A Baby or a Kid

Eliot got this Spider Man back-pack from our good friend Terry when Naomi was born. Just yesterday he decided it was fun to wear. He wore it around at Gramma and Grampa's house and when we got home he wanted to wear it some more. He wore it to the car this morning on the way to church, then from the car to church and from church to the car. I think he looks like a little kindergartener in this picture. Its kind of crazy to think about sending him off to school - that backpack makes those days feel very nearby. Eliot was very grown up in church this morning. He lit candles in the baptistery and when the peace (the shaking hands) part of the service came along he walked around and shook everyone's hands. I don't mean one or two people's hands - I mean he walked down the row of pews and shook a lot of people's hands. It was incredible - he held his little hand out to each person.

He is getting to be more and more of a priests kid. This morning he even started saying 'bread' to me right after the announcements. He's starting to know whats coming next. He still wants to have seconds of the bread and even tried to pick his piece off the little plate this morning. Yesterday he shook his Great Grandma Ann's hand when he met her. This all feels quite grown up to me.

Just now tho as I was putting him down for his nap he put his head on my shoulder and just rested there for a while. He hasn't done that in months. I guess this is the definition of toddler-hood -- all baby -- all kid.

So I know its a bit much to compare my kid to Jesus - and I'm going to do it now. I've always kind of struggled with the concept of Jesus being all human and all divine or whatever I was taught in CCD. Now I get it tho.

Smiling

Can you tell which kid is which?? Ah - you probably can. Still I think these two pictures are fun.

Picture of E and story about N

I love this picture Aron caught of Eliot last week. Just had to post it.

Naomi went to another church meeting today and was smiling like crazy at people. She is really social. She has been taking breaks from nursing lately just to look up and smile. Its delightful. I don't remember Eliot smiling this much. I love these reminders that they're different (as if completely different pregnancies and births and first three months weren't enough reminders).

Gosh I love these kids. Even these last few days as I've been feeling pretty burnt out I'm still blown away by their presence in the world. Its so humbling to be around them.

Naomi and Daddy

Gethsemane sent out their first newsletter today (please subscribe - just send an email to Courtney@downtownepiscopal.org) and this picture was part of the headline. This was taken on Palm Sunday during the processional - which I've been meaning to blog about. Eliot was feeling freaked out because I tried to leave him in the nursery and he didn't like that idea - so he was especially clingy. Naomi was hungry and I was nursing her in the front row as the whole procession started walking by (nothing like having your boob out while your husbands whole congregation walks by) and people were trying to help by picking Eliot up which freaked him out more and made it harder to nurse discretely and of course made people look in my direction. It was just a lovely chance to practice my skills as a child juggler and boob hider. One of those memorable moments I'll keep near and dear to my heart. It was a great Palm Sunday too - Eliot loved the Palms and check it out - Naomi and Aron matched.

Some people at church said Aron's chasibul (I think I probably spelled that wrong - its the cape he is wearing) looked like a fruit loop - and it does. You probably can't tell from this picture. Come to church on June 4th and you'll get the full effect. Its really quite fruity (ha, ha I crack myself up!)

Nein!

Well we have a bi-lingual baby at our house. Well maybe bi-lingual is perhaps a tiny little itsy-bitsy exaggeration. What we have at our house is a 3 month old who speaks marvelous German. If she lived in Germany her parents would be saying (in German probably - or maybe French or one of the other languages they would probably speak) "wow our little daughter is already a two-year old all she says is 'no' ".

When Naomi gets sad lately she says 'nein....nein...nein'. Poor baby.

When she is happy she smiles her little head off too. Its just fantastic.

She went to another church meeting today. She smiled at people and listened intently and pooped a lot really loud and went to sleep.

She is a joy.

So Relaxed

I caught this shot over Easter weekend. I've always been impressed by the ability of babies to sleep in almost any situation and be so relaxed and peaceful. Lately when I lay Naomi down to sleep she watches me leave the 'room' (our closet) and its such a sweet little moment between the two of us I'm often tempted to go back in and hang out for a while. She is really growing and changing these days. She is increasingly smiley and interactive. It even seemed like she was trying to get my attention the other day by making fun noises. Its still unbelievable to me that she is even here.

Nose Talker

Last night Eliot discovered how to talk with his nose plugged and how funny it sounds. He somehow happened to plug his nose and go 'na, na, na, na, na' at the same time which of course he laughed at and I laughed at so it went on and on and on and on and was completely ridiculous and wonderful.

