Elias Turns One!!!

Labor Day and ER

Its been quite a few weeks since our last update, and quite a few things have gone down here at the homestead. We had the opportunity to go home to Pennsylvania over Labor Day and had a short but very sweet. We got together with a few of my friends to celebrate my good friend Sean's return from his tour in Iraq. So glad to have him back on US soil. I can't count the number of times I was watching those surprise homecoming shows, bawling my eyes out saying to Kevin "I cant believe Michelle and Sean are going through this". I've got another dear friend, Alex, heading over there in a couple months. But I am SO thankful for these men and the sacrifices they make.

After the BBQ we spent the night at my Mom-Mom's house. It's so nice spending time with her and seeing her interact with Elias. Growing up we spent a lot of time with my grandparents, and I spent a lot of nights sleeping on the pull out couch. In the morning I woke up early, and looked over toward the door. I remembered all the times my grandfather would leave at 6am to go to McDonald's and bring us back breakfast. I still remember the sound the door made as it creaked open, and his heavy steps through the mudroom. I wish he was here to meet his great-grandson. He would be so proud. When people ask where I got the name Elias from, I can't help swell with pride when I tell them who he's named after. 

Then we headed back to Harrisburg to spend some time with Kevin's dad and family. We wish we could have more Sunday dinners with them! Labor day was a glorious day for me in particularly, as my husband gave me to go-ahead for a pedicure. Its a god $10-15 more up here in Boston for a pedi, so I try and hold out till we go back to PA to maximize my investment :) Then we had a great little indoor picnic at Grandma and Pap-Pap Harners with Kevin's parents and Josh, Abby, and Zion. I love that Elias is finally getting to the point where he can interact with Zion. At the moment they're more worried about what the other is playing with and how they can steal it from each other, but its still so sweet when they sit next to each other. I had a cousin I loved spending time with when we were younger. Even though we only saw them on holidays, I loved her and looked up to her as if she was my big sister. Unfortunately we've lost touch, but I will cherish those moments forever, and my hope and desire is for these two little boys to be best of buds. 

I joined a gym right down the road where I have personal trainers that work with me 3 times a week to reach my fitness goal. I lost 5 lbs in the first week, and am really encouraged and motivated to keep it going. More on that another time :)

But today was quite a day for us here. During church a friend came over and whispered that Elias got hurt in the nursery. I rushed in and my poor little muffin had a gash on his forehead from a toy that he pulled off and table and onto himself. It was deeper than I was comfortable with, so he headed straight to the ER to see if he needed stitches. Thank the Lord for that portable DVD players, its been worth its weight in gold thus far. We brought it into the ER to keep him entertained, and its a good thing we did cause we were waiting for quite a bit. We opted for the surgical glue instead of the stitches because of its location. Of course he screamed when we had to hold him down, but it was relatively painless compared to stitches or even worse, staples. 

His boo-boo

Sesame Street makes everything better.

Snuggling after it all with his sheep 

Here's to a long nights rest for Lance, Party of 3!

Hurricane who?

Apparently our little alarm clock isn't reliable anymore. For the past 5-6 months, Elias has been waking up at 7:45-8 EVERY single morning. Yesterday he didn't wake up till 11:00, and today he woke up at 10:00 to the power going out. It might have something to do with the blackout curtains we put up in his room...but not that I'm complaining :)

Besides loosing power for a few hours, the hurricane wasn't as bad here as it seems to have been everywhere else. The rain seemed to have fizzled out by the time it reached us, and there were a few big gusts of wind here and there, but it wasn't too bad thankfully. The only scary moment was last night when we got a text from campus safety saying there was a tornado warning and to move to the first floor, which is where our apartment is anyway. Having been obsessed with the weather channel when I was little, I know the difference between a warning and a watch. So when they saying warning thats supposed to mean that ones coming, move your tail and get in the basement. I flipped on the tv, searched on the internet, and couldn't find a thing about a tornado. Not even a warning or watch. So for a moment I panicked. I'm still here, so it ended up being okay. But jeez Gordon Conwell, get your weather terms straight!!

Regardless, Elias was ready to battle the elements in his super cute rain coat.

10 Month Stats

Thought I'd give a little update on what Elias has been up to lately. I don't think I shared his 10 month stats, so here they are.

• 21 lbs
• 28 inches long
• Crawling
• Pulling up on anything and everything!
• Starting to take one or two steps forward when holding his hands. He doesn't quite get it yet, but that's okay.
• Eating more and more "big people" food. I can now hand him a chicken nugget and he'll take bites all by himself without stuffing it down his throat and chocking. 
• He's mimicking motions and gestures more and more, and he's SO verbal, babbling non stop.
• Starting the transfer from formula to milk as he's liking the sippy cup more and more, and he got his first taste of milk this weekend and drank my whole glass in 5 minutes. Like mother like son :)
• He loves his blanket more than anything. Get that thing in his field of vision and he lights up like a Christmas tree. 
• Saying Mama, Dada, and Baba.

Check out what he did last week. 

And here's some photos from the past week or so.

Buh-Bye!

Check out how far he's come. Look at what his ear used to look like and look at it now!

And look at his foot. Now we can wear a real shoe when he gets a break from his braces!

Almost!!

Its been a looong last few days for all of three of us. A family in our church was sweet enough to have Kevin and the youth group up to their lake house in New Hampshire last week for 5 days. I was planning on Elias and I driving up on Saturday to stay the night and help drive the youth back on Sunday. Well, Friday night Elias started having cold symptoms. Then Saturday he woke up super snotty with green mucus and he was just miserable. I was wishy-washy on whether or not we'd still go up, but he woke up decently pleasant and I decided we were gonna go. I'm glad we did, it was so beautiful up there. Elias was still a little off, and he didn't get the best nights sleep there. Sunday we headed back and he was just out of it the rest of the day, which resulted in a 10 minute power nap that made him not want to nap at during the afternoon. I was able to get him in to see the doctor tonight, and it looks like he's definitely got something going on in his lungs. He's got some wheezing thats been there the past few times we've gone to the doctor, and it sounds worse right now. The doctor thinks its either asthma or some bronchial infection, so now we've got an inhaler we need to give to him every 4 hours.

Kevin's exhausted...I'm exhausted...but check out what he just did tonight when we got home from the doctor!!! 

He's SO close!

Auntie Amber Came to Town!

This past week one of my bestest friends, Amber, came and stayed with us. She and her new hubby Bryce will be living in the Bahamas for the next two years. She has to stay in the states until next week when the coast guard will come and move their stuff, so she came and stayed a whole week with us to kill some time!

In front of Bush Sr.'s home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Rockport

The famous Motif #1
The most-often painted building in America.

Soooo big!

Trying out our new Ergo carrier with daddy!

Castle Hill in Ipswich

Pulling up all the time now!

Breakfast in Salem at Reds.
Biggest. Pankcakes. Ever.

Double Rainbow :)

Mmm toes...

It was a wonderful week. We  I'm so glad Amber was able to make it up here before her big move.  Hopefully it won't take us long before we can visit them in the Bahamas! 

We love you Aunt Amber and Uncle Bryce and are so excited for this next chapter in your lives to unfold!