Ode to Elliott

Can you believe that I had this sweet thing a year ago today?? It has honestly gone by so fast and I have really enjoyed Elliott's first year. This little guy is so sweet and so fun. He has us laughing all the time. He and Nolan are starting to enjoy each other. Well, Elliott has always been enamored with Nolan and I feel like Nolan has recently started to play happily with his little brother. Elliott is cruising on furniture but doesn't seem all that interested in walking. He's a great sleeper and a good eater on days. I'm convinced that I have no idea how to help my children be good eaters- but that is another post for another time. He's starting to use more and more words. He says Dada, night night, pop, GO GO GO, honk honk, and he'll sign all done. Did you happen to see Mama on that list? No?? Me either!! :) I wanted to share a few of my recent favorite pictures of our birthday boy.

He seriously loves this dog and Rocky is so sweet and patient with him.

I could squeeze these legs ALL.DAY.LONG!

This is one of his favorite toys. This kid will crawl all over the house, including up stairs, with this in his hands. Now that is talent!

I had just finished folding this basket of clothes. Thanks buddy!!

Again, why I don't clean windows.

He's a cool daddy. Always has a foot propped up. He and Nolan were holding hands during lunch. Melt! :)

My parents were here last weekend so we celebrated Elliott's birthday early. You have to be able to collect social security in order to be invited to my childrens' birthday parties. :) I made these cupcakes and frosting from scratch. YUM!! I may never be able to go back to the box.

Nolan did a great job helping Elliott open presents and showed him how to play with then. It gave me a insight to what Christmas is going to be like this year. Crazy!!!

It took him a while to warm up to his cupcake but once he had a bite he was all in!

So...that leads us up to this morning! He hasn't been sleeping all that great this past week. He's been getting a cold, or maybe allergies, AND cutting 2 teeth. Just stuffy and grumpy. I got him up this morning, snuggle with him as he has one of his final bottles and 45 seconds later he proceeds to throw up all over himself, me, and the carpet. I was just thankful that he hadn't had the milk in him long enough for it to curdle. I know, it's the small things in life that keep me going. I took this picture right after I stripped him down. He wasn't the least bit phased. I think that he was dealing with a lot of drainage. I had his 1 year pictures scheduled to do this afternoon and was so hoping that I wouldn't have to cancel. I was careful with the food he ate and there were no more incidents UNTIL we were almost to our picture destination and he vomited all over everything. We pulled over, changed him, got back in the car and had the pictures done. No promise on how those will turn out!!

Happy birthday buddy. Sorry you threw up all over the both of us!! :) We love you no matter what!

Why Bother

Confession: I do not clean my windows. All of them have hand prints, nose marks, and dried pools of saliva provided by two cute little boys and a cute dog. My thought- why bother?? If I clean them, they will just quickly return to their previous state. However, when my mom was here for the wedding weekend she took pity on my poor windows and cleaned them. After all, there were 22 women about to embark on my home and I am pretty sure it would have been noticed at some point. However- this is what happened the day after my mother left...

This is Nolan licking the entire length of the window. Look at sweet Elliott carefully taking it in...

So he too could get his mark back on the glass with his mouth. Good news...my mom will be back this weekend. Maybe she will bother again!! :)

Mr. & Mrs. Trzcinski

This past weekend my sweet friend Sandy got married here in Greenville. She is originally from Ft Lauderdale- but her sister and mom now live here and she considers this home. Score for me!!
Sandy and I met while I was on staff with Crusade and I had the privilege of serving in East Asia with her as well. I just love her friendship. Because the wedding was here and she lives in Orlando, I tried to help her as much as I could. I actually ended up being the wedding coordinator and really enjoyed it. I think that I would do that as a business if I didn't have two little ones. Maybe I will give that a spin when my little ones are no longer little! :)

On Saturday we had a Bridal Luncheon and lingerie shower at my house. It was fun to host this with Lyn and Cathy (also CCC friends).

We did a formal sit down lunch with china, crystal, and silver. So much fun!!

That night we headed out to Furman University for the rehearsal dinner. It was a small intimate wedding and it was great to catch up with so many friends. Sandy gave her "bridesmaids" (there was actually no wedding party because it would have been HUGE- they considered each guest a part of the wedding) the cutest monogrammed aprons.

I flew my mom up to take care of the boys. Thanks mom- couldn't have done it without you!!

This is the gorgeous chapel that John and Sandy got married in. It is actually about 45 minutes from here in the mountains. Breathtaking!!

I like this guy!! :) He was a HUGE help, as always, during the wedding!

Sandy looked amazing. She glowed, as all brides should!

The happy couple!!

MAJOR Victory!

These, ladies and gentlemen, are pictures of my child eating cheese with pieces of turkey lunch meat in the middle. You read that right, Nolan for the first time in his life, ate meat without gagging or throwing up. He knew exactly what was happening and was a willing and even happy participant! I am sure that this is no big deal to most of you but I almost broke down in tears as he was eating. We have been in occupational therapy for the past year and a half because he has/had major texture issues and gagged on most foods and meat was his number one enemy. Through therapy and time he has really grown out of the texture issues but we have had such a hard time getting him to make peace with food. He eats basically 5 different foods and either has a PB&J or grilled cheese every single night for dinner. Today, however, we were all sitting down and eating lunch and I was sharing turkey and cheese with Elliott. Nolan said that he wanted some cheese and I told him that he would have to eat a TINY piece of turkey with it. This generally leads to weeping and gnashing of teeth- but today he kinda just gave me a face. Since I didn't have an all out protest I decided to bribe him with a M&M. Little does he know that I would have given him the whole dang bag if he would just have one bite. So he took the bite, gave me a little drama and ate the M&M. Then I told him that if he would do it again I would give him a M&M and do the happy dance. This time he ate with NO drama. I danced, he laughed and we were on. For the next 15 minutes he ate and I danced. Oh the things we do for our children!!! I am so proud of him- this was a HUGE milestone in our lives!!

Mr. E

Cute, right?? :)

Praying for the Nations

We like to train them up young around here!! :)

First's

Today was a day of first's. To start off with, Nolan had his first day of school. As far as I can tell he had a great day. If I ask him any specific questions about his day he totally ignores me- like I never even asked him anything. I think it's a boy thing, and I think this is just a foreshadowing of many many years to come! :)

Before heading to school

How cute is this?? Elliott and Rocky wanted to get in on the action!

Then after his nap we took Nolan for his very first haircut. I've never even trimmed over his ears and I just couldn't take it any longer. We took him to this cute place called Jelly Beans that specializes in children haircuts. If your child has never had a cut the first one is free. Score!! He sat on a 4-wheeler and when he started freaking out about a strange lady coming at his head with scissors she gave him a Mickey Mouse toy to play with. Between the toy and Jerel he was pretty distracted and did really well.


The finished product. He looks so much better. I think tomorrow will be much more mundane. I may take him to the grocery store. Now THAT will be exciting!! :)