Watching him figure out how to use his body for different things like climbing, and picking up ants, and walking up and down stairs and picking up huge things (is he and ant?) and of course talking with his nose plugged (try it now - I bet you forgot how fun it is) is becoming a metaphor for me of sorts. I wonder how much of my own potential I walk around with every day and just sort of happen to fall on from time to time or how much I have that I'm not aware of (or forgot about) until I see someone else do it.

Okay cheese ball alert - and probably mis-quoting the bible alert -- I think about that 'don't put your light under a basket bible passage' and get really inspired to go ahead and go for it and do my best at things thinking it might inspire someone else - and I feel compelled to follow the people with their lights out too.

Laurie had her art crawl (which by the way if you missed it I bet she'd still let you check out her work - especially if you're inspired to buy some - or to tell someone who wants to buy some all about it) this past weekend. Some of her neighbors who live at the end of a hall set up a tiny little red blinking light to get people's attention. And it worked. I went down that hall and don't even remember seeing the light.

Are we all moths - following the light?

Okay I could go on and on right now. I just saw in the hardware store the other day that they make lights now that bugs don't see and so they don't come hang around you. It makes me wonder how much of my life I'm one of those light bulbs. And I see how kids don't do that. They just haven't learned that its not 'polite' or whatever it is to go ahead and try and be bossy and be good at things and be bad at things etc, etc, etc. Okay this is feeling soap boxy - over and out.

We Live in a Climbing Gym

Yesterday Eliot decided to try to climb everything in our house and he managed to do it in almost every case.

He climbed up on the couch (something he has done off and on over the past few days) and the chair (a first). He climbed onto a dining room chair and instead of doing his usual climb onto the table he climbed onto the window sill and scaled the window sill (all while I was in the other room of course) as if he were scaling the side of a hill. He climbed into the bathtub and that meant actually falling into it once he got over the edge. He tried to climb out of his crib and I wouldn't let him get very far. He climbed onto some large tupperware storage bins and tried to get into Naomi's 'crib' AKA pack and play with a bassinet that can't hold his weight. He climbed onto his rocking moose and rocked back and forth with his arms outstretched with a 'look ma no hands' look on his face.

He did a few of the usual climbing feats too - climbing into the fridge, up the steps, onto the dining room table, up onto the stool at the sink etc, etc, etc.

I kept thinking he was going to crash and fall and break his head and CPS would be called and I'd have to explain how I was just out of the room for a moment and its the first time he tried this and don't take my baby away and tears and tears and all of a sudden I live in a trailer court and my husband is nowhere to be found and my shift at the restaurant is about to start and they take him away - and then I realized I don't live in an Ally McBeal episode and all kids do these things and then it was all just sort of a little funny. And as usual (this probably gets old when I say this) really, really amazing.

What a Blessing

I used to pride myself on not crying. Now I cry all the time. Like when I just found this picture on my computer.

Nice Shot Aron

Aron caught this picture of Eliot today. With all of the people around today I didn't see much of Eliot - he was having an awesome time with cousin Isadora and lots of other people. I also left to go to Auntie Laurie's Art Crawl (still happening on Sunday - and if you miss it you can probably get a personal show of her awesome art) not long after he got up from him nap. Its amazing how time away causes me to enjoy the time I have with the kids so much. I don't know why it amazes me. All breaks seem to bring good things. Still I'm sitting here at night really looking forward to playing with the kids tomorrow and that feels pretty darn cool.

And on a completely unrelated note. I've been hanging around with adults who have large vocabularies lately (a woman in a meeting used the word corpus the other day and I felt incredibly impressed) and feeling very aware of how small mine feels. So I'm open to fun suggestions for cool words to add to my vocabulary.

Surfing USA

We had a lot of excitement at our house today which included lots of people visiting before going off to Auntie Laurie's Art Crawl (which is still happening Sunday). Aron caught this great picture of Eliot doing his new funny thing - I'm not sure if its obvious here - Eliot crouches down like a surfer. Its unexplainably hilarious. Here it kind of looks like he is doing some wild dance move or maybe sporting some sort of toddler gang sign. I think it was my Uncle John who said you have kids so they can entertain you. Holy C R A P (I'm working my way toward not swearing - I just try to spell 'em when I need 'em) I'm finding that to be true.

