Time to play catch up . . . .

To catch up a little . . . these pictures were taken in April. This is when Eli really began playing in a new way. He made friends with his stuffed animals! Suddenly, they were his companions that had to go with him wherever he went and whatever he did.

This is the very special frog. We call him Dadot. He was the first animal Eli made friends with and the same week Eli kept wandering around the house, dragging the frog, saying "dadot, dadot, dadot." So guess how Daddy named him. He still sleeps with Dadot and when Eli gets up in the morning and after naps, Dadot has to come out of the crib to snuggle and share his milk.

More new roommates

In March, Kris' cousin Nicole moved in with us. We are having fun with Nicole in the house but I think Eli's favorite part of it at first was her pets. She has a gecko, fish, and two dogs. The dogs live outside and in the garage but the gecko and fish are in her room. As you can tell, Eli is quite fascinated with them . . . especially the fish right at his level.

Another big boy step!

This picture makes me laugh! In March we got a big boy potty. I know you all think we are crazy for trying already but with another on the way, I'm sure going to give it a try! After a few weeks, we accidently caught him in time to get some action on the potty. We threw such a party that he got a little clue. By the end of April he was peeing once a day on the potty for half a cookie. Of course, too much traveling and getting sick has gotten us out of that good of a record but we are still trying!

P.S. I've noticed in the last two days that Eli has started a new habit. Whenever the toilet is going to be flushed, he runs over to stand next to it and wave bye bye to whatever is being flushed. We never talked about anything going bye bye in the toilet. I have no idea where this came from but it makes me laugh every time! Thankfully, so far nothing inappropriate has gone bye bye . . .

Easter

Here is the little man in his Easter best. How cute is that!

March pregnancy pic

This was my belly shot from March. I have a few more to post but I still have to get them off the camera. . .

Two months already?!?

How has it been more than two months since my last posting?!? Where did the time go? Eli is now almost 15 months old. He is a very active soul. He spends his days running, jumping and exploring. I'm still trying to catch the jumping on video. It is hilarious. It involves squatting way down to the ground and popping up fast to stand up.

His first word, beyond Daddy and Mommy, was "outside" which is where he would prefer to spend all of his days. Every toy goes on the head like a hat and he loves to "help" with everything that he can. Considering how much bigger I'm getting already, I appreciate the help with picking things up off the ground . . .

This picture was from March - our very own pot roast.

Surprise Birthday Present

Eli got a very fun birthday present today - a new cousin! Elayna Eden Eadelman arrived this morning in Grand Rapids. We are super excited to meet you, Elayna! Welcome to the family!

Enjoying Cake

It seems that this whole first birthday cake thing is a serious affair! Eli spent most of the time dissecting the truck cab, rather than eating it. It finally did get smeared around his head only because he started rubbing his face, head, and eyes during a very long yawn. Poor little man was very tired by this point in the party!

Check out this cake!

In honor of a tradition in Kris' family, check out these cakes that Kris made! The dump truck even had tire axles! The second cake was the pile of dirt for the truck to move. Mom, aren't you proud!?!

Opening Presents

We celebrated Eli's 1st birthday last weekend. Can you believe it?!? We had a very fun family birthday. Here are just a few pictures of him enjoying his new toys. And it was obvious that his cousins enjoyed the new toys, too!

The boys!

We took these pictures of Eli & Xhayvian this weekend. How cute are they! The poor kids are going to be subject to many of these pictures, as the only boys in the Warnie family. And, yes, Eli does appear to be grabbing his ear.

New favorite place

Look at how big he looks! Eli has discovered a little stool that lets him see out the kitchen window. Now anytime that Daddy goes outside, this is where Eli is. He especially loves watching Daddy snow blow the driveway! Now he just needs to learn how to step off the stool without falling!

Walking

We have another big announcement in our house! Eli is officially a walker. He has been getting more and more bold with it but this week he has definitely crossed the line. Walking is his primary mode of transportation now and we are all in for some trouble!

Playing in the snow

We had a pretty good snow on Tuesday this week. When Daddy went out to shovel, he decided it would be easier to build a snowman. Eli had a lot of fun helping - for at least five minutes!

Time for an Announcement

In case you haven't heard . . . there is a new little W on the way. We're sorry if you haven't heard this from us personally. We have done a bad job at spreading this news! Our new little one is due on Sept 16. That means it is time to start taking more belly pictures.

