Water Fountains...

Eli likes to drink from water fountains now, which is not really a surprise, since he LOVES to drink from cups. Not sippee cups--he hates those. He loves drinking from water and gatorade bottles and real cups. He will scream for yours at a meal if you don't give him his own. What a cute little brat!
It's too bad you can't see his shirt--Whitney surprised me yesterday and bought me two holiday shirts for Eli from the Gymboree outlet (it's right by our house). He went and got them with Eli while I was taking a nap. His shirt says, "Santa's little helper". :-)

All grown up

Just in case you have not yet received a Christmas card, here are the two photos (snapshots) I finally took and chose from. Yes, we took Eli to get real photos taken but since we procrastinated, as walk-ins there was NO WAY we were going to get in and the lady told us the wait was several days. Plus we wouldn't have gotten the photos for like 10 days after that, so it would have put me behind on everything. I made my 100 Christmas cards in October so I wasn't going to wait for a good photo. In my defense, I did schedule TWO appointments to get family photos made by a professional but they both were cancelled due to inclement weather (not my fault!) The photo below is the one we used.

Anyhow, these photos are fine, I guess, but doesn't Eli look like a little BOY!? It makes me sad. He has been hugging my leg over the last few days. He will be running around doing things, and then he will run over and hug my leg! It melts my heart!!

This photo was the one I liked better, because his grin is more real, but it wasn't as cute. Without that dumb pillow in front of the tree I couldn't get him to stay still long enough to get a photo. Seriously, I have a photo of NOTHING. He was in it when I pressed the button but gone by the time the photo took!! Yeah. Nothing but air. He runs really fast now, which is cute, but also annoying!

Also, he doesn't talk much (other than mama, dada and animal sounds) but he totally understands what I am saying. If I ask if he's hungry and he is, he runs over to his high chair and moves the chair out of the way to get up in it. If I ask if he wants to watch Baby Einstein (I know, sad commentary) he goes running over to the TV. If I ask him to bring me a book, he goes and picks one and brings it to me. He can point to most of his body parts, including sticking out his tongue! It's actually kind of nice that we can communicate now!

One more note... his sweater has drool on it. And in that second photo, there is actually a string of drool on his chin!! HAHAHA! There was no way around it!! We have three molars all the way in, a new tooth on the bottom to balance them out (he has had just three for weeks now!) and one more molar that is ALMOST in... This has been a long time in coming. I feel like we have been teething (with molars, ick) for months!! I am sure it's only been 6 weeks or something, but I hope we get a break now. It will be nice if the drool stops again. He didn't drool too bad with prior teeth, but these molars are horrible!

Eli's Hideout

So I totally forgot about taking these photos until I read Cassidy's post earlier today. They are from back in November about two or three weeks ago... Eli loves to squish himself into this tiny little place between our laser printer and my tax paperwork under Mommy's desk. He usually has trouble getting back out, but if I can't find him and I hear him, that's where he is! I thought it was funny, so here are some photos of him hiding there. You can tell these are old because he's in shorts!

Also, here are two shots that are really cute, I think, but that clearly show I am a horrible mother!! I made cookies around the same time as the pictures above on a Sunday after church--and Eli was being a mess. He loves to sit in the kitchen chairs like a big boy--but when I put him up there he could see the cookie dough. So, I caved. I gave him a spoon and then my kitchen aid attachment to suck on! Turns out he takes after his father in looks, and his mother in his sweet tooth--he loves cookie dough!! Sad, but cute, right? Please don't report me to CPS!

You can tell in this one that the sugar is kicking in. He is so happy! Egads, what a mess he made with the dough, though.

Daddy be a Horsey...

So my dad always let us ride around on his back when we were kids and there was this little song we all liked "Daddy be a Horsey." The other day I was talking to Whitney about it, and I guess it gave him an idea. So, I came into the family room to see what was going on when I heard Eli laughing uproariously today... This is what I saw!

You can also see the exersaucer we picked up used for little Isadora. Eli never had one, but I hear girls like the saucers better than the jumperoo, so I will let her try both.

But I digress--Pretty cute, huh? Eli was screaming and having a great time!! If you want to see videos, you can check out the family websites. I can't load them on here!

Also, we rearranged my hobby room today--Whit built me some cabinets underneath an overhang to put my stuff in so I have so much more room!! (We are giving our old bookcase to Emma since she's moving into her own place soon.)

Christmas Tree

We found a Christmas tree on Monday night and then decorated it and put up the rest of the decorations on Tuesday... Here are a few photos!

