Five months old

Today our "lil' snapper" (a saying from a shirt with a little crab on it that we adopted) as we like to call him turns five months old. Elijah's milestones include:

• Rolling from back to front (over his right side) about a thousand times a day (followed by a huge burp-up and a face that looks like a snowman, a bit of anger, help rolling back over, and a start again).
• Lots of giggling especially when you raise his hands above his head.
• Lots of smiles especially at big brother Isaac.
• An occasional roll from stomach to back.
• Much improved head movement looking to the left.
• Holding things (and dropping them).
• Grabbing for things but fairly irregularly and randomly. We haven't seen a conscious "grab" yet.
• Sleeps on stomach at night and usually at naps. (I put him down on his back but he rolls over).
  
• Goes to bed at about 8pm and wakes up at about 6am fairly consistently.
• Currently drinking 6, eight ounce bottles a day. He knows how much he wants and doesn't take no for an answer.

Elijah's enjoyments include:

• Elijah loves his baths.
• He loves to be kissed on the cheeks.
• He loves to be held and wants you to be in the room with him. We, in fact, just moved the swing into the living room even though it doesn't fit in there at all because he doesn't like to be in it unless we are near him.
• Elijah likes to squirm around. He moves all over the place.

Elijah is turning into a really sweet little boy. As his feeding has gotten worked out, we have found that he cries TONS less and is content most of the day. We used to joke because Elijah could go from happy to sad in mere miliseconds. We haven't seen that as much lately. He is much more content and settled and cries a lot less lately.

In the past few days, Isaac has been a bit more challenging to us as he starts to exert his will. Suddenly Elijah has been the "easy one." This was never the case before. JB called him our little "stealth bomber" the other day as lately, with all of Isaac's adventures, Elijah has been majorly flying under the radar. I fall more and more in love with him every single day. I have been enjoying my time with him in the early mornings before Isaac wakes up.(Isaac has been sleeping until 8:30 and yesterday ... 9:30!)

We love you little boy! Thank you Lord for giving Him to us. He was surely worth the wait.

Perplextions

First of all, I know perplextions isn't a word. But I am using it for this blog because I like the way it sounds.

There are many things in my life which are currently perplexing me thus causing me said perplextions.

Scrubs is one of them.

Here's the perplextion: How can a dog that drives me soooooo crazy one minute, literally leave me speechless in regards to his good behavior the next?

Maybe dogs are more like kids than I thought?

We've always known that Scrubs is not food protective. Since he was a tiny pup we've had him eat out of our hands and taken his food from him in the middle of the meal. Isaac and I will often hang out with him while he eats, telling him to start or to stop, petting him, putting our hands in the bowl.

But I don't think I realized just how good Scrubs was at this until yesterday. I had only turned my back for a few seconds, and when I turned around, Isaac had his foot in Scrubs' water bowl and both his hands in his food bowl. Scrubs had backed up and was just standing there, looking at me, with no intention to do anything to stop his little buddy from playing in his food. No growling, no barking, just patience. He waited until I pulled Isaac away and then very calmly went back to eating.

Sometimes I feel bad because I get so frustrated with Scrubs. He takes the brunt of my fatigue and crankiness some days. He follows me to every single room in the house all day long, he walks on my feet a lot, and he can go bonkers when new people come to visit. His head is always in my laundry basket whether clean or dirty too. But what a good pup he really is. I know he is still a dog and you have to always watch him with children, but it is so nice that I have so much confidence in his behavior around our boys.

And Scrubs is not the only thing causing me to scratch my head in a fit of perplextions. There are other things too.

One fact currently perplexing me is how fast baby's nails grow. Do mine grow that fast? Is it because they are so small that they appear to grow faster? Or do they really grow faster? Or is it simply because I have two babies that the speed seems superhuman? JB used to be the nail-cutter-guy in our house, but he's been so busy that quite honestly, I just can't get him to keep up on them. So I've moved into the position. I feel like I spend half my week cutting nails. Okay so that's an exaggeration, but you get the point.

The second fact that I cannot seem to get over is that Joan cleaned out my refrigerator while she was here. I mean, seriously, how many friends would do that for you? I am not even sure I would do that for my own mother. Serious sacrifice there folks. (You didn't see what my fridge looked like before she moved in. I'm serious. Major sacrifice. I know there was stuff growing in there. Science projects waiting to happen.)

All righty so there you go folks. A deep look into the recesses of my brain which are now preparing for more Wimbledon! (The brain was actually deep into sports all weekend. Kenny Perry won in golf! And the U.S. Soccer team barely lost. I'm really not sure there is a sport I don't like to watch. Except for Nascar. I really hate Nascar.)

