Little snippets

Eli makes the funniest sounds when he eats. You know when he has found a stray Cheerio on the floor by the loud grunts and satisfied smacks. It cracks Dallin and me up every time we hear it.

Whenever I call my mom on facetime, Eli gets so, so, SO excited. Like hyperventilating, giggling, and bouncing up and down excited. I'm pretty sure it's mostly because he can see himself while it's ringing, the little narcissist, but don't tell my mom that. ;)

His feet and hands are always cold, even when they are in socks and his brace. I've startled him more than a few times by shrieking out in shock when his chilly fingers sneak themselves under my shirt. Stinker!

Eli has two kinds of laughs: a normal little giggle, and a goofy sound he makes by breathing in sharply. It's kind of like a mix between a gasp and a happy shriek. I love it. I keep forgetting to get a good video of it since it makes me laugh so hard.

We have a bunch of blocks in the living room where Eli and I spend the majority of our day. Lately he has been so funny when Dallin and I build towers. He used to knock them over pretty quickly, but now he will alllllmost touch it, and then pull his hand away, over and over and over again. I'm not sure whether to be happy that I get to knock all my towers over, or disappointed that I don't get to see him do it. 

One of Eli's favorite pastimes is gripping any visible strands of Dallin's hair tightly in his tiny fists. I have never been so thankful to not have chest hair in my life.

A cool day at the lake with my family. He loves to be outside.

If only he would have kept these on for more than 2.394 seconds. SO CUTE.

His tragically sad faces crack me up, so naturally I take lots of pictures of him in the depths of misery. (Mom of the year, that's me!)

Helping dad with the dishes. That cutting board was on the ground in minutes.

"It looks like a dead body." -Dallin

Cousins!

He's already too cool for me. 

Helping dad pack for a canyoneering trip. 

It makes me so nervous when he stands on the tile with his brace, but clearly he shares none of my concerns. That happy face is my favorite. 

Eli Thursday

36 weeks

Bubbles are very serious bizness around these parts. Actually, with this little analytical man, pretty much everything is serious bizness. 

Blankets and babies

I've been wanting a new comforter for our bed for a long time, and finally picked this duvet cover up at IKEA on a whim last week since I liked it well enough and it was cheap. I wasn't really in love with it, but after unsuccessfully searching over the past several months for something I loved that wasn't painfully overpriced I was so ready to just get something already. After I put it on our bed, our whole room instantly looked so much brighter and happier, and I actually really, really like it after all... yippee! I have been struggling to figure out what direction I want to go in with paint and decor, and now I've got lots of ideas spinning in my brain. I can't wait to really start working on this room in earnest... although I probably better finish some of the many other projects I'm in the middle of at the moment, like painting our hall/bathroom walls and trim, as well as staining cabinets, installing doors, replacing light fixtures, sewing curtains... the list goes on and on. I'm the queen of beginning projects... but finishing them is hard with a mobile, mischievous baby!

Like I said in this post, our mornings are usually pretty slow and lazy while I try to get as recharged as possible after a rough night, and it's so nice to have this room a little more cozy and cheery. The happy change (and morning light) inspired this little impromptu photo session. 

He loves hanging out on my bed, but is always crawling dangerously close to the edge, so I have to pick him up...

...and plop him down in the middle again. It's his new favorite game.

Here he is, trying to do it again...

...and laughing at me as I get ready to grab him. 

This time he actually laid down for a while, distracted by the window and his toes. They are still a bit of a novelty after wearing the brace all day for so long. 

Those eyes, man. He is always observing everything so intently and I just wish I knew what he is thinking.

Eli Thursday

35 weeks

I put him in our backpack so I could get some chores done, and when it had been a suspiciously long time since I had felt him yank on my bun I looked in a mirror and saw this.

Can't blame him. Doing the dishes bores me too. 

