Good Times

Dave & Ray played at Noblesville's Festival on the 4th of July... They were great! This time, Jeff and I were holding babies while dancing to their music instead of drinks! The last time we heard this cover band (who started off down in Bloomington during our IU days) was at my friend Kelly's wedding reception.
(Jeff & Will singing along)

Sibling Love

These two were meant to be brother & sister, I tell ya!

Going to church

Where one is smiling and the other isn't... story of taking pictures with two babies! :)

Fourth of July Fun

Our neighborhood does some wonderfully fun things for children! We are so thankful! Here you will see the kids participating in the 4th of July parade lead by the Noblesville firetruck and all! Everyone decorated their wagons, strollers, and/or bikes for the parade. Some dogs even got to participate. Jones was all wrapped up in blue streamers curtosy of my mom...until he wizzed and the streamers were destroyed. :) That happened before we were even able to take a picture of him! It was a neat experience that ended in Silly Safari, face painting, balloon making, and popsicle eating!

Evy by the Month

ONE month old... Her rocking chair wasn't ready yet, so we had to improvise. :)













TWO months old...
















THREE months old...


Posted two here b/c I couldn't decide!

seriously

it seriously makes you want to jump out of your skin when your baby (now an almost two year old) is saying "ubbles! ubbles!" and demanding that you pour them in his bath! at that moment, i said to myself...I really need to update the blog. i am sooooo sorry i have been absent for so long, but life is just like that when you have two under two! oh evy, you will get your time too, but i have to update on WILL'S big steps first. he now imitates almost everything we do. last night it took me by surprise to see him putting both hands together for our very quick (he has a super short attention span) bedtime prayer (tear). he can say SO much now. my favorites are sissy, mas (more), ubbles (bubbles), meeeeeee, dadddddiiiieees, dash (for both crash and trash), mommmiiiiees, wuv (love), ootie (cookie), iiiii (hi!), and so much more that i can't remember right now. he is absolutely precious in our eyes. although he is still extremely temperamental and contrary, most definitely in his terrible two's...we love him as he is.

and now for EVALYN ROSE... evy is just precious and of course perfect in every way! :) although she sure loves and does best when held during the day, she has been sleeping like a gem. the girl LOVES to smile and coos and talks more than we ever remember will doing when you get your face in front of her. she always has a white tongue (from milk, not thresh), sticks out her tongue often, does SO well with big brother (sweaty & wild) Will sticking his whole head and even self in her face at times. she smiles at him and i swear she knows he will be her best friend some day just by the way she puts up with his overbearing nature now. she is soooo strong in lifting her head up during tummy time, doesn't cry and seems to enjoy it more than i remember will every liking tummy time. she hates long car rides and breaks my heart with her out of breath sobs. she is a nursing champ and loves her grandparents. she rolled from her tummy to back (maybe a fluke) at 5 weeks. today (at 13 weeks) she almost did it a second time but not quite. she loves to move her hands all around. last week, she started constantly sucking on her hands, drooling and blowing bubbles (true signs of teething). i am pretty sure we can see where her top two teeth may come in, but who knows for sure. she slept well at both grandma and grandpa's. loves to eat every two hours in the day. i just loooove her so, my evy rose!

Genius...doesn't everyone think their kid is one?!

Active as ever

My little bruiser has been SO much fun over the past few weeks! I'm loving this time at home with both babies. Will continues to do a great job with going down for naps and bedtime (finally--we paid our dues since it took him a whole 16 months to figure this gig out). He loves to race up the stairs. Loves getting tickled, playing chase, ring around the rosie, doing circles when hyper, dancing to music, and shooting hoops in his new basketball goal (more on this later). Will loves to help in so many ways. Last night, he helped me transfer the wet clean laundry from the washer to the drier. Will is talking and babbling a lot now. He repeats words very well, but you do have to catch him "in the mood" to do so. He can recognize and point out about 12 pictures in his favorite word book. He follows directions very well, and pretty much knows all about what we are telling him to do/talking about. It is awesome to see Will pick up language! He is saying "What's this?" and maybe even "There it is!" He gets excited when (women) visitors come over to see the baby. He flirts and turns it on for them! However, he wasn't in the smiling mood for his spring pictures. Noooo...Will was bashful and actually fought the urge to smile. You can tell in the way he is holding his lips downward as if to try not to let them curl up! It was insane, b/c Will smiles all the time! But the pictures turned out cute anyways...at least in my book! More pics to come...here is a sneak peak.