Daddy and Eliot

I'm not sure what blows me away more - that my goofy husband is a dad (and a great one) or that my little baby son is a kid. Auntie Nancy got treats to go in Easter eggs this past weekend and the toddler sized raisin boxes were a huge hit. Way to go Aunt Nancy!

If my memory serves me correctly Eliot was saying 'hey dad, do we still have plans to go to Aunt Laurie's Art Crawl (link in the right hand column of the blog) - I sure hope so because Auntie Laurie's art is amazing and it sure would be fun.'

+blog note - okay to be honest Eliot didn't say that - wasn't it a creative way to plug my sisters art crawl. Check it out this weekend. She is amazing!

Cute Cute Cute

Betsy caught this picture over the weekend. Notice Naomi is wearing her cute shirt I bought her. That awesome hat is reversible too. Oh the wonders of high fashion for the under 6 month set.

So I keep talking about how cute Naomi is. Which she is. She is also growing like a weed these days. And as my friend Kerry once said - eating like she has been smoking some too. I swear she grew about an inch the night before last. She is also smiling up a storm and sometimes even seems to laugh. I can't believe we were still in the hospital together just three months ago.

We have a Gardener at Our House

Eliot has been pretty enthusiastic about watering plants for several weeks now - especially the plant in his room. Yesterday I went outside to water our new plants on our patio and he absolutely loved it. We watered plants for a long long time. We planted some thyme and basil and cilantro this morning and he loved that too. Coincidentally, he was wearing his gardening shirt yesterday - can you tell those are rakes and hoes and other fun gardening accoutrements on his shirt. I'm blown away by how grown up he looks in this picture.

Cutser Butser

As Naomi's God Mommy would say she is so cutser butser. Betsy caught this little moment before we left for church. Naomi wore a baptism outfit from the 50's - one of my aunts most likely wore this outfit for her baptism. She sure looked adorable!

Naomi and Her God Parents

So Betsy and Scott matched for Naomi's baptism and I matched them. We never got a picture of all of us together - which is really too bad because I think Martha Stewart would really approve.
Here is a shout out to Betsy and Scott - we're so glad you're a part of Naomi's life - and our life too.

Happy Easter

The morning Naomi was born our neighborhood bunnies were all around the house just looking in the windows and sitting quietly instead of scurrying off the moment they saw us. She was born on a Wednesday and the next Wednesday the same thing happened. And I think the next Wednesday and perhaps one or two since then. We said then that rabbits might be her totem animal. At the very least they certainly seem to be curious about her.

We had decided long before her bunny-tail introduction to the world that Easter would be a good time to baptize her. And yes I know for you church folks you're not supposed to do Easter - but logistics won and so instead of keeping the toddler up until all hours last night here we are in the morning. How appropriate I guess that we would baptize her on the bunny holiday.

+ note on the blog - that bunny picture was stolen from some young girl's 4-H rabbit project web site.

Its Not as Hard as I Like to Make it

I learn this lesson at least once a month. Things in life don't have to be hard and even with kids. Yesterday I was trying to get Eliot to come over to me to get his diaper changed. I assumed this would be a struggle. Usually I have to pick him up and put him on the diaper changing table with varying levels of struggle. Yesterday I didn't feel like picking him up - or like using the table we have downstairs - its really just too small for him. So I just said 'Eliot, please come over by mommy I'm going to change your diaper' and patted the floor. I had a little burp rag on the floor to rest his head on - why I really thought that would be helpful, I don't know. Eliot just looked at me and kept doing what he was doing. So I said it again and patted the burp rag. And again. And again.

Finally I said 'Eliot come put your head on this mat and we're going to change your diaper.' and he walked right over to me. Just like that. And he leaned over and put his forehead on the burp rag and then twisted his body around to lie down. I'm cracking up just writing this. Am I painting the picture correctly. He walked over to me, leaned over, put his forehead on the burp rag and kept it on the burp rag while getting down on his hands and knees and then twisting his head so the back of his head was on the burp rag and he was laying on the floor. Exactly what I said.

So clearly patting the floor (of course!) didn't really mean anything. Once I gave him clear instructions he did exactly what I said without question, as goofy as it was.

