided attention and keep him from sticking crayons up his nose/down his throat. But, I am sure that whoever is taking care of the babies and small children is very well qualified... I just have a hard time with it.

Well, this morning we went to church like I mentioned a moment ago. While we were at home for the holidays Eli enjoyed the singing portion of church and then settled in for his nap. Since Eli didn't nap this morning, I was sure he would take it during church. Wrong. Wrong. Oh, so wrong. The service we went to was short of volunteers for baby church so Eli, of course, stayed with us. Oh, he screamed a couple times. Busted his noggin' on the pew and then cried. Flirted with the lady behind us and did numerous other things to draw attention to us. Actually, I thought about it and now I probably feel comfortable dropping Eli off in the nursery or baby church.

The singing was nice, the ladies of the choir (I guess you would call it that) sang a bit too high for me though... Not that I am a great singer anyway. Eli sang along and pushed his lips out with every "word" he sang. We should just attend an all singing church. That would keep him occupied! The sermon (what I heard of it) was very good. But never in my life had I prayed so hard for an hour to pass just a lil bit faster. And it seems like every time I did hear some of the sermon, it was something he had already said. I believe this preacher was stretching a 25 minute sermon into an hour long one. Fortunately, we made it out alive without too many glances and little did I know the fun was just about to begin. Putting Eli into his car seat is something you would just have to experience. He doesn't always do this. Usually just when we are leaving somewhere to go home. Never vice versa. It was like wrestling an alligator. His body was stiff as a board and the wind kept blowing my dress up. He was screaming and scratching... fighting with all of his tiny might.

As we pulled of base I turned around to check on him and he was wearing his sweet little angel face and sleeping sweet slumber that had escaped him all morning long. I carefully pulled him from the car and placed him on the couch, gently removing his coat and shoes. He slept for about 2 hours. Praise God.

Paci, bath time and just plain old silliness...

Not since he was 5 months old has Eli taken a pacifier. Even then it was really rare. Now all of a sudden they are buried treasure, literally. He is finding them everywhere and sucking on them and playing with them like they are long lost friends. The other day he kept one in his mouth most of the afternoon during a road trip. He was quiet, I was happy. I do love it though when he sneaks up on me with one hanging out of the side of his mouth. It makes him look like an actually baby! Speaking of which, at the grocery checkout last night the clerk asked how old Eli was and I told her he would be 1 in a week. She was so shocked and thought he was at least 2. We get that a lot. Sometimes it makes me proud because who wants a scrawny little boy? But sometimes it's embarrassing, like I'm shooting him up with 'roids or something? ... OR maybe they are looking at me and thinking 'Well I see where he gets it from.' Ha, ahh, oh well.

I don't know what face he was making here? I see everyone with cute little bath time pictures and it's a real struggle to get E to even look at a camera these days.

Those big brown eyes just melt my heart.

^ The plain old silliness. ^

Oh, and please notice here, I still have a Christmas present that hasn't been mailed. Nice.

My Sister

Ugh, where do I start? If you have a sister, I'm sure you can identify... if not, you're going to be glad and jealous all at once. Up until the age of maybe 12, my sister and I were BEST friends. We played together always and didn't wear the same size clothes. Something happened along the way (I was jealous of her in every single way) and it tore us apart. I was mean to her and embarrassed her in front of family and friends and really did just about all I could to make her life hell... not all of the time... but a lot of it. We had always shared a room and a bed... We fought over who would have to turn the light off at night and sometimes it just stayed on all night long.

Skip forward a couple years. When I turned 16 we were back to being pretty close. Mostly the same friends, boyfriends who were best friends. We were always together. We also always fought. We were now wearing the same size shirts, not jeans... I am only about 6 inches taller than she is. "My shirts" were off limits. She would wear them and always get food on them. "Hers" were also off limits. I always left a "smell" on them. She has always been weird about smells other than her own. But I'm not going to lie, I am pretty sure I had an overactive sweating problem as a teen.

Now that we are all grown and out of college and I have a family of my own, I appreciate her so much more. I want her involved in all of my family stuff like watching my babies grow and just being my best friend. I wanted her to get married and start having babies when she was getting ready to graduate from college. But she is doing what she has always wanted to, just like I am. All I have ever wanted was a family to love and take care of like my mom did for me. Not Lindsey. She has always wanted to do something "amazing." It took her a while to figure out what that amazing thing was, but she found it.

Lindsey left on January 2nd to India. She will be gone for 11 months and visit 11 different countries. In just a couple of days she will be in Nepal. The mission group she is with is called the World Race. Most people sign up for this with a year or so to prepare. Lindsey was accepted with only 4 months to raise all of the money she needed for it. The amount was $15,000 and she raised all but about $2k in that short amount of time. The rest people are donating over the course of her trip. She is really doing so much in the lives of others and they are also doing so much for her. Her link is http://lindseygay.theworldrace.org/. And I'm not going to lie, I cry every time I think about how far away she is or the fact that I can't just pick up the phone and tell her to get on Skype. But I am so thankful for the person she is!

Happy birthday...