the name

I think I forgot to tell you... we named Evy after her great grandmothers. The middle name, Rose, is Jeff's ninety two year old grandmother's name. Mimi, as she is called, is the most vibrant ninety two year old I think I'll ever come across! I will never forget when she came to the winery with all of us in Jeff's family down in southern Indiana just six years ago. I was dating Jeff at the time and just couldn't believe how involved and active his Mimi was! She has had a pace maker put in and her eyes operated on in the past few years, but nothing stops this young at heart grandmother from going about her day! She was even caught chipping ice last winter! We just love her so!

Evy's first name, Evalyn, is my grandmother on my mom's side. Ebby, as we called her, was such a sweet woman who was known to be too sweet to even kill a fly. She is fondly remembered by so many family and friends. We think of her often even though she has been gone for over ten years. Ebby was a loving and devoted mother and we are honored to give our daughter her name.

SHE'S HERE!

Evalyn Rose Elder, surprisingly arrived three weeks early on April 4th, 2011. You can definitely disregard the ticker to the right side of the blog...! My water broke on Sunday at midnight just as Jeff arrived and checked into his hotel in Louisville. He had early morning appointments for work on Monday, so leaving that Sunday night was a must. Go figure! It was quite a shock being home alone with Will when in this predicament. Good thing my mom, dad, brother Brent, and girlfriend Cara came to the rescue!

Brent drove me to the hospital where my mom and dad were waiting in the emergency room drive up with a wheelchair. :) Cara stayed at the house to watch Will, who thankfully slept through all the drama. That little boy had no idea that he'd get to meet his baby sis the very next day!

After Jeff got the call that my water broke (and after I had to reassure him that I was SURE it was indeed my water that has broken), he checked out of the hotel & went to his parents' house to pick up his mom. The two drove together up to Indy and to the hospital, arriving around 3:30 AM. Little did we all know....Evy would be making her grand debut just five hours later! We thank God for the beautiful birth experience we had this time around. He definitely answered our prayers by making this pregnancy, delivery, and labor much smoother...dare we even say enjoyable?! We also thank Him for all the family who so willingly stepped in to be a part of helping us in this surprising yet monumental moment in our life!

Evalyn Rose Elder... All of her teeny tiny 5 lbs. 14 oz. graced us with her presence at 8:23 AM. We are loving her to pieces! Will can't get enough of her. He makes the sweetest little humming sound while kissing/hugging her. While in the playroom with both Evy and Will the other day, I lost count of how many times Will would stop what he was playing to come back over and lean his big noggin towards Evy to gently tap heads. Between that and the kisses, it is absolutely priceless and melts my heart every time! Thank you Lord! :)

Totally normal to catch Will cleaning. The Swiffer is something we get REALLY excited to use!

Here's an idea. Let's clean the stove with it.

What's the big deal mom? Why all the pictures? Can't ya see I'm busy!

Happenings

Oh...I wish I had a pen and baby book in my hand every time I've thought "this needs to be recorded" over the past month or so. Ever have that feeling that things are so neat the way they are, that you couldn't possibly forget? But as we know, memories fail us and the truth is that I will forget if I don't write it down somewhere. This eighteenth month of life for Will has been a memorable one, as they all seem to be in some way or another. I feel like he is really turning into a little person with such distinctive desires and a personality that won't quit! It is a blessing to see him blossom into himself. Although there are some very challenging times, it is neat to witness him learn all about himself and his emotions.
Cute things he likes to do:
-make tooting noises with his mouth (thanks Dadda!) that usually result in spitting saliva
-giggling and cracking up whenever those around him start laughing
-waving at strangers (especially other babies/toddlers)
-throwing away diapers in the diaper genie
-cleaning (with mops, brooms, baby wipes, and paper towels)
-shoveling the drive way (even though the snow has been long gone)
-pointing at everything
-saying Dadda, Momma, Doddy (for doggie), up, soo (for shoe), and the newest that we're not quite sure about yet is Dar (might be for car)
-loves going out to eat (does spins in his high chair, babbles throughout dinner, loves eating off our plates)
-still a big fan of playing in the dishwasher
-signing "more" and a little bit of "all done"
-shaking head yes and no (mostly no)
-starting to slap/hit (you can tell he thinks his strength is pretty neat when he winds that arm up). mostly hits out of playfulness, but does it when mad also. we are learning about this whole time-out business.
-following directions (if he likes what you're telling him to do, anyways!)
-drinks out of a big person straw but won't do it out of the sippy straw

And there's sooo much more I'm forgetting (already)! Will write more later if we think of something else!