Believe it or not, in this picture, I'm only two months along but Liz is 6 months along. Not quite fair, huh?

We are very excited to meet this new little addition to our family!

Indiana visit

Here is a picture from another fun visit with Uncle Phil and Aunt Liz. Eli had so much fun at their home! We can't wait to meet their new baby in just a few more months!!

Look at that face!

I know I have posted quite a few eating/highchair pictures on this blog, but come on! Who could resist this face . . . and this hair!!! And if you look really closely, you can almost see his teeth. He has all four front teeth now!

Cuddling with Mommy

This is our little snuggle puppy!

This is for Aunt Susanne

Aunt Susanne, you might have to sweet talk Eli to get your mug back. It seems he has taken quite an interest in it. As you can see, it is the perfect size to collect pacifiers in!

Talking

This is kind of a long video but it is one of my favorites. Eli has really become quite the talker. He also has developed a new game of chasing the camera . . .

Grandma's visit!

We had another great treat in January. Grandma W came to visit because of the new cousin. She stayed with us for two weeks. Here you can see Eli sitting on Grandma's lap to talk with Grandpa.

Eli has learned all about skype. Every time skype rings, Eli comes fast from wherever he is. He has learned already that the ringing means talking with grandparents! What a small world we live in!

Computer Games already

Daddy is starting Eli young! Here he is playing his first computer game.

Fun in the cupboards

Eli has discovered the joy of kitchen cupboards. This one is his favorite.

Napping . . .

Eli has been taking short naps by himself, followed by nice long naps on Daddy's lap.

It seems that Xhayvian enjoys the same comfy snuggle naps.

New cousin

Our biggest excitement in January was the arrival of a new cousin. Xhayvian (pronounced Zay-vian) was born Jan 22. Uncle Ryan & Aunt Kathy were still living with us at the time, which meant Xhayvian lived with us for the first month of his life! It was so fun having a baby around, although Eli wasn't so fond of sharing Mommy & Daddy.

Catching Up

So I think I finally have all the pictures on my computer. I'm going to blog-dump in an attempt to catch up on the last two months!

Enjoying his food

Eli has a new trick while eating - he loves to dump his bowl over his head! The applesauce is especially satisfying with the way it drips down the head.

Christmas

I'm still missing some but I found a few pictures from Christmas to share.

This was one of Eli's favorite gifts. Yeah for the MOPS sale! He still plays with it everyday!

Eli & Daddy got each other soccer balls for Christmas. Eli was so fun this year. He enjoyed the wrapping paper AND figuring out that there were toys inside!

Later on Christmas day we went over to Givens. Here was Eli enjoying his other Great Grandma!

Blog Update

So I am not trying to ignore you all. . .

There is something wrong with our camera card. My computer doesn't want to recognize it. That means that I have to get pictures off of Kris' computer in order to blog, and this takes a long time.

In the meantime, Eli's big news is TEETH. He is 11 months old this week and until yesterday was still completely toothless. Yesterday the first one peeked through. Today another appeared. And it sure looks like another two are close behind. Cutting four teeth at once does not make for a happy child! But he is loving frozen peas!

Visit with Great Grandma

In December we went to Grand Rapids for a visit. We got to spend some fun time with Great Grandma while we were there.

Fun in November

Eli discovered the wonder of jumping! He gets some serious air in this thing. Thank you Dan, Lars & Jennie!
We've been remodeling a new laundry room in the kitchen. During construction we discovered that Eli loved to play in these plastic storage bins - and it kept him safely out of trouble.
November was all about moving for Eli. He began the month with scooting and ended the month crawling. He crawled for the first time Thanksgiving weekend. Then it was a matter of days before he was into EVERYTHING!
Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kathy moved in with us at the end of October. For the record, Eli thinks Uncle Ryan is the funniest person in the world . . . and a pretty good snuggler while watching TV.

Halloween

Just playing a little blog catch up . . . for Eli's first Halloween, he and Mommy drove to Ft Wayne to visit Aunt Liz & Uncle Phil. Daddy was in St. Louis for Nav National Conference. About the cutest cow you've ever seen. Wouldn't you agree?

Reading with Daddy

I know it has been awhile since we've updated anything. To tide you all over, I thought I would share one of my current favorite pictures. This was our Thanksgiving . . . Eli & Daddy read the newspaper together.