Two New Toys

Yesterday a package arrived at our house with two new toys from my parents. The train (a fun train with the alphabet on it) that you can see here and a butt load of packing 'cheetos'. You'd never know it from this picture that Eliot really loves the train. I even let him have it in the crib with him for his afternoon nap (I don't know what I was thinking) and I heard 'toot toot' for over a half hour. I even went to check on him at one point and he was lying in bed with his train (this thing has A LOT of corners on it) tucked under his arm. Those packing thingies are a huge hit - they were fun to dump all over himself from the box, and then from another box and then from his toy bus. They were fun for me to smoosh in my hands. We even did a science experiment by putting them in the toilet to watch them disintegrate - which I think I thought was about 100 times cooler than he did.

Thanks Nana and Papa!

This Stuff is Fun

Its REALLY fun

Oh, What is This Other Thing that Came with My New Toy?

Who Needs Toys When You Have a Toilet

Just now Eliot crawled up on the toilet (which made him giggle like crazy) and realized that the lid on the back part (is that the bowl - I don't think that's the bowl) made a noise when he touched it and it rocked a little. So he stood up there giggling his little guts out and making that noise and looking quite proud of himself.

It was silly and fun and one of those moments when I know exactly why I'm a mom and I laughed and then cried.

I'm not sure that moment would have made such a mark or even made me cry if I hadn't just been opening and closing windows in preparation for his nap (yeah! its so warm we have open windows) and thinking about how the energy auditor guy said that air is a liquid. It finds the path of least resistance and takes it. Just as I was thinking about that Eliot was happily looking out the window and laughing and I thought to myself that kids are like liquid too. When Naomi was born and I wasn't sleeping and Aron had a lot of long days and days out of town and I was recovering from surgery Eliot pretty much had to whine to get my attention - and he did. And now we're working at breaking that habit (which of course we pretty much took care of and then he got sick and had to whine to get my attention in the car and so we're working on it again).

Goodness I use a lot of parenthesis. Or should I say (Goodness I use a lot of parenthesis).

A Dar Williams Moment

There is a fantastic singer named Dar Williams who sings a song called "When I was a Boy" and it talks about how when she was little (when she was a boy - no this is not about gender re-assignment surgury its about how girls can do more things than women can) she could do wild things like go without a shirt and climb trees and now that she is a woman she has to have people walk her home because the world isn't safe. She tells all of this to a man who responds by saying:

Oh no, oh, no, can't you see
When I was a girl, my mom and I, we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too
And you were just like me, and I was just like you

Today on the 20 minute walk back from the co-op (for those of you who haven't seen how close we live to the co-op - it basically took Eliot, Naomi, me, a bag of groceries and Eliot's baby doll 20 minutes to walk across Donald Trump's office) I pointed out some crocuses. Eliot stopped and bent over to smell them. When bending over (for those of you who haven't seen how he bends over to see things and puts his hands on his knees I'll try to get it on the camera - its priceless) he got down on his hands and knees to sniff them. He of course got a bunch of really good mulch on his hand and had to stand up to ask me to get it off his hand (which he eventually did on his own) and then he got down on his hands and knees again to sniff them. It was such a 'When I was a Girl' moment I teared up right there on the street.

Even tho I dress Naomi up in unnecessary shirts I want for her so badly to enjoy life with reckless abandon as a girl and a woman. I want her to be able to feel safe in the world and safe in her skin and sure of herself and her abilities. And I want Eliot to be able to grow up and and still be the sweet thoughtful person who wrapped his baby in a blanket to go to the grocery store today - without being shamed for being whatever is wrong about that.

I guess its kind of funny. "When I Was a Boy' is one of my favorite songs and I hope they grow up and don't tear up from it. I hope when I play it for them and say something like - oh this song is so great you'll just love it - that they look at me kind of blankly and explain openly and with confidence why it doesn't ring a bell for them.

I'm Crazy for Girl Clothes

For about the millionth time I've been surprised by parenthood. I never in a million years thought I'd be into girl clothes. Much less clothes at all. When Eliot was born I found myself surprised at how cute boy clothes are. They're cute. If you haven't seen this just walk through the kids section at any store. Its not all dinosaurs and pants with 'leather' knees.

Before Naomi was born a friend gave us some hand me down girl clothes. As I was folding them up I thought to myself "Woah. These clothes are really cute, maybe we are having a girl. If we do - I'm in trouble."