Doesn't Eli look cute? He was really excited!

I am so glad we get real trees--they make the whole house smell so good!! Eli got a cough, which has been making him throw up at night (DELIGHTFUL!) and so it's nice to have something that clears out the smell of vomit! Ick!

You can't really see the top of the tree--but since I don't have a star, I made a pathetic little bow to put up there. I may have to break down and buy a star!

Rebekah's 1st Birthday and More Moses Lake

Okay so we had too much fun over Thanksgiving (setting aside the flying experience--at WHAT point is that supposed to improve!?) for a single post. So now I am updating you all on the Second Part of our trip. This part actually includes Thanksgiving itself!

But the night before Thanksgiving, Ivin and Christina came with their two adorable daughters--Ivie and Rebekah. We had the luck to be there for Rebekah's one year birthday! Christina brought a CUTE WALL-e cake, and we had a great time.

Eli loved Rebekah's toy table...

And Rebekah really liked the cake...

Apparently the sugar rush helped her sleep through the night, too!

Grandpa Baker had a great time sharing his sweets with Eli.

Whitney's family came over to his parents' house--30 people!! His poor mom was hostess for a lot of people--I just realized we never took a photo of all the pies! We had a pie contest and had a lot of entries. Whitney's apple pie was as good as ever, but his experimental pie (cherry apple) actually won an award. My lattice cherry pie won best crust, too and my pumpkin pie won "most traditional". Whit's aunt Lori got the overall best pie, though, for her unique and delicious apple.

I am going to toss in a few photos here--my favorite is the one of 4 generations of Baker men--Great Grandpa Thurn, Grandpa Hugh, Whitney and Eli! Cute, huh!?

Also fun is a photo of Whit, his brother Ivin, and a cousing in law, Ty. I am lucky to have such a HOT husband!! :-)

I thought the one of Hugh and Grandma and Grandpa Baker was special... We were really glad they drove all the way up from Oregon for Thanksgiving--and we are spoiled they live close enough to the Hugh Bakers to come up for a short trip, too. Great to see you both!!

Finally, here is a photo of Whit's cousins and his other cousin's (James) brand new daughter! Note how peacefully she is sleeping--like we hope little Isadora will do a LOT in the near future...

Thanksgiving and Trip to Moses Lake

So, we went out to Moses Lake the Friday before Thanksgiving (a week early). We flew into Seattle, and spent some time with Whitney's brother Ivin and his adorable family and then drove out to Moses Lake for a few days, and for the Thanksgiving celebration.

I have been eagerly awaiting the first snowfall of the season out here in Hershey, because Eli was too young to really appreciate it last year. I bought him a hat and mittens and snowboots so we could really go play in it--except our first snowfall came the morning we left Hershey! I had Whitney snap a photo of it snowing on our way out the door to the airport! What lousy timing. Oh well, it's supposed to be a snowy winter, or so I hear.

So, there is a cute video of Eli with his favorite toy at Grandma and Grandpa Baker's, this little popper, but I don't know how to add videos!! So, you will have to check it out at http://www.bakerfamily.net/ or http://www.thestuckeyfamily.net/ if you're interested. Those are our family websites.

Eli learned to climb up into chairs on this trip. I blame this discovery on Grandma and Grandpa Baker's house having a few cute tiny little chairs, like this rocking chair! Eli loved it. He also loved to stand on it, which we discouraged. Doesn't he look cute!? He was getting new teeth so he's been really drooly!

Also, we are learning some new things--like "Where is your nose?" He will touch his nose. Unfortunately, my camera does not have an amazing shutter speed so this was the best shot of that I got... He is on his way to touching his nose.

We went to Moses Lake in November of last year, too, so Eli technically saw the family horse, Babe and some goats then, but he was so little he didn't really remember it at all!! So, this was his first time to see a horse, and goats up close, too. He had a great time the first time he saw Babe. He kept screaming with excitement and clapping his hands. Mom wasn't on the ball enough to have her camera then, so we have some photos from the second time he saw Babe! And the first time he saw the goats.

Grandpa Baker took Eli and Whitney and I out to see the goats one morning too, and I thought some of the photos from that trip were pretty cute... Here is Eli listening to Grandpa Baker...

Here is Eli helping feed them...

And here he is trying to order the goats around. (Didn't work at all!)

And Eli screening their food intake...

And finally, Dad putting Eli on a goat's back. The goats were surprisingly nice about it!