.... to me! I'm not gonna lie y'all... I was not looking forward to my birthday this year. I wasn't dreading it, but I was no where near as excited as I normally am. Maybe it's a "mom thing?" Well, even though I was not all giddy and revved up about today, it turned out amazing. Daniel got off work today at noon and brought home some BK (not my fav place but I didn't put up left-overs last night and I honestly didn't have anything else to make for lunch except PB&Js.) So after my crown shaped nuggets, I enjoyed a piece of cake that the L-t made all by him self last night AND iced AND decorated. I took pictures but my camera is out in the car and it. is. COLD. He made my favorite, the yellow butter cake and chocolate icing.

After our gourmet lunch, we hopped in the car for my awesome massage and pedicure. Wow. It was amazing and much needed. I laid on that table face down for 1 hr while that chick did her magic. And I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to moan like Monica on that episode of "Friends" where she doesn't want Phoebe giving her a massage and the she lets her and Phoebe gets freaked out. I refrained. Then a laid on my back with a heavenly scented, warm eye cover over my eyes while she "did my front." She pulled out one limb to rub at a time while the rest of my was covered with warm towels and blankets. I kept wanting fall asleep but I didn't want to because I wanted to enjoy the massage! I felt like a new woman after she was over. Then I got my pedicure... I had painted my toes a dark plum color a few days ago without a clear base coat and she had a hard time getting it off. Now I felt like that part of Dumb and Dumber when they are trying to file the guys toenails down with a power tool. My toes are now a beautiful, bright, sports car red WITH a base coat.

As I reluctantly left the spa, Daniel pulled up and I jumped in the car barefoot. I forgot to bring flip flops so I looked like an idiot leaving, I'm sure. Sitting in the middle console was a box of THE best chocolates ever made. I've been telling Daniel about this chocolatier in the town where we were and he went in and picked out the very best ones! My favorites are the strawberry and champagne flavored ones. It's a little white chocolate ball lightly rolled in this pink strawberry flavored powder filled with a strawberry and champagne cream. So good, I had about 4 on the way home. We stopped at the Donor shop and got Donor Kebabs and they were amazing as well. A great way to end my day.

Sorry if this post was so happy it made you want to vomit! It was almost a little too happy for me to write it. Nothing went crazy or wrong though so I am in a little bit of shock! I will post pictures of my cake for you all to admire later ;). ALSO, if you've actually read this far... On the top right of my page you can cast your vote on what you think the baby will be! We find out on March 6th! Even if you aren't a "follower" you can vote, and I know that all of my 8 followers aren't viewing my page 60 times a day... I'm looking forward to see what everyone thinks! I think it's a boy!

174

Today we FINALLY got to see Baby Land! It's measuring 12 weeks today (a little ahead of what we thought) and has a beautiful strong heartbeat of 174. It's such a relief going in for the first time and finally getting to hear that sweet little sound! Baby was asleep for the first part of the scan but then decided to wake up and stretch it's teeny little arms and legs. From crown to rump it's about the length of your forefinger... I guess unless your finger isn't the size of my Dr's finger. Ah, anyways... I just had to share the excitement!!! It's much more real now!

So, my birthday is 2 days away and last night my sweet husband starts hounding me on what he should get me. I couldn't think of anything, mostly because I didn't really want or need anything. I had an awesome Christmas and really all I can think about is Eli's upcoming birthday! As I was browsing the web looking for something to catch my eye, I came across a couple of sites with really cute and somewhat cheap jewelry perfect for moms and grandmas... or really any woman who has someone she loves. You may just want to leave these sites in your browser around Mother's Day!

The first site I came to was dramaqueenbows.com. On the top left tab is "Mom bracelets." Cute, cute. I will definitely be ordering the Rene after we find out what we are having, and a name of course!

Next, poshmommyjewelry.com. A little more expensive but still affordable, this is my favorite! I love gold jewelry just as much as silver, but I am hesitant about buying gold jewelry online. Some of the pictures have a little too much "quarter machine" gold-ness to them. The "Tall Tags" with the birthstone were my favorite items here! Christmas before last, I had ordered my MIL the loop style necklace, but from a different site. She'll be needing a new one since she is getting two more grandloves this August! And no, I am not having twins (that I know of)! Daniel's brother and SIL are also expecting! They are due a little over a week ahead of us!

I had one more site but after going back and looking at it, it is a lot like the last one I mentioned and their engraving looks a little sloppy.

Ah, ok. Now that you've read my ridiculous little commercial, go check out that cute mommy jewelry. Oh, and just so you know, it is 4 a.m. England time right now and Eli and I have been up since 2:30. Not sure why... he just woke up and was happy and talking and NOT going back to sleep. Since it was only 9 in AL we skyped GG, Papa and Uncle Luke for a little while and now we are just enjoying some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Hopefully we'll get back into bed SOON! Goodnight/morning... :/

Snuggletime

When Eli was a baby...well, a "baby" baby, we snuggled him constantly. I mean, we would put him down... we just always snuggled him,especially at nap time and bed time. So now, we still do the same. He is good about snuggling during those times but other than that, snuggling is on his own terms. He's too busy playing and exploring for such childish things these days... except for every once in a while. Last night he fell asleep around 9 and got up this morning at 7:30! I think we are finally on British time! Anyway, being up this early has put my little chunky monkey into a snuggle mood and I'm lovin' it! His little hair is all over his head and his eyes are swollen. Nothing better in this world!