So we had a girl and a few weeks ago I was in Target and purchased (another thing I never thought I'd do) an article of clothing that wasn't needed. It wasn't needed at all. As you can see its a little 'grown up' shirt for a 3 month old baby. It has tiny buttons that are hard to button. It has a collar. It has little puffed sleeves with buttons clasping around the arm (are there technical terms for these parts of a shirt - I'm sure there are). It has little gathering around the waist with bows.

I love it. I even dressed Naomi in it today and brought her into the bathroom to show Aron.

One sign that I'm not completely mad - I saw it when Naomi was just a few weeks old and it was full price (A whopping $3.99). I waited until it was on clearance ($1.74) and I knew she'd fit into it during warm weather - which we have now - yeah its supposed to get to 74 degrees today!!

Where is God

Just in time for Easter we found Eliot's sweet tooth. Aron made chocolate chip cookies this weekend and Eliot picked the chocolate chips out of them. Aron gave him a few plain chips and Eliot giggled and was super excited to have them - he savored them by licking them instead of just putting them right into his mouth. He also discovered bread with jelly on it. I'm pretty sure that is all he ate for lunch just now. And on Friday morning he had a complete temper tantrum when I didn't realize he wanted some bread with jelly on it - I mean a full blown tears and screaming temper tantrum.

We have this awesome book by Lawrence and Karen Kushner called 'Where is God'. It talks about how God is in the beginning and the end and in band-aid fix ups after a fall and ripe tomatoes and cookies fresh from the oven and lots of other wonderful things. Eliot picked the book up while I was nursing Naomi today and pointed out all of the chocolate chip cookies in the book.

Today for me God is in the chocolate chip cookies that are still left from the weekend and woah - who would have thought it - at church. We did the reading of the passion and I was utterly stunned by the amazing environment in which our kids are growing up. The readers were so incredibly diverse. Jesus was a graying woman in a green corduroy skirt. Peter was an African American man who I would guess is in his 40's. The little girl was a woman who lost her sight during her adulthood. Another reader was a kid who is around 11 maybe who is bi-racial. Another reader is a gay man. Wow. I love our church.

Naomi and Grampa

Naomi is so big and strong and changing so fast lately that Laurie and I joked tonight that someone came in and switched babies on us. She was smiling her little head off before this picture was taken. Tonight at dinner I saw a family come into the restaurant with two teen aged boys who were both taller than their mom and nearly as tall as their dad. It made me realize that someday our kids will most likely be taller than me. Which is mind boggling and at the same time rather silly since the outfit Naomi is wearing in this picture was gigantic on her the day she wore it home from the hospital less than 3 months ago.

Eliot and the Car

I love the look on his face in this picture. Nice shot Aron.

With Grampa and Gramma

This is Eliot and Grampa and Gramma Kramer playing with the car. He is making sure Vicki is close by. I love these moments between the two generations on either side of me. We had a lot of them in Mauston too. I'm not even sure I know how to say what I think is going on. Its really something. Its a real thing. Whatever it is.

Walking

We spent a good part of the day at Gramma and Grampa Kramers house today playing with the chickens and cars and a new truck and having a generally marvelous time. As we got ready to go Eliot pushed a car that has a handle meant to push him while he rides it around the street and the driveway and kept 'herding' all of us making sure we were close by. Aron caught this picture. The big tall shadows standing watch over his little self kind of blow me away now as I look at it. And at the time the fact that he was so sure about the direction of this walk and the need for all of us to be there was amazing. I'm not sure if he felt he was going on a walk pushing the car the way we push him in the stroller, or if it was just fun to walk with the car or what was going on for him. Its so cool that he is such a mystery.

More Fun With The Tent

Eliot and I were playing in the tent tonight and we ended up turning it upside down. It was hilarious. We also had friends over tonight and Isabella and Michael had a great time in the tent and got Eliot to play with them. He was running to the back of the tent and looking in the mesh 'vent' in the back and then running back to the front of the tent. It was so awesome to see him playing with other kids. Here is a shout out to Isabella and Michael who were patient enough to wait for Eliot to play with them.

The Rain Storm

We had one of those awesome spring rain storms last night. There was thunder and lightening and it happened during the day so it didn't wake us up. And the rain drops were big and there was a lot of rain and it didn't rain so hard that it couldn't soak into the ground. And it was warm enough out that we could stand in it. Eliot saw the rain coming down and asked to go out on the front step and he stood under the drops and caught rain drops in a cup and walked around and splashed in the puddles. And as you can see got quite drenched.