Real life

Crazy hair

Yesterday's makeup

T-shirt + yoga pants

Eli is only dressed because he blew out all over his PJs

You can't see it but my room is a mess

(Actually my whole house is at the moment... shhh)

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We tend to spend a lot of time in my bed in the morning. The morning sun makes it bright and cheery, and since a certain young man still isn't sleeping well at night it's nice to just stay under the covers as long as possible. I love that he is a morning person. He chats and giggles and tries to crawl off the bed to explore new territory and then giggles some more when I pull him back to me by his little ankles. 

I try to take a lot of pictures, but I don't think I take enough of the real, genuine, un-pinterest-worthy, but oh-so-happy snippets of our life. Those are my favorite moments though, when the house is is disarray, with toys all over the floor and dirty dishes left ignored in the sink, and yet everyone is happy. And that's what is most important, right?

Storytime: Our First Kiss

It was getting late and I knew I would need to head home before long. We were snuggled up on the couch watching a movie after making dinner together. That was (and still is!) one of our favorite things to do on our dates.

We had been dating long enough to know we really, really liked each other, but we still hadn't kissed. I honestly hadn't really even thought about it much. Looking back, it probably would have been wise to be prepared to avoid being taken off guard, because I was not expecting it to happen that night. No sirree. While we were snuggled up on the couch, I suddenly realized Dallin was quite close to me, and before I had time to realize what was happening he closed the (narrow) gap and kissed me. He kissed me reeeeal good, right on my unsuspecting (but certainly not unwilling) lips.

Just to warn you, this story is about to get really romantic.

I should probably also mention here that this was, in fact, my first kiss... something Dallin didn't even know. I'm sure this is partially why I suddenly became extremely nervous. The butterflies in my stomach started swarming, and when Dallin gave me a very, very, very tight squeeze with his arms directly around my midsection, I felt an overwhelming sensation come over me.

But it wasn't the romance. Ah, if only! Instead, it was my dinner churning in my stomach and venturing upwards into unwelcome territory. I couldn't believe it. I extricated myself as quickly as possible, and ran to the bathroom just in time to toss my cookies. I spent several minutes cuddling with the toilet while poor Dallin sat alone on the couch (unable to ignore the sounds of my barf session, no doubt) thinking, "Well, I guess this means she probably won't want to see me again."

See, I told you this would be one romantic story. It doesn't get much more steamy than this, does it? Oh baby.

Obviously I did want to see him again, and lucky for me that little incident wasn't enough to scare him off. Hallelujah! While it wasn't exactly the wildly romantic first kiss I was hoping for, at least it made for a great story that I can't wait to tell our kids someday.

(At Grand Falls a couple months after "the incident")

Annnnnd at least I still managed to keep him around, so he must really love me. ;)

A few snippets from the weekend

We went to the Phoenix Temple open house on Saturday. All these temples popping up in Arizona makes me so happy!

This one is pretty small, especially compared to the Gilbert Temple, and absolutely beautiful.

Eli sat on Dallin's shoulders during the tour. I know he won't remember it, but I loved watching him look all around and take everything in.

And even though it doesn't look like it in this picture, I think he had a pretty good time. :)

We also stopped by to see grandma Carmen, who is always so happy to see us, especially Eli.

I finally used this certificate I got for my birthday about... three, maybe four years ago. About time, right? I'm pretty sure butterscotch squares are what we will eat in heaven. SO GOOD. 

Eli met his doppelgänger at IKEA. He had some pretty mixed feelings about the experience.  

First, interest and curiosity. 

Then exuberant displays of affection. 

Things quickly turned south as deep feelings of jealousy began to develop, and the offending lookalike got a smack in the face...

...and an attempted arm amputation.

But then Eli realized this supposed "lookalike" was lacking his shiny bald head...

...so the jealousy dissolved, all was forgiven, and they parted as friends. 

We finished off the day at Chick-fil-a where the cousins were finally able to hit each other in the face without doing harm. Possibly the best day of their short lives. 

Becca and I pretty much finished up painted the bathroom we started a couple weeks ago, when this picture was taken. We are awful at taking duck-faced mirror pictures (that's probably good thing). Next step: staining the cabinets! Wish us luck! Man, it feels so good to see real progress being made on our house.