One Year Old Eli

Our Elijah Leilua turned ONE on July 19^th!

We were in California so we were so lucky to celebrate with family. We went to a beach he loved and spent all morning there playing with the family and the ocean. Then in the evening we got two super sized confetti balloons and a bunch of smaller ones, also with confetti, for the other kids to pop for the celebration. Eli went with us as we went to get them filled and amazingly he slept the entire time- EVEN when one of the balloons- 36 inches- popped in the car! It was LOUD. And he just kept on sleeping. I wish he would do this at night…

Anyways, it was all great and we are so grateful to feel so much love from everyone for our little boy!

So this one-year-old Eli is a little butterball of cuteness. He has brought us so much joy this first year of his life. I’m so grateful for him. Here’s a bit about our little man.

He…

· Dances any time any music is ever played. Even when it’s just my ringtone. He looks at me when it starts with this serious face, like this, “K are we doing this?” kinda face. Always the same little dance- he’s usually sitting on his knees (which is maybe the cutest position a one year old could be in) or standing, one arm up, hand wide open behind his head, the other arm down and then alternating back and forth while bouncing up and down ending up of course with a huge smile on his face singing to the song in his baby way.

· Says the words (in his baby talk of course) mama, dada, all done, more please, Audrey, Hannah, poop (he literally tells us when he is pooping!), ball, and more

· Loves his dad. The excitement when Daddy comes home is super cute. Usually Andrew walks through the door and Eli looks at him with this look of amazement and pure joy on his face and starts crawling to him lightening fast saying “DADADADADA” in a deep almost husky little baby voice. Sometimes he is down for a nap when Andrew gets home and when I go to get him up he suddenly hears Andrew’s voice downstairs and he goes from being still half asleep to looking around frantically saying “DADADADADA” and doesn’t stop until Andrew is in his sight. It is so adorable and does my heart so good to see this boy loving his dad so much.

· Is still nursing. He is the baby I have made it the farthest with breastfeeding. No medicines for me to try for Menieres this time so I was determined to make it a year and as far beyond as we could. Now we’ve succeeded and I’m happy. I love this extra time of holding him and his little babyness in my arms every day.

· Is a very picky eater otherwise

· has a complicated relationship with his sisters sometimes...A LOT of love (some times too much which is part of the problem) mixed with some, uh, animosity. Especially between him and Hannah. It’s because they are closer in age, also because Hannah is not quite old enough to address difficult situations with him in an understanding way, and then there is also the fact that he has taken notice of this and has started purposely antagonizing her sometimes. I think their personalities are a bit similar- neither one will back down easily. This should get interesting in the years to come. But of course they still have their moments of love and tickling and even times of her comforting him. Maybe someday they will grow up to be close because they will understand each other so well. Really though they all love each other so much and I love watching their relationships grow. These girls do all they can to take care of him with Andrew and I. These three musketeers, peas in a pod, all of it!

· Loves climbing up the stairs. Let me rephrase that- loves getting caught climbing up the stairs. As soon as I put him down in the living room if the gate is not up he books it to the stairs, climbs one or two steps and then turns around with a big smile to see if I’m watching him. Then when I make like I’m going to come get him he is suddenly five more steps up and laughing maniacally till I reach him.

· Likes to be chased. If I start chasing him he will crawl like crazy. If I hit the ground loudly as I come after him he will grin and giggle. If I start growling at him while chasing him he will be crawling even faster but will in fact be slower because of how hard he’s laughing, his arms literally keep giving out from under him as he goes until he just falls on his face in submission when the tickling starts. Man he is just so much cuteness.

Is our earliest walker, right at 12 months. We left Utah with a crawler and came back with a walker!

· Is obsessed with basketballs. Or anything really that he can throw. Lately he will pick up a block, call out a warning almost and then chuck it at the floor hard as he can saying “OHHHHH!” Then he’ll chase it down and do it again, sometimes kneeling, sometimes standing. I can’t wait to see him on a little basketball team someday!

· Gives kisses

· loves to crawl around in the backyard. I have found it SO true what they say about the difference in parenting with your first vs second and especially your third. Because I probably never would’ve dreamed of letting baby Audrey have as much free rein as I let Eli have! It just kind of happens because life is so much busier now. I know what to actually worry about and thankfully what to not worry about. Like when I’m under a time crunch to get dinner ready for this family of five of mine, and I look outside and see him digging in my plant flinging the dirt everywhere with his spoon and I’m like, “You know. I’m good with it.” And I get dinner ready all while watching him get dirt on his head with every fling. Either his or his sisters. After dinner we do a bath, they all go to bed clean and fed and happy, and the only harm done is a little extra dirt spread all over the grass in the backyard.

· Also on the subject of the backyard…I have no idea how our neighbors feel about us because we literally seem to be the only ones who use the backyard that we all share. But I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to any of them reading this (which would be so surprising) who happen to look out their back door and decide they do not in fact enjoy seeing a little baby randomly sitting on their porch. I’ll be sitting outside with the kids while they run around and Eli is so quick these days that I literally look down at my book for a few seconds and look up and see him two apartments over just chilling on someone’s patio looking around.

· “talks” on the phone. Holds anything up to his ear and says “Ahdah?”

Is starting to love books. In particular he seems to enjoy having time just me and him when it’s time for stories before bed. It's nice to have that alone time to focus on him, lifting flaps on board books, smacking the pages, and pointing to noses eyes and belly buttons. Tonight he was particularly cute, leaning his head on me and looking into my eyes with a tired smile, distracting me as I read to him, like he was saying, “No, but look how cute I am, Mom. Really, look though.”

· Sings the end of the alphabet song loud and clear. Sort of. We sing it and when we get to, “next time won’t you sing with-“ he goes “AAAAAHHHHHHHH!” in a sing song voice with both arms up in the air and his eyebrows almost as high above wide eyes.

· loves bath time and any water time really

· Loves to be carried. Like any baby of course. When I carry him around during the day he is just quietly observing everything I’m doing, watching, thinking, sometimes asking and reaching for things. But a lot of times I almost forget he is there. When he’s sitting down playing or walking or crawling around he is sooo loud- loud happiness, loud complaining, loud fighting with his sisters (because yes that has already started). But for some reason when I pick him up he is totally quiet as we walk around and I do as many one handed things I can find (which is actually most things so he honestly is kind of a little spoiled with how much I do hold him). Lately my favorite thing is that as we’re walking around, him on my hip, he will all of a sudden cock his head over into my line of vision and make eye contact with me and break into this humongous grin! Like he knew I forgot about him for a moment and he just wanted to remind me that he was still there! Of course I never really ever forget him, I'm just so surprised I guess at how patient and quiet and content he is when he gets to walk around with me.

I can’t write enough about him. A blog post that I meant to write in under an hour has become a two day excursion. Because I just keep thinking of things about him that I don’t want to forget. He is just. Adorable. Wonderful. I wish there were more words to express how it all feels to be the parent of such a kid, but there just aren’t any words good enough. These kids are everything. And as usual they make me want more. Especially with him right now, I’m dreaming of another baby boy in the near future.

You think I’m joking, but I’m not! I’ve been writing down a whole new page of names in my journal. Just dreaming for now.