The Wolf Gets a Kiss Too

We have a book about the three pigs that came complete with finger puppets of the three pigs and the wolf. Eliot enjoys putting the finger puppets on his own fingers and even tries to figure out how to get more than one on his hands which is amazingly challenging. We were playing with them the other day and he kissed the wolf puppet. I had this odd reaction. I was so surprised he gave the wolf a kiss. I mean the wolf is the bad guy. He terrorizes the little pigs and buds on a people and is generally scary. And it made me realize that I'd never questioned that the wolf is unlovable until the moment my son - not knowing he 'should know better' kissed that wolf right on the head. It made me realize that we adults are the ones who teach who is good and bad and lovable and not lovable.

The Tent

My mom got the kids a tent at Ikea last week. We put it up yesterday while Rob and Isadora were visiting. It is quite a hit - even tho you wouldn't know it since I'm the only one smiling in any of the tent pictures.

This tent is amazing too - it is decorated like an igloo and you put it together just like a dome camping tent. So we'll get to do some practice campling in the living room - well exept for the fact that Eliot was literally carrying it around the living room this morning. I don't think that will be part of future camping trips.

Playing at the Park

Eliot is so incredibly grown up these days - I think the only part of him that still looks like a baby is (or should I say are here - I'm not sure) his chubby baby-fat wrists. We've spent some time lately (thank God for spring!!!) at the park. I used to be able to walk through a park and he would do his usual watch the birds kind of thing and if I stopped and took him out of the stroller he'd play. I think those days are over. We went out in the beautiful weather today and as I walked into Loring Park he wanted out of the stroller right away. He walked around just happy as could be looking at the grass and the sea gulls and a cute cocker spaniel that he thought was a lion. Ever since he was little he has really seemed to enjoy being outside. That is super apparent lately. He keeps asking to go out in our back yard. Today when I checked the mail he went out on the front step and just stood there in his zen-like way just looking around the world.

Fun with Auntie Laurie

This picture was taken before we went to Mauston. Eliot and Auntie Laurie had a great time hanging out and playing drums on their bellies and having a generally hilarious time. I dare any kid to claim they have a better aunt than this one.

They Interacted With Each Other

Eliot is feeling much better and even got up and laughed and played this morning. Naomi was sitting on my lap and she smiled at Eliot. He laughed and she smiled more and he laughed again. Wow!

I imagine that some day I'll be wishing they would stop interacting with each other. Probably when I hear "Mom! He/She won't stop touching me about 25 minutes into a 4 hour drive). Today it is so amazing and fun.

Happy April Fools Day!

Carl is an April Fools joke. We're not totally nuts. Heres to me tho - I actually got a few folks with that one!

What a Trooper

Naomi travelled so well this past week and has been so sweet and patient while she keeps playing second fiddle to sick-o big brother. She even had to be nursed last night while I was in the bath tub trying to wash the barf-o-rama off Eliot. Everyone say a prayer that she stays healthy.

Although you can't quite see it here Naomi and Papa were sitting in the same position watching TV together the other day while we tried to get on the road (and Eliot slept on the floor). Pretty sweet stuff.

Still Sick

Eliot is still sick. The poor kid has thrown up everything he has eaten since Thursday night. We went to the park yesterday and he showed enthusiasm for about 3 minutes and then got back in the stroller and nearly fell asleep while we walked home. This is a picture of him sleeping on the floor at my parent's house before we left to come home. We set it up to look like his fire truck wore him out - which it did - and the truth is he was just exhaused from being sick too.

Many thanks to my parents who helped all of us get home safely and sanely. They cleaned lots of 'stuff' out of our car and did many loads of laundry that were covered in 'stuff'. You guys saved the day!

Eliot and Naomi Announce our Newest Arrival

We've gone completely insane! We picked up Carl our new babysitter this morning at the pound. He is just 8 weeks old (born exactly 2 weeks after Naomi - also around 9 in the morning) and likes chewing on things. Despite Eliot's illness he has spent the last 45 minutes chasing Carl around the living room. We're hoping Carl will be potty trained before the kids!

Four generations

Eliot, Naomi and I went to my home town of Mauston, Wisconsin for a few days this week (thus the lack of blogging these last few days). We had many adventures including seeing Nana and Papa and two of their three great grandmas. As you can see Eliot was less than thrilled about these pictures - he ended up throwing up in the car on himself four times about three hours after these were taken. Poor kid!