Okay, brain is wandering off again.

Signging off before it wanders too far.

Last bits on film

Joanie and Bri left early this morning. What a wonderfully fantastic visit we had! I can't say enough about what a good time we had and what a blessing it was to have company for the end of a really long week for JB. Here are some closing shots!

Isaac with his milk and doggie right when he got up in the morning. This doggie usually has to stay in his crib and is only for when he is sleeping, but I think he talked Joanie or Bri into getting it out for him! :)

I think Scrubs thinks it is way too early for a photo.

The simplest things make great toys.

Isaac trying to put on his own shoe.

Another shoe shot.

We had breakfast at Big City Bistro. Me and Joan.

Me and Bri before breakfast.

Love this pic of my guys before breakfast.

Isaac and Bri having a talk in the pool.

Elijah doing the swim thing.

This pic is a little blurry due to fog on the lens. But here's the closest we could manage to one of both boys.

I plan to write more on the visit with Bri later, but for now, I need to start getting ready for Keith, AD and Charleigh's arrival on Wednesday!

Bri gets the kiss on film

Splash Pad and more

Saturday was a way fun day!

It started with breakfast: (check out the Cheerio stuck to Isaac's face in the first photo)

After breakfast, we headed to the Splash Pad on Base. Bri and Joan had bought new suits for the boys. The shirt Isaac has on actually has SPF protection built in. How cool is that? Anyways, we needed to try out the suits, so off we went!

After the Splash Pad, we hit the park next to it. Isaac and Bri had a ton of fun playing while Joanie fed Elijah and I relaxed!

We made a quick stop at the BX before heading home so both boys could take naps and we could watch Wimbledon. After the naps were over, it was time to head out again. First, we stopped at Publix to pick up some ingredients for Joan to make her awesome lasagna, picked up a sub for JB, and took it to him at the hospital as he is on call today. Isaac got to ride in a "car cart" for the first time. He thought it was way cool. Of course, we still needed two carts to get both kids around.

We then headed up to the residency room to bring JB his lunch/dinner! He was really hungry. While he ate, Isaac ran around playing with his newfound obsession: water bottles. I have no idea where he found this one. (Someone is going to be missing it come Monday!)

After that, we headed back home. Bri got these great pics of Scrubs while Joanie was cooking:

Joanie took a cooking break to give Elijah a bottle while Bri played with Isaac and I got some cleaning up done:

It is so wonderful having Joan and Bri here with me this weekend. JB had a very long week at work, and Isaac hasn't quite been himself today. Just a little more cranky than normal. I think I may have broke down in tears on more than one occasion today if it wasn't for the extra hands. God always knows what we need before we even need it. Bri is fantastic with Scrubs. She has a real gift with dogs. He loves her. And both Joan and Bri have been helping with both the boys so much.

It is also soooo great for Isaac to get to spend some time with Bri. We feel so blessed that she is in our life and so interested in being a part of Isaac's life. We know as he gets older this relationship will be a great blessing to both of them. Bri is such a beautiful person (both inside and out). She seems so happy and excited about life and everything she is doing, including being Isaac's birthmom.

I wish they weren't going home on Monday!

Let the picture-fest begin!

Joan and Bri arrived yesterday afternoon around 2:30. This means lots of conversation, lots of fun, and of course, lots of pictures! Joan actually takes more photos than Joia. I know it doesn't seem possible, but it's true! We are so excited to get to have Bri here to spend some time with Isaac as the two of them haven't seen each other since October. It seems impossible to pick my favorite photos, but here are just a few (okay, so it's a lot more than a few) from our Friday together.

Bri and Isaac wrestling on the floor.

This isn't a great photo of Isaac, but I just love it of Bri. Doesn't she just look beautiful?

Reading a book.

Eating a snack.

Elijah in his swing.

A close-up of E. in his swing. Elijah loves his swing as long as you don't leave him alone by himself. He likes someone close to him at all times!

Isaac playing with the cooler that Joan brought dinner for us in. A variation of her awesome chicken divan!

Isaac playing with his puzzles.

Bri brought Isaac this Sopnge Bob bucket. He loved it!

And put it on his head quite a bit.

Another head shot!

Joanie and Isaac.

Isaac was obsessed with Bri's pink suitcase.

Since it has been too hot to run with the boys, I took advantage of my company and got out for a run with Scrubs. Here's Isaac drying me off.

Isaac reading Elijah his favorite dinosaur book.

Isaac drinking from my cup. He loves to do this.

"Okay everybody, listen up. I want to drink out of a bottle not a cuppie. Is that so hard to understand?!"

Scrubby peeking on Isaac in the bathrub.

Isaac taking a bath while Joanie snapped away.