It's a new year!

Happy New Year! We hope this note finds you well and enjoying the start of a new year. We've had a wonderful holiday season with family, friends and our little peanut. Elias is now 9 1/2 months and has grown so much...both physically and developmentally. He is now 10 inches longer than he was at birth (27 inches) and 17 lbs! As we look back at pictures from his birth, we are amazed at his growth...and thankful we have a healthy little guy. He is loving solid foods and drinking from a cup...this has been so fun to watch him explore the art of eating! Although he is eating some foods, he still gets most of his nutrition from momma...which we both still love! His vocabulary is growing daily. One of our favorite times of the day is waking in the morning to our natural alarm clock...babbles from Eli. It is truly so sweet and he gets soooooo excited to talk to us and tell us about his dreams. He must dream a lot about ma ma, da da, dursch, ki ki, gersh, etc....and whatever he dreams about must be funny because he is a giggly little boy! Even though he gets so excited to see mom and dad in the morning, he is even more excited to go find Mikko and Marla...who have become his best buds! Another favorite time of our day is storytime. He LOVES touch and feel books, especially the bumpy parts where he takes his little finger and scratches the bumps! Speaking of his little finger, he has been pointing at pictures, noses and eyes, and the teeniest tiniest pieces of "things" on our floor. Little specs we had no idea existed. Each day I am amazed at his learning and how his coordination and fine motor skills have changed. Chris and I have been saying to eachother a lot lately "Our little boy is becoming a BIG little boy"...as we watch him start to crawl and pull himself up on things! Here are some pictures of him standing holding onto his wooden box toy...

He loves to sit and play, play, play...

And then pull himself to a standing position!

Hanging out with cousin Aaron who teaches him all kinds of big boy tricks!

Not only does he love to play with boxes, he also loves to sit in them!

Daddy is so fun to play with...he gets SO excited when dad comes home from work and just loves him up...

Sharing toys with his best buddy Mikko!

Bye Bye from Mr. Blue Eyes! Love and Hugs to you all!!!

Ho! hO! Ho! MeRrY cHrIsTmAs!

Big boy moves!!

Our little peanut has some new big boy moves....he now sits up on his own for a few minutes before slowing falling to the side. It is so fun to see him grow and change!

Oh, such a cute sad face...

Nana loving Eli...

Peek-a-boo....

Strings and paper...a few of his favorite toys!

Just hanging out...

Grandpa loving Eli...

DiApEr HaTs and PaiNtiNg...

"These people we call children are intended by the pattern of the universe to play, to have time to simply be, to grow at their own pace, to have fun, to be loved and cherished, and to be free to enjoy and use their gift of imagination."

~Win and Bill SweetIntroducing...our little munchkin friends, Jacob (Jake, 5 yrs), Isabelle (Izzy, 4 yrs), and Andrew (Drew-man, 2 yrs). These are the wonderful children that I care for three days a week. I feel truly blessed to have found this amazing family who happened to be looking for a nanny part-time and are very accepting of Elias being with his mommy. (I've added their family blog to my list) Jake, Izzy and Drew are wonderful children who have become such an amazing addition to our lives. Elias loves to watch them play and they adore him to pieces. It continues to be an amazing journey to care for these little people we call children...

Packer Week

In honor of the Vikings vs. Packers game this weekend, I thought I would hack in to the blogsite again and post some of my most memorable moments of this great rivalry.

1) I remember when the Vikes absolutely spanked the Pack back in 1998 at Lambeau Field, when Randy Moss was a rookie.

2) I remember in 1999, I believe, when Brett Favre floated a pass directly to big time free agent acquisition, Chris Dishman, only to bounce off his chest and into the waiting arms of Antonio Freeman for a game winning touchdown.

3) I remember when Randy Moss "mooned" the drunken, angry, blaze-orange wearing Packer fans at Lambeau Field, in a playoff victory for the Vikes a few years ago.

4) I remember the Pack beating the Vikings the last five times the teams have played each other.

5) The most memorable moment I have came just recently, when I realized that my brother-in-law Phil has decided to mold his young son into a Packer backer. I was thinking about this realization today, wondering why someone would choose this path. I believe the decision can only be made out of pure love for his child. He is only trying to spare Liam from the pain and suffering that every Viking fan has had to endure in the past 50 years of their existance. Good job Phil... you are proving to me, and everybody else that you are a true family man! Myself... not the case. I have decided to take the alternate route, with the risk of exposing my son to years of disappointment and failure, in hopes that the Vikings can someday reach the promised land. Below are pictures of the cousins... Liam is decked out in his Brett Favre dinasaur jr. halloween costume, and Eli is showing his colors with his Adrian Peterson authentic replica mini-me dinasaur costume.

It also got me thinking... Maybe this will someday result in a good matchup of rookie sensations, in the year 2031 when the Green Bay Packers, led by strong safety Liam Berndt (rookie - Notre Dame) face the Minnesota Vikings led by left-handed QB Eli Ekern (rookie-Michigan) at the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Metrodome in Minneapolis.

One can dream.......

Brett Favre

Adrian Peterson

tRiCk-Or-TrEaT

GRRRRrrrrrrr....scary purple dragon!!

Last weekend Elias went to his first pumpkin carving party as a pumpkin!

Momma and scary purple dragon!!

Our little pumpkin!

Goofy Monster!!

Our friends Amanda and Avery stopped by for some tricks and treats! Avery was a little farmer...so cute!

Our neighbor biked to work (8 mile commute) with Herman the skeleton on the back of his tandom!

Milestones....

This leaf is so great!!
Hmmmm...I wonder if I should eat it? (He sure tried!)
Where's Eli?
Such a big boy!!

On October 10th our little peanut turned 6 months old! We can hardly believe how much he's grown physically and developmentally in just 6 months. Our little peanut is not so little anymore as he reached 15 lbs a few weeks ago! This means he's quadrupled in size!! When Elias was first born, it was hard to imagine him at six months or even one month as we were taking it day by day trying to figure it all out. Now I have a hard time remembering him as a newborn and the days seem to fly by.

Elias has had some big milestones happen in the past few weeks. One being his ambition to move! He now rolls from back to stomach and stomach to back until he rolls to where he wants to be or until he reaches that toy in his sight! It is too cute and so fun to see him concentrate so intently! As I write this blog, he has managed to roll himself under the couch!!

He loves to study things, the latest being spoons and tags(and leaves)...he loves tags! Now I know why "taggies" where invented! He smiles and giggles at his familiar surroundings, especially when he sees Mikko and Marla and when Daddy comes home from work! He's in love with his Papa!! He also admires and has learned so much from his new friends...Jake, Izzy and Drew...the children I nanny for. I will introduce these wonderful children in my next blog as I have some cute pictures to share!!

Another huge and wonderful, maybe even miraculous milestone...Eli finally falls asleep in the car and is content for longer periods of time in his carseat! phew!! All I can say is PHEW!!

I know so many of you reading this can relate to these small (but so big!) milestones! It continues to amaze us how absorbant and aware these little creatures are and how quickly they change! We love all the updates on your little ones!!

Sending our love to you all...