Thank you Maghan!

Hey Monday Maghan,
Thanks for these totally rad cars. Mom said you got them for me for Christmas, but she hid them in the basement for a boring winter day (not sure I approve of her keeping them from me, but that's besides the point since I have them now).

Anywho, I heard Grandma telling mom that she should bring those cars up from the basement since we'd been iced in for a few days.

Mom listened (YEEEEESSSSS)!

Now I am totally stoked to roll these guys around! See?
Love,
Will

Oh...and if you are wondering why I'm not smiling, it is because I get very serious about things I like. I'm trying to figure out exactly how these little wheels turn and the hydraulics behind them that make the noise.

Bed Head

New Tricks - Not all Positive

Since the icepocalypse of twenty eleven, Will has found new ways to entertain himself. I, being a rather creative person if I do say so myself, encourage finding fun in new ways. But seventeen month old brains just don't have the capacity to reason or understand danger potential. Regardless, he has been interesting to observe and closely supervise these past few days!

My New Tricks:

1. Going down the slide face first (a mini indoor slide...picture hopefully coming soon.)
2. Climbing in and out of my grocery cart. (If I get any bigger, I won't be able to fit, so I do this a lot lately just to get as much in as I can.)
3. Pointing to my nose, head/hair, and tummy (totally cute)
4. Sitting on top of my cars inside the large Tupperware container that stores my zillion little cars
5. Putting my finger up my nostril. I'm always itchy, pretty much everywhere. Lately my nose has been itching (without a trickle of snot or a sniffle). Today I found that my finger can go right up there! Amazing!
6. Jumping off my little chair (only brave enough to do it if someone is there to catch me though.)

p.s. GO PACKERS! and hurry and win this thing before I totally outgrow this sweatshirt that is already a belly shirt on me!

Winter

It has been a fun winter around our house! Here are a few pictures of Will over the past couple months.

Christmas Break Happenings

Okay, since I have been off for break, I'm loving the new developments. Will started giving blow kisses today! It is precious! He's also saying "up" quite often. Since he loves to get up on the couch, up on his chair, up in our arms, we started really encouraging this word. He's repeating it well and seems to even get what it means! Whenever we leave places, I tell Will to say bye-bye and he waves his arm. It is so neat to see him pick up so much!

I'm a sucker already

These baby girl clothes are killing me! She's not even here yet, but I am already a sucker for the adorable girl outfits. I think it's the sales that are partly to blame right now. Since we found out we were having a girl the day before Thanksgiving, I definitely went out for an hour or so on Black Friday just to make a few cute purchases for this little one. Since then, I take advantage of every opportunity to buy her something. Today I took Will to see Santa (pictures coming if I can figure out how to upload from my phone), and they gave me a 30% off card to Crazy 8. So of course, my mom and I went there and I once again left with three more cute things for Baby E!

A sneak peak at her wardrobe that resides in her room even before she does. How could I not fall for these cute buys?!

Lazy Saturday

Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

4-26-11

April 26th, 2011. A big day in our future! We are excited to announce that I am (rather surprisingly) pregnant with a second baby! We recently found out that this little one is a GIRL! First, Jeff and I were shocked with the news that we were pregnant (if you know me and our experience with Will, you know that this was not something we'd planned on doing right away again). Just as I get over that shock, I am surprised to find out this baby is a girl. We couldn't be any more thrilled! I am 21 weeks, and so far so good. I have HOPE and I pray that this will go much smoother than last time.... =)
Here's a picture of what Baby E might look like right now!

Fun in Leaves

We had some family pictures taken back on Halloween, when Will was 14 months old. Will's only smiles came when we plopped him in a big pile of leaves! =)

Family Picture Time!

http://prints.wallenvyphoto.com/Portfolio/Anytime-Portraits/Alyson-Jeff-and-Will/14485859_tzWYL#1075494595_8bHt5

Catching up

Here are a few cute ones I've had on the computer for awhile and just needed to upload!